Self Portrait Project- Elysha Torres

     As you can see I am not the best drawer but I tried my best. My self portrait was inspired by Jean Michel Basquait. I chose him because I loved how he expressed himself and incorporated backgrounds and embodied his cultures in their.  Also creating a piece of his art work would be difficult to do. I wanted to view and portray myself in a way that was very different to what I would expect. I felt like drawing myself in different situations and different kinds of light that would help me explore myself such as my identity. I always wanted to be the perfect person in relationships and friendships which I understood there was never a perfect person in life. People look beautiful regardless of how they look describe in the pictures above. People tend to think they do not look beautiful just because they may look different than what people expect. I chose my portrait to represent me  which I did not have a color scheme to it which I tended to use the same colors as in the inspiring pictures. Michael Basquait crown in his pictures were described as his logo in which it was shown in his favorite show called the little rascals. Which his girlfriend and her roommate which they expressed how Basquait watched the show religiously and at the end of the show it showed a crown. The crown was also used to attack western histories and despite black men as saints and kings. Which this is still very important in today's society with everything going on with black lives matter. 

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)

"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)

Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met

“I’m not back, I’m back and forth.” A dual citizen, she is married to Mario Lazzaroni, a consultant, who is from Italy." 

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.

Ava's Final Project

For my final project, I decided to paint two canvasses of myself inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent Van Gogh has always stood out to me from many different artists because of his life story. Van Gogh struggled with depression and often suffered manic episodes and delusions. He was put into a mental asylum where he was receiving treatment for his mental health. Van Gogh had a difficult time finding his own painting styles and his own personal looks for his work. Once his mental health started to decline, he used it to his advantage in his art work and used any hallucinations and mental battles into his work. This is when he gained his own methods of art. Van Gogh also experienced traumatic events as he cut his own ear off during an altercation and committing suicide. Although most people admire his popular works, such as A Starry Night, he did not gain a lot of recognition and respect. It wasn't till after his death, that he received the attention he deserved for his work. 

  There are similar themes in Van Gogh's life story and with different articles we read in class. Many artists suffered from mental health issues and felt that they had to live up to a certain standard of society. We learned as a class about many different artists who wanted to break beauty standards and create work they truly wanted to, such as Frida Khalo. This made me feel as though Vincent Van Gogh could be a great addition to the themes and topics we have studied in class because he also took a great amount of time to find his own style because he was trying to have similar art styles as other artists.

I am definitely not an artist but tried my best to paint a Van Gogh inspired portrait of myself. Van Gogh painted with oil paints but I decided not to. The first one I created was the bottom one but I was not pleased with the outcome so I decided to include both portraits. I sketched a portrait of myself on both canvasses and painted them with the swirly patterns Van Gogh used. The bottom picture involved a lot of swirls and brighter colors. I tried to copy more of Van Gogh's picture in the top picture. Van Gogh is seen wearing a blue top with an opening in the middle along with the blue background, which I tried to re-create in my portrait with different shades of green. His work hardly shows plain, solid colors and there is normally streaks and multiple colors overlapping. This is what I wanted to keep alive in my work as well.

 

SELFIE WITH ANDY WARHOL

 

    As you can tell my selfies are inspired by Andy Warhol as he use to use repeating images and very bright colors. His art work is very unique and stands out to a lot of artists. I chose this particular selfie as self caring because it shows that I am in a happy place even on our worse days at work or school you have to smile. Self care is a lot of things such as taking care of your mental health and physical self but to also be sure you are having fun and caring for yourself first. I took this picture after a hard day at work and I was very stressed I ended up taking a whole bunch of pictures. 

Finkelstein, Chapter 2 Manners - 

"As I stopped at the traffic light, I had touched the electric button to close the passenger window. When they turned to look at me, I was looking at them but actually looking at my window" (Pg 75) 

I chose this quote because while i was taking this picture it was at a stop sign where the car next to me was staring at me taking this selfie. This specific quote can mean a-lot of things such as no one can see inside the car because they have something that blocks it or even blocking people out. As well still being traumatized to the current car crash that occurred. 

"The rules of etiquette can appear frivolous and superficial ; they are, after all, not obviously related to the important activities of commerce and politics. Yet they are the medium through which everyday instrumental and pragmatic activities are expressed". (Pg 77) 

I chose this quote because this is very true because this is a very important quote as people do express important activities of commerce and politices till this day especially when Covid-19 first happened and Black Lives Matter protest where happening all over the world. 

Finkelstein, Chapter 3- 

"We are in an era where impressions matter, and where reputation is both an asset and a liability. Part of our daily maintenance now is to secure personal details and prevent becoming ‘anonymized’ or invisible." (Pg 122)   

Impressions always mattered even when you first meet someone you have 5 seconds to make the first impression or people will just think bad about you or judge you on those 5 seconds you gave as an impression and than there goes your reputation. 

