The Other Artists at USC

This isn't a blog about visual art, but we'll call this ear candy. I love hearing live music and love the experience of being around a musician while he/she is practicing or performing, it's like being let in on a secret to how they make magic happen. A few nights ago, I was completing my sketches behind Annenberg as a student practiced his guitar, and that alone inspired me. I've been checking out some of the students in the Thornton School here at USC, and I wanted to share with you guys the kind of talent that we are schoolmates with. Here's student Rozzi Crane with some other pop music majors including Aman Alem, lead singer of the band House Fire which my friends and I are crazy about. Enjoy! Rozzi Crane singing Doo Wop

Paul Morrison Art Samples

These are some of Paul Morrison's art pieces. His work mainly consists of black and white and I especially love the way he manipulates shapes and utilizes strange proportions to create a cartoon feeling to his work.

-- Rajiv Ramakabir

Golden Mean's everywhere

Those images are from my favorite artist, Jimmy. He is a Taiwanese artist who usually use cartoon to address   the attitude toward life. What makes him so fascinating to me is that he uses his unique imagination to create his won world that somehow can always reflect our lives and experience of facing it. He published series of books which are most of the time images only, or sometimes with one or two sentences of descriptions. The works below is Jimmy's that I found with Golden Mean=)

Photoshop image

This is a simple photoshoped image addressing Child Labor in India. It's actually my assignment work for digital studies. I black-and-white the kid, but keep the color of the workplace. Child Labor is a serious issue in India. The main cause of it is because of poor financial situation. India focus so much on education that it gives people the idea  of only the high educated one will have the chance to be somebody. The ironic thing is that only wealthy family can afford the education expense. Those kids therefore choose to work instead of to study because this is the only way to support the whole family.

I chose high-key value of color with both of the words Dream and Survival to address the importance and the seriousness of the issue. The focus of the picture is on the kid's eye which blurs out the surrounding. I use the effect to show the effect of the kid seeing everything as blurred and unknown, but only future and survival  as his task of life.

Getty Center Visit

I went to the Getty Center with a friend yesterday. Took the Metro Bus all the way over there from SC, and it took 1.5 hours to get there, which is ridiculous, but it was worth it! I've never actually been to the Westwood/Beverly Hills/UCLA part of LA, and it's changed my perception of the city; the city is actually has nice places. Anyway, I was not allowed to take pictures of the paintings inside the museum, but I took some pictures of the scenery on the outside. I loved the 19th century European paintings though, especially the Impressionist ones.

I did not take many pictures, and my pictures obviously do not do the architecture's design any justice, which is why if you haven't been yet, you should go and see for yourself. It's completely free entry too. 

"Aha!" Moment: Finding the Golden Mean

One of my pictures I chose for the golden mean exercise was Irving Penn's "Ballet Society." I decided to pick one of his photographs because he positions his subjects in very interesting ways! I traced the grid, and found that the dancer, Tanaquil LeClerq, was placed so that the top horizontal line crossed straight through her arms, emphasizing her demanding presence. The top horizontal line and the right vertical line intersects at her elbow, and the crossed diagonals intersect at her thigh. Major intersections were found on her body, as they should, because she dominates the picture. More geometry comes with  an graceful arch that flows through the men's heads, with the woman at the peak of the arch. It connects the composition despite the protrusion of the dancer above the rest of the subjects. I thought this was very cool--the golden mean added to the excellent composition of Penn's photograph.

I highly highly recommend checking out Irving Penn's works, if you haven't!