Mashid Bassalian

I like abstract art because I feel I can translates my thoughts and feeling better through abstract creations. Shapes and forms fascinate me. The different characteristics of shapes convey different moods and meanings. Shapes are a powerful way to communicate. I use shapes to Symbolize different ideas, to create movement, texture, and depth in order to convey mood and emotion. I am influenced by Picasso and Schuman . The cubism style that these artists employ in their pairing fascinates me. I am also very much influenced by African art, especially African masks. I like the simple and clear shapes and lines they use. For my final project, I continued with my chosen sketch from my second project. I wanted to explore using different material and colors but I continued with the monotype method by using manual printing-press machine. I used black ink on one acetate sheet and then transfer the image on to a paper For the second print I used two acetate sheets, one I applied only yellow ink and the second One I draw the image using black ink. First I transferred the yellow acetate sheet to my paper followed by the second acetate sheet with my black image. I continued working with the same method but started exploring different patterns, colors and ideas. I continued using acetate sheet and I started applying a color for the background and then drawing random lines to create a pattern. After creating many prints I decided to explore a new idea. I replaced the acetate sheet with Plexi plastic sheet. I used net fabric to create different patterns. I put the fabric on top of the plexi plastic sheet and then applied ink on it by using a roller. I kept moving the fabric and putting it in different positions and using more than one color ink. I managed to create an abstract print with colors and shapes overlapping each other. I explore yet more ideas. I applied blue ink on the plexi plastic sheet by using a roller then stared dripping white and yellow ink directly to my plexi sheet and roll over with the roller. The end result was an abstract print that followed by a nice pattern. I think that there are still more ideas and techniques I need to learn and experiment.

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Nasya Camacho

Portfolio 3

For my third portfolio, I decided to step away from any initial plan I had that basically had, well a direct plan. I was becoming to focused on a product and less on the process, which is what I enjoy the most. Therefore, my original idea to use my composition from Portfolio #2 and mirror it with negative space became less and less of a focus. Instead, I focused on trying a technique I was not completely familiar, or comfortable with, monotype. When creating this portfolio, I was particularly interested with the relationship between new and old marks and color.  

At first, I created monotypes and added my abstract composition through screen printing. However, I slowly moved away from an organized composition and started placing the abstract composition where it felt right, more experimental and emotion based. Although I did like the openness of the piece and the inclusion of monotype, I still felt as though I was confined to a box by staying with my planned compositions. So then I tried creating a monotype solely of mark making, however, it was too dark, leading me to pull a ghost print which I really enjoyed, something about the left over marks and colors blending and creating a unified piece, rather than layers.

I was then inspired by the group project given in class where two students created a unique half of a circle, without knowing the others intentions. So I began making a circle through brush strokes and different sized lines in black. I layered it with opposing lines and strokes in white. Then I began pulling ghost prints of each monotype I created, pairing the first and second pull. I also began adding color, either blue or green, keeping all the tones cool and unified.

As I went on, I allowed the process to flow more loosely. I never cleaned my plexi glass plates, instead I continued layering them after the ghost prints, overlapping and mixing the colors which gave them a similar feel but each with unique strokes and emotions. I was able to see the process in my work again, which I appreciated and felt extremely grateful for.

All in all, in this portfolio I wanted to present a body of work than allowed the eye to flow between the similar colors, while still experiencing the mark. Each mark, in whatever way or thought created it, came together through the circular forms, bringing a bulls-eye focus to the process.

It was necessary for me to let the art, the process, speak for itself without my perfect ideal result, because that is not process, that is not what makes me feel liberated and joyful. I wanted to bring my love for movement and organic marks back to the work, and in that, I was gratefully surprised by what was in front of me.

Portfolio 2

Throughout my second portfolio, I was loosely interested in creating an abstract composition in direct relation to its background. While working, I focused on the relationship between simple shapes composed organically and abstractly and the role of color as a whole in the piece. I wanted to create two works of art in one piece, where they compliment each other well in context, but are still strong individually. The process was a major catalyst and deciding factor for my prints.

