Sunday, September 29, 2019
Reading Response 1
In Silvia Di Marco's writing, Bodies of Knowledge - Anatomy and Transparency in Contemporary Art, she discusses the evolution of peoples' views of the human body in relation to mythology, dissection, art, and the self. Beginning with a gruesome Babylonian tale of Humbaba and Gilgamesh, she details the visceral addressing of the relation of protecting the insides by keeping them hidden, and goes on to describe the transition this provided into the idea of modesty until almost the 16th century, when public dissections became a commonplace observation for scientists, artists, and commoners alike. According to Di Marco, it wasn't until the Renaissance that the correlation between anatomy and art became as apparent, and began the thrust of art into addressing the inner body. To draw examples, the author introduces Laura Ferguson and Annie Cattrell, whose work both differently deals with internal human anatomy. Ferguson creates work based on real human anatomy in conjunction and comparison with her own internal structure, dealing with her journey of dealing with the pain of scoliosis. Cattrell's work, in contrast to Ferguson's, is informed of the human body, but uses that information in order to recreate the human body in the form of very visceral glass sculptures. I find it interesting the ways in which the accepted thought of the body's anatomy has changed from the 16th century, where viewing the internal body was fascinating and accepted. Now we view many works focused on the external body, it is rarer to see the internal form on a level beyond the complete skeleton.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Reading Response 1
This article discussed the importance and significance of using the skeleton and inner body in different forms of art. The first artist mentioned was Laura Ferguson, a New York based artist that used images of her own skeleton to create a project called the "Visible Skeleton Series." The series used a combination of mixed media to tell Ferguson's struggles-- a visual autobiography in a sense. Ferguson dealt with scoliosis most of her life and often depicts this in her work. She states that she "Explicitly engages in a 'learning through drawing' process that allows her to regain a sense of
ownership of the body that is usually lost when one’s
experience of disease or disability is taken in charge
by doctors" (35). She sees the mutated inner body as something beautiful, rather than a negative burden on one's life. Another artist talked about in the article is Frida Kahlo. I have been obsessed and fascinated with Kahlo's life since I first viewed her work in middle school, and have learnt more about her work than I ever intended to. She made art during a time where a woman's body was still controversial when it came to art. Kahlo suffered a major accident as a young girl that put her in a full-body cast and unable to have children. She used both medical symbols and metaphoric icons to portray the suffering she had gone through. Finally, the third artist mentioned is Annie Cattrell, a Scottish artist based in London. She works mainly through sculpture to make what should be invisible, visible. She used glass to create hyperrealistic sculptures of human anatomy, showing the relationship between the outer body and inner body. She also used neuroimaging to display consciousness and MRI scans to display the effects of neuronal activity. In conclusion, both Ferguson and Cattrell incorporate the inner body into their work to show the metaphorical political and social networks that the inner body represents.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Imagined Skeleton
Lilly Stene
Cindy Rehm
Advanced
Life Drawing 311-01
23
September 2019
Imagined Skeleton
For my project I chose to illustrate
the cartoon character, Bubbles, from the TV show Powerpuff Girls. Because her
head is so much bigger than the rest of her body, I knew her figure and
skeleton would be out of proportion. I spent the most time emphasizing her head
and skull because that is what the viewer is most drawn to see when first
viewing my work. I did a rough sketch of the shape of her head, and then
compared the rest of her proportions to the size of her head. I drew lines
across the page to make sure that her exterior was in proportion to her
exterior skeleton. I used her pigtails to measure how tall her head should be,
as well as other features like her legs and torso. After doing a rough sketch
of her body, I began to compare that to her skeleton, and used the handout in
class of the Pikachu drawing as a reference. I also looked at cartoon graphics
of a skeleton to see how the bones were composed in relation to realistic human
bones. After completing both rough sketches of the body and skeleton, I began
to emphasize her features such as her eyes and mouth with graphite. I then went
over the graphite in black colored pencil around her main features on her
exterior as well as her skeleton. After that, I began to mark out where the
light would hit her exterior body and skeleton with colored pencil lightly, and
then shaded outside of the light spots. For her skeleton, I shaded around the
edges of her limbs, and in the crevices of her bones to emphasize the value of
her skeleton. Since she did not have many bones, without shading I thought her
skeleton would look more unrealistic and wanted to emphasize the big sizes of
her bones. I then went back with my eraser to get rid of any leftover graphite
in both her skeleton and exterior form. For reference, I researched her common
expressions in the TV show on YouTube, as well as the other Powerpuff Girls to
compare their proportions. I also looked to see if anyone else had created a
skeleton version of her to reference. I found one artist named Michael Paulus,
who has illustrated many cartoon characters as well as their skeletons. I used
Paulus’s examples of Powerpuff Girls as an inspiration behind my drawing. In
Paulus’s example of Bubbles specifically, he illustrated her with an angry
expression. However, I decided to illustrate Bubbles with an enthusiastic
expression since she is depicted as being innocent and usually in a good mood
on the cartoon series. I illustrated her posture to make her look optimistic
and confident, which is how I remembered her in the show. After finishing the
piece I was happy with the outcome, and felt that I had done a good job of
utilizing the entire page.
10 Images:
Sources:
1.
