"Turn off your Gestalt Processor"

In Psychology An Explantion, Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland explain, "Gestalt (Gesh- TALT) is a German word meaning 'an organized whole' or 'configuration,' which fit well with the focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them." The familiar slogan, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." sums up the Gestalt principle. We generally look for whole patterns and use top-down processing, using prior knowledge to infer what the outcome will be.  We naturally want the whole instead of the parts. Bottom-up processing gathers small bits and pieces to eventually put a whole together; this is the exact technique used during the contour drawing of a businessman during class.

Dividing the picture into six horizontal segments and flipping the picture so we actually started from the bottom and worked our way up, each student drew various lines that eventually created the image of a businessman. By only providing a given set of lines at a time, one is forced to take the pieces and not the whole. Drawing is really just creating various lines to make up an image. Essentially anyone is capable of drawing well. It's a matter of taking it line-by-line and practicing over and over. 

empty......

Craft and art have been confused, interchanged, and combined for years. The line between art and craft was rather unclear to start with and has only blurred even
more so over time. Craft derives from that which is hand made,
 but in that case most art is craft. Some believe what
distinguishes art from craft is that craft is functional, but
that's not the case either. Typically we depict certain
 works as craft due to the materials used. Clay, glass,
 metal, wood and fiber are the commonplace
materials used in crafting. Peter Voulkos used
stoneware and glaze to create an untitled stack
 pot in the year 1964 measuring 30 feet high. This
 work is considered craft because of the material
used. But by no means is it functional; it has a
gash that deems it unfit for containing much of
anything. It is empty and will remain so. Voulkos
asks that we find to be of some greater purpose,
as and object of art subject to questioning. The
empty vessel is a victim of violence with scars of
 destruction. When clay is fired it loses its plastic nature and
 is no longer moldable; what you fire is there to stay. The cutting,
 tearing, slicing,                                      ripping, and other subtractive actions can no longer be mended.                                                        Even the glazing is done in a manner that suggests little                                                                       tranquility. Oliver Herring's work, Castle, is also
                                                                                   unsettling. It comes from a series known as
                                                                                     A Flower for Ethyl Eichelberger. Castle was
                                                                                        knitt of transparent Mylar measuring
                                                                                        9 X 47 X 65". It depicts a bed with the
                                                                                        impression of a coat. It is meant to signify
                                                                                            absence and loss. Eichelberger was a
                                                                                               performance artist that had commited
                                                                                               suicide while dying of AIDS. Great
                                                                                               sorrow is felt through the work when
                                                                                              you begin to realize the grief of the
                                                                                             artist and the long suffering left to
                                                                                            endure. The impression of the coat will
                                                                                          always remind but never return what has
                                                                                         left. A coat and bed both suggest comfort
                                                                                     and warmth, but this piece offers neither. 

horsing around

Alexander Calder. Ordinary. 1969. Painted steel, 19' X 19'8 3/16" X 19'. 

Luis Jimenez. Vaquero. Modeled 1980, cast 1990. Acrylic urethane, fiberglass, steel armature, height 16'7". Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

The father of the mobile that is Alexander Calder and an artist embracing contemporary materials for contemporary art, Luis Jimenez, have constructed pieces with amazingly captivating qualities. The works create movement and suspense using dynamic concepts. They use 3 dimensional properties to the greatest potential. And they bring an interesting perspective to the world of play.

Calder viewed art as "a kind of serious play for a adults". He came up with a new toy, the mobile. He also created stabiles, and pictured above he fashioned hybrids. Calder used simple shapes and colors and the power of balance to create phenomenal works on a large scale. Ordinary teeters in the wind causing the simplest flow of air to create an interesting sensation. It emphasizes simplicity in everything that it is and does.

Vaquero is brilliant, fun, and daring piece of work that celebrates the American west and remind us of the original influence of the Mexican culture. This daring composition isn't even possible without the help of the steel armature that holds it in place. The acrylic urethane works wonders to enhance the fluid movement of the sleek lines. The raw power of a bucking horse is prevalent and continues on in the wild vaquero holding on. I can really appreciate this work because I created a similar figure as a hood ornament, so i understand the work that is put into a model that doesn't even stand on its own. 

spider sense and puppy love

Louise Bourgeois. Maman. 1999. Bronze, steel, and marble; height 30'.

