A Wall For Rememberance

by Sharon R.

"Figure 8"

4334 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California

This is the original site, where Elliot Smith's 5th Album Cover was shot. On the cover, the singer just stood there, shy and quiet as usual. Gray, black, white, and red compose the main color theme. There were no highs but pure bland, fragile and sensitive emotions reflected from the color scheme. A little anxiety and a lot of insecurity. Black, white and red all melt into color streams, going all over the wall. In some degrees, it expressed silent angers, confusion, and lostness since the streams are expanding out of the surface area of the wall and reaching into nowhere. To the contrast to the streams, the singer is purely gray and black. No vivid color. No energy. A little bit sick and uncertainty.

This is the exact representation of Elliot Smith. His songs are always quiet and best for playing at mid-night. It seems that he is trying to capture all the small, sensitive emotions laying in our hearts and carefully wrapping around it to protect them from broken. If I can use three words to summarize the artist, that will be quiet, sick, and beautiful.

After struggling with depression, alcoholism, and drug addictions, the singer finally silently ended his own life in 2003. This wall located on Sunset Blvd became the memorial place for countless singers' fans. As quite as the singer's personality, the wall just silently sat along the street. Sometimes, there would be flowers by the end of the wall. Most times, it was just an ordinary wall, carrying a piece of quite memory and a short life story; it is too hard to notice, and too easy to miss.

Miss Van

by Sharon R.

Miss Van belongs a street art group in France. The other four members are Fafi, Lus, Plume and Kat. Their group is called Hanky Panky Girl. Their main themes are all sexy girls. Fafi's and Miss Van's drawings resembled each other in some degrees. the girl is chubby and has very seductive red cherry lip. The eyes seem always lazy and the atmosphere is always tense, rebelling, and dark. It is the products of emotions and express the suppressed side of us in daily life. It can be anything that she wanted to be.

the color choice here is intentionally set to the scheme for emo, with a little gothic flavor. The author is trying to express herself or let the audience relate themselves with the chubby girl. On one hand, the artist depicted a rebelling teenage young girls. On the other hand, she is trying to depict irony of life though the pictures. The girl always has a sarcastic, dark smile near her lips as if she sees the hypocrisy and ridicule of many things. It can represent the feelings of the artist herself toward life.

the lighted room

by Sharon R.

Doug Wheeler

(b. 1939, Globe, Arizona; lives and works in Los Angeles)

1969 Vacuum-formed Plexiglas and white UV neon light. Purchased with funds provided by Bullock's Bullocks Wilshire

"I never worried so much about permanence because I make things that you experience, and then it's in your mind. Most of my stuff is site specific or site related. but I feel that's what we do in life. We have first hand experiences, and those are the ones we don't forget. They stay with us and hopefully they're meaningful enough that they're with you the rest of life. That's pretty much what I have always been after. I've always tried to do that stuff that has an effect on you that you never forget the first time " ---Doug Wheeler

I was wondering aimlessly around in the museum. Suddenly there is a hidden room behind the white wall caught my attention. I walked closer and saw an entrance; soft white light is glowing in the darkness, bring out a sense of serenity. Then I realized that the whole room is a part of Wheeler's art work. It is exactly like what he describes in creating the work; it give a very first hand experience and make it hard to forget because the contrast of the light and dark triggered very strong emotional reactions.

Here, Wheeler plays with the subtleties of the contrast between light and darkness. When I enter the room, It immediately make me feel that I entered another world. The unique UV light successfully separate the room from the outside. He chooses the most available hue for the UV light, white. At the same times, he chooses UV light because of its softness. The shade blended well with the light to create a very inclusive, and healing space. He has an excellent pick in the medium. The room, at the same times, reveal a strong feeling of solitude. When I walk into the room, I feel I am in the mid of glowing light and feel very secure and peaceful. The light seems to be able to penetrate the soul and remind me the beautiful but fragile things in life. It makes me forget about the fact that the room is empty. It is filled with emotions, while the light is glowing everywhere.

Dustin Yellin

by Sharon R.

I have been interested in this kind of 3D form art for a while, and came across different artists who has been trying to experiment Thus it has been a delightful piece of news when I heard from Hearst that Dustin Yelling is opening his exhibition in Santa Monica in mid Spring.

It seems that the artist is trying to mimic the creation of life with his own hands. I had a fun time just to observe how he created the illusion of the depth. According to the artist, he used the same approach that historic artists have taken to preserve the real biological form. A static volumetric display is used to make Yellin's work appear in 3D presentation without any assistance from special glasses or viewing equipment.

Everything is isolated and presented in the most simple and direct manner. The emphasis is very obvious. The audience goes right into topic when they encountered the art piece. however, at the same times, underneath the simple message, there are more to be discovered and contemplated. So beautiful and so lonely and reminiscent. On the other side, the raw human tissues gave out shock right away. It seems that we cannot avoid the raw truth of life. The general feeling surrounded the exhibit is : it seems that each painting lives in its own transparent world and its life is frozen in time. There is a story living inside the transparent cube.

