Map Art

This is an article that I found very interesting. It is about an artist who creates works using pieces from geography maps.

http://www.youthedesigner.com/2012/11/28/you-be-inspired-amazing-map-art-collages-of-matthew-cusick/

-Rajiv Ramakabir

Drawing Surrealism

Recently I went to LACMA, and one of the exhibits I visited was "Drawing Surrealism." A piece that really attracted my attention was E.L.T. Mesens's The Disconcerting Light (La Lumiere deconcertante) (1926). 

Its medium was a photo collage and photogram. The focal point of this piece is an eye pupil with a light beam extending across the black sky. The eye is embedded into a cityscape with skyscrapers and other city buildings. I can definitely see the juxtaposition of non-related items signature of Dadaism. What defines this piece from the earlier Surrealist works is the assembly of photos creating a non-seamless product. I liked this component of the piece—the photographs layered together added a sense of eclecticism. I also really enjoyed the contrast between the tones of the pitch-black sky and the white light beam. The composition was put very well together and there is harmony despite the contrasting images.

This piece reminded me of the whole gestalt project; I could image it in black and white gouache.

Street Art

This is a link to an article about a famous artist named Blu. He chooses to keep his identity concealed, but his street art remains amazing.

http://www.youthedesigner.com/2012/11/23/you-be-inspired-the-street-art-of-blu/

--Rajiv Ramakabir

Billboard

This is the poster that Sherin was talking about in class, that she wanted to see. It is our promotional poster of the walrus except its on the billboard scene.

--Rajiv Ramakabir

Ken Price

Of all the exhibits I saw at LACMA, Ken Price was definitely my favorite. His style is so unique, I was drawn to his sculptures right away. The abstract shapes are very engaging, but I found his color schemes to be most impressive. His sculptures are coated in many layers of acrylic paint, each of which are revealed when the sculpture is sanded down to a smooth finish. Most of the colors he uses are very bright, though the sculptures overall do not look as bright because, in most cases, the two most prominent colors are complements. As seen in the image below, orange and blue are the two most prominent colors and this complementary color scheme gives complexity to the sculpture even before you start to look closer and notice all the other layers.
The first series of sculptures in the exhibit (two of which are shown) were by far my favorite because of the bright complementary color schemes and the overall metallic finish.  Price had another line of displayed sculptures where part of the shape was cut out (as in the piece shown below). I noticed that these pieces tended to embody a more monochromatic color scheme with a few pop colors. For example, the figure below contains a bright blue and a more muted blue with pop colors of bright orange and yellow.
This exhibit has definitely inspired me to experiment more with different color schemes. I especially would like to try forming different complementary color schemes using bright colors (which I love) is different harmonious proportions.

LACMA Trip

This is a piece by Edward Ruscha who had an exhibit at the LACMA when we went. What I found interesting about his piece is his unconventional medium and material. This, like many of his works is made with gunpowder and pastel which is a crazy combination to think of when you think of art. I just found this work very interesting because of his unorthodox material used.


--Rajiv Ramakabir

Design Fonts

Attached is a link to a good variety of fonts that can be used in many cases. If you are interested in types of font, you should check this link out and possibly apply some cool fonts to the poster of the exhibit for this project.

http://www.youthedesigner.com/2011/11/22/30-sleek-fonts-for-your-minimalist-design/

--Rajiv Ramakabir