 For my second portfolio, I continued working with the triangular shape, continuously manipulating it where it seemed fit. I created two different bodies of work during this time. The first used a rough composition layered with sporadic red marks on a bright yellow background. I wanted to make the composition more dynamic with the quality of three dimensionality by adding lines in random areas as well as letting the lines fall outside the painted frame.

From that original idea, I decided to create another composition with more focus on the background. I worked with different monotype and screen-print techniques to create a gradient background, mimicking emotional fluctuations. Then I created my abstract composition. With one shape and my intuition guiding my lines, I was able to create a complex abstract piece at the bottom of the frame, working with the gradient to provide more dimensions. I wanted to keep the composition at the bottom one third of the frame with the two thirds above solely focused on color and gradients because it gave them both importance without directly competing. The eye was able to slowly move through the color changes and still fully experience the abstraction at some point. Also, the composition was done in a white transparent ink, evoking the idea of negative space and the process by which it was created.

I was interested in creating a piece that used color and process to express the process of human emotions and thoughts. The sharp edged composition present in all the works expresses both the concept of acceptance as well as heaviness, since it is always there, no matter the circumstance, the complexities of everyday are still present. The colors provide as the shifts we experience in mood and thought, sometimes more drastic than others, with the bolder colors. Also, allowing the process to show in the works caused me to change the orientation and presence of the abstraction. Various mishaps occurred while printing the background, such as inkless areas or strange variations in textures in specific areas, which made me curious about the idea of adaptation, part of the emotional process. Besides the fact that I enjoyed the strange variations that occurred in printing the background, allowing them to show in the print pushed me to create a composition that complimented them as well. No one part of the work overpowered the other, creating harmony and an emotional reaction when viewed.

 

Portfolio 1

When creating my art work, I am particularly interested in the relationship between abstraction and order by use of shapes, colors and lines as well as the relationship between the looseness and organic quality of the hand in contrast to the mechanical precision of geometric shapes. My major influence for creating work is unlikely natural occurrences of color and shapes in nature and everyday life and my job as a yoga teacher, seeing the beauty and intricacy of the body in different forms trying to create the same outcome.

For my first portfolio I am working with the same shape, a triangle, and manipulating it several ways to create squares, triangles, and rhombuses that create the composition while also holding an individual part in the piece as a whole. The overlapping layers composed of different shapes and colors are to bring life, a dimension, to a flat surface while playing with the perceptions of the human eye and mind.

Beginning with my first layer, I created two separate planes conversing with each other through a reverse reflection. There also appears to be a specific calculated order to build the two triangles through the gradually repeated rhombuses. However, I free handed all the individual rhombuses in a quick, loose manner, showing that the two sides are, in fact, not equal reflections. I did not use rulers, count shapes, or make precise lines to frame the composition, yet at first glance it may appear that the shapes are the same and the sides are equal. I wanted to present this contradiction because I want to evoke the mind to what is actually being depicted, not what we normally associate things to relate to. This allows the eye to follow the lines and paths the shapes create more intently, recognizes the differences present in familiarity.

The second layer is constructed more chaotically, the shapes morphing in and out of the two separate triangles. The contrast between the squares with negative space and the solid squares allow the eye to rest or create even more shapes through the overlapping and color change. In this case, I was expressing a contradiction between order and abstraction because the composition becomes more abstract, care-free and chaotic, but my hand is still guiding the shapes to form a large, loose rhombus layer.

I was interested in creating an organized abstract image, a contradiction, by the loose, organic shapes and using the same color palette, mixed in various ways to make some of the pairs seem unrelated. I wanted to use different color pairs to bring the illusion of transparency. This being an “organic” work allowed me to openly show the process, its mistakes, imperfections, and uncontrolled outcomes through the broken lines, blotchy areas and unexpected side marks.

