From Dirty Harry to Cabin Fever

Having missed a week, I decided to just combine two into one post. The first is of Clint Eastwood in two of his most badass roles to date (and yes, I am considering of just doing some of him in his famous spaghetti westerns which are equally as awesome). The standing pose is from Gran Torino while the background is Dirty Harry with his famous slogan. This man is not just a great actor, but an awe-inspiring director and can make you grip the edge of your seat with dramatic grace.

The second guy is also a great director, Eli Roth. This horror movie icon changed how people thought about horror and made it gruesome again as well as psychological. I love any horror director who sprays his crew with ketchup just to make it look like a bloody scene.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Fred Rogers had the longest running show on public television and what was amazing is that he never talked down to children, but rather talked WITH them. In 1969 he went before a Senate subcommittee to get funding for PBS and scored $20 million by just reading one of his songs to the chairman of the board. He was pretty badass.

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

Anthony Hopkins may be forever known as the infamous Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, but every role I see him in he seems to exhibit that fine line between insanity and genius. From Dr. Abraham Van Helsing to Sir John Talbot this madman can keep you on the edge of your seat just by saying a few lines followed by a chilling stare.

Zombie!!!

This newest portrait is for the King of Undead Rock N' Roll: Rob Zombie. I love the music from this fellow because he makes obscure references to strange, yet important horror films. He even directs his own disturbing films with a very confident vision. I enjoy his ability to combine many art forms while not being afraid to try something new.

AVGN

This portrait is for the Angry Video Game Nerd or as mortals know him, James Rolfe. Not only do I love his internet comedy video game review show, but his movie reviews make me excited about films that were made decades before I was born! As you can see, each of these portraits will have a different vibe as I illustrate different cultural icons whether they be classical or modern. Hopefully, I can keep up this pace on drawing these inspiring characters.

Inspirations!

I decided to do a series of people who inspire me, whether it be their work or their ideas or even their personality. This blog has become the space for my project and I decided to do the portraits weekly. They will all be mixed media in nature and may involve simple to complex designs.

My first portrait is of someone who has recently caught my attention even though he is a legend in his own right. Vincent Price did countless movies involving characters with tight sarcasm and a creepy tone in their voice. I need to watch the famous Roger Corman "Poe" movies to really get more of a grasp on this man, but from what I've seen he definitely makes me think of theater in an entirely different way.

Seeing is Believing

I would like to begin looking at my fellow artists by starting on one of the most engaging, Susana. With the structure built here: http://cortez419.blogspot.com/2010/10/set-me-free-continues.html, Susana created her own environment and captured our attention during critique. Her performance made me want to help her out of the cage even though I was the one who filmed her in it for her video and took pics for her documentation purposes. To convince someone who was there all along is strong enough for me to want to see more performances in many more places!

To the artist that has the most potential is Alex. Her pawn piece really makes me think in so many directions and I want to see more (even if it isn't quantity, it could be how everything is set up or situated). You can see it here: http://aphil11.blogspot.com/2010/11/attack.html, when Andrew suggested a racial divide on the pieces I instantly announced to the class that the scene reminded me of an episode of Oprah. This narrative and many more are at Alex's fingertips so if she pushes everything just a bit more she can show all of us many wondrous worlds, especially her knitting work which is my favorite of hers.

The artist that I have the most knowledge of their process is Kyle. His studies on light and concept are incredible: http://kyleatseniorstudio.blogspot.com/2010/09/art-work-update.html, and it keeps going from there. His portraits blow my mind, but sometimes my favorite moments are his experiments in drawing. Kyle is someone who gets what it means to explore art; his drawing of the man in the ornate frame gave me such distinct feelings that I knew he thought about every aspect of the piece.

One artist I've discovered is Yuko Ishii who uses Mixed Media to the nth degree. Using photography and physical implements she expresses spiritual awareness through her pieces. http://www.yukoishii.com/

Another artist who I knew about only in photography apparently paints as well and he does a series of "Nurse Paintings" which hit home to my not only because they are figural, but my parents are both nurses. Richard Prince explores different ways to combine text and the figure to give a narrative that we may not have seen before. This article on a nursing site is interesting in juxtaposing the nursing world and his world: http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/media/va/nurse_paintings.html

My next project has to do with the secular vs. the religious, the liberal vs. the conservative, and conflicted identity vs. solid identity. My biggest issue is how to combine everything in a simple way. I have already figured out a way to deal with Neil Diamond and David Paskin, but I dunno if it is the direction I want to take. What would be the best way to explore these ideas? How could I combine them without losing any of the magic of the original images? And now...back to work on painting.

What is it? (REDUX)

My work is progressing in a different direction by using common materials for my backgrounds like newspaper and electrical tape. These items relate to my subjects of Abraham Cahan and Mark Zuckerberg. Cahan was the editor for the Yiddish newspaper called The Forward, which garnered a quarter of a million readers by 1924. As for Zuckerberg, he is the creator of Facebook, which has at least 500 million members. This push and pull from a selective readership to a unified membership represents the blend of cultural ideas adding to the greater picture of humanity. It'll never be a perfect relationship due to the clash of cultures on a regular basis, but there is at least hope people can gather together in a forum and be civil to one another.

