Pamphlet Stitch Book

The Social Network; Art Project

This is my art project for the movie review. I decided to do some sort of collage. It has the obvious Facebook logo, the like button, relationship status, new friend and poke logos also. It is a mixed media project; using oil pastels, paper and markers.

The Social Network; Two Page Review

            The movie I have chosen to review is The Social Network done in 2010. Honestly, this movie is not my favorite movie, but who really has a favorite movie? I have some movies that I really like and some that I really do not like. However, this movie is one of the most recent new movies I have seen and I really enjoyed it. I liked this movie a lot because it is something that my generation can relate to, because Facebook is something that has become a part of our everyday lives. It is interesting to see how Facebook became what it is today. All the drama and backstabbing makes this movie so intriguing; and the best part is that this is a true story.

            The Social Network is based on the story about Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, and how he became the youngest billionaire in the world. It all started out at Harvard, on one drunken night in college. Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started a website trashing his ex-girlfriend. This is where the whole programming began, because they noticed that everyone across the whole campus and even farther was recognizing this website. Two twins, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, filed a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg saying that he stole their idea for Facebook, after meeting with him about creating a social networking website similar to MySpace but only for Harvard students. This is how Facebook started for Mark Zuckerberg and his best friend, Eduardo Saverin who managed the money situation for Facebook. Facebook, or what was then called The Facebook, was not only spreading rapidly at Harvard but many other universities across the nation. Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster, came into the picture and gave advice to the young geniuses, and soon would replace Eduardo helping Mark to make Facebook what it is today, the billion dollar industry. This is just the brief overview of what was happening in this movie, not eve covering the whole drama filled storyline of Facebook.

            What I honestly think made this movie so great was how relatable it was for my generation. The director, David Fincher, did an amazing job at making this story so intriguing and dramatic, which is going to attract any audience. The actors in this movie, including Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Brenda Song and Armie Hammer made this movie great. I also think just hearing the story of what is such a huge part of our world now is very interesting. Knowing how much drama, conflict, fighting and money went into Facebook makes you realize what people are doing when you are updating your status.

            Overall, this was a great movie. No, it was not my favorite movie but it was in fact one of the best new movies I have seen recently. Facebook is changing all the time and it is weird to see what goes on behind the scenes of it. David Fincher did an amazing job, as well as the actors of The Social Network, and created a story about something in our daily lives. 

In Class Drawings

This is a series of six drawings that we did in class after three famous artists, Jasper Johns, Rembrandt, and Brancusi. For each drawing we did some sort of different type of drawing. Also, for each drawing we had a time limit no more than three minutes was spent on each drawing and for the speed drawings it was 1 minute.

These were the Right Hand and Left Hand Drawings done after Jasper John's Target With Four Faces 1955.

These were the blind and modified blind contour drawings done after Rembrandt's Danae, 1636-1647.
Blind contour drawings are when you solely look at what you are drawing and never take your pencil off of the paper. Modified is when you can look at your drawing half or less than half of the time you are drawing.

These were the speed drawings done after Brancusi's The Endless Column and The Bird in Space. These speed drawings were done in 1 minute.

William Kentridge: Anything is Possible; Two Page Review

            William Kentridge is a South African Jew who does very interesting and different form of art. His art is different from anything I have every seen before. He started out by simply drawing pictures from charcoal, but decided that was not quite how he wanted to represent his art. He decided to make these charcoal drawings in steps. While in the process of these charcoal drawings he filmed them taking record of each change he made so that in the end it would be drawings changed to make an actual film. William Kentridge had a very creative and unique style of art, nothing like I have ever seen before.

            William Kentridge made his two-dimensional charcoal drawings into animated films. Not only is this idea and technique unique but his style and themes or I guess you could say plots is also very strange and out of the ordinary. In the picture below, you cannot see how truly amazing his art form is because it is not the film, showing the changes he makes to the drawing while telling a story.

            The charcoal drawings were not just made into films for their pure entertainment, but were also used in operas. He directed these operas, where he also used his artwork in the background. However, the artwork was incorporated into the plot of the storyline and scenes or action that was actually happening in the opera. This was very confusing to understand where this came from, but he seemed to be very dedicated and showed his wide range of talent with artwork.

