Don't Let Nothing Stop You from Doing You!

Though it may seem that most designers may find inspiration outside of themselves I have found someone who expressed their art through a personal incident. Where their paintings are hung in museums, books or maybe in people living rooms or art galleries. However, as they found inspired them they searched t find what is I within themselves that has been influenced for what on the outside.

Frida Kahlo was in an accident that had her in a full body cast where it was difficult to continue her study of medicine. She painted while she was on her bed to help her recover her pain as a way of therapy. Kahlo painted her self because she was alone and had nothing else to paint as she felt that she knew her self-best. This is something that most artists may not know, or actually anyone. It takes time for a person to actually sit down a couple of time and do a self-check. I feel like I still don’t know myself and I’m 20 years old!

Anyway, she drew things images of what was based off of her personal experiences such as her marriage, miscarriages and operations. These were most of her paintings most portray her pain, of a total of 143 paintings where 55 of them were al self-portraits. She once said, “ I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality”. Now that right there is deep. I guess you have to know and understand you self in order to move on and to grow stronger instead of having fantasies and accepting life for what it is. http://www.artquotes.net/masters/frida-kahlo/kahlo-quotes.htm

However, Kahlo was influenced by indigenous Mexican culture that brought bright colors and dramatic images that were symbolic. In most of her painting she always had a monkey, which symbolizes in Mexican culture lust, but she portrayed them as being tender and protective symbols.

It is very interesting to find how Kahlo found inspiration through her sickness and intertwined it with her culture. Also, for the fact that she was unable to do anything physical that she started painting and became a world known painter.

My final words of inspiration to you is don’t let or allow something tragic stop you from showing your talent.

Abstraction

There must be something about the ancient Greeks or Romans that inspires artist. Maybe its because art goes way back through their time where art was appreciated and was known for healing and of course storytelling. For example the Greeks used painting on vases of the Gods telling a story, which is how we know most of the stories of the ancient Greek Gods. But even so, the Greeks and the Romans architecture are very precise or how can I say this, very strong features as if the building are saying, “we mean business”. This is also why columns are used so much around democracy or political, judicial affair matters. I see this also in all the sculpted statues of the Greek and Roman Gods. My God those bodies are fabulous! I wish I could get my body like that. Is that supposed to be a symbol of the perfect body by the way?

Anyway, so Gianni Versace found inspiration through Andy Warhol, Ancient Roman and Greek art as well as modern abstract art. Which I can see through his art of course because his art does show abstracting and definitely tells a story, I have seen this in the Tate Modern Museum in London. So just like the Ancient Greeks and Roman uses their art to tell stories I find that Warhol does the same by speaking about his political ideas in his art through abstraction.

I must say that my self-included would love to use Ancient Greece as inspiration for my designs because when I visited I fell in love with the place and would love to go back. Also, I have always admired Warhol’s art of the abstraction, especially the use of colors he uses in his paintings or photography. So I guess it is normal to have inspiration that is outside of the self, therefore it makes things a bit more easier where it also become a learning process. Even learning about the self, which is always a good thing and a good way to say healthy.

Project Runway: Around the World in Two Days, 2009

I find it ironic to find that on this past week episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway was about designers and where they find their inspiration. It’s ironic to me because in my Design 001 class we were discussing about designers and their inspiration of how they look for their inspiration from either within themselves but mainly outside of themselves. For example, Andy Goldsworthy uses nature as his inspiration of creating art. His material by the way is free! I just realized. What away to save money and the environment, right? J

Okay so back to Project Runway. They had Michael Kors appear on their challenge that had to do with inspiration. I learned that his inspiration was visiting beautiful landmarks such as Greece, New York, Aspen, Santa Fe and St. Tropez. So by doing this Kors had the each of the five designers pick a place from the one of the places above where he provided images and a small description of the place to design a garment. I believe that this excerise was a good excerise because it is also saying that when you look at these postcards or read something about an exotic place you simply think of the weather or what to wear if you were to ever visit that place.

Now, I have been to Greece last summer and I was excited that Greece was one of the places to chose from. And the first thing I had in mind was whatever that designer makes would I wear that in Greece? And this is only because when I was there it was boiling hot! So this designer better design something that is thin and very fashionable. And surprisingly enough this designer did a horrible job at designing a garment that is suppose to represent Greece! He had the model were tight grey pants and a sheer tight top! I looked at it and said, “This is not Greece at all! You can’t wear pants! No one wore pants in Greece! It too damn hot!” And you know what the judges felt the same way about this designers design because he was even eliminated from the show.

