Brian Dettmer

His work is INCREDIBLE!  I am so inspired by all of the images I found on this website: http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/.  I recommend everyone to look at these so called “book autopsies”.  They are really impressive.  He works with both text and images inside of books.  He creates fully 3-dimensional sculptures out of dictionaries, and all sorts of other books.  He uses the images to create a sort of narrative to go along with the textual elements.  Really there is not much to say beyond seeing the work for yourself so I will include lots of images!  Check this out…

Josh Macphee

I discovered Josh Macphee’s work 2 months ago when I had an assignment for my Chicano Art Studies class with David Avalos.  We had a research paper to write about the Prison Nation series in the CSUSM library.  Josh Macphee’s work was featured in the library among other talented artists.  Although this work does not fall into the category of book art or graphic art, it is similar to the work of other artists we have studied in the class (such as street artists).  The thing I love most about his work is that he is really making a statement with every piece.  They are all politically charged in some aspect.  There is an art to presenting concepts of injustice and other horrible things occurring in societies around the world.  He presents these concepts with grace because his work is so well thought out.  His color choices, representations, text, fonts, and compositions all work together to form beautiful creations.  He has his work up all over the internet, not only for aesthetic pleasure, but to spread the word on topics he believes are important, and not talked enough about in general.  I am thinking about purchasing some of his silk screen prints for my house.  His work is original and thoughtful.

Emma Powell

Emma Powell is an altered book artist.  She is currently being recognized on the Altered Book Association’s website.  I found her work through that site.  I love what she does with books.  Her work is so multi-faceted it’s hard to focus on one thing that I like.  She has done work with stitching paper, cutouts, faux painting, metals, gift cards, and a variety of other methods.  She is so detailed oriented, and this is what I really resonated with.  That is my best and worst quality as an artist.  I find one thing and cannot get my focus off of it until it is completed to the point that it may be considered overdone compared to the rest of the work.  She has had various exhibitions and has taught graphic design courses as well.  She seems very interesting as an artist, I really look forward to looking up more of her work online!

Cartoneros

I recently saw the documentary film entitled “Cartoneros”.  It was featured at CSUSM in arts 240.  It was about the economic crisis in Argentina and how many were forced onto the streets.  The film was great because it showed the human struggle, and how people will come together as a community to make the most of a situation.  

The individuals in the film called cartoneros collected recyclable materials in their carts and sold them back to make money.  In efforts of turning trash into revenue, it also kept the streets cleaner in some aspect.  It shows how consumer products can go full circle when we become resourceful.  From consumer>cartonero>back to the hands of the consumer as a recycled object.  

I would recommend this film to anyone and everyone.  It was very informative, but entertaining at the same time.  I would especially recommend it to those who have had no third world country experience.  It puts the current recession into perspective, and helped me to truly appreciate what I have no matter how little it may seem in comparison to my surroundings.

New York Museum of Modern Art

In February I got to go to the MOMA in New York City.  It is home to some pieces of art I’ve been dying to see for years.  I saw Picasso’s work, Rothko, Pollock, Giaciometti, Warhol, and so many others.  I was extra thrilled about Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol’s pieces.  They were even more beautiful in person.  I’ve been seeing them in text books for years, but it’s different to see them in front of you.  Especially with Pollock’s work.  His pieces are based so much on the texture that goes into them.  There is no comparison to seeing how vivid their colors and texture are than in person.  Warhol’s work was great because of the scale and colorful nature.  The Campbell soup cans took up the entire wall.  The piece as a whole was really gigantic.  I loved his silk screen of Marilyn Monroe.  It’s so beautiful in person.  I felt really privileged to have gone to New York for the weekend to see these pieces.  

La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art

I recently went to the La Jolla MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art).  I have been to this museum several times, but I really enjoyed the last time I went because I didn’t go with specific intentions.  I went to enjoy a day in La Jolla, and got to really look at the art for what it was.  I loved that I didn’t have a certain assignment to fulfill.  I didn’t have to walk around the museum with a set of questions to answer.  I noticed for the first time how beautiful the museum is.  I’m in an installation art class and I have paid better attention to space since I’ve been in the class.  I notice how art reflects the space, and how space can reflect the art work that is inside of it.  The museum sits on the oceanfront in La Jolla, and they actually have a really great outdoor garden sculpture collection.  You can walk through it and see the ocean at the same time, it’s really relaxing.  

