A Mixed Media Piece with pastel pencil, pen, and india-ink soaked rice paper and coffee-soaked rice paper. The skin on my classmates in the piece are made up of a coffee paper gradient I made with dark European coffee and the hair the india-ink paper gradient (I rely on caffeine on a daily basis). I used pen for the darks and pastel pencil for the objects in the room as well as the room itself. It was early in the morning and towards the end of the year so everyone was tired and having trouble focusing.

It’s kind of what I’m feeling right now that we are moving towards the end of the semester.

https://youtu.be/C2wbFf6pc4k

Finding Beauty In Ugliness. Squeezing Out Beauty From Ugliness.

So I had the honor of presenting Leon Golub, a contemporary artist who was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois in 1922 and who died in New York in 2004. He served in World War II as a cartographer. He received his BA from the University of Chicago in 1942 and his MFA and BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago later on in 1949. In 1951, he married Nancy Spero, another artist who created art similar in concept with Golub’s.  His contemporary art mainly consisted of paintings with acrylic. However, the method he employed on the canvas was very interesting: He would use a meat cleaver to scrape paint off and manipulate the paint on the canvas to create an interesting texture that gives off a certain atmosphere. As an artist and previous WW2 cartographer, Leon Golub didn’t go along with the extremely popular and common art approaches that were dominant in the decades after the war. Where the usual abstract art of the era consisted of vibrant/ saturated colors and wild obscurity that emphasized the lightened and joyous moods of the time, Golub turned away from this. Instead of following the art trends that were around him, he followed his own trend. Rather than indulging himself in the color and vibrancy of the time period he lived in, he indulged in what was happening “behind the scenes.” He got down into the “nitty-gritty” of things, exploring the horrors and truth of war and the world behind the governments that are in power (mainly the US) and it’s victims. He created many works that addressed the topics of sexism, war, racism, and power. He created works that directly question the US government’s choice to enter into the Vietnam war, as well as shed light on some of the atrocities committed that people still living in America are not aware of. He directly addressed problems in society with his artwork and his perseverance caused others to follow in a path similar to his. In the 1950’s, he became a leader of Chicago’s Figurative Arts Movement which was led mainly by groups such as the Monster Roster which was spearheaded by Golub himself. The group ‘Monster Roster’ emphasized individuality, realism, and surrealism in their work, and their work is often defined as grotesque and gruesome as they relate to the gruesome truths of war and society. Although his works did not create too much impact at first, his perseverance contributed to the rising popularity of Impressionism in the 1970s. Leon Golub has created many works throughout his career that address the many present and past issues that have been present. His works relate both directly to the past and the world that we live in today. He urges change and reform through his work. His works have created waves of influence throughout the art community. It is through the exploration and representation of the truth of what happens in society and war in Golub’s work that helps his viewers see the true colors of the societies they live in. He is a lot like Shaun Leonardo in a way, in the fact that he is not afraid to dive straight into sensitive and controversial topics despite the potential criticism and backlash they may encounter. Leon Golub has a massive collection of works and I suggest you check some of them out. http://www.artnet.com/artists/leon-golub/

Homophobia in Society Today - I’m Just… Baffled.

