Mariel Clayton

I recently recalled an artist I stumbled across online a few years ago.  Mariel Clayton is a photographer who works with a couple of well-known characters, Barbie and Ken.  She has a playful outlook on her often dark and gruesome subject matter, as she subverts the bubbly portrayal of Barbie and her sometimes-boyfriend Ken (near-sociopathic in its detachment from reality).  Clayton's work tells stories in single frames, and the stories are rarely pretty.  I think perhaps the best way to explain her work is to show it:

In Clayton's photographs of the typically utopian world of Barbie and Ken, the viewer is treated to every day unpleasantness, abuse, murder, sexual depravity, suicide, and a host of other jarring themes.  More than anything, I'm fascinated by her ability to imply such a thick and disturbed narrative in a single image, frequently with only one or two characters, and with distinct limitations of expression and pose.
(Needless to say she has some other work too-- still with the dolls, but a little bit more typically aesthetic rather than the freakish stories she seems most interested in)

Here's the link to her website with a host of her work:
Mariel Clayton 

And here's an extremely interesting article in which she discusses it quite candidly:
Bad Barbie: The Works of Mariel Clayton 
 

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Our senior Art Thesis Prep class decided on a sort of "works in progress" theme for our group gallery show.  It's fitting, since although I can't speak for my [incredibly talented] classmates, I know that I am still very much in the process of figuring out what direction I want my work to go.

I'm most interested in characters and storytelling.  It's a broad subject matter, as I'm discovering more and more.  To work through my interest in this area, I have been working on the type of drawings I've put up in the gallery.  These are graphite on paper drawings based on the movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  This particular movie is an over the top musical-horror-parody-comedy-scifi-mystery-burlesque-rock n' roll mishmosh with tons of flamboyant movement and theatrical framing-- so of course, it's perfect subject matter for these somewhat chaotic, overlapping drawings.  Best of all, working from this movie brought the kind of lightness I like to maintain in my work; a certain fun, absurd and silly tone I try to be mindful of even in "serious" work.

 

Moving In

It was strongly suggested that I start really moving in and making use of my studio space.  I've never had that kind of space before, but I figured step one was laying claim to my wall with the theme song of my year.

 

Early Delving (Thesis Prep Post)

The influences of my childhood are fairly obvious in my current work.  Seriously, I draw comics.  I first started getting really into drawing because I watched Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon on TV as a kid and thought it would be so cool to turn myself and my friends into characters like that.  Some of my earliest memories are of getting yelled at in school for drawing under my desk instead of paying attention in school, and on at least one occasion, my drawing was taken, ripped up and thrown out then and there.  I kept at it though, because when I showed my drawings to my friends who had helped me come up with these characters and ideas, they were always thrilled, and immediately we would be planning the next moment or adventure. 
Well, the more things change, the more the stay the same, as they say.  Here's a little confession for those of you who maybe don't know me as well (and maybe this won't come as too much of a surprise): my friends and I play Dungeons and Dragons.  Which of course means that, to this day, we are creating characters and telling stories together, constantly seeing how personalities interact, and working on creative solutions to fantastical problems.  My favorite projects now are those which involve drawing characters and moments conceived of by my friends and brought to life on paper or screen.

Well, I suppose I'll leave it at that before I really start rambling.  One more item, perhaps, before signing off for tonight:

This is a sheet of scrap paper I used to mix paints on last semester when I worked on a painting for a friend of mine.  It was the most passionate I had been about an art piece in years, and all of the eagerness for a friend's excited reaction came rushing back, just like as a kid drawing under my desk.  Now, I keep this tacked up in my room, because I want art to always feel like that, and it reminds me of why I decided to take a crack at making art to begin with.  I just hope that I can incorporate that kind of passion into more "gallery" type work in the future.

Headlines

Lynn sent me a list of newspaper headlines with the instructions to pick a few and illustrate them without context.  These were the results:

I have to admit, there's something gratifying about the moment you realize that your homework involves drawing a spider flipping someone off.
 

Works in Progress 5

Not too much to say this week-- just continuing with that Rocky Horror project.

This one spanned a good amount of the movie.
There's another that's more of a work in progress as of now.  I'm planning on just using the Time Warp scene for this one:

 

Influences (thesis prep post)

Quite frankly, this is going to be a difficult post for me.  The idea is to examine artists and works which have influenced my own work, focusing in particular on modern and contemporary artists.  The struggle is in that I'm fairly certain there are... two, maybe three modern/contemporary artists whom I could point out as having been inspirational or influential to me.  I'll be honest-- this is pretty much my own fault.  Up until recently, I'd largely dismissed contemporary work in particular for a number of reasons, namely, I figured there was little point getting hung up on that which history had yet to prove the importance of, I never considered myself a "gallery" type artist, more focused in on entertainment media, and I tend to ignore that which comes off to me as arrogant, high-brow work, too caught up in its own importance to stoop to the level of the common viewer.  
For those of you with fingers poised ready to learn me a thing or two and solve my abject ignorance, rest easy, I'm aware enough to know that my perceptions can be changed-- and changing they are.  So, given that preface, here's what I did manage to scrounge up of modern and contemporary work which has influenced my own:

Alright, so let's go for the obvious one first.

