As long as necessity is socially dreamed, dreaming will remain necessary. The spectacle is the bad dream of a modern society in chains and ultimately expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep.

I wanted to dive into Vincent Van Gogh and his work to create something different for my last two pieces. He often tried to mimick other artists' work and wanted to live up to society standards. When he broke those boundaries and created his own styles, that is when he found himself as an artist. It wasn't till after he killed himself that he was recognized. I found his self portraits and want to create something inspired by how he created them, as well as incorporating styles from his other work.

Last self portrait

 

Quote: "The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images." 

So what Carrie Mae Weems explains in her pictures are Carrie has always used her art as a vehicle for exploring race, society, and politics. With that in mind, this photograph seems to speak of the challenges presented by life itself.  She explains a story of an African American male trying to survive in contemporary society.  African American men go through numerous things in todays society which is kind of disappointing in a sense.  This photo Inspired me because I can relate to what Carrie is trying to explain.  Growing up is kind of hard being a African American male because you don't know what to expect. 

Last self portrait

 

"In a world which really is topsy-turvy, the true is a moment of the false."- The Society of the Spectacle 

Last self portrait

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone because I am the person I know best."

"They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality"

I got inspired by Frida Kahlo because she was forced to stay home for a long time due to a bad injury caused by a car accident and she was always alone so she decided to paint self-portraits since she was always alone.

Now, and during the pandemic, all of us were forced to stay home, and sometimes we were alone and depressed and I thought that we can use this time to sit with ourselves and think about all the good things in our life that get us to this point.

For my final project, I was thinking to do of taking some of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits and edit them so anyone can use his pictures in it and it may inspire people to explore themselves and know more about their identity during this pandemic while they were setting alone.

Last Selfie Protrait

 

"The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as society itself, as a part of society, and as a means of unification. As a part of society, it is ostensibly the focal point of all vision and all consciousness. But due to the very fact that this sector is separate, it is, in reality, the domain of delusion and false consciousness: the unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of universal separation."

last self portrait

 

“Everything that was once lived has become a mere representation” -society of the spectacle  

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Kathleen DaSilva

Professor Cacoilo

Art Self Image

April 21, 2021

        When we think of artist, it’s clear that the first thing that comes to mind is how their pieces might have touched or moved us in some way. Two artists that were influential and inspirational are Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Andy Warhol having been diagnosed with Sydenham’s chorea at a young age, maintained much of his time confined to bed. In that time in bed rest, he drew, listened to the radio, and collected pictures of movie stars. The Warhol family had few luxuries due to the Great Depression-era. However, his parents bought him his first camera when he was eight years old. Andy Warhol years later, started his career with consumer ad designer by painting items that were used throughout most days and those commercial ads were created to devoting more attention to the concept of “pop art”. His artwork theme also revolved around money, time, death and without a doubt, celebrity. It was clear that Warhol had an obsession with different celebrities and fame. “I’ve got to do something different, that will be very personal, that won’t feel like I’m doing exactly what they’re doing” (Andy Warhol Documentary Film Part 1 of 2). Much like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat also focused on abstracts and his theme also reflected on the idea of wealth and how it compared to poverty. On the other hand, Basquiat’s work seemed to be on the darker note of reality. His pieces expressed the struggle of segregation that blacks would endure. 