While in my studio I think of all sorts of different ways to represent an image and how to re-think something that is the "norm" in society. I don't really think there is such a thing as "normal," just "less strange" because life is always strange. Everything is strange.


John Stuart Mill is as "strange" as it gets. The good kind, however. He was a British philosopher who was a proponent of Utilitarianism, which can be explained as: "the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people." I have read his book, On Liberty, which states the responsibilities of an individual who has the right to liberty. His view is that someone can do anything they want as long as they do not hurt anyone else in the process. Most people can agree with this autonomous ability. My work incorporates this autonomous idea of an individual and how they use their cultural heritage as inspiration for their ideas or even how their ideas come from the separation from their original culture.

Culture has its own pushes and pulls for people. Most people connect well to what they know, though some find new ways to express themselves through other cultural means. Jewish culture has become important to me not just because I have celebrated Passover a few times, but that it is a religion tied to a ethnic body and this is unique for any religious organization. The idea of a complete Monotheistic culture grants authority only to God, but who makes the rules when God is not clear or has socially obsolete ideas (613 commandments is a lot to follow)?

After all of this heavy talk of society and culture I would like to share something that is probably destroying ours as Americans. So now I would like to present the Deep Fried Cheeseburger: http://www.squidoo.com/deepfriedcheeseburger

Supernatural Kick

These are the two photographs I am using in my Digital Printmaking project. I want to juxtapose supernatural European Jewish folktales with an assimilated culture in America. The cultural aspect I chose to represent Judaism was Korean martial arts, specifically Taekwondo. Since this art was used for soldier combat at one point only to become an after-school activity it intrigues me enough to use it in a different context on how American Judaism has become more aggressive and concrete than mystic superstitious folktales of the "old country." I plan to paint on top of these photos as stated in my earlier post.

The Darkroom

It's been awhile since I've been in the darkroom, and boy did I forget how much of a wonderful, even magical, place it is to me. I have been working on a photo mixed media project for digital printmaking and it's been fun so far. I plan to have double exposures of printed photographs, scan them into my computer, and then print them out on canvas paper to paint over them. This analog, digital, analog process intrigues me and I plan to focus more on the analog to reach my goal. I will post the photographs soon to give viewers a glimpse of what I was working on, ciao for now.

Dreams N' Schemes (The Surround)

I rarely take anything from my dreams if at all, but there is one in particular that really made me think. It began with me in a forest that was paved like a street. I followed the street until I reached a merry-go-round. The creepy thing about the ride was that all of the horses had googly eyes (you know, the kind that are glued to Pet Rocks?). A red-headed girl clung to me saying she was afraid and suddenly I was transported to a Chinese buffet I was currently working at during the time.

They told me to clean up some moldy dog poop and I did (though reluctantly). I finally left the building only to wind up back into the forest. The girl clung to me again and we walked slowly out of the forest into a desert. While we were walking, our lives fast-forwarded until we were both 80 years old and married. The desert we walked into had large awkward statues that loomed over us for miles. When we reached the horizon a witch (yes, she looked just liked the Wicked Witch of the West on a broom) swooped down with a 3-pronged gardening tool. She went ahead and ripped my wife's head in pieces (specifically the back of her head). I was standing there watching in horror while getting blood on my person. After the horrendous scene ended, I looked down and in my hands I was holding the tool used to murder my wife.

Anywho, this dream has always disturbed me though also comforted me in a strange, unexplainable way. It has to be the most visually graphic dream I've ever had. The most visually memorable moment I have ever had during my conscious existence is basically a collection of moments from Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. All in one day I saw the view of the whole park from violent, jarring directions on a rollercoaster as well as wolves for the first time in their zoo habitat. I love wolves by the way. I also remember going into this cafeteria that had an old German environment, complete with visuals, and they had a live band play celebratory music for Oktoberfest. Even though this scene was the least "amazing" it still had an impact on me as creepy and unfamiliar. There was no Nazi reference in the entire building, but I had this aching fear the Gestapo was going to get me any second during my over-priced amusement park lunch.

Progress Makes Perfect (The Surround)

I have been working in my studio for a few weeks now and I would have to say I am about half done with the triptych I envisioned, starting with these sketches:


The ideas are staying alive in my paintings, but I am not going to add the Yarmulke (or Kippah) and shawl (or Tallit) since I feel my pieces will speak for themselves and the vague dualities in my paintings will blend together better. My main purpose is to show a Jewish character actor in a religious state (whether it be praying to, basking in, or fearing God) while the background represents my thoughts on secular and cultural Judaism.

