Final Project - Andrea Oxley

Statement:

In her series, "Sunday Candy" artist, Andrea Oxley portrays the dismembered bodies of pregnant women suspended or posted in the middle of the surface. Each body is developed in chalk pastel on black construction paper. The bodies are composed of stylized, candy-like textures. The first, from left to right is a lollipop body. The second is a cotton candy body. Finally, the third is a sour belt body.

"Sunday Candy" is a commentary on the objectification and exploitation of pregnant female bodies. As candy, beautifully displayed in a candy store, catches the eye and temporarily satisfies a child, pregnant women are reduced to objects that exist only to satisfy patriarchal needs of our population and look good while doing it. In our society, the media has reduced pregnancy, the astonishing conception of birth, to a mere process of gaining and losing weight to resume life as usual and be "better" than before. Instead of deepening our appreciation and understanding of pregnancy, birth, female anatomy, and motherhood, we have move toward increased disconnection and disembodiment around the entire experience and more importantly, the women having it.

Bio:

Andrea Oxley was born and raised in Fullerton, California. She attends Chapman University in Orange, California where she studies Public Relations and Advertising. Feminist movements and the female experience heavily influence her studio work and daily lifestyle. She is presently completing her last year at Chapman University and hoping to find a job in the film industry where she can continue to use her art for the betterment and empowerment of women around the world.

Influences:

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh
Writing Excerpt: From the "Guardian," Jonathan Jones takes a more highbrow approach: Kardashian’s selfie is “a hymn to the female body that would have been more familiar in the Renaissance than today […] body shapes were celebrated much more plurally in the past than they are today.”
Article: 15 Times Celeb Moms Have Spoken Out About Post-Baby Body Bullsh*t
Article: I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT BODY SHAMING WAS UNTIL I WAS PREGNANT
Article: Celebs Who Dealt With The Worst Pregnancy-Body Shaming Imaginable

FInal Artist Statement and Bio

Artist Statement

       Vivianna Sepulveda's "Eramos Semilla" series depicts the constant presence of struggle and resistance that have shaped the Chicano Identity. From colonization by the Spanish to Dreamers fighting deportation, Chicano/as have continuously faced some sort of battle. While this struggle meant the death of millions of indigenous peoples, loss of lands, and discrimination. It also has the power to drive a community together and continue fighting.

       The artist draws inspiration from the style of the Chicano Art Movement and its popular use of murals. She drew inspiration from Emigdio Vasques in particular. He is known as the Godfather of Chicano art and has created many murals in his lifetime.These murals were painted in neighborhoods and often displayed some sort of message to aid political movements. The Movement emphasized on identity and politics, both of which are present in this series.
       This struggle is represented in three different drawings or "murals". The first one is in regard to the origins of this identity. The artist uses iconic images of the Aztec calendar stone and a traditional Aztec figure. This was inspired by the mural Quatzelcoatl which also stacked multiple icons on top of each other. Also in the drawing is a Spanish mission. The Spanish used Catholicism as a tool to colonize and justify the atrocities that happened to indigenous people. In the second drawing contains a side portrait of Cesar Chavez against a backdrop of an agricultural field. Known for his activism, Chavez was a leader for those who were being taken advantage. He was able to lead a resistance and fight for fair conditions. He is a major Chicano icon. The last panel deals with the current administration and Dreamers. The Trump administration has called for the end of DACA, which would see to the deportation of 800,000 people who call the United States home. I came across a painting by Judy Baca who incorporated corn in her painting and decided to do the same. The use of the corn in the all my drawings is a reference to the Mayan creation myth. The Gods planted corn and from them grew people. The Spanish words translated to, "They tried to bury us, they didn't know we were seeds". This harkens back to the constant struggle again. This Mexican proverb became popular after an unfortunate tragedy in Mexico happened where 43 students went missing.

