5 PORTFOLIO & ADV ART - Kerby Jean-Raymond

Kerby Jean-Raymond is a Haitian American native New York fashion designer and founder of the menswear label Pyer Moss. During New York Fashion Week, the designer focused on the "Black Lives Matter" movement and police brutality in his spring collection by using video, street art (collaborated with Gregory Siff), and fashion.

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In his works, he refers to victims of police brutality such as Eric Garner ("I can't breathe"), a black male who was choked to death by a police officer. I love this artist for many reasons. 

First off, the Black Lives Matter movement is something that is very dear to my heart. I am not black (lol, obviously), so I may not fully understand what these people have been through, but as part of the minority in the United States, I can relate to where these people are coming from in terms of stereotypes and racism. I also hold strong opinions about police brutality in our country. Again, I have never been directly targeted by the police but reading articles on this issue and being influenced by social media really makes it a seem like a serious problem to me. (Music has also influenced me a lot as well>> White Privilege II by Macklemore, C.O.P./Criminals Of Permission by J-Jon, etc.)

Secondly, I also think that this artist/designer was really hard-hitting with this collection. I love how the message was so explicit. There was blood representing violence/pain/murder/etc, words that reference to certain people, etc. Even the video he presented at the fashion show was graphic and straightforward: there were bodies lying in pools of blood, cops shooting at people, the choking of Eric Garner, a teenage girl being thrown to the ground, etc. There was not any second-guessing about the issue Jean-Raymond was addressing. His intent was clear.

Thirdly, This show was not just a fashion show, Jean-Raymond was presenting an argument. The designer said to the reporters after the show,

“It’s not for shock value, but it’s what’s going to make you think about this… after you go to three shows. What’s going to make you think about this again at 11 when you’re done for the day? That’s what it’s about.”

Fourthly, I like how it was a risk to do something like this, but he did it anyways. The designer actually confessed that he was initially unsure about actually presenting it to the public. And when he did, some fashion and front-row regulars were so upset they didn't even attend. But the designer stood his ground and asserted his opinion anyways.

Finally, I love this artist because he made it personal. His explicit art was on real life people (which basically made THEM part of the art as well) which is psychologically hard-hitting to many people, I'm sure. Also, he talks about his own experiences with police brutality. And yet, not only did he consider his opinions in his artwork, but he also considered the viewer's perspective while he was putting the entire thing together. Kerby Jean-Raymond reportedly said that he tried to gather the most gripping information possible for the 10-minute video he presented. He also used his own money/team to interview the family members of widely-known victims of police brutality (some clips were even included in the video) such as the daughter of Eric Garner, and the mother of Oscar Grant. But he didn't just stop there. He took it a step further by INVITING some family members of the victims to sit in the front-row seat of his show, which is a highly coveted position.

This artist executed his spring collection so flawlessly and studied it with such depth that even if you are on the other side of the argument, you can't help but to give him some credit.

WOw. I really didn't intend to ramble on about this topic but I feel like a lot of that was necessary to get to my main point. Here's the significance of this artist in relation to my own art: I basically aspire to be this kind of artist. Kerry Jean-Raymond took something that was very personal to him and presented it in a way so that many others could relate to him (geez, I'm Korean and after researching on his fashion show I took personal offense to all the incidents that have involved blacks and police brutality). He also made his fashion items very explicit in the message he was trying to send and by doing so, he took a major risk-- especially because the topic he addressed is such a controversial issue. For me, that's something I can't do very well because I'm so afraid of people not approving of my art and I'm also afraid that my opinion may alter someone else's opinion and essentially limit them to that ONE opinion instead of them coming up with their own conclusions (if that makes sense).. But the fact that he was brave enough to take something he felt strongly about and create a strong message about it really resonated inside of me. 

In the future, I would absolutely love to fearlessly create explicit art that addresses an important topic/issue in my life in such a way that it touches other people-- whether it offends them or moves them.

Links:

• http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/11/the-designer-challenging-police-racism-at-new-york-fashion-week.html
• http://wisdomchokeyou.tk/post/129047097538/the-designer-challenging-police-racism-at-new-york

4 PORTFOLIO & ADV ART - Shamekh Bluwi

Shamekh Bluwi is a Jordanian artist who created paper cut-outs of the outlines of women's clothing, filling the negative space with the scenery surrounding the piece.
I think this artist intended to focus more on the concept of Architecture vs. Fashion Illustrations, but I loved Bluwi's use of negative space! Check it out:

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I think this is interesting because the artist is making real life not only interact with art (which is really mind-blowing in itself), but Bluwi also makes the real life aspect a crucial part in his works, as opposed to keeping 'real life' just an optional accessory/addition to her pieces. In addition, the artist also said he gains most of his inspiration from everyday life--

“The inspiration comes to me while driving around town. It might be a pattern or the shape and structure of a building. I want people to see their surroundings in a different perspective.”

