It Speaks To Me.

Charcoal is used in art for drawing, making rough sketches in painting and is one of the possible media for making a parsemage. It must usually be preserved by the application of a fixative. Artists generally utilize charcoal in three forms:

• Vine charcoal is created by burning sticks of wood (usually willow or linden/Tilia) into soft, medium, and hard consistencies.
• Powdered charcoal is often used to "tone" or cover large sections of a drawing surface. Drawing over the toned areas darkens it further, but the artist can also lighten (or completely erase) within the toned area to create lighter tones.
• Compressed charcoal charcoal powder mixed with gum binder compressed into round or square sticks. The amount of binder determines the hardness of the stick. Compressed charcoal is used in charcoal pencils.

One of my personal favorite mediums, 
Its quick, it has its own raw feeling/visual to it, every line thats made speaks for itself. Its amazing how many levels of grey and blacks you can get out of this one little chalk. And not to forget the smudging part where every thing getts dirty/messy !
There were some artists that initially influenced me, ill post the pictures at the end, the play of the negative spaces and keeping in mind the surface ones using can effect the drawing heavily !

 

Mr.Montage

Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception (in contrast to mere enhancement or correction), through analog or digital means.
also known as, Photomontage is the process and result of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs.
Some people may argue about these two things being diffrent not visually but content wise, but thats a whole other debate.

Types
In digital editing, photographs are usually taken with a digital camera and input directly into a computer. Transparencies, negatives or printed photographs may also be digitized using a scanner, or images may be obtained from stock photography databases. With the advent of computers, graphics tablets, and digital cameras, the term image editing encompasses everything that can be done to a photo, whether in a darkroom or on a computer.
Photo manipulation is often much more explicit than subtle alterations to color balance or contrast and may involve overlaying a head onto a different body or changing a sign's text, for example. Image editing software can be used to apply effects and warp an image until the desired result is achieved. The resulting image may have little or no resemblance to the photo from which it originated. Today, photo manipulation is widely accepted as an art-form.
There are several subtypes of digital image-retouching:

Technical retouching

Manipulation for photo restoration or enhancement (adjusting colors / contrast / white balance (i.e. gradational retouching), sharpness, removing elements or visible flaws on skin or materials etc.

Creative retouching

Used as an art form or for (commercial) use to create more sleek and interesting creative images for advertisements. Creative retouching could be manipulation for fashion, beauty or advertising photography such as pack-shots. One of the most prominent disciplines in creative retouching is image-compositing. Here, the digital artist uses multiple photos to create a single composited image. 


Celebrities against photo manipulation
Photo manipulation has triggered negative responses from both viewers and celebrities. This has led to celebrities refusing to have their photos retouched in support of The American Medical Association that has decided to “take a stand against rampant photo retouching, declaring the practice detrimental to your health.” These include: Keira Knightley, Brad Pitt, Andy Roddick, Kim Kardashian, and Jessica Simpson :p.

Software
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Elements are far the most common softwares being used at the moment for Manipulation (photo ofcouse).


and here are some examples,

Photo Manipulation

Photomontage

Photoshop = Fashion

 

artsy !

This is a first, im here willing to talk about an artist.
Myeongbeom Kim, now alot of people might have not herd this name but his work is definately something to check out.
the reason im here willing to tak about this guy is, because there isnt much infromation about this guy online, no bio's no wiki
so here it goes Myeongbeom Kim received his MFA in sculpture from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. Previously, he studied environmental sculpture at University of Seoul, South Korea.
Kim’s installations and sculpture contain both man-made and natural elements, with the aim to accomplish surreal and dream-like spaces.
you'll find out what this means about in just a second.
He often incorporates suspension and living creatures confined in light bulbs or helium balloons, to produce a sense of wonderment.
Kim's not that popular by the looks of google. But i completely admire his work to bits, its bitter-sweet, maybe the reason is that i see myself in his works and that i have this unexplainable intrest in Kims favor.

 



This piece in particular, fragile dream mode and makes me think about alot of things,
the after life, the grave, the etarnal resting place much like the temporary one we rest at the end of every day, is this a message of awareness or just a comment !

Is it possible to enjoy, experience freedom without feeling it ? by just looking at it ?
this piece is quite blue, and quite relatable. To look but not to touch !

We have burnt out enough dont you think ? burnt the world we live in, burnt our selves within.
if only we could replant what we cut off. This piece's is quite life-less at least to me, cauz i believe that a tree is the messenger of the both worlds, the world above and the world beneath and grows both ways, but one side's fragile then the other.

i think this piece speaks for it-self, i mean i cant remember the last time i actually enjoyed looking up an artist's work, In the dictionary, the word surreal is defined as something unreal and fantastic or "having a oddly dreamlike quality." If surreal art can do anything, it can make us feel like we haven't woken up from a nightmare or a dream. More than that, however, it has the power of making the impossible suddenly seem possible.

