Dustin London

Dustin London

 

 

                    Now we are at the last member of our special presentation: Dustin London. He was born at Michigan in 1980. His creative direction goes like this: cutting a single line slowly into the surface, and instinctively following it, which in respect gave him the time to decide the art piece's process and direction. He doesn't know the final result until he sees it and in his own words "A piece must be discovered in the making." When he works on a black surface, his mind is in a set of rest, silence, reflection, meditation, and clearness thanks to a strong sense of emptiness caused by the black surface. Through all of this, he feels that he is exploring the deepest recesses of his subconscious as he explores and maps his own visual thought process, as it creates constellations, puzzles, it also manages through mazes as it creates those mazes. Through a sea of diagrams, folded paper pieces, aerial views, and perspectival spaces the art work becomes more of a challenge for the viewer. His education consists of the BFA award from Michigan State University in 2002 and the MFA from University of Pennsylvania in 2005. His awards and exhibitions can be found here:

 http://www.dustinlondon.com/index.php?/cv//

 

 

Here's the image the artwork I selected:

 

The art piece is untitled.

 

Micaceous Iron Oxide on Panel

2012

12 " x  10 "                      I chose this image because it is very creative in its approach and execution. When you look at the image, the things on the art piece can be seen in a multitude of interpretations. All of this results from optical illusions. In one way the picture looks like it is showing the inside of a room, some pieces resemble the walls, and some pieces of the work resemble shadows. Another way to interpret the image is that it is a bunch of folded pieces of paper. In other words the cardboard cut out is standing up and the folded pieces are laid in a way that produces dimension. Notice that there are some places that are lined in a connect the dots sort of way as if to imply where there are going to be folds in the image. You can find more of his work at his site; http://dustinlondon.com/ I hope you enjoyed my blogs. I might add more blogs in the future, but trust me you have the time too see a variety of art yourself, so go out and look at some art!

Ram Samocha

Ram Samocha











 

 

                   For the next part of this special presentation we will talk about Ram Samocha. Ram Samocha put a very strong emphasis on physical drawing. He has also came to a consensus that by drawing lines in dynamic and repetitive ways he would make the construction of his images a lot more clearer. In those variety of ways, he opens many doors that led to him range over new ideas and lighten up the struggle that leads to the final product.  Time, rhythm, and movement are essential to his works and it shows as they emphasize progression and movement. Some of his most recent works have showed more interest in the concept of metalpoint which slows down the drawing act which tells the artist Ram Samocha himself to be careful because anything added by the metal is permanent. The metals used to make the metalpoint art can suggest gold, silver, bronze, and copper. The finished drawing's notion of "finished" is very temporary and the emphasis returns to the performative utterance. In other words the drawing does the talking where the artist left off regarding it's execution. His education stemmed from 1988-1992 where he earned the Bachelor of the fine art degree from Bezalel academy of arts located in Jerusalem and 2007-2009  where he earned the degree of Master of Fine Art from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. The locations of some of his exhibitions can be found here: http://www.samocha.com/shows.html.

Here's the image of the project I chose:

The piece's title is Heavy Duty, 3D metalpoint drawing

Silver solder on rock paper

2011

30 " x  35 "  x 4 "

                    I chose this image and the respective artist because of the image's overall design. One element of interest is the texture, in one way the art piece looks like it was created using aluminum foil when in fact it was rock paper that was used to emphasize the texture which give a since of visual deception. The lighting also played a part in making the image stand out because it further made the art piece look like it was made from aluminum foil as it reflected the light. It also gives the art piece a sense of looking at a rocky silver cliff. You can find more of his drawings and sculptures at http://www.samocha.com/. So enjoy his creativity as you can.

Richard Lund

 

Richard Lund

 

 

                For a special presentation, I'm going to talk about 3 more people, today I'm going to talk about Richard Lund.  His birthplace was in Coney Island, he later raised in Upstate New York, and he later spent his high school days in a Parker, Arizona at a Navajo Indian reservation. He would later work for the Marines in the late 60s at Vietnam. In the early 70s he would perform mostly odd jobs, only to become a great games player during the middle 70s, then in the late 70s, he would head back to school, only later to get a job at a utility company located in New York. In 2010 he would retire from his job to pursue his love for art.  He has created Wall art through a variety of mixed media. Through this he managed to emphasize a lot of colorfully abstract work. His method goes something like this; he lets his mind's point of view dream of an intriguing structure, next he searches for the materials and other knick knacks necessary for the project. In his books, this is the best way to express your artwork. His inner desire to produce is what motivates him to create all of his work. His work includes a multitude of everyday objects to execute his work. His style emphasizes color patterns, texture, symmetrical and asymmetrical development. He produces his parts through laser cutting, different methods of joining pieces together, and treatments given to the surface area. His work is located at the BRIC Arts | Media House, the SPACEWOMb Gallery and many other art houses that can be found on this link:http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/47525-richard-lund?tab=EXHIBITS.

