Lulu Cipher

I love the artwork Lulu has created with plexiglass. The image itself is an image with a night club like theme that gives the art work more life. What is more interesting is that she is using glitches I. Her work to create the artwork. The picture itself gives me a sense is mystery and brightness. It's as almost she is using static from the glitches and shape it into a perso or object. Personally I never knew one can do that until now and Lulu has shown me the door. I am now interested in learning this style and see what I can come up with my own vision.

Gallery Visit

My selfie this week was inspired by "i.am.meme" While it's not about me, there are girls that feel a constant need to put makeup on in the morning to feel confident about themselves. I have experienced it myself where the feeling of walking out of the house without makeup gave me anxiety. While i have grown to over come this, there are still many girls in the world who feel this way. The sad part is, is that these girls aren't ugly. Society has depicted a "natural" look to be dark long lashes, dark eyebrows, and sun kissed skin. But the truth is everyone is beautiful in their own way. Whether you have light eyebrows or dark eyebrows, short lashes or long lashes, pale skin or naturally tan, you are beautiful! 

           Unfortunately during my visit to the art gallery I only got to experience some of the artwork. Out of all of the artwork that was supposed to be there, I only got to enjoy the ones that were actually painted and hanging on the walls. This leaves me with three art pieces. One being “Growing Up” by Stephanie Quispilaya, “i.am.meme” by Meredith Goncalves, and “imposter palace” by Lulu Cipher. Although I only saw these artworks, I definitely got a feel for the themes portrayed in the gallery. One of the more prominent themes, I feel, is the theme of the pressure of society puts on a person throughout life. Everyday peoples experience things, good and bad, all of this impacts the way we look at others and ourselves.

            The artists all address and identify the selfie differently. Each portrayal of the selfies is different and unique. I enjoyed how Meredith Goncalves portrayed her selfie. She put them on the background of old internet memes. Even though many people have put their faces on meme background, her selfie sends out a deeper message. All of her pictures say something different on them, but they each have to do with her growing up and the different roles she had to endure. One of her several pictures that stood out to me was the one that said “STOPS BEING A WHORE WHEN SHE MARRIES A BOY SCOUT.” The reason why this picture sticks out to me is because there have been so many times when I have heard people talking about a girl like she was a whore just because she was doing something and didn’t have a boyfriend. There have even been times where my own parents asked me if a guy I was going to hang out with was my boyfriend, and when I told them he was just my friend they hesitated to let me leave the house. This is exactly the type of pressure society puts on women. They have to be nice, pretty, have a boyfriend, have children, and so many other things. In her work I enjoy the fact that she is comfortable enough to address these issues while using herself as the subject. I know some people would be uncomfortable with having the word “whore” even near their name.

            “Growing Up” by Stephanie Quispilaya was also an interesting piece. Her art showed the different stages of growing up beginning with birth. Her face is painted onto that of an animal, which looks similar to a beaver’s body. There’s a mom and then several children around her. One of the children are breastfeeding, which I think some people would find shocking. I like that she put the element of breastfeeding in there, since there is much controversy on the subject now. Not only are there the different stages of being a child and the mom, but also there black shadow that look like hands all around the mother. The could represent the overbearing pressures of being a mother. Being a mother does not only mean to take care of a child, but she has to remember to take care of herself. The constant need to balance her life with her child’s could be hard and overpowering.

            The artist approaches the presentation of self and self-portraiture with abstract images that symbolize the different pressures that are put on people throughout life. Each artwork has a different subject, but the theme within them are mostly the same. “i.am.meme” shows the pressures of being a female and growing up in a sexist society. “Growing up” shows the different pressures of being a mother and the stages of growing up as an infant. I believe that the artists are trying to make the audience more aware of the social problems around them. By making people more aware of the things going on around them it will make it easier to make changes to society in the long run. The fact that females can be seen as whores because they hang out with guys that aren’t their boyfriends is something that needs to change. It is important for people to realize the different pressures that woman endure. Most people try to brush off these issues and think that it’s just something women made up to complain and get more attention, but that is not the case. Being a mother is not easy, and while every mom loves her child no one can deny that motherhood is easy. There’s a constant pressure for women to be perceives as perfect, to be the perfect mother. Woman have been yelled at for breastfeeding in public, but also get frowned upon when their child is screaming in public because it is hungry. People can’t choose a side and either way someone will have something negative to say. By everyone being aware of these issues, maybe less people will be negative toward these things.