       The artists used multiple layers of soft pastels in order to attain vibrant colors. These drawings were lightly influenced by Roy Lichtenstein. There is a combination of traditional Chicano murals and Roy's use of outlining figures and they're surroundings. Each panel has a dynamic relationship on it, for example to Aztecs and the Spanish.

Artist Bio 

Vivianna Sepulveda was born in Irvine, California. She is a third-year student attending Chapman University pursuing a Political Science degree with a minor in Studio Art. She works in multiple mediums: ceramics, stained glass, watercolor, ink, charcoal, and graphite. More often than not, her artwork will contain some aspect of her Chicana identity. 

Vivianna first developed a liking for art in high school. She connected with a high school teacher who became her mentor. Under his guidance, she explored different mediums that allowed her to express herself in ways she couldn't before. She was able to take multiple courses over three years before his unfortunate passing. Today she continues to make art with the skills she was fortunate enough to have learned from her mentor.

Influences:
The Chicano Art Movement
Emigdio Vasquez
Quatzelcoatl Mural: Multiple Artists (Guillermo Aranda, Salvador Barrajas, José Cervantes, Sammy Llamas, Bebe Llamas, Victor Ochoa, Ernest Paul, Arturo Roman, Guillermo Rosete, Mario Torero, Salvador Torres)
Judy Baca
43 Missing Students
Roy Lichtenstein

Artist Statement

For my final project series, I knew I wanted to take a very personal approach to it. In my perspective, some of the best pieces of works derived from the most personal points of life. So, I chose to create my series in response to the reason I started art at all in the first place. (Without getting too into detail) my mom has been sick my entire life and it has taken a toll on me, her, and my entire family. As a way to ‘mask’ the worst parts of the sickness or find an out to all the bad parts, I always caught myself drawing. It was almost like a cure that made me really happy and took away all the bad in the world. To me, art was my fix and my way of making things better.

So for this series, I created four 24x24 inch charcoal drawings to represent my response to the different stages of going through my mom’s terminal sickness. I chose charcoal because along with it being my favorite drawing medium, I never use to use it before this class; it almost represents my explorationation/metamorphosis in art. I chose a brown background because I love the way it contrasts the charcoal and how it's very neutral. It doesn't give off an immediate meaning and viewers are left to decipher what it means by themselves.

Out of every style I played around with, I kept finding myself drawn to hyper realism and realistic portraits. They were super complicated and I knew I would never be able to draw something like that, but I kept trying. The harder it was, the more focused I was to try and push myself to do the best I could. I also noticed that the more intense realistic pieces I tried to mimic, the more I was in my own art world and less surrounded by this sickness and the bad that came with it. It was like nothing else mattered but art and it was the best feeling ever. It was driving me to do better and push myself. At the end of the day, I wanted to create something that showed what pushed me and morphed me into an artist and it's still the driving factor behind me.

Each piece is a zoomed in portion of a woman's body with water either splashing on her or dripping down from her. The water represents this weight on me and my family from this sickness. The hands holding it are representing this act of trying to control and handle the situation even though it never works. The water on the face dripping down represents act of accepting what it is and letting it consume you (I chose the face because it's such a vulnerable place on the body). The next one is a drawing of the back to showcase my family turning our backs in hopes of protecting ourselves; this piece has less water than the preceding ones because by taking care of ourselves, we are shaking this weight off of us. The last one is of the feet with barely any water on them. This showcased our walk away from this ‘darkness’ and how we don't let it control us anymore.

