The Fort

A group project for my conceptual art class - the prompt was to "alter an environment to create an experience for others".  We built a fort out of sticks and blankets and pillows in the school library.  The idea was to bring the comfort of the home into a public space.

Figures

I just started to get into figure painting this quarter, and here's some of my first pieces!  I based them off photographs that I took.  The first one is of my friend Chia, and the second one is of my dad.  They're all done in oil. 

Chia - 2012 - Oil on Canvas - 29 x 37

Yanto - 2012 - Oil on Canvas - 24 x 36

(Detail - "Yanto")

Conceptual art

 

I’m taking a conceptual art class this quarter.  This is definitely new to me – I’m not used to thinking so abstractly.  The class is called “Structures for Art” but I feel like the projects show the complete opposite; it lacks structure and is very open ended.  The mediums you can work with are not limited – you can use anything you want to convey the “concept” that you are developing.  This is our class blog, if you’re interested in checking it out: 
http://waltersutinvis111.blogspot.com/?view=classic  

I sometimes feel that the things that we end up talking about make no sense.  I guess you just have to try to keep an open mind because everyone has his or her own interpretation of what is “art”.  Anyway, here are some of the projects that I’ve done this past quarter:

For the first one, we were told to bring a “meaningful” object to class and then trade our objects with our classmates, and then put a new meaning into the object and turn it into a piece.  You can choose to include the actual object in your piece or you can make a piece inspired by the object.  The object I had to work with was an old frame covered in gold coating with a picture of a girl in her graduation gown. 

I chose to take out the picture and use the frame by itself.  I used an old painting as the base of my piece (it is the ground where I would place the frame). Graduation is associated with a sense of determination and motivation, it is a milestone that shows that you’ve achieved something great and that now it is time for something new.  I wanted to incorporate the actual frame because it is covered in gold; it has a sense of glory and success to it, which is exactly what I wanted to include in my piece.  I chose to use the empty (gold) frame without the picture because it is to be used more than once – to frame the other things that we will be proud of in the future; therefore, it stands as the metaphor for that sense of determination to move forward in life and achieve things that will make us content and happy with ourselves. 

Untitled (2012) - Mixed Media

 

The second piece is based on the idea of drinking water and the benefits of yoga and the sensation that is shared by the two, which is the feeling of being refreshed.  (*I wrote a more elaborate paper on this idea but for the sake of keeping it short and simple for this blog entry I’m just summing it up!) So my project here resembles the “light” that is being restored in the human body by the act of drinking water.  I used a night light fixture and covered it with plastic wrap covered in acrylic gel medium (to give its texture) and planted it on a piece of cardboard covered in gold coloured powder.  The shape I created with the plastic wrap is very organic and non-representational, which emphasizes the nature of water.  The gold is to accentuate the shining light and it stands as a metaphor of our functional and beautifully designed bodies that are being restored.  I also included a candle, which creates a balance compositionally and also metaphorically – flame of the candle and water creates a neutral, which is the human body.  

This is what it look like in day light

Detail of gel medium with the candle

Restore (2012) - Mixed Media

In class presentation

"Kawangi"

 

"Kawangi"

Oil paint on paper - 36 x 48 - 2012

This painting is based on a photograph I took of my friend Kawangi during a photoshoot we did in 2009 in a sawah (Indonesian term for rice fields) next to our high school in the island of Bali.

 

Emotional Trees

 "Struggling"

Graphite on paper - 2012

 

"Awoken"

Graphite on paper - 2012

 

 "Joyful"

Graphite on paper - 2012

 "Drunk"

Graphite on paper - 2012

Remakings

Some pieces from my painting class; this first one is an assignment where we have to do a remaking of a master's work; I chose to do one of a portrait by Gustave Courbet.  We also had to use the grid system, which I never use; I like to do things free hand! And I don't personally like to do these remakings, but I guess it's a good way to practice technique.

A remake of a portrait by Gustave Courbet titled "Portrait of the Artist (Man with a Pipe)"
c. 1848-49
Oil on canvas  

To see original painting: http://artchive.com/artchive/C/courbet/courbet_pipe.jpg.html

This is where we paint. 

Some studies of other master works that i did in soft pastels:

My interpretation of a portrait done by Rembrant

My interpretation of a portrait done by Courbet

Visual Journal

Hello 2012! So I've decided that I will start a visual journal - a place where I will share my ideas.  I can say now that this will not be one of those goals that I set out in the beginning of the year and eventually forget about (last year, I bought myself a palm sized daily calendar mole skin where I planned to draw something daily and I only got to Febuary so the rest of the pages are empty.  Now I use that little book as a coaster and sometimes as my bookshelf divider - so I guess it hasn't gone to complete waste).  But that's not the point.  

 

I'm sharing some pages of my sketchbook from last year's painting class.  This is where I sketched out random thoughts and ideas; so in this visual journal I will be including many of my sketchbook pages.  In this first page I've included a quote from Mary Rozzi, a photographer featured in Feist's documentary Look at What the Light Did Now, which talks about the feeling of being exposed in public (not literally).  I don't quite remember why I wrote down that specific quote but I can tell you that I'm obsessed with that documentary.   Leslie Feist is one of my biggest inspirations because she is a woman who knows who she is and the world is her playground.  I saw her live last November in The Wiltern in Los Angeles and I ended up on stage with her - but that is a story for another day.  

I love reading my own notes, it's like, you're observing yourself.  Observing your past thoughts and ideas.  In this second page I was doing research on Latin American artists for my class.  One that I really liked is Jason de Caires Taylor, a man who made these underwater sculptures.  Here's a link to his website, in case you're curious:  http://www.underwatersculpture.com/ His work is insane.

This next one is just my little doodles of organic forms.  I love organic forms. I’m thinking of maybe starting a whole series of paintings or charcoal pieces dedicated to them (I don’t mean to be repeating the great Georgia O’Keeffe, whom I highly admire).  I’m thinking of being more ambiguous.  Ambiguous like a Panda bear.