This semester I will be working on my thesis! =) I have to stay on track and focused this semester since I will be doing a lot of research and painting…lots and lots of paintings. I had my 30 Hour Review last semester, and for those of you that were there, I had started a “body of work”. My works were about things that immigrants go through (based mostly on my memories) such as the loss of identity, the unstableness of being in a foreign country, and the work and sacrifices they underwent in search for a better life.
Some of the critiques I received in that 30 hour review were that I was using “puny” canvases for an important subject, my colors were “homogenous”, they all had that snapshot kind of quality, and the “facelessness” made the immigrants become weak because they lost that human aspect…they looked more like mannequins, weak mannequins.
I will focus more on the quality rather than the quantity. I want to have six 3’x 2’ paintings done by the end of this semester. Most of my paintings were no bigger than 1 foot. I want to repaint some of the paintings I did last semester, rework the composition to make it a stronger painting, and blow it up on one of the 3’x 2’canvases.
I want to also see if I can finish a 4’x 6’ canvas as well…don’t promise anything with that one yet, but it is something I will be striving for. I also will be using more mediums, using matt gels, modeling paste, heavy gels, varnish and this pumice paste I found, and apply it to give DIFFERENT textures throughout the painting. In the past I was only using the modeling paste for almost everything, which changed the colors…and sense I was using it for everything and every painting, I think that had something to do with the fact that they all seemed to have the same value and same lighting and tonality. I think by using different mediums that will help, especially on my focal points in each painting because not everything has to have it. All of my canvases are big and are now about 1”-1.5” thick, so they are not so puny anymore :o)
As far as the “snapshot quality” goes, I want to keep some of that. Most of the paintings are based on memories yes, but also from photographs taken by my family or myself. I mean, my paintings are narrating about a moment in time, a moment I lived or was a witness of. So, why not a snapshot of that moment? I just think that I have to be careful where I place the shadows, because most of the pictures have flash, there are a lot of stark shadows and could make some of my paintings look…weird, for lack of better word at the moment.
I don’t completely copy my images exactly from the photograph. I use them yes, a lot of it, but I also incorporate things that I remember that are not in the photographs. I also exaggerate the angles around my figures such as walls, windows, doors, and mirrors to provoke a feeling of unstableness. This unstableness is felt by immigrants when they set foot in a foreign place where everything that surrounds them is unknown and the future is uncertain.
I tried to portray the loss of identity we immigrants go through by making my figures faceless. That got the point across, but it made my figures (the immigrants) “weak looking”. Immigrants are anything but weak, as Dr. Oneilly reminded me. It takes courage to leave everything and everyone you know and love to go to a foreign place where the promise of a better life is, honestly, pretty uncertain. I realized that I was not really achieving what I wanted by erasing the faces. So, I have decided to hide them in my paintings and focus on other parts of the body, a part of the body that represents us, Hispanics: the hands and arms. The working hand. I am not going to go too much into detail explaining this right now, but I will be putting more information on this as my research continues.
As far as my research goes….Some of the artists I have looked at include Malaquias Montoya, Felipe Reyes, and Lalo Alcarez. All of these artists exhibited in “Caras Vemos Corazones No Sabemos: The Human Landscape of Mexican Migration” (“Faces Seen, Hears Unknown”). The journeys, boundaries ad barriers; urban landscapes and human geographies; and negotiating identities and constructing imageries were some of the topics that this exhibition talked about. One of the first artists I looked at was Kerry James Marshall and his extreme powerful black figures. He reclaims the image of “blackness” as an emblem of power. Sebastiaos Salgados photography book “Migrations” was also another source for me. Salgado traveled to different parts of the world to record images of immigrants all over the world.