Through the process of my work, I went through a range of emotions that affected my resulting work. I enjoyed creating my first print, yet as I went on to try different colors including metallic gold and variations of yellow, I became unhappy with my composition. It began to look too cluttered and similar, no contrast or transparency. So I decided to eliminate my second layer and started creating paper stencils to connect the two planes in the first layer, which also ended up not working. I took some time to myself and decided to revisit my initial idea and find a way to create my vision, keeping the layers and shapes, but working with color. I found that white and tints of the hues present in my piece worked better in the second layer. It did not overpower the first layer, provided transparency and looked visually appealing to me. In creating a line of work, I believe it is important to abandon and revisit ideas to allow room for change, growth and intimacy with your vision.

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Tim Ascolese

Portfolio 3

Portfolio 2

Portfolio 1

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Kelsey O’Hara

Portfolio 3

I am a New York City based artist who works in many disciplines, including painting, ceramics, text, film, music, and print. Raised on a secluded orchard in Pennsylvania, I found the woods to be my playground and a source of education and existence. Pulling inspiration from the shapes and textures found in nature, I often suspend and isolates natural objects through out the canvas and allow viewers to fill in the context.                With this final body of work, I aimed to stay true to my expressionist style while still adhering by the monotonies of silk screening. I insinuated figurative forms when applying them as the last layer. Hoping to find harmony between shape and color, I used this project also as a color study.                                                                                                                 With ever-growing interests in Botany, Dreams, and the Interstellar, I played with the idea of negative space and matter all the while presenting organic figures. I printed the same image consecutively on a body of work at various angles and in assorted colors, sometimes blending and layering, creating a surreal motif. Although these simplified objects are often familiar to audiences, I use an array of unexpected color and composition choices to challenge the audience’s perception of the natural and supernatural world.

 

Portfolio 2

What exactly constitutes as a great piece of art? A sight that is appealing up close or far away? One that is bright and straight forward, or dull and suggestive; This portfolio helped me answer those questions for myself. I think it’s important to understand what you value in a piece of work. Organic color interactions and sharp misshapes appeal to me. I attempted to harness my understanding of the materials and then use them non traditionally.                                                                                                                                                       I am challenging the viewer’s perception of space. I want them to ask themselves if the negative space of the print can resonate more than the constructed matter. This portfolio I confronted the use of space with expressionistic color ways and sometimes geometric forms in hopes to find the perfect marriage.                                                                                      I’m drawn to prints that exhaust all of the capabilities printmaking has to offer. Bold forms printed with precision and visceral color spreading caused from pressure all appear in this line of work. It was important to me to keep the process a mystery to the viewer. I want anyone who views this line of work to ask themselves “how was that executed?”         I am a New York City based artist who works in many disciplines, including painting, ceramics, text, film, music, and
print. Raised on a secluded orchard inPennsylvania, I found the woods to be my playground and a source of education and existence.

 

Portfolio 1

Kelsey O’Hara is a New York City based artist who works in many disciplines, including painting, ceramics, text, film, music, and
print. Raised on a secluded orchard in Pennsylvania, O’Hara found the woods to be her playground and a source of education and existence. Pulling inspiration from the shapes and textures found in nature, she suspends and isolates natural objects through out the canvas and allows her viewers to fill in the context.
Although these simplified objects are often familiar to audiences, O’Hara uses an array of unexpected color and composition choices to challenge the audience’s perception of the natural and supernatural world. Her use of negative space also encourages spectators to discover the thin line between necessity and luxury when concerning natural beauty. Occasionally she will print the same image consecutively on a body of work at various angles and in assorted colors, sometimes blending and layering, creating an expressionist motif. O’Hara doesn’t aim for precision when experimenting with color, instead she questions a viewers’ concept of how color relates to reality.
With ever-growing interests in Botany, Dreams, and the Interstellar, she plays with the idea of negative space and matter all the while presenting organic figures. Now more than ever, her prints produce a lace like glance into her wide-eyed childhood. One of magnified detail and secluded beauty.

