Drawing II Project (Work in Progress 2)

Further worked on, about 6 more hours of work adding monocramatics. Pastels

Design II: Franz Marc Style Self Portrait WIP

Self portrait of me Chicken dancing in the style of famous Expressionist Franz Marc. Work in Progress

Drawing II Project (Work in Progress)

Drawing 2 pastel assignment WIP, contour line sketch of it so far
Subject: Clay sculpture of African tribal woman in the Fine Arts building

"Militance for Existance"

New song completed - http://www.myspace.com/artivistrationale

Drawing II Midterm Portfolio Strengths

Charcoal Composition using water to spread the media

Inkwash Composition

Inkwash Composition

"Intoxicated Midnight"

http://www.myspace.com/artivistrationale -my song completed

"They say your life is an open scripture,
so unwrap your ignorant ears and seize this picture.
This isn't a composition for ache and love,
its a piece dedicated to sights expanding above.
It's not a universal credence among my people alive,
apparently its just what I suffer inside...

And what I refuse to let hide.

At midnight, you're comatose on the base,
cutting the strands from wisdom grown into place.
Mutilated and reshuffled like a puzzle,
vigor and support, trickster chooses to scuffle.
Your life timer twisting down to its closing stages.
Morality and culture apathetically left in cages.
Revered children eyes are the ill-fated circumstance,
nothing now but a modernized providence.

Look back and see your reason for existence.
To traditionalists you pay forward repentance.
Drunk at midnight, another intoxicated midnight...
Beloved aged principles down the drain at midnight.

Try to picture this reality..

Poison bottles hang silent from tree's piercings.
Sage, sweetgrass and feathers now elapsed things.
The mother's womb weeping stridently from peace.
The sanctified pipe tipped towards the nearest city streets.
With the sniping spider whirling webs of deception,
you're included in his tactics of pretension.
All of this fails to convene your inadequate attention.

Society sculpturing children into a mere replica.
Assimilation raping our lands with a blazing swastika.
Littered drapery shadowing over the branches reachings,
blocking out the warmth of our once daily elders teachings.
Rubbish from the tree cascades and splinters child eyes.
A tipping bottle to drench their now sole disguise.
Their only role models they appeal to suffice.
You keep this soulless ceremony a perpetual motion device.

Look back and see your reason for existence.
To traditionalists you pay forward repentance.
Drunk at midnight, another intoxicated midnight...
Beloved aged principles down the drain at midnight.

They say art doesn't replicate but makes visible,
so unlock your eyes to distinguish what's observable.
They say children have limited ears but constant eyes,
can't value words but your proceedings can't speak lies.
They say from our children we're loaning our traditions,
so make your culture in life an unconditional expedition.
They say children need guidance more than instruction,
so search for profound understanding and start a reconstruction.
They say one generation plants trees, the next gets the shade,
You'll comprehend down the road the alterations you have made.
They say that your life is an open scripture.
The book hasn't closed yet, so paint a new picture."


- - - - - - - - -

A reflective poetic composition in response to my new art piece that's developing, which depicts the effects of alcoholism on children, how it affects their decision making, how culture is slowly being lost because of it, and the etc domino effect. Below I'll re post the poem, and go through each line's symbolism.

"They say your life is an open scripture,
so unwrap your ignorant ears and seize this picture.
This isn't a composition for ache and love,
its a piece dedicated to sights expanding above.
It's not a universal credence among my people alive,
apparently its just what I suffer inside...
And what I refuse to let hide.

At midnight, you're comatose on the base,
cutting the strands from wisdom grown into place. (Relates to a drunk Native man at night, so drunk he has no control over his body, laying on the floor and getting his hair cut by fellow drunks, losing his indigenous identity and purpose for his long hair.)

