I tried to dress up how I usually dress at a family party. At these family parties, people dress with “ranchero” attire and I blend in with them because thats the “norm” or way of dressing at these events. If you dress like this on a regular day, you are bound to get a couple of stares, especially by people who are not part of this culture. I tried to take my culture outside of only a family space.
What were their reactions to you? What did they think your name was? Your major? Did you find them responding to you differently than people ordinarily do?-
The person I asked had a intersting reaction to my outfit. At first, they did not want to guess my name at all but I reassured them I would not take offence at all and it was for an assingment and in good light. After saying so, they guessed “Juan”. They guessed my major was “Communications”. I got responses that I expected but not usually get.
Your conclusions about the experience
Overall, the assignment was a bit cool but really forced me to step out of my comfort zone and talk to a complete stranger to ask them quesitons about myself. I did not feel completely comfortable doing so but I was able to converse with a new person which is always a bit nice.
I chose this idea because I feel like it’s been extremely relevant, especially in today’s time. “Immigration” is also something that I feel extremely passionate about and I have been discussing a lot lately in most of my classes. People have mixed emotions about immigration and some people can be extremely against it and have strong feelings about it.
I hope to communicate a response to the hateful comments “illegal immigrants” receive. Oftentimes, we hear people bashing immigrants and usually, immigrants do not receive the chance to voice their opinions or defend themselves. I hope I was able to respond to the negativity and the big misconception about who’s the true first “owner” of the land the U.S. is built on.
I think I was pretty successful because I showed my friends my drawing and they all felt very strong emotions about it. They felt it was a very empowering piece and felt like I was spreading a positive message fighting against this racism.
If I did this again, I would include more responses and include actual faces rather than just their bodies. I would love to make my piece more “personal” by drawing facial features and such to it.
Another idea I would love to explore through “shocking art” is the idea of promoting female empowerment. When we think of “powerful management” or “corporate offices”, we think of men. I would love to make my own take on this and explore an idea where women are the rulers and superior while men are the opposite.
In my second “Artist Conversation”, I went to the SOA art Galleries here at California State Long Beach where I visited Ricardo Corona’s art exhibition. Ricardo is currently an undergraduate student and is under the BFA Pre-production program. Ricardo explains how he highly enjoys design and digital work as well. Animations have always been something Ricardo has been interested in and cant wait to continue his work experience in this field and continue to produce more work.
Ricardos exhibit includes plenty of items that add to his artist theme. He makes the room give off “cowboy” or “ranchero” vibes as he includes plenty of items to add to this feel. Corona fills it with typical items associated with that cowboy feel, such as having cowboy hats, boots, a haystack, rope, and even a horseshoe hung up on the wall. The artist features plenty of the same scheme of colors. He includes a lot of brown, orange, blue, and green to depict mountain ranges, night skies, and people dressed in that same “cowboy” attire. The paintings include people that are drawn very precisely and given realistic shapes to that of human bodies, yet still maintaining cartoon-like.
Ricardo explains how he wanted to explore something new in his art. He states that his art is a “mesh of fantasy and the Wild West”. Corona said how he himself hasn’t really seen much art that features these two themes so he decided he wanted to explore this and come up with work that mixed these two themes. Corona proceeds to discuss his favorite piece which holds a fictional story to it. He explains his favorite piece in thorough detail, stating how the green glows are minerals that hold plenty of power but are being stolen by a thief.
I enjoyed this exhibition because I was instantly drawn to the items Corona used to depict his theme. In my culture, “tejanas” or “cowboy hats” are a huge part of my identity and history, especially in my family. Apart from the items used to further explain his artistic theme, I enjoyed the messages within the pieces. Every piece I saw had a unique story to it that was usually pretty obvious in the piece. You were able to obtain a clear message of what the artist was trying to get across to the viewer.
I chose to do my story about two issues my community, South Los Angeles, faces: homelessness and graffiti. Unfortunately, all throughout my city, you will find homeless people living on every corner of mostly every street. The city itself is also covered with graffiti. People will “tag” all over walls, trucks, over murals, schools, etc.
