It's the start of our project. In a group of 6, we talked about the 10 vital challenges as being a human. "Climate change", "interaction & relationships" and "lack of resources" are the most challenging problems that we discussed. A girl mentioned "language & culture" which interested me a lot. I have a conversation about "what defines human" and "what makes us different from animals?" with her.

group discussion sheet

In this project, we become a philosopher for once. What makes us human? What defines us as a human? What vital challenges did we face now? Those questions allow as to have interdisciplinary practice, to have knowledge in all fields including biology, philosophy, history...etc. We are able to not limit ourselves just in art.

From a wide range of contexts, we ended up choosing the one that interested us the most, language. We discuss how humans are different from other animals. Through research, I found out the main difference is that humans use a more effective way to communicate, and we record the knowledge and pass on to the next generation.

There are thousands kinds of languages exist in human society, just like the complicity of our races, skin colors and religions. Yet, the pluralistic of languages also brings extreme contradiction and confusion. So what if there is a language that could be spoken by everyone? Would all the contradictions and confusions that caused by languages solved by the unity of one language and bring more equality that we always seek for? As the unity of one language as our inspiration, we created a human-like symbol in different forms and colors to show the peaceful life under the unity of language.

Division the work makes the processes of the project become more efficient. I mainly responsible for drawing and generating them into PNG materials and Emily is in charge of the final outcome. She focused on developing and expanding constructions of the image then visualize the thoughts that allow us to complete and self-improve on the outcome. The processes of the new language that came out were based on digital production in Photoshop. We scan the hand-draw human figures and reorganized them inside the keyboard with rainbow-colored to alternate letters in the Instagram chat screenshot. To make it unique and bring out a sense of unfamiliar, all the common sentences and logos have been replaced as well.

Painting and mass media Wilhelm Sasnal/ Gaddafi 1

- What aspect(s) of being human does the artist explore in their work?

Gaddafi 1 depicts the body of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed by rebel fighters on 20 October 2011. I think it also present his political voice through art, and it is an important part of being human. Not only be an artist, he is also a citizen that concern the things around himself. 

- What materials, processes and media do they use to explore their ideas?

Starting from a real image of the body of the deposed leader, the artist then uses thick impasto of the oil paint to imply the ripped and torn body of the leader. It also contrasted sharply with the flat surrounding space. 

- How successful do you think their approach is? Why?

I think instead of depicting the real image of the person’s death, the artist uses his way to interpret. Not necessarily all the audience would immediately get that “it’s a death of a person”, but the use of paint is remarkable. It’s like turning the bloody scene into something colorful.

- How is the work installed/ arranged in the gallery?

This series of work is hung in the “Painting and mass media” room with other Gaddafi pieces, as well as other artists’ works. 

Ed Ruscha/ The Final End

- What aspect(s) of being human does the artist explore in their work?

The work “demonstrates Ruscha’s interest in the histories of visual culture and graphic design” and “express sadness about the passing away of certain beloved aspects of popular culture.” I think the passing away of one particular culture is a big topic to the current world which he shown this idea in this work. 

- What materials, processes and media do they use to explore their ideas?

Ruscha uses acrylic paint to present his idea. 

I think the more effective elements are the use of font and the reeds that covered the text. He said, ‘I have always operated on a kind of waste-retrieval method … I retrieve and renew things that have been forgotten or wasted.’ (Schwartz 2004, p.251.) 

The text is painted in a black gothic-style typeface, and it is like in the final frame of an old Hollywood movie, suggesting the old time. The reeds obscuring the text from view, seems to saying that the old time had been forgotten from the people.

- How successful do you think their approach is? Why?

I think it’s a really clear image expressing the sadness about the passing away of certain beloved aspects of popular culture because of the use of the font (black gothic-style) and reeds that covered the text. The gradual text seems to almost fade away and they are hidden by the reeds. Also, the use of color (grey and black) also conform to the sad atmosphere of the painting.  

- How is the work installed/ arranged in the gallery?

The Final End is display in the artist room with other works by Ruscha. 

Mitch Epstein/ Gavin Coal Power Plant, Cheshire, Ohio

What aspect(s) of being human does the artist explore in their work?

