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Out of the selected artists I chose Jackson Pollock.  Jackson Pollock’s work really stood out to me because I have created abstract pieces like his in the past.  There is a sense of freedom and beauty that I feel when painting an abstract piece like the one I did for this project.  The piece of Jackson Pollock’s work that I chose to imitate was his “Greyed Rainbow” piece.  “Greyed Rainbow” is currently on display in the Art Institute of Chicago.  The piece features black paint streaks along with white splatter which cover colors that would be seen in a rainbow, such as blue, red and yellow.  This piece appealed to my liking, because I feel that it is unique in the fact that there are infinitely many color and brush stroke combinations that could be associated with it.  The opportunity was there, so the next step would be taking advantage of it.

           Observing “Greyed Rainbow”, you observe that Pollock used brush strokes for the colors black, blue, red, and yellow.  On top of the original painted streaks you observe white splatter marks that must have been created after the original brushed streaks.  To imitate this piece, I went in a similar direction from a style perspective in the sense that I would use brush strokes and splatter paint afterwards.  Alternatively, however, I used the colors blue and yellow to create brush strokes, and then used the same colors by splatter-painting the piece once dry. The splatters that I did were not as heavy as the ones pollock used as he used thicker paint versus my water color paint.  An aspect of the change in color of the two pieces is that the colors blue and yellow were in the background of Pollock's piece and white in the foreground, where it is the opposite in my piece.

           Jackson Pollock’s work has inspired countless artists both expressionist and non-expressionists.  One of the interesting things about Pollock was the invention and use of his “drip technique”.  This technique involved laying a canvas onto the floor and pouring paint from a can or brush and letting gravity do the work for you.  This is such an interesting technique to me because of the sense of freedom and control that is involved in it.  Pollock is controlling what colors are used and where he drips the paint but the rest is up to nature on where the finished product will lie.  The vision in Pollock’s mind cannot be exactly what his final product entails.  Pollock’s artwork has sparked debate around its meaning.  Everyone has their own opinion, but while some people find beauty in it, others call it random and meaningless.  An aspect of Pollock’s life that is fascinating to me is that he lived with fellow artist and wife, Lee Krasner.  You can conclude that one another had an influence on the product of each other's work.  Another part of Pollock’s life which I found interesting was toward the end of his artistic career he transitioned to making sculptures constructed of wire, gauze, and plaster.  A sadder fact about his life was that alcoholism began to push Lee Krasner and him apart prior to him dying in a crash while driving under the influence of alcohol.

           A piece of artwork that inspired me this semester was George’s impressionism project.  George depicted a famous scene from the movie Star Wars, A New Hope that features Luke Skywalker looking out at the horizon.  Part of the reason why this piece resonates with me is that it is from Star Wars, which I am a huge fan of.  The piece is also very impressive because of the lighting of the photo and the landscape featured in it.  George did an outstanding job at depicting the detail of the photo which is vital to it as the sun is setting.  Lastly, the piece depicts Luke looking out on the horizon.  We have all witnessed sunsets before as they are beautiful, but there is often something else that is on our mind as well.  This even creates an open space for feeling of present emotions.

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Dada Art Movement - This piece features a background of abstract squigly lines and random magazine cutouts on top.  Splatter paint was the finishing touch of this piece on pastel paper.

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Surrealism - This piece is focused on juxtaposition as two vehicles are viewed amongst clouds in the sky. Tools used consisted of colored pencils and markers on watercolor paper.

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Apocalypse?

This futurism example displays an apocolyptic scenarion of the world possibly in the future.  The juxtaposition created by the skyscrapers and the rising sea levels is the focus of the piece. Acid rain and haze is also pictured while the sun still shines. This work was designed to be irregular.

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Hungry? 

This example of cubism is highlighted by cutouts from food magazines of different kinds of foods.  The background was created using markers on pastel paper to give the vibe of shapes and angles.

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The observed painting is a use of water color paint on watercolor paper.  The depicted person has a very energetic and exciting personality.  For these traits, I used the colors blue and yellow.  Both of these colors are supposed to draw the viewers attention, as if the person was actually popping out at you physically.  The painting reflects high energy as well.

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The posted photos are of Mario Kart Wii Rainbow Road Course.  A midterm post that I liked was George K’s.  The filter used on his face is amusing, but it being captioned by “Friday Look” also adds to it.  It is a relatable mood setter.

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A Van Gogh exhibit I want to over break. A fully immersive experience.

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My selfie was taken in the kitchen with a simple background.  There is a lot of white in this photo, so the colors brown and the color of the skin really pop out at the viewer.  I used water colors on pastel paper.

Mid Term Questions:

1.How has your relationship with selfies changed and impacted you over the last decade of your life? How do they socially or emotionally affect you?

 The relationship with selfies has impacted me greatly socially and emotionally over the last decade of my life.  I have never been the most photogenic person, so I have probably taken less selfies than the average college student.  Socially, my experience with selfies began with the app Snapchat.  This seemed to be the social standard amongst kids my age at the time.  Around middle school when snapchat seemed to be a preferred way of communication among kids my age.  Selfies were used along with dialogue to converse with friends through the app. This was my first encounter and use of selfies.  To this day I will occasionally “snap” selfies in conversation with people.