Mutilated and reshuffled like a puzzle,
vigor and support, trickster chooses to scuffle. (This adds to the effect of losing control of his body, being rearranged and mutilated like a puzzle. His "strength and support", aka the people who love and care for him, "trickster chooses to scuffle", which relates to alcohol itself being a traditional symbol of a trickster spirit having control of his body, and forcing him to scuffle and fight with those who care and try to help him.)

Your life timer twisting down to its closing stages.
Morality and culture apathetically left in cages. (This refers to how life passes by each day, losing chances to do the right thing, and how so much of his culture and morals are left behind him in life, apathetically or "not caring for".)

Revered children eyes are the ill-fated circumstance,
nothing now but a modernized providence. (Children are considered very sacred, for they are the next ones in line to pick up and practice our culture..but their eyes only see this man who is his role model..and instead of being what he should, he becomes a similar figure from nurture. A modernized providence relates back to my previous art piece.)

Look back and see your reason for existence.
To traditionalists you pay forward repentance.
Drunk at midnight, another intoxicated midnight...
Beloved aged principles down the drain at midnight.
Try to picture this reality..

Poison bottles hang silent from tree's piercings. (Refers to beer hanging from the sundance tree, from the ropes attached to piercing skewers for sundancing. Beer bottles are replacing the sundancers to symbolize how many have lost their way.)
Sage, sweetgrass and feathers now elapsed things.
The mother's womb weeping stridently from peace. (Traditional beliefs view the sweatlodge as the womb of the earth, from which we go in to purify ourselves and pray. She weeps loudly from the peace and silence, because people are no longer entering the sweat lodges to conduct loud singing ceremonies.)

The sanctified pipe tipped towards the nearest city streets. (The most sacred medicine pipe, smoked during sweat lodge ceremonies is usually placed on a rack outside the lodge facing east, but instead points aimlessly to the city to which we now spend most our time.)

With the sniping spider whirling webs of deception,
you're included in his tactics of pretension. (Again the spider is referenced as a trickster spirit, making webs of deception against our own people, keeping them off the good road.)

All of this fails to convene your inadequate attention.

Society sculpturing children into a mere replica.
Assimilation raping our lands with a blazing swastika. (How children grow up looking more to modern American/Canadian society standards rather than their cultural protocols, comparing this reason to the assimilation that has taken place since the invasion and take over of Euros.)

Littered drapery shadowing over the branches reachings,
blocking out the warmth of our once daily elders teachings. (This refers to my artpiece, which shows the U.S. and Canadian flag draped over the sundance tree in a littering rubbish fashion, to symbolize many things including the attack on Indigenous spiritual practices, and what the supermacies have done to effect how we practice them now.)

Rubbish from the tree cascades and splinters child eyes.
A tipping bottle to drench their now sole disguise.
Their only role models they appeal to suffice.
You keep this soulless ceremony a perpetual motion device. (This refers to the bottles and cans hanging from the sundance ropes off the tree, symbolizing the constant exposure and pressure to go to alcohol to solve their issues and emotional stresses. Also again referring to the role model figures they have in their lives doing this, subconsciously teaching them to do the same..kinda the "leading by example" thing. The last line symbolizes this constant domino effect it has throughout generations.)

Look back and see your reason for existence.
To traditionalists you pay forward repentance.
Drunk at midnight, another intoxicated midnight...
Beloved aged principles down the drain at midnight.

They say art doesn't replicate but makes visible,
so unlock your eyes to distinguish what's observable.
They say children have limited ears but constant eyes,
can't value words but your proceedings can't speak lies. (Children aren't always listening, but are always watching, so make sure you're aware of who is looking up to you and the actions you are showing them.)
They say from our children we're loaning our traditions,
so make your culture in life an unconditional expedition.
They say children need guidance more than instruction,
so search for profound understanding and start a reconstruction. (A call to end this domino effect and return to our culture.)
They say one generation plants trees, the next gets the shade,
You'll comprehend down the road the alterations you have made.
They say that your life is an open scripture.
The book hasn't closed yet, so paint a new picture." (It isn't too late to make changes, even if its just one person and child's life you change positively..make the change.)

