Blog 2
Drawing Challenges
Exploring surface, location, and action.
I enjoyed this assignment way more than I anticipated. Until I viewed the Drawing Center's Viewing Platform, I wasn't sure which direction we were supposed to take these pieces, or what the criteria were for creating them. When I visited the website, I looked at the work of Maurizio Cattelan and Katherine Bernharte. Both pieces, the hand holding the wooden stick by Cattelan and the "Xanax" cigarettes by Bernharte, were unconventional ways of relaying messages. I think both of these pieces drew to mind the idea that art isn't a "paint-by-numbers" type of process. Art can be a man holding a stick, or a doodle with a deeper meaning. There isn't just one way to create. For this drawing challenge, I wanted to try a variety of different mediums, surfaces, and types of mark making. My messages aren't as profound, but it was fun to explore a new way of creating.
Drawing Challenge #1
For the first challenge, I wanted to go big yet simple. I wanted the surface to be a necessary, obvious, and important everyday object. My bedroom wall seemed like the perfect blank canvas. Because I am in Westmont housing, the project needed to be impermanent. I decided to use black masking tape as my mark making tool. I also knew that this piece was going to be additive - adding a design element rather than taking away an element. To make this piece more personal, since it will be sitting above my bed, I decided to choose a personal subject. I projected a map of my home, Phoenix, onto the wall and began mapping out the major street lines with the black tape. It was a process to get the lines to look cool and artistic, and not just like wall patches. Although, this was very fun to create and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Drawing Challenge #2
For the second drawing challenge, my medium was paint and my surface was fruit. I noticed that anatomy was one of the themes listed in the idea chart and decided to run with the idea of "fruit anatomy." This piece was an additive piece, and could be arguably impermanent because the fruit will either be eaten to will rot. The art on the outside is envisioning what the inside of each fruit looks like. It is like a painted x-ray into the guts of the produce.
Drawing Challenge #3
This piece was inspired by the previous, but instead of paint I decided to use a needle and thread to create the inside of the fruit. It was sort of like embroidering, except more challenging and not as beautiful. The difficulty in this process was trying not to rip the skin of the orange.
Drawing Challenge #4
This form of mark making was different from anything I've done. I decided to use a bike as my pen. The theme was "tracks" and it is an additive, permanent piece. I started by covering my bike tire in paint, and then riding over the paper in various directions to create an abstract Pollock-like painting.
Drawing Challenge #5
My good friend was over and had a pair of old, worn white shoes that she wanted to upcycle. I decided to go a more traditional route and did a pen and ink drawing on the tops of the shoes. I played with patterns, lines, and shapes to turn these everyday, plain white tennies into a new piece of art. I'm not entirely pleased with the outcome though, so I may use some black fabric stain to dye the shoes and cover the imperfect bleach stains.