Idea blog: Sorry its late: Wholly Differentiated

First of all i am sorry i am posting late, but i still need to continue posting. I have found that this posting as well as the individual meetings as a vital necessity for improving my work. This week, i focused on the phrase 'wholly differentiated', a phrase mentioned in the book Ideology, Identity, and Assumptions, edited by Howard Dodson and Colin Palmer. The phrase mentions that because of ties to history, kinship and culture, i view myself as wholly differentiated from competing social and ethnic groups. I started thinking about this phrase and what it means to me. Thoughts of separation and distinction came to me. I started thinking of how my photographs can tie this concept of separation, and being 'wholly differentiated', and thoughts immediately reminded me of my older work from the spring semester this year. The photographs of myself separated by exposure or movement from those around me still dwindles in the back of my mind, trying to pick at me and become another series. However, this time around i thought of a different type of separation between me and others; rather than being technically different through exposure or movement in a slow shutter speed, i thought of my actual physical and mental 'dressings' that would distinguish me from others. I thought about this and searched the internet for any inspirations. These photographs give me some idea of other ways of separation between the exterior and other world. With these thoughts, i also thought of images involving me with completely different clothes, from Africa, rather than the norm of everyday life. I can wear the original garments of a Masaai tribesman, which will make a very strong connection between being 'wholly differentiated'. I will continue to expand on this thought and consider this a major direction in my artwork this year.


http://kingmagic.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/alone.JPG

http://deepchurch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/alone-in-a-crowd.jpg

Artist blog: Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Another artist that i have been paying attention to lately that is new to my artst base is a man called Philip-Lorca diCorcia. I have recently been introduced to his work and i can see some resemblence between his and my work. I picked up a book from the library of one thousand of his pieces and have found similarities and inspiration through his work. diCorcia was born in 1951 in Connecticut and studied at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The American artist went on to Yale University, receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Photography. diCorcia now teaches at Yale, in Connecticut, and lives and works in New York. What i enjoy about his work is his meaning that is hidden behind the photograph.

Take the above photograph for example, the face of the model is incredibly similar to what i express and feel in my photographs. That face, to me, represents the troubles of life and the issues i deal with internally. These photographs give me more ideas because they are set up and use exterior flashes, as well as different scenarios. All of my photographs that deal with these internal issues that these photographs represent have all been photographed outdoors, and with mostly the sunlight and a flash on top of my camera. These internal photographs give me ideas and a different angle to look at my work. All of the photographs i have taken have been in exterior environments, however, because of photographs like the one on the left, i will be attempting indoor photographs.

With interior situations, i can more easily manipulate the hidden information within the photograph, such as other lights, and the background. The interior setting will also give me more focus on lighting and i can more easily manipulate the photograph, rather than have most of the environment as a hit or miss. This final image combines both the look of what inspires me, as well as the lighting that keeps the focus on the actual person and their internal struggle.




http://wmuphoto.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/dicorcia1.jpg
http://www.agitatto.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/philip-lorca-dicorcia_01.jpg
http://www.nyip.com/ezine/techtips/spotlight-dicorcia.html

Idea Blog: Multi-Culturalism

Throughout my reading i have found quite a few synonyms between identity struggles and multiculturalism. The issues that they each address are very close and cross boundaries on each of their territories. Identity is, according to the dictionary, a distinguishing character or personality of an individual. Multiculturalism is relating, reflecting, or adapting to diverse cultures. What the connection between the two is, is the effect that multiculturalism has on identity. Where you grow up defines how you are, how you live, what you do, and when you do it. For me, i feel like i almost have two identities; one being the teenage boy from Africa, and the other is the developed fantasy world of college in America. The hard thing is that it feels like these two different identities that create multiculturalism inside of me are always competing. One wants to do what is right in that mindset, and the other wants to do the complete opposite, and yet is still right in its mindset. They clash inside of me, creating this internal struggle with myself. I started thinking about the word multiculturalism, viewed images, and found a few things that were interesting to say the least. If you type into google a search for images of multiculturalism, all you get are such images as below. Many different hands or people from many different nations, in the world, holding hands around the world, or holding the world up itself. Now, for me, this just seems ridiculous, because what if you might have two different cultures represented by one hand? People would not get multiculturalism. People assume by the color of my skin that i am American, which i find very sad. These images are not representative of multiculturalism, they are just a bunch of hands from different places, and of different people. The definition of identity specifies such details as an 'individual', so if multiculturalism defines identity, then why do people assume that multiculturalism has nothing to do with just one person.
After thinking about my art and its relation to multiculturalism, i have found that maybe my artwork should be a place to show others how to depict multiculturalism through imagery in more than just one way. After some searching i found this imagery of 'multiculturalism', which i find quite relevant to my artwork in its meaning. This is much closer to what i am looking for to help me generate creativity. This might be a simple photograph of flags, but it means something more to me, because it puts me as the viewer in a place of thought about how many of those flags represent me. And that is much closer to the multiculturalism i am looking for. To me this inspires me to continue dealing with conflicting identities, and really dig deep to find what it really means to be multicultural.

