Project of self design Artist Statement

Artist Statement

This artwork on Self Design has changed quite a lot from when it first started, however the meaning behind the artwork is still the same. The artworks visuals have however changed. The artwork is intended to present the question of how our nicknames alter our behavior and how our behavior initially causes those around us to give us those nicknames. One can see that 'the self" is changed by those around us whether we are aware of it or not, how,  all of these nicknames basically create multiple persona within the person. Where originally the behavior was just a characteristic of the person. the addition of a nickname based on the behavior creates a personality.

This event of  the nickname creation changes the person and thus showing we are not totally in control of our own design but rather those around us and the connotations of the nicknames through where they come from become the tools of our design,
The first series of images are preliminary works that show these characters (nicknames) in the host. One can see that these images were done digitally this is because the original attempt at special effects makeup did not appear as powerful as this imagery.
  We can also see that due to so many multiple nicknames a persons personality becomes cluttered and chaotic, this is portrayed in the final artwork which is a digital painting of all of these characters/nicknames interacting with one another, the scene is over cluttered, and the characters are not getting along, the feeling of chaos is evident .

"Just me"

"The angry Krogan"

 

 "The Reptile of Reptilian knowledge"

 

"Silvaris the NOOB slayer"

"Chewbacca ... maybe i need a haircut"

 

"Poison Ivy, we could just become eco terrorists"

" The Firefly, i will troll this server until all the NOOBS leave"

Final Artwork

"Where is my Mind"

Artist Statement

Artist Statement

This project is an exploration of how the people around us influence what we become or how we act based on the nicknames they give us and the connotations connected to those nicknames. For this Project I am redesigning myself to look like the characters of the nicknames that I have been given. I will create these characters through special effects makeup. The characters that I have been given as nicknames are the following.
I have been called a Krogan when I get mad and argue with people, this nickname was given to me by my boyfriend: The Krogan is an alien species from the "Mass Effect " game universe, this species is very aggressive and the phrase that shall be used was chosen by my boyfriend " Krogans dont listen to the opinions of others, they just crush anyone who has one"
My friend calls me Ivy this is because of a conversation we had one day and our futures, I told her that if I fail as an artist that I would become an eco terrorist like Poison Ivy, and from then on that is what she has called me, the phrase my friend has chosen is  "."
I was called Reptile in Highschoool because of my knoweledge in reptiles and because I was a member of the earth active committee and because of this I recieved the slippery serpent award and the subtitle shall be the phrase for Reptile "Most likely to be bitten by a snake, many times over".
When I worked at the game store known as PVP, one of the people there called me Chewbacca because of all the long hair, so for this character I want to be quite still and the phrase shall be the sound that Chewbacca makes "brrrrrrggggggghhh"
Then for the Nickname Sims it will just be me as i am smiling, and my phrase will be simple "this is me".
The Nickname Firefly is from a gaming character of mine that is a pixie and who's sole purpose is to annoy the other gamers for fun, so the phrase for this character shall be in an annoying voice as well " guess who stole your kill!!!!"
Then lastly my other gaming nickname is Silvaris this gaming avatar is a very serious elf but also friendly, for her phrase I shall say " hey all! hope you have a lovely day of gaming but if you are a noob please leave"

For this artwork I am showing videos of myself becoming these characters that have been imposed on me, the idea is to ask the question who are we really? If we are so heavily influenced by those around us in our own self design then what is the real us, what is made of my own design that hasn't been influenced by anyone else. I think that this will raise those questions with other peope who throughout there lives have had many nicknames and thus connotations placed on them. I find the concept of self design to be rather difficult in the sense that one cannot design the self without hte influence of others.

project of Self Design concept

My idea

For my idea, i will be incorporating all three of the projects as one. i would like to portray myself as the nicknames my friends have given me over the years. The nicknames that i have been given by my friends are (and reasons): 

Poison Ivy 

( i once made a joke with a friend that if i fail as an artist i will become an ecoterrorist like poison ivy)

Chewbacca

 (i was called that because of how long and wild my hair is)

Krogan

 ( ive been told that when i'm angry, i argue like a krogan)