I know some people who identify as homosexual and lesbian but I’m perfectly fine being around them and don’t feel any unease or hatred towards people who aren’t straight. However, I never really understood as to why some people cannot tolerate others who have sexual preferences different from their own. I simply do not understand the need in some people to verbally, physically, or indirectly attack people who identify as homosexual. I don’t understand why most of society today is homophobic. It certainly couldn’t just be religion that causes people to avoid and be intolerant of homosexuals. I for one grew up in a Christian household in the US and my parents always told me to not make friends with any homosexuals and to also not be myself homosexual. Because the Bible tells us to be fruitful and multiply, my parents interpreted homosexuals as a kind of threat to our faith. Although they told me repeatedly, I kind of brushed it off and ended up getting to know some people who have these sexual preferences anyway although I was Christian. Also, I knew people who were agnostic (believed in nothing) and not Christian who had a kind of rough opinion on homosexuals and exhibited a bit of homophobic behavior. So again, it couldn’t be religion. So what really causes this homophobia in our society today? What about having a sexual preference to the same sex makes people intolerant of them? Why do they feel the need or obligation to be homophobic? I’ve always thought about this question because I see it rather often, when I’m shopping or when I’m out in the city. I see all these LGBT movements and LGBT videos on youtube which get a lot of dislikes and negative responses. It could just be that this homophobia is a deep-rooted historical habit that’s been passed down since people started killing or imprisoning homosexuals. It could be the idea of heteronormativity at play which directly conflicts with people who are LGBT. It could simply be that people are afraid of those who are different so they seek to kind of oppress or exclude them. I feel like addressing these problems and analyzing why and whether it’s moral or reasonable to have this prejudice towards homosexuals or not is necessary. Necessary in order to, if desired, move towards equilibrium in our society across all sexualities. 

I found this video of a kind of history of the LGBT movement quite interesting and that it could be encouraging to people who experience this injustice. It isn’t something new.  It sheds light on the injustices and conflict these groups of people face and why their striving for reform within our society. It also brings clarity and insight on the LGBT communities origination.

I personally don’t believe in the term white privilege. I feel like white privilege isn’t really a thing that exists, there’s only privilege and that this idea of “white privilege” that arose is mainly societally based, not racially, and that people who often use the term white privilege often use it as a term to attack whites which I find absolutely bogus. Everyone has certain privileges and the term white privilege is often used in a racial or offensive matter. 

I’m kind of curious, do you believe white privilege exists? Do you think it’s a legitimate idea or term that can be used in our society?

John Amaechi Discusses White Privileged

John Amaechi in his video brought up a very interesting point of understanding privilege not as simply an object or something someone has access to but as essentially “the absence of inconvenience, the absence of an impediment, or challenge.” Those who have those absences of inconvenience, impediments, challenges, etc. don’t really notice it which can essentially be ninety-five percent of the people I know including myself. We get so used to this convenience that we don’t really consider the idea of privilege or even checking our privilege. We end up taking these advantages in life for granted. However, if these challenges, impediments, and inconveniences are present, they may affect everything we do. The term privilege itself is extremely broad. As stated by John Amaechi in the video, there are many types of privilege. There’s the privilege of being born into a wealthy family, the privilege of being born able-bodied, etc. Although, it is impossible to really define privilege, we can understand privilege as a lack of inconvenience or lack of need that we have in our everyday lives. I feel like having this understanding and really checking our privilege can really enable us to be more considerate in everyday life for other people. Like in the Buzzfeed video where they asked questions that were related to certain privileges, I feel like having this understanding of privilege can enable us to effectively bring change and awareness to the many inequalities and problems present in our society today. 

Privilege - BuzzFeed

What is privilege? There really isn’t a perfect definition of privilege. Many people may define privilege similarly to each other and some completely different. Some people might consider even walking a privilege and others being able to go to school a privilege. The idea of privilege is almost as broad as it gets. However, personally, I think of privilege as something that we possess or are able to do that not everyone else may be able to do, which is very broad but that really is what I take privilege to be. Not everyone has access to clean water so I consider having drinkable water without harmful bacteria in it to be a privilege. Not everyone is born or has two fully working legs so I consider having two legs a privilege. Not everyone can even afford an education or books so I consider being able to go to a school or simply possessing a book to be a privilege. 