This work reflects on the idea of citizens being exploited their rights of living, and the environmental issue that caused by exhaust gas. In Cheshire, Ohio, residents had been asked by the American Electric Power Company to leave because it wanted to expand its power plant. Some residents were refusing to accept the money and leave their homes, so Epstein photographed the power station and these people’s houses.

What materials, processes and media do they use to explore their ideas?

The artist uses photography to execute the work. He said, “With “American Power” I am trying to find and convey truth about how we Americans live, what we want, and what it costs to get it”. Using photograph is a really good method to depict the reality. Also, the method that the artist framed the image to be upside down is really incredible. The two chimneys was pointing upwards to the sky but Epstein make the smoke appears to pour downwards rather than up into the sky.

How successful do you think their approach is? Why?

I think it’s pretty successful piece because the choice of media and method. He intentionally turn the image become black and white, seems to be a portrait of the deceased which suggested there would be threatening impact of the billowing clouds of pollution. 

Also, he turn the images upside down, seems to imply that the pollution will all go back to ourselves.

How is the work installed/ arranged in the gallery?

The work is hung beside ‘Biloxi, Mississippi 2005’, another work from the same series.  

Today we have the morning for "Interrogating the Real" lecture and have a deeper understanding of how different artists at different times react to reality. 

Today exercise is to make "a painting that has the quality and sensibility of a photograph" and "a photograph that has the quality and sensibility of a painting". I was fascinated by the idea of "Plato’s Cave", where the prisoners under the cave believe the world is made of shadows, and don't believe the real world told by the person who walked out of the cave. 

So I have an idea of making a "real" shadow out of something completely different. It is possible that the world we see is not real. Maybe everything have another side.

And then I thought of playing with 2D and 3D forms, with sometimes artists use lighter or darker color to imply there is a 3D surface. 

we learned about some basic and useful skill of Photoshop, including selecting the background, multiplying objects, and using color blocks to create images.

We have a laboratory of painting today. 

A ranges of experimental paintings are developed and I just have fun and trying out new things and techniques. I am not familiar from oil painting stuffs, it's a completely new thing for me. I tried dripping oil  on oil paint, and I think it's a pretty fun experiment. It's good to know the characteristics of all kinds of paint. 

Today I play around the images I took on Tuesday by using Photoshop  and the app on my phone. I experimented a lot of them, of course some of them went well and some of them don’t. I have a conversation with Gary and he wants me to think of how to execute the work. How image and sculpture can be present? Or I could print it out and place object on top of it? It’s so fun to thik of how to arrange the work and think of how the viewers would look it. Although I think my works still need more development, it’s already a range of works in his point of view. 

Benjamin Cohen, Amy Stephens, and Abigail Reynoldsm are three artists that Gary recommended me to look at. 

The most interesting picture I work on is the one I took under a slide projector. I put a paint on a transparent sheet and tap it by finger. It creates a tree-like texture and it’s very mysterious to me because it looks like vein and tree branch. It’s just full of vitality. 

I first layer the image with different images (e.g. the other image I worked on, or interesting textured photographs), and then I just layer the image with some random tree photos I took on streets. I think it went really well because the branches and the texture on the image are just beautifully combined together. 

Fine art for me is an idiosyncratic way to present my ideas and feelings. It is an essential medium for me to share my engrossing observations of the world. More than that, after studying at the foundation course in CSM, I think it allows me to investigate existences, to redefinitions things, and to challenge how people view the world, including myself and the audiences.

Throughout the foundation course, I am always desirable to absorb new knowledge and try out every possibility of making my artwork. I like to work with different media to explore different themes, including paintings, sculptures, and films. Compare myself from the very beginning of the course, I believe it changes the way I see, makes me think more, and wants to explore more. A work I done about “pixelization and death” fully show what I learned. I first started to pixelate an artwork “Gaddafi 1” by Wilhelm Sanal. It is an abstract painting of the artist who depicted the death of Gaddafi. Because I think of how social media always cover the bloody image of someone, I found the real image of Gaddafi dying and then pixelate and enlarge it. The result is six quiet color blocks. I think of how people view death and deal with death, and how truth has been covered by ambiguous images. Would people associate that six color blocks to Gaddafi’s death? The original image and the six color blocks are the same, the latter one is just pixelated and enlarged. I really enjoy the process of making this artwork, especially the thinking process, because it makes me understand that art is not just about showing beautiful things. This work allows me to think in a deeper aspect and more focus on the process of making an artwork. 