Honestly I cannot even begin to explain what his art is explaining. His art form is very different and very distinct. I am overall actually I am very confused by his art. I give him a lot of respect for what he does because is takes so much time and dedication. Not only does it take time and dedication but also it takes commitment and a lot of true talent.

“I am only an artist, my job is to make drawings not to make sense.” This is a quote that William Kentridge said himself in this video and I think that this explains everything about him as an artist. He is an artist, I do not think that art should have any boundaries and does not always have to make sense. For your audience it could be very helpful, but does not have to make sense to be respected and appreciated. William Kentridge is a very creative artist who made his own art form which gives him that much more creativity. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat; Two Page Review

            Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of the most successful modern artists of his time and still to this day he has such a huge impact on the art world. He started as a graffiti artist in New York in the late 1970s, as a teenager. Then his art later formed into a neo-expressionist form of art in the 1980s. Basquiat’s work has a childlike appearance with a deeper meaning.

            Jean-Michel Basquiat had a rough child-life so when is father banished him, he went to live in Brooklyn with a friend. When he was living in Brooklyn he was able to live off of t-shirts and postcards. For fun, in Manhattan now, Basquiat and Al Diaz started what is known as graffiti art in 1976. Graffiti art is simply done with spray paint and done on any random wall or building that can be found. This is where Basquiat got his start. He used the name SAMO as a title name for his messages until 1979. 

The art above is just one of the many examples of SAMO graffiti messages. He continued art, just in a new form; starting a band called Grey. The start of Basquiat’s big fame began when he met Andy Warhol in 1982 when Basquiat was trying to sell him one of his postcards.

            Andy Warhol wanted to formally meet with Basquiat but instead Basquiat went and did a painting of Warhol in record timing. Basquiat brought the painting to Warhol and Warhol was amazed at his masterpiece and how fast he had completed it. Since Warhol was so impressed with Basquiat, they decided that they would then work together in art. They both had such unique styles, Warhol with his pop art style and Basquiat’s neo-expressionist style. The two examples below show some of the work that they collaborated on together.

            This was just a short era of what Basquiat’s art was later to become. Basquiat’s art alone was some of the greatest modern art known to this day. As said before, he had a very distinct neo-expressionist style of art; which was child-like, but with a much deeper meaning. He often took very well known pieces of work, such as the Mona Lisa, and redid them in his own style. When he was first starting out he often times did painting of doors or other surfaces that he would find on the streets. Below are some of his most famous pieces of art.

            Jean-Michel Basquiat is an amazing artist, and not only because of his art. He is amazing because of how he made himself famous. He started out as a nobody; he was homeless and had no money. He had the confidence to make something of himself and did so. He came such a long way and it is very sad to know that he died from a drug overdose. Basquiat changed the definition of art from his era onward. 

Art Expo; Review of Two Pieces

            This year the Art Expo was in the Catherine J. Smith gallery in Farthing Auditorium here on Appalachian’s campus. The Art Expo contains art that is done by students here at Appalachian and is voted on by faculty to be in this special exhibition. I chose two pieces of art that stood out to me and I found most intriguing.

Great Grandma

This piece was done by Calli Woodham. The materials used for this piece were flax paper, wire and yarn. This giraffe piece stood out to me because it literally was something that was hanging on the wall in a frame, but came out of the frame and was 3D art. I think the variation of materials is what makes this piece of art so amazing. I think that the name of the piece is a little odd, but I suppose I see the connection. The white and use of materials makes the giraffe look old and was in an old frame that was made to look like it came from an old house.

Bones

This piece was done by Angellica S. Thach. This drawing was done with pen and ink. I respect anyone who can use pen and ink, simply because I hate working with it. Personally this pieces is sort of bland but it is also special. The detail and shadowing done with ink on the bones of this piece are amazing. The way she fades everything out at the edges makes the center of the piece pop, yet the backbone being off center makes this pieces more aesthetically appealing.