When I started watching the video, I saw a group of people, but only as a group of people. I didn’t really notice or think about each person’s ethnicity or race or anything like that. I saw that they were together and it kind of gave an idea that they all had similar privileges. America values equality so wouldn’t that make everyone equal and on similar ground in terms of privilege? I saw them as equal and privileged when initially going into the video but as it went on I realized that not everyone had the same level or amount of privileges. They started off by holding hands and either took a step back or a step forward depending on whether the privilege stated refers to them or not. It seemed stable and uniform at first but as the questions kept on coming, each person got further and further apart. It was almost towards the end when I looked at each person and realized that not everyone is necessarily equal or equally privileged. I noticed that the people who were black were the furthest in the back, the whites in the front, and the hispanics and asian slightly behind them. It really opened my eyes to the possibility and idea that privilege in America is very likely based or determined (not fully but a good amount) by race or ethnicity. This inequality or difference in privilege really emphasizes the idea of “white privilege” and the discrimination, inequality, and prejudice that is still present in our society. If all of these factors were not present I feel like every single person in the video would still be holding hands or at least very close to each other and the fact that they weren’t really breaks my heart. It really hurt to see the realization of privileges by all the people in the video and my own realization of how privilege could be correlated with someone’s race. Although I am disappointed in the outcome of the video, I am thankful for it for kind of expanding my awareness of “privilege.”

Jessi Reeves and Style

With Jesse Reeves’ artist talk and her work, I was personally drawn to how her work looked and was kind of interested by the process and materials by which her work was made. I never really considered the fact that art can be incorporated or made the basis of furniture. What this said to me was that the work (namely furniture) that Jesse Reeves created was based on her own unique sense of “style.” She uses material and approaches that material in her own unique way through which she creates a very interesting and unorthodox piece of furniture. However, “style” is not limited to what materials you use or the physical/ visual embodiment of someone’s work. It is much more broader than that and it can simply be the thought process of an artist or the overarching themes in their work that defines an artist’s style. Here Jesse Reeves uses the relationship between art and design as a medium in her practice and she creates furniture that doesn’t only function as furniture but also as an art form: sculpture. 

This kind of hit me in an unexpected way because I am an artist, yes, but the thing I’m still struggling with and have been struggling with for a while is that I don’t seem to know what my own “style” is. I’ve tried many forms of approaches and many different styles to art but never really stuck to one. And as an artist, I think that having your own unique style is necessary in order to truly be an artist. No artist is exactly the same in their style and that is the beauty of what an artist is and what art can potentially be. I’m just striving to find my very own style that I can stick to and fully exploit to my own ability.

Thought I could share a piece I made a while back called “Industrial Gothic” where I combined gothic architecture which I found very visually appealing (namely the windows with the pointed arches) and the modern vents, pipes, and supports on the roof of an art studio I used to work at. I feel like this is a little on par with some of the kind of artwork Michael Ashkin has presented to us in his art lecture.

Shaun Leonardo 

https://elcleonardo.com/bio

Shaun Leonardo is the person I am presenting with my partner for my very first 20x20 presentation. Although he was not the artist I personally chose or even knew existed, I ended up loving his ideas and artistic voice. I ended up appreciating his work more than most artists because they directly relate to the society we live in today. 

Shaun Leonardo is a first-generation American born in Queens, New York from two immigrant parents. His mother is from the Dominican Republic and his father is from Guatemala. He attended an all-boys Jesuit Highschool and then moved on to receive his MFA from the San Franciso Art Institute (2005) and his BA from Bowdoin College (2001). Fun Fact: Shaun Leonardo played football while at Bowdoin College which could account for his very manly and masculine physique. 

For Shaun Leonardo’s professional career in the arts, he was been featured at the Guggenheim Museum, The High Line, The New Museum, and most recently had an exhibition at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art). He specializes in both two-dimensional visual art and three-dimensional performance art. His art most often focuses on or portrays controversial topics that relate to the society we live in today, but overall he emphasizes the idea of manhood and masculinity in almost all of his work. Some of his pieces and performance pieces such as “I Can’t Breathe” directly portray real-life tragedies that have taken place and represent real problems we have in our society today (police brutality). He wants his audience to experience what he tries to convey through his artwork and kind of “live in the moment” when they see his work. 