The effort for suicide, who wouldnt want that !

and my favorite, a man is as limited as the imagination he keeps, the space to grow, the need to grow.
Although this breaking down of the boundaries between artificiality and nature would generally engender a sense of unease, conveying the decline of natural phenomenon at the hands of manufactured goods, from Kim’s perspective there is a rather a peaceful coexistence of these two binary opposites. It is a beautiful thing/

Cells.

i wonder about stuff  like this at times,

There comes a point in life, where one needs to refer to a saying by someone and you really dont give a crap who that person is, but just for the sake of your point you start the conversation by saying
A great person once said,
"I always wanted to be a superstar", the world we live in at this stage nothing is impossible.
Artists are nothing less then celeberties.
They sell-out just as much as an Actor.
They dress up for their shows no less then celeberties for red carpet.

Art is no longer a profession, but rather Fashion (trend), something that tops the chart ? something that sets the line ? Something that lets you say anything you want without the society looking all googly eyes on you ?
or has it suffered enough through history that this was the point where art should be intensively appriciated ?
especially after the fact where
majority of the artists in the past used to get famous after they died, and now in this era alot of them cash their art while living.

a-bunch of stuff always comes to my head, what is the art market, how does it work.
When there is no set criteria. what is good art or bad art, who chooses what’s successful or what’s not?

What sells ?

Where is the line drawn on expression or vulgarity? if its vulgar then its to direct.
What is vulgar anymore is it just about the play on words? if its controversial, the viewer isnt open minded !
If 4 or more not-so-open-minded people think its vulgar then its controversial!
If its all red, Its already been done before?
How is the frame in which the picture hangs in controversial?
becausse its from France, and the paintings from Germany ?
Is art like wine? the older the better and the better the gold-seller?
Is it even about self-expression anymore?
if its not in a gallery its not art!

and on these thoughts
the words that are hammered, on/in my mind,


"Is this what you wanted?
This is what you get.
Turned all your lives into this sh*t.
You never accepted or treated me fair
Blame me for what I believe
And I wear.
You fu*ked yourselves and you
Raised these sheep
The blue and the withered seeds
You will reap.
You never gave me a chance to be me
Or even a f*cking chance just to be.
But I have to show you,
That you played a role
The world that hates me has taken it's toll
But now I'll finally take control.
You wanted so bad to make me this thing
And I want you now to just kill the king
And I am not sorry, and I am not sorry
This is what you deserve"

 

 

Lifeless or Lifelike..

Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions, and one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modeling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since modernism, shifts in sculptural process led to an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modeling, or molded, or cast.

There is no set context or so much as content for this medium, throughout the history again and again this medium has been used to represent different aspects.

This medium has been used to record the current time period or time or an event, carved monumentally  to stage that specific event in life, to Represent, to  idolize personalities, represent religious values, tribute to hero’s, etc.

But today along with these mentioned above, the sense of possession or value plays an interesting part in this medium, the purpose of sculptures evolved a little to the other side of the obvious.

Antony Gormley a British sculptor well known for his work with the human figure, with the unconventional material, that completely bends the outcome/meaning.

This might be me diving a little to much in the work but there two point explosions in his work, its either the feeling self-contempt keeping one’s self and the secrets buried, a much like cryptic feel. And then there’s the other “explosive” feel where everything is exploding and with those specific materials a keen sense of sharp/blunt tone where one might explode unwillingly, much like when the balloon is filled with water at a point in explodes leaving weaves, but of course that’s my opinion. The play with the material and the postures strike me quite a bit.

 

Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist.

Death is a central theme in Hirst's works. He became famous for a series of artworks in which dead animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preserved—sometimes having been dissected—in formaldehyde.

 The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot  tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a clear display case became the iconic work of British art in the 1990s.

The line for some people about this work was the fear, that people hold of a “Shark” and how it terrifies people.

And of course the “Virgin mother” who is supposed to symbolize the Virgin mother Mary,

Which of course was a very controversial sculpture, but the point where the selection of material and the point of view this content has been viewed and executed by changes the entire meaning of it, and not to forget the community’s it has pissed.

But then drawing comparison to Pieta by Michelangelo, a sacred sculpture that represents the highest level of virtue/innocence of the Mother Virgin Mary. This point stands to this day much thought provoking to some, as an idol, a religious idol transformed into a mechanical instrument.

Pieta

 

                                                          Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst

 

here are someother works that i find intresting

 

 

Metallic chain sculptures by Yeong-Deok Seo

 

 

Let me paint too.

 Here are the 3 most prolific living artists in the contemporary world.

[1]Damien Hirst’s work “For the love of god”, made of a platinum skull covered with 8601 diamonds, 1,106.18 carats each, was sold for £50,000,000.

