Concpetual (Clever) Art

We now move into the wonderous world of conceptual artwork, a flexable landscape of endless interpretations and definitions. For our first, albeit brief assignment, we each took a random square piece of paper from a hat, each sqaure having one of a possible eight designs draw upon it. These designs consisted mainly of one sweeping line, at most two. We then transfered that design onto a larger bristol square. Then one by one, and in order, we placed our squares onto the wall in a 3x6 rectangle. The random lines came together in random areas to form patterns upon patterns, as well as just more randomness. This was a good introduction into the idea of conceptual art, that we all were apart of the process of creating the ultimate piece, and that our contributions were random in their design.

Performance Art of the Corcoran Parking Lot

This project turned out to be very intersting, in both making my own steps for a performance piece, and seeing what others came up with for theirs'. Mine didn't act out as cleanly as I had hoped. I might have been able to make the directions a bit more clear and concise. But I do feel that if two participants had a good grasp of what the goals of the piece were it would come out very well. The idea was to lace up one of your shoes and you describe your weekend to your partner. Your partner then ties your laced shoe, repeating to you the events of your weekend, but in as few words as possible. The reasons for this were to display the somewhat selfish ways we listen to one another, awaiting our own turn to speak. The "lacer" describes his weekend fully in detail, as it takes time to lace a shoe, and because he is interested in sharing his experiences. The listener then completes the much shorter action of lacing the other's shoe, and curtly repeats the events, showing how much we really hear when someone else is speaking, usually a much more terse and less intricate version of the events, wrapping the story up in a neat little bow, along with the shoelaces.

Faces in Mirrors in Faces

For this activity, which explored the behaviors of "everyday life" as introduced to us by the writings of Allen Kaprow, my partner was Alex Garcia. We stood back to back on this dreary thursday afternoon. We positioned our mirrors to sneak a peak at each other's faces just so, and took steps forward. We attempted to imitate one another's expressions as we walked. She smiled, I smiled. Her tongue then found its way from her smiling mouth, and mine did the same. Then our faces grew smaller, and all that was visible were the hints of a grin. And our faces grew smaller still. And all that was left was the feeling of the activity (which was, at least for myself, still that of levity), and the perceived idea of what form the other's face may be taking. And then we could no longer see a face in the distance, but just the rich color of skin and the dark shapes of eyes. And this is when our activity was at an end.
The thoughts and emotions that this "game" evoked were that of a jovial nature. The instructions had already stated, to make faces (as children do). And there was the feeling of kinship, having a partner to participate with you in the activity, and that without, the activity would be null. The familiar setting of our school grounds also added to the sense of comfortable enjoyment. Based on the guidelines of the process I'd expect this reaction to be in the majority.

PatternnrettaPPatternnrettaP

Alright, originally I found simply working with one image in Adobe Illustrator to be demanding. Working with pattern was that much more complicated. At least it started out that way. My only reprieve were the wonderful command keys and replication shortcuts that I learned how to implement as the assignment progressed. Once those tools were aptly assimilated into my Adobe abilities, creating and manipulating pattern became much more manageable. And I found that there are endless images to be created if the program is used competently, whether it be one object, or patterns, or experimenting with positive and negative space.

Gestalt

The general meaning of gestalt as I understand it is as follows, more than one shape or form coming together to create a larger unified pattern or image. I did not originally cite this because I was already aware of it's definition, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and the definition was similar to my own, just worded differently.

Adobe Illustrator

This was not an easy challenge for me, I must say. I am not familiar with my own PC, let alone a Mac or Adobe Illistrator. The tasks were helpfull in getting a grasp on the basic concepts and tools of the program. I still do not feel too confident in my ability to manipulate the intricacies of Adobe, but I suppose it just takes practice. Probably more for myself than most. But you sure can creat some interesting things with it when you know what you're doing.

String Theory

The string activity was quite invasive. The idea of being able to unwind a ball of string and wrap it around the center of the room seemed like it would be a lot of fun, and it was. I found myself mostly to one side of the room, and I think a lot of people ended up segregated to one area during the project. After the first few rounds it became too difficult to move far. Some of the shapes that were created were very interesting, but for some reason I found myself more concerned with the tension of the string as it made its way from one hinge to another. I enjoyed the concept of what we were doing, playing with line and shape on a scale larger than ourselves, but I wish we could have seen it from a bird's eye view. And of course, having to unstring and untangle all of it was no kind of fun.

Critique

In this image, a white curvey shape spreads from the bottom left corner of the painting toward the upper right corner, tapering off around the center. It is set on a blue background. The shape ends in five white oval like extensions. The bottom two extensions hold a blu semicircle each. whith a brown and black line at the tip. The top extension ends in small circular shape, near the top of the image, with a pointed protrusion facing downward. The shape contains a yellow circle center, surrounded by a black and red outline. At the tip of the protrusion a white oval hangs, crossed over by a thin black line.
The image is a very simple one, consisting of only two main colors. The shapes are flat and almost bulbous in their outlines. There is a smooth feeling of tranquility as blue meets white. And the birdlike image at the top, in black red and yellow, nicely accents the simplicity of the rest of the piece.
Overall I find the piece a successful one, simple in the majority but seemingly purposefully so and very well executed. The intermingling of blue and white soft shapes conveys the soothing feeling the painting seems to be going for. The space is used well, and the small use of more dramatic color draws the eye nicely.

Line Shape

I suppose I would say only B is a line, and A, C, and D are shapes. But...

My general theory on the difference between shape and line is that shapes are defined by lines. Where as lines are defined by the space surrounding them. But this really just ends up being a fruitless attempt to define something seemingly cyclic. When I think of a shape I think of something with mass, something broad, but a polygon can take on any form. And what is a line when magnified, afterall, but a stretched and thinned polygon, a shape. Does a shape cease to be a shape when it gets thin enough that we can no longer distinguish its angles and sides? Do we then call it a line? If you scrutinize and magnify a general line until it possesses the same characteristics of a rectangle has it gone from defining a shape to becoming one, has it changed? I give up.