graffiti, other art, and ideas for display

This week I displayed some more faces, looked more at graffiti artists, along with other related artists, and expanded my ideas for display.

What I Did:

Time Calendar:
1.5 hours putting magnetic nauseated face on The Cube and recording reactions
3.5 hours making Saran wrap nauseated face, putting it on my glass apartment door, and recording reactions
1.5 hours watching Exit Through the Gift Shop
1 hour making a list of sites to put my faces and materials and attachments to use
2 hours researching artists

                                                          Shepard Fairey, Obey Giant

                                           Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog (Blue)

                                                    Jeff Koons, Basketball

                                                    Jeff Koons, Hoover Celebrity III

Overall, this week was a success. Even though I had some issues that kept me a little shy from accomplishing the required 10 hours of work, I still made some progress that will really help me in my IP journey.

What I Accomplished/Discovered/Encountered: 

Notes about The Cube are listed in my last blog entry, but the Saran wrap nauseated face is new. It probably got the most reactions from people, because it was seen by a lot of drunk college students. I live right next Backroom Pizza, which accumulates a line of people until 4 am, and I left the face on my door all weekend. Especially at night when it's dark outside, but the light shines on the inside of the door, the face is illuminated and can be seen much better than during the daytime. There was a lot of laughter and many people wondered if I drew the face directly onto the door.

I had never seen Exit Through the Gift Shop before, but graffiti has been a real interest to me lately, so I rented the documentary and watched it this weekend. It is a great film and I came to find out many different graffiti artists out there along with different reasons for why they are doing what they're doing. Some artists don't even really know why they are putting up what they are, but it is just the thrill from the act of tagging public things that makes them do it. Of course, there are some great statements that some artists make too. I always thought that graffiti artists like to remain anonymous, but some actually want people to know who they are. Shepard Fairey was who I connected with the most in the film. His Obey Giant stickers and graffiti have similarities to my faces, and I like this quote from him: "The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker."

Jeff Koons is another artist that I looked at that has similar messages in his work about making the viewer think differently about the material object. His Balloon Dog piece is a lot larger and made out of metal instead of an actual balloon, the Basketball piece is made out bronze, and Hoover celebrity III is brought into a different light by literally putting a light behind it and hanging it on the wall. Especially with his Balloon dog, his work reminds me of Claes Oldenburg.

I did not know much about Marianetta Porter, but when I talked to her on Tuesday, I got a lot of good insight for my project. I ended up talking with her for an entire hour. Her work includes African American history and culture, but what relates a lot to my project is that she also works with what is revealed and concealed in African American material culture. She really liked my idea of having my faces on site specific objects that say something about the object. She suggested that I make huge lists of every site to put my face and every material and attachment that I could think of. Then, connect the dots with the best material and attachment for each site, and after going out and doing all of these things, I will have a better sense of what I like to do and what I want my faces to say. Here are some of my ideas:

Sites:
bike racks, bar bathroom mirrors, all my apartment windows, bridges, trees, fire hydrants, telephone poles, A&D couches, windows and stairwells, mailboxes, bus stops, public computers, construction sites, and billboards

Materials:
paper, Saran wrap, cloth such as denim, cotton, and silk, newspaper, pillows, wood, glass, hard plastic

Attachments:
magnets, static cling, velcro, safety pins, tape, glue, stitching, poster putty, nails

What I Think I Will Do Next:

I will use some of my materials and attachments to make at least 2 faces that I can put up in as many different places as I can.