Sunday, February 27, 2011

Exercises in Style




1. The beginning of my diamondfaces! I took a Cindy Sherman photograph from her Untitled Film Stills series, cut out the face and did what I do best. I want to continue these and play with ideas of photography and identity.
2. Exploring structure found in nature with crystals. An exercise in freedom (no masking tape)! Still in progress.
3. An exercise in simplifying. Result of an extremely rare snow day in Texas; started with a geometric hourglass shape (not an X) as a way of passing my time stuck inside.
4. Progress on my Stag painting; background is pink and glares on sign are metallic. I'll post a better picture when I finish it.

I've been pretty stressed lately and am looking forward to Spring Break, Marfa and my birthday.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Marfa

I'm coming for you... March 11th!

Marfa, a small town in West Texas, is home to the Chinati Foundation. Minimalist artist Donald Judd, who disagreed with the idea of art being an object that could be transfered from museum to museum and shown in continually different contexts without losing meaning, founded the Chinati Foundation as a place for permanent large-scale installation works whose surroundings become as much a part of the viewing experience as the works of art themselves. 

Lately I've become obsessed with ideas of perception and the ability (or lack thereof) to eliminate the many distractions of our technologically-oriented lives in order to just see. I don't think we do it nearly enough anymore and if we could I think we'd be surprised to discover just how much our minds and senses are capable of. I think Marfa is the perfect place in that sense, a place far away from distractions that forces us to deal with our surroundings and ourselves.

If these ideas of perception and sensory isolation interest you, I highly recommend reading this book. (Plus Robert Irwin has a temporary work currently on display in Marfa!)



Monday, February 7, 2011

hard lines and neon lights





1. Bobby shot this while I played around in the James Turrell light installation at the MFAH.
2. Photo taken for my next painting assignment. The texture in the letters reminds me of early Frank Stella. I plan on painting it in a style like Robert Cottingham. (I love the pun with the word 'stag' seeing as I'm a hermit who goes everywhere alone.)
3. Self-portrait I recently finished for my painting class (the lighting and colors in this photo are terrible, better one coming soon). My painting professor's new nickname for me is DIAMONDFACE, I'm a fan.
4. I'm reading a book on Robert Irwin right now, it's wonderful.

Friday, February 4, 2011