Not So Final Shenanigans

Final Critique:

And MORE Shenanigans

Magnum Archive: Consisting of Sketchbooks, Drawings, Poetry, Free Lance Writing, Journaling & 'Diaring', Narratives, Hating Art, Not Hating Art, Images, More Drawings & Other Things I'm Forgetting

How I got from this...

To this...

Yep, my "Diary" read. By other people.

(Not really a diary because I also included some ideas about stuff, is that also a diary? I'm not really sure what a I still have some reflecting to do about this. (To be continued).

And then I made this text on canvas commentary:

Based off of... JEFF KOONS  & his book The Jeff Koons Handbook

This book:

Even More Shenanigans

Some of the components of my work from the second project I made from Artists Under the Influence which consisted of Monika Baer, Friedrich Kunath & John Baldessari: I place these artworks on top of a pedestal I built myself.

Here is what I was thinking when making this:

The reason for picking more than one artist was due to the fact that I wanted to pull from different concepts. In this way I want to attempt to make it apparent that although the work of these three artists is quite different it still holds similarities in their concepts. I am quite more interested in the process of their work and the things they are commenting on rather than the work itself. Frankly, I don't quite   know if I like their work to begin with.

   

Both Monika and Baldessari started as painters but shortly after they were disappointed to see that it didn't account to anything more. Monika constantly works on the canvas and introduces motifs that attempt to go beyond what a painting will go. She makes gestures, such as cutting up the canvas and making you aware that there is another layer the canvas. In my work I also make gestures that attempt to comment on the canvas but quite differently. I nailed the four corners of a canvas and used it as a "stool" for the sculptural object to be placed above it. In a sense I made the canvas serve as an almost utilitarian object while also making it part of the artwork itself.

I made a similar gesture in my pedestal. Instead of painting it with white paint and have it nicely painted, I applied gesso and purposely left some of the wood to show. It reminds the viewer that the pedestal was also handmade; that perhaps the pedestal is part of the work and the work extends itself beyond.

As for the sculptural object, although I have made similar works prior to these, I've said that I don't quite know why I was making them or why I was making them this way.

The Shenanigans Continue...

I will come back to these Shenanigans but for now here is the rest of my documentation, hope you had fun back there on the first post...

The making of myWEIRD SCULPTURES (a look into some other things I was painting on):

Artist Statement:

“Draw what you see.” Those were the words of my art teacher. “I am drawing what I see.” I would reply. I had often argued just like James Abbot McNeill Whistler that “if a man who paints only what he sees before him were an artist, then the king of artists would be the photographer”. This led me to start questioning the significance of drawing what I saw, what was I really attempting to do, was I trying to recreate something that was already in existence and if so, why?

Instead I decided to take a different approach and began to make things without planning ahead. Soon enough, it was through the intuitive process that I was able to interpret the world around me. Whether it was through experiences, dreams, memories etc.

By creating a still life that consists of painted objects colliding with non-painted objects and I want to explore the creative process and different methodology behind the work. I attempt to look out for a relationship between the process of the work, how ideas are generated when making the work, the result of the work and how the resulting work is interpreted.

I want the viewer to question what they are looking at. Creating uncertainties for the viewer and also bringing about the question of: Why do we want to represent the world around us?

My Beloved Weird Sculptures

 ('My Collagesamblages')

American Gothic, (2014)

Fanny Reyes

Acrylic Paint, Photographs, Found Objects, Nails, Canvas & Wood 

The Birth of Venus, (2014)

Fanny Reyes

Acrylic Paint, Photographs, Found Objects, Nails, Canvas & Wood 

Café Terrace at Night, (2014)

Fanny Reyes

Acrylic Paint, Photographs, Found Objects, Fruit, Nails, Canvas & Wood 

The Persistence of Memory, (2014)

Fanny Reyes

Acrylic Paint, Photographs, Found Objects, Fruit, Nails, Canvas & Wood 

Transition Between First & Second Critique

To Capture or Be Captured Continues... (Hint: Please Keep Scrolling Down, You Will Find More Stuff, Don't Give Up).

