shape project

Here are some pieces that i was interested in as far a shape goes. I enjoy the simplicity in the first two and the balance of value in the third.

these are my three black and white compositions. I created them on Adobe Illustrator, and although my skills are very young, they are improving. What i was really going for here are basic shapes, simplicity and a balance of black and white.




Untouched i think the three pieces are successful. When I printed them and got the scissors out, all hell broke loose and i laid an egg, dropped the ball, bombed, you name it. I ran out of time and this is what i got, sorry...

well folks this is why i have to go to art school, if i already knew how to do it, i wouldnt need to be here.

Line and Form

I am the biggest beastie boys fan you will ever meet, guaranteed, you wanna battle, you must be crazy. It took a while for me to wrap my head around the idea of this assignment and of course the answer to my dilemma is tacked up on my wall and resting on my bookshelf as well.

The artist I chose to research is Matteo Pericoli. His Drawing "Manhattan unfurled" was done with black pen while riding the ferry along the Manhattan east and west coast. It is printed in an accordion style book that unfolds 32 feet long. The Beastie Boys chose a portion of this work for the cover of their 2004 album which was dedicated to the resilient residents of New York City (their home town) titled, TO: The 5 Boroughs.

Album cover
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Other Pericoli NYC sketches

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Pericoli's "The Hill"

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I based my drawing on the lower of the three Minneapolis drawing.
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Same point of view as some of Pericoli's stuff so I figured i could take over from here. My Photo shop skills are still in the early stages so i based my free hand drawing on this photo and Pericoli's style.

Form (Harmony and Pictoral Movement) Research

The first artist that comes to mind when i think of form, for some reason i think of Rembrandt, probably because he really had a good grasp of the idea.

The contrast of the light from the window attracts the viewers eye to the left side of the spiral staircase. This line is "S" shaped, wavy making it more playful for the eye than a straight line.

We see repetition with the steps and also with the arch shaped window, ceiling and arch shaped small door. The twist of the spiral staircase also creates arch shapes.

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The "topic card" i picked was Impressionism, so i decided to study the form of some famous Impressionist artists pieces. Claude Monet is one of my favorite painters and I usually pay more attention to his use of color than form.

As a whole, Impressionist paintings are simple when it comes to brush stroke technique, detail is not imperative. Choppy strokes of color overlapping other colors creates forms of boats, people, water, and a reflection.

At the time of this movement new technology in art such as oil paints in tubes and retractable easels, made it easier for artists to work outside. Most Impressionist art is done outdoors.

This is one of the most recognisable Impressionist pieces around. Van Gogh's Starry Night. He uses more imagination than accuracy here. We see use of repetition, playful lines and texture.

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This is the piece of paper I was given to base my Impressionist work on, Yippee...

I fought with this assignment for quite some time. I went out and got a primed canvas, cut it from 9'x12' to 8 1/2 x 11 then cut a hole in the top left corner of the canvas board to represent the hole left from the hole puncher on this paper. Long story short, i got real frustrated and the impressionist piece i painted is no longer with us. It is destroyed and i literally went back to the drawing board using pastels rather than paint.

Since the impressionists were going outside and painting pretty pictures of Lily pads, gardens and landscapes in their area, i decided i needed to create something i see in nature. However, there is not much colorful nature on D and west 6th street in South Boston. The sunset and the sky rats (pidgins) in my neighborhood are the closest things to pure nature I'm going to find. And that will do just fine for me.

I used the lines I had to follow as a building and a electrical/phone wire. I used the rest of the open space to create harmony with color and movement. You may notice repetition in the shape the bottom left edge creates with the window, three sky rats, and also i revisited the shape of the birds in the clouds as well.

guerilla art

This was not my first guerrilla art experience, but it was the first time linoleum block printing since the 8th grade. I chalked the idea up as a success but the initial outcome was a failure, followed by a rendered save.

I spent a long time developing the concepts, carving the linoleum, and strategically picking effective locations for specific idea's. Gold, i was sitting on pure gold. I had a vision, a plan, and when it came down to the 5:00 AM attack everything crumbled. If I had more time, i would have used stencils (because they are easier to transfer on rough surfaces like ply wood, asphalt, and concrete). If i had more brains, i would have reversed my idea on the linoleum so that it didn't come out backwards in print.