Jasper Johns is one of my favorite artists of all time.  I was lucky enough to see his piece on light bulbs while I was there.  I love that his work deals with a variety of steps and media.  There are always tons of pieces to each of his exhibitions.  There were sketches, and renderings, and even sculptures of the light bulb.  He is a very multi-faceted artist in every regard.  This was not his most impressive exhibit (at least not my favorite), but it was definitely interesting to look at.  I am very impressed by his work in general.  It was a treat to get to see some of his work in the museum.

costa rica

After changing my mind about 100 times, I have decided to do my book on my passion for travel.  I will have most pictures of my 7 months in Costa Rica.  I have been photoshopping the pictures for quite some time now.  Mostly over the last few weeks.  I have missed Costa Rica so much, it’s been good for me to look at all of my pictures.  I have over 5,000 pictures from my stay.  Although I am not an accomplished photographer by any means, I have been compiling them as interestingly as possible.  I made a scrapbook a while ago, but it does not have such a professional feel.  I am going to take some of the journal entries I had from the trip and string them through the book (to give a sense of poetic narrative).  The pictures vary from people, to places, to cultural traditions, etc.  While I was there I feel like a part of me was left there in a sense.  I became very close to one family specifically.  I still stay in touch with them to this day.  The time I spent there was so vital to who I am today.  I realized while I was there that the world does not revolve around fortune and status.  It’s about finding what is truly important, and the people there seem to have that figured out.  Their lives are not defined by their possessions.  Their lives are defined by life’s beauty…by their family, friends, and the place they live.  Their homes are simple, and they live off of the necessities.  This showed me what is important in life, and has given me a new life perspective.  I look forward to going back in August, and I have a feeling that I will have a hard time coming back to the United States after my trip there.  Mostly my travels in Latin America have given me a sense of global perspective…what it means to open our eyes to something greater, to something outside of ourself.

continued book

I have drawn inspiration from so many things (for the book) that it is hard for me to stay concentrated on what is really important.  I have a really hard time narrowing down images, content, and meaning.  It’s always been a struggle for me because I have so many interests.  I find beauty in so many things, whether simple or complex.  I really want the essence of my book to show that beauty can be found in so many things.  I constantly find myself doing double takes all day long.  I find beauty in piles of trash if there just so happens to be complimenting colors and shapes.  Anything can be beautiful if we look with an open mind.  The most important thing for me to remember is that beauty is not always “pretty”.  Something beautiful may be incredibly painful to look at, but the beauty can be found in its honesty.  Through reading back on my journal entries and this past year’s artwork, I find this thought process to be a pattern.  Beauty is something that is seen by those who wish to see it.  My own experience has been that the more I look for it in things the more I find it.  When I look for beauty in horrible life situations, I’m able to cope with it better.  The same goes from day to day life.  I find beauty in a sunset, a shadow, a blade of grass, a strand of hair.  How much better life would be if we all could see the beauty it has to offer.  Beauty in small things, big things, complicated things, simple things, eye grasping things, average things, relationships, people, personalities, spaces.  The opportunities for understanding the simple complexity of beauty are endless.  I hope my book can challenge this concept.

blurb book

I’ve been experimenting and weighing the pros and cons for this book all semester.  I have done a few blurb books before, but none with the theme of “myself”.  It scares me to do a whole 40 page book about my own life.  I think the theme could really encompass so many things.  For me, this is a good and bad thing.  I have decided this past weekend to do little pieces of my life thus far.  I am going to mainly focus on memory, and using excerpts from my journal, will create a sort of on-going dialogue between the reader and myself.  The book will include memories I have had, experiences I have encountered, and my thoughts on life in general (what I want out of life, and how these things I have done and will do will get me there).  I want other people to be both visually and intellectually intrigued by what the book says artistically.  Although I am not the best photographer or Photoshop professional, I am working with my photos to the best of my ability.  Text will play a huge role for the book as well.  I am excited to see how it comes out.  I will try my best to post my progress over the next week on here, although it seems I am not up to date (technologically speaking), as most entries find their way into my hand-written journal.  These are a few images I have been playing with the past semester…I love the idea of incorporating text into the images…but these are really just preliminary ideas

David Carson

It’s so cool to think about how an artist can use his/her resources.  There is so much available to the creative mind, with willingness, and the drive to seek opportunities for creativity.  It’s been one of the hardest things to learn for me as an artist, but at the same time, it is so valueable in every sense of the concept.  When I am able to realize that beauty can be found in just about anything, I can be receptive to see exactly what that might be.  It’s so amazing what software can do these days, but at the same time, there is a beauty to something that is completely made by hand.  When combining the two methods,  it can become even more dynamic.  A creative mind can find beauty in a stain on paper, or a dead, shriveled flower.  As an artist, you quickly learn that something beautiful is not always pretty, but could be full of thought value rather than aesthetically pleasing value.  It could be moving, rather than pleasing to the eye.  This is what a creative mind sees.  They see past what is beautiful by cultural standards, and they seek to highlight what is beautiful about that thing.  David Carson does a great job of working with the little that he has.  He uses fonts, and interesting scraps of things to show that you don’t need really great photographers and symmetric page layouts to have a successful composition.