Reaction to Portrait of an Artist: Bo Gehring

"Bo Gehring is an avid music listener, so naturally it is central to his portraiture. He feels strongly in the emotional power of music: that a song can tap into and help reveal a person’s deeper self. Before entering his camera contraption, a subject is instructed to pick a song—a track he or she loves and feels especially connected to."

This quote captured my attention because it is a description of me. Music plays a major role in my artwork. It sparks my creativity and brings back forgotten memories. I can relate to this quote because it is a music is a major part of me. I was also drawn to Gehring's project that goes on display this May. His style of portraiture consists of very up-close examinations of fabrics, people, etc. using the camera machine below. As explained in the quote, Gehring wanted the individual he was using for his project to bring a musical piece that was close to their heart. This give off a peaceful mood and tone. I was excited to see the author profiled Esperanza Spalding. She is one of my favorite musical artists.

Still Life Project 3/16

This piece is a 20 hour still life done at home on 20 * 33 water color paper. The project was completed using a mixture of colored pencils and water color. I used several complementary colors here for contrast. (Orange, blue, red and green are used here a lot for example.)

Reaction to The Implications of Still Life

"In order to assess the still life within the critical context of contemporary art we shall need to strip it down to the bare elements that run throughout its history. Once you have taken away any cultural or time based elements, the core of the still life that is left is the concept of a collection of objects that serve no purpose in themselves, but later have a process done to them, to make it art. Other than this basic construct, I will split the still life into its two most widely used treatments, the symbolic method (vanitas), and the abstract method (Cézanne)." 

This quote instantly caught my attention. Usually when one thinks of a still life, they think of objects, realism and accuracy. Though in most cases they are very important qualities of a still life, they are not the only qualities. Symbolism and/or abstraction ( the artist's style) give the observation life and meaning. The example below is one of Cézanne's still lives. Though it is very naturalistic and rendered, there is still a level of abstraction and personal style present in te piece.