Post 2 + Contradiction Selfie

            The following selfie is inspired by Lulu Cipher's work, "imposter palace." As I say in the
assignment, this piece is near unintelligible, with the exception of a hand holding what seems to be a mouse, a keyboard, and a series of dots connected to each other. I say that the various things we do and post about ourselves on the internet tends to cloud our image and who we really are. My selfie is similar in that respect, as I purposefully include two elements that contradict each other. I wear my RePUGlican shirt, symbolizing the fact that I am a registered Republican (I really am), and I hold a custom made "Hillary for President" sign which contradicts the fact that I am a Republican, and that I highly dislike her, both as a person and a candidate.

            There are several themes present in the Wonder Women X exhibit. One theme, represented in Jennifer Marie Torres’ work of a ceramic upper-body, holding her breast while looking into the mirror, is insecurity in one’s body image. Mediha’s “StaticFriction” possesses the similar theme of insecurity, but more in her identity and less on that of her body. Stephanie’s “Growing Up,” in which she acts as a mother to a bunch of other hers, essentially taking care of herself. Meredith’s theme, in her work, i.am.meme, is womanly stereotypes that are imposed by society. Hao Feng’s theme is taking a selfie from one’s point of view, rather than taking a selfie of one’s self. The theme of Lulu’s work is, simply, the chaos we create through our use of the internet.

            Each of the artists who had their work present in the present had their own unique way of addressing one’s identity and the selfie. Some of the works attempted to get their intended message across through the use of humor and silliness, or even the reverse of that. Meredith does so with the use of the popular internet meme, using images of herself and meme background to exemplify her views on a how a female, and female roles, are forged in society’s stereotypes, while partially maintaining the humor behind the internet meme in some images or, in other images, using little to no humor. Miss Feng’s work takes a perspective of looking up, while showing what she sees through silly little sketches doing miscellaneous activities. The ceramic piece starring into the mirror is self explanatory. The “imposter palace” work is near undecipherable, and it is meant to be like that; everything we post about ourselves, from selfies to visiting places, the internet skews ours and other’s perspectives on what our image and self is.

            The biggest critique of self, identity and perception, that I have found, was in the mini biography of Miss Feng’s work. It is said that “our generation is obsessed with selfies and they have narcissistic tendencies.” This obsession and narcissism is not mutually exclusive to any specific age group, but rather, people of all ages. Not everyone is prone to these tendencies, but those who are, can be more or less affected than others. Hence, Feng’s work, which is the “anti-selfie,” going against the norms of what defines a selfie in today’s day and age.

            Now, it is time to go more into detail about the near indecipherability of the work, “imposter palace.” All of the images in the work are purposefully made so they are difficult to read. The images on the left and right are exactly identical to one another with the exception of them being mirror reflections of each other. In them, are a series of dots connected to each other, probably representing all the times we document ourselves on the internet. In those same images, there looks to be a hand, likely holding a mouse, and in the center image, there seems to be a keyboard. Also, the projector in the room is pointed toward the center image, with the projection flickering. Whether this was intentional, or a simple technical error, it certainly adds the confusion created by the work. All of this is meant to represent how our self and identity can become skewed on the internet, the more we post about ourselves.

            The video loop that is Mediha Sandhu’s work deals with what may be her insecurity and personal struggle on her identity. On the right, the loop shows her being visually angry, and rage filled, which likely is what she feels internally. The left another image of her wearing her hijab and a blank, white face, likely signifying how she feels externally; un-unique, no identity to set her apart from the others. When combined, these looping images represent her not being unique in society, while also struggling to be able to express herself, in some way, somehow.