I want to find at least one contemporary Hispanic artist (painter, sculptor, installation, or musician) once a week. Since I have set my “Semester goal” to have 6 paintings done by the end of the semester, I think it is safe to say that I should have 3 by Midterm week. I want to have my thesis done by the end of the semester…but then again I don’t know how that is going to go, but I want to say that I will have half of it done by midterm. Yeah, we’ll see how that goes…Needless to say, as of right now, I am having problems just getting the writing started. So, for right now I will post the books I have been looking at and add to this as the semester goes along.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Artico, Ceres I. Latino Families Broken by Immigration: The Adolescent's Perceptions. New York: LFB Scholarly Publ., 2003. Print.
González, M. Saray, Oscar Plata, Erika García, Mario Torres, and Luis Urrieta. "Testimonios De Inmigrantes: Students Educating Future Teachers." Journal of Latinos and Education 2.4 (2003): 233-43. Print.
Lippard, Lucy R. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon, 1990. Print.
Marin, Cheech, Max Benavidez, Constance Cortez, and Terecita Romo. Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge. Boston: Little, Brown and, 2002. Print.
Rupp, Rebecca. Committed to Memory: How We Remember and Why We Forget. New York: Crown, 1998. Print.
Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. Print.
Samora, Julian. Los Mojados: The Wetback Story,. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1971. Print.
February 11, 2012
As of right now I am working on two paintings. This one is called "Lo Hago Para Que Ustedes No Tengan Que"/"I Do This So You Don't Have To".
I have been struggling with the left side of the painting mostly. I feel that I can't work out the colors so that the windex bottle isn't in front of the arm, or in the same space. With this painting I am attempting to show that same "loss of identity" in a different way. The faces are now hidden rather than not there at all. I am focusing more on the "working hand" rather than erasing facial features. By having a faceless figure before my people looked weak, and not human. As I have probably mentioned before, immigrants (from any race) are anything but weak. It takes courage, strength, persistance and hardwork to leave everything you once knew and sometimes everyone you love behind. Starting over is not easy and most of all when you have to do it in a foreign country where everything from food, language, beliefs, and culture are completely new and different. Adapting to this is painful at times and it takes a strong person to go through it. So...going back to my painting. The painting is from a child's perspective, which is why the perfume bottles are at that angle and everything is from someone looking up.
When we lived in Fort Smith Arkansas, my mother got a job as a housekeeper for this wealthy family. My brother, my sister, and I would go when we were out of school. So I would help her sometimes or sit and try to figure out my homework( I was just learning english). My mom had education, she has a degree...I don't really know how to translate it but its somewhere between a high school and a college degree...I guess an Associate's...maybe..... Anyways, I would have never thought that my mom, especially in this "Land of Opportunity" her first job would be a house cleaner. She completely changed her priorities and instead of focusing on her success she focused on my siblings and my success. I remember when I asked if I could help her she would say "No, haga su tarea y sace buenas notas. Aprobeche las oportunidades Rebeca. Yo hago esto para que ustedes puedan estudiar y no tengan que pasar lo mismo." ("No, finish your homework and get good grades. Take advantage of all the opportunities that come your way Rebeca. I do this so you can study and not have to go through the same things.")
It was also in this house that I started noticing the differences between the good and the better, the cheap and the expensive. All I had known until then were the brands of Wal Mart and that to me was high class. There, however, I noticed that brands were an important part to this culture. There was this huge TV in the living room and they had cable so sometimes I would overlook what the owner was watching and the media was all about brands and buy this buy that...and sometimes the next time I went back I would see some of the products I saw on tv in the living room or in the office.
I places the Dolce & Gabbana and the Chanel perfumes in front. They are elegant, tall, proud, almost arrogant looking down their noses at the viewer. There is also this contrast between smells and fragrances of chemicals and perfumes. My mom smelled of those chemicals instead of those very expensive perfumes because she was using those things all the time.
I wanted to make the culture difference stand out a little more so I gave the figure a folkloric apparel. The sleeve shows that the person is from a foreign place. I used flexible modeling paste, to give the hand and sleeve more texture and so it would pop out more...to give it more of a rougher feel in contrast to the gloss medium and varnish I used for the perfume bottles and the mirror.