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Jiyoung Song

Portfolio 3

A Process of Thinking: The Stream of Consciousness 2

The stream of consciousness, that is one part of a process of thinking, is thinking constantly about past experiences, thinking, feeling, and so forth. It appears in random order, so people have to organize their thinking. In other words, the stream of consciousness is disorder, fluid, variable, and it is not fixed in one place. So, it could look like in a chaos and muddle.

The stream of consciousness is repeated several times again and again, and it can cause a great confusion. That’s why ‘organizing of thinking’ is a necessary part of the stream of consciousness. My second work shows a ‘process’ of the ‘steam’ of consciousness, but my final work shows the ‘process’ of the ‘organizing of thinking’.

The black and grey curve lines (the stream of consciousness) are not fixed in one place, and they are repeated several times. This disorganized curve lines are converging on the one point, and then it explodes in an organized way.

As I said earlier, the stream of consciousness is repeated. Even after the organizing of thinking, we can think and re-think. The blue color’s explosion will be overlapped and then be consolidated into one as a second work of art. That’s why I make a boarder line between monotypes.

 

Portfolio 2

A Process of Thinking: The Stream of Consciousness

I visualized the stream of consciousness that is one part of a process of thinking. Everyone has experienced it at least once or everyone is experiencing right now. The stream of consciousness is, think constantly about past experiences, thinking, feeling, and so forth. It appears in random order, and there is no connection. However, it appears on my head or people’s head constantly.

The stream of consciousness is disorder, fluid, and variable. Also, it is not fixed in one place. So, I used curve instead of straight lines, naturalness instead of artificial, and organic shape instead of geometric shape. The changing of irregular shape and the step of color are used as a metaphor for the ‘stream’ of consciousness.

In my opinion, the stream of consciousness is a mandatory course for the result. People think about something and then re-think about it to organize their thoughts. This process could be repeated several times, that’s why I used basic shape, round.

I think, it is a very important part because whenever I do my works or homework, I go through this course to produce more successful results. I write my thinking and organize it, and then re-think again and again. I thought about second portfolio, and I just realized the importance of the stream of consciousness. So, I visualized it. I chose blue color because the term of a process of thinking and stream remind me the pond.

 

Portfolio 1

My artwork focus on the beautiful aspect of nature, such as woods, sea, grass that we can touch and wind, light and sunlight that we can’t touch. I wonder how many artworks I can make and draw about the nature with different mediums. I usually draw parts of nature such as woods and the sea that we can touch with watercolor, so I put more focus on the natural phenomenon that we can’t touch for this first screen printing artwork. We can easily see and access to the natural phenomenon such as sunrise, moon rise, so I want to make it very symbolic and straightforward shapes to be recognizable easily to the audiences.

A sunrise and a moonrise are a natural phenomena that happen once a day and everyone can easily experience. So, I think if I want to visualize the sunrise and moonrise, primary shapes such as round, triangle is the best appropriate to the expression of it. The small dots show the gradation in size of round to express the huge sun, and the 12 dots express a moon. The moon’s appearance changes several times a month. There is also a simple play on words. The moon is called ‘Dal’ in Korean, and a month is also called ‘Dal’ when we count a month in Korea.

The sunrise and moonrise are located at the center of a paper. The sunrise implies the beginning of the day and the moonrise implies the ending of the day. It reminds me a door that is very familiar and used every day when we enter and leave, and I think it is suitable for visualizing the sunrise and moonrise. I make a door with a rectangular paper by putting the sunrise and moonrise at the center of a paper.

I use colors that associated with warm and tender of the sun and cool and coldness of the moon. I explain lots of information about my artwork, but there is no right and wrong answer. This artist statement shows very simply the overall purpose of this artwork. I think the artist statement could be a verbal expression of the artwork and gives another way to think about the artwork. Each person has different view points, so they could have different feeling and thinking from my artwork.

