Shirin Neshat

Before reading this, I wondered what kind of art Shirin Neshat does. I would also like to know the reasons to why she creates what she does. The last question I had was what is the process she goes through to create her work.

When reading this I discovered that develops her culture into her work.  A section of her work includes video installations.  Her most popular video is Women Without Men.  In 1973 she moved from Iran to the United States to pursue school in California. She quickly discovered the change in people's physical appearance and public behavior.  In her work she goes back and forth between these two worlds that she knows. She tries to combine the elements of social, cultural and political in her work.  

My questions now include what the the school in California offer to her to make her want to move to another country. Another question is what is her next project, and then my last question is how long does it take her to create her videos.

Krzysztof Wodiczko & Kara Walker

Krzysztof Wodiczko's art does not make any sense to me. It is just weird and I do not like the projections he uses, they are creepy (especially the one with the face projections)

Kara Walker's art really tells a story behind her work. Even though it is just the silhouette, you can still see the message that she is trying to get by. Her slavery pieces really show a deep meaning.

Daily post

Today in class we talked about power and what we can do with our projects. I came up with two ideas. One is to make a video of people of all ages writing their weakness on a card and then ripping it up and showing that you can overcome your weakness and gain control of it. My second idea was to do something along the lines of overcoming your weakness again and having a painting of a backbone. But I need to figure out how I could incorporate that one into the themes that are left for me to choose.

After that we watched videos on two artists. The first one Laylah Ali created art that I have never seen before. Her art was very original and had a good underlining meaning to each piece. My favorite ones by her was her dodgeball series. I also really liked her doodles before she even painted. 


Then we watched a video on Cai Guo-Qiang and it was cool to see his style of art and how he would use gunpowder to create his pieces. I also really liked his installations of the car flipping and the arrows in the tiger. 

Critique - time.

I really enjoyed this project. I had a lot of ideas in store for this project. I however did feel like I could of done better than how my stop motion video came out. I wish I made it longer than it was. I wanted to make a video showing that you have to go through the bad to get to the good. That time can literally heal all of the stress away. Something bad might happen to you, but it won't even matter a week, a month or even a year from now; eventually those angry emotions will fade away.

Daily Post

Today we did half of the classes presentations. It was really neat seeing everyones interpretation of what "time" was to them. I am excited to present mine

William Kentridge

Before I read about William Kentridge, I was curious about the process of how he makes his stop motion films. What materials does he use? How long does it take him to create a video? How does he get his concept?

While reading this I found out that he worked in the film industry, and was a director, writer, actor, and set designer. He made his first animated film in 1990.  He used charcoal in his movies, and would smudge and smear to add effect. Frame by frame he erases the charcoal and adds to it for the next movement.  I learned that each 6/7 minute video takes about three to four months to create.
I also did not know that Kentridge was a print maker, did video sculptures, and drawings. He also did operas, plays and puppet shows.

It made me wonder, why does Kentridge specialize in stop motion videos, if he is talented in all other kinds of areas of art. I also was curious on to why it takes him four months to make a film of seven minutes. I have made stop motion films before, and it would not take that long to create something of that length. I was also curious to as to why he choses charcoal as his medium.

The light factory

I really love going into the city. I always find it to be really inspiring. Photography is one of my favorite forms of art. A photo can tell so much even though it's from one perspective. I really enjoyed looking at all of the photos in the light factory. The first room we went into was my favorite. Those photographers are so talented and it makes me want to go out and take pictures with my camera. I will definitely be back to the light factory to look at the new pieces that they bring in in the future.

Daily post

Today in class we discussed what inspires us. I had to think about this one. When it comes to thinking of an idea, my best ones come to me late at night or out of the blue. Depending on what I'm creating depends on what I look at to get inspired. Out of everything on this planet however, music is what helps me create. creating is so much more fun when listening to your favorite song. Most of my projects have come out of listening to music late at night.

The Mint

Today we went to The Mint museum. It was nice to get out of the classroom and find more inspiration through the art in the gallery there. I really enjoyed watching the stop motion video. That is the kind of art that I like to create, so it was really neat to watch. I also really loved seeing the Andy Warhol prints that were there. I definitely have ideas for my time project now.