Shaun Leonardo exhibits his masculinity in his art, either through the physical hands-on experience in his performance art and participatory workshops or even in the idea that he does not beat around the bush in what he is trying to show in his artwork. He just goes straight in and this idea of masculinity in all of his work and real-life significance is what defines Shaun Leonardo as an artist. 

https://vimeo.com/215553382

“I Can’t Breathe” (2017) -Shaun Leonardo

McColl Center

This is a performance piece and participatory workshop that teaches self-defense but more importantly puts the participants in the position of and under the very real pressure and experience of tragedies that take place today or have taken place. This idea or live piece by Shaun Leonardo was conceptualized after the death of Eric Gardner in the New York City borough of Staten Island. The police officer put him in a prohibited chokehold which ultimately led to his death.

Boxer Charcoals (2014) -Shaun Leonardo

Shaun Leonardo’s approach and style in these charcoal drawings of boxers emit a very familiar feeling and idea to me as an artist. It emits a feeling of “struggle” or internal struggle. The fact that Shaun Leonardo kind of leaves out or whites-out parts of these seemingly incomplete pieces, to me, makes them even more complete. I believe the reason why Shaun Leonardo leaves out his opponent and parts of the boxer is to appeal to the psyche of an artist. He translates the essence of an artist and himself into these pieces. He intentionally leaves out the opponent and certain elements of the work in order to illustrate the obstacles and hurdles that he faces as an artist and how he has to wrestle/ box with these imaginary opponents. He is showing us his struggles and overall an artist’s struggles in what he does and what we have to fight within ourselves as artists to express our own ideas instead of the ideas that society wants us to convey. Shaun wants to express his own perspective of life, himself, and society in the work he creates even if it goes against the ideas or expectations of society as all artists should do (express their own opinions in their own unique ways).

I found this video quite interesting in how it analyzes the idea of “unbias news.” You cannot really avoid bias in media, most certainly the news. 

https://medium.com/phlowzone/why-is-censorship-destructive-for-artistic-representation-f48f2189936b

Like how many types of ideas of race, culture, etc. are present in media and the news, the material is altered and projected through a certain lens to represent something that the person(s) in control would like to represent. There is always a potential bias in what is posted or represented through media. However, many ideas are also suppressed or censored because it may be deemed as against or threatening to the ideas or “side” of those who hold them. They may also fear people criticizing a certain social media outlet, hence why they censor certain things. Therefore, these expressions or ideas are censored or completely removed. This is something many artists like Shaun Leonardo struggle with. 

Former CIA Agent Talks War and Peace

The idea of choosing sides in this video was something that I enjoyed and understood the most. The way many societies and opinions that are held by certain people today are a result of what our societies have taught us. In America at least, we are often asked to pick a side whether it would be the pro-slavery or anti-slavery side in an AP US history essay backed with evidence, supporting Donald Trump/ hating Donald Trump, or simply saying all Muslims are bad because a minuscule number of them have committed acts of terrorism on our home turf.  We are often taught and forced into the idea of picking sides and just that. We usually don’t even consider the points of those who oppose the side or idea that we support. We could refuse to acknowledge these points because we all have a certain bias within us and in society as well. Although it seems like there are two and only two very distinct sides to many conflicts, there is a lot more to it if we just take the time to put ourselves in one another’s shoes and ask ourselves, “Why would so and so support this idea or choose this side, what is the reasoning behind it.” In doing so, we think critically rather than one-sidedly and are more open to opposing ideas which is a great skill to have in life as we meet new people of different races, cultures, etc. The main problem is that from elementary to high school and even though college, we are almost always required or encouraged to choose sides and asked only to support the sides we choose. I feel like schools should have more courses that encourage critical thinking rather than just plainly choosing and supporting one distinct side. 

There is really no right and wrong as each person has their own definition of what is right and wrong, but because we all have our very own personal ideas, that doesn’t mean we should shut and push off all the other ideas that may oppose ours. Just take the time and put yourself in someone else’s shoes and analyze. Everyone has their own bias as well.