Robert Frank @ MOCA

by Sharon R.

FRANK, Robert, « Beaufort », South Carolina, FRANK, Robert, The Americans, New York, Aperture, 1958.


"There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment. "
--- Rober Frank

I was supposed to see the exhibition of Las Vegas Architecture History at MOCA. This photography collection was quite a pleasant surprise. His image is simply black and white; however, the contrast brings out the most powerful message.

Since in his early childhood, his family has to suffer from the threat from the Nazis. Thus, as a child, he has developed a deep understanding of oppression. This theme has been expressed through his collection of works. The main theme for this exhibit is the human moments in American History. Robert Frank has focused on several topics, which represented the most typical American image, such as Hollywood Celebrity, Las Vegas, South, diversity of races and so on.

Most images seemed so quite at the firs sight; however, when I looked at them for longer time, these images started to come alive and start to speak about their stories. Robert Frank played around with the lightness, space, and the emphsis in these images.

FRANK, Robert, « Bar-Las Vegas », Nevada, FRANK, Robert, The Americans, New York, Aperture, 1958.

In the image, the only light source is from the outside and evenly spread around the waxed interior of the hall to emphasize the emptiness of the room. The man and the machine is the only dark subject in this room. The light brightened the face of the man a little to create a very gloomy atmosphere around him. We do not know what was he thinking at this moment. He just glared at the machine with a bland facial expression. It seems that it is telling about the loneliness and emptiness of a lost soul in this city, which is indulgent in lush and desires.

FRANK, Robert, « Mississippi River-Baton Rouge », L.O, FRANK, Robert, The Americans, New York, Aperture, 1958.

FRANK, Robert, « Car Accident, U.S 66, Between Winsdow and Flagstaff», Arizona, FRANK, Robert, The Americans, New York, Aperture, 1958.

Robert Frank is also great at catching the ordinary moments of life and turns it into something extraordinary. The photograph above tells about one accident. The four witnesses stood by the unknown thing covered by the clothing on the ground. Maybe it is the victim underneath. Somehow it seems like a small funeral. The people around it seem confused, and a little indifferent. It seems that no one cares about the death of the victim. The moment is just one of millions in the history. It is so insignificant and easy to be ignored, with respects from only four strangers. It is a orginary irony, a life tragedy, carrying unbearable lightness of heaviness.

Movie premiere—Hollywood, California

Rober Frank's image is so deep and thoughtful that they are just what he described once, "

When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice."

William Joyce

As I was roaming around the downtown Los Angeles public Library I noticed a new exhibit called "The World of William Joyce." The walls of the library from the right of the entrance were covered with beautiful, detailed illustrations. Joyce is reknowned as being a children's book writer, but what most do not recognize is his value of expressing himself through artwork. What stood out most to me was not that William Joyce is the creator of my favorite childhood show, Rollie Pollie Ollie, but his admirable, one of a kind style. Joyce uses powerful colors within his illustrations and his shading and rendering is flawless. Joyce is known for his childrens books Dinosaur Bob and George Shrank but he also had paintings displayed all over the nation and his artwork has appeared on the front cover of The New Yorker several times. In addition, amongst all the wonderful illustrations there was a direct quote painted on the wall where William Joyce stated, " When I was growing up no one thought you could make a living by painting or writing...but things worked out and this is my job. It's like getting paid for recess." To me, this quote shows how William Joyce does not only see artwork as a source of revenue but as a pleasurable and enjoyable way of life.

MOMA in New York

During my last stay at New York, I had the chance to go to the MOMA. I didn’t have the chance to tour all around the museum, but I did go to the Tim Burton Exhibition. The exhibition was very popular, so it was a little bit hard to scrutinize every work.

Tim Burton’s inspirations of popular culture are uncanny and expressive; the exhibition shows the full range of Burton’s creative works- current and his childhood drawings. This exhibition had the figurines from Corpse Bride and Night before Christmas. There also were costumes that were used in Burton’s films. The exhibition had the screenings of Tim Burton’s films as well. This exhibition was prohibited photography, however, I was able to purchase Burton’s 300 paged art book. Can you guess which drawings are from which films?

I love his drawings and sketches. It is amazing how his sketches come to life on the screen!

Metropolitan Museum in New York

I know it’s been a while since spring break, but I just wanted to share my trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The museum has artworks from almost every era, and it could take almost the whole day to tour around the whole museum. I took some pictures of the paintings I liked.

This place is a mecca for artists who like traditional art. I believe the admission fee is $20 recommended, so you can pay whatever you want to pay. If anyone is going off to New York this summer, I suggest that visiting the Metropolitan would be a great way to spend your time at New York. Oh, and the architecture of the museum is beautiful too!

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by Arthur King for Disque Primeur -disqueprimeur.com