Oh Christmas Tree...

"Individually the beauty of an everyday object may become invisible, but in quantity you can't miss it" - Anthony Schmitt

During my finals week I noticed the Bay Area was on the news a lot for RANDOM reasons such as "wild turkeys invading alameda county". I had a feeling it's because the SF Giants won the world series therefore the Bay Area got a little extra attention this year. Anyways one of the news stories was about this fantastic Christmas tree created by world-renown installation artist: Anthony Schmitt. The magnificent annual installation is composed of 86 shopping carts with undertones of incredible meanings. Schmitt states that the tree symbolizes "generosity and abundance as well as those less fortunate whose lives fit into one shopping cart." A perfect message for the holiday season because we just don't help enough, we don't give enough, and we certainly aren't thankful enough.

I had no idea this was installed in Emeryville Baystreet until I saw it with my own eyes when I went to see Narnia!! I was blindsided with this Christmas tree in my blind side!! I had to take a picture of it because it's such an honor for Anthony Schmitt to choose the Bay Area this year for his "Shopping Cart Tree". Please make a visit to Baystreet this December to see this one of a kind Christmas tree. For more information about Anthony Schmitt click here.

Polycephaly

Lucy McRae

"Gold thumbtacks have never been more fashionable."

Lucy McRae is a magnificent fashion designer, innovator, and body expert. She was trained as a classical ballerina and architect; making her the perfect candidate to reconstruct the world of fashion. She plays with the idea of technological textiles and what ought to be wearable fashion. I love the clustering/collage effects of her pieces, although I guess textiles are collages in general. She makes you reconsider what fashion is and what we should put on our bodies. How we should wear clothing and what materials we ought to make clothes from.

I discovered Lucy MaRae from Robyn's new music video "Indestructible", which is a bomb song btw. McRae's costume for Robyn immediately caught my eye because the woven water tubes allowed for movement which is unusual for fashion and definitely eye catching. Movement within our clothing is so provocative and odd. The clothing would seem like a separate entity from our bodies. The clothes might wear our bodies in turn and maybe then fashion will again be respected as a form of art... Honestly I would be honored to model for Lucy McRae. McRae's work is truly inspiring and I hope to see her work in exhibits and magazines everywhere in the near future.

Sanguine

Jerry Uelsmann

"I have gradually confused photography with life." - Jerry U.

Jerry Uelsmann is undoubtedly my favorite photographer. He is a pioneer of photo manipulation; creating dream like surreal masterpieces without the help of modern day technology. It's a shame that I had to discover him on my own, perhaps because I've never taken a photography class, but Uelsmann is remarkable. During the 60's Uelsmann was considered an innovator because obviously photoshop did not exist to create his kinds of photo based magic. His technique is primarily "multiple printing"; exposing certain parts of his print with chosen parts of a film negative.

I have to be honest, photography is not my favorite form of art because it's machine produced, without an original to appreciate. But Uelsmann doesn't just rely on his camera, his technique is his currency. By mixing his photography to create a single print, Uelsmann has created an original work of surrealism ultimately by hand. So anyone who knows what kind of art I appreciate would surely understand why Jerry Uelsmann is a photographer I can admire.

Lissy Elle Lissy Elle

The Philanthropic Gifter

My mom always told me, "Life's a bitch, so think of others."

It's almost the holidays again and that means GIFTS!! Of course we shan't forget the religious and cultural significances as well, of course of course. With that said, I know a lot of us look forward to gifts during this time of year for various reasons such as 1) I deserve a reward 2) Santa is real, shut up 3) I'm plain spoiled, deal with it. Well... I'm here with a few suggestions related to good causes! Since some of us cannot always donate pure cash, thank God there's incentives. You can purchase products from the following causes to give as gifts! No more worrying about beating soccer moms to the fleece sweaters at Old Navy. It's always humbling to help a good cause and I know we can all use a good humbling every now and then.

I'm a huge fan of art related causes such as 28Cents who manages a postcard collaboration between some of today's most famous contemporary artists to benefit Art Start. Art Start offers free art programs to new york city's at-risk youth. Artists include: TADO, Jon Burgerman, Amanda Visell, Sket One, and Tilt. For only $20 you get 24 impeccable postcards to give away or write to lovers with style. 100% of profits benefit Art Start and by the way this is on my wishlist, wink wink.