 

Here's the image of what I have chosen:

http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.com

 

The image is titled Somewhere Out There

 

Mixed Media

2012

36 " x  36 "  x 3 "

 

                I chose this image, because of the following stuff. It had a very intriguing use of color, texture, and pattern creating a unique piece on its own merits. Another thing I like about the image is how certain things stood out both subtlety or obviously, for example the black spots they give a sense of texture to the areas that stand out in a subtle way. As for the things that really did stand out they stood out in a colorful way. Taking into account of viewer interpretation, the things on the piece can represent many things. The many circles can be interpreted as location spots on a radar. The pieces that aren't circles can be seen as pieces of land. Another way to interpret this piece is that the circles are stars, while the yellow and orange pieces can be interpreted as either the sun or an exploding star, while the dark circles can be seen as far away stars. All of this shows that Richard Lund has a very creative perspective when it comes to mixed media. You can see more of his works by visiting this site:http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/47525-richard-lund?tab=PROFILE. Trust me you will surprised by what he was capable of doing with his imagination. So Good Bye. 

Dragana Crnjak

 

Dragana Crnjak

 

 

                           

                         For this Final Blog to date, we are going to talk about the use of dots in art. When you have a well thought out image that consists of dots it can capture the imaginations of our mind by having it consciously connect the dots. This is the case for Dragana Crnjak who has made a lot of art like this. She was born in 1977 in former Yugoslavia. During 2002 to 2004, she earned her M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She earned many other rewards as time went on. She is now an art professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio. She is very invested in the concepts of fragile but uplifting power of the following; a new start, a feeling of levitation, and the moments of  transition from vanishing to forming. She used certain shapes and forms to create bigger shapes and forms, all which suggests moments of transition for growing and developmental processes. The structures she suggest will sometimes struggle with their own ability to be stable. It's hard to tell if they are being developed or dismantled.

Here's the image and the link.

http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.com

The painting is called the House.

Charcoal Installation on wall

2006

0" x  0"  Here's why I chose this image. I chose this image because of its use of charcoal stippling if you can call it such. At first it might look just like a bunch of dots on the wall, but when you look at the dots closely you can actually see a house. The wall's angle also complimented the art piece's uniqueness giving the house some sense of scale and dimension as a result. You can find more of Dragana Crnjak's work at her website: http://www.draganacrnjak.com/index.html. Trust me they are very well thought out from site sensitive drawings to paintings. So see you at the next art blog if there is going to be one hopefully. So Good Bye!

Miriam Brumer

 

Miriam Brumer

 

 

 

                     Our special artist for today goes under the name of Miriam Brumer. She was born in New York City and currently resides there. Her education consisted of a MFA in Painting, Boston University BA, and in Art and English, University of Miami. The inspiration for her work stemmed from nature itself (No pun intended). Throughout many of her drawings she invests in trying to imply a sense of change, growth, and impending eruption. She also tries to invoke the intrinsic characteristics of plants, cells, or underwater creatures instead of the outer characteristics. As you may have guessed she saw her art as a way to relate to the natural world and emphasize its own scurrility. Her artwork is located in New York City, and New Jersey.

 

Now here's the image of the painting:

http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.com

Electric Tango acrylic and ink on paper 2011 23" x  30"

Why did I choose this picture you might ask? I chose this picture because of its colors and how it portrayed the plants in a surreal fashion. Each plant has its own unique patterns and colors like the Venus flytrap in the middle and the flower between the Venus flytrap and tulip for example. However, I think her other works have a lot more appeal and creativity within them which you can find at http://www.neoimages.net/artistportfolio.aspx?pid=572. So as always feel free to visit that site anytime you want. So enjoy and I look forward from hearing from you.

