The foot-and-a-half sculpture of my avatar in the Hello Kitty aesthetic didn't survive the mould transfer, so I'm going to build a Happy Meal version out of Sculpey like I should have done in the first place.
I even asked around to see if I could salvage the forum by putting Sculpey around the plaster and then baking it as the armature. I was told by everyone I asked that it would explode. I'm better off just remaking it.
It's a simple forum anyway, so I'm not all that upset that my avatar ended up in pieces. Besides, I have bigger things to worry about.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Mould Crush Art
Every have one of those days where things go wrong the moment you make a single choice you knew you shouldn’t have made? Today seems like that kind of day for me.
I went into the studio today to work on my mould. It was a one-time mould, meant only as a medium transfer between positives of the sculpture I was working on. I kept getting set back farther and farther from my goal today because my mould wasn’t as clean as it could have been. And it was only a one-time thing where if I got a positive that I wanted, that’s it. Throw it away. Yeah, I know, that’s a waste of what could be a nice item that could be mass produced, but I am not a sculpture artist, nor do I want to be one in that sense.
Should have bought the Sculpi over the weekend, but I guess I decided I didn’t need it. Sculpi is easier. You just put it in the shape you want and bake it in the oven. Trouble is, my armature is a Coke bottle, which isn’t very oven-friendly.
As if that isn’t bad enough, I found myself experiencing more of my sexual frustration that not even a bartender from Tribe (which, incidentally, there is one attending the school) could fix! My latest “College Crush,” if you can call him that, has a picture from his Drawing 1 class in the hallway. It is a photo realistic portrait that I can’t help staring at every time I walk past it. Every time I walk past him I can’t help but look at him as he glides along the floor. The fact that he also wears some of the tightest shirts that accent a very lean physique isn’t helping either. It’s winter, for crying out loud! He shouldn’t be wearing clothing that should be worn on the beach at summer time! Even when he’s not, he still looks just as attractive to me in his leather jackets. One was a classic aviator jacket; today he had on a black leather jacket that evoked class and style.
I feel like my resolution to think positive has wavered, so I’ll close my entry knowing the one good thing that came out of today.
I actually was able to concentrate on my work and not on my RollerCoaster Tycoon projects while I was in the studio. I think it has something to do with the fact that I’ve become aware of my show date. I was fine with the April 4th deadline and not knowing where I fall in the show order. Knowing that I’m first has made me more focused.
I went into the studio today to work on my mould. It was a one-time mould, meant only as a medium transfer between positives of the sculpture I was working on. I kept getting set back farther and farther from my goal today because my mould wasn’t as clean as it could have been. And it was only a one-time thing where if I got a positive that I wanted, that’s it. Throw it away. Yeah, I know, that’s a waste of what could be a nice item that could be mass produced, but I am not a sculpture artist, nor do I want to be one in that sense.
Should have bought the Sculpi over the weekend, but I guess I decided I didn’t need it. Sculpi is easier. You just put it in the shape you want and bake it in the oven. Trouble is, my armature is a Coke bottle, which isn’t very oven-friendly.
As if that isn’t bad enough, I found myself experiencing more of my sexual frustration that not even a bartender from Tribe (which, incidentally, there is one attending the school) could fix! My latest “College Crush,” if you can call him that, has a picture from his Drawing 1 class in the hallway. It is a photo realistic portrait that I can’t help staring at every time I walk past it. Every time I walk past him I can’t help but look at him as he glides along the floor. The fact that he also wears some of the tightest shirts that accent a very lean physique isn’t helping either. It’s winter, for crying out loud! He shouldn’t be wearing clothing that should be worn on the beach at summer time! Even when he’s not, he still looks just as attractive to me in his leather jackets. One was a classic aviator jacket; today he had on a black leather jacket that evoked class and style.
I feel like my resolution to think positive has wavered, so I’ll close my entry knowing the one good thing that came out of today.
I actually was able to concentrate on my work and not on my RollerCoaster Tycoon projects while I was in the studio. I think it has something to do with the fact that I’ve become aware of my show date. I was fine with the April 4th deadline and not knowing where I fall in the show order. Knowing that I’m first has made me more focused.
Friday, February 22, 2008
I Got A Date
Wish it was the kind I wanted...
April 11th is my tentative date for my Senior Thesis show to open. The show will be up until about the 22nd.
And FYI, I'm in the first of the two senior shows that Watkins will have. "Nervous" doesn't even come close to how I feel right now.
April 11th is my tentative date for my Senior Thesis show to open. The show will be up until about the 22nd.
And FYI, I'm in the first of the two senior shows that Watkins will have. "Nervous" doesn't even come close to how I feel right now.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Avatar Sculpture
It's amazing what you can do with a Coke bottle, aluminum foil, and some oil-based clay.
And here's a second piece that I'm going to repaint and put on a new base. I don't know exactly what he'll end up looking like when he is done, but he will look better than he does now.
And here's a second piece that I'm going to repaint and put on a new base. I don't know exactly what he'll end up looking like when he is done, but he will look better than he does now.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Writer's Block
I feel I've done enough research on the obsessive fan culture that I can talk about it with confidence and relate it to the pieces I'm working with.