If you look in the mirror, part of this woman's face is still somewhat visible though blurry. She is still there, but its sort of ambiguous. Is she wiping away her identity, or is cleaning going to make her see herself in a clearer perspective? Adapting is something that immigrants have to deal with. In the process of adaptation we, of course, take new things in, but we also expell things from our own culture and a fusion is made. Therefore the new generation becomes this mix of culture, foods, family and even the language starts fusing togther. Some find out who they really are, while others remain confused forever. (I hope this made sense).
I chose a circular eye movement to replicate the circular movement one does when cleaning a mirror.
I am probably going to change a couple of more things on this painting so I will be posting the progress as I go along.
The other painting I am working on is the one that is giving me a headache. It is called "La Mazorca de Maíz" ( I am trying to translate it and I am not sure whether it would be "Corn Kernels"or"Corncob" ). 
This one is more about a family unit sticking together. We were taught since as far back as I can remember that we should always stick together as a family. She would say "la mazorca de maiz cuando esta completa, es fuerte, y puede envejecer completa y se hace mas dura y aun mas fuerte...mas dificil de quebrar. Pero si uno de los granos esta flojo se desborona facilmente. Una vez encuentra un lado debil, se puede perder todo." ("The Corncob (we'll call it that for now) if whole is very hard to break, and the longer it stays that way the stronger it becomes as it gets older. However, if there is a loose kernel, then the whole cob can be taken apart.") That's the way we were taught. We stay together because together we are strong, and truth be told we are really all we really have. Unlike most of other immigrants we came to the United States as a family, together. I want to capture that closeness and that unity of a family in a time where everything else seems uncertain and unstable...and I am not capturing it at all I don't think. **(Keep in mind this is a work in progress)** So Patricia Walker came into my studio and suggested that I make drawings of what I wanted to do with this composition. Who knows, maybe the drawings could be good enough to include with the paintings.
So I am now incorporating drawings and here are two that I am working on going from this composition and idea:
Good job. I do have one more thing that I think you should consider...
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the photographic "look" helps you get your ideas across. Is it really a part of what you are trying to say or is it a means to an end that might not be important?
Thats a good question :) As of right now I think it does. I like things to be straight forward, and this is something I want people to get pretty fast. I think that realistic look helps to get the point across faster. Besides, it is about REAL life situations and issues. So, in a way, it is a means to an end...I hope I understood your question correctly and this answers it :)
ReplyDeleteok, so last week I slacked off and did not post about a modern latino/ central american artist that either influences me or is off in a complete opposite direction. Well, here is two since I didn't do it last week:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artstor.org/what-is-artstor/w-html/col-barntiz-utaustin.shtml
Modern Latin American Art
(Jacqueline Barnitz, Art and Art History Department, The University of Texas at Austin)
Overview
ARTstor and the Art and Art History Department at the University of Texas at Austin have collaborated on a project to digitize and distribute approximately 4,700 teaching slides made by or for Professor Jacqueline Barnitz. Over the course of her career, Barnitz has been a formative influence in shaping the study of Modern Latin American Art, and establishing it as a part of the core art history curriculum. She began teaching a course in Modern Latin American Art at SUNY Stony Brook as early as 1969 and subsequently taught the subject at the University of Pittsburgh. Since her arrival at the University of Texas at Austin in 1981, Barnitz has created the university's graduate program in Modern Latin American art and developed a broad selection of undergraduate and graduate seminars, covering Mexico and ten other Caribbean, Central, and South American countries. Barnitz has published and lectured on many aspects of the field throughout the United States and Latin America. She has organized exhibitions, including including Latin American Artists in New York since 1970 (Archer Huntington Art Gallery, 1987), and contributed essays to numerous exhibition catalogs, most recently to Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1993). Her book, Twentieth Century Art of Latin America (Austin: UT Press, 2001) was awarded the Vasari Prize by the Dallas Museum of Art in 2002. In this work, Barnitz offered a comprehensive survey of major 20th century artists and movements in Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, placing them in their historical, cultural, and political context. Since its publication, Twentieth Century Art of Latin America has become the standard textbook for survey courses in Modern Latin American art history. Currently, Barnitz is working on a comparative study of methods for teaching art history in Latin American institutions and those in the United States, and the attendant differences in understanding the function of art.