I drew influence from artists like Diego Fazio, Jason de Graaf, Ron Mueck

Paul Lung, and Roberto Bernardi. Diego is passionate about art because he likes to define all 'exaltation of inexperience or rather an autodidact’. He inspired me to keep pushing my work to be better because he states he’s always looking for perfection and therefore he never stops evolving. Jason is an artist from Canada who bases his work about an alternate reality. Even though he works hyper realistically, he states that his goal is not to produce photo like work but rather "to create the illusion of depth and a sense of presence”. I liked that even though he’s incredibly talented, he looks at his work as a means to explore his ability to communicate something to people. Ron is an Australian sculptor who creates large scale human models. I specifically enjoyed his work because of his experimentation with scale of the human body. It forces the viewer to consider space. Paul is an artist from Hong Kong who develops realistic drawings with graphite pencils. I admire his work because most of the time you can notice pencil streaks right away, but with him it looks just like a photo. He spends an average of 60 hours on each piece which represents his devotion and commitment to art. Roberto is an oil based artist from italy. His works are very colorful, yet showcase everyday items like candy or dishes. He turns everyday mediocre things into the most interesting works that captivate the viewer.

Artist Bio

Caroline Malcolm is from San Diego, California. She is a multimedia artist specializing in drawing, painting, and graphic design. She is a senior PR/Ad major with a minor in Studio Art from Chapman University. She discovered her love for art in high school when she took an intro to painting course. She plans to pursue being an art director or  painting in San Francisco where her sisters live in the future.  

http://twistedsifter.com/2014/03/hyperrealistic-still-life-paintings-jason-de-graaf/

https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/52/ron-mueck/biography/

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-amzing-pencil-art-of-paul-lung.html

http://www.robertobernardi.com/pagine/biography.html

https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/hyper-realistic-paintings/

Final Project

I created four pieces, each with black charcoal in 3 different sizes. They each depict the body in a different way, shape and form. I used a hyperrealism technique to get my message across and created these in my bedroom where I could lock myself away from the prying eyes of the world. I wanted to get at the nature of the outside vs the inside body. While I depicted what appears to be the outside body, to the more observant, I also depicted the inside body as well. I'm not talking about internal organs. I'm talking about the intangible stuff that our minds and hearts subsist on. Such things have always fascinated me as well as thousands of others throughout history. The positions I chose for each piece suggest a hidden nature but if you look closely, it can be obvious. We tend to hide the things we feel day in and day out. We suppress them, push them down under layers of drugs, alcohol, sex, TV, stories, gossip, and other vices. We drown out our insides in a frantic attempt to hold ourselves together when really we're just trying to keep our heads above the water in the pit that we've dug ourselves into. Each position that is depicted shows a body seemingly healthy on the outside but implies a struggle on the inside. The hands that are covering the wrists. The fetal position covering the heart and mind from the constant oppression of the world we live in. The body turned away from the average viewer hiding any expression. The eyes that only too clearly call for help without making a single sound. The truth is, if we paid attention to the people around us, we'd be only too aware of the pain that every single one of us go through. It's too real, to raw for us to acknowledge so we bury it under a sea of frivolities.

I would say that I'm an artist that likes to grasp at the true nature of things. Truth is a slippery thing, often ignored and beaten down for a prettier lie. Not only is it evasive but it's rarely a singular concept. Each person has their own form of truth that may not necessarily match their peers. I try and uncover my own through my work. Each piece I create has a very personal note to it, whether the audience sees it or not. It has a piece of me hidden in it for the world to see, or at least the more perceptive of my audience. I draw inspiration from artists like Heather Hansen, who records her own kinetic energy on paper, Anders Rokkum with his startling depictions of emotions and the universe in the same plane, Shawn Coss and his brilliant depiction of mental diseases as physical beings, Eloy Morales and his stunning hyperreal paintings of people's faces and newborns, and Jono Dry's incredibly realistic depictions of the body close up and mixed with surrealism in a fantastic hybrid of the hyperreal and surreal.


https://www.eloymorales.es/obra-works/a-partir-de-la-cabeza-about-head/
http://www.jonodryart.com/
http://www.shawncossart.com/
http://www.heatherhansen.net/
http://rockum.tumblr.com/

Final: Artistic statement/Bio

How Long Will You Stay Quiet?