It's also really cool how these collection of designs are not definite-- they will continually change depending on where the work is placed. Chance and/or various backgrounds play a huge role in Shamekh's Bluwi's designs!

For example, take the last picture I added, (#6.. the one above) and compare it to the one below (#7) :

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Both the dresses have the same cutout and subject, but there are obvious and drastic changes in both of the pieces. Almost every aspect in the dress itself is changed; the tone/color palette, the design in the dress, the mood, etc.. It's crazy how heavily these designs depend on the real-life backgrounds they are placed in. 

It kind of relates to what I'm exploring because I also want real-life (specifically, the viewer) to engage in my artwork. Bluwi's work also makes me consider/think about using physical negative space (as in actually deleting the substrate) in my artwork.. It's definitely something that I would like to explore, but at the same time there are so many other branches of negative space I want to research that I don't know if I want to dive into this right now.

:^)

Links:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/26/fashion-illustration-street-shamekh-al-bluwi_n_7672378.html
• http://wisdomchokeyou.tk/post/137686139663/architecture-vs-fashion-illustrations-by-shamekh-bluwi
• https://www.instagram.com/shamekhbluwi/?hl=en

3 PORTFOLIO & ADV ART - Kumi Yamashita

WOW
WOW
OKAY
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN WITH THIS ARTIST. SHE IS JUST SO GOOD I honestly teared up a little while looking at her works. Not that it touched me emotionally or anything, she's just really good at art.
Kumi Yamashita.
Okay so this artist is from Japan, but she now lives in New York. A lot of her art deals with light and shadows-- she makes art with both the tangible and intangible. Basically, she creates installations with a deliberate light source, which produces shadows that are relevant to her art. Let me show you.

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Oragami

Creased Japanese paper, single light source, shadow

2011

This piece is how I initially found the artist on tumblr.

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Veil

Light, fabric, shadow 

2013

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City View

Aluminum numbers, single light source, shadow

2003

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Clouds

Cut aluminum plate, single light source, shadow

2005

There are so many more I wanted to include but I didn't want to overwhelm you so check them out here if you're interested.

So basically, pretty much all of her works I have included above depends heavily on deliberate light which creates the shadows she wants. The shadows are an essential part of her art... She's basically painting with light and/or shadows. And I love how she explores shadows through different materials instead of only limiting herself to one method-- the different materials bring their own meaning to the piece! 

I think this was cool because it connects to what I'm trying to do...Without a light deliberately placed in a specific spot towards my piece, the work won't make any sense. 

When asked what attracted Yamashita why she enjoyed working with light and shadows, she said,

"For me, shadows came to symbolize another dimension of life, 
perhaps something even more real than its holder."

And Kumi Yamashita doesn't just deal with light and shadows!

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Constellation - Mana

Wood panel, brads, single sewing thread

2011

This one is done with nails and thread!

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Kelly

Japanese paper, graphite

1993

This one is done by placing a paper over the texture of the 

subject's personal and expired credit card and rubbing it with graphite.

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Warp & Weft - Mana

Fabric with threads removed

2007

There are so many more various pieces she has done that are absolutely riveting. Man, the number of pictures I included in this post isn't even remotely near the number of examples I wanted to include here. I had to leave out a lot of interesting artwork because I didn't want to make the post too long (it already kinda is.. heh sorry). She makes and explores other different concepts through numerous materials. Check it out on her website (included in the links below).

Alright, that's it. I'll leave you with this:

Interviewer: What's the last thing that made you say 'wow'?

Kumi Yamashita: All the kind acts in the world. Countless 'wow's.

Links: 

• http://www.kumiyamashita.com/  <<< CHECK IT OUT, has pictures and descriptions of her works. So, so easy to navigate. Really interesting.
• http://www.designboom.com/art/kumi-yamashita-interview-03-05-2015/

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Red = irrelevant

2 ADV ART - Art Objective

Hey! This is for advanced art so if you're in portfolio then this is not for you and you should ignore this.

(btw>>> All of the stuff written in red are irrelevant comments I'm making to myself so skip those!! It's so that in the future I can look back at these posts and remember my thought process.)

Throughout this year, I will explore negative space and hidden meanings. Last semester I did two projects that were influenced by two artists - Cy Twombly (the artist that I didn't like initially), and Cristina Troufa (the artist that I did like initially)...
I didn't do the third project where I was supposed to combine the two (whoops) but that's exactly what I plan on investigating this semester!! I really like the idea of dealing with negative space and I also think infusing words in my art is a really cool concept. I think I'm going to focus more on concept that I used in my 2nd project (Cristina Troufa) but I am definitely going to keep the inspiration that I gained from the 1st project (Cy Twombly) in my mind as the year progresses.
On this blog, I will be posting pictures and explaining my artwork and ideas. I will also post sources of where I got my inspiration from.