Firefly 

( this is an avatar i use in online gaming, she is a super bubbly pixie that is also annoying)

Silvaris 

( another gaming avatar that very serious but also friendly, she is a elf)

Reptile

 (In high school i was known for my knowledge in reptiles, i was part on the environmental committee)

Sims

(this is just my most common nickname and represent i think the trues me)

I want to illustrate how the people around us, actually influence the way we behave based on the nicknames and boxes they put us in. I think in a way it helps us evolve as a person and is an interesting form of self design where those around you design you, but at the same time it stunts our own individual attempts at self design.

my own little sketch

in the sketch you can kind of get an idea of what i want to do.

in the little blank blocks i want to add films made of photo stills, in each of the films i will be making myself look like the characters made in the nicknames i have been given. i will be using special effect make up. and above the films if possible i will make a little animation or painting on photoshop of all these variations of me.

for the make up i want the people who gave me the nicknames to help put the makeup on me.

i will use props and liquid latex and other mediums   

Digital Art Essay 301

Digital art essay                                                                                                      05/03/2014
Simone Beneke                                                                                                    212 505 903

In Boris Groys article "Self- Design and aesthetic responsibility"  one can clearly see that his theories are agreeable. In his ideas of Self Design and Aesthetic responsibility  the following things are discussed; the attempt for art to go beyond the artistic realm and into the political sphere in which they can influence; how this then results in the artist having to become the artwork in order for their artwork to be valued in society, this is as a result of  the media becoming the grand artist, how this means that no longer only politicians and the famous become artworks but how now due to internet and modern social media all people have now the responsibility of their own self design and aesthetic appeal, then furthermore how we assume we are being deceived by the artwork of the self design as we assume there is a more horrible truth behind the artwork. Through  Cindy Sherman and her artworks Boris Groys theory shall be discussed as we can see how Cindy takes on the ideals of Self-design and aesthetic responsibility.

In Boris Groys essay he states, 'The problem is not art’s incapacity to become truly political. The problem is that today’s political sphere has already become aestheticized. When art becomes political, it is forced to make the unpleasant discovery that politics has already become art", one can clearly see through this statement that art strives to become part of the change in the world and not merely make it appear nicer as it did In the past, as art  had  in history played a major role in the portrayal of politics and created the images of what was wanted however today politics creates its own aesthetics to appeal to the masses, there is no longer a clear gap between art and politics; therefore if an artist desires to touch the world of the political realm they themselves need to become the artwork. A good example of this is Cindy Sherman.  Cindy Sherman has in a way become an artwork, this is because most of her artworks portray herself however they are not designed to be images of herself but rather depictions of other people and the role that they are fulfilling in a moment in time who oddly resemble her in appearance. In a way  through her not giving her works a title the media or viewer is left with the responsibility of deciding the background of the persons story, thus creating a larger target audience as it will fall into aesthetic appeal that makes sense to the viewer due to its anonymity and that they can impose their own world view on it: Because  Cindy Sherman is herself the artwork through self design her work is valued as she is valued as an artwork, when one thinks of Cindy Sherman one thinks of the characters she portrays and not her. An example of one of her artworks that show self design in a way that affected its audience is "Untitled #93". Due to its lack of title there can be free interpretation of the image, Cindy Sherman saw it as a story of a women who has just gotten home after partying and has a hangover, however regardless of her interpretation many people saw it as a rape survivor which influenced many viewers. The act of allowing the viewers to interact without the influence of the artist is known as the death of the author, the author/artist removes themselves from the artwork and allows the viewers to engage with it .  Through this one can see that for art to touch the realm of politics and make an impact in the world , the artist must become the artwork.