Despite their rough upcoming, their own experiences are placed in their work. Both having come from tough situations of life; they present the idea of not having the finer things life had to offer. With Warhol and his family going through the Great Depression and Basquiat having left home to live on the streets at a young age at a time where racism controlled everyday life. Both artists demonstrate the harsh reality and cruelness the world could potentially offer. I also strongly believe that from their work you can see bits and pieces of themselves. In Basquiat’s artwork, it can be described as different, raw, curious and maybe even somewhat weird. However, all those descriptions about himself, reflect in his work. His work is messy but creative, strange but clever, odd but colorful. “Jean was doing a much more intensely radical, bohemian style” (Jean Michel Basquiat / The Radiant Child, 2010) Overall, his pieces have hidden meanings that I think bring out his character, much like Warhol. Warhol was described as being bright and unafraid of what others would think of his work. Both Basquiat and Warhol carried that confident characteristic. With Warhol, he was also different and unique which clearly reflected in his eye-catching and lively portraits. I believe these incredible artists became synonymous with their work. As mentioned previously, each one of these artists have different styles but the overall meaning behind their work falls hand in hand. In the era of Warhol, he become infatuated with drawing celebrities. This concept played a role in his work because growing up, he was not able to afford the luxuries of life. The irony of not being able to live lavishly but painting those who could such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor. In the eyes of the media, Basquiat’s pieces were in a sense a representation of the current social injustices and inequality. It seemed as if he was trying to paint a portrait of how others viewed the black community. 

    His portraits not only were unique but were meant to send out a message to the public. For their techniques, each artist has their own style. Andy Warhol preferred the form of acrylic painting on a canvas, photography and screen printing. Jean preferred painting on paper or canvas but even painted on materials he found on streets such as doors or scrapes or foam rubber which became relevant to the time he spent living on the street. “He used to make the joke that you date his work by the different sneakers he wore over the years” (Jean Michel Basquiat / The Radiant Child, 2010). Yet another way he made sure to bring his struggles into his pieces. From living most of his life on the streets, sometimes he would walk all over his pieces and leave behind his footprint physically on his artwork. In conclusion, both of these artists left their mark on the world through their work and it still moves and relates to individuals today. 

SELF PORTRAIT PROJECT

Anna Mendieta

Perspective vs. reality

Jean- Michael Basquiat 

    While creating this piece, Jean- Michael Basquiat and Anna Mendieta inspire me in as both artists have a different way of expressing their art. While looking at Anna Mendieta's art gives me the idea of her expressing her situation at home with her art, which inspire me to take pictures of how I’ve been feeling since we started quarantine. For me personally has been like a nightmare not be able to see people, to communicate face-to-face, to go out, and between others. On the other side, Basquiat gave me an idea of enjoying the art to have fun with it. This is the first piece of art that kind of make me feel express, the idea of how I have been feeling vs how I’ve been projecting myself to others. Making this piece was kind of fun my sister helps me to take the pictures, she was very supportive but strict at the same time. She also helps me to get the material as she is the artist in the family.  

Quotes:

"The heavily coded image with its plethora of visible clues signalled the inauthenticity of the kiss and dulled any frisson suggested by the act." (pg 187)

"The birth of fashion coincides with other changes in society and heralds an era in which individual desires are made into realizable pursuits." (pg. 192)

"The importance of fashion cannot be underestimated as an influence on the everyday world we inhabit." (pg.192)

"Being able to read the surface for insights into the interior, and be- coming adept at constructing surface appearances through the control of detail, are processes fundamental to contemporary social relations. Since the late twentieth century fashionability in clothes, cosmetics, body shape and material possessions have all become loquacious as more personal attributes are attached to them." (pg. 195)

Janissa’s Self Portrait Project

 

I would like to start off by saying that I am not the best at drawing realistic faces and I tried my best, Ive only drawn animated characters my whole life so this was something a little new to me. In my self portrait I tried to incorporate idea’s from a few of the artist. I loved Amy Sheralds use of graphite for the body of the portrait and then using color for the clothing, so I drew myself and shaded it in pencil and then painted my hoodie. Fun Fact, the hoodie is actually a Keith Haring hoodie and I painted that one not only because it is my favorite hoodie but because he is also an artist so I thought it was cool (I ran out of white paint so the blue of the hoodie is very off it is supposed to be a very pretty light blue :/ ). My background is inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat by the drawing that is in the squares, also inspired by Andy Warhol by using a repeated image with bright pop out colors in boxes. For the background I used Milo markers and paint markers, the hoodie is painted with acrylic paint, and the face is drawn with pencils and shaded with shading tools. 