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/Atlas/Images/Glossary/Multiculturalism.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__hspjzfC024/SRf1jsQAo5I/AAAAAAAAArQ/WVl-BNqz8yI/s320/multiculturalism-freedom-equality.jpg

Artist Blog: Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall is an artist that i have heard has similar ideas as mine. Quite a few people draw references to Jeff Wall's work when i discuss my work and the meaning behind it. I finally decided to give him a closer look and see what i could possibly take away with me that would help me in my art. Firstly though, a little background information. Jeff Wall was born in Canada in 1946 and received his Masters in Art from the University of British Columbia, surprisingly not an art school. After school Jeff Wall started his career as a teacher, not an artist. After some teaching, he branched into making his own work. This varied from all sorts of work, such as constructed settings with models, to large photographs of bare walls. Surprisingly, i feel that all of Jeff Wall's work has a characteristic that i enjoy, and want to include in my art pieces. His work, such as this one, called The Forest, is a silver gelatin print that he took recently, has a figure in the middle, blending into her environment, yet leaving a scene. This creates a story, that the viewer is left to interpret, and can lead to multiple stories. What really grabs me in this piece is the struggle that is involved in this piece. The woman is clearly not happy or joyous, more like hiding or struggling over something that nobody is helping them with. I can look at this piece for a while, just reading it, and it representing me in my own life. I can see myself in the woman's position, and that is key for my art that i make, as well as Jeff Wall's. I need the viewer to feel an emotional attachment to the piece, that they can tie what might be going on in the piece to their own life. I feed off the emotional reaction, and it is the biggest accomplishment i can get from any of my pieces. Another piece by Jeff Wall that is completely different yet still ties into what i am looking for is this piece, called Sunken Area, is a simple picture, yet conveys, at least to me, a huge amount of discomfort and interaction. This piece to me may be of such simple subject matter, but it feels as if i can put myself in this situation as well. I would hate to be put in front of this supposedly endless wall of siding. Here i am staring against a wall siding, yet i feel as if there is something behind that is my goal. Now, i feel that the siding is just stopping me from seeing the real picture, the skin underneath the outer layer. This feeling of displacement and restriction is affecting me, which is the object of the piece, and this is what i am looking for in my pieces. The difference is that in the work i am aiming for is more focused on identity and the struggles with being multi-cultured. Jeff Wall is still alive today, and makes pieces that push me to continue making artwork.

http://www.bookrags.com/biography/jeff-wall/
http://www.artnet.com/artist/17462/jeff-wall.html

Idea Blog: "Identity"
Such an interesting thought, identity, why do i feel so tied to this word? Who am i? Why am i here? all these words deal with identity. We are defined by ourselves the most, and if we cannot define ourselves, we are lost as human beings. I kind of feel like this and try to express my struggles in finding who i am. Because i am multi-cultural, i have multiple opinions, feelings, and struggles from each of the places i have lived in. Each place has told me to think a different thing, to act differently, and to do things foreign to the other cultures in me. This really feels like it is tearing me apart. Words that are just coming to mind, tri-polar, in the sense of multiple personalities, a three prong fork in the road, and the three headed dragon.
Especially at this time of my life, where college is nearly over, and i am supposed to start settling down, getting a steady job, and so on, i feel alienated and split between three cultures. Which do i choose? I picked up a few books from the library on such topics as identity of the African and American experience. Hopefully some of this reading will fuel my art, and give me some creativity and ideas that i will depict in my own way.
Also, this notion of identity falls into other parts of literature and arts. There is a song by David Gray, called This year's Love. I will post the link to the youtube video. This video is a very interesting way of looking at identity, and belonging in a world that is foreign to you.
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo-tp0JZvUA&NR=1
I have found that music has turned into one of the best ways for me to reveal my other 'identities', rather than the one i put on for show, whilst in other company. I listen to music, especially when i am alone, and just want to do some thinking.
Some art that i have been looking at that deals with identity and the 'struggle' has been some of
Jeff Wall's pieces. This piece below is called The Thinker, and
it was produced in 1986. This piece is similar to what i think i might be looking for in my work. Here is this man, who looks very simplistic, with basic needs, sitting on a tree stump on some concrete blocks. In the background is a huge city in which he feels a disconnection to. This disconnection is what i feel, his identity is confused because of his basic thoughts and actions that seem out of the ordinary in the modern day city behind him. He feels out of place, lost, and thinking about it too. That is what i feel, and what i fear to be endlessly sucked into. My art is an escape for the confusing things in my life to be released, yet this issue of identity has the deepest roots within me, being that i am my identity, even though i cannot define it.
The Thinker, 1986
211x229 cm, transparency in lightbox
Private Collection, Munich

Pan Walther - Artist inspiration

This is Pan Walther, an artist that i only recently found out about. I own a photography book called 20th Century Photography, published by TASCHEN, and these images and some information have been taken from this book about Pan. Pan Walther was an artist that was born in 1921 in Dresden, Germany. He studied at the Waldorf School, and continued on to be an artist and teach for over thirty years. His focus in his younger years was all on portraits, and while travelling, he would come across gypsies, peasants, and many others whose face told the most interesting stories. Later on, he moved onto work that focused on issues of
Pan Walther - The German Michel, from the series:
Think About It, 1983. Color Print 29.8 x 30 cm
present-day life. These color photographs were mainly staged, and were shown as performance art that was documented. These two pieces are from his later work, both from the series Think About It. I feel that this work is similar in thought to my type of work. Whereas my work is less performance, i still incorporate the problems i face in present day life, and how they relate back to the past. His work that i have seen, especially from this series, i really enjoy, and i can feel his passion through his work. His work inspires me to continue working with this idea of inner turmoil and struggle, even though his pieces do not focus on that notion. I want my pieces to make people feel what i feel, and even though the subject matter between Pan Walther's work and Pan Walther - Fighter in the Japan Look, from the series:
mine are quite different, his pieces just inspire me Think About It, 1983. Color Print 28 x 30.2 cm
to continue, I don't know why.

Philippi, Simone ed. 20th Century Photography.
Los Angeles: TASCHEN, 2007.