Emotionally selfies have impacted me in a self conscious way.  Depending on how I feel that myself looks in the selfie I take may influence my self esteem.  On a good day when I take a selfie and send it to someone, I may feel that I look really attractive at that moment.  Maybe it's the lighting or how I trimmed my facial hair.  Other days, whether it be the angle that may make my face look chubby or the acne on my face, I may disapprove of my selfie.  I have grown up telling myself not to put much stock into the way I look, however taking selfies has made me rethink that sometimes. From an emotional perspective, how I think I look in a selfie has an impact on my mood.  

 2.As Jerry Saltz says about Parmigianino's painting,"All the attributes of the selfie are here: the subject's face from a bizarre angle, the elongated arm, foreshortening, compositional distortion, the close-in intimacy." How have selfie angles changed in the last decade of your life? What do you think the selfie angle of the current moment is?

 Growing up selfies were most commonly used on forms of social media such as Snapchat and Instagram.  These apps allowed users to use pre-installed filters to alter the appearance of the image. These filters became very popular amongst users as they were easy to apply and created an “artsy” vibe to the selfies.  Snapchat has since added more elaborate filters as you can add 3-D visual effects to the image.  One such effect that was popular in high school was the dog filter.  The filter would add dog ears to the user and when the user stuck their tongue out, a dog tongue effect would display instead of the person's tongue.  This was a cool effect that became very popular.          

Over the past decade selfie angles have changed greatly literally and figuratively. The angle at which the selfie is taken usually depends on the way the selfie is intended.  If it is a formal selfie sent to a close friend, it may be taken from a lower angle of your face.  However, a selfie taken and posted on a platform like Instagram may be taken from a higher angle, bringing out a more attractive glow of yourself. Different camera angles used to take a selfie may create distortion for the user.  Yes, there is a science behind selfies.  The selfie angle of the current moment appears to be an angle literally and figuratively an angle that has a “professional” vibe to it.  Over time people have improved their ability to take a selfie and produce an image of themselves that is most satisfying.  This has come through a lot of practice, trial and error, and learning from others.  People have so to speak, become professional selfie takers.  With professional job applications like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Handshake, people may take more professional looking selfies to meet qualification expectations.  The way people take selfies nowadays seems to be trending to more of a formal style, rather than casual.  With all the filters and expertise available today to take a quality selfie, there isn’t an excuse to view a bad selfie.

 3.Humanity has had a long-running fascination with altering our self-image, and technology has enabled us to take it to a whole new level. Have we reached a plateau with filters? How will companies continue to keep us engaged with them?

             Over the past decade filters have changed the way we interpret photos, especially selfies.  Filters began with changing the appearance of an image from an artistic perspective.  You could change how light, dark, or vibrant a photo appeared.  More recently, technology has enabled users to apply filters that appear to physically alter the person’s face.  A person’s face may appear to be funny looking as their smile may appear larger or you can turn your face into the face of an animal.  These options gave the user more freedom to alter the appearance of themselves and the setting of which they are taking their photo.

With new filters coming out consistently it makes you wonder how much longer new ideas for filters will continue.  How creative can companies be to keep us engaged with them.  I believe that companies have hit a plateau when it comes to the creation of different filters users have available to them.   There just aren't many other directions that you can go as a designer of filters.  I really think that almost every instance of a filter has already been thought of or invented.  Companies may be able to alter ideas of older filters but in the end there will be no more ground breaking filters.  Filters started simple and grew to be more complex and 3-D user friendly.  However, all great things have to come to an end and it may be the time that filters see a depreciation of use.

[johnandblog]

“You Do You” and “Actions Speak Louder than Words”.

The poster was designed to empower it’s audience to be themselves.  You can worry about what others think about you, but you have the power to control the one variable in your life.  That variable is yourself.  People are going to judge you regardless, so just ‘do you’.  The second part of the poster, “Actions speak louder than words” is tied to the first part in the sense that it is supposed to empower people to shut the haters out and strive to be the best version of yourself that you want to be.  It can also be perceived from a selfless perspective.  If you see someone who may be going through a tough time or you want to make a difference and stand up for someone or something you believe - Take Action.  Don’t sit on the sidelines and just say something.  Actions have an influential impact themselves.  

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The photo above is an example of L-shaped composition.  There is a presence of vertical and horizonatal contrast as well as contrast of colors.  There is a strong vertical presence as a number of trees and lamp posts are seen in the background of the photo.  The horizontal piece of the photo is visible in the foreground, where my model, Carter, is sitting down on a bench.  By sitting down, he is creating an L-Shape with his body.  The strong contrast of the colors orange and blue really pop out as a result of the white background that the snow produces.

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“Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Everyday you wake up,

Is a blessing for you.”

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Take On Me, by A-Ha includes a mixture of sketches and real people throughout the video.

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Power, by Kanye West includes an extremely artistic setting that grows more complex throughout the video.

[johnandblog]

Name: John Groth

Pronouns: He/Him/His

From: Aurora, NY

Academic Path: Computer Science

Favorite Artist: Edward Hopper

Hobbies: Play/watch sports.  Sing/bake with family.

Favorite Quote: “Do or do not. There is no try” - Master Yoda