Final Project

My final project consists of two paintings that respond to the work of Jasper Johns.  The first painting is the flag of Jamaica except with red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag.  The second painting is the American flag, with green, yellow, and black, which are the colors of the Jamaican flag.

The first painting is completely symmetrical and balanced.  The focal point seems the be the cross that is formed with the lack of color.  From there, my eye follows the white line to the colors that surround it.  The brush strokes make it seem more like a painting than an actual flag, which is what I intended to do.  There are visible brush strokes which gives the painting actual texture and some depth.  There is contrast between the color and the negative space of the "x."  Bright colors are used but they also give the painting a cool feeling as well.  When I decided to do this project, I knew I wanted to use the same ideas of Jasper Johns', but switch it up slightly.  When I changed the colors, I was able to create a piece that did not have a meaning completely known to the viewer.  Since the colors are changed, this is not the actual flag of Jamaica or even America, leaving the meaning of this piece open to interpretation.




The second painting is not symmetrical but definitely has a sense of balance.  It is the American flag's design but with the colors of the Jamaican flag.  The focal point are the stars, which are white with a black background.  From there, my eyes go to the stripes from the top to bottom.  With the repeating nature of the stars and stripes, this painting has a sense of rhythm.  There are visible brush strokes which gives the painting a sense of texture and depth.  When I decided to do this painting in particular, I wanted to achieve something that Johns was not able to.  With his original piece, it was easy to get caught up in the original design of the flag.  With my piece, you have to really think about what it could mean.  With the new colors, I see it as more of an actual piece of art rather than just an everyday image common to American people.




After completing this project, I definitely see flags as more than just a symbol to represent a country.  Once you take them out of their original form, the art behind them really comes through.  That is what I wanted to achieve and I was glad I was able to accomplish this.

Intention Statement

For my final project, I really want to capture and incorporate all of what I have learned about Jasper Johns throughout this whole process.  I learned that Johns used everyday objects in his art, not telling people what it is supposed to mean.  In my presentation I mentioned that I wished Johns had changed the American flag slightly, so that people had to think a little bit more about what it really meant.  I am going to use Bristol pad with gouache and recreate an American flag.  I am going to use the design of the American flag but use the colors of another country's flag on it.  I am going to add actual texture by layering the gouache so that the painting has depth and dimension to it.  Once I complete the American flag, I am going to see if the meaning I originally wanted comes through with what I have done.  If it has not, I am going to do another flag or object prevalent in every day life, such as a Starbucks cup, and change the colors again.  Once this is all said and done I think I will have captured what Johns was all about and will have put my own spin on his work.

George Kubler and David Byrne Blog Post

The Shape of Time was an interesting read for me immediately because of the stance the author took on the limitations of biography.  It was very enlightening for me to read that "the lives of artists have been a genre in the literature of art ever since 1381," this was much earlier than I had thought it would be.  Also, I thought his "railroad" analogy was very accurate and helped to put the entire piece in perspective.  Overall, I got a sense that the artist felt that time is an important theme, but I really was not totally sure what the overall message was supposed to be throughout the reading.  I struggled with this and did not come up with a clear and concise message even after reading through this piece several times.
David Byrne's entire book felt confusing and unorganized to me after reading through it the first time, after I read it again I got a better feel for the context and content of the work.  At the beginning I really thought I would like the book, especially with the PowerPoint references, but I found it incredibly difficult to follow and relate to.  PowerPoint is extremely relevant in my everyday life and it was eyeopening for me to think of it in the context of art.  Although I would not choose to read this book in my spare time, I still found it interesting in the grand scheme of things.  It reminded me that there is no right or wrong, or even rhyme and reason, for what art can or should be.

Data Visualization & Escaping Flatlands Blog Post

One notable quote at the beginning of the data visualization video explained that “Every single pixel should testify directly to content.”  This quote sets the tone for the rest of the video and is incredibly relevant.  I thought it was really interesting when the video described how data visualization began almost 6,000 years ago with cartography and also the direct relationship with science was explained as well.  The entire video highlights how important visuals are to the understanding and learning processes, which all humans learn to do from a young age. 