Artist Statement:

Jade Smith’s series entitled How Long Will You Stay Silent? is inspired by recent events consuming the daily news regarding sexual harassment in the workplace.  Victims are silenced by not only the perpetrators but co-workers and friends that are privy to the knowledge.  These “dirty little secrets” are out in the open now and the guilty ones can no longer hide.  It starts with one brave woman speaking out publicly, which gives others the strength and courage to do the same.  Victims feel freedom for the first time and they can no longer be silenced or paid to keep quiet.  The Hashtag “#metoo” symbolizes unity and support for the victims of sexual abuse. 

This series of charcoals represent women uniting together for the empowerment of women.  Their voices – and there are many – have resulted in change.  The guilty are finally being held accountable for using their position of power at work to take advantage of hard-working women who remain quiet because they are fearful of losing their job and reputation.  These victims have no place to go and their claims are not taken seriously.  These powerful men have always been protected and never held responsible for their actions, which gives them a free pass to continue.  Jade Smith’s work not only brings the viewer up close and personal to this subject matter but also asks them to find their voice, speak out against injustice – no matter how hard or how frightening it may be.  Transparency is a prevalent theme in our society at the moment.  This transparency allows for dialogue, which leads to action and transformation. 

Jade Smith drew inspiration from several female artists whose work focuses on women’s empowerment.  Dipti Kulkarni is an Indian artist who uses bold and bright colors and heavy contrast in her works, which depict a woman’s struggle for an equal place in society.  She uses expressions to evoke strong emotions as a means of creating a positive change in society.  Maria Maria Acha-Kutscher is a Spanish artist whose portrait series entitled Women Working for Women contains extremely powerful messages about women’s empowerment.  These enormous portraits, printed on tarps and placed in public settings, focus on women as catalysts of change.  Cheryl Braganza is an artist from Montreal who confronts the stereotype that women are weaker than men in her work.  She draws inspiration from the solidarity of women and believes that women will be the driving force towards a more peaceful world.  Katrina Majkut is a visual artist and writer from New York whose work in embroidery, painting, and writing, addresses social practices and civil rights pertaining to women.  She uses her work to confront the negative undertones of the word “feminist” so it will become a normal part of every girl’s vocabulary.  Anne Sherwood Pundyk is a New York City artist who uses her abstract paintings to make strong statements about women.  She finds abstract painting especially liberating as a woman and uses her work to encourage other women to take risks. 

Artist Bio:

Jade Smith was born in San Jose, California.  She is currently a junior at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts where she is studying Digital Arts and Animation while pursuing a minor in Studio Art. She found her passion for the arts during her Waldorf education, which transformed learning into art.  Every subject resulted in an artistically inspired lesson book, created by her.  This style of education created the foundation for training her eye to notice the minute details of life and to see the beauty in everything.  Without technology, she became an independent thinker, free of society’s influences.  This allowed her to fill her mind with her own pictures. 

           

Chapman University’s art community has been the ideal environment for her to explore and grow in her artistic abilities, independence, and individualism.  Creating art causes her to see the world from different perspectives.  She is always looking for new ways of to express herself and although she enjoys traditional methods of art, she is also captivated by all the new techniques available in our technology driven world.  Learning to transpose her ideas digitally permits her versatility in expressing herself.  Technique aside, she aspires to create art that makes an impact and evokes deep emotions in its viewers in hopes that they will keep coming back to it, day after day.  She recently exhibited her work at Chapman University in House of The Arts.

Dipti Kulkarni

"Workplace Harassment"  

 14.5” x 23.5”    

Acrylic on Paper 

"Gender Discrimination "

 14.5" x 23.5

 Acrylic on Paper    

“Save Girl”    

14.5” x 23.5”

Acrylic on Paper    

“Depression” 

14.5” x 23.5”

Acrylic on Paper    

Maria Maria Acha-Kutscher:

   

Cheryl Braganza                               

“Peace, Pink, Power”                  

Katrina Majkut

"In Control" 

Anne Sherwood Pundyk