I did discover, however, that I truly enjoy using mixed media to express my work. I have used pastel on top of acrylic to give a material sense to my work as well as textured gel. I can be gentle when painting a figure to becoming forcefully violent with pastel strokes in the background. I am excited to see what will happen with my plans from here. The best moment I had tonight when I worked was when I added pastel to the textured pumice gel. I was adding or "creating," but some of the pumice fell off which felt like "destruction." This situation reflects the controversy with secular Judaism. Some feel like they are creating a new era while others feel like the sacred respect of Judaism is being tossed aside.

These dualities remind me of Christodoulos Panayiotou's audio/video pieces of the before and after. The same situation is introduced, but different reactions occur with the different parts. Out of all of the artists of the weekend I felt this coincided the best with my work, but Hassan Khan's piece with the reflective glass also feels like my current piece. I feel like I am exposing my ideas for the first time on canvas without any restraint.

Sketches of my Heroes.

I did some sketches to pass the time of Tim Curry and Sam Neill. The former is an inspiration to us all and threw our nation into a frantic state of coulrophobia. The latter is best known for playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, too bad I didn't use a picture of him wearing his hat.

Like I said in an earlier post I am interested in character actors. For my concentration I am interested in the Jewish links of myself as well as the real life Jews that play characters. These two men, however, are not Jewish though maybe I can make some links to all character actors and how they face absurd realities in their worlds. Sometimes (especially in Curry's case) they are the antagonist. What does a "bad guy" think in his everyday routine other than wanting to thwart his adversary? What mundane moments are in between building a giant ray gun and capturing the sweetheart of his enemy?

Dr. Grant's case, he does not fight a "bad guy" at all. He only evades dinosaurs who are merely confused in the time period they were forcefully brought into by man. There are thin lines between right and wrong. There are also thin lines about who is doing right and who is doing wrong. Is a man who sells drugs on the street to feed his family wrong? Is a woman who saves animals, but ignores the homeless right?

Formalities.

To All On The Internet,

I have no idea if anyone reads blog, but they are in for a treat. I plan to link this blog to my very first website. I want to include everything that I find interesting in art and I guess just type up little ideas about them. I am also doing some class assignments, but they go along the same lines.

To give you an idea about what inspires me, let's talk about what is on my desk right now. The second season of Columbo (an amazing mystery/thriller series about a wily detective who stops untouchable rich people from getting away with murder), The Wolfman (2009 remake of the classic horror film), the first season of Dragonball Z (an anime that follows an alien's life and how he fights to protect Earth), and the first season of Peewee's Playhouse (one of the most creative children's shows ever). As you can see, I am interested in a variety of things and I take ideas from numerous sources.

Thank you for anyone who reads this blog and I shall keep posting! So hold on tight!

"What is it??"

This summer was different for me since I worked on research instead of working at a Chinese restaurant where people asked why I wasn't Asian. Though, being a host can be fun at times I was much more content working at the University of Delaware by painting Jewish Comedians. I wanted to connect the idea of past events that were important to Jews such as Heinrich Heine (who created self-ironic satire for Jews), the Yiddish Theatre (was like a second community Temple for some people), the Holocaust (how people used humor to lighten the already dark situation they had to live within), and the struggle with censorship of identity. My final piece led to Larry David who was wearing women's underwear, this image showed everything that I wanted to describe in my work. Self-humiliation is an important aspect in Jewish comedy because as a minority they had to deal with people already putting them down, so why not laugh at oneself to ease any tensions?

This semester I want to focus on Jewish character actors. Specifically, for my first project I want to use Peter Falk (Columbo), Henry Winkler (The Fonz), and Paul Reubens (Peewee Herman). I also want to tie in historical contexts into them as well. Maybe to show how Jews have strengthened over the years and give a visual example of the vitality within these people.

Two specific artists that I want to look at and study while I paint is N.C. Wyeth (illustrated Treasure Island) and Norman Rockwell (Saturday Evening Post). Their work is amazing when a person's expressions are being illustrated. Wyeth has the ability to compose people in various abstract situations (which is something I am interested in) and Rockwell gives life to drawings/paintings with ease.


In the end I want a painting that has dual messages and using stark black/white people is misleading because people never have one clear situation to deal with, they always have gray areas. People always have choices to make and maybe fate leads each path a different way, but there is always an action that decides what will occur. My aspects will deal with religious thought and secular thought mixed with a historical reference that is relevant to the particular person being portrayed.

Summer Research Blog # 9

This is by far my favorite piece, Larry David in women's underwear.

Summer Research Blog #8

My fifth project has to do with Prime Time television, especially actors Gertrude Berg and Jerry Seinfeld.

Summer Research Blog # 7

My next project has to do with prime time television, here is an example using Molly Goldberg from the 1949 show "The Goldbergs."

Summer Research Blog #6

This project has to do with the birth names of well-known Jewish comedians.

Summer Research Blog #5 (part 2)

Here are the text-based parts of the third project: