Monthly Archives: February 2015

Space & Materiality | Paper Folding

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For the first task in the Habitat series, experimentation was taken to a whole new level. This idea of folding paper, that ultimately just doesn’t want to be folded (I’ve become vastly aware of the stubbornness of bristol this week) was somewhat confusing.

But thankfully the whole class was having similar angst feelings about this project. To create a ‘second skin’, using only bristol paper, a scalpel, needle and thread or wire we all thought to be virtually impossible. However, after tedious amounts of folding, scoring, cutting and more folding, i eventually got the Habit of it and began developing my hand. I should also mention the part where i stupidly spent a whole day isolating my pieces… on the wrong paper…lesson to always check the paper LEARNED!

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“SELF PORTRAITURE”

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For the next phase of our Studio project, we are to create a series of self portraits that conceptually capture the essence of our past and present lives. Closely engaging with the ‘I remember’ list as well as our individual postcards, this assignment ultimately allows us to draw upon both conventional and non-conventional notions of Portraiture to depict our self in a multi-faceted way. Here are examples and inspirations of Artists who demonstrate this very idea, challenging basic ideologies of the way artist may identify with themselves while epitomising how society is constantly influencing the art world.

Chuck Close – I am not trying to make facsimiles of photographs. Neither am I interested in the icon of the head as a total image. I don’t want the viewer to see the whole head at once and assume that that’s the most important aspect of my painting. I am not making Pop personality posters like the ones they sell in the Village. That’s why I choose to do portraits of my friends–individuals that most people will not recognize. I don’t want the viewer to recognize the head of Castro and think he has understood my work

 

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Cindy Sherman– Universally known for her distortion of the concept of self portraiture- utilising costume, make-up and digital manipulation to exacerbate her excessive passion of self exploration and “using my face as a canvas…”

“I’ll see a photograph of a character and try to copy them on to my face. I think I’m really observant, and thinking how a person is put together, seeing them on the street and noticing subtle things about them that make them who they are.”

“There’s a theory that there were so many women photographers at the time because we felt nobody else was doing it. We couldn’t or didn’t really want to go into the male-dominated painting world, so since there weren’t any artists who were using photographs, we thought, ‘Well, yeah, let’s just play with that.’ “

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Week 3 Studio

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This week in class, we displayed our selection of postcards, illustrating ‘How We Got Here.’ This concept was utilised and interpreted in many ways; some demonstrating quite literally their journey through life and others slightly more metaphorically. As my individual transition to Parsons has revolved greatly around my relentless travels and self-exploration, i chose to centre my work around the notion of a physical journey.

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Week 2 Assignment | Int. Seminar

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So i’m starting to get more of a hang on this whole ‘talking notes’ thing, which was the same story for our week two assignment combined with a three pages essay/short narrative detailing a selection of memories from our simultaneous studio project.

  1. On Dumpster Diving – Lars Eighner

In Eighners recount, ‘On Dumpster Diving’ there is a deep sense of satire while maintaining overwhelming utilization of an aphorism tone, indicating the mundane realities of living homeless. Through Eighners systematic detailing of the processes of ‘scavenging’, it becomes evident the extent to which looking through trash consumes his everyday life, in particularly when materialistic objects lose value in the face of survival. There are occasions where the term ‘Dumpster’ has been personified, ultimately highlighting its important and ambiguous nature. In his expression, “A dumpster is somehow less persona” Eighners couples the various charactertics of a dumpster and contrasts them against those of personal garbage which demonstrates his sincere connection and dedication to life as a scavenger on a far more personal level. Furthermore, Eighners insights raise questions about what our modern society perceives as waste and the issues of a mass consumerism, highly materialistic way of living.

Quotes 

“Every grain of rice seems to be a maggot. Everything seems to stink. He can wipe the egg yolk off the found can, but he cannot erase the stigma of eating garbage out of his mind.” (pg 4 Para 8)

“Every bit of glass may be a diamond, they think, and all that glistens, gold.” (pg 4)

“A Dumpster is somehow less personal” – personification (pg 5)

“I think of scavenging as a modern form of self-reliance.” (pg 7)

“Some material things are white elephants that eat up the possessor’s substance.

Transience of material being.” (pg 8)

> While reading this article, i noticed a distinct connection between Eighner and his dog Lizebeth and a homeless street artist i came across in Shoreditch, East London.

John Dolan is one of East London’s most notorious artists. For three years Dolan sat every day with his dog George on Shoreditch High Street and documented the surrounding architecture, elevating the old, decrepit buildings that are so often ignored and under-appreciated. In the past, Dolan was in and out of prison and has experienced homelessness for the past 20 years.

Dolan would draw portraits of George as he sat beside him, and began to sell these drawings to the people he saw walk up and down Shoreditch High Street every day. Dolan and George’s fame grew throughout the area and culminated in Dolan’s break out debut exhibition in September 2013 which focused on the artist’s expansive cityscapes and featured unique collaborations with international street artists.

Below is my own photo of John and George, taken around November and a selection of his many art works.

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  1. Thirty Days as a Caribbean – Pinching pesos and dropping pounds in Havana

By Patrick Symmes

In the same way Eighner highlights the vast disparities of living with no means of‘wants’ just ‘needs’, Symmes representation of himself; an American journalist living ’30 days as a Cuban’ depicts those exact discrepancies, exacerbated by a culture in which exists entirely off self-sustainability and recyclable resources. In many ways, the article alludes to issues faced in a modern day society where consumers are consistently agitated by materialistic-hunger within culture of homogenous greed, heavily juxtaposed against that of a local Cuban who’s main goal in life is daily survival.

“Everything is fine now,” I told him, delirious with low blood sugar. “Even the prostitutes are giving me money.”

“They were worried about ice cream. In my experience, no one who is hungry craves ice cream.”

“Just as Cubans exploit loopholes to survive, I worked my obvious foreign- ness to my benefit, wandering that day in and out of fancy hotels few Cubans could enter.”