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Angelika Turkiewicz

Portfolio 3

In my third portfolio I wanted to continue with what I started in the second portfolio. I wanted to capture the essence of a memory. I worked mostly with landscapes, but two monotypes deal with a figure in the rain. My challenge was trying to create texture using something other than a brush, which is what I’m used to. All of the monotypes that I made are a reflection of what was put on the plexi glass and in addition to that, the ink looks a lot duller. That is why I chose to do monotypes using ink on plexi glass – because I knew that the image would come out crisp and clear on the plexi and then fade out on the paper, like a memory fades.

Nature is important in my artwork because everyone sees nature and people use it as their escape, or as their break from technology, but everyone sees the same landscape differently. Everyone remembers it differently as well, and that’s why I didn’t base these off of real images, I made them from memories in my head.

Incorporating my painting into printmaking made my experience a lot more enjoyable and I feel that this portfolio was the most successful out of all three.

Portfolio 2

I started pursuing art seriously pretty late in life, but I’ve always observed nature with a sparkle in my eye. It always fascinated me and I always wanted to be where the trees and flowers were. Throughout college I learned a lot about many artists and different forms of art, but I remain fascinated with nature and people and how they interact and how I can represent what I see and feel in my art.

I decided that it would be much more interesting to convey the feeling of nature, or more of a memory, rather than trying to make a clear image of this interaction. The truth is, everyone has a different interaction with nature. So in this portfolio I used oil-based ink on plexi glass. I think that using monotype as my medium was the right choice for this portfolio, as it is better able to present something that is less clear. In my previous portfolio, I used screen print, but it didn’t do a good job of representing an interaction. It rather felt cold and distant. This portfolio should give a feeling of ease, or even of nostalgia as it conveys a memory or a feeling of nature.

 

Portfolio 1

In my third portfolio I wanted to continue with what I started in the second portfolio. I wanted to capture the essence of a memory. I worked mostly with landscapes, but two monotypes deal with a figure in the rain. My challenge was trying to create texture using something other than a brush, which is what I’m used to. All of the monotypes that I made are a reflection of what was put on the plexi glass and in addition to that, the ink looks a lot duller. That is why I chose to do monotypes using ink on plexi glass – because I knew that the image would come out crisp and clear on the plexi and then fade out on the paper, like a memory fades.

Nature is important in my artwork because everyone sees nature and people use it as their escape, or as their break from technology, but everyone sees the same landscape differently. Everyone remembers it differently as well, and that’s why I didn’t base these off of real images, I made them from memories in my head.

Incorporating my painting into printmaking made my experience a lot more enjoyable and I feel that this portfolio was the most successful out of all three.

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Lily McFarland

Portfolio 3

The third and final portfolio is comprised of two sets of three monotypes, six monotypes total, that is an extension of the second portfolio of “soft landscapes:” heavily diluted monotypes that rely on the process of degradation of the medium on the acetate paper before printing to convey the message of a passage in time and the atrophy of a memory. For each set, an initial landscape was drawn out with Caran d’Ache water soluble crayons using colors and forms exclusively from memory. Each of the two sets has a unique color palette of either warm tones or cool tones. Water was then liberally applied to the acetate paper and moved around using a brush and a paper towel to create different textures in the landscape, indicating foreground and background, while diluting the work. Once dried, the piece was printed once, and then the plate was revisited with a spray of water and some color was conservatively reapplied to make a second print. Lastly, the third print in each series is a heavily watered down ghost print of the monotype, suggesting that the memory, after time, has nearly disappeared. The process is a manipulation of the qualities of the media itself to reinforce the meaning of the image.

The development of the current portfolio from the second portfolio reinforces the effect that passage in time imposes on memory and cognition. Rather than creating a new set of monotypes that vary in color, depth, and texture using different printmaking techniques, the final portfolio is a stark and bleak investigation into the imminent loss of certain parts in our history, inconsequential or not. Whereas the second portfolio was a fluctuation in degree of remembrance, this portfolio is a quick transit from first remembering to forgetting, suggesting that the initial memory in itself has already been a victim of time. The work is ephemeral and light, blurring the line between whether or not this scene could be from a lived memory or a memory from a dream, which gives room for development and growth and may carry to the next part of this sequence of watercolor monotypes.