 Like I said, obvious.  To the best of my knowledge, Roy Lichtenstein has been the most successful in drawing traditional comics into a gallery setting.  His work emphasizes the importance of scale, turning comic panels into high art by painting them larger than life, and enhancing the (in my opinion) charming melodrama of pop culture fiction.

Damnit, obvious again.  A little while back I posted a video of one of Miwa Matreyek's performances.  I adore the playful way she mixes animation and performance, and my own recent doodles of silhouettes draw a lot from her work.

Okay, so imagine your favorite artist and your childhood hero getting together to chat and make something together.  Now, once you're done cleaning up, since your mind has just been blown to bits, take a look at this:  Destino, a collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney (officially completed later in 2003).  Dali's dream-like and unsettling style combines beautifully with the child-like romance of a Disney film.  This marriage of distinctive style with exploratory flexibility is something that I'm beginning to really strive for.

Finally, I have to indulge myself and include this one:  Okami is a 2006 video game developed by Clover Studios.  The visual style is based in Japanese watercolor and ink paintings.

The game has gained a bit of a cult following of fans (and I suppose I have to confess to being one, huh...) due to stunning visuals and a plot which centers around characters who are truly passionate about what they do (also using a paintbrush to kill demons-- I guess there's that too).


I suppose the common theme here is that the work that appeals to me right now is that which combines "high" and "low" art influences and explores the possibilities in a playful and sincere way.

Works in Progress 4 (in a manner of speaking)

I haven't been able to get much work done lately.  I tend to struggle with the idea of being thrown out into the week with the command to go forth and do art stuff.  This in mind, it looks like I'll be embarking on a series of somewhat more structured projects.  While I admit it's frustrating to feel like I have to be lead by the hand, it's for the best and I'm excited to see where it leads. 
In any case, the first of these is going to involve The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Godspell (because cross dressing and Jesus-loving hippies go hand in hand, apparently), which happen to be two of my all time favorite musical films.  The project, in a nutshell, is going to involve drawing a scene at multiple points overlapping on one sheet of paper. 
Today I managed to get a bit of a preliminary attempt done-- tomorrow I'll be starting to work for longer chunks of time and larger paper.

 

Just Passing Time

Just a small series of sketches that accidentally formed a plot.

Some Introductions

This also feels like cheating for a post, but I recently looked into some studies from last semester when I worked on a project that involved drawing a few good friends of mine, focusing in particular on unique facial features and expressions.  This is of particular interest to me regarding character design (which has always been my kind of "dream job," like how most kids wanted to be the president or an astronaut.  I know, I'm super cool).  When I draw someone I know particularly well, they start to become like characters in a book or movie to me.  In thinking about my influences and where I'd like to progress from here, I thought I'd make a few introductions.

 Kevin here is one of the most confident people I've ever met, and while I don't consider these drawings themselves to be extremely successful, I do believe there's a lot of him in them somehow.

 Rich here makes some very interesting expressions and has been known to make equally interesting statements seemingly at random.

 And finally, Humphrey looking every bit the mad scientist he is.  And as you can see, I've spent quite a bit of time with his nose.  




These in mind, I'm toying with the idea of swinging to the other end of the spectrum and playing around in my sketchbook for a little while with the idea of creating an identifiable character without any distinguishable facial features at all.  The face has been my focal point in creating a defined character or personality up to this point, so perhaps pushing myself into uncomfortable territory will lead to something.  It sounds like a fun idea, at least.

Comics + Art Humor =

I'll admit this is a bit of a slacking-off type post (largely because I'm still working on how to go about "blogging" without descending into unproductive navel-gazing), but I figured I'd take the opportunity to share my particular love of art humor in webcomics and the like.

(XKCD, Good Cop Dadaist Cop)

 

In addition to often providing a fun window for non-artsy types to catch a glimpse of the various quirks and facets of the art world in a way which may catch their attention, I believe that these kinds of comics also do the great service of humbling the art world.  I don't mean to say that I want artistic culture to be mocked, but I consider humor essential in approaching art, lest one begin to take oneself too seriously.

The next one I'm particularly fond of, as I think pretty much any kind of artist can identify with some of the odder things they might find themselves doing:

(DeviantArt link if the above is formatted too small: LINK)

Interstella 5555

Many people are familiar with the electronic band, Daft Punk, particularly their recent hit, Get Lucky (though from my experience, a lot of people know and love a song or two by them without even knowing the band-- which, as I'll get to later, may be just what Daft Punk themselves prefer).  Personally, I've considered myself something of a fan of theirs for a while, but I only recently got around to watching Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.  I was completely blown away.  

