Week 15 – Artist Interview – Drawn Out

My interview for week 15 is not about one Artist’s artwork, but multiple ones that I really like.

The artworks that I like are by  TC Chang, Katherine Lin, Angel Sun, and Lorraine Dasouki.

The first artist is TC Chang.

I really like Chang’s artwork because not only does it remind me of something that you would find in video games, but also the detail put into his work. Chang was born in Taiwan and moved to Southern California in 2001. He has been working for 10 years as a graphic designer and is currently taking courses in CSULB to major in Animation. His artwork reminds me a game my roommate plays called Diablo. The fantasy style of artwork is very detailed and really brings you into a science fiction type of world.

The second artist is Katherine Lin. Lin is another Taiwanese artist that moved to the U.S. at a young age. Lin has a passion for telling stories. She had trouble learning how to adapt to transition when growing up. The change in language and culture caused her to be very soft- spoken. Although she had trouble communicating vocally, she was able to communicate through her art. I like Lin’s artwork because her story telling reminds me of manga. I read a lot of manga and I love reading the stories that they tell. The same goes for Lin’s story-telling artwork. I enjoyed reading the short stories.

The third artist is Angel Sun. Sun’s artwork is simple, but I liked her style of art. The way the character’s expression is drawn. It looks like something that could be in a t.v cartoon show. I found it interesting that her artwork to the left is different from her artwork to the right. The girl on the left that has pink hair is drawn in more detail compared to the ones on the right. The detail in the hair is more noticeable.

The last artist is Lorraine Dasouki. Dasouki did not post anything about herself and her art, but if you read her little bio, you will know she is a pretty funny person. I really like her artwork because it is similar to the art by Angel Sun in the sense that their artwork is simple and give multiply expressions. I really like the expressions that she draws, especially the one with the yellow shirt girl laying down. I found the mad expression very funny and it put a smile to my face.

Week 14 – Artist Interview – Rachel Gehrke

My artist interview for week 14 is Rachel Gehrke.

I was not able to talk to Gehrke in person, so I will be basing most of this post on her statement. Gehrke’s art is based on the concept of spirit animals. She is trying to connect humans and animals together and support the belief that humans and animals are both a part of nature. That they are bot equal and neither one is superior to another. She is mesmerized by the lines in nature and she tries to capture an image of an animal and scenery that goes well together. Line is something that Gehrke uses to support and build reality. She wants to convey a sense of mystery in her work.

When I look at her artwork, I really get the sense of mystery and a feeling of outer space. The black and white colors goes well with each other to create a dark night sky made of jelly fishes and zebras. My favorite part of her art is the night sky. The sparkles of stars in the sky really caught my eye. I also liked the details put into drawing the zebras and how their stripes connect with the jellyfish floating around the paper. At first I thought it was strange how Gehrke used a Zebra and jellyfish together in her painting, but as I spend more time looking at it, I realized that they go really well together. The jellyfish tentacles fusing with the zebra stripes. Over all I thought the drawing was cool and it really stood out to me in the gallery.

Week 11 – Artist Interview – Gabriel Garcia

My artist interview for week 11 is Gabriel Garcia.

Garcia’s artwork depicts the current culture of masculinity and how it has a negative impact on society. The artwork is about how men in society are seen as Masculine, strong, and superior. This leaves everything else as girly, weak, or unmanly.

Garcia’s artwork is composed of ink and charcoal using the colors black, white, and gray. All his artworks combined took roughly 3 months to make and each wall of artwork is connected to one another. He chose a specific font and color in his artwork to try and slow down the way people read the message. He wanted the audience to read the message slowly and take in the meaning.

I really enjoyed the artworks by Garcia. At first it might seem like a simple artwork, but it has a big story behind them. I like the line of message that was written in his artwork. It is something that I personally heard before when I was in high school. As a guy, if you did anything that showed any fear, uncertainty, hesitation, or anything that is perceived as feminine, you would be perceived as weak and “unmanly”. I heard it a lot in high school and I can understand how this could effect the children as they grow older. It would psychologically affect not only boys, but girls as well. Everything is generalized into a stereotype that acts as a kind of chain that holds you down from doing what you like because of society’s standards. I enjoyed the gallery because it brought an issue to my attention that I previously, did not really think about in my daily life.

Week 10 – Artist Interview – Dawn Ertl

My Artist Interview for week 10 is Dawn Ertl.