 

Portfolio 2

The second portfolio titled Soft Landscapes is a collection of one monotype print using water-soluble crayons, and four mixed media identical screen prints superimposed on a unique monotype print. Each of the five monotype prints were drawn out by hand using Caran d’Ache crayons and then heavily diluted using water and brush on acetate paper. When dried, the monotypes were printed creating images resembling watercolor painting. Three of the five prints were colored over again using crayons, and water was directly applied on the monotype to blend the markings to create a more cohesive texture across the page. Once dried, four of the five monotypes were screen printed using white acrylic ink with liberal amounts of transparent base added, then printed using a blocking technique of laying wax paper and tape on the screen to create a stencil.

The present work deals with the themes of memory and the degradation and distortion of cognitive record though time. The initial physical act of drawing out a landscape strictly as I remember is an immediate recording of the memory on paper. It is the first image that comes to mind when I put myself back in the memory of a place. The dilution of this scene with water before it is placed under the press is an acknowledgement of the effect that time has on the memory of a landscape is in contrast to the true existing landscape. The color blocking on top of the monotype is an attempt to understand the foreground and background of the landscapes, borrowed from color theory and artists who played with foreground and background using cool colors like the artist Mark Rothko. Finally, the thin layer of white ink screen printed on top of four monotypes is a representation of the potential for this memory to be overridden by another or forgotten entirely, illustrating the ephemerality of memories in themselves. Whereas my first portfolio dealt with strict forms and line quality, I aim for the remainder of my work to deal with themes of time and personal reflection.

 

Portfolio 1

The first Portfolio is a collection of three monotypes and three identical screen prints. The set of three identical prints, titled Currants, is a screen print using a photo emulsion technique to create two sets of stencils, modeled from two drawings on a set of transparent paper. The base layer is an assortment of light pink dots similar in size scattered across the paper while still remaining fairly centered. On top of this are small green stems similar in shape and size. A small amount of transparent base was added to the ink but the color mixing in the overlap of shapes is minimal to create a strong individual form for each layer while the two contrasting shapes in each layer hold each other together as comprehensive piece.

The second work is two monotypes, one original and one ghost print, of three peaches lined up side by side, showing intense shadow and highlight on either side of each individual peach using complimentary colors. The final set of monotypes is an arrangement of four types of flowers from the South of France, the illustrations are inspired by memories of the flora in the region. The colors are a nod to the bright colors of the textiles and flowers that are found in the area. The first print of the set of three is a portrait of each flower, evenly spaced apart. The second work is a monochromatic block of bright Provençal yellow that has the portrait of each flower cut out in the space, and the third is a monotype of the yellow background with each of the four flowers painted on heavily with watercolor and was allowed to bleed until dry, creating a marbled effect. The set as a whole evokes a memory of a place: the flora, the aura, and the combination of the two and a degradation of the memory throughout time. The bright colors intend to show the viewer the warmth and vibrancy of the areas and the affection in the author’s memories.

The present work is inspired by basic forms and shapes that occur in nature during the summer months as remembered from a summer abroad. The overall mood of the current work is playful and joyful. Using bright colors and cartoonish shapes the work aims evoke quick memories of summery delights. The elementary shapes also work as an introduction for my works into different types of printmaking. The overall collection is small and lacks meaningful forethought for a comprehensive work, but as my ideas start to become more cohesive my work and mastery will improve.

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Alison Brockhouse

Portfolio 3

This series examines how the act of layering changes an image, both in its formal qualities and in its possible interpretations. Each piece combines images and textures created through multiple methods, including cyanotype, digital collage, monotype, and video. Organic lines fill in spaces and overlap to create new shapes and textures, contrasting in some pieces with the hard edges of shapes or borders between video windows.

Same River Twice explores the idea of change through time, transparency, and layering. Two figures with blank expressions appear to engage in the act of looking, while at the same time forming a screen for the projection of the animation. Through this overlapping projection, the prints themselves appear to move and change. The animation itself moves rapidly, making it difficult to fixate on one image; yet it repeats itself regularly, allowing the viewer to detect patterns and anticipate the return of certain forms.

