Miniscapes

 "Aerial View of Black Desert"

 "Maple Mountains"

 "Gold in the Garden"

"Catastrophe"

When I was around seven years old, I remember my grandmother handing me her drugstore disposable camera to document her sixtieth birthday. I remember her bragging on my eye for composition to many people after seeing the results. Before social media and computers were really a thing in my life, I actually did go through old photo albums pretty regularly. Personally, I think that was the hieght of photography. Several Christmases ago, I got a pretty nice digital camera that I obsessed over for a few years. Since then, I've had a falling out with photography, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps its the plethora of photos on the internet that have fallen prey to vanity, or the fair amount of uncreative photography I've seen that is so bad that it suffocates my own desire to create via camera. Whatever the reasons, my falling out has resulted in my photo stream being cluttered only with pictures of homework problems, powerpoint slides and professors' office hours. All this to say, my photography above is a little dated.

"Miniscapes" was my AP art portfolio backup plan. I took a some of these shots a few summers ago in a forest in Sweden, and one ("Maple Mountains") at the Grand Canyon National Park. I like the concept of small things pretending to be great platforms for life. Dollhouses fascinated me as a kid and they still do. I have once been much quicker at seeing the details and appreciating the whole more. Observing the often overlooked gives me a fresh perspective on how I view things I see all the time. Really, that is the powerpunch of photography that many people have missed.

-M

Despite Apathy

"Affliction of Apathy"

The most disgusting thing is to see a life wasted -- a person working on something with such dispassionate style. When I see such people I want to despair. Conversely, people with a good sense of their purpose just radiate life in all they do. They are fires that cannot help but burn all that is in sight. Society seems to hold passion as a virtue essential for reaching "success." But culture preaches that a good life consists of being lazy and enjoying things like social media and Netflix. The mixed messages seem to have produced a generation that is able to do much but is willing to do little. So many people I've met simply don't care about things that will not give them any immediate reward. I've found it so easy to believe this, too. However, caring only about things that effect me is the loneliest and most disparaging worldview of them all. I always miss the good parts of life. Apathy is poison that kills purpose. It takes a strong heart to take the risk of being compassionate and spread the goodness of love in a world that is aching for it. 

"Affliction of Apathy" was made in response to this. The yellow frame around the baby-faced teens is hinting to the iconic National Geographic frame, by the way. I haven't liked collages much in the past, but I'm warming up to them. I'm pretty pleased with this one, maybe even more now, three months later.

-M

Faces of the City

Long ago, when I was in pre-school, we made a lot of crafts.  One I particularly remember was a silhouette portrait. My teacher illuminated the side of my face to cast a shadow on a black paper taped to the wall. After tracing my shadow, she cut out and pasted it on a colored sheet of paper (either red or green). One day, when all the parents were in class, everybody's silhouette portraits were hung together on the wall -- without names on them. It was then we discovered how alike we all looked. On the way home, I studied the portrait I had snagged, doubting that it was actually mine. Thus dissatisfied, I tried to make a genuine one by using an office lamp in my room but failing hopelessly because I could not trace my profile while simultaneously looking forward. The above portrait silhouettes were much easier the trace, thanks to my family members modeling for me.

I was assigned this project several months ago, but in the slew of school and summer and school again, it sadly hasn't moved much off the ground until mow. Pictured above are three of the four in the gang. The fourth is still on my easel. They are all quite large, each being 29.5"x23.5" and are made for the sole purpose of bringing color to an industrial-looking Laundromat, here in town. Painting buildings is a new favorite of mine. The combination of geometric shapes and color come together in perfect union, forming an image that triggers a feeling of familiarity in any human who has ever set eyes on a city. I see the city as an area of saturated human experience and therefore find it fascinating. Hopefully others will too and can see themselves or others in the silhouettes of these characters. 

-M

Happy Birthday Baby Brother

"Baby: Study"

Today is my brother's first birthday! He is the baby of the family, so naturally, he is doted on. This post is a tribute to him. 

Last spring, I used him as a model for one of my projects (pictured below) for AP Art. This project was one of the most detailed ones I have ever done. There is much story that can be found in this piece, and I think it mostly speaks for itself. It brings up the issue of teenage pregnancy and communicates in relation to my portfolio concentration, which was Modern Inconvenience. I think the more teen pregnancy has become normative, the more normative it has become for society to have disjointed families. This may be an obvious consequence, but young people seem to think they are immune to consequences. They ought to think.

"Children Having Children"

-M

Analog from the Archives

Photograms

Digitally Inverted Pinhole

Pinhole

These photos are little treasures worth displaying from the archives. I think the photos have an industrial personality with a soft heart. They remind me of xrays. I made them about a year or so ago and developed them myself. I'm not particularly well versed in analog film and development, but I'm not a complete novice either. This year hasn't been a great one for photography since my AP drawing portfolio (and school, family, hygene, etc.) has eaten up my time. Photography is a medium that is more time consuming than one may think. 

I've got a roll of film in my Canon Olymic that I just finished shooting. And you may ask, why shoot analog at all? While digital may be easier, it's still a hassle. Analog feels like writing with an inky black pen. Certainty flows from fiddling with the irreversible. Also, its just more fun. Playing the waiting game just make the results all the more rewarding. 

-M

Let Justice Roll Down

"Let Justice Roll Down"

I realize it's been a month since this blog has been updated. Man, has it been a busy month. From AP Art to school to family and holidays to whatever else, I have been trying to juggle it all. My heart longs for time off and for a summer that might give me a break. Then again, there is something sweet about having much to do. I guess I'm just wanting a change in routine and new thoughts in my head. 

My school is currently abuzz due to the art show this tuesday. I'm in a class called Independent Art, so I get a whole table of my own. The night is dedicated to all of the arts so there will also be live music and drama performances. Afterwards, I will try to swing by another school's art show if I have time, since it happens to be on the same night. Tuesday will be great.

A month from now is the deadline to turn in my AP portfolio. I am pleased to say that I am finished with it. Finished! Well, I still have a few details to take care of, but I'm not counting that. The art making process is over. Relief, relief, oh such sweet relief.

The piece above is the last concentration piece (I think). Lot's of different mediums show up in this one; eggshell, foil, book pages, graphite, ink, charcoal.  At first glance, the meaning may not be clear, so I'll give a whack at explaining. I named it "Let Justice Roll Down" to call attention to the justice we need in a racially divided society. The world we are greedily tugging at and shaping is falling apart. We are all pointing fingers and balling our fists. And for what? Can't America get past that slavery is over? Can't we all just accept that humans have no say about what skin they are to inhabit when they are gifted to the earth? Yet we keep our deep seated hatred and bitterness. We are offered a solution. We can love each other. Though love may not have answers to all of our questions, it will help us heal and make us stronger. 

-M

The Order of Triangles

"Fractured Thought"

"Lovely Ladies"

Hurrah for spring and hurrah for spring break! I wake to a glorious morning (uh, afternoon) that makes me throw open my window and break open my portfolio. All year have I been adding work after work to this portfolio. Never have I taken the time to go through it all. Life has been so busy and I have been caught in the web of it. 

So as I was digging through my portfolio I found a few pieces I have nearly forgotten about. The pieces featured in this post are pieces that have been a bit underappreciated. They aren't prizewinners, but I love them. They were made about two years apart, but they belong to each other the way cousins do. Triangles are a quiet obsession of mine. They seem to evoke a feeling of order, importance and clarity. I love using them in my work, but it doesn't happen often. 

I plan to do lots of art during Spring break, including some commission work with an urban theme. I'll post something about its progress later next week. 

-M