This video made me realize how closely interrelated data and visuals are throughout all aspects of our lives and culture.  Visuals have the ability to translate confusing data into something that is easily understandable.  The video talks about how humans see things to confirm them, which is really accurate.  This clip made me realize how important visuals are for humans to understand and comprehend something.

In my opinion, Escaping Flatlands was unlike any piece that we have read in this class before.  The beginning of the piece was very informational and necessary for the reader; it detailed how we navigate daily through a world with two-dimensionality of endless flatlands of paper and video screen. I am not sure if I am interpreting this correctly but to me this idea seems incredibly relevant considering our how technologically inclined our world has become.  It also explains how to envision information you need to be able to escape the flatland, which I interpret as opening up your mind to new ideas and visualizations.  At the beginning of the piece, it is said that the methods described work to increase the number of dimensions that can be represented on plane surfaces and the amount of information per unit area.  After completing the reading, I think this was definitely accomplished because I now think of dimensions and space in a different way.

The drawings, images, and visuals scattered throughout the piece work very well to prove the point that the text is trying to accomplish.  One particular visual that I found very to be very helpful with my understanding of the concepts was about the toad.  In this visual, it shows what seems to be a three dimensional toad, but then compares it with a two dimensional version of it.  I have never thought of the relationship between dimensions in this regard before, but now that I know this I do not think I will look at a three dimensional image the same again.

Overall, I really enjoyed both the reading and the video for this assignment.  They both were very informative but also interesting and thought provoking.  They were both very appropriate considering we are learning about dimension in class and I think they both contributed to speeding up my understanding of time and dimension.

   

Artist Research Project

My first artist choice would be Jasper Johns, I had never heard of this artist before and his work immediately intrigued me.  His work seems to be mostly abstract and pop-art type pieces, which is interesting to me.  One work of art that I was particularly drawn to of his was Flag, which is basically just an image of an American flag.  However, this image made me think more in depth about what the flag symbolizes and how art can be related to so many things.  Also, I really like how his work makes me really think about what is behind the initial meaning of the work, which I don’t always find myself doing with other artists.

The next artist I would choose is Andy Warhol.  I have prior knowledge of his work, unlike Jasper Johns, but I am still very drawn to his art.  To me, his images stand for so much other than just the literal content of the image and I feel like you could always be finding hidden meanings within the work.  This is very intriguing to me because sometimes I find myself exhausting all possible meanings of the art within a few minutes after looking at it.  Also, I really like Warhol because if you look at his work collectively, it can almost be seen as a timeline of American history.  His Marilyn Monroe and Campbell’s soup pieces are critical to American culture and have definitely made people think of art in a different light than they previously had.

My final artist choice is Hans Hoffman for a few different reasons.  Like Jasper Johns, I had never known about this artist until now.  He is a German abstract painter and I have never seen art like his before.  The color and brush stroke choices he uses in his art is very appealing to me.  After having painted in our art class, I feel as if I can relate to his brush stroke choices and it has definitely broadened my horizons as to how I can paint on my own.  His drawings are also incredibly intricate and so different compared to his paintings.  I really like this contrast within his works and it shows how versatile artists really are.  I feel as if I could spend a lot of time researching his work and still not really be able to cover all of it.

Ways of Seeing

Ways of Seeing by John Berger was the easiest article for me to understand so far this semester.  Even though the topics in this piece are not very objective or concrete ideas, I still found myself agreeing with a lot of what was written.  One part of the piece that I found to be particularly insightful stated “Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way.”  This quote made me realize that art is always changing and each generation will think of art in a different way than the generation before them.  It made me realize that art can change as societal norms change as well.  Also, I took the last part of the quote to mean that each person will perceive art in a different way.  A piece of art can be one thing to one person and mean nothing to another person.

            Another part of the article that I found insightful was towards the beginning of the content.  It stated “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe.”  This statement is pretty vague but I think it can definitely be related to all aspects of life.  Your beliefs and values shape the way you look at life in it’s entirety.  It only makes sense that this concept can be related to the art world.  Even from what I have learned so far in this class, the way I see things has changed.  For example, after we completed the texture exercise I began noticing textures in my every day life that I never had before.  One last part of the article that I really found interesting was the first few lines when it said “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.”  I think this really set the tone for the entire article and showed the importance of seeing art before you even try to understand it.