why i do this.....again...

So I decided to post a shorter version but one that is geared more towards my interest in Japanese culture and such......

My interest in art and Japanese culture started at a young age when I would draw from what I saw from Japanese TV shows and cartoons.  Although most of my early experiences with art have not been the best, creating art on Japanese culture in my free time kept me interested in art in general.  When I got older I became more interested in the actual culture and different Japanese fashion statements and stereotypes.  But, again, I was only able to make the things that I liked in my free time.  It wasn’t until half way through my time here at Ringling, and after I switched from Illustration that I’ve been able to really create things that are from my own interest. From that point I’ve been trying to find a way to combine traditional Japanese culture and their wacky fashion statements. 

artist statement draft

Out of all the links to use to create my artist statement I used something from probably all of them as some information was the same and some was different. So none of the links were successful or unsuccessful.

My opinion is my work and my opinion is of the combination of Japanese culture and fashion.  I have been interested in Japanese culture since I was very young and my work has always been based around it.  I produce my work from many types of materials and almost all of them are wearable.  Since my opinion is not just on the traditional culture but on the many different fashion statements, I feel that both are expressed well in wearable art or sculpture.  As Japan is a place advancing with technology it comes to a point where it crosses over to the traditional culture and to the fashion as well.

As for my professional artist statement I've been trying to look for one from the Japanese artist (big surprise there) Hiroshi Senju but I have been unsuccessful and as for other artists who have statements all that it seems like I have found were life stories that were over a page long that I guess were titled "Artist Statement".

readings # 4

Roland Barthe's Death of the Author from Image, Music, Text, 1977


This first article that I read seemed to be about this situation about how every time we read a piece of literature that the author some how "dies"...not quite sure what Barthe means but that......


Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1936


This second article that I read was about the reproduction of art and that ranged from print to painting and from photography to film. The author also discussed how the process of mass reproduction has evolved over time and afterwards were the value of the reproduction stand. There was also quite a bit about the artwork and their auras...but I don't think I quite understand the idea of the whole aura thing...


Now for a question and a thought that when through my head after reading the first article .... If someone was to look at my work when I was done with it, would I also "die"?

reading #3

Chaos, Territory, Art. Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth by Elizabeth Grosz

The author in this reading went though the process of how art is art and by science discovered its roots and did all of this without history or a critique of art. She also explained how that body reacts to art and why and explained it by using scientific methods and research.

Question: After realizing that the author explained art and why it is in general with out using art history or a critique of such it brings me to ask "Why do we need art history and critiques to explain art when clearly from this reading we don't need to?"

why i do this

Why I do this

To know why I do this is to know what started it, and it all started when my mother noticed my random doodles which at the time were to me nothing but a mess.  But around the time of early elementary school, when my mother was trying to force me to do things like gymnastics or dance in hopes I develop some sort of talent, that is when she notice the scribbles on my homework papers.  Form that moment it was like a light bulb went on in her head and I also think it was when she found out that I hated academics and that I wasn’t going to be any good at them because that’s when she really pushed the whole art thing. For instance, I remember when my mother forced me to do my first poster contest; I was in early elementary school like somewhere between first and third grade. The only thing I remember from the experience is that it was a poster contest for a local church concerning world peace and that my mother made me stay up until the early hours of the morning, and yes, I cried through the whole process and the only thing I got out of it was fifty dollars.

 After a few years, when we moved to Florida when I was ten, my mother signed me up for some private art lessons.  There were some that I liked while others not so much and it was then when I took a liking to the whole art thing. It was then that I figured out that I could take the skills that I know and use then with the stuff that I liked to make and from then the arts just grew on me.  Art kept me busy when my parents weren’t around or when they were too busy for me and when there was no body to hang out with and from there I found other things that interested me that I can base my art from.  When high school came around my mother made me take some summer classes and such at Ringling and this was also the time that I became obsessed with fashion and costuming and for a while that’s all I wanted to make art on.  My final art project in high school I do believe was a fairy costume made completely out of duck tape.

Then when it came to college all I wanted to do was go to a community college but apparently that wasn’t good enough for my parents so they of course pushed me to go to Ringling because they want to see me do something with my art.  It was then a few years ago here at Ringling that I became extremely interested in all things Japanese and its culture and that’s been all that I want to do since. Although I wish that I’ve gotten into it sooner.  Though I must say that although art was something that was first pushed on me I have chosen it as my career path above all other things because not only do I like it but because to me it’s all that I feel like I know of and that it feels like I need to do art.  That and it feels like I owe art because when I came to like art it was always there to save me from boredom, loneliness, frustration and such.  Now what I really want to do is just voice my opinion and show people what I like through art. Which has brought me to the thesis of voicing my opinion of Japanese culture.

Semester Plan

The objects I will be making will be mostly of wigs and other somewhat wearable fashions.  They will be realistic and maybe abstract and will include materials such as yarn, foam, plastic, wire, metal, circuit boards, tissue paper, candy, wool, fabric, etc. What I am trying to say from doing all of this is somewhat of my own opinion of Japanese culture and fashion statements within that culture.

The research I will be doing will be from books, magazines, internet, markets, and even the mall, so besides looking up history and text information a lot of my research is image based and field work for observing and doing things for myself.

I will be using materials such as yarn, foam, plastic, wire, metal, circuit boards, tissue paper, candy, wool, fabric, etc. and the process that I have been using in the past to make these pieces has been if I were to be putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

I want to make 1 major piece per month (being about 3 to give me enough time) with maybe 1 to 2 smaller pieces to support the major piece. None of my work is extremely huge so it will range from small to big, but not too big(nothing bigger than I'd say 6x3 feet).

Time line:
sept: sometime between the 27-30th will be a completed major work and individual crit.
oct: sometime during the week of the 11th there will be a group crit and a major work will be completed around the 25-29th and around that time will be the 2nd individual crit.
nov: during the week of the 8th I plan to have my 2nd group crit and around the 18th, 19th or before break I will have the 3rd individual crit although my last major work won't be complete until the end of break. Then by the time I get back from break and between the end of the semester I will have my 4th individual crit.

reading # 2

Semiotics: The Basics by Daniel Chandler chapter 4

Ok, from what I read from this chapter (and hopefully understand, I say hopefully because I'm not sure if I do, but I'm sure I'll find that out later) is that this chapter seems to have a lot to do with the last reading. But instead of dealing with interpretation it deals with why things are. Which brings me to ask the only question I have.....

Why can't things just be what they are?, I know that would just be observation but it's coming to the point of confusion.