Friday, April 30, 2010

Ashcan Art also known as Ash Can art's creation was a revolutionary art movement. In the United States Ashcan art is more commonly recognized to be darker and depressing; paintings of a dark city alleyway rather than a bright sunny field. This form came as the first important art movement of the 20th century. Made up of young revolutionary artists the Ashcan School is a group of painters that rebelled against academic taught art with their own individual style that stood out from all other forms. The group sought to capture the feeling of life at the turn of the century. Crowded dirty cities showing dark alleyways or bars captured a darker feeling than alot of paintings during that era. Paint was applied thickly and rapidly leaving evidence of brushstrokes. This is how the art was rebelling against academic tendencies. The movement is most associated with The Eight, a group of painters five of which are associated with the Ashcan School. These painters sought to display the truth about life in a busy urban city.

I find this group of painters very interesting, and personally inspiring. They rebelled against "normal" art and sought to convey their own personal messages, in their art. They took the world of art and turned it upside-down, just because they felt like it. To know that it is possible, to try something new, and different and become successful inspires me in all my work to strive further. Strive further and find that particular personal aspect of me going into my work. These painters noticed something, and felt the need to stick out like a swore thumb and display their opinion. It's people like this , constantly pushing the envelope, that end up changing the world forever. This does not only inspire me to try harder at my work, but any task i take personally.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Self Portrait

THis year in my Cyber arts class, we were assigned to digitally create a self portrait of ourselves. After this digital portrait is completed we are then painting it onto canvas. I chose this project to share because i feel it will be one of my best works. When the planning first came we needed to choose an art style that we were going to attempt to mimic. Many ideas came to mind, mainly clinging to surrealist styles. The idea I settled on was me as a zombie; this inspiration comes from being raised on zombie movies. My plan has many layers of meaning, which took a while for me to work out in my head. I'm trying to convey that i am a reliable person, who is stern in their beliefs. As of now it is a work in progress, and I'm still trying to figure out many details in the background. This project proves to be lengthy and will take all of my creative-thinking power to achieve what i am aiming for. Here is what i have so far.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sprockets 2010

Yesterday April 20, our cyber arts class was included in a special screening of short films, hosted by sprockets. These short films, some animated brought many topics to attention about our global world. Others were just cartoons with foxes running around. One film, done in French was about a man making a movie, and it follows him shooting one of his scenes in a hospital. The whole short film leaves you confused, with the actors making it seem actually real. This comes to your attention when the actress is acting sick even when they are not shooting. I though this was a very unique technique for a movie to use.

The next longer film we saw was a cartoon in French, taking place in forest and a castle. It followed the story of a depressed princess with her rat "parents" and her unicorn friend named "U". U helps her become happy and almost acts as her guardian angle, as Molly the princess describes it. Their land is disrupted by a travelling gang of musicians. Molly's "parents" do not approve of these visitors and want them off their land. The whole story focuses on in depth character development for every single character. You feel compassion for every character, and understand their problems from every angle. No other movie has made me understand each character so well. These short films were a great experience and I'm glad I was a part of it.