ARTIST HERO
#1: EDWARD GOREY: The Gashlycrumb Tinies / 1963
This additive pen and ink series contributes to most of Gorey's popularity. His audience tends to believe it as a morbid poke at the mundane but scary threats of everything that parents have to be constantly aware of. As always, this series involves line to create detail and depth. Gorey uses hatching to indicate space (with shading) and add texture throughout his many works of art. Gorey creates unity in this series by using couplets and the alphabet to almost make a "song". Visually, he alternates between large amounts of negative and large amounts of positive space, creating a balance of white and black along with introducing contrast. His illustrations are coherent due to his detailed unique style as well. His pieces are morbidly "cartoonish". Gorey has a unique sense of humor that comes through in all of his stories. People are either attracted to (like I am) or driven away (like Somerset is) by this. This is a very important piece in art history and it is rightly so. It has inspired many artists, including me, to pursue pen and ink and convey their morbid humor through their pieces. Its detailed black and white style coheres with his work on television shows at the time as well. The Gashlycrumb Tinies is a beautifully illustrated morbid alphabet that perfectly models the deaths of children, and perfectly models Edward Gorey as well. |
#2 SANDY MACDONALD: Banging Head Against Wall / 2017 Sandy MacDonald is an oil painter, focusing on toys, pets, and other subjects. She also is a muralist who works in offices, schools, and even homes. This piece is an 8x8" additive piece focusing on a wind-up tin bird standing on a reflective surface. MacDonald beautifully brings these toys to life using a wide variety of colors and realistic value. She creates space with small shifts of color in negative spaces. This piece is asymmetrically balanced, as the bottom half is heavy in color and the top is not, adding weight. Her comforting realistic pieces convey the character traits of the still objects in them. This character comes off as comedic, due to the title and action. Her work has influenced me and I have always looked up to her hard work and humor. It is not an important piece in art history, but its influence on people shows that humor in art is a successful route to take, even with realism. |
#3 NATHAN MURELL: Post Office Shadowboxes / 2010 - PRESENT Nathan Murell is a mixed media artist who focuses on antique designs using found objects, unique papers, and built wood boxes. These 1'x1' additive works have been a series for 7-8 years gracing festivals around the country. Murell uses color to make his work pop and creates a balance of different textures by antiquing his work. Radial symmetry often compliments his boxes, creating rhythm and a focus on the center, whether it is a complex wood cutout, screenprinted design, or post office box. His offbeat works are not realistic, but instead focus on simplistic design and patterns. The work does not tell a story itself, but the collection of papers (sometimes even old newspapers) and found objects tell stories of its past. His pieces are comforting and enthralling, as the shadowboxes take you inside of them. Murell conveys a love for color and antiques through his work. I have always loved his work, and have looked up with him ever since I was a kid. He has an influence locally, and inspires people to look deeper into abandoned objects. |
#4 ELEANOR SABIN: Brenton Point Diptych / 2013 (image 1) Eleanor Sabin is a young artist who mainly focuses on working with pen and ink to create incredibly detailed illustrations. Although many works revolve around inked landscapes, she also ventures into digitally altered photos and sculpture. Eleanor focuses on the influence of man on nature, whether obviously or indirectly. She lived in Rhode Island and worked at Rag and Bone, a studio that creates handmade books. This detailed additive piece is 18"x24" for each panel, which makes it even more powerful than it is online. This is one of the examples of Eleanor's fascination with the clash of manmade and organic design. It is sculpted with simple lines that add up to create value and texture, and draws the viewer into the piece. Her detailed linework creates rhythm and a sense of adventure, but also self reflection. At age 12, I saw one of her shows which presented Brenton Point, other diptychs, and the house sculpture along with one other. It was extremely powerful and inspired me. Although she has new, and arguable better pieces, this piece will never cease to astonish me. I didn't start working with pen and ink because of Eleanor, but I am honored to share a common medium with someone as kind and skilled as her. She, along with the other artists I have written about, are what keeps me persistent to pursue my passion. (source: www.eleanorsabin.com) |
#5 EDWARD ARDIZZONE Edward Ardizzone was an illustrator who specialized in life drawings. He drew war scenes and day-to-day art. I have just found out about this artist, so I myself do not have a favorite piece and therefore am going to write about all of his work as a whole. It is incredibly interesting to see an extreme opposite to my work, with very simple lines that give guidelines, but do not define, the shape of something in his illustrations. Although his hatching technique is similar to mine, and he uses the same medium (pen and ink/watercolor), his work is very different. His drawings convey scenes reflecting daily life, using simple but lovely color, and general lines or shapes to define objects. He sketches general shapes and only becomes more detailed or enthralled in color for his more "finished" pieces. The extreme difference between his storybook illustrations and wartime works convey his flexibility and skill in his art. Along with the other vast differences, his work also shows a variety of framing techniques. With many of his hatched illustrations, he ends wherever his lines end, creating jagged but natural edges. In watercolor drawings there is a general shape around it, but it is created only with a wash and no lines. Sometimes he goes for simple, block frames. Overall I adore his work. His cartoonish but oddly realistic work shows the innocence of people but at the same time can convey the emotionless nature of war. |