Ava's Self Portrait Project

 

Amy Sherald and Andy Warhol inspired me to create my self portrait piece. Both artists' work are very different from each other but I wanted to incorporate ideas from both of them as a way to show myself in my own self portrait. I loved reading about Sherald's work and admiring her art. I thought her art was empowering because she always displayed women to be powerful, beautiful, and strong. I found it important to have art published demonstrating women as leaders because we live in a world where women do not receive the same equalities as men do. When drawing my portrait of myself, I tried to use solid, bright colors and draw myself simply, the same way her art is. She often showed the women in her portraits to be standing tall and confident. Most of her portraits showed women in pretty dresses, which inspired me to create my own. I used colored pencils to color in the dress, my hair, my face, and the background a contrasting, solid color. Once I drew my picture, I took a picture of it and uploaded it onto my phone, where I created a collage of the same image four times. Then I changed the colors in three of the pictures to resemble Warhol's pop art. Warhol stuck out to me from every artist we learned because I admired how much he struggled with growing up, such as his Sydenham disorder, and how he chose to use that struggle in a creative, beneficial way. I have struggled my life with many mental health issues and trauma that I would use to express myself through music and acting. Warhol's story is very moving because of how successful he became and continued to never give up. Taking something bad and making it something great is a hard but amazing thing to do. Because of this, I felt a connection to Warhol and made my portrait a repeating image with different, bright colors to resemble Andy Warhol.

Self Portrait Project - Big Money Sign

 

Some materials that I use while doing this project were color pencils and a poster-board and I also used crayons.  The reason why I used color pencils was because it was easier to color on the board.  When it comes to coloring with crayons or colored pencils the shading is usually different. The process I went through was kind of hard.  I personally was trying to figure out what I could relate to when it came to the artist.  The reason why I was inspired by the “Dollar Sign” by Andy Warhol was because I like money a lot and I think that it plays a big factor on my life.  Fashion and media play a role in identity and cultural and societal norms because in today's society that is what people are aiming for.  People post all of the fashion of social platforms because people are glued to the internet.  Honestly people are influenced by other peoples fashion because they want to dress like them or look like them.  Some themes that are addressed in the work of the artists is identity. So the meaning of my project is very simple.    The artist that inspired my project was Andy Warhol because he is a free hand drawer.  It seems to be that when Andy is drawing his portraits has to do with collages. I feel like my project speaks about money.  Money played a big factor to Andy Warhol because money meant a lot to him. Not only did Andy love money but he totally understood it. 
Quotes: 
“Fashion might suggest that we share the aesthetic valves circulate around desirable objects” pg:190 
“The importance of fashion cannot be underestimate as an influence on the everyday world we inhabit” pg: 192 
“Fashion is a system of classification that engages the imagination and trains us to recognize the symbolic impact of material goods” pg: 195

Collage self portrait

 

                          Excuse my thumb lol

 For my collage piece I took inspiration from Andy Warhol’s work. Warhol’s uses printmaking to correlate the mass production through media in American society, which holds up in today’s issues of mass production and social influences of mass media. As humans we have always been drawn to a sense of fitting into our social environment and it’s no different today. With social media we are more surrounded by perfected images for public face.  Advertisements for just about anything, are not just selling you their product, but to convince you that their product will make you your idealized self, the idealized public faces you see in media. This tool of capitalism relies on you being insecure, and wanting to reach the unattainable and unrealistic images of the media. But being conscious of this is only half the battle. In my self portrait I address how even knowing that I’m playing a part of what I think I should look like and want to be perceived on social media and in public. I cut up an old paycheck to show the financially profitable side of how images are used to sell an ideal and used a linoleum print to show both mass production and how often advertisers (especially in fashion) promise authenticity and individuality. When in reality these products supposedly selling individuality, are in fact mass produced.

My inspiration:

Quotes:

“It is a testament to her belief that, like street theater or religious rituals, art can nudge viewers towards congregation.” (Wangechi Mutu). 

