Identity #2

Today one of the things we talked about was reality. What is reality? Is it defined by our five senses? Or is it everyone's own unique experience? I'm a simple minded person so when that question was posed this is the conclusion I came to: Reality is defined by what we sense. I looked up a few of the definitions of reality (as webster's dictionary would define it) and here is one of them: "The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence or essence." To me when I read that and I think about reality, it is everything that we are aware of. How are we aware of things? We are aware because our brain is controlling our senses and that is how we are able to perceive the world around us. Some would argue that reality is our own unique experience. To me that seems like an answer to a different question. Reality is not subjective. Reality is... Reality! It's not how we want it to be, its how it is!
Another question posed in class that made me think was, "What is fake?" I think fake can be defined as anything that is not the authentic. Anything that imitates something else. A plastic rose is fake because its not the real thing! They are created by man to look like something that God created. People are "fake" when they act in a way that is not actually them! They are acting different then how they really are.

"Angry Little Asian Girl"

Mother

Kim

The "Angry Little Asian Girl" cartoonist is Lela Lee. Lela was born in Los Angeles in 1974. She spent much of her early childhood in Korea with her grandparents. Lela later moved back to Van Nuys to join the rest of her family. Her cartoon days began when she was attending Berkley in her sophomore year. While attending Spike and Mike's Twisted Festival of Animation, she became very disturbed with the animations. She believed the animations were "sexist and racist." After the show she was challenged by a friend to create her own cartoon. Thus, the Angry Little Asian Girl cartoon was created. Her first cartoon was of a character named Kim who was the actual Angry Little Asian Girl (ALAG). This cartoon was created with crayola markers and typing papers. As she got more popular, she began creating new characters. She taught herself how to draw cartoons with books she got at the library. These cartoons are nothing spectacular. It probably only takes Lela a few hours to make these comics, yet they are so popular! 
Perhaps the reason why these characters became so popular is because of how so many people can relate with the feelings that they are projecting. It's as if Lela is drawing characters that are saying exactly what everyone is feeling but is too afraid to say out loud. It is very possible that these are characters that are from or were from Lela's life. Take for instance Mother Lee. That could very well have been how Lela's mother treated her! 
The other characters are so relatable because it seems like everyone has those types of friends. Xyla is the pessimistic "Eeyore" who is always looking at the glass as half empty. Wanda is the positive, energetic friend who we all love having around us. Deborah is the rich, beautiful, popular friend who has it all. The friend whom we envy. Pat is the gay friend who wishes he was a girl. And then there is Bruce, or the "bad boyfriend" He is sort of the wimpy, unconfident boyfriend who is always scared he will offend Kim. Every single one of her characters shows something different. I believe that these are not just characters from Lela's life, but from all of our lives. We can all relate with Lela's characters. It might not even be other friends like that in her life. It could very well be that Lela is drawing characters all from her own personality. Perhaps even from all of our personalities. The beauty of it is that no matter who is looking at the cartoons, they can relate with at least one of them. We may laugh at the comics but deep down we know they are saying what we are thinking!
One of Lela's most famous quotes is, "Angry Little Asian Girl is my inner hero. She says all the things I wish I could say." Lela is referring specifically to Kim. Kim constantly has moments where she explodes and says exactly what she is feeling. When people watch the videos of the Angry Little Asian Girl, they often laugh at the outrageous things Kim says. Are they really that outrageous? I think the reason why we don't just brush off these videos is because the things Kim says are exactly what we all want to say but are too ashamed to say it. The characters are so real! We are all thinking it, and they are all saying it. Instead of putting on a face like we all do in society, Kim is showing her unfiltered side. It's her true identity. These characters are by not masterpieces because they are beautifully drawn, but rather because of the messages that they portray. They are 100% identity.
On the angry little girls website, there are tons of things you can buy. She has shirts, videos, and e-cards. Another funny thing I found was that there is a game you can play on the website. It's called the "beat up your bad boyfriend" game. You can actually upload a picture of your boyfriend and then play this little boxing game to beat him up! I wonder if Lela ever had a bad boyfriend? Hmm...
Lela also has a blog that she writes on. She also recently came out with "Fairy Tales for Angry Little Girls." One of the lines in the book is "Because no one lives happily ever after." Sad... But basically true! Once again, Lela has written something that explains how real life actually is.

