Marlborough Gallery Visit

Hi!  This is a sketch I did from the Marlborough Gallery installation - a sculpture there.  The sharp shapes paired together...yet things not found together in nature whatsoever...the contrast appeals to me.  The round sharp shapes and the pointed sharp shapes.

19th cent. Japanese woodblock

 i've always been very interested in Japanese woodblock prints, and decided to use this assignment as an excuse to spend more time with them. i found myself focusing on the interpretation and portrayal of landscapes - especially mountains and trees.
these woodblock prints are by 2 major 19 century Japanese masters - Hokusai and Hiroshige. 

to compare, below are some examples from Western traditions of landscape drawing:
17-18 century drawings -

 below is a contemporary piece by Maya Lin, a reminder to how in today's Western world we use topographical maps to describe landscape in a very specific visual language and interpretation of space -

 and also some technical drawings of landscape, in the spirit of architectural drawings (also a very different way to describe space)

thinking about form as we discussed in class, the different approach in Western landscape drawing vs. Japanese woodblock in depicting depth of field and various textures of a landscape are interesting.
one stricking example is the way the Japanese masters convey the structure of a mountain, or the mass of leaves on a tree vs. that in a "classic" Seurat or 18th century Dutch drawings.

Ancient Egypt Culture

After going to the Stray Light Grey exhibit, I thought of choosing a culture that had a very different way of representing the reality in drawing.

So, I chose ancient Egypt because they had a very specific way of depicting things. All drawings are in two dimensional, there is not a notion of depth. They drew heads, eyes, legs and feet positioned as if you were looking at them from the side. They drew shoulders and chest as if you were looking at them from the front.

My first drawing is an ancient egypt woman, and the second one is a modern woman depicted with their way of drawing. Both of them carry objects from their world.

Punk Rock Forms - Melissa Nolan

Hi...I have not seen the Marlborough Gallery Exhibit yet as I am timing my visit due to family concerns with the holiday for Friday as I also want to go to the PS 1 Book Fair on the same day!  Yeah I do!  Sorry about that.  But I did look at it online and am super psyched!!!  Ok.  The world I picked was Punk Rockers.  The shapes and textures involved in that movement and in the people who still adopt the look is all at once sharp and textured and loud...and then surly and laid back...from mohawks and safety pins in the face to my world in suburban NJ is quite a leap currently.

Fanny Sturén - African Art

I went to see Richard Philips exhibition with Lindsay Lohan the other day, which I think was really beautiful and interesting, I loved how he painted pictures from the movie. The exhibition also got me thinking about how women and their bodies are exposed in our culture today. At the same time I thought about how I look, always dressed in black, and always drawing with grey pencils.

I wanted to find something with color, that challenged my own drawing. I love how the african art has no space without color, there's always a distinction between the sky and the ground, made with color. The drawings looks simple but with a lot of movement, which I think is fascinating. Women are portrayed as joyful, often dancing or working, and they always wear amazing clothes with color and patterns.

Alejandra Herrera- Hindu God/Goddess

During the exhibit "Stray Light Grey", I noticed on one of the walls near the bathroom piece, two photos or paintings of Hindu gods. It really caught my attention not only for what it represents but the location they were placed in. 

One of the themes, I got from the exhibit is the fact that nothing is what it seems, everything seems to be a sort of illusion. 

Hindu god/godess also play this role to me. You are not sure of what they are, or the shape they represent and stand for. 

Madelyn Somers - Gangster Rap World

Luiza O M Dale - Form/Volume World War II

After seeing the exhibit I was most impressed by the transitions of spaces, the breaking of the walls for a construction of a new world in each room. That and a curious personal interest inspired me to choose World War II as the world to explore for the assignment.