Self: I as Image Fall 2016

Monday, November 14, 2016

This weekend I visited the exhibit of Nan Goldin's Ballad of Sexual Dependancy which displayed photographs of the artist's experiences in Boston and NY in the 80's and 90's. The theme was sexuality, drug use, and abuse. I based my selfie off of one photograph titiled "Nan One Month After Being Battered" the photograph shows the artist with bruises on her face. It shows the affects of a bad relationship and how women suffer from it.

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Due 12/7

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FINAL PROJECT: Self Portrait

Choosing any one or combination of processes that you have explored during the semester, compose an image that captures a self-portrait. Through an oral and visual presentation (approximately 7 minutes long) of your works, and a short written summary on the blog explain the following to the class:

• What is the subject of your image?

• What is the content of your image?

• Why did you make the choices that led to the composition?

• Explain the process and steps you went through and why you made those decisions.

• How you would categorize your work (ex. collage, graphic print, mixed media, etc).

• What artists or works are appropriate to compare your work to?

• What do you think this image conveys to the audience?

• What are the differences between the first self-portrait and your last self-portrait?

• What influenced these changes (events, readings, information, artists)?

You must photograph and share your project on the class blog along with a short essay that answers the questions above. You will present your project in class from your blog post and we will have a class discussion and critique for each project.

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All final project posts must be on the blog with the writing portion complete by 11am 12/12 (well before class begins).

Good luck!

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Due 12/5

no readings

SELF PORTRAIT
Work on the project and finalize your idea and plan for your final project. Be sure to clearly describe how the project is a self portrait and how it is connected to the artists and the readings that we did. How does the project address the different issues, readings and methods artists have used in representing themselves.

You do not need to post anything to the blog but you will be presenting your ideas in class so please have your ideas and sketches with you and you must show these to me. Your ideas and notes should include - what issues do you want to address with your self portrait; what methods or medium do you plan to use in creating your self portrait; do you plan to combine various media like drawing and painting and collage or photography and performance, video and poetry; what artists have influenced your self portrait? Please bring various ideas and potential outcomes with you to class. We can brainstorm together and we will be working on our projects in class. I will be bringing some materials to class to share. Bring any materials that you plan to use and have access to as well. I can help you source any materials that you may need help obtaining.

**Finished projects must be posted to the blog (photographed) with a minimum of 3 paragraph description addressing the questions above by 11:59pm on 12/11 the day before class.

WORK ON YOUR FINAL PROJECT!

**Make sure that you have posted all weekly selfies and the gallery writing assignment by 11/23!! You can also post a Barbara Kruger inspired selfie and extra tweets #selfiasimage for extra credit by 11/23.**

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Due 11/28

READING:

From Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle (first published 1967): Chapter 1 (1977 translation)OR(2002 translation)

POST 3

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WRITING ASSIGNMENT: The Art of Self Invention

Using all of your weekly selfies and the readings from the entire semester address the concept of self invention in images. How do we represent ourselves in images. What can art and media teach us about ourselves. Do we learn about identity and culture through images? If we create and control the images of ourselves that we share how does this communicate who we are? Does it?

Please use at least 3 artists as examples to illustrate this concept of self invention in art and images as well as at least 3 of your own weekly selfie assignments. 5-6 paragraphs. You must post to the class blog and include images and links. Please quote at least 3 of the readings. Use citations for the quotes and list the readings at the bottom of the post.

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No more weekly selfies.

Begin working on your final project!

SELF PORTRAIT

Create a list of ideas, sketches and a plan for your final project. This is due in class on 11/28. You do not need to post anything to the blog but you will be presenting your ideas in class so please have your ideas and sketches with you and you must show these to me. Your ideas and notes should include - what issues do you want to address with your self portrait; what methods or medium do you plan to use in creating your self portrait; do you plan to combine various media like drawing and painting and collage or photography and performance, video and poetry; what artists have influenced your self portrait? Please bring various ideas and potential outcomes with you to class. We can brainstorm together and we will be working on our projects in class. I will be bringing some materials to class to share. Bring any materials that you plan to use and have access to as well. I can help you source any materials that you may need help obtaining. Finished projects

Good luck!

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Due 11/14 and review for 11/21

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Chapter 4+5 Advertising and Fashion pgs 148-216, John Berger Ch 7

Weekly Selfie in response to the readings and inspired by the work of the artist Orlan

Please look at these few articles below and research further the work of Orlan. Use her work to inspire your own selfie that addresses body image, beauty and identity from a critical point of view. Post your selfie with a small description of the work of Orlan and how it influenced your weekly selfie.

Orlan's Art of Sex and Surgery

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jul/01/orlan-performance-artist-carnal-art

"More importantly, Orlan saw that she had a double role in what was going on: she was both observer and observed. For a feminist artist long troubled by women's historic role in art (largely undressed and on the receiving end of the male gaze), this was a revelatory moment. She decided to go under the knife again and again – not because her life was at risk, but because she believed surgically changing her body could be a powerful work of art.

From 1990 to 1995, she underwent nine plastic surgery operations, intending to rewrite western art on her own body."

Reincarnation of Saint Orlan

http://www.creative-mapping.com/controversial-french-artist-orlan-is-perhaps-most-infamous-for-using-her-own-body-as-a-tool-for-a-series-of-performance-surgeries-known-as-the-reincarnation-of-saint-orlan/

2001 documentary Carnal Art

(*Warning: Artistic nudity and surgeries depicted.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_66MGu0Oo

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

ELECTION DAY NOV 8th! Go vote! Take others to vote!

