Dadaist

Critics say that the dada movement is the worst thing that happened in the history of art; a reviewer of American Art News quoted,"The Dada philosophy is the sickest, most paralyzing and most destructive thing that has ever originated from the brain of man." - which I do not deny entirely, as it is intended to be against the classical, or traditional forms of art. It's intended to be as grotesque as possible to deny art, which in result brought major critique in the art world and of artist who take themselves way too seriously. Their reaction is understandable as they took exact opposite turn from art-they made art look ugly, and offensive instead of aesthetically pleasing.

Iconography

Symbol is simply put a concrete object which represent an idea or meaning. Road signs uses shapes, colors and forms to communicate set rules with the drivers easily. It is also used on maps where symbols indicate a category of interest. Religions make symbols and icons to visually represent their identity.
An icon is an image, picture or representation that stands for an object. Icon also takes stance of symbolism where name, face, or a person who has a certain quality or well known significance represent something greater, like religion, political or econimic beliefs.
Sign is an entity that represents another entity. It signifies meanings and other subjects. Types of signs include medical sign, mathematics, information, traffic sign, linguistics,and astrology.
Logo is a graphical element that uses icon, sign and symbol with the logotype- it is intended for the people to recognize their product or company fast, and build trust and interest.


source: http://en.wikipedia.org

Performance Art Starts Now

The first activity we did was very short, and quite awkward. Well, I suppose this activity was meant to be something awkward. It wasn't a challenging activity, just a small performance for the introduction of the subject, to release tensions and get warmed up a bit before the actual. The mirror activity made me laugh too much, because it was weird making faces at someone on to the mirror. However, it made me think, yeah, wasn't there any cases when someone made fun of me in the back, and I did not realise they did? How did that make me feel? Well, to that I say it wasn't a pleasant feeling. While I felt the mirror activity had some meaning, the shaking hands activity seemed shallow. I just couldn't understand what all this was about. But overall, I wasn't pressured to be perfect, so it wasn't a big deal to act however I wanted.
When ever I performed infront of the people, the very common reaction to that was getting nervous. I used to get butterflies in my stomach and felt like fainting. I think my shyness was to the extreme side as I was younger. I mean, what if I fail and perform badly in front of the crowd and get laughed at, and also let down the others? But now to think of it, these feelings and unecessary; I think these thoughts comes from the desire to be admired, wanting to be a perfectionist in front of everybody, which I'm not. In order to perform without feeling pressured I have to be able to put away these thoughts and just, be my self. The word confidence must be describing about those people who accept themselves of who they are, and thus is comfortable to expose one self, even in embarrassing moments. Thus, from this subject, I expect to be more confident about myself, and feel comfortable performing in front of the crowd.

Expansion of Museums

Some facts of the two articles are much similar-both articles speculate that museums today are in a process of expanding it's size for various reasons, like to introduce more artists and their artworks thus atrracting more people and tourists. However, they point out that expansion of museums may sound impressive, but there are several negative aftermath to the renovation- it may cause the boards and managers to pay not much attention to important, but small details like maintaining the artworks or helping the visitors fully understand the theme and their unique meaning. Now that new modern architecture and style are common and available, the art museumss will tend to care too much about the outer appearance(result of centralization on profit) than to really focus on the idea of inner beauty.
The future of museums doesn't seem stable; recently, a new virtual art museum is constructing it's way to the world of URL, which situates the museums in the verge of extinction. Seeing the new technology stepping into the classical world of art brings out questions and issues from a group of people concerned about the idea of authenticity. When trying to admire an artwork through digital just doesn't look the same, as much people do agree-which may be the result of the artwork's every little morsals of colors and details converting to mere digits of pixels-or the very presence of the artists who created it are lost. In that sense, museums are essential in expiriencing the real art work and finding the truth through them.
Though it might be that museums are damned in the near future by that wonderful term, technology, there still is hope for some other types of museums-many will be those that fits the general public's interests.