 

Christian Nguyen

 

 

 

The artist for today's blog goes by the alias of Christian Nguyen. He was born in 1968 at Saigon, Vietnam which was of course during the last 7 years of the Vietnam War. Since 1975, he lives in New York City. His main objective is to emphasize the many ways that space can be seen and used. What he means is that there's an understanding between the formal image (focusing on what's on the surface) and the perceptual image (Symbolizing the figurative context). Some of his drawings are produced threw layers of epoxy resin polished and smoothed by sandpaper and placed on top of each other. The transparent top layers force the pictures to work with and against each other to create a transition between the formal color dotted layers and the figurative graphite layers. Another theme found in his works is the use of architecture which was used to emphasize the concept of space and it shows. Some of his graduate rewards are invoked in the form of the 2000 Master of Fine Arts from the Hunter College, Graduate Program, the 1991 Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cooper Union, School of Art and the 1986 International Baccalaureate from the U. N. International School.

 

Here's one image of his works that can be found at the Drawing Center:

http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.com

The image is called the Divan.

Graphite, epoxy resin and acrylic on panel

2011

32" x  48"  x 2"

 

               I chose this one because it associated very well with one of his methods of creating his form of art. So, why do I like this art piece to some extent? Well here's the thing, at first it is just a bunch of dots in a multitude of colors placed in a unique pattern. However, when you take a closer look at the image, you'll notice that there is some form of architecture in the picture which takes the picture's subtly to a whole new level, making the picture a bigger challenge to the viewer's eyes.

 

However some of his works also come in the form of this:.

The image is known as obviously; the Three Staircases. 

Charcoal and acrylic polymer on canvas

2007

42" x  66"  x 2"

 

               This image consists of the use of the horizon, the vanishing point, and of course the handling of spacing. Thanks to the details within the paper layer, the image looks very three dimensional. The other thing that I like about this drawing is that the image is layered in a very unique way as the paper is layered over the charcoal layer giving the picture a big sense of surrealism. As you might have guessed, Christian Nguyen's Three Staircases caught my attention the most compared to the Divan. That's not to say the Divan wasn't interesting in its own right, but the Three Staircases was what sold me to Christian Nguyen's creativity. I decided to include these two images because I want to emphasize the strangeness and creativity of Christian Nguyen's projects. So if you want to find more of his work, you can find it at the above link or at  http://www.re-title.com/artists/Christian-Nguyen.asp. So, enjoy looking Christian's surrealism and Good Day!

 

Margaret Griffith



 

 

 

                 "Now for something completely different" as one of the characters from Monty Python would say, because this project won't be drawing related. Instead it is sculpture related. The creator of this project is named Margret Griffith. Her art style and technique was inspired by the man-made structures' spaces. Through these things, she has made herself determined to analyze architectural elements from abstraction to perspective. Most of her drawings consist of geometric division of space and the use of the grid. However when the Great Recession or in her case; the Next Great Depression hit the Global Economy, she started to take pictures of empty houses to support her work while understanding the emptiness in the context of Eastern thought. Recently she has been taking an interest in taking pictures of the front gates of her neighborhood. Afterwards she then projects the images on to paper and removing the negative spaces leading to life size paper replicas. The designs are piled up on top of one another on the wall and the floor to produce a three dimensional abstraction consisting of patterns, lines, shapes and mass. Through this she started to emphasize the themes of the metamorphic relationships regarding urbanism as well as theft, fear, isolation and possession. The gates according to her for example, represent confinement. She earned her education degrees from the Cranbrook Academy of Art (2001) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (1994).

 

Low and behold the image featured on the Drawing Center.

http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.com

 

The image is called Coringa

Handcut paper

2012

Dimensions variable              The reason I chose this image is because it was pretty unique and surreal as far as sculptures go. I mean just pay attention to details of each piece of the paper foils. Each variable has its own pattern and when all of those patterns are molded together, they create a strange mish mash of shapes. The patterns also resemble melted and bent metal (although the patterns are of course made out of paper). Based on what I researched, the patterns used to make the picture imply what the actual gates looked like. I don't know what else I can say about this piece of work other than it is a very creative sculpture using a careful use of spacing and placement. You can always find more of Margaret's work at http://www.margaretgriffith.com/. So if you have the time go visit her site and be intrigued by Margaret's many projects and other works.