"Modernized Providence"

(CLICK IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEW)
Medium(s): Micron Pen, Pencil
December 11, 2008

- - -
USD Design 1 - This is one of two compositions for my final, assignment being explore/interpret popcorn and all its aspects to create a piece. I dug around in some popcorn and found one that looked like the hand of "tree man", an Indonesian man who had a radical infection from a jungle plant to where his hands and feet turned into tree roots. His photo is linked below.

http://reviewsion.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/tree-man.jpg

"Modernized Providence" is my interpretation of portraying this man's condition using popcorn. To a simplistic view (which I got from many), its believed I "made fun" of his disease by interpreting it that way.In actuality, the title itself means a modernized change in providence, or divine intervention into someone's life. This piece symbolizes the cultural entities of Indigenous peoples that have been lost due to globalization, colonization and assimilation. This man in real life sees his disease as just that..a hindrance that keeps him from taking care of his family and living a "normal" life like the rest of his syblings and friends (which is symbolized in his careless expression in my piece, casually smoking a cigarette). Before, his culture would have held him highly that obviously it was meant that this man have a connection with the trees that is higher beyond explanation. It would have been regarded as something spiritual, and he would have lived a very sacred life to discover why it is that he was chosen to live such a life, intervened by the higher power..something I think a lot of us ask on a smaller level on things within ourselves we can't explain.Above in the top corner (the other photo being a zoomed shot) is a combination between my creativity and the style of Navajo sand painting. He's supposed to be a cultural representation of whatever it is that he is unexplainably has been chosen to be inside by the divine. Cultures around the world have all kinds of names for these type of people, and the types of things they have that are above the normal. His details include all that is "corn"..he holds cornstalks in his very wide geometric corn hands that culturally symbolize the realistic symptom "popcorn man" has. His body alone shows the cycles of life of corn, dripping water which is can be seen as a sacred need in all living things. The fact he comes out of the cigarette smoke is to symbolize that no matter what modernization the popcorn man goes through to reject what he is, nothing on the inside and most importantly nothing what God intends can change that. Relating to Native American culture..there are many people meant to be certain things that reject it..and commonly I see how many of them live modernly to forget what they are and where they come from. Poverty drives them to want to be something better...but what is better? Is it better having a ancient culture and living poor..or living with normal American "good" standards which in itself has no culture to speak of? When this view is successfully infiltrated into Indigenous people; this is assimilation, this is modernization, and this is what has happened and is happening globally.

--Artist's Critique--

Having done already a symmetrical piece in this style (Concious Vibes), I wanted to add variety in my visual portrayal. My other composition currently in progress, "Isn't Everybody Tired of the Hatred?", experiments using the similar style with a uncentered and non-symmetric overall composition, but still achieves visual interest and balance. I enjoyed the contrast of styles between realism versus cultural in the same composition, something I hadn't really done before I believe.
The background, including individualized pieces of popcorn I assumed would be a very interesting and intricate background for this piece. I was going to continue it for the whole background, but assumed it would be better to spread and space them out as they neared the cultural figure. The idea he is in cigerette smoke came from an earlier piece I had started on but never completed seen here: http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs27/i/2008/042/4/a/Tobacco_Impact_Contest_WIP_3_by_Lakota_Eyes.jpg
I also wanted to add to the visual interest of not completely filling the bottom left corner with popcorn texture as I had done above. I figured this would take away from the power of the smoke and visual trail and relationship between the two subjects. Also I figured it would take away from the powerful detail and value of his wrist, where his popcorn hand transitions into kernals.

Having achieved a perfect 50/out of 50 grade on this, I feel not much really needs to change. My only change I would do would be to better aligned his right cheekbone more accurately to where it should be, and more realism in his face overall. Other than that, this piece successfully portrayed what I had intended, while exploring new visual styles.