Artist Talk

Valerie Hegarty’s work explores the idea of reverse archaeology that expose the memory and idea Hegarty wants to display. She originally study painting but after graduating she started to experiment with other materials and art styles such as sculpting and paper mache. In many of the installation works consist of being made of cardboard, paper, and paint. One of her works that was installed in the Brooklyn museum, where she changed a colonial style room display into a animal invested room. Hegarty explores the room's setup expands her ideas to create a room that will work with her style. In the colonial style room there was influence of historical events being expressed through her work. For example, in “Native American Rug with Marsh grass” there was Native American rug that appeared to be decaying and separating that symbolize Native culture being destroyed and losing their land to the European. Also in “Native American Chief with Branches” there was a portrait of a chief that Hegarty altered to follow the Native belief in transformation and shape shifting. These style of work, where it shows physical destruction of the room to symbolize events in history and how the destroyed a culture in a visual way.

When I saw her work I was amazed on the detail and design of the work she did but more on how it was only detailed in the position you were to see. Most of her installation work plays with the viewer eyes to believe her work is realistic, but is actually made up with craft items like cardboard and paper mache. Just recently I had to make a sculpture with paper mache and that was a struggle because of the material used, so when I saw Hegarty’s large room installation of the bathroom I was shocked on how she made the bathroom sink and toilet smooth to appear realistic. As continued on, she showed portrait painting that were manipulated to be seen as decaying, burned, water damaged, and chopped. This was impressive because she used her painting skills and applied her them into another form of art that she stated “had little experience with,” so seeing how she improved and merge these skills was interesting.  

construct your own reality

In these photos, I composite and stitch different images to construct scene that would not be seen. The fist photo, I used the logo from the salt bottle and put her in a real world environment to show how we are surrounded by brands and logos. The second on is to represent the a point in time where I broke my hand and started to be conscious of how important it is to use my hands especially when I work, The last one, is to represent the rising prices in fruit and vegetable making the food more valuable than in nutritional value.

Final project

         In these series of photos, I focus on the idea of technology and human interacting in the same field; but, instead, of having devices or software being displayed I wanted to personified technology through a Gundam Model. In each of these photo I purposely reuse the model figure and position it in different position to project an emotion or mood. The photo consists of ordinary places so that the Gundam model can project the behavior we as human would act in these area or either how the robot might react to these places. I also wanted to play with the idea of religion, in two of the photo the Gundam model is designed to represent a mandala which is seen in Hindu and Buddhist artwork. I give the Model a divine feel even though it an emotionless robot.

       My process for this work was to show how robot would interact in human society and how they might react to it. This idea emerges from an animated version of the Matrix, the beginning of the episode started to explain about how technology advance and how robots developed human behavior and a civilization. I wanted a less gruesome version than what they showed so I made it more peaceful and mundane. I also thought about William Wagman’s work where he reuses his dogs to imitate human and how they interacted in the scene. It was these influence that resulted in my artwork.  

Rubin Museum of Art: Steve McCurry

"Agra Fort Train Station at Dusk, 1983"

       

         At the Rubin Museum I visited the Steve McCurry exhibit which showed some of the many photos McCurry took when he was in India. There is a plethora of different lifestyles and religions in India that makes McCurry's work interesting and amusing. McCurry's photo depicts the lives of many people, animals, and landscapes that help explain to viewer more about India than their own interpretation. There are stories and narrative in his photos along with great render images that make the audience feel like they are there and experiencing the event.

                                                   

                                                               "Sculptor in His Workshop"

          One of my favorite photos from the exhibition was "Sculptor in His Workshop " which kind of spoke to me on how some artists immerse themselves in their work or craft and starts to become one with it. Another reason why I think he fusing with the sculptures, is how the artist is one of the last things you notice in the photo since he is being overpowered by the large sculptors and the light that is focusing on the center one.When I first looked at this photo, it seemed kind of depressing and lonely because the artist appeared isolated, but later I saw it as a way of appreciation his work. There are also life in the sculptor based on how the two large sculptures appears as if they are fighting with one another. Also, the center sculpture that the artist is working on gives the impression that he is putting life into the figure on how the light is shinning above like a heavenly light. 

Diptychs

In this assignment I had to think about comparing and contrasting different subject and combine two individual photos to one image to demonstrate similarities and differences. Lately, when I been hanging out with my friends I started to notice a word they used often that change it meaning, that word is "cards." When some people hear "cards" they usually refer to playing cards but lately there have been more card games being made that have no association with the traditional playing card and one of those new card games is "Cards Against Humanity." In these photos I wanted to demonstrate how these cards are being use and the the difference in how they are played. The traditional cards are colorful and use numbers and symbols to indicate a value, whereas Cards against Humanity only convey through words and only use two colors. 