Putting that information on paper, however, is proving more difficult than I anticipated.
Part of me wants to write as casually as I do blogging and then edit it from there, but habit has be trying to write it out as logically as academia has taught me.
It's a very difficult thing to do, weed out information that isn't relevant to what you are doing and then trying to use what is to talk about your piece. And I haven't even inserted my citable artists into the paper yet.
Breaks from writing don't seem to help either. The reconstruction of my Cinderella fireworks show only provokes my need to write why obsessive fandom and the art I'm making about it makes sense together. I've become that obsessive fan who can link Harry Potter to the Bible to Star Wars to politics to comics to sociological studies. Okay, not in the literal sense, but the want to display that knowledge in a written form is very much there.
But where to go since I wrote myself into a corner?
Putting that information on paper, however, is proving more difficult than I anticipated.
Part of me wants to write as casually as I do blogging and then edit it from there, but habit has be trying to write it out as logically as academia has taught me.
It's a very difficult thing to do, weed out information that isn't relevant to what you are doing and then trying to use what is to talk about your piece. And I haven't even inserted my citable artists into the paper yet.
Breaks from writing don't seem to help either. The reconstruction of my Cinderella fireworks show only provokes my need to write why obsessive fandom and the art I'm making about it makes sense together. I've become that obsessive fan who can link Harry Potter to the Bible to Star Wars to politics to comics to sociological studies. Okay, not in the literal sense, but the want to display that knowledge in a written form is very much there.
But where to go since I wrote myself into a corner?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I Loath You
Every time this time of year, I feel horrible. I hate Valentine’s Day for various reasons. Some are really good reasons. Some are not. But this year in particular is very frustrating due to the pent up sexual frustration of the last three to four years.
Today, I cannot help but think about all the things wrong with this holiday. The fact that they imply that it is required to shower your significant other with material goods in order to solidify the intangible feeling of love. The fact that the media is saying that only beautiful people are worth the trouble of love and the gifts they bring at a time like this. And the fact that because of that I found myself finding out that Jeremy Lory guy is actually a porn star now, complete with his own website. (Apparently, I have this thing where I swoon from one porn star to another. Before this, it was with Matthew Rush.)
I was surprised that with all these frustrations I was able to even get some work done on my avatar sculpture. (Sorry, no pictures this time as the camera is MIA, and you guys deserve better than cell phone quality photos.) Maybe it is the frustration of this so-called holiday being channeled productively for once.
Anyone that knows anything about me knows that I don’t have a fondness of this time of year anyway, but that whole thing about fifth grade and the kids ripping up my rinky-dink Valentine’s Day card and box and showering me with the pieces of it while they laughed mockingly at me is pretty much trivial. At least in comparison to the general angst now towards this.
Maybe it is because I’ve been single for too damn long, never been on a date, and pretty much forgot what sex is like. Then again, I never had good sex to begin with, so maybe it’s a good thing I forgot what it is like.
Today, I cannot help but think about all the things wrong with this holiday. The fact that they imply that it is required to shower your significant other with material goods in order to solidify the intangible feeling of love. The fact that the media is saying that only beautiful people are worth the trouble of love and the gifts they bring at a time like this. And the fact that because of that I found myself finding out that Jeremy Lory guy is actually a porn star now, complete with his own website. (Apparently, I have this thing where I swoon from one porn star to another. Before this, it was with Matthew Rush.)
I was surprised that with all these frustrations I was able to even get some work done on my avatar sculpture. (Sorry, no pictures this time as the camera is MIA, and you guys deserve better than cell phone quality photos.) Maybe it is the frustration of this so-called holiday being channeled productively for once.
Anyone that knows anything about me knows that I don’t have a fondness of this time of year anyway, but that whole thing about fifth grade and the kids ripping up my rinky-dink Valentine’s Day card and box and showering me with the pieces of it while they laughed mockingly at me is pretty much trivial. At least in comparison to the general angst now towards this.
Maybe it is because I’ve been single for too damn long, never been on a date, and pretty much forgot what sex is like. Then again, I never had good sex to begin with, so maybe it’s a good thing I forgot what it is like.
Monday, February 11, 2008
BibleLand
I just caught wind of a proposed theme park involving the Bible for my state. Concept art on the news showed a walk-thru attraction based on the parting of the Red Sea, a Soarin'-like attraction over what I concluded was Jerusalem, and other Disney-like attractions.
Yeah. If there was any proof needed that religion, specifically the Christian and Catholic faith, is being commoditized, this is it.
The proposal is going before an open house meeting with the locals to see if the thing will actually get built or not.
Yeah. If there was any proof needed that religion, specifically the Christian and Catholic faith, is being commoditized, this is it.
The proposal is going before an open house meeting with the locals to see if the thing will actually get built or not.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
WTF?!
I have several sites of personal interest bookmarked on Google Reader to help me keep up with them when they update. Among them are some personal interest sites for when I'm in heat.
Well, I present below a video that probably will be taken down from YouTube by the time this post is published. If not, it will probably be taken down by the time you've read this. If not then, well, YouTube has probably loosen their standards to keep people happy and away from XXX versions of their site.