The American Cancer Society recently collaborated with artists on their project: MoreBirthdays to create wrapping paper, posters, and prints to sell. I love the idea of these artists' artwork being used as wrapping paper because it's very retro. It use to be popular to wrap gifts with posters in order to show you know what kind of art the receiver likes. Artists include: Kari Moden, Andrew Bannecker, ilovedust, and Jon Burgerman. For only $15 you get 4 sheets of awesome wrapping paper to wrap those holiday goodies for your loved ones. Profits also benefit their cause to "create a world with less cancer and more birthdays." So go ahead and show your loved ones what a philanthropic gifter you are!!

Bjork Dork

“People always ask me about eskimos, but there are no eskimos in Iceland”
- Bjork

You may know her from the Olympics or probably her outrageous "swan dress", but Bjork is definitely the queen of bazaar music that sounds phenomenal. This Icelandic electronica, alternative rock, trip hop singer is definitely one of my favorite icons. She is so creative about her music and style that she doesn't believe in mistakes when she is recording, either it sounds good or it doesn't. Isn't that the way music should be? But if you haven't listened to her music before then I suggest you give her a try. Her distinct voice and hypnotic melodies will put you in a trance.

Lady GAGA all the way right? Well she isn't the first to decide to bend the rules of fashion. Bjork along with other fashion icons such as Grace Jones has always been mixing up the fashion world. GAGA also isn't the first to support the late Alexander McQueen. Mcqueen has always been a favorite of Bjork and she's been sporting his magical creations for a long time. In fact the dress in this music video "Who Is It" was created by Alexander Mcqueen. So am I a fan of Bjork? Well I would give her a kidney to see her sing live...no j/k that would hurt. But she is definitely one of my role models and favorite style icons.

Food Porn

"Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn"
- Garrison Keillor

So if you know me at all, you know I'm a fatty. "Can't deny it, cannot hide it." I think it's amazing what sparkly images of food does to people. Food porn is definitely one of those obsessions that are harmless. It's not like I journey to eat everything I see, but the photography of food is brilliant.

Food porn evokes happiness for people because let's face it...Food is Da Bomb! We consume it and it nourishes us. We recall magical feelings of fulfillment and yumminess every time we see food porn. Food porn taunts our desires and desires can cause people to do strange things. Food porn is powerful in the sense that one might actually do anything to grasp those goodies (much like regular porn)...but as long as you don't look at it with an empty stomach, you won't go crazy. It's what we call a food porn addiction ladies and gentlemen, wanna see?

"WHIPPED CREAM SCENE" "SEX ON THE BEACH" "FETISHES EXPLORED"

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama

http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/e/biography/index.html

Yayoi Kusama is one of the new artists that I learned about recently in my 3D art class. Her work is very imaginative, abstract, and fun. Her pieces deal a lot with patterns and repetition, with the polka dot as Kusama's trademark. Every time repetition and patterns are involved, I often relate it to my own work because I love creating abstract repetitions and patterns. I believe repetition creates a natural flow that's pleasing to the eyes regardless of the object or pattern. It's a sense of intertwining and conforming that we all crave. Kusama calls herself an "obessive artist", but personally I think it's more like a concentration in detail.

An interesting thing about Kusama is that she draws inspiration from her hallucinations and mental illness. Her polka dot craze was inspired directly from her hallucinations and hopefully that's not what I'm getting inspiration from...Kusama chooses to live in a mental hospital while working on her art in a nearby studio. She comes out only for exhibitions. I definitely think she's admirable because she finds strength in herself through art and that is what every artist should strive for.

"If it were not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago." - Kusama

NEW LAYOUT

NEW LAYOUT!!!

So I decided to mix it up a little and change my layout because I really wanted to post enormous pictures and my old layout didn't permit that. Do you like the new new? I used a picture of my pet parakeet I use to own and I always loved her feathers and colors. Her name was Birdie BTW, good name right? I promise you'll enjoy my blog more because I'm gonna be able to post really nice pictures and it just made sense for an art blog to have great eye candy dontcha think?