Jeff Koons. Puppy. Installation at Schloss Arolsen, Germany during Documenta IX, 1992. Live flowering plants, earth, geotextile, and internal irrigation system. 

Sculptures and installations take art to another level, or rather dimension. You walk around them, stare up at them, walk through them; there is a much stronger interaction and engagement with the viewer than a two-dimensional piece has to offer. Both of the works above are sculptures that have toured the world, engaged a large audience on various continents, and are larger than life renditions of common creatures with interesting concepts behind them.

Maman, which is French for mother, is a 30-foot spider accompanied by a smaller spider simply named Spider. This sculpture can be rather daunting, for arachnophobia is rather common. However the artist's intent is the exact opposite. Bourgeois compared a mother from the view of a child to a spider. Both are "awesomely tall, protective, patient, and skilled." Immediately after viewing the photo of the sculpture and discovering the title to be Maman, I thought of "The Other Mother" from Coraline. I find this to be a more accurate rendition of my mother =P The Other Mother is also referred to as a beldam, an ugly old woman. She collects children and sucks the life out of them. Maman and "The Other Mother" are two mothers depicted as spiders with very different perspectives. 

You can't help but love Puppy. It's a West Highlander Terrier made of flowers! Take the Caesar dog food commercials; the dog is so cute you have to buy the food (and the dog). Why do we buy flowers? Why in the world is there a career fashioned simply to serve bouquets of flowers? We, as a society, are suckers for that which we deam cute. And that was a major part of the concept behind Puppy. Koons took the idea that the more sophisticated "high art" admirer is supposed to frown upon the sentimental and adorable somewhat "simplictic art and blew it into giant proportion. How absurd of us to allow vanity to overwhelm?

the art of everday life

Finding art in that which you view everyday takes a certain eye. To find meaning and value in said artwork can prove even more difficult (unless you're good at pulling things out of thin air and making them sound convincing.) I rather enjoyed roaming around Cypress College campus looking for art. I also enjoyed what other groups found as well as what they had to say about them.

Some groups picked "obvious" works of art and some went a little deeper. Some put thought into they're choice (or at least it seemed so) and some not so much. Nonetheless it was interesting to see how things one may see on a daily basis can pose new questions and serve various purposes. 

This field trip conjured many questions, both new and old. What is art? How are the elements of art used to define a piece? Who decides what is and isn't art? Where can art be found? Why are certain works created? When and where are the optimal time and location to view a piece? What different types of art exist? How can they co-exist within the same work? The questions really are endless. The answers? Those are a bit more difficult to come up with. 

I'm learning so much, but at the same time I'm not learning anything. It brings to mind a tattoo that refers to a quote, "...ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

optional power outage

Project 1: Challenge-go a night without electricity
Objective- experience how the majority(roughly 97%) of art was created

So I attempted to go the entire day without electricity and I am rather glad I did. It turned out to be a rather productive day for me. I worked on many of the projects I have been pushing aside due to distractions of the electronic form, televisions, computers, and phones.
From the time I woke up, about 8a.m., to the time I went to bed around 10p.m., (I know these times because of my movement powered Kenneth Cole watch and the weight operated cuckoo clock I bought in Germany this summer :D)  I avoided electricity as much as possible. I will admit I was exposed to some artificial lighting and the noise of the television due to the other members in the household and I did forget and put a load of laundry to wash for my sister, but other than that I succeeded.

I started off the day painting butterfly wings for a Halloween costume for my cousin. Painting on thin cotton is a bit of a pain. It requires many layers of paint. Later I drafted some patterns for other Halloween costumes for myself as well as my sister and cut fringe for yet another Halloween costume. Is it apparent that I love Halloween? I also mixed in some reading from both my art and psychology books. And of course my parents had me cleaning a bit as well. As it grew darker I employed the help of various candles. I made some duct tape bows and called it a night.

When I craft, things get cluttered. I did go to bed a bit early. And it was hell not being able to listen to my pandora stations all day long, but things went pretty well without electricity. I love the flicker of a candle and would do this again in a heartbeat.