FINAL PROJECT!!!

At last, the final project of the semester! It took me FOREVER and I got really frustrated in the middle of working on it, but I'm really happy with how it came out. The artwork it was based on was Joaquin Sorolla's Three Sails.

The image I based my composition off of.

Of course, I didn't have an ocean to draw, so I decided to use my bedspread and from that, I came up with a sort of surreal, childlike/make-believe theme for my piece.

It was an awesome semester and I feel like I've learned so much and improved a lot! Thanks Rubens! :D

The 36th Chamber

     After viewing the movie, I realized that much of the protagonist's life is similar to mine. He is training hard to become a kung fu master and must practice every single day in order to get better. Like in art school, he takes small steps and improves little by little in order to succeed. His instructors are hard on him and much of the time, he fails or doesn't perform to his potential, which is very true of art school. There are many failed trials before something good can be produced. Art also takes concentration similar to the training in the movie. You must focus on what you are doing and on every individual aspect of your work in order to create something effective. 

     Perseverance in art means, in my opinion, producing many pieces of art or trying many different things that may not work out every time until something truly amazing comes out of it. Similarly, in the movie, the main character had to try many different times in order to persevere and succeed.

     Artists are somewhat like monks in that they must look within themselves to produce good artwork. Most art is drawn from within much like monks are constantly reflecting upon their inner workings and soul in order to live spiritually. All art is conceived through the mind so in a sense, it does become a bit of a spiritual process too.

     Art school is like Shaolin temple in the sense that students are trying to better themselves as artists, yet in art school, you are constantly being inspired by others and interacting with others in order to develop better ideas whereas in the temple, progress was entirely dependent on one's self and one's self alone.

     The equivalent of eating on top of a log, etc. would probably be working on a project up until the very last minute. You are forced to focus all your energy into getting that task done in time and you just start to crank it out rather mechanically.

     Uniformity of mind for an artist has to do with a common thought process that goes through the artist's head whenever they think about a new piece. This similar thought process helps create a method for the artist and helps them to develop their signature style.

     Boot camp focuses more on getting your body in shape whereas the chambers focus on both your body and your mind.

     Within the art school environment, making and showing art becomes more of a simulation compared to the dog-eat-dog art world outside in the "real world". This is more of a training ground where it's okay to make mistakes in order to learn and grow, but there really isn't much room for that outside of art school.

      To challenge the master in art school would probably mean challenging any professor's notions of what is "good" and what is "bad" (or acceptable versus unacceptable). By thinking outside the box and trying to be unique and innovative in everything you do, you can effectively challenge your professors to   accommodate their teaching to the advancement of your work.

     The protagonist's nunchucks can be compared to times in my art school experience when I am crunched for time or am having a hard time coming up with a good idea and I decide to improvise or just go with whatever comes to me. Sometimes by doing so, I can get better results than if I overthink things.

     The 36th chamber could relate to the spreading of artistic knowledge beyond simply artists and educating others on the importance of the artistic world. For me, my 36th chamber would be my family and friends who are not artists. I enjoy showing them my work and explaining things I've learned to get them thinking more about the world as an artistic place.

     Once I leave art school, making art will definitely become much more serious and focused for me. I will have to concentrate extra hard on pleasing not only myself but others as well (clients, coworkers, etc.). Art will not be such an introverted thing anymore but rather a process that must be marketed or shown to others in order to be effective.

John Armleder Interview Questions

1) Armleder feels that the artist should, first and foremost, try to please himself, and that the artist must understand and appreciate their own work in order to create a successful show. The audience is a sort of afterthought and their reactions, while completely valid, are secondary to the initial reaction of the actual artist.

5) I do agree with his comment on generic art to an extent. I agree that if the art is not thought-provoking, it is, in a sense, unsuccessful, however, I believe that not all art must be influenced by preconceived ideas. Completely new ideas can be invented and still have the same amount of impact and still "exist" and be
considered artwork without borrowing or copying what is already known.

8) By "pseudointelligent idea" he means an idea that is intended to be clever and well-thought-out but isn't quite working. In fact, it may even fail to get the point across. I think this is a strange way to make art. I can see it being effective if the failure is intended along with the "intelligence" behind it, but yet, if the idea is developed with the intention of it not working, then the overall meaning of the work can get very confusing and unclear in my opinion.

9) I would not be interested in doing the kind of work he does in the room with the paintings of dots because I feel that I would have no connection to that kind of art. I am not a sculpture person, and certainly not to the degree of random compilation that Armleder's work often entails. I usually enjoy creating more representational art and often have trouble with abstract, so I feel like creating the kind of work Armleder creates would be challenging for me.

10) Whenever artwork is viewed, it is looked at with a mixture of vagueness and precision. Parts of the art will be easily and clearly defined and understandable while others will be more ambiguous and subjective. I find that this can be true of my artwork because sometimes I will find hidden meanings much later that I was unaware had been there before. Sometimes I will make something purely instinctually only to find that it was really my subconscious at work, creating a more vague side to my work.

11) I believe that there should be a good balance between confusion and explanation. Confusion in itself would definitely be more exciting because it adds an element of mystery or surprise to a piece, but at the same time, the viewer should not be so utterly confused that they fail to find any meaning in the work and become so frustrated that they lose interest. Any confusion that is caused should be intentional and lead up to a greater explanation in the end in order to create a meaningful piece.

12) I find his art to be beneficial to himself, but to himself only. Viewers can still appreciate the work, but if the artist is only creating it to better himself, then I feel as if he may as well not show it to the public at all. It's good to improve, but by stating that the purpose of the shows are only to please himself, then it makes the audience a sort of afterthought, as if the artist doesn't really care for their opinions (even though he states them as valid). I found his methods to be very confusing. His ways of thinking about art and creating work are vastly different than anything I've seen/experienced/read about in the past, so even though it was confusing, I was still interested. I feel that his experimentation and willingness to improve is inspiring in itself, but I was a bit put off by the fact that he seems to be fairly self absorbed and often fails to acknowledge the impact his work has on the viewers. All in all, I do feel like Armleder and his work are worth a chance because his methods and thought processes are entirely unique.