Portfolio 2

In this project I explore the variety that can arise from combining and recombining a restricted set of simple elements. By severely limiting my use of shape, color, and composition, I want to explore how rules and restrictions can both create redundancy and give rise to endless novel forms.

My work begins with a set of visual parameters, which I think of almost as inputs into an equation. Both my animation and my prints start with a circular shape in either black, red, green or blue that sits at the center of the page or screen. Novelty arises through changes in the shape’s texture, the addition of a colored background, the combination of shapes in the layers of a print, or their temporal juxtaposition as cells in an animation. Each image ultimately derives its uniqueness from the contrast of colors and textures, both within and between images.

Though the shapes I use don’t directly represent anything, the differences in color and texture allow for different interpretations to arise. For example, the colors blue and red can tell a different stories when they form an image’s figure and ground, or when they are places on top of each other to form the layers of a shape, or when they are viewed one after the other rather than simultaneously; they could be planets, microscope slides, a beating heart, or some form of semaphore.

In this work, which is inspired by minimalism and by scientific imagery, I hope to evoke a sense that something is being learned or understood, while at the same time something remains obscure.

Portfolio 1

Digital spaces can carry the appearance of perfection and certainty. The digital is characterized by clear binaries, smooth lines, and steadily operating algorithms. Human experience in contrast is not always easily classified or quantified; it derives in large part from a complex interaction of emotions and physicality. My work explores the border between the digital and the human, where the clearly defined meets the rough and uncertain.

This body of work features a study of simplified digital forms, using materials and processes that reveal a human touch. I start with digital drawings of people with minimal facial features inspired by logos, icons, and emoji. I then translate these drawings into monotypes and screen prints, using brushwork and freehand drawing to disrupt the perfection of the digital mark. In this way I hope to create images that rest on the line between digital and analog, between human and automaton.

Through the monotype printing process, these faces change over time in a way that a digital image never can, taking on visual indications of time, accident, and decay. Some of the images have been animated into a looping gif, creating one unstable image that appears to shift and breathe. The use of gif animation also brings each print’s hand-painted textures back into the digital space.

In my screen prints, I enlarge and abstract some of the same basic elements present in each monotype, creating even more radically simplified shapes that have only a loose relationship to the facial features they reference. While the hard edges and flat colors of each print reference the idea of digital perfection, each print also has a unique ink background that sets it apart from the others.

Keerim Kim

Portfolio 3

            In my final portfolio, I wanted to make a new version of portraits that have obscure identities. I added the same screen patterns from my second portfolio, to show that the idea is rooting from the last collection. I made three different portraits, each varied by two color combinations. All portraits are composed of fragmentary pieces. I wanted them to look like a puzzle or a collage piece. By putting fragments, I wanted to convey the idea that the pieces could always fit to any other portraits and make a whole new figure. I kept the figures to be unrecognizable of their age, gender, or race. Also, they are open to any interpretations that for instance, even if the figure has long hair, I would not want to confine it as a female. As for the choice of colors, I intentionally chose unrealistic and neutral colors.

I wanted to combine various techniques and textures on the final portfolio. Also, I added backgrounds to make them look like they are in frames. I worked in monotype, silkscreen, and pochoir. At first, I printed some fragments of the portrait in monotype using crayons. Then, I added backgrounds in oil-based ink. For other parts, I used the silkscreen technique to add solidness in color and shape. Then, for remaining parts I completed them with pochoir technique. Lastly, I polished the edges with using colorpencils to make sharp and clean silhouettes.

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Portfolio 2

   For my second portfolio, I wanted to keep up my experience with making portraits. My goal was to put creativeness into realistic figures and to modify the original concept they have. This time I wanted to create portraits which does not look like it came from the real world. I tried to combine the realistic features of people with random shapes that have abstract, unnatural details.