Untitled #93, 1981

Self design and aesthetic responsibility later changes from a minority based  process entitled to only the famous and  into a majority based process, this is due to the advent of multimedia capabilities of our technological society where internet and social networking allow all people to self design and promote themselves. It can be seen that self design is now shaping our society. In the statement by Boris Groys " : today, to decide to present oneself as ethically bad is to make an especially good decision in terms of self-design (genius=swine)." we can see that by promoting oneself as bad/rebellious will result in the artist being an artwork within themselves and being in addition more famous and well known. Further more due to  the inherent suspicion an audience has of being deceived by  self design one is constantly looking for the cracks to see the ugly truth, this has then brought about the action of self sacrifice, where the artwork/artist confirms the peoples suspicions and thereby the artist/art gains more popularity, reasoning, bad publicity is good publicity. This suspicion or better said the ideas of conspiracy that the artist conspired to deceive the viewer is created from the death of God, in the following statement we see this; "where we once had nature and God, we now have design and conspiracy theory", one can see  by this statement the expression that due to the loss of God and nature the audience has taken on the conspiracy theory that prescribes to a hidden agenda in self design. It is also important to note that a possible reasoning as to why Boris Groys views are so strong on the idea of art and politics and the concept of deception through self design is due to the fact that Boris played some part in the resistance of the soviet union in Russia .During the time of Soviet Russia's reign, art and politics were heavily interwoven for propaganda purposes thus possibly creating this suspicious view point  with regards to all self design which is Boris Groy's point of view.  In the following artwork by Cindy Sherman we see how the self design creates a suspicion of the person due to their self design. In image "Untitled #425. " we see a typical portrayal of stereotypical clowns; the function  of a clown is to create laughter and happiness yet when one looks at this image we ask ourselves what is behind the smile and also why is the clown in the distance appearing to be so sad. One is automatically confronted with suspicion as to the real story of the clowns and what is the makeup and smiles hiding.

Untitled #425. 2004

To conclude one can clearly see that Boris Groy's essay on "Self Design and aesthetic responsibility"  is entirely agreeable. One can see from the above written work that the realm of art can indeed move into the world of politics however, we see that in order for this to be possible the artist must become the artwork as politics has become an art form with its own aesthetics. We see through the work of Cindy Sherman that she has done this, she has become the artwork; we see how her art and herself have become one thing and how that then affects the people who view her art. She has in essence become art, we also see how she removes her interpretation of her art and allows the viewer to engage with the art and come to their own conclusions.
Finally we also see how the advent of social media has now created a world where the masses are now given the duty of their own self design and aesthetic responsibility and how as a result the masses can interact with the art itself: The art/artist is then often subject to symbolic suicide in order to gain popularity with their audience as it engages with the concepts of conspiracy and self design, the crack that shows the real and darker truth behind the artist/artwork. In  Cindy Sherman's work we see this in her art as the subjects in the artwork often appear to be trying to convey something good whilst trying to hide the bad, we see how subtle and intentional cracks are made to allow the viewer to see a more darker truth or create suspicion.

word count 1356

Resources
images

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/gallery/4/#/5/untitled-93-1981
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/gallery/9/#/3/untitled-425-2004/z=true

Digital Art :Task 3

 Digital Art
Task 3
info-graphic

Theme Chosen : types of tattoo tools around the world
Program used : Illustrator

Task 2 :logo

Task 2

For Task 2 we had to create a logo hat represented ourselves.

for my logo i created and character and wrote "a concept in motion " i did this because i am  concept artist and i focus in character and creature design.

Task 1 self portraits

Self Portraits

Our first Task was to create 5 self portraits using photoshop and experiment with the tools in photoshop

Image One

For the first image i decided to give it a steampunk theme. I did this by cloning items such as the goggles onto my face. for the metal linking armor on my face and neck i found a resource image of a piece of metal and replicated it many times and then added tone and a copper color for it to work with the shape of my face.

Image Two

For this image i made it stylized in a japanese kind of way. I drew the trees and myself in a simple way with very little toning, and then added trees in the distance by using one dull color to create the illusion of distance.

Image Three

For my third image i wanted to create something creepy and fun. I cloned the owls eyes over mine and my mouth in place of the owls mouth, i found it to look very creepy. I then made a cloudy background with a brush and and colour.

Image Four

For my fourth picture i took a old pencil sketch of me drawing a picture and merged it with my self portrait to make it look like i was drawing myself. I smudged and used texture to create the image.

Image Five

For the final image i tried to draw myself realistic from scratch using brush textures and the smudge tool. I first drew the pit cur win greyscale and then added color on a separate layer.