The present collaboration is intended to provide teachers, students, and scholars with a core teaching collection in the area of Modern Latin American Art. According to Barnitz: "It will, at long last, help to situate the modern art of Latin America as a field into the mainstream of western art history where it belongs."
The present collaboration is intended to provide teachers, students, and scholars with a core teaching collection in the area of Modern Latin American Art. According to Barnitz: "It will, at long last, help to situate the modern art of Latin America as a field into the mainstream of western art history where it belongs." Through her partnership with ARTstor, Barnitz hopes to advance the study and teaching of Modern Latin American art, ensuring that this important subject will be properly represented within the emerging digital canon.
The other artists I have been looking at...or this case listening is Ricardo Arjona and Juan Luis Guerra.
There is a song called "Mojado" by Ricardo Arjona and Juan Luis Guerra has these two songs "Ojala Que LLueva Cafe en el Campo" and "Buscando Visa Para un Sueño". Both of these musicians talk about the work that immigrants do, the hardships, and problems in search for a better life and better opportunities.
You are not digging deep enough here. Jacqueline Barnitz is a scholar and art historian. Totally awesome, but not a visual artist for you to look at. You need to look at more artists. I like Anna Mendiata (body art), and Felix Gonzalez Torres (installation) Try googling Latin American artists and go for the museum sites (not Wikipedia) I found Yuyi Morales, Raúl Colón, and David Diaz.
ReplyDeleteBroaden your horizons!
Alicia’s studio visit
ReplyDeleteI think her work has turned a corner, She is now using colors that in her work that reflect the native colors of Mexico, central and south America.
The insertion of native regional patterns, giving little glimpses of home to her subjects.
Icons of comfort, like old photos telling you who you are and where you came from?
One of her new works started with beautiful color almost a glow , a young boy was added , her style was open and the brush stroking was loose, a hat with the native pattern was added , a switch in style on the painting of the hat very tight, geometric ,bright colors was in a way distracting to me at first, like a built point, but then it did tell a story. It introduced a new narrative.
For many of her works I wonder if she is describing the struggle of the immigrant, as a work of joy or sorrow, her parents struggle has had been a success for she is the proof of the rewards of that long struggle.
Today she will become a citizen, a new citizen of our country, we are a better nation for her presents.
Drew
Last week's critique:
ReplyDeleteHey Alicia! I really enjoy the patterning, and I also enjoy the patterns all being different, relating to specific cultures. I did get a little confused as you talked about the work though. You combined these different cultures into one category, Hispanic, which actually removes their identity (often strongly connected to place) before you begin talking about being an immigrant. Also, Drew asked if it was important for you to have your art considered intimate, now that it was larger. It's a good question to consider, and I believe Janet brought up an awesome point about how your paintings are still intimate because of the composition. She also suggested to loose some edges on the little boy painting, and I was thinking the opposite. Maybe sharpen the edges of the boots, and some of the shoes that spill into the foreground, since the piece is about filling those shoes.
- Welcome to the Red, White, and Blue Team!!!!
ReplyDelete- I really enjoy the tight patterning that you have been working with. It creates a visual focal point that gives power to the tangibility that the experience had which left its mark as a memory
- Perhaps some mid-range texture to act as a middle-ground between the soft and ethereal, and the tight patterning
- The use of patterning from multiple cultures is a smart way to incorporate the whole of hispanic culture
- Are you making the pieces large for you or to appease someone else?
- The boundaries that are set by the outside of your canvases are always these strict, strong boxes...Could you use this to your benefit, whether visually or verbally? Or could a varying boundary portray something else? I use the word boundary intentionally.
AMERICA!
ReplyDelete