100 Memories | Int. Studio

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  1. I remember in kindergarten, i was running to class with my shoe laces untied when I felt a pulling sensation on my feet and suddenly I was sent flying into the brick wall right in front. I still have the scar.
  2. I remember my first birthday party; I was dressed as winnie the poo and had a cake to match my costume. Whilst blowing out my candles I remember getting cake all over my shirt.
  3. I remember in Year three, I was sent out to the principles office for taking another students shoe and running down the hall.
  4. I remember one family holiday to Bali, it was a month before the bali bombings in 2000 and at the resort there were performances each night. I was four years old and was asked by a boy the same age to be my dancing partner in the show that night.
  5. I remember meeting my grandparents, aunties and cousins for the first time. They picked us up from the airport in Perth, WA and we drove to their house in my grandpa’s big white van. He was a tour guide at that time.
  6. I remember the day we got out first dog, we picked her up from the airport and when my dad asked me what we should name her. I looked down at my teddy bear and at the tag that was attached to it I named ‘Mimi’… that was what we named her.
  7. I remember the day I lost my teddy bear at the dog park. Its name was pink teddy and it was my favourite toy for 5 or so years. I never got another toy despite how hard my parents tried to replace it.
  8. I remember my year four class, we weren’t allowed to eat nuts during school because a child was allergic. One day another girl from class was eating a peanut butter sandwich and so I told the teacher and got her in trouble.
  9. I remember my trip to newyork when I was 12, it was my cousins wedding and I had never been to the city before.
  10. I remember walking down canal street in the middle of summer and being overwhelmed at all the bags and jewellery everywhere.
  11. I remember my year 5 dance and how I wore a stripey white and purple shirt. My crush had asked my best friend to dance and I ran to the bathroom crying.
  12. I remember sleeping over at a girl from schools house one night, she lived up the road and we used to have sleepovers all the time. One night I felt scared and walked home at 5am without telling the family.
  13. i remember a pirate show I watched once in las vegas; it was the most frightening thing I’d ever seen and I ran and hid in the gift shop.
  14. I remember going to an amusement park where they had a batman performance and the ‘catwoman’ whip against the ground.
  15. I remember one time at a carnival, I asked my mum to buy me a dora the explorer balloon but accidently let it go and it flew off into the air.
  16. I remember the time I had my first proper pony ride- we were walking along a cliff and I was on a white Shetland. The group started trotting and I slipped off the side.
  17. I remember a day where my next door neighbour and I spent a whole day going from house to house swimming in each others pools and watching cat in the hat.
  18. I remember the day my mum picked me up from school with a bag and pink collar inside it; we were going to the vet to pick out my first cat.
  19. I remember the day my sister had a Wizard of Oz party and I was dressed as Glinda the witch of the north. I had helped make the entire outfit out of hot pink satin and sparkling cardboard for the crown.
  20. I remember the time we moved into a rental apartment while our house was being renovated
  21. I remember an arts and crafts class I went to during a summer break where we made wooden dolls and their clothes.
  22. I remember the first MacDonald’s cheeseburger I had, which was located in the plaza of our rental.
  23. I remember the Hi-5 live show I went to see with my nanny. It was one of my favourite tv shows
  24. I remember the last day of preschool when all the kids had to come in the uniforms for their kindergarten. Mine was blue and white and I wore a round navy drawstring hat.
  25. I remember nap time in preschool; I wet the bed so often that I had a special waterproof mattress
  26. I remember trying to fall asleep during nap time when they would play podcasts from hairy maclarey the a nursery rhyme.
  27. I remember the last night in our old house before moving; we had eaten spagetti in a furniture-less room and photographed the whole place.
  28. i remember the overnight school camping trip when we stayed at the school.
  29. I remember the time I faked an eye test so that I could get glasses
  30. I remember the first time I tried coffee, I ordered a cappuccino thinking it was chocolate.
  31. I remember my first cell phone it was an old nokia that had a hot pink louis vitton
  32. I remember going to a drama course during the holidays where we had to form a band and write songs.
  33. I remember going to Dooralong valley and the constant smell of woodfire
  34. I remember on the trip having private tennis lessons because the other kids didn’t show up.
  35. I remember playing millionaire with my family friends for the first time and winning
  36. I remember going to band camp for the first year.
  37. I remember crying when I saw my parents when they came and watched the final concert
  38. I remember going to my first concert Hilary duff and wearing the merchandise shirt
  39. I remember the athletics carnival was on my birthday and I won all the races
  40. I remember one birthday we wanted to go to my favourite restaurant but it was closed down so we got takeout itallian.
  41. I remember the day someone through a nutella stick in my hair and took hours to get it out.
  42. I remember in preschool my honey sandwich leaked all over my lunchbox and ever since then I have hated honey
  43. I remember going to Canberra on a school trip and seeing the poppies at the war museum.
  44. I remember spending the winter in the blue mountains at a lodge and watching high school musical in the home theatre.
  45. I remember planning my 12th birthday party with my best friend
  46. I remember the day my baby brother was born and my dad came into my class room
  47. I remember the day I got 98 on a science exam because my teacher game me the real test thinking it was a practice paper
  48. I remember the sports carnival that took place in year 7 when people from around Australia joined for a week and played sport/ went to parties.
  49. I remember first meeting the girl who stayed with me, she was from Perth and was passionate about musical theatre.
  50. I remember going to my first foam party at an old abandoned high school
  51. I remember going to the beach with my friends I made on carnival and eating oportos and drinking V.
  52. I remember first jumping of ‘flat rock’ at bondi
  53. I remember going to boomerang beach for the first time and and the smell of a summer impulse perfume spray
  54. I remember eating pavlova at my aunties 21st birthday
  55. I remember being in the capital appeal festival that our school put on to fundraise building a new site.
  56. I remember the hall we used to have to go to in primary school when it was raining
  57. I remember seeing the first harry potter with my cousins
  58. I remember the time my nanny took me on a ferry to manly beach where we ate fish and chips.
  59. I remember the holiday to club med, lindamen island, where I made friends from Adelaide
  60. I remember the trip to Cairns my family and I went on for my dads work convention.
  61. We were surprised one night and taken to an amusement park at night time.
  62. I remember being a brides made at my aunties wedding
  63. I remember helping to make the placement settings out of paper,ribbon and shells
  64. I remember going skiing for the first time in Victoria and being in the milo ski school. We played celebritity heads while eating mango sorbet.
  65. I remember our family holiday to Europe in 2007. we stayed at the Langham in London and I can still remember the flower scent as you walk in.
  66. I remember the private yoga class my sister and I had in Mallorca spain and the smell of cinnamon
  67. I remember seeing the motorbikes and street lights in Ho chi minh city on our drive from the airport
  68. I remember walking through the tunnels from Vietnam war
  69. I remember going to river and eating traditional Vietnamese street food on the boat
  70. I remember going on my friends speed boat for the first time and going to get takeaway sushi from the bay
  71. I remember the first new years eve I was allowed to go to ‘Paradise beach’
  72. I remember the summer I went to forster with my four best friends and going to a water park and getting kicked out.
  73. I remember going to fiji for my teams netball tournament
  74. I remember the first school formal I was asked to go to, with a boy who I had never met before
  75. I remember my first experience at a mardi gras festival and getting dressed up in all sorts of crazy colours
  76. I remember ski trip with my new school in year 10 and almost losing my camera down a black run
  77. I remember going down the south coast with my two best friends and getting stuck in the mud on a bike ride
  78. I remember my first day of a new school and seeing everyone walk in and thinking ‘these will be my new friends’
  79. I remember on valentines day when a group of boys through a rose at me and hit me in the head
  80. I remember going to a friends brothers barmitzvah and got drunk, danced around with bongo drums and crazy masks.
  81. I remember going to my first three day music festival in Byron Bay and eating the best burger there
  82. I remember going to my friends farm where she almost got ran over by a humungous overweight hog
  83. I remember the day I found out my dog had died
  84. I remember going to my grandparents farm and read an entire Nicholas sparks book in three days
  85. I remember the exact moment I put down my pen in the very last exam in the hsc
  86. I remember the night we stayed overnight at the Zoo and could hear the lions roaring
  87. I remember first visiting Africa and going on a safari and seeing wild lions for the first time, they were covered in blood
  88. I remember going quad biking with my family and my brother tipping his over and finding it histerical
  89. I remember going to Tasmania on an art school trip and walking through the mona gallery.
  90. I remember going to new york for the winter in 2013 and first deciding I wanted to live here.
  91. I remember the day I started university in Sydney and thinking the term was starting the following week
  92. I remember going for breakfast one morning and fainting in the middle of the restaurant
  93. I remember the day I bought my horse
  94. I remember the day I left for my overseas travels and the day I came home
  95. I remember the smell of salt water in san Sebastian and the beer in Germany
  96. I remember the sight of the most incredible sunset overlooking santorini
  97. I remember coming home to see my dad waiting with my sister and starting to cry
  98. I remember the day I brought home my second cat that my parents didn’t know about
  99. I remember swimming in the Krka lakes in croatia with my phone and it died
  100. I remember the view of Manhattan as we drove in from JFK and seeing my new home.