Due 11/7

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Chapter 3 pgs. 121-144

Weekly Selfie in response to the readings and inspired by the work of the artist Sophie Calle

Think a bit outside the box. You can but you do not need to appear in your selfie this week. How can you approach identity and portrait without appearing? Think about the kinds of rules Sophie Calle uses to frame her work.

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

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Friday, October 28 11-6pm

This is your last chance to see the exhibition

Selfie: Us and Them at Living Incubator Performance Space inside of Gateway Projects Space in the Gateway Center. Newark, NJ You must visit this exhibition and complete the writing assignment below. I am afraid the gallery will not be open any other days before your assignment is due on 10/31. Please email me if you have questions about this.

Due 10/31

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Chapter 2 Manners pgs. 75-117

John Berger Chapters 4+5

Post 2 Due Gallery Visit Writing Assignment due on the blog

Please look closely at the pieces in the art exhibition Selfie: Us and Them. Be sure to pay special attention to the labels describing the pieces and to the artist statements in the exhibition binder. You must take notes and then write an ~800 word response to the ideas being addressed. Take pictures. Please be sure to address the following questions:

What are some themes of the exhibition?

How do the artists address identity and the selfie?

What are some critiques of self, identity and perception?

Describe at least two of the projects in detail and explain how the projects represent self?

What are the artists and curators telling the gallery audience?

How do the artists approach the presentation of self and self portraiture? Are there similarities and differences between the projects?

Weekly Selfie in response to the Selfie exhibition

Choose one of the projects in the gallery and create a selfie inspired by this project. It does not need to be in the same medium as the original selfie but must only be inspired by its ideas, themes etc.

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

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Due 10/24

MIDTERM PROJECTS DUE!

Using processes including collage, assemblage, frottage, drawing and painting each student will compose an image that captures a self-portrait. Please be prepared to address the meaning behind your self portrait, any artists that have inspired you and why you have chosen the materials and the subject matter to represent yourself. In written form in a short post on the blog please describe your project, post a photograph of it and address the following questions:

• What is the subject of your image?

• What is the content of your image?

• Why did you make the choices that led to the composition?

• What do you think this image conveys to the viewers?

You will present your piece in front of the class and we will have a group critique and discussion addressing these questions.

Good luck!

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Due 10/17

READINGS: John Berger Chapters 2+3

On Blackboard: bell hooks Understanding Patriarchy and The Oppositional Gaze, Laura Mulvey Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

MIDTERM project in progress bring in pieces and ideas in progress for your midterm self portrait collage. Look at examples of artist portraiture and collage online and in books for inspiration. You can begin with the list we saw in class: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/3318/top-10-collage-artists-hannah-hoch-to-man-ray

You do not need to post a weekly selfie this week. Work on your MIDTERM self portrait.

Please remember to have your quotes available for class discussion. You must have two quotes from each of the three readings due 10/17. I may collect these at anytime and failure to have these will result in a "0"

SAVE THE DATE you must attend the exhibition Selfie:Us and Them on October 21st 6-9pm. *If you cannot attend on the opening night you can see the exhibition on your own on October 22nd 12-6pm

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

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Due 10/10

READINGS:

Finkelstein, Introduction pgs 1-36 and Chapter 1 pgs 42-72
John Berger Ways of Seeing Ch 1

Weekly Selfie Autobiography and Place

Using the work and biography of Frida Kahlo as inspiration please create a selfie that is autobiographical and also speaks to a place or environment you consider "home".

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

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Due 9/26

Weekly Selfie Birth/Death

Using the readings, the work of Cindy Sherman, the documentary Nobody Here But Me watched in class and class discussion as inspiration please create a selfie in the theme of birth OR death (or both).

NO NEW READINGS review readings from last week and GET THE BOOKS!

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

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Due 9/19

Post 1/Weekly selfie in response to the readings (and to the art exhibition you saw at school

Create a quick digital selfie/self portrait that is informed or inspired by the ideas you read in the reading linked below and by the work of the artist Janis Maschucci in the NJCU gallery. Use the ideas from the readings and the work you saw in the gallery as well as what you read and heard about the artist and her process in creating these self portraits to help you design and create a selfie. Please write a short post on the blog of 3-5 paragraphs about your selfie, the readings and the art show. You must include your selfie in the post and you must include at least one link to an external resource or example of some kind.

READINGS ONLINE:

Susan Sontag excerpt from On Photography

http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml

Intro to Cindy Sherman:

MoMA http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1154?locale=en

Image Gallery and the marketplace: https://www.artsy.net/artist/cindy-sherman

The Cindy Sherman Effect

http://www.artnews.com/2012/02/14/the-cindy-sherman-effect/

Two tweets with the hashtag #selfiasimage

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Link to the Syllabus

Link to Class screenings

Link to our twitter hashtag: #selfiasimage

Discussion guidelines

The course material and discussions can often be provocative and challenging. We must therefore be careful to be respectful of each other and of our viewpoints.

We must come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings. Please keep discussions focused on the readings and class materials and keep examples relevant and appropriate. If you have not done the readings you are not to participate in the discussion.