Post 8- Tomaselli

This is a piece (Expulsion) by Fred Tomaselli that is 84 x 120 inches. Fred Tomaselli seems to use a base technique for all of his pieces, usually combining a photo collage of images with paint and layered in resin. He had made other types of art, like his newspaper influenced pieces, but the majority of his work is photo collage and resin. This particular piece incorporates leaves, pills, insects, and acrylic. Technically, I didn't find this artist but his name was in a list of artists I could use in my compare and contrast essay for Art History. I didn't use this piece in that essay just so I could talk about it here in the blog. Everything seems to radiate out of that little vortex in the upper left hand corner of the piece. That vortex seems to be throwing out all sorts of debris like flowers, smiles, hands butterflies and even a couple of unidentified objects. The theme, though, seems to be that the vortex is shooting this stuff out as it shoots out Adam and Eve, or at least a man and a woman. All this goodness, smiles and butterflies, and flowers, seems to be lost to these two people getting expelled. The first thing I did when I saw this piece was say "Oh, hey this looks SUPER familiar." Of course that is because it IS super familiar. The figures walking away are almost identical to Masaccio's Expulsion of Adam and Eve which we looked at in Art History. What I like about how Tomaselli did his figures was that they were stripped of their flesh. That, to me, is almost making them more human. By comparing these two pieces, you can see that the angel in Massacio's piece is probably the vortex of goodness in Tomaselli's piece. I find it amazing that current artists can look back to earlier art, make their own interpretation of it, and then create such a beautiful unique piece of art.

Post 7-Arrested Developement

(Link to Video Clip)
http://www.hulu.com/watch/1340/arrested-development-christmas-pageant-mayhem

This is from the show Arrested Development. I heard people talking about this scene in Art History so I had to go look it up. Of course, it turns out Arrested Development is all over Netflix so I was also able to get hooked on the show. This show was created by Mitchell Hurwitz. The whole idea of the art in the episode is that they take famous pieces of art and incorporate live models in them for a Christmas pageant. This will directly lead to hilarity but this also shows art in the modern world. Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" is used with George-Micheal and the Dad. This is something that was created over 500 years ago and is still being used in modern types of art like media. When George-Micheal is in the piece, he is wearing shorts instead of being nude and the Dad who is playing God ends up getting tazed when he tries to escape. This is also used in an episode of the Simpsons.

It just shows that art from the past does influence our world and this is just one tiny example.

Post 6- Gloaming Born

This is called The Gloaming Born by Phil McDarby. Phil McDarby is a freelance digital artist who has been using digital methods since 1998. The majority of his art is an attempt to create a sense of wonder and magic in the piece. This was created in photoshop using over 200 layers and was designed as a mural for his daughter. Some elements and principles of design being used are balance, emphasis, and unity. The balance of this piece is created with the tree character on the right and the deer and creek on the left. The tree character is the focal point of the piece by how the lighting and colors are all more vibrant on the character/miniature baby tree. This creates an emphasis on that area. Every where else it is misty and a little fuzzed out but is perfectly bright and clear on the tree character. All of this piece looks like it belongs in a forest, creating a unity. Even with a tree coming to life, it looks as if it fits with the environment. I found this artist through Google Images, looking for a landscape to use in photoshop and when I found this I thought it had just been a plain old forest. This was looking at the image through a little 2 inch pop up so when I clicked on it to get it full size I was glad to find that it was no average forest. The tree character looks so serene as it creates this little baby tree. Even one of the deer seems to be looking at what is happening from the background. It's one of those scenes in nature that you would be privileged to watch (of course you couldn't watch this but it's one of those types of scenes). It's very calming with the babbling creek and soft lighting that you can just chill out as you enjoy looking at it.

