Lying in Art

I tend to really dislike lying and any type of deception, but in a way, a lot of art is about creating things that don’t otherwise exist, and inducing people to believe certain imaginary things. I think the important distinction is that ling outside of art is usually about a type of manipulation of reality that can hurt others in some way, or where the person lying can hide behind and not take responsibility for his or her actions. Lying in art is about bringing to life things that wouldn’t exist before but for the sake of joy, or causing thought, or controversy. In that sense, it is impersonal, while actual lies usually have one person or more who will or could be negatively affected by it. To me, it goes back to intention. On the project we’re creating for class, the intention is to learn, so it is a white lie. In the “Two Amerindians” it is great that they pretended to be Amerindians, because it really gave the audience a flush of emotions as they looked at the cage, and inside that, a gut reaction to realities that we don’t always allow ourselves to be aware of…

Collages – Appropriation/manipulation/originality

This is such a gray area to me, but I can see how determining if an art work is original by analyzing how different it is from the original it sprouted from. In the case of Richard Prince, I would agree that the changes he added to the original images created something very new and different, but part of me still feels that the artist who took the original pictures should at least be mentioned. Prince would not have created what he created without Cariou’s images, and I feel that should be honored.

It was interesting reading how appropriation has evolved over time, and come to think of it, it makes sense that it would have and that’s important to understand the historical context around it. This reading made me think of a question I heard once. If someone gives me a painting, and I don’t like a passage, is it ok to paint over that part of it? As a consumer, I want to say yes, as an artist, I really really don’t like the idea…

Collages

Trash is such an issue, but I hardly ever hear anyone talk about it as such. As if the things we dispose of magically disappear when the garbage man picks them up. There truth is that there are landfills in poor areas, there is something called The Soup, which is a massive trash patch in the middle of the ocean—miles wide. Trash nowadays is a reflection of how we became a culture of throwing things away rather than fixing them, a culture where we don’t bother to understand how our action impact others (as long as it’s “not on our backyard). Trash is a reminder of how consumerism and our love for the ephemeral and disposable impact our environment, but only to those who care to see where it goes, those who don’t pretend trash vanishes without a trace, those who know that it is poisoning something somewhere. There’s trash everywhere, and not just in the literal sense. There is so much we worship as a culture that easily qualifies as trash…

I am for an art…

I am for an art that brings joy and laughter and reminds people that there’s beauty in life

I am for an art that inspires thought and self-reflection and plants seeds of personal growth

I am for an art that is pretty and pleasant and does nothing more than add beauty to the world

I am for an art that pisses people off and in the process causes positive change

I am for an art that can be created by anyone at any time

Totems Assignment

As I read Beuy’s article, I realized that there is a wealth of information in any material especially as they relate to how they are arranged in space. And, I think it’s important to always remind myself that I can access perceived meanings based on my own background and history, and the subconscious filters of what I learned and believe in life—which might not always be the same that the artist had in mind when creating the pieces.

To me, sand will always represent my childhood running barefoot on the beach and water always remind me of the calming effects of swimming in the ocean. Books and typed pages are a metaphor to all the curiosity and quest for knowledge I inherited from my parents. Rocks always fascinate me with all their different colors, shapes and textures, but I can’t really identify them as a metaphor for anything I can think of. If I were to make up a meaning, I would say that rocks pave the path as I go through life…

Darkness and Light Project

For this project, I chose symbols that best express me, but they were all positive and, in that sense, light. I chose the Heart Chakra symbol to express my wish to always come from a space of love, no matter the circumstances. The hummingbird is there as a symbol of joy, to acknowledge my internal search to develop being happy without a reason, since if we need a reason to be happy, as soon as the reason is gone, the happiness goes with it. The G is there to give my family presence, since it is the first letter of my first name. The way I write it resembles the symbol for eternity, an allusion to my spirituality. The flowers represent growing together with another person. I just now realized that there were no symbols in my project that expressed or acknowledged my dark side, my faults or flaws in any way…

Light and Dark Assignment

In my project, the way I approached it was that whatever was representing me was light, while the background was all black—as in the creation stories where first there was darkness, and then light was bestowed allowing everything to become visible, and allowing us to see. In a way, choosing the elements that I wanted to use to represent me, was a way of bringing these things into the light, into visibility as I cut away the black paper to give them shape.
I found it interesting how Kara Walker does most of her work in black and white, and that the same idea of dichotomy that is represented through the colors (black and white) and the technique that she utilizes (from the late 18^th century applied nowadays) is also found in the stories that are told by her characters. The people represented are those who have most of the power and those who are mostly victims, but even those that have very little power are represented both while having power and while being the victims of power, such as the Negress.
It was fun reading William Kentridge’s article and how he talks about the nature of shadows when writing about Black Box, and that “something about shadows makes us very conscious of the activity of seeing.” The idea of light and shadow as representing the things that we see and don’t see in all areas of life, and through all the senses, is a very interesting analogy. I know that there are often things right in front of me, that no matter how much natural light shines on them, I still don’t see them—somehow, to me, they are in the shadows—inaccessible.

Color assignment entry

I loved reading Code Pink, because it gives an actual example of how much of these associations we make are just made up--even though we relate to them as absolute truths. One thing I noticed when visiting India, was how men there unabashedly wear pink. I shared a train cabin with a guy who carried his work papers in a very big and pink tote bag. That was the first time I really realized that at some point someone in this hemisphere decided that pink was for girls, and we've been blindly following that for some reason...

I think color is a power force in visual arts 9as per each article) because:
1. It's such an example of how we create our reality and perception. Someone decides pink is for girls decades ago, and here we are still following that as if it really was some kind of truth other than what we make up. But these associations are at the core for who we are, despite being real or made up. Depending on the culture colors arise different feelings and reactions, and to me art is all about inspiring emotions and reactions in the viewers...
2. Going back to how perception is manufactured, it was interesting reading about creating a product in a different color and with a higher price point makes that color be perceived as a "class signifier." 
3. The way the color red in described at the end of I am Red is pretty and relates to the emotions and experiences we tend to relate to the colors--which often varies according to different cultures.

Ultimately, color is powerful because from them we have emotional reactions that can makes love or hate a piece of art. Despite the reaction being positive or negative, there's a reaction and feelings that weren't there before looking at a piece, and to me, that's what art is all about.

Me...

Hello!

I am Brazilian, woman, teacher at a community college, searcher of spiritual and self-knowledge, and now adding artist to the list. I have made jewelry and sold it for a few years, but that now is taking a backseat so that the fun of drawing and painting becomes my main passion and focus.

I have not yet figured out what my style of painting is, just that I enjoy doing it. I am excited to see how it will evolve, and where it will take me. I would love to be able to convey beauty, warmth and happiness in my works, and have that hanging in people’s homes to brighten their spaces as well as their days. There is one artist that does that for me—Yue Minjun. Most of his works make me smile, and that showed me it is possible to have that impact in other people’s lives in a way that I had not experienced before. He is my present muse. :)

Cheers!
Ka