Assignment #3 Chapter 4

Something that recently caught my attention was a photography project that my cousin was working on. I do not recall what the assigned project was, but it was something general that let the students use their own imagination. My cousin is a vegetarian so she chose to do something that represented herself in that manner. For the project she took pictures of different parts of people’s anatomy (appendages) and photo shopped them to resemble some of the everyday foods that we eat. For example, she took a picture of my leg and she was going to make it look like a chicken leg (I have yet to see the final product). Other ideas that she had were to take a photo of a tongue and put it on a grill to look like a steak and take a picture of my uncle’s toes and put them on a hamburger bun. The one photo that I did get to see was the one where she took a picture of my aunt’s nicely polished fingers and put them into hotdog buns. It was very surreal of a feeling that I got when I looked at that picture, but I got the message that she was trying to convey. Through this work she is showing the viewer how this is the same position that we put animals in when we eat them every day; it’s just something that we don’t realize because we are so conditioned to it. I guarantee that very few people sit down to eat a hamburger and think of what the cow may have gone through so that we could enjoy its meat. She completed this project in such a way that the viewer is able to understand her perspective on the subject, whether you agree with her or not. She also has the photo displayed in black and white so that when you look at the photo you aren’t distracted by the color and you see, again, the message behind it.

In a way this could be a stretch of realism because it is showing us something that would be seen by the eye, but in a slightly twisted manner. Although the piece may not be aesthetic in a way that most people would perceive beauty, there is beauty behind the message that she is trying to get across to the viewers.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes because it enables your brain to formulate new ideas about everything that is going on around you. If people didn't make mistakes they wouldn't learn what to do and what not to do.. they would just do; running around with no rhyme or reason, which would just be complete chaos. If that happened I think that people would not be able to form relationships with each other or anything for that matter. Things would not have meaning, because people wouldn't be able to distinguish what is good from what is bad, what is exciting or sad. Basically people wouldn't be able to appreciate life and what they personally are capable of, because if you are afraid to take risks and make mistakes you limit yourself to only doing what you know. And technically you really wouldn't know much at all if you spent your life not making mistakes. For the cartoon artist if he didn't allow him self to make mistakes he wouldn't be able to make new characters or story lines because you have to go through a certain stage of trial and error before finding the character or story you may want. I mean its possible for life in general to continue if you just go with the first thing that you decide and assume that it's not a mistake, but then life would be mediocre.

As for the "Art is knowing which ones to keep." Simply, I think he means by going through the process of trial and error and finding options, picking the one that will have the most success, no matter what it is, is art.

This quote can be applied to almost any aspect in life, from creating a drawing or piece of writting to even picking your closest friends and the person you want to be with the rest of your life. Its really an art, you must go through some mistakes to find the people you want around you, and finding them and seeing how well you fit with them is beautiful.

Voyeurism

I would say yes. I am a voyeur; everyone is a voyeur. I believe its human nature to be a voyeur, to watch what goes on around you, and its even more intriguing when you know that the person/people you are watching do not or cannot see you. Voyeurism is one of the ways people learn new things is by observing what people do. Watching a movie, in a way, could be voyeurism and it replicates the same sense of watching someone with out them knowing. I actually enjoy being a voyerist, not in an inappropriate way, but from looking at it from a learning perspective. For example, I am a lifeguard, so watching people is my job and technically we are somewhat of voyeurists. We are required to watch people yes, but I find pleasure in it partly because I know I could potentionally save someone and partly because I learn a lot from watching how people act in certain situations. And as a lifeguard most people tune you out of their senses anyway because they are involved in what they're doing at the pool, wether it be swimming laps or playing with their kids. So really it is like watching people without them knowing because they are not sensitive to the fact that you are there. They've become accustomed to having a lifeguard around while swimming, so therefore I don't feel like people sensor themsleves from what they would normally do. I have actually been able to watch lap swimmers and swim teams at the pool and learned how to improve my own strokes and they probably don't even realize it.

Blog #1

The first thing that I thought of when I read “something that caught your attention” was a guy that I went to high school with and his recent tattoos. Yes, tattoos can be considered artwork because it is a form of expression that a person displays on his or her own body. That individual has the choice to put whatever design on any part of his/her body that may or may not have some meaning behind it. The ones that do not have meaning behind them are the ones that bother me because I feel as though that person is just getting it done to say that they have something “cool” or they are trying to fit in. Art should NOT be about trying to fit in, but on the contrary it should be about being unique and being you. In this case, Cory (changed his name for identity purposes), I feel just got his to fit in and I personally believe that they are stupid. I can’t think of any other way to put it. The first one that he got was his last name across his back. Personally I don’t understand why people do this in general, I could see maybe getting your last name in a creative way, but his is just big bold block letters. It was something that didn’t require much deep thought or consideration and I don’t think that is appealing at all to look at. I also don’t think that his last name is a very “good” last name to have tattooed on yourself, the organization of the letters and the length just don’t appeal to my senses. The second one that he got (the most recent) says “est. 1989” which was the year that he was born. Okay, yes this is an important year for him, but I don’t understand why he felt the need to permanently carve it on his body. What… is he going to forget the year that he was born? And again looking at the style of the font it’s just in Edwardian Script which is so common, I can’t even consider it to have an artful taste. I feel as though body art should have more meaning to it. For example another person I know, who has many tattoos, but his have meaning and art. He not only designs his own tattoos but he incorporates his life in them. The one he has is of a wolf, with Indian markings around it to signify his Native American heritage. Incorporating the environment in which I was looking at the tattoos, the fact that I don’t really care for the first guy that I was speaking of (Cory) could have an effect on how I personally view/interpret his idea of art. The second guy that I mentioned is my cousin so naturally I am going to be biased to him and most likely be able to understand him better because I have known him longer and he is a part of my family. Views similar to these could be applied to any piece of art. For example maybe if you are in love with a certain artist and he comes out with a new painting, you are of course going to have some feelings of excitement and “like” before you even see the painting because you know that artist. As opposed to a painter that you don’t like coming out with a new piece, you obviously aren’t going to have the same feelings toward his piece before you see it because you already don’t like him and his ideas.