“The spectacle reduces reality to an endless supply of commodifiable fragments, while encouraging us to focus on appearances. For Debord, this constituted an unacceptable “degradation” of our lives.” (The society of the spectacle) 

“In addition the notoriety of this image demonstrated that appearances are ambiguous and easily appropriated, that they can easily be converted from challenges to the status quo into techniques that sustain it.” (Finkelstein pg. 188) 

“The connections of personality and identity with material objects also make us into commodities. Celebrities endorse and embody specific products and lifestyles. Behind the familiar faces and endorsed prod- ucts are invitations to self-invent. The Hollywood movie star, sports hero and pop idol are advertisements for various material goods as well as abstract personal qualities.” (Finkelstein pg 206)

Self Care Selfie with Andy Warhol

 

My selfies are inspired by Andy Warhol. Warhol used bright colors and repeated images in his art. I always loved pop art, I think it is very beautiful. I chose these particular pictures to show my way of self care by showing me in a happy state of mind. Self care isn’t just worrying about the physical things. I took these pictures at the beach. I was having a bad week so I decided to head to the beach and just relax with my friend. The beach truly is a great place to relax my mind and bring me happiness. 

 

 

Self Portrait Project

 

 Z in a New Light 

    My self portrait “Z in a New Light" was inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat. I chose him because I loved that he always incorporated and embodied his culture, background, and values in his pieces. He always gave homage to his African American roots and he viewed that part of him as royalty. I also chose him because I knew creating a self portrait in his art style would challenge me. I wanted to view and portray myself in a way that I would have never thought to. In addition to that, this class made me want to explore my identity more. I felt that drawing myself in a different light would help me explore myself on a deeper level. I’ve always been very particular with my image and the way I make myself look to others. I always wanted to be the “perfect girl” , the “pretty girl” but with this piece I found that there is beauty in the unorthodox. The colors that I chose to use in my piece represent me and my fashion because it was vibrant and completely random. Usually when people get dressed they have an “aesthetic”. An aesthetic in fashion is basically your style or your taste. I don’t have one. I go with what I feel and let it make something beautiful. I know the self portrait I created shows that. I didn’t have a set color scheme when I colored it. I let the markers speak to me and I put it on paper. Naturally, at first I thought it had to be perfect with straight lines and such but that’s not what Basquiat represented. He emphasized the beauty in being imperfect. The jagged lines and the uneven shapes is what made his pieces so amazing. When creating my piece I solely focused on recreating his “Self Portrait As a Heel”. It was so simple but so beautiful to me. I wish I could paint like he did but the markers that I used gave me the result that I was aiming for.

Finkelstein, Chapter 5 Fashion : 

" Looking at fashion is more than observing the predominance of highly promoted luxury goods, extravagant patterns of consumption and celebrity endorsements of leisure activities and lifestyles." page 213 

2-More recent (2016) article in Hyperallergic Magazine:

" Which is more important, the expression of the feeling itself, or the knowledge that it will be documented and seen by others?"

" It is the advertisements plastered on the subway and the pop-up ads that appear in your browser. It is the listicle telling you “10 things you need to know about ‘x.”

Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met

“The NewOnes, will free Us,” they represent, for Ms. Mutu, “words that we haven’t heard, people we haven’t noticed. They will be our redemption.”

Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey

Mutu is best known for spectacular and provocative collages depicting female figures—part human, animal, plant, and machine—in fantastical landscapes that are simultaneously unnerving and alluring, defying easy categorization and identification.

Self Portrait Collage

 

Amy Sherald "There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart" (2019)

Andy Warhol "Marilyn Monroe" (1967) 

Dominique Holley "Self- Representation in Media" (2021) 