I think I did not capture most of the problem. These issues are certainly way more broader and bigger than six simple photographs. There are also certain places where it gets progressively worse than in different areas.
I believe “photo #2” is the best image of my story because it features the living situation of three different people. The photo captures the reality of these poeple and how these people are living. People are living inside these thin tents and even under tarpes.
I believe “photo #6” is not necessarily a “great image”, but it does add to my story. The photo was taken very quickly and I did not focus on campturing something “big”, but rather to show how people will tag in literally any place. In this specific photograph, it captures graffit done on trees.
If I were to do this again, I would try to include more pictures that show the differenrt amount of homeless people and graffiti of different parts of the city. I would try to include pictures from different areas.
If there were another “Photo Story” I would like to do would be the “strengths” of my community were I show differnent positive impacts that are occuring within the community.
#1- A man pushing his cart full with bottles to recycle on Figueroa St in Los Angeles.
#2- Homeless people living within tents and traps on sidewalks.
#3- An alley full with trash that has not been cleaned out by the city.
#4- More homeless people living near a freeway entrance.
#5- Tagging on traffic stops, gates of property, and sidewalks full with trash.
#6- This picture shows how you can find tagging in literally any place, including nature, unfortunately.
For my first “Artist Conversation” assignment, I went to the SOA Galleries where I visited Chanmealea Huy’s “Glass Eyes” art exhibition. Chanmealea is currently an undergraduate student and is under the BFA Pre-production program. Huy explains how the pre-production program is “geared towards the animation industry” and shares how she isn’t fully interested in this area as much anymore. Huy also shared that she is minoring in business and recently began taking marketing courses for it. Huy enjoys her art because she uses it as a way to creatively express herself, saying, “This gallery is actually an opportunity for me to do something outside of my major”.
When you walk into Chanmealea’s art exhibit, you are immediately surrounded by bursts of brightly painted drawings. The artists features a different style of media for mostly every piece. Some of her paintings include randomly placed lines of color throughout the canvas while others feature bubble-looking circles of paint on the canvas. Chanmealea uses both primary colors and pastel colors in most of her paintings, following a nice color scheme that flows effortlessly throughout that piece.
The artists explores an empowering sense through her paintings. After being asked to share what she was depicting, she explains that most of her paintings are purposely made to be “bold” and eye-catching. Chanmealea explains one of her pieces and states how her “character” in that painting was “challenging hyperfemininity” since she was very “fem presenting”. Chanmealea also goes for a “futuristic” feel to her paintings which explains why most her paintings feature “human-hybrid” looking figures. Chanmealea also shares how her paintings include anxiety-like undertones because she feels that in today’s time, we are always anxious or stressing out about what our roles in society should be, but she believes its time for us to just be ourselves and live the way we want to.
I truly enjoyed this exhibition because I was able to receive a message from all the pieces I viewed. I was able to see how Chanmealea is combating societal norms and instead embracing “odd-looking” ways of representation. The figures that she paints are oftentimes dressed in ways others would classify as being “weird” but the way she depicts them is bold and proud-like. Her pieces are not afraid fo owning their space and feel very empowering. Things like this resonate with me because it’s what my ideas are mostly based around. I believe that people should always feel empowered and deserve the right to express themselves freely and openly without being afraid of being judged by others.
This art activity was definitely fun overall. The only “frustrating” feeling I would get was whenever I would make a mistake and would be highly tempted to use an eraser and erase my mistake. Instead of erasing, I had to blend my mistake in and hope it would not be noticeable. I personally do enjoy drawing, however, I haven’t sat down to draw since I would say about my freshmen year of high school when I took my first and last art class. After completing this activity, it definitely reminded me of how much I actually enjoy drawing so I’ll definitely be trying this again.
I do believe that if I were to sit down and actually practice my art skills, or anyone for that matter, would definitely improve. Just like anything else, I do believe that “practice makes better”.