This is my neighbor's house. Long story short, she was part of a lesbian love triangle, one of the other ladies got real angry and threw a Molotov cocktail though her front door. The lady who owned the house was not home but her 14 and 3 year old daughters burned to death on the 3rd floor. After the service master came by and cleaned out the building they boarded up the windows. Kids from all over the neighborhood come by to write to the two sisters on the boards. I had no connection to the family, but i have lost a few friends to freak fire accidents. So i can identify with the kids mourning. This piece is directed to the young friends of the victim's Someone told me "sadness + time= happiness." Over the years this theory has proved itself true, for me at least.

The linoleum press did not transfer on to the ply wood because of the rough texture of the wood. So i found a smooth surfaced electrical box on the street corner.

When i finally successfully transferred the image it came out reversed and made no sense at all.
I had to flip this photo so the design made sense, in real life its backwards

I grew up in a suburb 26 miles south of Boston and where i come from, we play basketball all-day-long. It's a small town that loves the game and most of the enthusiasm stems from my former high school coach. When i moved into the city 5 years ago i was excited to play at a higher street level than my hometown. I lost interest in the city street ball scene after 2 years because: (A) my life had been threatened 1 to many times on one particular court (B) I don't have much time between work, school, girlfriend and sleep (C) NOBODY PASSES THE F---ING BALL!!!

Sunrise at one of the baskets I used to play on...

Again, my great idea semi failed because it was reversed on the transfer. Its supposed to read: Passing is Greater Than Shooting(double meaning: better passing creates better shots/ pass on violent actions). This came out Shooting is Less Than Passing, which still works, but not what i had in mind. If you look to the left of the hoop you can see the first attempted stamp(i really wish i made stencils instead of stamps), the textured backboard didn't grab the ink too well. My friend who was helping me said the figure looked like an "Aborigine finger painting" so i dipped my finger in the block printing ink and finger painted the the image. I safely got my point across and that's all that matters, right? Dammit i wish i made stencils!!!

This is what the stencil (not the half assed finger paint print above it) was supossed to look like...

I'm not goin' out like a chump

I couldn't quit that easy and thought of this idea waiting at the bus stop. There was the water drain, right under my nose. There was a Jeep facing me across the street. Then it dawned on me

Water Drain

Jeep

Jeep Grill

Water Drain

Spongy roller and watered down, white, block print ink, done and done.

art in 12 hours

I walk by this wall mural on West Broadway in South Boston every morning on my way to work. Dropkick Murphy's is a Irish folk driven punk band and its members grew up in different Boston neighborhoods. Due to the local bands success the logo is seen on album covers, stickers, t-shirts and other merchandise all over the world. Here it pays homage to South Boston native, bass player, Ken Casey. The Band got their name from the first ever alcohol treatment facility in Massachusetts. The funny thing is that it is painted on the side of Al's Liquor Mart.

A faded, chipping away, one point perspective wall mural of what West Broadway looked like around 100 years ago. The painter used greys black and white on the side of a neighborhood auto shop. I work at a swanky hotel as a bellman and I see the same artwork every day. There are about a hundred pieces all over the place ranging from sculpture, paintings, and drawings. I'm not allowed in the hotel if I'm not working and i was denied permission to take pictures while i was in uniform. So on my day off i put on a hat and a pair of sunglasses to disguise myself and only had time to snap 3 shots before my cover was blown.
This piece is one that i still like after looking at it every day for the past two years. Its a yellow tinted, panoramic photo of downtown crossing pasted on to a giant wooden "wheel" and a cross cut out of the middle.
These are ceramic blobs hanging from the lobby wall. They remind me of ABC gum stuck under tables and desks. Fancy pants hotel with gum stuck on the wall.
After work i usually go for a burrito at Boloco on Pearl Street. Some local artist is selling his work inside and has about 10 or more oil paintings displayed all over the cafe. I don't know who he or she is but they absolutely know how to grab my attention. I especially enjoy this artist's color selection and perspectives.