Did you just say notes can talk??

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For our first int. seminar assignment, we were instructed to read a selection of Van Gough’s letters as well as a selected chapter from Foers, Moonwalking With Einstein. Then, i stumbled across a phrase i’d yet heard of in my schooling career, but would instantaneously become oh too familiar with.

Talking notes…

Initially, the task to this assignment wasn’t gaining the full understanding of the letters, or attempting to answer the question of ‘How do you find the smartest person in the world?’, but honestly, the challenge was wrapping my head around what exactly a talking note was.

It was with great difficulty and the assistance of fellow classmates that i eventually discovered the true meaning behind the expression and frankly i was underwhelmed.

They are simply notes you make for talking.

  1. Letters from Vincent Van Gough to his Brother Theo (July 1880)

This letter ultimately provides a direct insight into the bleak and philosophical comprehensions of Gough, during the midst of what appears to be a dark and highly stressful period where the artist feels both repentant for the absence of a familial connection while dissatisfied by the extent of his artistic progress. In the repetition of his rhetorical questioning, Gough contemplates his purpose as both an emerging artist aswell as a devoured Rembrandt ideologist; expressing his concerns of “Wandering from Pillar to Post” for the remaining of his career. As such, the extended metaphor of a caged bird in Goughs final paragraphs, draws on highly optimistic tone to demonstrate the artist’s utter desperation for freedom and success while addressing the complexities of the underlying desire to live without objection.

Favourite Quotes:

“What the moulting season is for birds…misfortune and hard times are for us human beings.” (Page 1, Para 3)

“What is known as the soul never dies, but lives on for ever” (Page 2, Para 3)

“Wandering from pillar to post/ the future looks rather bleak…” (Page 2, Para 7)

“Much as the rough draught turns into a sketch” (Page 3, Para 4)

“What am I good for, could I not be of service or use in some way, how can I become more knowledgeable and study some subject or other in depth?” (Page 3, Para 7)

“I am good for something! My existence is not without reason!” (Page 6, Para 4)

“Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection.” (Page 7, Para 4)

 

  1. Moonwalking With Einstein

“Brains are notoriously trickier to quantify than Brawn” (Page 6, Para 2)

“our culture consistently inundates us with new information, and yet our brains capture so little of it” (Page 7, para 1)

“to the extent that the sum of our memories and wisdom the sum of experience, having a better memory would not only mean knowing more about the world, but also more about myself “ (page 7, para 1)

“our culture is an edifice built of externalized memories” (pg 19, para 1)

‘The Art And Science of Remembering Everything” essentially highlights the dual complexities of a westernized culture that, in reality, has become entirely reliant upon an ‘externalised memory.’ From ‘literature, music, law, politics, science and math’ (pg 19), the revolution of human intelligence is ultimately depicted in its limitation, as Foer juxtaposes the brilliance of ‘Mental athletes’ and the predicaments of a modern society that purely exists as constitution of documented knowledge. Further, the reading abundantly clarifies a somewhat overlooked notion about the way memory and the human brain is perceived. Through a repetition of questioning and revelation, the author underlines concerns about the spontaneity and inconsistency of memory as well as it’s true capabilities.