Julie Roch-Cuerrier

This artist is actually someone my ex went to to school with at the Royal College of Art in London, UK. She works a lot with histories, whether it be her personal history, world history - or in the case of It Meant the World - a bit of print history.
I'm drawn to her work and installations, there's a pleasing simplicity that really speaks to me on a whole. It's also really good to see/read about a working artist our age and know that with hard work it's quite possible to find success in the art world (depending on your definition).
Check out her website, maybe check out some of the press about her work (that isn't in French Canadian) I think a few of you may enjoy it.
http://www.julierochcuerrier.com/

In the Shadow of Things

Last year I used to spend some of my free time in the library looking through the photography section. While there I found a book called In the Shadow of Things by photographer Leonie Hampton, a UK based artist. She has made everything from books to films to written stories. Her diversity in her work is just one reason I dig her. In this series she focuses on what a family really is because she sees no point in documenting a happy family. Also, lets be real, there is no such thing as a perfect "happy" family. That is just some American dream bull shit that we all strive for but can't achieve. I just really connect with this body of work due to my own family history. Aside from the meaning behind it, I really just find the images in the series captivating and beautiful. The way she pays attention to lighting is almost delicate and her subject matter gives off moods of emptiness and anxiety. If you guys are interested her book is in the library. However it is not at the moment because it is sitting on my desk. I highly recommend it. 

 http://www.leoniehampton.com/home/

Thinking Out Loud

Art Books

In the next couple I, along with my peers, will have to create our own collection of pieces into a book for my Digital 2 class. This is very exciting for me because This will be my first attempt at putting together a book. The possibilities of what can be considered an art book are endless, however that endlessness does bring a little bit of anxiety. There have been soooo many interesting interpretations of the "book" by so many different artists that I don't know how I could just pick one. Though I do think I've found an artists collective whos books I enjoy most, at least for now. That group is known as "Visionaire." I recently had a chance to view a couple of the "books" they've released, special collections in the library has a few items from Visionaire. I put books in quotes because these books weren't exactly pages bounded by a cover, but rather physical items that added in how you saw each piece. Every thing Visionaire release has a number, for instance the book I viewed that I enjoyed most was Visionaire 62. Though it was a highly crafted collection of pieces and probably something I couldn't exactly emulate, it did give me a more abstract way to approach making my own book. So I wanted to ask the class what are ya'lls favorite art books and why? Also I've attached a link to to Visionaire website.http://www.visionaireworld.com/issues

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is Chinese contemporary artist and activist. He've been working on variety of mediums and as a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese Government. Among his works, Study in Perspective photo series really stood out for me because his simple gesture in the series shows serious rebellion against world's supreme authorities. After I saw this image at Art museum in Washington D.C. I also wanted to take similar picture but I couldn't take it because I was aware of people around me. From this I learned it takes more than just flipping middle finger in public space to make this project. Especially, if you get caught doing this in China, you probably end up in jail at the least.

His art was so provoking that there are at least 15 surveillance camera monitoring his house in Beijing. But he described his decision to put himself under further surveillance as a symbolic way to increase transparency in the Chinese Government.


http://aiweiwei.com/index.html
This is the link to his website he also have documentary videos about similar topic so if you're interested, checkout this website

1 AM Stream of Consciousness

1 AM stream of consciousness.

Currently I am writing this in my living room with funky fresh beats playing in the background. The best way that I can describe it is the perfect summer album. It has an amazing ability to create this feeling of nostalgia in a person. Music seems to do a very similar thing for people that movies do. It can transport you (emotionally) to any place you want. 

I think that is the reason so many people are drawn to movies, or music, or really any form of art in on way or another. One thing that I really enjoy about music is the fact that it is an art form that is very foreign to me. I know movies very well, when I watch them I often times think about the work that went into them on set, or the work that went in during post production. For music, though, I have no idea what work goes into it before during or after. This, as a result, lets me enjoy the art form in a very genuine way. I also really enjoy meshing the two art forms together. Specifically through music videos.

Music videos are wonderful because they are a very concise way of telling a story, aided by an entirely different art form (music). While regular movies have music in them, to help with guiding the emotion of the pieces, music videos are songs that have images to help the narrative of the piece.

Some day I'd like to pursue creating music videos in a very narrative fashion. Some of my favorites include 'Yellow Flicker Beat' by Lorde, 'Ghengis Khan' by Miike Snow, and 'Papaoutai' by Stromae. Because of their ability to create a narrative in such a short amount of time without the use of any "dialog." They are also beautiful, just craftsmanship wise.

Yellow Flicker Beat

Ghengis Khan

Papaoutai

Bullshit with Banksy

I'm not going to go into much detail about the England based street artist, Banksy, who I'm sure we're all familiar with. He has many well known images that have been painted on several walls around the world, and his identity is still more or less unknown.
And in case you don't know, here's what his street art looks like 

also, larger scale exhibitions and installations such as Dismaland




Anyways, today in Liverpool, Banksy's Love Plane was removed from a building that is about to be demolished and reconstructed so that it could be installed in a "street art gallery"
First of all, the entire piece wasn't even removed, just the airplane

before:


after:




The group that removed it (Sincura Group) left a note that reads
"Dear Liverpool, the Banksy Love Plane artwork has been removed It is being restored and will return to Liverpool to feature in your new Street Art museum"
I'm not partial to the idea of street art being put in a museum. They claim to be doing this so that Banksy's work can be enjoyed for many years to come, which is understandable, but is street art supposed to be something that lasts forever? Isn't that the risk you take when you put your art on private property? Street art gets removed and painted over all the time! That's just the nature of it. Is it even still street art if you rip it off the wall and put it in a gallery?
This also isn't the first Banksy they've stolen, in 2014 they put on a exhibition titled "Stealing Banksy"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10785417/Banksy-condemns-disgusting-Stealing-Banksy-exhibition-on-opening-day.html

Personally, I think this is bullshit. The group claims that this "street art gallery" isn't about the money, but in their 2014 Stealing Banksy exhibition they sold Banksy's Slave Labour work for more than 750,000 euros

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/banksys-love-plane-artwork-removed-11906978

Anyone think this is a good call? Thoughts on taking street art off the streets?