For my monotype portfolio, I made two sets of prints that is based on a shape of a faceless man, and added a thick brushstroke shape going across the face. I made two color combinations with the brushstroke. On each one, the colors are blended with water to make blurry effect, and the watery lines are dropping down at the bottom part. For the silkscreen portfolio, I tried to keep the human shape in clean lines and shapes. Therefore, the silhouette of the person is printed in very simple and bold lines. Over his face and body, I put solid shapes of geometric forms to complete a collage effect. I tried to use a variety of colors and different combinations of shapes on both portfolios. My intention was to distort the figures into random silhouettes to intend open interpretations about their identities.

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Portfolio 1

  My influences are usually from what I like and am familiar with. Oftentimes, I create works that are inspired from specific objects, rather than from abstract concepts. Instead of focusing on every realistic detail, I try to convey my genuine feelings of it, and to capture its peculiar atmosphere at most. I like expressing my feelings within lines. By experiencing with the flow of lines, I get to create something that comes accidently. Based on the idea of what I perceive, I like getting random results and new ideas to work for. My goal is to reach that effortlessness and a slight imperfection of something, to balance the reality with creativity.

People are one of my biggest motivations. I love seeing people’s different individuality. Especially, I think one’s personality and distinctive atmosphere comes mostly from their faces. For my first monotype portfolio, I started the project from two face drawings. By limiting the works into using two colors helped me to simplify shapes, while emphasizing on rough lines. As a subject for the screen-printing, I chose cactus with flowers. I always wanted to make an artwork of a cactus because it has such unique identity in its nature. I wanted to portray the features into simple lines. Then I experienced with transparencies, photo emulsion process, printing it on screen and it was interesting to see how it turned out. I worked on several color combinations and also added backgrounds.

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Deborah Wares

Portfolio 3

I believe I have come full circle in this exploration of line and color. The forms of Egrets which I portrayed in both monotypes and screenprints continue to be organic and somehat abstract. I have played with color mixtures using blue and yellow paints to produce varying shades of aqua and green on portions of the screenprints and pochoirs. The final monotype for the Third Portfolio is representational and returns to my first color choices – black and white. This lovely picture of two nesting Albatross is clearly realistic rather than abstract and realistic in the choice of colors as well.

Overall I have found the movement between representational and abstract and between vivid colors and stark black and white to be challenging. I hope to continue to explore the abstract in other classes as well as in my personal paintings. I recently worked on a small portrait of a sheep dog and the approach to the painting was directly influenced by this process. To desctibe the painting briefly, I chose blue/black for the canvas prime coat. Instead of “drawing” the dog, I used a dry brush technique to give the impression of the dog’s floppy and flowing hair. While this first version is somewhat simple, I will continue to explore this style in future works.

 

Portfolio 2

The exploration of line has moved into more organic forms as my work with monotypes and screen prints continues. The suble and flowing shapes of the birds I have chosen to work with have begun to intrigue me in the sense that they are morphing into fluid lines as opposed to “birds”. Black contiues to be the prime color with variations in blue and yellow.

I continue to explore color and abstract forms; this time in the works of Carmen Herrera entitled Lines of Sight at the Whitney Museum. Unlike Helen Frankenthaler, Herrera’s lines are clearly represented and geometrical in form. She does share the use of vivid colors which attacted me to Frankenthaler two years ago.

 

Portfolio 1

Line and form have been the basis of my early work. The landscapes I paint are representational with one or two brief excursions into abstract views. The most influentiaI artists have been Camille Corot, Camille Pissarro and Georgia O’Keeffe. I am trying to incorporate motion and depth into my paintings. Color has always been a necessary component. Now I am looking for the drama in black and white as well as the depiction of the passage of time.

While my initial painting experiences have been with landscapes, individual aspects of nature and animals have become increasingly important, as indicated by my choices of a praying mantis and leaves for my First Portfolio. Color continues to be a priority as demonstrated by the choice of Helen Frankenthaler for my Artist Presentation. Adding to my exposure to abstract form is another reason for examining her work.

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