Here's pictures of the first project I did in advanced art.. done with wood (as substrate) and beeswax: (Cy Twombly)..
I basically blew beeswax on the wood with a heat gun and waited for it to mostly cool, then I started etching words in it. Then I began to overlap my words, over and over again so it became illegible. I blew the wax with the heat gun again in a few spots to smooth the wax but it is not consistent throughout the entire board. I also wrote tiny words in the bottom right corner of the wood, where I did not blow any wax on. Those words are not overlapped and you can read them if you look close enough (complied of my own thoughts and words I have read and related to online.) You can't see it in the pictures, though. In fact, I didn't really tell anyone about it. It wasn't supposed to be seen unless you were really looking for it.

(up close)

Here's a picture of Cy Twombly's work just to give my work a little bit of perspective:

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Here's pictures of the second project I did in advanced art.. done with watercolor: (Cristina Troufa)...
With this project, I took a picture of a classmate and slightly edited her picture. Then I painted it in watercolor, subtracting the spaces where the light hit her. Those parts of her I deleted in the front, I painted in the back. So that when the light hit the painting from the behind, the front and the back of the painting(s) would come together as one 'completed' painting.

(front)

(back)

For more about this project and the artist (Cristina Troufa) I gained inspiration from, click here for my last blog post (or you could probably scroll down and see it lol)

Here's my artist statement to give you more insight on my objective:

I am interested in exploring negative space, symbolism, and hidden meanings through painting by literally concealing certain parts in my art. I aspire to blend realism and abstraction in an intriguing manner so that the viewer must actively engage/participate in the works to understand the conceptual aspects that are instilled in the piece.

:^) k bye

Links:

• http://www.wikiart.org/en/cy-twombly/cold-stream

1 PORTFOLIO - Cristina Troufa

HEY! This is Shalom. So recently I made a watercolor painting of a friend and it really helped me think about what I'm interested in / what I want to investigate. I formulated an artist statement (below) after I made the painting (which is also below.. hah. everything is below, actually.)

(btw>>> All of the stuff written in red are irrelevant comments I'm making to myself so skip those!! It's so that in the future I can look back at these posts and remember my thought process.)

Artist statement:

I am interested in exploring negative space, symbolism, and hidden meanings through painting by literally concealing certain parts in my art. I aspire to blend realism and abstraction in an intriguing manner so that the viewer must actively engage/participate in the works to understand the conceptual aspects that are instilled in the piece.

Pictures of my piece:

Front:

Back: 

I was inspired by Cristina Troufa, a Portuguese artist and teacher. In many of her works, she deals with negative space and portraits. She blends realism with abstraction and gains her inspiration from her culture.

“My work is always looked upon the world of women in Portugal. This is because each country has its customs even though there is always some resemblances. I paint the popular wisdom of sayings, the conversations I heard as a child among women, the folklore, stories of my life and my family. In most of my paintings I also paint animals because there is always an animal that represents certain situation or human character in the folklore. The purpose of my job is to show how I see the mentality and customs of the Portuguese society. I do not want to do a criticism but rather an exhibition. All the elements that appear in my paintings have always a meaning and a purpose.”

 – Cristina Troufa

Here are some of her pieces: (By the way, not all of her works look like this! Some of her pieces are actually very very different, I just chose these because they're the ones I got inspiration from.)

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ahahAHAHA I JUST NOTICED THE TEENY WOMAN NEXT TO THE BIG ONE 

OMG I've seen this picture a tHOUSAND TIMES AND I DIDN'T NOTICE IT TILL NOW

AHAHAHA

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Fun Fact I Forgot To Mention: I'm pretty sure these are all self-portraits!!

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The woman on the left looks like she's stealing the color from 

the women on the right through the string. 

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This is the photo that I found on Tumblr / How I found the 

artist in the first place.

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Here's the artist next to the painting. I put this picture here so you

could see the painting in perspective. Because the first time I saw 

her paintings next to other things/people it really tripped me out 

because honestly her works are so realistic, vivid, and intricate that I 

forget they are actual tangible paintings; it looks like she just took 

some photos and modified them using photoshop.

This artist connects to what I'm investigating because I am also looking to deal with negative space and abstraction blended in with realism (warped reality). In addition, I would like to paint a lot of portraits but I'm not sure if I want my investigation to be limited to portraits only. I'm also going to put a twist on my future paintings that are inspired by her by painting in concealed places (ie. the back of the painting) to add to the mainly visible part of the work.

PS: I emailed her! Honestly I'm not expecting a reply because she's kind of big and also because I'm not sure if she speaks English but if she does, I'll add it here.

Links for more information:

• http://cristina-troufa.blogspot.com
• http://lucybdmuga.blogspot.com/2014/04/inspiration-cristina-troufa.html << analyzes Troufa's paintings (like the color, etc.).. wish I had this when I was making my painting.
• http://belopotosky.com/2012/07/04/cristina-troufa-paints-stories/ << where the quote came from
• http://www.ignant.de/2014/05/05/self-portraits-by-cristina-troufa/