Gastalt

Rooted from the theory of Visual Perception meaning that people tend to put visual elements to one whole piece when certain characters are applied,gestalt is simply trenslated, " unified whole".
There are many principles in which the theory applies; the principle of similarity is when an object looks similar to one another, thus making the viewers believe it is one whole group or pattern. In this term, anonmally meanings that something is out of the similarity.
The principle of continuism is when the eye follows an object and move through another object.
Closure happens when an object is not complete, or is not completely enclosed. When people see enough information or character of an object, they unknowingly fill the missing places.
Proximity is the percievence of whole when the objects are put closely together, creating unity.
Figure and ground are much related principles. Figure is defined as shape, sillouette or form, whileas the ground is what surrounds it.

Source from : http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu
The Gestalt Principles

Duchamp The Large Glass

This large art piece is very peculiar in style and design. The whole work is devided into two window panels; the top one titled, "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors" has a simplistic space to it. The only object that exsists are the seemingly resemblant three windows. The "bride" looks thin, mechanical and unnatural- not just because it is not a realistic painting, but how the bride looks cold, hard,eerie, and almost, grotesque. I use this word to describe her, as her features are described in a weird way. Her long pointy face gives off the image of hardness or senseless character,which is more emphasized by not having basic facial features. Her long neck is very uncanny, and how the back is humped to a weird arch while her shoulders and arms are angled outward shows an uneasy body composition. Her hip consists of an unreconizable object of which the long, wire or insect like legs even doubles her weirdness. All these attributes makes her look inhuman, like an alien, like a voodoo doll, which almost might suggest the negative character. I cannot identify the object that's mounted on the bride's back, but it seems to resemble burden, supression, deprived of freedom. Maybe she is worried about the future after marriage, the experiences of love, hate, sex,and children.
The lower panel titled, "Bachelor Apparatus" has more mechanical objects within the space, in contrast to the top panel. The middle object, or as it is the chocolate grinder which looks like three drums attatched together. The pole which connects to it seem to make the watermill function, probably connected to the nine bachelors which every one of them looks like clothes on a hanger. The object in the far right seems like disoriented object which may symbolize seperation, and the desire of unity.
The artwork might suggest that the brides has to deal with the responsibility that follows sex, the baby. I think that is why there is one bride drawn in the whole work while there are nine bachelors in the other, signifying the mentality of two genders, mere idea that every men is simple in terms of craving for sex and getting sex, but women although they want the same, they have to deal with pregnancy which brings up guilt and responsibility- having sex is has more complicated out come to women. Depicting one woman here symbolizes this complexity.
Duchamp describes his work to be one of the major artwork, due to the large scale and the time it took to finnish while it was developing slowly. It is quite big, which is over 9 feet tall. He also created a book to accompany the artwork, in order to let the viewers understand what it is before they even start visual critique.

Image from http://www.beatmuseum.org/duchamp/images/bride.jpg

PATTERRRRRNS

The wall papers, floor tiles,and textiles are much needed necessities among the people all over the world. Especially with tiles and textiles, these things developed through out the time, and as art was growing among the cultures, also their style and decorative function followed.
he patterns, I've realized are different by countries. It may be effected mostly by their environment- geographical location which has pros and cons of what resources they provide. For example, Islamic textiles were most colored with brown, red, ochre the earthy colors and dark greens. They had intricate designs of leaves, pomegranates,and some other flowers that are native to their own land. Cottons and wools are natural resources on their land, enabling them to develop complex technology in creating textiles. Nations like Islam-Egypt,Rome,China etc-which has experienced a long history also had a strong growth of culture. Patterns, in a way, are the symbolism of culture, as it is all mathematical, making it a complex element.
Patterns all follows and repeats an underlying single or more pattern in methodological way. This is true as it is clearly shown by nature. the cells and minerals that consists in the very earth, the appearance or forms of cloud, fire, water, or the most simplest things like daisies all are forms of pattern. Patterns also has it's own 'pattern' in it self. Some are just simply same repeated pattern, or there can be structures of irregularities.
In conclusion, the patterns in which the human makes are mere copies and inspirations derived from nature, which is the amazing creation of a being so much bigger and complex then us.

Scale Form: Blackhole Reversed

My Value: Betta Fish!!!