When will my tail grow in?

Yoshitomo N.

"Pinky Promise" - DC Yoshitomo Nara

Erik O.

"If These Four Walls Could Talk" - DC http://www.erikotto.com/

"Baggage"

I had to take a class called "VIS 2: Time and Motion Based Art" as part of my Studio Art Major . In general it was performance art, but it's definitely a class that I think everyone should take as a GE. Especially I dunno...computer science majors?

Almost half the class dropped out during the first week because the thought of being in public and performing art pieces was just too scary to many. I must admit the professor was really intimidating as well, but he definitely has valuable knowledge inside his crazy mind. I commend the people that stayed because VIS2 is definitely a test of boundaries, art skills, and the size of your metaphorical balls. I learned so much from doing performance art because it taught me a lot about how all art works function. All components of an art piece has to coexist and contribute to the single message of the artist. In terms of performance art, the performer himself/herself must always be significant in the performance. That's why it's called performance art.

The video above is one of my pieces called "Baggage". It was a process of trying to carry all the boxes to my body without leaving any box behind. You can see that it took me a while trying to figure out how I would carry over 5 boxes on my body. The tape definitely helped me out by allowing me to attach the boxes to my body more easily.

- The significance of this piece is that we all go through hardships in life even though we may seem perfect and polishes on the outside. We shouldn't leave any issue unattended because they'll always be on the floor waiting for us to deal with; waiting for us to carry them along and integrate them into our lives. The boxes symbolize the hardships in life such as love, hate, fear, or hope. You can see that I achieved success in dealing with my problems because I attached all the boxes to my body in the end. Although success isn't always achieved in reality, I chose to portray this piece positively to express the relief of dealing with all your problems and moving on...

"Your baggage knows your home address"

Bunny

Sarah Lucas - "Bunny" // KUDOS TO HER EH?

LOVISA B.

"WHAT A GLOOMY GLOOMY DAY" http://www.lovisaburfitt.com/

Self Portrait

Some of you may have noticed that I was featured in an exhibit last week at the UCSD Undergraduate Annex Gallery called One/MANY (hosted by the Vis-Art Club). My piece "Self Portrait" was chosen to be displayed and hopefully some of you had a chance to visit. I seriously went every single day, sometimes even twice because it was pretty exciting for me being the first time my work was in a gallery!!

If you got a chance to see my piece you might be wondering what's the significance of my quirky charcoal drawing. I'll admit it's as weird as a basket of doll heads, but there's a significance for replacing my head with my hand. It's meant to be an appreciation to hands, my hands in particular. When people think of a self portrait they think of someone's face because that's usually what represents an individual the best. But I actually believe my hands represent me better than any other part of my body because my hands are my best tools that guide me through life.

Personally I believe our hands are taken for granted. That is why artisan skills aren't appreciated these days because everything has become mechanical. Technology has become so invasive, especially in the 21st century, that our bodies have almost become obsolete. Machines now have the power to do anything humans can, but I still believe our hands are our best tools because we still use them for the simplest tasks like playing with dirt or turning on the light switch (which we take for granted). But the important function of the human hand is the human touch, no machine can perform personal tasks such as picking up your baby the same way a human can or being identified based on fingerprints. I believe as long as we need our bodies to survive, the function of our hands should never be taken lightly.

DEBUT: Harlequin Movement

I've decided that I want to create a blog for my artistic venting. Unlike other forms of venting, artistic venting is interesting haha... The name of this blog is Harlequin Movement because it's gonna be the oddball of all blogs. You might not know what the hell I'm talking about or even what your looking at. It's a movement of seeing and analyzing without questioning. It's a show; Plain and simple. Tune in and ENJOY often. I'm sure you get the idea by now, I'll be posting artworks of various artists as well as my own personal artworks. I'm going to discuss conundrums I find myself entangled in as an artist and maybe you can contribute a solution or just dish out some opinions. Plus it's always interesting to venture into David Chen's mind right? "Art is why I get up in the morning; my definition ends there. You know it doesn't seem fair, that I'm living for something I can't even define. And there you are right there, in the mean time.” - Yoko Ono