     I used Amy Sherald and Andy Warhol as inspiration for my self-portrait collage. Amy Sherald's work displays black women and men to help insert them into the art world. She usually paints vibrant backgrounds which creates a contrast against the darker she uses to paint black people. Andy Warhol's work has themes based on celebrities. He has many works that are based around famous people. For my project, I used cutouts from magazines are based on fashion, trends, and celebrities. These magazines often have many advertisements that are used to influence their audience to buy things. Amy Sherald inspired me to use the black women found in these everyday magazines to create a contrast on the bright background. Andy Warhol's celebrity themes made me focus primarily on how black famous women are depicted in media. As a young black woman, it is important to see how people like me are presented in society. It is also inspiring to young black women and girls to see people like them receiving highly recognized rewards and breaking barriers. 
    Advertising and media play a significant role in society and cultural norms. Advertising target an audience in an effort to persuade them to buy items to fit a certain lifestyle. The media uses celebrities and social media influencers to set the image that advertisers are advertising. Companies will send famous people free products to display on their social media and write about in blogs, then will advertise the same products to everyday people. These products are viewed as exclusive and make the general public buy these items so they can identify with the famous. Magazines do this by using celebrity images to display trends, new products, and lifestyle changes, which essentially sets the norms for society. The media creates a specific lifestyle that they then advertise to the general public and it creates the society we live in. 

An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle'

Images influence our lives and beliefs on a daily basis; advertising manufactures new desires and aspirations. 

Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met 

"in classical African art, the female body in some instances is the museum — she is where the art is placed."

Finkelstien Chapter 5 "Fashion" 

"Fashion is a system of classification that engages the imagination and trains us to recognize the symbolic impact of material goods" (195)

"It is more difficult in the twenty-first century to trust the links between appearances and character, despite the connection being regularly reiterated" (207) 

SELF PORTRAIT PROJECT COLLAGE

 

inspirational portrait

Self appreciation

An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’:

·         The Spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.

·         The media interprets (and reduces) the world for us with the use of simple narratives.

·         “The Spectacle presents itself as something enormously positive, indisputable and inaccessible. It says nothing more than ‘that which appears is good, that which is good appears,’”

·         Gradually, we begin to conflate visibility with value. If something is being talked about and seen, we assume that it must be important in some way.

Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met:

·         “remembers as a little girl having to take a secret oath to promise never to be a traitor. There was killing, there was cruelty, and there were foreigners telling your elders what to do, ” Ms. Mutu continues.

Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey

·         Mutu encourages audiences to consider these mythical worlds as places for cultural, psychological, and socio-political exploration and transformation.

 

 

I give my collage the title of “Self-appreciation”. I used paper collage to collect the background. Andy Warhol and Kehinde Wiley were my inspirational in my project. Looking at their portraits I felt like, they are trying to highlight the personality more than the look, the only thing that really matters is your identity. No one is supposed to be ashamed of who they are.

I made the background in color referring to how life can get busy, and we do not know which direction we should follow. On the other hand, I changed my picture to black and white as a way to express that I should never loose my identity and always define myself even in the middle of the darkest days.

Work cited:

•          Purje, Tiernan Morgan & Lauren. “An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle'.” Hyperallergic, 14 May 2017, hyperallergic.com/313435/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-the-spectacle/.

·         Princenthal, Nancy. “Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/arts/design/wangechi-mutu-metropolitan-museum.html.

·         “Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey.” Brooklyn Museum: Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey, www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/wangechi_mutu/.

 

 

Selfie with Cindy Sherman

Susan Sontag: On Photography

 

“The picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist, which is like what’s in the picture”

 

“While a painting or a prose description can never be other than a narrowly lective interpretation, a photograph can be treated as a narrowly selective transparency.” 

 

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems Landmark “Kitchen Table Series” by Jacque Palumbo for artsy

 

“Everyone can relate to this work”

 

“It’s not just black women; it’s white women, Asian women. Men can see the women in their lives- memories from their childhood or scenes from their marriage or their family life. It’s so universal and yet representation like this is so rare”

 

The Cindy Sherman Effect by Phoebe Hoban for ArtNews

 

“ Shermans coup was to cast her self as subject matter, making each of her staged characters the star of an implicit narrative, from the lush color centerfolds that followed the “film stills” in 1982, to the strangely sexualized “broken dolls” of the ‘90”

 

“ there is a whole new crop of artists whose sensibility has been shaped by the Internet and social media, major influences that didn’t even exist when Sherman first began her photographic odyssey”