What I specially value these days does nothing to do with technology like i-phones or i-pods or anything that has i. I fell into total fascination with this certain finny creature called Betta, or Siamese fighting fish. Years ago, I was very much interested about aquariums- just looking into a tank full of different kinds of fishes gliding smoothly in and out of the aquatic plants brought me to another dimension of a world, which is so much soothing than the hard surface of the earth. maybe I was a mer-person in the past, I don't know. But anyways, although I enjoyed the pleasures of aquariums, the major problem was that one by one fishes were dying with no apparent reason- later I found out I was the main cause- and I learned about the Betta fish, and realized they were so much easier to take care of, not to mention they have character and so much friendlier than the other unintellectual finned friends. As I was taking much care of the new Betta fish, so did my knowledge grew about how to maintain a better environment for the fishes. And when I grew more expert, I started to see the values of Bettas. whether they have a superior finnage or has excellent color or mix of color or not, or whether this kind is rare or pretty known, I was evaluating individual Bettas with more keen sense of value. However my own Bettas are just Petco grade, I love them because I still bought them with my own value.

Value-In terms of color and economy

There are two meanings to the word value; one will mean about the light and dark values in color and shadow, which there is gradual change by the spectrum. In economy and business it is described in a line chart; for the business men and women, what they desire is more demand of their product and with it, of course, economic gain. They don't want their product to be sold in low a price. For the consumers, they want just the opposite. As an artist, it is certainly important to think about this; after all, working is all about living! But often times it can be difficult to live off with what you have- some paint, brush and a canvas. One can express what they belive and have people make fun of it, or even angry at ir, bring you right down from the top. So can you live with your style or idea? I think it depends on what kind of artist you are; If one would think just going on with one extravagant idea would be too dangerous, then it would be safe for them to meet what others demands and stay on the equilibrium. The creator survives, and the consumers are happy. But if one decides that is totally the most "chicken" thing to live life, then it will either make them successful or really unpopular. For those passionate artists, they could fall into extreme sides of spectrum. However, I do think you don't either have to a bandwagon or a solo adventurer; You could still produce something that people wants and still carry on with your style- just twisting normal thing to a "something" with your artistic talent will not only satisfy others but you also get the profit from it. Thus the conclusion is yes, finding that equilibrium is important to support your self in this age of demands. Even the most famous fashion designers today didn't succeed that easily. They all started in their beliefs which people may have not thought attractive but they did not gave up and thought, what is it that people wants and how can I equally show my style to it? Examples can be Ralph Lauren and other brands. They have worked hard to make their clothes a brand, which could also mean their own trend that many other people love and agrees on to.

Line Construction

So this is how it started- everyone just grabbed a ball of yarn and like crazied up kitten ran around the classroom creating a total chaios, or you can say, creative masterpiece. It was very interesting though, to see these simple strings making a whole structure. You can see everybody's ideas in every part of it- some simply weaved, some entwined around the chair, some lose, some tight... it's endless. It's so amazing to see that a string can do many things in an artist's hands. The result was a very abstract web of yarn mess. Yeah, trying to find your way in to your seat was interesting.

a. shape-it looks like a triangle.
b.shape-The form confused me a little, but the thickness of the "line"
makes it look like a shape.
c.shape-It is a clear solid rectangle.
d.shape- Because it has random protruding shapes attached to a line
so it is a shape.

I think characters of what makes a line is that they are thin, and they don't connect to make a shape. Contour drawings are good example, as they make a shape, but it is still a line as it is not finnished off to the end.
Shapes are defined by it's solidity. Even lines that create the shape are shape when they are ended up in one point. I think many times, people consider shape if it is recognizable; if the shape resembles triangle, then they would immediately judge it as a shape.

The painting titled, "Dove" has smoky and reflective feeling to it. At first glance, it looks as though I am looking at the moon on dark sky and below it the landscape is shown. In different perspective it almost seems to be the reflection of the moon on the glassy lake in dark night. Different layers of colors gives the feeling of waves in which versatile tones are created by the moonlight and the movement of the water. The washed down effect by the medium used gives sense of unity and tranquility. In the art work, some lines intersect and glides over everywhere, which follows the pattern of color layers making things seem somewhat solid. Overally, the painting seems simple and a little bit modern; but it is the interesting merge of colors which seems liquid, and also solid, that captured my attention. To me, the painting shows a spiritual meaning- something that is real but you can't tell easily because it is not touchable, or see it. The "moon" as I interpreted to, must also be a dove as the title suggests. Dove, being the symbol of hope and purity, shines brightly in this spiritual landscape which may be desribing about the dark and confused mind of a human.