So I guess beautiful landmarks didn’t inspire him.

Empty Canvas

Colors! I love seeing vibrant, bold colors on a canvas. I believe that the painter had a lot of deep feeling and thought for them to and on many layers after layers. It shows a deep content of its art. When I see obtainable things simple ass a pillow case it makes me want to purchase it and use it as a decoration on my bed or even for my room. This somehow does not become what is it used for it used for decoration its not an ordinary pillowcase anymore it has become art it has become decoration.

This goes for anything that has a purpose while it is not used for its purpose but simply used for decoration. Why? Because it is appealing to the eye, which is, why it was purchased hoping that it would be appealing to someone else. This is why now a days in the industry things are made with a lot of style, things are no longer really used for I purpose. Sometimes there may be something that looks like a chair by is not meat to sit on. For example I have empty vases on nightstands or side tables in my house, however there are no plants in them. Therefore, I to used objects as a way of decoration but not for its purpose.

Therefore I and maybe others used their environment or see their environment as an empty canvas need to be painted on.

Phones that Controls Us

Do you ever wonder how a phone can control our minds? How it is a must to have the coolest phone, just to I don’t know stand out in a crowd and show off your cool gimmick where it makes you and the society looks good. It’s a wonderful thing to have and to have in the markets as a product where it is a demand to keep producing a new phone every five seconds. Who knows I could be speaking literally. I hate the fact that there is always a new iPhone that comes out every year and some how becomes better than the previous one. All I can say Apple is, “ I can not keep up”. I guess this is a simple facts of keeping up with the Jones. Do people still follow that old saying? Maybe no one because we are in a recession.

Anyway, one day I was waiting for class and one of my friends pulled out this amazing gadget out his pocket, next thing you know my eyes widen. There was some magic that was performed on his phone I was so amazed. I didn’t understand what the world was coming to because I feel like the world is being composed of technology. This phone was a version phone called the Samsung Alias 2. With this phone you could open it up in certain ways where the letters or numbers would do acrobatics on the phone! It was basically an illusion that controls our perception.

Who's your favorite president?

At this point in my mind I have the presidential song playing non-stop, how can I g et it out of my head? I wish there was a way to type out instrumental lyrics if that’s possible to obtain then you will know what I’m talking about. I wonder what it was like growing up during 1861-1865. No actually ill take tat back growing up for me, being a minority, and of someone of culture I might have been a little hard. However, president Abraham Lincoln had his way of reaching out to the minority community, for example, slaves. Though, there are some theories on whether or not he helped, freed or protected those that are color in race.

At this point of my exhibit in Hart Hall at the University of California Davis, I look across the room and saw a one of Dalí’s sculpted/painting and I said to myself “hmmm, that portrait looks a lot like Lincoln”. As I made my way into looking at other paintings I finally went over to discover what was really hidden in this portrait and what do you know it was Dalí’s Lincoln in Dalí Vision in Platinum Bas Relief (1979)

http://www.artbrokerage.com/art/images/main/dali_22979_2/Salvador_Dali_Lincoln_in_Dalivision.jpg

I took very good note that in the middle of his face there was an image of a naked backside. I wasn’t sure if it was female or male and I wondered if signified something. Well of course it, if it wasn’t it wouldn’t be apart of the portrait. This portrait signifies the reflection of Lincoln’s connection to culture. It is a very strong and political piece.

Stop Generalizing Yourself!

So everyone knows that fashion designers use research for their design, well that to say goes for any designer. However a painting may seem as dull as the brush but as vibrant as the paint where you can capture the history in each little image or small description. On the subject in research, it is very valuable for costume designer to go out and receive research else where other than finding material in a magazine or so.

On stage whether its acting, dancing, singing, whatever just some kind of performing it is not good to be general. Generalizing gets a performer nowhere in what they are trying o reach out to the audience. It makes things a bit difficult to understand whether it’s the audience o even the performer. It is much better to know the material so that it comes to the performer as second nature. Fashion Designer (aka The Ballet of Flowers, (1980) http://www.skotforeman.com/images/photos/fashion_full.jpg.