He's hot. And while my lust-passion has been slaked like that of no other, my mind post-oogling over this lean muscle god is saying three words: What the fuck?!
The following is just my observation, no cited research, and nothing that relates to what I'm currently doing artistically.
Apparently, this Jeremy Lory guy is one of those internet celebrities that got famous for doing something that got a lot of people's attention. I hate comparing him to the Star Wars Kid, but that's pretty much what the deal is. Anyone who trolls webcams looking for free exhibitionist activities like the video above, supposedly, knows his name. And much like Paris Hilton, he's aware of how attractive he is to both men and women alike.
In an era where writers are going on strike and an influx of reality and game shows on the horizon, one has to wonder just that: What the fuck?! In order to be famous these days, all you have to do is go on a reality show, walk around nude in front of a camera, and make damn sure that it is on a media outlet that reaches a vast number of people. It is as if our generation is devolving to that of Mardi Gras as seen on Girls Gone Wild.
And me, being such a hypocrite, am a part of this little societal phenomenon. I play the part of the guy that’s actually looking at it, thereby backing up his internet fame. I’m the one blogging about it, half complaining about how the internet makes people famous provided they do the exact same thing that people on basic cable are doing right now. What the fuck, man?! What the fuck?!
I need to get laid...
Well, I present below a video that probably will be taken down from YouTube by the time this post is published. If not, it will probably be taken down by the time you've read this. If not then, well, YouTube has probably loosen their standards to keep people happy and away from XXX versions of their site.
He's hot. And while my lust-passion has been slaked like that of no other, my mind post-oogling over this lean muscle god is saying three words: What the fuck?!
The following is just my observation, no cited research, and nothing that relates to what I'm currently doing artistically.
Apparently, this Jeremy Lory guy is one of those internet celebrities that got famous for doing something that got a lot of people's attention. I hate comparing him to the Star Wars Kid, but that's pretty much what the deal is. Anyone who trolls webcams looking for free exhibitionist activities like the video above, supposedly, knows his name. And much like Paris Hilton, he's aware of how attractive he is to both men and women alike.
In an era where writers are going on strike and an influx of reality and game shows on the horizon, one has to wonder just that: What the fuck?! In order to be famous these days, all you have to do is go on a reality show, walk around nude in front of a camera, and make damn sure that it is on a media outlet that reaches a vast number of people. It is as if our generation is devolving to that of Mardi Gras as seen on Girls Gone Wild.
And me, being such a hypocrite, am a part of this little societal phenomenon. I play the part of the guy that’s actually looking at it, thereby backing up his internet fame. I’m the one blogging about it, half complaining about how the internet makes people famous provided they do the exact same thing that people on basic cable are doing right now. What the fuck, man?! What the fuck?!
I need to get laid...
Friday, February 08, 2008
Avatar: The Next Project
Today's critique went by very well, which is something I'm not used to. The mock-up and scale model were both well received with minor criticism. All I need to do is adjust my grouping, increase my volume, and consider how I'm going to paint the walls given the fact that the white paper will get lost in the white gallery wall. I'm thinking just a box of that shelf-gray paint we use to frame the installation area.
Over the course of the critique, I brought up how I am now producing little avatars to act as a reoccurring character. Jack made the suggestion of producing a sculpture of the little guy. Everyone got excited by that idea, including myself. Problem was, which version? My avatar changes from group to group, and sometimes from style of drawing. Jack, much like all the teachers I had before him, said to keep it simple. The Hello Kitty version of my avatar I had up in the mock-up was simple enough to translate into a Murakami-like sculpture. Plaster would be the material to use, and I'd have to paint it the four colors that go with that avatar's aesthetics (black, peach, blue, and brown).
So how big do I make the little guy? The reply to this question was an awkward scene where everyone kept moving their hands up and down or sideway to show an approximation. The group settled on a size no bigger than a lawn gnome, which is ambitious enough to command attention in the gallery space.
Now here's my problem I'm still trying to figure out: What is my little avatar doing? Will he be part of the installation or a separate piece entirely? The answer to the first question will help answer the second.
Over the course of the critique, I brought up how I am now producing little avatars to act as a reoccurring character. Jack made the suggestion of producing a sculpture of the little guy. Everyone got excited by that idea, including myself. Problem was, which version? My avatar changes from group to group, and sometimes from style of drawing. Jack, much like all the teachers I had before him, said to keep it simple. The Hello Kitty version of my avatar I had up in the mock-up was simple enough to translate into a Murakami-like sculpture. Plaster would be the material to use, and I'd have to paint it the four colors that go with that avatar's aesthetics (black, peach, blue, and brown).
So how big do I make the little guy? The reply to this question was an awkward scene where everyone kept moving their hands up and down or sideway to show an approximation. The group settled on a size no bigger than a lawn gnome, which is ambitious enough to command attention in the gallery space.
Now here's my problem I'm still trying to figure out: What is my little avatar doing? Will he be part of the installation or a separate piece entirely? The answer to the first question will help answer the second.