The exploration of the relationship between digital media and painting also intrigued me a lot. Throughout the experiment, I worked on a slide projector and overhead projector where the shadow and lights it created interest me. Light and shadow are surrounded us in daily life. I have always interested in how the sunlight illuminates all things on Earth, and it makes me curious about how art can show them. When I experimenting with paint on transparent sheets and projected them to a slide projector, it has been magnified and allows the textures shown. It creates a tree-like texture and it’s very stunning to me because it looks like veins and tree branches. It’s just full of vitality. I use photoshop to overlay the image with different other projections I have done, but the most decent combinations are with other images of trees because it seems to extend the animateness of the image itself.

Doug Aitken is one of the artists who I fascinated a lot. Before starting my foundation year, my main process to execute artworks is to paint. His brilliant choices of media inspire me to be more open in terms of medium. He uses aluminum lightboxes to show images in which paintings could not achieve the feeling. I am also really like the sensation of being in the exhibition. The psychedelic lights that the sculpture created and the mysterious music just makes me want to feel more of it. In the next stage of education, I would like to create works that could make people feel relatable by using sounds, lights, and visuals. To expand what I interested in, I hope to learn more about how to execute fine-technique artworks that could present light and shadow. I am also really interested in creating hypnotic space, painting, or any form of artwork that could take people away from the annoyances that they worry about, and just enjoy what is gripping in the world.

Today we read about a really interesting article about THEORY. I don’t really understand when she stated “...engaging with theory is about your own intellectual, political, and creative commitments and endeavor…”. I think theory is really academic, knowelgeable and logical. I never associate it with personal thinking. Then I discuss this sentence with my classmate, she explains to me that to her, theory is more about individual thoughts. It’s more of a selfish intention, to change other’s thinking. I used to treated theory with absolute rightfulness and it absolutely would be truth. But the example in the article question myself. I don't really agree with the idea of Marxism or psychoanalysis. The group of people who come out with the theory might treat it as an absolute truth, but we do not necessarily have to agree to it. We select about what we understand and what we recognize. 

We also watch a really interesting film called “Dangerous of a single story”. The speaker used to think that books have to have personally identify or have to have a foreigner in a book. Her White classmate has a single perception of what a black’s life have → stereotype

if we told one and only story to people, it would become truth.

The idea of having a single story makes me think of the process of making an artwork. If I do my work just in my own way and they are just about my feelings, that would be a single story. But if I do research and select method and ways to execute works, it would not just a single story. 

Today I worked on my sketchbook to put some thoughts on the paper. I tried to work with possibilities with the 4 pieces of metals because I really want to show the idea of “wearing a painting”. When I drag the photos on the sketchbook, I tried to add some hands and legs on the photos to see if it works as garments, but it turn out to be really interesting when it’s only have legs, so I decided to use clay to make some legs and stick them on to some objects. I scrap some paper from magazines to fold a box we used to make when I was little. It functions like a paper-bin. And it is super eco-friendly. I combine the legs and the boxes together and it results really well. It creates a weird and doll-like feeling to me. I think about how to present it. Just on the floor? On a table? Print it out?

For the little sculpture I've think of ways to present it. Because the work itself cannot stand on its own (even when i stick nails underneath its legs), so i decided to enlarge it. The effect is better than I thought because when the audience look at it, they might think of the actual size of the work. 

Today we went to visit Waterlow Park to have a basic understanding of how the park is structured, and also the history behind it. As Adrian said, this is a really good opportunity to exhibit our work, so i decided to take the chance and try to think of how can my work cooperate with the park. 

The park is incredibly beautiful. It contains a lots of small delicate shadow which fascinated me a lot recently. I really want to make works that could utilize the sunlights in the part. It is a really perfect place where the lighting could make use of. The lady who introduced the park is "a house of change" which makes me associated with the change of sun light and shadow. The house is constantly changing and I want to highlight this special characteristic. 

I immediately think of an idea of a sculpture which can change the shadow as the time goes by. Because if I created a sculpture that always stand still, the only thing going to change is the shadow. I can't guarantee that the weather is going to be great, so I think of a sculpture that are able to change its shape. But since it is a bit impossible to power the sculpture, I think of the idea of Newton's cradle which it can simply move when people release the ball.