In way I feel that having figures in colors to signify its gender is a way of being general. Who is it to say that the color pink is meant for females and the color blue is meant for males. This is something that we as a society are used to seeing or working with when growing up. I always wonder why was it like that? Who made up this rule? This is why when I was younger I broke hat rule and my favorite color was green! Okay so back to the paining, I feel that Dalí’s way of reaching out of figures being general was symbolizing the two figures in those colors. Also, both figures are structured in a way where it looks like they are dancing in the back of stage like no one even wants to notice their presence because they are so general where as the huge structure is in the front and more bigger. This figure symbols to me that this dancer has more feeling that they would like to express where they are not so general. However the dark, brown figure of the right of it in the painting shows that that figure can also not be general because no one never chooses brown as there favorite color or of a way of expressing. It also shows to me that this figure was also once colorful but became mixed in because of the fact that they were aging.

My point is that I am trying to get across is that in life or actually in design, you never want to be general. Why? Because you do not want to be in someone else’s shadow.

Is the person you talking with on the phone tasteful?

Never have I thought twice about food and talking goes together. I thought when your eating it is not polite to let the whole world know what’s going on inside of your mouth that’s being chewed up. However, food can be a sense of communication, by using food as a means of getting to know someone. For example going on a first date seems redundant at sometimes because the other partner knows that they are going to go somewhere through out the date to eat. Food is another means of breaking the ice as well. This is where I found it quite amusing when I stumbled upon Dalí’s Cybernetic Lobster Telephone, (1975) http://www.lockportstreetgallery.com/Dalis/Imagination/ioclt-A.jpg.

Just from the looks of it the telephone looks very delicious, I don’t know about you but it think I would eat my telephone! Its funny how you can relate food to great conversation because if it is something that you eating that is good it would bring happiness to you conversation. Ironically in some cultures they fond it a bit sexual to watch someone put food into their mouth and for something like a lobster where it is very delicate in touch and in taste.

On the other hand, lobster is very expensive, so I guess Dalí is trying to say that “time is money, money is time” that if your going to talk to me your going to be taking my time so this time that you taking must be worth my time and money. This is because personally I don’t enjoy talking on the phone only because I feel that it is too personal. However if the person is as elegant or lets to say “expensive” then ill give the phone a chance only because the what is on the other end may seem interesting and maybe tasteful.

Did I just get the "evil eye"?

Has anyone seen what an “evil eye” is? Or even heard of it? Its not actually an eye per say its one of those superstition that a certain cultures believe in. I by chance have seen an “evil eye”, matter of fact I have seen plenty, while my time spent in Greece over the summer. The “evil eye” is another term for expressing when someone for instance gives you, “the eye”, “bad look” or simply the “evil look”. This expression known in different cultures is a belief where people bestow a curse on victims just by a malevolent gaze of their “magical eye”. In other words, the “evil eye” is attributed to cause envy and is some cultures this is a form of bad luck where is the “evil eye” can cause diseases or even death.

Now I know your wondering on where am I going with this. Well I came across this gallery, Diversity in the C.N. Gorman Museum Collections: featuring Salvador Dali & Floentino Laime Mantilla held in Hart Hall at the University of California Davis. The first piece that caught my attention was Salvador Dalhi’s Surrealist Eyes (1980),

http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/photos_images/dateline_images/092509/Dali-1_W2.jpg

When I saw this the first thing that came to mind was the image of the “evil eye”. This is because the “evil eye” is always justified with the color blue and the eyes in this sculpture are blue eyes.

According to the piece description it says it is, “ based on an earlier rendering of an architectural project entitled Architectural Design (Eye Catching Economy) from 1976”. I found it very amusing that this piece was supposed to be representing the economy and how all the eyes are blue. So I guess everyone on Wall Street has blue eyes. Pause. So who is controlling our economy/society? Seems like Dalí was trying to get political in his piece, which is always good. On a side not this piece reminded me of the Geico commercial with eyes that are attached to a stack of bills and whenever this figure comes around a familiar song plays, “I always feel like somebody’s watching me” by Rockwell. This here can relate to Dalí’s sculpture in representing in the economy being watched.

This may also sound strange, however the reason why I saw this as the “evil eye” and I see this is representing the economy, I see that money is the major factor in this piece where money can be determined in some case being “evil”. This is because money is a very powerful object that people can cause people to kill for it or for instance give someone the “evil eye” because they envy someone’s wealth. It can either make or break you, some say. I personally characterize money as the devil.

Dalí’s piece is a very strong piece that can be interpreted in so many ways. Clearly I have interpreted in a way where he is saying watch your pockets and watch who surrounds you if it involves money, because they are watching you, and who knows, they may have the “evil eye”.