 

Also, he is the richest living artist with his wealth valued at £215m in the “2010 Sunday Times Rich List”. At Sotheby's by auction exceeded all predictions, raising £111 million ($198 million), breaking the record for a one-artist auction.

Now my question here is what defines an art work as successful.
Who defines an art work successful?

When the production of art has escalated to mass production.

Now, what really defines an art piece to be successful? Well actually it’s a combination of things that trigger the worth of an artwork. We have the artist which is by far the most important variable to the equation, art sells once the artist name has been established, and this is the struggle that some of the artists face at the beginning, unless a reputable collector starts the show and in this case Damien Hirst’s first work to be sold was “A Thousand Years” consisting of a large glass case containing maggots and flies feeding off a rotting cow's head and was bought by Charles Saatchi.

This purchase was the big step in Hirst’s life and from that point onwards has been a sell-out. Contributing to this point, given that Charles Saatchi is a very well-known Art collector and given the fact Charles Saatchi bought a Damien Hirst work adds plus five points to Damien Hirst’s art value and technically brings him up in the charts.

We live in a time where variety in art is endless consisting of different cultures, time periods etc. and the succession of art and the artist is based on the markets you’ve captured and the show’s you’ve sold. The more the artist sells, the higher the price tag gets and the higher the price tag gets the famous the artist gets and here’s the twist to the line that’s what defines an artist or the artwork successful is the tag behind it also the collector that holds it.

Art is a time based activity; the formation of art is purely based on time, the trend that follows and the trend to follow or maybe rebel. Now the declaration of who decides what artist work should be given the spotlight. The production (quality of the work) in this example the trend sets a new level and plays a big role in formation of an artist’s market reputation; fame and success in my opinion are two different things but are treated as one. But who decides whether what work to be given importance? The critics? Well for sure they play a great deal of acting as a catalyst. In this day and age where a personal opinion is rarely appreciated or given admiration too, so the audience just to be on the safe side sticks with what the general public agrees to, much like a case of majority is authority, and the reason could be the vast globalization of acceptance that the human kind tends to follow, and this is where the critics come in place and where their opinion so much so becomes direction that we tend to look upon. Us humans try so hard to be a part of the society and not have the feeling of being left out, well the idea of having a different opinion pretty much is based on the same principles consciously or un-consciously. And most of the critics work on the similar ideology and the ones that don’t have to bear with the similar rejection until the society gets bored of the previous ideology and decide to move on to another. And the ones who already are well known can either make a work, or break a work in terms of success. So the realization is that every art critic, critics a work on their personal vision and formal aspects based on their subjective understandings and to know that reputation works on a major influential level and are considered as magicians and their words magic. There are many theories about the strengths of art criticism: insider’s joke that all publicity is good publicity.

If there are people behind the major transformation of art as of what we see today, from what we did before, it’s the art collectors See, the art world is a cycle and the most important factor of this chain is the people who buy art. Without them, gallery owners wouldn’t eat; artists would be working in news companies or graphic design or selling stuff door to door.

Are collectors powerful because they really don’t seem to be visible of all those who make the art market economy. Collectors dispense the money, and it’s what they’re willing to pay that determines the line for what artists can make. The number of collectors out there in the art world is huge, and it’s one of their tactics/trainings to rewrite the economy of the art world and still stay anonymous. Dealers normally satisfy their business with clients and keep it confidential, but let the collector spectate.

Move Me..

Animation;

animation |ˌanəˈmā sh ən|

noun
1 the state of being full of life or vigor; liveliness : they started talking with animation.
• chiefly archaic the state of being alive.2 the technique of filming successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the movie is shown as a sequence : [as adj. ] animation techniques | animations as backdrops forlive action.
• (also computer animation) the manipulation of electronic images by means of a computer in order to create moving images
The new media arts division, the spectacular world of computer animation.The world of animation is subcategorized in 3 major categories 1. 2d animation2. 3d animation3. Stop animation (To this point we all know what stop animation is, so i wont be going into its details)
the ability to create, animate (move) and give a totally new meaning to ones imagination.for example animated t.v shows that are known worldwide areThe Simpsons 

is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists ofHomer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.

and of course


Finding Nemo is an American computer-animated comedy-drama film written and directed by Andrew Stanton, released byWalt Disney Pictures on May 30, 2003, and the fifth film produced by Pixar Animation Studios.The animation and the animator, in other words can also be  described giving life to the still image. The range of softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe flash, Maya, Adobe after effects etc. have made it possible to animate a still existing image. Where in 2d animation one needs to create a specific character to later animate it, assign its movements individually, what parts spas up-to what time-limit and so forth.The art of animation has in the 21st century expanded in a very vast dimension, and to master the skills in softwares is just internet research away. The output of this animation is so convincing that the 3d animation is often used in an average of 7/10 movies made these days, where actors are suppose to act in front of a chroma green screen which then is removed via editing software and is replaced with a fantasy/another galaxy/surreal world.
and of course for example