            The artists are each giving us their own message. Some of those messages are unique, and others are very similar. Each of them takes a unique approach in their imagery, although some of those approaches are near-alike to one another. Milcah Bassel uses near-precise gridding, and video time acceleration to convey her self-image, where something can be made out initially, but it eventually fades away after there are less and less squares left. Jennifer uses a cast, probably of herself, and a mirror to present her image. Jennifer’s work is unique in this respect, being the only one to make use of physical objects alone to convey her message. Milcah and Mediha utilize video editing and special effects. Some projects deal in similar topics, and others deal in entirely singular subjects like Stephanie and Meredith. These aside, they all have one thing in common, and it is that they all deal in the self and identity.

[ This is not in reference to the wonderful art class]

I choose this type of image to relate more to the meme images, because i think the meme selfie's are the most relevant right now and they are the one's many people are able to interpret.

My selfie is based off the image of the guy who drew his head onto to an animal’s body. This was my favorite out of the whole exhibit, and defiantly the one that stood out the most for me. I felt the piece was something I wanted to incorporate into my selfie.

The exhibition was defiantly interesting, and a little bit freaky. The way some of the piece where set up defiantly popped out, especially the ones that showed a little bit of nudity, mostly just nipples. The way it was set up also was interesting, and the places of the different pieces showed a lot about the theme of the picture or the theme of the place. My interpretation of the theme was about the idea of the way other people see them or the way they are seen. The girl who took several picture of herself throughout her lifetime, and add quotes to the pictures defiantly related to me the most. First, the pictures were not in chronological order and it think that means that it does not matter of the age people will still judge you. The words that were on the pictures ranged from sad to angry to sarcastic remarks. They were said to try to engage the person looking at it. The whole piece itself for me means that this person has always been defined by what other people say about her or other girls. The word whore, and mother are all words people are trying to label on women, which is an irritating problem many women are struggling with. The pictures also make fun of the idea of a meme, and I think that’s interesting. I think I would have like to see more explanation on where her inspiration came from besides social media.

However, my favorite was defiantly the one where he drew himself as pigs. It was so shocking and a little risqué. Here we have the face of a human drawn several times on an animal’s body and it looks so weird. The best part about it is where one of the faces is sucking on the nipple of the other pig’s body. The imagery is so vivid and amazing that it really makes people stare. If I could pick which selfie type image to look at for house, it would defiantly be this one. The way this artist chose to approach self-images is a bit weird, but also interesting. I do not think I would change anything about this self-portrait, because I believe it did exactly what it was supposed to and that was shock people.  It shows a little on how the artist views himself. The one next to with the women staring at herself in the mirror, while touching her nipple is also on my top favorites. I can see how she decided to approach self-portrait by placing it in front of the mirror. I also liked how the woman is not staring at the mirror but rather having her eyes closed. It is a very serene image.

While everything at the art exhibit was interesting and intriguing I felt that they each had their own ideas of what self-identity is and what it means. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it just goes to show how all of us define it differently. The artist in the exhibit, and every artist in general always defines the way identity is differently. Whether that is by culture, or by characteristics, it does not matter, but I also think it is good to kind of dive in to other people’s perspective. The meme photos kind of showed how she see other people identifying herself, and sometimes we take on the identities people say or want of us. This art exhibit was just about showing us how each artist defined it, and it was showing their audience the different identities that people have described themselves as. The artist and the curators are also telling us to really look at the images. I wish I could have been able to see the video presentation on self-identity, but they were not available.  Although the descriptions gave me a little bit of an idea on how they brought forth self-identity. The Static Friction has this idea of examining the inner turmoil of a person that many of us shove deep down for other people’s satisfaction.  It was the idea that for her photography, digital recording and illustration and video is what helped her find her voice. For many of us it can take a while to get there and to find an outlet to use, and for me that outlet is books. I love to read and I love to write, and this is the way for me express my frustrations about life. It makes me wonder however what is everyone else’s outlet? 

