Wk 6 – From Art to a Story

*Meme Show*

**Carmina Correa**

Watercolor on canvas with Color Penciled outline

22″ x 27″

2017

CSULB School of Art, Werby Gallery

I got out of bed, showered, brushed my teeth, and got ready for school. It was the first day of school; I was now a sophomore and even though I did not sleep much last night, I was ready. As I step out and into the street my friend is waiting for me and we begin walking to class. On the way to class we come across a dog, that looked rather familiar. This dog has been walking around our neighborhood for god knows how long, but our question was how did he end up near our school. Every time I saw this poor dog I made it a habit to give him a snack from my lunch so it was no different today. I always felt so bad looking at the dog because it looked malnourished and very weak but it was always running around. We walked into class and saw our friends so we began talking about our summer. After that class, we made our way to the next but unfortunately we did not have the same class this time. We split ways and I walked into my class and looked around and realized I was quite late, and I knew absolutely no one so I quietly sat near the back of the classroom. My teacher began going over the syllabus and everything became a boring blur. Class had finally ended and I began walking home. As I crossed the street I fell over due to the ground shaking. I had never experienced an earthquake this large while walking so I was confused and very scared. But, this was not just an ordinary earthquake. I could see smoke coming from a few miles away and saw a large figure. This figure was 25 feet tall and recognizable. It was the stray dog from this morning and every week I had seen him but this time it was humongous. I guess I might have fed it way too many snacks or maybe it ran across some radioactive food that changed its cells and made him into a giant. The stray dog was running through buildings and it had learning a few more tricks. Instead of rolling over the buildings or licking them until they toppled over or flew, he also learned how to shoot lasers from his eyes and was destroying cars, electricity lines, buildings, and everything it could get near. As I recognized the god dog, I ran to his direction as fast as I could. It took me about 15 minutes to cover 2 miles while he met me in the middle covering about 8 miles with ease. I began yelling and jumping around to get his attention so he would stop hurting people and damaging structures. He finally turned and looked at me with his glowing yellow eyes. In my mind I said what the hell was I thinking coming over here, what am I going to do against a god dog. Thankfully, he recognized me, that little kid that always gave him snacks. His eyes went back to normal as I began to pet him, he gave a good lick that had sent me flying 40 feet and knocked me unconscious. As I raised my head I woke up slightly shaking and confused; I looked around expecting to be in a hospital or frankly just dead in the afterlife. I was in a classroom, the boring rambling about the syllabus caused me to fall asleep and my “slight shaking” actually jolted my entire desk causing everyone to turn and stare. Since I was alone in the back the most they knew was I had my head down for a little; maybe I really was not ready for school and needed more sleep prior, but I smiled back at my classmates knowing I had survived a crazy dream.

Wk 5 – Artist Conversation – Molly Ramage

Exhibition Information

Artist: Molly Ramage

Exhibition: Sleep Sweat

Media: Paper mache, paint, ink

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Marilyn Werby Gallery

Website: N/A

Instagram: @jetbootsjetpack

About the Artist

Molly Ramape is currently in her third year as a undergraduate student trying to get her Bachelors in the Fine Arts department. She had taken a few years off school prior but continued working on her art pieces. Ramage has a very interesting mind because she can actually remember her dreams with quite detail. A lot of her pieces of art are symbols for what she had experienced in her life. She uses a lot of paper mache, different assortment of colors and lines in her work.

Formal Analysis

Like I mentioned early, Molly has the incredible ability to remember her dreams very well and her pieces reflect on what she may feel when asleep. The material she likes to use is paper mache, but more than that it seems like she just drew the other ones exceptionally. Most of it was rather dull in terms of color, black and white but there were some pieces that included color as well. Instead of drawing some figures out and coloring them in, she outlined them and filled them in with lines as oppose to solid colors. That really caught my eye because it was so cool to see something shaded in like that because I have never seen anything like that in person. Aside from this one as you will see below some of her art does include color. The thing that remains the same even when the color changes is the theme, a darker theme. I do not know why but all of these things are slightly outside of what I am used to so they remind of Halloween movies and perhaps even nightmares.

Content Analysis

It seems like she is using a lot of emotion into her pieces. I say that because sometimes it is just pure black and white and other times it has a lot of warm colors. Since it is based off of her personal experience, maybe she is facing something she might not be used to which is why she is feeling a bit swamped; at least that’s what I think. Although her paper mache goes with her emotions while on the other hand for her drawings she connects with the figures and characters. Her exhibit to me shows that what we may show our peers on the outside completely differs from the battles going on inside us.

Synthesis/My Experience

I really loved all the exhibits this week, the only bad thing was they were all in one week and I can only choose one so hopefully next week there is even better! Molly’s exhibit stood out the most compared to others because her pieces made me feel emotions that I would not have expected. What I mean is when I was walking to class I was ready to just look over art, take pictures, and discuss with a couple friends but what came as a surprise was: it made me feel and reminisce on my emotions from like childhood and just a few years ago. Even though, I may not have felt the same way Molly did when she was creating these pieces, it felt like she did a great job captivating her audience with such unique pieces. I was really standing there staring at each piece for minutes, which is more than I can say for a lot of art. For some reason they reminded me of a show my little brother used to watch called Adventure Time with a demented twist. Like I mentioned earlier it reminded me of Halloween time and the Nightmare before Christmas. All in all it’s all good because  I love Halloween so I thought it was super cool and I wish there is more like this to come.