"It minimum the self is bifurcated, it has a double ; there is the conscious and unconscious, private and public, civilized and base, good and bad, and we can create ourselves as well-rounded beings from the management of these seemingly opposed elements. (Pg 126) 

 

122) 

Warhol and Basquiat ESSAY- ELYSHA TORRES

 

Elysha Torres 

Professor Cacoilo

ART 2421105 Self: Image

   Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat both have a very unique way of expressing themselves through their artwork. Both of their artwork catches any person's eye with the things they use in their art work such as bright colors and many different interesting layouts. Watching the documentary of these artists I know understand why their art works the way they did. Andy Warhol was born on august 16 of 1928 in a neighborhood of Oakland in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Where his parents were both Slovakian immigrants in which his dad was a construction worker and his mom was an embroiderer. Andy Warhol's family kept their culture alive. On the other hand Jean Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960 where his mom was also born in Brooklyn but his parents are from Puerto Rico. Jean Michel Basquiat's dad was an immigrant from Port- Au-Prince Haiti. Growing up he had the privilege to become fluent in french, spanish and english. In both this is a common thing that both Andy Warhol's and Jean Michel Basquiat since they both spent time learning about their culture and heritage as well as being the main focus of it in their lives. While growing up it has been said that both of them have been through a physical setback which brought the main focus into their art work over the years.

    While both the artists suffered from either something physical or mentally it did not stop them at any moment. Stated in an article called Biography " Andy Warhol was contracted by Chorea in which is a rare and fatal disease in the nervous system that left him bedridden for several months. In those several months Warhol had taken his very first drawing class from his mother who is a skillful artist." Drawing was soothing for Warhol and his favorite childhood pastime during the several months sick in bed. His mother also bought him a camera in which he took a-lot of photography.

    Jean Michel Basquiat suffered from a broken arm and ruptured spleen at the end causing to undergo a splenectomy , because of a car accident he was in at the age of 8. While having to go through surgery for his ruptured spleen lead him to read Gray's Anatomy reading the famous medical and artistic treatise the images that belonged to this text as to the comic book art  and cartoons Basquiat was informed by the graffiti inscribed canvases he is known for. His parents ended up getting divorced. He lived with his father alone because his mother was determined unfit to take care of him due to her having mental health issues . During the time he was growing up he was physically and emotionally abused which ended up making him run away from home and getting adopted by a friend's family. He ended up dropping out of school by the age of 17. 

    Before time Andy Warhol  became famous for his art work he was a commercial artist which was his career at the time. It did take him some time to get the career as he graduated college in 1949 and did not end up getting a job within Glamour magazine in the 1950's. He ended up getting awards for his uniquely whimsical style using his own blotted line technique and rubber stamps to create all his drawings. He ended up partnering with Tiffany and Co. , Vogue and RCA records. 

    Basquiat even though he dropped out of school he still ended up having a successful career as an artist as well as collaborating with many people including Warhol. Basquiant artwork is expressed as neo expressionism and primitivism. He usually focused on wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. He expressed himself in painting by historical information but when he first started people knew him for his art work painting graffiti in the late 1970's. 

“Andy Warhol.” Edited by The Biography.com website, Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 6 Mar. 2020, www.biography.com/artist/andy-warhol.

“Andy Warhol: Ads Portfolio.” Edited by Merritt Gallery, Merritt Gallery, 20 Sept. 2018, www.merrittgallery.com/andy-warhol-ads-portfolio/.

“Basquiat Biography, Life & Quotes.” Edited by The Art Story, The Art Story, 2021 , www.theartstory.org/artist/basquiat-jean-michel/life-and-legacy/.

 

flag self portrait

     I chose to create a flag that represented something that holds a lot of meaning in life today. So I made a flag using my NJCU wrestling sweat shirt for inspiration. The reason why I chose NJCU wrestling as theme of my flag is because it has played a serious role in my life. I had never wrestled before in my life and I took this as an opportunity to work on myself as a person. Although the program was recruiting experienced wreslters I wanted to prove to myself and other people who want to try and compete in this sport and are new to it as well, that even a novice can become elite if he or she tries hard enough. wrestling helped me look past difficult situations as life will always be our greatest opponent no matter how many times it can take you down you can always get back up and work past your difficulties.

selfie 2/3

 

    "An American painter and sculptor, Robert Longo centers his practice on transposing images and the resulting transformation of meaning. His flag is based on his 2016 large-scale charcoal drawing, completed the day of the recent presidential election. Depicting the American flag on two panels separated by five inches, the flag reflects the current symptomatic divide in the country."

"A rising star on the international art scene, Alex Da Corte works with objects and materials detached from their original function, giving then new potential both symbolically and formally. His flag is a replica of a drawing made by Ree Morton for a 1970s art project. This flag celebrates Ree and all of the friend families we form."

“That’s such a real feeling, and something we don’t often see in a work of art,” Ms. Elsayed said. “We see the prizewinning piece” — not the nagging insecurities that may have accompanied its creation."

    "The success Ms. O’Reilly mentioned began percolating in 2003, when Ms. Elsayed had a solo exhibition at the Jersey City Museum."

    “I was young, in my 30s. That experience created a lot of opportunities for me,” Ms. Elsayed said. “It was a big break.” 

Selfie 1/27

 

"To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge"

"To collect photographs is to collect the world"

“Everyone can relate to this work,” Sann said. “It’s not just Black women; it’s white women, Asian women."

"selfhood shifts through passage of time; the sudden distance between people, both passable and impassable; the roles that women accumulate and oscillate between; how life emanates from the small space we occupy in the world."