The subject of my image is myself.
The content of this image is things that make me who i am.
The purple side of me represent the side of myself everyone sees. The yellow and red side of me represent who i am once you get to know me. The flowers on my face are poppy flowers, which are the national flower of Poland. this is what makes up most of me. Next i put nature stickers which represent my love for the outdoors. Finally i put cat stamps to show that my cat is also a part of me.
I think this image conveys to the viewers all the things that are important about me.

The Woman's Universal Image

 

Her body My body Our body 

The planets revolve around us 

We have replaced the sun 

Judging eyes always scream negativity 

Never appreciate our value 

The suffering, the creation, the devotion this body goes through 

The tears shed

Yet a smile remains 

I created this image to show that woman are the center of the universe. As I created this image I had in my mind how woman are constantly looked at as less than what they are. The reason for the eyes and negative words on them. The words on her body represent the things woman are and things we go through. The planets that revolve around us are mostly social media we are judge from those sites.  The tears on the body are caused by the judging eyes. The smile is because most woman smile through the pain also relating to the stitched heart the smile is there to mend it.

Personally I prefer pencil, it's my favorite thing to use. This image conveys how the woman's body is always being looked at in a negativity way. Also how it is very unappreciated for its true beauty.

PHANTOM FOX'S 2016 Adventures

My collage is filled with great adventure's in 2016 and I have my great new friends, jobs, vacation, gaming, and a whole lot more. I chose this subject because 2016 is one of the years where I had more fun then all the others. So much has happened this year because i allowed myself to be more open with options that are given to me. I got two jobs, Starbucks and home depot, and they are both great places to make friends. I set myself a goal when i first started working and  worked my way to afford my own PS4.
I also placed pictures of the friends i have made and the adventures we have been through. I had my beach party this year on the 24th day of June and i had loads of fun with my friends and family. One of my co-workers at Starbucks got me into airsoft and i made another goal to buy myself my first weapon. We then got others to join us and made our own little group so we can take on other teams on different field. I also have pictures of me loving my cats and a picture of my two black kittens together. I also have in my hand what is known as a sugar glider and they are the smallest little animals I have ever seen.
Their are also some pictures of some shows that i watch each night before going to bed and a comedy boot camp i went back in my other college. I even posted pictures of me at New York Comic-con and my friend and I wearing airsoft equipment. Finally i place my code name in the very middle "PHANTOM FOX" while playing the fifth game of metal gear for the first time i thought to myself "what would my code name be?" So then i called my character Phantomfox and stayed with it for my new gamer tag and my personal dog tag when i go airsofting.

My drawing is what my favorite aunt looked like during her process of battling breast cancer and brain cancer. I drew a profile picture from the side because she only had hair on one side of her head because they had to cut the other side to get the tumor out.
I was supposed to cut out pictures of myself and collage them onto the piece to show my feelings such as that I'll always be with her and she'll always be with me. But instead I put my signature inside  of the drawing.

An Inner World

The subject is me going through and feeling positive and negative thoughts in my life. It's the inner workings of my mind and what happiness and sadness look like. The contents show flowers, stars and moons that have symbolism to me. The flowers and stars  symbolize the beauty and positives , the dark sky shows my inner turmoil and the butterfly mask symbolizes the mask I wear to hide myself from the turmoil. The quote is a reminder to keep me going that even though things are bad the lights in my life, like friends and family light my way to a better place.

The choices I make to construct my piece is I'm influenced by the anime art style and I have been drawing this way since I learned to draw, and shows the long way I've come to hiding my interest for it to showing it to everyone . What this conveys to viewers is you only get to see the outside but never the inside of a person. They can be so different from what you see from them if you figure out what's really going on in their head.

My artist for inspiration as yayoi kusama, because her brilliant colorful and intricate works remind me of the beauty and brightness of the world

Pieces of Me

My collage personifies several, though not all, aspects of my personality. This is meant to expand upon what I did in the first weekly selfie. At the very top, is my sanity and insanity battling for dominance. The middle symbolizes my courage bringing me back up when depression, despair, or fear takes a hold of me.