Michael Paulus: https://michaelpaulus.com/section/59023-Character-Study.html
Reading 1
Bodies of Knowledge - Anatomy and Transparency in Contemporary Art emphasizes on the importance of knowledge of the inner body. In the introduction, James Elkin, the author of Pictures of the Body: Pain and Metamorphosis claims that the inside must be protected and hidden. Laura Ferguson, an artist from New York uses her own skeleton as the subject matter in her work. She explains that her body has always been available to her and how women with imperfect bodies are never depicted in art. She shows a different kind of nude than all the male painters of the past. I found it interesting that the article mentions that Frida Kahlo is not one of her inspirations. I am curious about this since they both depict their own wounded bodies as the focal point of their art. The article does explain that these two artists have a different way in showing their pain. Ferguson strives for “anatomical wisdom” while Kahlo did not focus on having a perfect form in the depiction of her body since she did not have a perfect body. Annie Cattrell, a Scottish artist, uses medical images to represent her body. She is a good example of a mixture of art and science. She has a sculpture of the nervous system made out of crystals, having something from nature to be in place of the body. This reading is relevant to me since I am currently taking the 384 art and science course and it helps reenforce that these two subjects are more connected than people think.
Blog 1
For the Imagined Skeleton project, I decided to go with a nonhuman cartoon character. I chose Courage the Cowardly Dog, which was a challenge for me because, not only is the character nonhuman, he also does not look entirely like a dog, so his proportions and skeletal components did not make very much sense when compared to a human skeleton. In drawing the skeleton, I chose to preserve a cartoonish quality by opting for a contour line style with hashing in place of shading. I realized after completing the drawing that I neglected to include a sternum on the character, but in a way I think it is fitting for the already unrealistic level of representation the character holds. Overall, I am happy with how the drawing turned out because it was a push outside of my normal realism-based comfort zone and a good chance to explore a new medium and style. Though I do think I could have taken the opportunity to go a bit more in-depth with the drawing, I believe I maintained a consistent style throughout the drawing and represented the character well.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Blog 1
For the first assignment, I chose the subject matter to be Arnold from the Nickelodeon show Hey Arnold. After going through all of my favorite cartoon characters from my childhood, I finally settled on Arnold due to the largeness of his head compared to the rest of the body. Even as a child I always wondered why he has the famous football shaped head and what his skull would look like. Since Arnold has a nontraditional silhouette, I knew this could potentially pose as a challenge. The heads high method we use in class with the models is not something that I was able to apply to this drawing. The research done to make this piece was simple and involved just looking at different images of the character. His skull shape is something that digital artists have already envisioned since the show aired. I drew inspiration from these images and decided to keep it simple by just having the skeleton next to the original. For the actual execution of the piece, I first made an entire pencil drawing where I then decided to add color and outline everything in a black pen. The outlining, in my opinion, is crucial since it adds to the graphic nature of a cartoon character. I also chose to keep the composition basic with each version of the character a little spread out. Having the paper horizontal made more sense since the character is shorter.
I used the handout that we used in class for the man versus the skeleton drawing. The handout was helpful with the cartoon drawing because it gives an example of what it should look like. This cartoon drawing overall was a useful piece since it helps with working with different forms.
Project 1- Character Skeleton
For the character skeleton project, I chose to do Pikachu from Pokemon in a different position than the one provided. During class, I was having a lot of trouble trying to draw the human skeleton, however, I thought a character may be easier. While researching artists who have created work along these lines, I came across two paintings called "The Skeleton Brothers." These paintings were created by Harley and Skidmore. I found these paintings super interesting because they were not quite characters, but they were somewhat animated looking, similar to aliens. I really enjoyed this project because not only did I gain more practice with drawing bones, but I liked being able to experiment with the different shapes of the character's body. I first began drawing the original character, and then repeated the general outline in order to create the skeleton inside. I then tried to focus on the actual shapes of each bone, and where the shading was. I would still like to have more practice drawing the human skeleton, but this project was definitely good practice, as well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/justinaerni/2702860456
https://www.flickr.com/photos/justinaerni/2702860456
Reading Response 1
Lilly Stene
Cindy Rehm
Advanced Life Drawing 311-01
22 September 2019
Reading Response 1
The main
purpose of this article was to address how contemporary artists use their
knowledge of the inner body in their artwork. Artists such as Laura Ferguson,
Annie Cattrell, and Frida Kahlo were mentioned. Laura Ferguson works in New
York City, and has created art that represents the inner body by using pictures
of her own skeleton. Her first creation was known as the Visible Skeleton
Series, which was from mixed media drawings on hand-made paper. Her work
represents an autobiography that shows the body in pain. Laura Ferguson has
scoliosis, which she depicts in her artwork. Her work expresses how scoliosis
can find beauty and balance in a human. Frida Kahlo used medical imagery to
display her private experience of pain caused by miscarriages and her injured
column, leg, and pelvis. She regained power over her human experiences and
doctors, through her artwork. Annie Cattrell is a Scottish artist who works in
London. She views her artwork as a medium to provoke questions about scientific
research, and not as a way to depict knowledge. As a sculptor she works to find
the relationship between the inner and outer body. She used the idea of
corrosion casting to create some of her pieces. Some examples of this are two
versions of glass lungs, a gilded bronze cast of a heart and brain, and a
silver bronze cast of a cranial interior. Annie Cattrell’s art resonated with
me the most because as a dancer, I developed back fractures, tendonitis, and
shin splints. Even though I no longer dance, I experience day to day pain due
to the toll it had on my body when it was still developing. Because of this, I
appreciated how Annie depicted the differences in her interior body due to
scoliosis, in a way that did not romanticize nor criticize her condition. I
think the artwork shown in the article was important to see, because it will
inspire us on the importance of not only focusing on the exterior of figures,
but also looking within and considering bone structure and placement as well.
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