Ertl is currently a graduate student in sculpture and this will be her last semester here at CSULB. Ertl got her BFA at Otis School of Art and Design. Ertl’s artwork for the Gallery this week was about weaving wool with a loom. She would dye everything first before she started putting her piece together with a Loom. A Loom is a type a machines that helps a person hand weave a sheet of wool. All the artwork that she displayed took a total of at least a year to make. Her artwork introduces a contrast between the human byproducts and how it disrupts the process of weaving. Ertl’s work is trying to express the harmful effects of human trash on out environment. That is why there are trash bags hanging from her work. The colors of her work are picked based on what went best together and mood. The plastic bags were saved from her friends and family. She is really happy as to how her art looks. When she wants to move her work, she would fold them up and put them in a box.

I personally liked her display because of the color mixture. Under the light in the room, it made the colors shine bright and I though it was very beautiful. Even though her work is fused with plastic bags, I still thought it looked good. Her work reminds me of the plastic bottle art gallery by Maccabee Shelly. The reason is because they both incorporate some kind of plastic into their work. I really enjoyed the Artist interview with Ertl because of her personality and the way she talked about her artwork. She sounded very happy when she is talking about her artwork. It was very disappointing that people in our class had forgotten that they are required to put their bags to the side when entering the room.

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Week 9 – Artist Interview – Michael Rollins

My artist interview for week 9 is Michael Rollins. Rollins’s artwork, in my eyes, are composed of different brush strokes on a canvas. His work looks like a mixture of different strokes with different colors because when he paints, he does not have any reverence material. So when he is painting, he does not have a set rule as to what he is allowed to to paint. This way he has the freedom and directness to paint what he feels like painting. Instinctive painting is what Rollins’s art is about. He just paints without having any restrictions to hold him back. With not only Instinctive painting, he also incorporates formal decision making. He uses Instinctive painting to express his personality while using formal decisions to connect something together.

When he starts painting, he would experiment with his works. After a lot of experimenting and looking through his work, he would then find a starting point and style that he wants. Rollins has always had art in his life. Before being an artist, he was majoring in illustration at an art school. The reason why he was an illustration major was because he was afraid of the risk and uncertainty of being an artist. One day he say an artist himself, and was inspired to take the risk and become an artist. Being an artist brought him a lot of freedom in his life. He does not care about things and just does what he wants. Sometimes being an artist and working on your artwork requires you to sacrifice time with others.

In my opinion, I liked the mixture of different colors, but as for understanding art, I have trouble understanding the artwork. All I see are paint strokes on a canvas. I like it, but I don’t really understand the meaning. The only one who knows the true meaning is the artist himself.

Week 8 – Artist Interview – Brian Davis, BFA CERAMICS

My artist interview for week 8 is Brian Davis.

This week’s art display was very interesting. It was something that you do not see everyday when it comes to “artwork”. When I went into the gallery, one corner has a stall where Brian is blending different vegetables and fruits. Another corner someone was soldiering things and had a fortune telling box on the table. There was also a corner where you can put anything on the art display and take a picture of it as if you were a professional photographer. It was the first time I have every seen something like that. I really liked the art because it was out of the ordinary. I also like it because it was something that you could physically watch and in some cases, do yourself. When Brian was blending the vegetables and fruits, he does not have a set recipe that he follows. He kind of just picks something on the table and puts them in one at a time. It was fun watching him cut the vegetables into small size and put them into the blender. He was giving out the juice that was blended to the students to try.

The one I like to watch the most was the soldiering type workbench. Someone was soldiering things together on a bread board and using wires to make something work. Unfortunately, it was not working so I do not know what it was suppose to do. The reason why I like it is because it was related to my major. I am a Computer Engineer and I had to deal with circuits as well. It was just cool to see something related to my major in an art-110 activity. Overall I want to say that the art was interesting and fun. It was fun watching people do things in the form of art. There were also couch and pillows in the room for guests to relax on!

Week 6 – Artist Interview – Emily Babbette

My artist interview for week 6 is Emily Babbette. Her artwork involves drawing in mostly black, gray, and white. This is my first time interviewing an artist that uses her friends and family as models for her artworks. Emily likes figurative art with music and culture. It takes roughly 30- 40 hours for her to complete one painting. Each session with the models last about 3 hours, with 3 sessions a day. It requires the model to stay still for 3 hours while she draws. She would go to them in order to draw her artwork.

I really like how Emily uses her family and friends as models for her artwork. It takes hard work and a lot of time to create one piece of work. It is tiring for both the model and the artist. I like how detailed her artwork is when portraying the models. It looks really detailed and one can tell that a lot of time and effort was spent to draw it. I enjoyed interviewing Emily because the way she talks is energizing. I enjoyed listening to her talk about her art and what she does as an artist.