I am currently a Psych major. I believe a simple sketch can be useful in my major during an experiment when I am trying to capture a specific element or part of the study, instead of using words to describe it, I can draw what I am trying to express.
I personally believe the drawing is a language. People can communicate with each other through pictures or drawings, not needing to use words. I believe drawings can “say things that are hard to say with words”. Sometimes you can’t describe what you’re trying to express, so you can visually express that thought/thing through a drawing that can send the general message. One can also add specific details to a drawings to further express their message.
#1 – The tape we used to make our frame #2 – Our actual “art” within our frame #3 – Prof. Zucman marking an “X” so classmates can step to observe the scenery in a good spot during our art explanation
2. Discuss the Form, Aesthetics & Content of your art.
Formal Qualities: For my group art activity, we chose to do scenery rather than a specific object. The scenery featured a very large tree with nice dark green leaves that covered it’s branches.
Aesthetics: The scenery we captured with our frame can be describes as soothing to look at. It invites the viewer to stop for a second and take in the nature that is being presented to them.
Content: To me, the frame captured more than just a tree. It tells the viewers to not just focus on the ground but rather to search everywhere. Oftentimes, people will only try to find art in places that are beneath or at their eye level, but usually never stop to look around and realize there could be something extremely beautiful infant of them that they would noticed had they ben looking up and around rather than just at the floor. It means that nature is beautiful as well and unforutnraley also goes unnoitced plenty of times. My peers admitted to just walking past this scenery without giving it a second thought, but when pointed out, they realized how nice looking the view is there. This is important because it reminds us to not limit art and beauty to just things that are within touch, but be open to things around us.
3. To me, my “art” was art before putting my frame around it. I believe this because the scenery we captured is beautiful and if you actually stopped to admire the nature around us and in that specific frame, you would also agree with its beauty.
4. I believe my “art” will continue to remain art even after the frame is around it because it is out in the open. The scenery is not hiding behind a wall or hard to spot, so long as your paying attention to your surrounding, you will be able to notice this beautiful view.
5. I believe knowing whether an object is art or not is something that varies with each person. I think its something more personal and individually decided because what I consider art may not be considered art by a peer of mine. I think as long as an object/scene has a message, I would consider it art.
6. I do believe art can be something other than an object. I believe the art my group captured with our frame helped me to answer this question. Most of my peers were focused on searching on floor-level objects or on things on walls, however, we did something different and chose to focus on a view rather than a tangible object.
7. Yes, art does reside in the experience of the viewer. People can either choose to walk past art without giving it a second thought and they’ll never get to experience that piece, however, if a person choose to interact with the art, they’ll be able to obtain their now personal message from the piece and leave thinking of their perception of the piece. The art is enjoyed through the experience of the viewer.
To me, “abstraction” is something that doesn’t necessarily aim for objectivity. This can be anything from a burst of colors to different materials being gathered and displayed as a “weird” shape.
At first, I preferred more “representation” art pieces over “abstraction”, but after the discussion we had during class, I was able to view abstraction in a new way. After visiting Piotr Kowalski’s 1965 sculpture NOW, it gave me the chance to stop and truly take the sculpture in. Prior to the class visit, I would always simply pass by it and ignore it since I didn’t want to stop and think about what it could possibly represent, something representation does for you. The visit along with the class discussion pushed me to look at the sculpture and appreciate it and acknowledge that its more than a “whale” as prof. Zucman said a group leader described the sculpture to be.
Finger Painting Activity
The experience was something new to me since I have never done anything similar to this.
This activity was easier than I expected. Before starting, I felt a bit stressed because I am generally a very “planned out” person, meaning I like to plan mostly every event happening to me or plan how I’m going to draw/paint something.
Painting a painting with no subject felt pretty liberating. As I previously mentioned, before starting I had no idea how this was going to go and whether I would actually like it or not. After I set my bottles of paint out in-front of me and stopped overthinking the objective (that being to simply finger-paint), I began to enjoy it. I chose every color that I gravitated to and just began to truly “feel” the paint. It felt nice to not worry about things like “neatness”, whether I was doing it right, or is this too much, bur rather just do whatever I felt like doing. Now, I am. very proud of my painting because it allowed me to express myself with no limits, something I can’t really do in my other paintings.