Article #2 response

      In the article it discusses the many issues still found today about copyright law, intellectual property, and the shift in photography into the digital era. Before the Internet and photo software, photographers would have to capture images and hoped that by chance they capture what they wanted. They could set up their scene physically or time a specific moment to shot what they wanted, but now where photo manipulation software there is no need to put as much effort into creating or waiting to capture a photo. There is the question as to if photographer are needed since with the Internet people can grab photos and change them to get the photo that are asked for. In one part of the article, they talked about how one person used a photo software to get a photo of two Olympic skaters to be seen with each other that never existed instead of actually taking a photo of the possible real scene. This is where the conflict photographer have with the emerge of the digital era where they are losing their practiced to more available and somewhat less expensive skill.

      Since the rise of digital art, there is also the problem as to what is real and fake in the photo made with photo manipulation software, and like the Olympic skater photo the creator did use separate real photo of the skater but once they added together in one scene that person made a photo that never existed. In addition to these fabricated photos, the creator add a different perspective or opinion of the photo compare to the original photo. For example, the cover picture of O.J Simpson on Times Magazine used a mug shot photo of him, but when someone else change it they gave an impression of O.J of being darker and seen as evil in the photo. Even though digital art allows more people to exercise their skills in a affordable and easier access way they are still issues faced by people in this field.

Space

In these series of photos I focus on the subject of space to see a different perspective from what i'm used to. The many textures and lighting that change when you shot close up to a small object give a different experience from before. 

Light, Form, Color

        The appearance of snow has always interest me, because it would indicate that there might be a delay or closing at school but also how it kind of erase and cover the ordinary things I see. There's also a change in lighting from when it starting to snow than after when the clouds clear. When its cloudy it gives everything a darker and more calming feel than when the sun out and melting the snow. In these photos, I concentrate them around my neighborhood because these are things I see everyday but having the snow cover them I see these things from a different perspective.

Perspective

 In these series of photos I was experimenting with the focus lens of the camera, but also physically moving toward a subjects to focus. I learned that when I physically move toward the subjects would become larger than in the focus lens where the object did not change as much

                                                      Focusing on trees by walking                                                                                     

                                       

                                                     Focusing on trash can by walking

   

                                               Using the Focus lens to capture red banner

                                                   Using the focus lens to capture brick

Depths of Field

                                                   

                                                               Aperture set to 3.5
                                 
                                                              Aperture set to 4.5

                                                                 Aperture set to 8

Aperture set to 11

       Here I was exploring using the aperture setting on my camera to focus on different parts of the scene especially the masked object in the foreground and the security monitor in the background. In the scene, I used a stuffed plushy of Gunther from Adventure Time and a Tengu mask I got from a Japanese summer festival in Edgewater, NJ. The character Gunter is seen as a mischievous penguin that is far from the playful and kind penguins we think they are. The reason why I put the Tengu mask on the plush toy is because Tengu are Japanese spirits that are seen as angry and mischievous spirits like the character like Gunter. However, in Buddhism the Tengu is also seen as a protectors of the forest and mountains, so to reinforce that concept as protectors I displayed a home security camera monitor in the background to create the image of divine protection but also security through technology. This can be connected to how technology has advanced so much that we rely more on technology for protection and explaining the unexplained, whereas our ancestors put  their faith in religion for divine protection and answers.

Point of View

                                                                Straightforward shot

                                                                  Angle shot (backside)

                                                                  Partial shot

                                                            Best represent the figure shot

                                                                 Relationship shot

The object I'm using as a subject in this piece is an iconic figure in the Japanese anime franchise the Mobile Suit Gundam but more specifically the Hail buster Gundam. This is 1/100 scale model that I put together in middle school that took me a least 5 hours to finish. I was not much of a fan of the Gundam anime series because the Gundams were huge robots that were piloted by humen for military warfare instead of using them in a more peaceful way. It is that military and destructive image I have towards them that influenced me to positioned the model in action poses, except for one. In the relationship shot, I wanted to move away from my previous image of Gundams to a more normal and calm image of the Gundam. Since, the Gundam I’m using is a smaller version of the gigantic version in the anime it makes it less threatening and straying from the powerful destructive image; so to show it lack of destructive power I decided to pose it crossing it leg and knitting to show a calm and peaceful scene. Knitting is somewhat associate to women who are seen to be gentle and fragile creature, whereas a the Gundam is viewed as a boy toy and to be strong and powerful so by having these elements interact with one another crosses that gender barrier.

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