Finished Portrait

Here is the finished portrait of CM Punk for the project. Also, since no one appears to know who he is, a small taste of him and his personality can be found here.

Vector Artist: Beto Garza

Mexican artist Jesus Alberto Garza Lopez is known on the internet as Beto Garza. I was drawn to his work due to his quirky style that is both comical and intentionally bizarre. Very little is known about this artist. He doesn't have a wiki, and very little can be found about him, other than the artwork he produces itself. As for his artwork, it is very reminiscent of Pop Art. He draws references to various popular cartoon characters and magazine covers, in addition to what appear to be his own creations.

I was particularly intrigued by this work because of its title "Think Digital" which immediately reminded me of this class. Much like our first project, this piece emphasizes human dependence on technology, and almost seamlessly blends the two together. In a sort of irony, everyone's faces and gestures appear to indicate happiness, yet there is a dark overtone to the piece. The two men at the top have some sort of camera instead of a face, indicating that we are being watched at all times. The radial quality which is also visually interesting, centers around Danilo Black, inc., a media design studio. Everything that everyone does in this piece feeds back into this company, which suggests that Beto Garza holds a very negative attitude towards them. The piece is subtle and sarcastic.

This was the piece that first captivated me. After seeing it, I just knew I had to choose Beto Garza, regardless of how difficult attaining information on him might be. This is perhaps due to the central figure and his appearance of royalty, which connected me to my character in the Art for Video Games class.Here, a central figure wears a crown and dress so as to indicate that he is a prince or king, and is surrounded by individuals that are looking at him. The piece is flat and abstract, yet a sense of depth is created, not only from the implied positions of individuals being in front of and behind one another, but by the patterns in the background and on the two individuals who appear to fawn over the central royal figure most. In the background are demonic figures, two of whom appear to view this king critically, and the remaining who appear to concentrate on the viewer. Overall, the use of bright colors against a mostly black background, the facial expressions on each character, and the radial quality of this piece help to make it very compelling and effective.

Project 2 Progress: Best in the World

Here is the progress I've made so far. As should be immediately apparent, I changed my portrait from last time in favor of this guy. This is WWE superstar CM Punk, who calls himself the best in the world. I like his tenacity and forthrightness, so I find it very fun to work on him. I feel that the project is coming along well from the original photo, which can be seen below. Of course, it still needs much more work.

Artist Post: Sonya Rapoport

Art, Code, and the Engine of Change by Paul Hertz featured a number of artists as it described the interesting and arduous process by which digital media transitioned into the art world. Among the featured artists was one whose artwork caught my eye: Sonya Rapoport.

Mills College puts it succinctly: "  Sonya Rapoport is a distinguished artist whose sixty-year career spans painting, works on paper, interactive installations and digital works." Her wide range of mediums and experience make her one of the greatest artists alive today. At 89 years of age (turning 90 tomorrow, 10/06/2013), she maintains a blog which can be found here. The purpose of her blog, in her own words, is to "re-appropriate former work and to re-contextualize it into current events, topically, politically, and/or conceptually."

 Even more intriguing than the artwork entitled Shoe-field was the description of how it came about. Hertz reported "Shoefield by Sonya Rapoport represents physical and emotional data about people's shoes gathered at a 'shoe-in' in a series of graphs, including a force-field map graphing the similarity of responses as magnetic domains." One can reflect upon the significance of his or her own shoes, the journeys undertaken in them, or the memories of how they were obtained, and instantly draw deep significance. Shoefield is, in this way, far more than the mere collecting of graphed shoes; it is the expression of dozens of lives and stories.