Usually, I only really see “realistic” paintings around me. My neighborhood was covered with murals of people/figures like La Virgen María (The Virgin Mary), Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, birds in some sort of scenery, etc. I would rarely see any “abstract” murals, but when I would, I would really enjoy seeing the different colors incorporated into the paintings.
“Women’s work” to me should feel equal to men’s work. During class, we discussed how women work is considered to feel more emotional based work, such as being the one who raises children, teachers, nurses, etc, while men’s work is more “physically” demanding. Women’s work to me is anything done by a female-identifying person. Work can be actual work or art.
“Art” is a way of expression. This includes things like drawing/painting on canvas’, or music.
“Women’s work is also Art” means that women’s work should not be excluded from the conversation. Throughout history, plenty of stories get left untold or are forgotten to be mentioned in plenty of history books. Women’s work is typically perceived as being “less than” compared to work done by a man.
At first, I felt a bit intimidated by the activity since it forced my classmates and I to be out in the open and perform mainatnace on thesculuputere. We were out in the open where anybody passing by could see us doing so. As I expected, people that were not part of the class but where rather walking by would pull their phones out and record us. For me, it wasn’t the task that was intimidating, it was just the fact that were out in public that made me feel so intimidated since it forced me to step out of comfort zone, but shortly after, my mood changed. After going around and collecting trash around the sculpture, I felt good doing so. I strongly dislike how people litter and always complain about it to myself so it felt good that I was dedicating myself to this area and help clean it up with my peers.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles cleaning the steps of an art museum and Richard Serra flinging molten lead against the walls of an art museum are different because Laderman is ultimately cleaning the museum, here being the steps, and Richard Serra’s act can be seen more as creating something rather than cleaning it. They are both the same in the sense that these people had a goal in mind and wanted to possibly create something new in their eyes: Laderman by cleaning the steps to create a cleaner look to the museums steps and Serra doing the opposite of Laderman by wanting to create a new piece by splattering molten lead against a museums walls. For me, Richard Serra created “art” because he envisioned a piece, leading him to doing this act.
I would personally not consider Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Maintenance Art performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum to be “art”. I believe that since Laderman’ Maintenance Art performance was done in-front of an art museum, it helped give the performance a sense of artistic value, but not enough for me to classify it as art. As stated in the question, when janitors clean, their work is not praised nor held as having some sort of artistic value, it’s simply seen as their job and something janitors are supposed to do. This is not devalue acts similar to this however, both by artist or workers that dedicate themselves to cleaning areas or organizing different places. For example, workers who dedicate themselves to redoing and cleaning peoples closets at home for me is considered art because they put plenty of thinking and is very detailed work that not everyone is capable of doing. What makes “art” art is something that is planned out, even if its just a basic canvas getting paint thrown at it, because the person completing the piece can have a deeper meaning to it.
I believe that a piece being “art” or “not art” is not based on the materials used but rather what the piece or act can mean. If a painting is done on a canvas, it usually does mean it’s art because something is being created on that canvas by a person who has a message they wish to express to others or just be able to physically see their vision rather than just imagining it. Home painting are just as valuable as art pieces hung on museums, they are both being displayed to people, regardless of the amount of people that are viewing them. I believe that people use canvases to create something, whether it be an elaborate piece or a couple of lines, it holds value if its being done on things like a canvas. Painting a house is art because your canvas are literally walls of blankness that can be used to create different patterns, shades of colors, or drawn over.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Jennifer Lopez just helped to add to my believe that “Women’s Work” is art. When a women creates an art piece, it should not be categorized differently simply because of a gender.
I would get down on my hands and knees to clean Selena Quintanilla’s Star on Hollywood Blvd. Selena has been a huge part of my culture and identity since birth. My parents adored her and her music, causing Selena to be present all over my childhood. Selena also means an immense amount to the Latinx community.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Edwin Hernandez 