Open Enrollment | The “I” and the “We”

Art Literature Review

The article Open Enrollment by Andrea Fraser, found on the blog art21 shows the perspective of a fine arts graduate student, having completed her studies and now entering the ¨real world¨. My favorite excerpt questions,  


"Is the problem the old conundrum of whether art is necessary or not? Are we as artists superfluous because art is only valuable as long as it can be commodified, either as a good that will appreciate in value, or as bait for tourists and wealthy patrons?"

Inspirational Work

I stumbled upon this Smoke drawing from Edie Nadelhaft while reading the blog Two Coats of Paint.

My natural persuasión to surrealist ideals immediately began projecting and morphing the smoke into figures of weightless dancers floating through space (also a project that I have been developing for some time).  A few years ago I made some digital drawings where I took images of dancers captured in acrobatic poses and liquified them, giving similar results to the drawing above. But the inherent context of weight that liquid carries, and gave to the image, always gave me a contradictory and unsatisfying conclusion.

Draft: Liquified dancers. by Colin Hoisington

I went to the artist Edie Nadelhaft's webpage and read this small excerpt:

 "Until recently, my work has been very heavy (see above). With Smoke, a new series of drawings, I employ light materials (paper, pencil) to describe a weightless subject (smoke) in delicate lines and soft shades of muted color. As in my paintings, the materials underscore the subject matter in these works which explore the more transient, ethereal aspects of existence."

The heaviness in my work is also very apparent and lately somewhat concerning. This has led to a recent fascination and attempt to capture scenic photographs of fog, clouds, steam and evaporation. To my delight I have found it impossible to capture its magnificent subtlety, smoothness, and delicacy with a camera, thus giving me the perfect excuse to express it through paint.

The image above has revived a dormant and marinating idea that just needed a small push. "Don't liquify the dancer's,,,,,,, free them into the atmosphere!"

Draft 2: Liquified dancers now evaporated, by Colin Hoisington

By playing with opacities, blurs, and overlays, I was able to give the image a lighter feeling. The next step is to use the image as a reference and then paint it. I believe with very soft layers of translucent paint, the effect can be enhanced incredibly.

Also interesting was when I overlayed the smoke drawing on top.

Draft 3: Evaporated dancers overlayed with smoke drawing

The image becomes much more fluid again, but also too much noise,,,,,it has lost its sense of peace. The key will be in the process of painting the image.  Where I will be able to decide what elements to keep and enhance and what elements to fade or eliminate.  

30 Second Stop-Motion Painting

A trial run at making a stop-motion video of my painting process.

Periodical Update of my Current Collage Painting

Quotes and Definitions

1.   "Literature and Art are instruments for presenting that which can not be described nor seen."

"La lituratura y el Arte son un instrumento para mostrar aquello que no se puede decir ni mirar de cerca."

M. Teresa Lopez de la Vieja, Etica y Literatura, Madrid, Tecnos 2003), p.270 

2.  "Una sensibilidad narrativa nos obliga a atender al contexto; en mas relacional que decisional."                                    

H.Brody: Stories of Sickness (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1987, 171-181. 

           

(note: I don't have the ability to translate the above quote, too difficult for me. It would be great if someone could, and then post it.)

Taken from class: Procesos de Creacion: Aproximacion Transdisciplinar. Prof. Jesus Camerero

Related Artists

Artistis with Relation to my Current Investigation


Dorothea Tanning, (Fusion of human figures and natural elements)(sculpture, painting, fabric, human figure).


This exhibition at the Reina Sofia, Madrid 2010, was extremely moving to me for reasons I am still trying to decipher. The ambiguous forms acted like a blank canvas for my subconscious to project itself freely and blissfully. An analysis of the artist will follow soon. 

Periodical Update of my Current Collage Painting

See previous states of this painting

Notes from class, "A new imagination"

Response to the article "Una nueva Imaginacion"(Español), "A new Imgination"(English), by

Vilem Flusser

This article gives support, meaning, defense, and perhaps inspiración to why artists, especially painters, today are doing what they are doing. Flusser defends that there exists today a new imagination distinct from the past. One that is more concerned with creating a vision of the world instead of reporting.  The quote below stood out to me the most. 

The old pictures are tables of orientation within the world: they point at the world, they 

show it, they mean it. The new ones are projections of calculating thought: they point 

at thought, they show it, they mean it. Now thought itself does not mean the world as 

it is, but as it could be.

{Original text en enspañol} "Los cuadros viejos son tablas de orientación dentro del mundo: señalan hacia

al mundo, lo muestran, lo representan. Los nuevos son proyecciones del

pensamiento calculador: señalan hacia el pensamiento, lo muestran, lo

representan. Pero ahora el pensamiento en sí no representa el mundo como

es, sino como podría ser."

Art Review

At the Tabacalera, Lavapies Madrid, an occupied ¨squaters¨ community center, I just visited the latest exhibition by:
Gervasio Sánchez.

An impressive exhibition of photos taken from all over the world in locations infamous for human rights abuses.  Above is an image that impacted me greatly.  Clearly it touches on my current body of work that deal with human migration caused by social and environmental pressures. Also relates to an idea that is developing in my mind that I will one day create artwork around. The idea is about the ignorant bliss that we assume in western culture.

For example, I have friends that live in paradise that want nothing to do with the sadness of the world, and are occupied with raising their kids, living well and appreciating what they have.  Then I have friends actively involved in trying to make the world a better place. People from this side of the spectrum have said to me, "how can I be happy in a world so sadly out of balance,,,, injust". I can see clearly both perspectives.  I find myself sliding from one extreme to the other.

 How can I represent this in a future art project?