Wk4 – Artist Conversation – Elmer Guevara and Robert Nehemiah

Exhibition Information

Artist: Robert Nehemiah and Elmer Guevara

Exhibition: “Immaterial”

Media: Paint, Wood, Metal, Canvas, Cardboard

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

Website: N/A

Instagram: 

• Robert Nehemiah:@wookieewarrior
• Elmer Guevara: @3lmski1

About the Artist

Elmer and Robert are both undergraduate students in the CSULB’s Art Drawing and Painting program working to get their BFA. Elmer grew up in Los Angeles and realized his passion for art at a young age, Robert on the other hand, had his eyes set on becoming a firefighter but learned that he could not give up his love for art. They are both transfer students, Robert transferred from Rio Hondo College while Elmer transferred from East Los Angeles College. Previously, these two partners have not worked together but they found similarities in each other’s work that they liked so in the common ground they created “Immaterial”.

Formal Analysis

Robert uses materials like cardboard, tarp, and wood as a surface for his paint while Elmer prefers canvas. Robert uses dark, neutral colors in his work as oppose to Elmer who uses slightly brighter colors along with actual denim from jeans. Robert paints people that are important to him like his mother, grandmother, and mentor. Elmer’s content seems to portray those in Los Angeles; he interviews the homeless and takes photographs that he later turns into his art, using the same colors but different perspective, patterns, and designs to form an illusion.

Content Analysis

Elmer being born in Los Angeles he was always surrounded by art. The graffiti he would come across everyday along with the homeless people on every block really is eyeopening. The collage that he created and the detail included with the street names, the buildings in the background, signs/billboards represent each person and their experiences. One of Elmer’s portraits shows a picture of someone who is quite fidgety and is always moving so the way he styled the painting shows a style of movement. Elmer talked to those that no one wanted to hear about and disregarded. Robert on the other hand used materials that people disregarded for example cardboard. He explained how cardboard can be a fragile yet durable material as a symbol of all good things come to an end. He tries to stray away from material items because that is what we seem to focus on currently. Robert reminds me to not take anything or anyone for granted because we can lose a person at any time while not to take any material for granted because that tied with Elmer’s main target, homeless people. These homeless people do not have a lot of things that they can take with them and each material is special so the things I might throw away I will think twice before doing so. Not only that, but even homeless people are human, some might be weird and borderline crazy but not everyone is the same and their voices need to be heard as well.

Synthesis/My Experience

I wrote about this exhibition instead of the others because this one really spoke to me. I basically have lived in Long Beach my whole life so I related somewhat. Long Beach may be included in Los Angeles but they are two different places, and the dynamics are completely different. I was a huge fan of the materials they used because it made all the pieces look really rugged and almost natural. In the gallery it switched from Robert to Elmer’s work and it had a natural flow to it even though it was mixed up and it was very neat and well put together. Elmer’s work was incredible because he is listening to how the homeless feel and even though he might not be able to do much he is doing more than the rest of us by just listening. Robert’s lack of materialism is something that impressed me because in our society everyone is all about who has what and the newest purchases, but he does not care about materials, he cares about these people he surrounds himself with. It was really cool how Robert made each one unique by tying a material with a person in his life. All in all Elmer and Robert’s work together flowed incredibly and both brought a new standpoint in my life that I was not thinking about before. The style they use to make their art is something you do not see often which is why to me I feel like it brings out more emotion and get the message across far more clearly with a form that you can relate to.

Wk3 – Artist Conversation -Mimi Haddon

Exhibition Information

Artist: Mimi Haddon

Exhibition: Untitled

Media: Fiber Art (T-Shirts)

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

Website: http://www.mimihaddon.com

Instagram: @mimihaddon

 

About the Artist

Mimi Haddon was a Cal State Long Beach student and graduated in 1994 as a Graphic Designer. She recently went back to school and is studying in the Fiber Art department. She lives in Santa Monica, and began working with T-shirts because they are in our everyday lives and we come across T-shirts all the time. Also she used the work of a Ghanaian sculptor as inspiration since his work came from discarded bottle caps.

Formal Analysis

Mimi uses a lot of color in her work. Her work where there was sleeves sewed together and connected to the ceiling had really caught my eye compared to the others. I do not know if it was because it was really high or because it had a few more colors. The T-shirt materials looked like a bunch of strips connected together which seemed really smooth and silky. It was straight and fairly symmetrical and unlike her other pieces it had a few more cooler colors as well. The deflated balloons on the wall and the pile of what looked like thick yarn both had only warm colors which was not as appealing to me but still looked incredible.

Content Analysis

Like I said before she came across the idea of using T shirts from a Ghanaian sculptor by the name of El Anatsui. Mimi thought about these indigenous cultures and the materials that were used in everyday life, El Anatsui used discarded bottle caps. As she thought about her life and the culture we live in, she remembers the countless number of T-shirts she gave to Goodwill and began using those as tools of art. Instead of wasting these items like bottle caps and T-shirts, Haddon decides to put them to use. Thinking about the process of T-shirt production and all the human labor that goes into making T-shirts, this makes her really value T-shirts more than regular people (myself included), who seem to just throw it away or give it away. I think the deflated balloon piece is an example of how all of us feel sometimes with the shape, just out of it, tired, and down but I think the colors represent how we remain positive and don’t let that feeling stop us.

Synthesis/My Experience

I personally thought her work was incredible. Since I was in Kindergarten I loved to color because it compensated for my horrible drawings and I think all the colors really attracted me to her art. I liked the one with more cooler tones because I like cooler tones myself and my favorite color is blue. Afterwards I thought about how many T-shirts I have went through in my life and how I disposed of them, either in the garbage or Goodwill. Although I do not buy many T-shirts now, I do appreciate what she is doing by putting them to good use. For some reason it was really peaceful and brought a lot of joy to me, not sure why. I think it also promotes diversity especially with all the hatred going around currently. All in all, it was a great time experiencing Mimi Haddon’s work and hearing her speak, I think she is a great artist and a wonderful person!