Interstella 5555 is a collaboration between Daft Punk, developer Cédric Hervet, and Leiji Matsumoto.  Matsumoto had been a childhood hero of the band, having worked on several Sci-Fi themed anime shows and films (the Captain Harlock series being one of the best known).  The resulting hour long film is beautiful thematically and visually, and the animation fits the tone and concepts of the album perfectly.  Daft Punk is a duo who have always put the music as a higher priority than their own image-- even wearing helmets to hide their faces.  Hence, it seems appropriate that the plot of Interstella 5555 centers on a pop band from another planet, as they are abducted, brain washed, and forced to abandon their identities to become performing machines.  

It was a difficult task to choose one segment to include here, needless to say, but I ended up settling on Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.  This is not only because the track happens to be one of my favorite Daft Punk songs, but also because the animation is quite possible to enjoy without the larger context of the entire work (though it does take on an entire new layer of significance when one knows the characters and their situation).  In this section, the four band members are forcibly being altered into their human counterparts in preparation for their new lives as drones of the delightfully over the top villain acting as their agent.

On a Different Note

This may not be entirely related, but man, this guy:

The way he moves looks so surreal, and I think it would be very worthwhile to work on some animation based in this style of dance.  I may work on some gesture drawings from his videos, since in many ways he already looks like he's being drawn.  The things a figure can do are incredible.

Deadly Artwork

I have to confess that Cracked.com articles are one of my greatest addictions;  seriously, I read nearly every article posted each day.  For the uninitiated, Cracked.com is a site primarily comprised of articles about anything and everything, usually in a listed format, and generally with a humorous spin.  Frequently the writers will tackle the art world, and needless to say, this often results in some of my favorite articles.  
In thinking about some interesting contemporary works I may have come across wandering the web, I recalled one of my favorite Cracked articles of all time:  

5 Works of Art That Can Probably Kill You 

I mentioned in a recent blog post that I feel our current culture encourages a sort of playful experimentation in the art scene, and I think the pieces discussed in this article exemplify this freedom to explore taken to a fascinating and somewhat terrifying extreme. 

Senri Kita Character Illustrations

In thinking about character drawings and referencing some of the work from the Fire Emblem game series, I decided to do a little more research into the artist behind those illustrations (research here of course meaning a series of google searches).  The responsible artist goes by the name Senri Kita as a freelance illustrator, and is typically referred to as female (though there seems to be some uncertainty in that regard).  What struck me most about her known work in character illustrations for video games is the incredible diversity that she manages to bring to the characters while making use of the anime-style.  One common criticism of anime characters is that they all look the same: tall, impossibly thin, an abundance of hair in the color of your choice, all perfection and formulaic.  Senri Kita has a much more interesting way of adapting the anime style to a varied and diverse cast.

This is a fairly typical example of the style-- thin, fair skinned, effeminate (this character is male, if you can believe that). 

A little more masculine, somewhat atypical of the style.  Still fairly idealized.

These kinds of characters are the ones that really catch my eye with Senri Kita.  It may sound silly to those outside the industry, but characters from anime, video games and so on -- protagonists and antagonists alike -- tend to be absurdly idealized (to the point of extensive criticism); hence the willingness to make a truly unappealing character is admirable to my mind.

Tomorrow I really ought to get out of the nerd-bubble, huh?

More Gotye, More Animation

I have to apologize here for my slight obsession with Gotye's music videos.  This is just another one that I find very worthwhile in its sincerity and power:

Well, this freeze-frame may be a bit of an unsettling image to start with.  The disjointed, grotesque figure that the video begins with progresses toward completing and building itself as he sings about the healing relationship he has with this person.  When their hands finally touch, you get an incredible feeling for the connection between them.  It's powerful imagery which I would argue does greater justice to the song than a live-action video would.

Late Night Musings (or, "Blogging as Supreme Narcissism")

The latest critique held in Thesis Prep got me thinking about a few things.  It occurs to me that I don't see myself as much of an artist.  To back track a little, I'm reminded of some key ways in which I've always seen myself compared to "artists." 
It first became apparent as I was applying to colleges.  I attended a portfolio review at Syracuse university, and while the reviewer was flipping through my sketchbook, she would make a view vague approving remarks regarding the (in my opinion at the time) boring hand sketches.  Then she reached one page on which I'd dared to doodle a few anime-style characters.  I could practically feel the condescension when she told me that no school would be interested in "these little characters." A while later, I toured RISD.  Great school, but it was about the time I realized how difficult it might be to find a cheeseburger among the fifteen different vegan bars in the food court that I decided it wasn't for me.