There's then my excitement; which is self explanatory, my ambition/greed, sadism and skepticism. Referring to my greed, I can be occasionally stingy with small things. In the case of my sadism, I like to mess with my brother on occasion, and watch chaos among people arise. Finally, there is my skepticism, I always question things, I am always observant, as the fragment shows, where it is observing the other personality fragments.

The subject of my image is body issues. These are what the main stream media wants you to look like. This picture is about all of my own insecurities and what I have always thought I wanted. We don't realize how ridicules our insecurities are until we put into an image, which  is what I tried to accomplish. Each insecurity that I have every felt I tried to convey it into my images. I changed what I thought would be better and kept what I already liked. Some things I changed because other people didn't like them. I think it shows how crazy how insecurities can be. We do not have to adhere to the stance red society puts on us. Even if we don't have what the ideal beauty standards. All women and even men suffer from some insecurity, but it does not have to be a bad thing. We can own up to our insecurities and deal with it our own way. Whether that be trying to change it, or just being okay with not completely loving every inch of yourself. As long as we try to acknowledge our own body issues, then we can fully be happy with ourselves. It is also important to be okay with our sexuality, even if we do not think we have much of it.

so guess who fractured his leg in 2 different places i did lol wont be in class for a few weeks i will be back though 😉

Home

There is no place like home
I am home
A place of comfort and privacy
A place of secrets
I am home
Where will I lay to rest
When this home is filled
I am your home
When will you become mines

Autobio Selfie

I chose this selfie to show who I am and where my heart is. Even though my cat, zara, just turned one I know that she's the only thing I can count on to never upset me. She always listens and always makes me happy when I'm not. She waits for me to get home every day. I love all animals but she hold a special place. Like Frida Kahlo loved her pet monkey, I love my Siamese kitty.

My Queen is my home

The picture I have chosen is my auto biography of what or who represents my home. Does your home really need to be a place or environment? yes you live their and call it home, but what about having someone with you? Your in a home and lets say your by yourself. what do you go back to every single day when you go out for work, a jog, dinner, etc. I go home to someone that waits for me every single day. She calls me to remind me of things, make sure i'm still breathing, I go to her when i'm in need of advice, she is their for me when i need her the most, she always know how to make me smile, pushes me to follow my dream, and helps me to express myself into learning newer things. She is my Queen and she is my home, everyday i go back to her and i'm always reminded on how happy i am with her, how happy i am with my life because shes in it. My home does have electricity, a television, a PS4, clothes, food, and a computer but, who can i share it with. With who can i share my love for my cats with? I do have a home, but it's missing its Queen. "A man is nothing without his Queen". A man needs his Queen for guidance and help. She is a constant reminder of all the great adventure we have been through. We have been through beaches, world class hotels, New York City, Comic-con, movies, malls, restaurant's, parties, high school, college, water parks, and many more. My home is not a place or environment. Its a person who is always their waiting for me.

we were asked to upload a selfie that is autobiographical and speaks to a place or environment you consider "home." The two people in the picture are my niece and long-time boyfriend, and the picture is taken in my room. where I feel the most comfortable. This is my sanctuary. These two made me who I am today and I am thankful.

I chose the scarf that is wrapped around me and covering my mouth and nose because it reminds of Palestine. This is how many men and women wear it and represents freedom from Israeli occupants. I am also laying on a prayer mat that I have had in my home since I was born.

Autobiography

My selfie shows me at my present time and I'm holding a frame of pictures of me in different times of my life. Frida Khalo's entire gallery of art shows her in different points of her life and the emotions she was feeling at the time. My pictures may not show much emotions, but they show my growth as a person, getting older while youth was slipping away.

The image on the left is meant reflects when we are first born, that first moment in life. The picture on the right is meant to depict what we see right before death. the pictures are merged together to represent the stage where we see the famous "our life flash before our eyes."