Post 5-The Tale of the Three Brothers

 

Medium: Digital

This is the Tale of the Three Brothers directed and designed by Ben Hibon for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1. Ben Hibon was born in Geneva, Switzerland and studied graphic design at Central Saint Matins College of Art and Design in London. Hibon got famous off of his short cartoon film Codehunters. This led to him creating the short film in the most recent Harry Potter: The Tale of the Three Brothers. I saw this movie in theatres and my favorite part of the movie was this short film. I definitely wasn't expecting to like it, I was honestly expecting it to be cheesy and just ruin the movie. Woah to my thoughts when the first thing I did after the movie was look up the director of the short film. The first reason I find this short film intrigueing is the color scheme, it's very old school paper and flowing ink colors, with the peach/tan, textured paper used. All of the characters were elongated and very smooth moving with thin stick like limbs that just added to the flow of the characters. All of the clothing was also light and free flowing, like they were on a different gravity scale. Beyond the way the characters and back drop looked, the interaction between Death and the three brothers was magnificent, showing the cunning and trickiness that you might expect from a meeting with death. Death was also skeletal, beyond the point of stick-likeness of the brothers. The overall feel of the short film just makes me want to watch it over and over again.

Post 4-Pencil Sketchings

This is by an artist named Linda Huber. Linda Huber does all sorts of pure graphite drawings with the goal of realism. She has been drawing for 40 years and these types of pieces take her 20-40 hours to do. For me, when I saw some of her pieces, I honestly thought I was looking at a black and white photo.  It was kind of like a wow factor when I realized these were all drawn with a pencil. The techniques she uses makes her art look true to life. Drawing these every day objects like cars, people and light bulbs in such a realistic form really shows our innate ability for creation. I chose these two pictures because of the reflections used in the cars, and I like cars. I just find it amazing that a pencil created something that looks like what a camera should have made. This is definitely an artist that I will spend some time checking in on to see new pieces.

Post 3- Assassin's Creed

Patrice Desilets

http://img.phombo.com/img1/photocombo/5809/Assassins_creed_1024_x_768-14.jpg_Assassins_creed.jpg

This is a promotional image for the game: Assassin's Creed. The creator is Patrice Desilets, a French Canadian game designer. His best known work is this game, Assassins Creed. This is another one of those games I keep around just because of the amazing visuals. This medium is through a 3D design program, most likely Maya. Ubisoft is the company behind the game, so credit to the actual design probably goes to one of it's employees, based off of Patrice Desilets creation. The size of this piece is ambiguous, meant to be used as a desktop wallpaper or a magazine. An element of design in this piece is the movement along the piece. First your eyes are drawn towards the knife, from the difference in value compared to the background. It's shiny. Second your eyes move to the knifes target, the soldier, the line going directly from the blade to the soldiers neck. Third, your eyes then move to the "Assassin" and you find that he is not looking at his victim but at the viewer of the piece. This, to me, is a message that after the knife kills the soldier, your the next target. That message can go two ways, either your the next target or he's waiting for you to tell him to go for the kill. Another type of movement is present in this piece, the crowd in the background is blurred from their supposed movement and it creates the feeling that this assassin is alone in his little bubble of killing the soldier in the midst of a society going about their usual business. It causes the focus of this piece to be directly on the assassin and his kill. I chose this piece because of how the assassin is looking at the viewer, if he wasn't looking straight ahead, I would find less meaning in the piece. This is a game and interacting with this assassin is the whole point of the game anyways. Making a connection with a fantasy character, or alter ego.

Post 2 - Epic Mickey

Cover Art: Epic Mickey by Warren Spector

This is the cover art for the video game: Epic Mickey. The designer of the game is Warren Spector who is a video game designer for many games like the Deus ex and Thief series. I have never actually heard of these games but I will have to go check them out now. I couldn't find any information on the medium for this specific piece but the idea of Epic Mickey was intended for a video game so I am guessing this piece was made in some sort of digital format. The first element of design I see being used is value. Value is one of the reasons why I like this piece. The artist made a dark version of mickey and set him in a dark, evil world. The contrast between the eyes of the ink monster with his crooked grin, is set off against his dark nothingness of a body. Another principle being used is proportion. The mansion is actually smaller than Mickey, which we would take as being really far away. Not to mention up a crooked, sinister path that has all sorts of sharp edges that shows off it's sinisterness. Sharp edges lead us to think of danger, like a knife or a horn. My absolute favorite part of this piece is the Mickey figure. He has red pants that emphasizes his figure and then his stance itself is made to look like he is ready to go kick some evil butt. Mickey is also dripping away, and that dripping ink is actually pointing towards the center of the piece, where you know he will end up eventually.