#6 NICK CAVE Nick Cave is an artist working out of Chicago who specializes in a cross between sculpture and fashion design in his "Sound suits". In this, he takes forgotten or discarded items and makes them into beautiful, dynamic, and intricate suits for people to dance in. These suits are all influenced by sound: the intricate bead work making clicks off of each other, the ringing bells of toys floated into a mobile, or the ruffle of straws working together. His work is incredibly inspiring to me, as his work with color and detail is amazing. His work makes me want to delve into fashion design and create intense and influential pieces. The way he moves in the suits, even in photographs, makes them seem like a part of dance. Their movement in still images is impressive. |
MUSEUM VISITS
ICA BOSTON
ROCK, BOOKED, SCISSOR, VICE 2010 By Nari Ward Ward is known for his works using scavanged materials to convey a sense of personal pride through apparent symbolism. He creates works revolving around his Jamaican heritage and cultural pride, and the politics that partner with it. This additive piece was created using scissors, a rock, a dictionary, and a vice and it less than a foot wide and tall. It arose from his original misreading of the title, thinking that instead of being Black's Law Dictionary (named after its author), it was Blacks Law Dictionary, inferring that black people have a different set of laws compared to other people. He reflects on this miscommunication he had as a kid later in his life and compares it to discrimination against African Americans in the United States today. Throughout history, black people almost have had a different set of laws due to constant racism. Children are immediately taught that the color of their skin may bring them difficulty throughout their life, beginning the 'following' of said laws. The texture in this piece truly adds to it as he uses an old vice and pair of scissors that have been damaged and rusted. The items are all united in a range of tan-gold-black to create a beautiful and sleek palette. He creates balance by putting the dark tools on the paper exposed part of the book, creating a balance of lights and darks on both sides of the book. The assorted items help move your eye around the piece, initially attraction your eyes to the title, the curls, the vice, the page labels, the scissors, the rock, and back around into the curls and title. I was intriguied when I initially saw the piece because I love the look of antique items, especially because old items hold a history to tell. But after reading the plaque, I loved this piece even more. The piece bursts with childish themes, showing his innocence but awareness of racism due to his immediate assumption about the title. This piece is an important part of his collection, as it is a small, simple, but still incredibly powerful piece in telling about racism. This piece immediately inspired me to possibly work into more 3D pieces and be free and open to any material to be used for art. |
RISD MUSEUM
Buddha Mahavairocana (Dainichi Nyorai) Unknown artist, Japanese, Japan ca. 1150-1200 Cryptomeria wood 294.6 x 212.1 x 165.1 cm (116 x 83 1/2 x 65 inches) Although the artist of this piece is unknown, I still wanted to talk about it in my museum post. To my the Buddha statue it such an icon to RISD museum and why I go. I sit and observe the statue for 15+ minutes. The size of it, the lighting, and the history behind it makes it breathtaking. At first, coming into the room makes me feel intimidated and tense because of the dark lighting and the size of the figure. But as I settle, I can analyze all the details and realize how beautiful it is. I love seeing all of the lines in the wood, and seeing the difference between the carved ones and the ones from the wood itself. My eyes travel all over the statue when I am there, overwhelmed by how much detail there is in such a huge statue. Exhibit wise, the new room sets the Buddha in the middle with soft spotlights and it makes it all the more beautiful. If I could just walk around it, it would not be nearly as powerful as sitting down and looking up at all of it. The rhythm the wood pattern creates along with the carved lines keep me interested far longer than most pieces (but, to be fair, I was a kid when I first went to RISD museum and although I respected art, I got anxious easily when looking at things and would quickly move on, but the tour guide sat us down for this one and explained it to us and then let us sit in silence with it. I think that generated a lot of appreciation for it even when I was younger). This holy icon represents morals that I have very close to my heart. The peace and self love that comes with it makes this piece all the more lovely. Buddha's closed eyes and relaxed state conveys the beliefs behind Buddhism; taking care of yourself, taking time to meditate and appreciate, and helping others. This piece will continue to inspire peace into me and inspire me to continue working with detail to make something overwhelmingly beautiful for myself. |
IDEAS
Concentration 1: MENTAL BATTLES
- 30x20" (4): Battle Scenes
- Depression- Venus Fly Trap "Bites your head off".
- Anxiety- Tentacle Monster "Squeezes your guts out".
- Sleep Deprivation- Fungus "Put in a Daze . . . It Grows on You"
- Motivation Loss- Spirits "Loss of Spirit"
- 15x10" (4): Monster Portraits / or Monster Relationships?
- Venus Fly Trap / Venus Fly Trap x Tentacle Monster
- Tentacle Monster / Tentacle Monster x Fungus
- Fungus / Fungus x Spirits
- Spirits / Spirits x Venus Fly Trap
- 10x10" (4): Soldiers: Affects of the Monsters
- Venus Fly Trap: Lost, Tired, Lonely
- Tentacle Monster: Tense, Scared, Exhausted
- Fungus: Empty, Dazed, Confused
- Spirits: Bored, Angry, Quiet
- MEDIA
- Pen & Ink
- Watercolor
- Detail Work
- Charcoal
- Mixed Media
- Collage
- Acrylic
- Texture
- SUBJECTS
- Self
- Figure Drawings
- Realism infected with "doodles"
- Nature
- Philosophical, Symbolic Art