How I got from this...

To this...

To... 

Some other things but I won't get into that just yet. 

For now I'd like to reflect back to what was going on then.

There were actually LOTS of things going on then --well there are SO many THINGS going on ALL the time... but you know...  

Here it goes (with a HINT of really bad grammar --As if I hadn't been doing that before. Oh, by the way the intro to the following is really cliché... so...don’t say I didn’t warn you):

To tell you the truth, I didn't imagine I'd be sitting here right now recording myself type on a laptop that I was required to buy in order to be in this school, while eating a sandwich I made last night, and pondering about why the hell I didn't participate in the last critique since I hate it when people don't say anything about my work and at the same time I tell myself that I don't say anything during someone else’s critique but not for the same reasons why others do not say anything about my work, all while being at the John M. Flaxman Library. Phew. That took a lot out of me to type all this down. I kind of get why people say that typing your thoughts down into a computer can obstruct the mind. But then again I kind of get this awesome sensation from typing. Like when my fingertips just lay on the damn keys and it makes this seductive ass sound. I don't know what the hell I'm typing. Oh, yeah. I'm at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. And for some reason I think I shouldn't be here. This is not even including the fact I can't pay for this school and I have yet to apply for a loan.

But let's not get into the financial aid stuff for now. Instead let's focus on what happened these past months. It was definitely a roller coaster ride and it was almost impossible to not let the external world get in the way of things. That is if the external world consisted of stressful situations the internal world was greatly affected --BY THE NATURAL DISASTERS OF MY MIND...

The first critique consisted on the making of 25 drawings, having to show them in a group, choosing 10 and the rest is craziness. Well, not really. I was told that my work consisted of many EYES and lots of heavy outlining. Yes, that's true. But I didn't really understand why. Or why that was so damn important. But I guess I had to figure it out myself (hint: I still don't know why I like drawing so many damn eyes). But I decided to step out of my comfort zone. That is, I told my eyes goodbye...for a while at least:

Eye, Golf Ball & Other (2014)

Fanny Reyes

Acrylic on Paper

So I did this for the second critique... 

Yep, that's what happened. I responded to my first critique and blocked out all the eyes. It was kind of liberating to tell you the truth. Although I may be objectifying the figures on the collage drawing. And I used red. Pretty 'violent' I know. But that's what I do. I respond to things around me. Above me. In front of me. In back of me. On the right. Left. Side to side. Backwards. Upwards. Yeah, I got kind of carried away there. Oh, and regarding violence... I'd like to think I'm too lazy to do anything violent. So I guess that's why I do art. (Kidding). Damn I hope who's reading this doesn't think I'm a crazy violent person. I'm going to go do some art about that. 

Some other stuff that I made:

Painting On Stuff 1.1 (2014)

Fanny Reyes

Paint on Painting Palette (literally!)

I realized shortly after that I had painted the palette that I had recently watched a TED video of a talk by Alexa Meade. But ONLY AFTER I HAD DONE THIS. Well anyways, she had been interested in shadows and slowly began painting on stuff like grass to manipulate where these shadows would lay. I found this really interesting for some reason and kept watching the video. Then she began painting over a still life. These included her breakfast! She painted over grapefruit and eggs and other things. Then she continued to paint on people and then photographing them. In my opinion, she is still manipulating what she photographs. She is playing with reality? But you can still tell that she is, that is when she juxtaposes her painted people on the subway and other REAL places. For some reason I had a problem there emphasizing that the background is just that... reality? 

Well, writing about this today is much different than it was back then but I still remember being in front of the class and trying to explain to them something that wasn't so clear to ME too. That and technology not working towards my advantage. This following collage within a collage within a collage within a collage. Or is it a collage of a collage of a collage of a collage of a collage. I enjoy it saying for some reason. 

Collage Within a Collage, Within a Collage... (2014)

Fanny Reyes

... Oh yeah, Photograph of Paint on Object   Collage Within a Collage, Within a Collage...