For the record, I see nothing wrong with hand sketches, or with vegan food, or any of that (or either Syracuse University or RISD-- they're both excellent schools!).  What I'm saying here is that I'd firmly developed a fairly stereotypical view of artists as snobbish and distinctly different from myself. 

As for attending Providence College, the art department here has suited me fine thus far.  My classes gave me enough structured instructions and assignments that I knew what to do, and enough freedom that I never felt stifled.  Rather, I saw the assignments as a challenge, and a way to prove that I could do what they were asking of me.  I got really good at being in school. 

Now, in my senior year, I have to think about what I want to do.  I find myself sitting and staring at my sketchbook at a standstill for literally hours at a time.
"I want to draw __________."
I have no idea.  If I had my way, I'd just design characters all day, then play with ink and colors, then splatter paint around the walls, cover my hands in graphite, spend a week using every single tool and setting in photoshop, learn about every medium known to man, then come back and meet some knew characters on the next page of my sketchbook.  
But I suppose that's not practical right now.

I suppose what it comes down to currently is that I know a lot about what I am not, what I want to avoid, and how I see myself as "non-artist."  The next step is to work on what I want to do, and in what ways I might actually be able to consider myself an artist.


/rant.

Miwa Matreyek

Last year at Providence College I had the opportunity to go to an Artist Talk given by Miwa Matreyek.  Her work is incredibly beautiful and fascinating to watch.  I would call her creations performance art pieces which center around her live interactions with her previously made animations.  These pieces blur the line between imagery and physical reality, and constantly surprise and catch you off guard every time you think you have it figured out.
A great example of her work is this piece she performed in a TED Talk in the following video:

 

Character Art

It occurred to me today to post some slightly older work (relatively speaking).  This is the kind of work I sometimes gravitate toward when I have time to do what I like, free of class assignments or particularly directed projects or commissions.  They're essentially character drawings, aimed at a very simple and straightforward portrayal of a character, giving some basic information about them and their context.

These were conceived of by friends of mine for a fairly traditional fantasy-type setting.  Explaining each one would take paragraphs, so I'll just leave it at that.
Though, it is interesting to think about what I take for granted, knowing a lot of "nerd-culture" as I do; there's a sort of visual language in some character art for video games, comics, etc.  I tend to only notice this when I take a chance and show these character designs to people who aren't very familiar with that visual language.  It's only when I get questions like "why is her hair green?" and "why is that sword so wildly impractical in design?" that I remember that I've been taught to read and portray characters a certain way.

Fabian here is fun for me to draw when I just want to unwind.  Mostly because I like playing with his hair.  But also because his flamboyant personality lends itself to a good range of poses and expressions.  But mostly the hair thing.

I suppose a good example of my inspiration for these types of drawings would be the official character art from the Fire Emblem game series (a turn-based strategy series of games, the plots of which tend to be very character-driven).

Maybe I'm giving to much significance to these images, but I've always found something really beautiful in the work on these characters in particular.

Works in Progress 3

I did a little more work in my sketchbook with silhouettes. 

Also decided to tone things back a bit and return to basic gesture drawings for a few pages.  

Meanwhile, I did my first actual screen print today.  Not sure how I feel about it.  I can't say I'm a huge fan, but maybe it's just one step on the way to better things.

 

"Currency"- Thesis Prep Post

"No man is an island" is a fairly well-known cliche, but it is the first thing that came to my mind in considering the matter of the artist as a part of his or her modern day world.  In my opinion, the question is not whether or not any given artist gives off an impression of their "now," but rather, how the "now" manifests in their work.  We are surrounded by our time period and culture, and no matter how boldly a person might proclaim that their work is their own, free and untouched by influences outside of their own brave and brilliant individuality, they will nevertheless be influenced by their context.  
That probably sounds like a given to some people, so then the next matter is what our current times request and inspire in artists today.  On the whole, I would say that our modern day zeitgeist encourages a sort of playful experimentation and openness to possibilities.  Particularly in North America, it could be argued that we are a people unaccustomed and violently opposed to being told something can't be done-- particularly in this age of incredible and rapid technological advancement, which permits so much more to be done.
Regarding my own work, I have to admit, while I'm sure it does reflect the times in some ways, I can't quite pinpoint how.  Perhaps the fact that I feel comfortable maintaining my cartoonish influences while also pursuing some more classical methods of study and artistic development is reflective of the aforementioned atmosphere of experimentation and freedom.  To a large extent, I feel that I won't be able to determine exactly in what ways my work is "current" until time as gone by and I can look at it retrospectively.  In addition, I always feel that in many ways, it is difficult for me to assess my own work, for fear of misinterpreting out of bias, and so it would be difficult to accurately form an answer to the question.  
I suppose the best conclusion I can draw right now is that working in today's environment allows me to feel free to "play" and experiment, however, I won't really have significant perspective on the current world's influence on my artwork until it is no longer current.