Lela Lee

Here is a link to the website. It has all the comics, characters, and products from the "Angry Little Asian Girl" series.
http://www.angrylittlegirls.com/

Yesterday's Class

Yesterday we began our lectures on identity. I'm excited to be starting this new module. When Glenn brought showed us the list of artists I could not identify one single artist. They are all new to me. That kinda made me excited because I cant wait to do my artist research as well as read everybody's posts. One of the things that caught my attention yesterday was when Glenn started talking about the chicano movement. It's cool how a term that was created to be negative has flipped around to become a term that people are proud to call themselves. That should be an example for how we should respond to others when they try and cut us down. Just accept it and say yeah thats right. I am... You get the picture.

Midterm I

Yesterday we had our first midterm. It went pretty well. It was cool being able to see others projects while they explained what they learned and things like that. While I was presenting my projects I realized that I could have done a little better on my artist project. But now that I know how things will go down, and what is expected out of each project, I feel more prepared for the next midterms. I think its really cool how we are having group critique sessions instead of having tests with multiple choice style questions. I'm excited to get into the next module. One down, three to go!

Venice Art Walls

I just have to start by saying that the Venice Art walls art project was the coolest art project i've ever done! How many art projects require tagging a wall? Anyways, I got down to Venice Beach at about four o'clock right when the sun was starting to come down. It was a perfect day to go down to Venice. I spent about 15 minutes trying out a few different art pieces. I'm no artist and often times i'm not even creative but I tried my best. After spending some time out there I started to understand why taggers do what they do. I can't say I approve of graffiti on billboards or personal property. However, under the right circumstances graffiti can be really awesome art. Thats why I think the Venice art walls are so awesome. They should have more of those in other cities in my opinion. That way people can express themselves in a controlled environment. I'll get off my soapbox now.

When I got to the art walls I was given a small wall. There was nobody around so I felt pretty comfortable trying out new stuff. Some of it looked kinda cool and some of it looked really bad. The first thing I drew was my first two initials with the number 23 next to it. Even though it wasn't very "artistic," I tried putting pieces of me into it. 23 has been my number in every sport i've ever played and the number seems to follow me around. I used blue and black which are two of my favorite colors (I couldn't find a green color of spray paint that I liked). After messing around for a little while I just walked around and admired the other artists' graffiti. As I looked around I envied the other artists' imagination and creativity. When I was standing there I did not know how to express myself. Perhaps one day my works will look similar to the other works of art along the bigger walls. I'll definetly go back there sometime soon so I can continue practicing. Here are some of the pictures of my work along with a few others that really caught my eye.

Norton Simon Art Museum

I went to the Norton Simon Art Museum on February 12, 2011. It was my first time at this art museum. Usually when I go to an art museum I just kinda glance at the pictures, joke around with my friends, and then go home. So this time I thought I would do something new; I actually tried to analyze the pictures and really look at the deeper meaning. I really felt like I learned a lot about paintings. One of my "discoveries" was why men and women often hold one arm out during their portrait. Here is an example of such a picture. In this picture, the man is pointing towards his son representing that the focus of his life is his boy. I read that pointing the arm was a sign of devotion. Often times, there would be a picture of a man and a woman where they were both pointing one of their arms at each other. I thought that was really cool. The painted portraits of people weren't made to simply show a picture of their face. There is almost always a deeper meaning to the picture. I never really thought about that. Another observation I made (more of a question I pondered) was how in a lot of paintings often times the persons clothes and the things around the person are so bright and really come to life but the faces usually look kinda weird. Its as if everything around the face is stunningly realistic but then the faces sometimes look strange. Are they supposed to look that way? Or do the colors make them look funny?

St. Ignatius

St. Jerome

 One of the themes that came up a lot of the paintings were pertaining to the catholic faith. Lots of paintings were done about the saints (John the Baptist, Ignatius, Jerome etc.). So I thought I would take pictures next to two of these paintings and compare them. I found two pictures in the same room. One is about St. Ignatius and the other is a painting of St. Jerome. The picture of Ignatius portrays him as a glorified figure. He looks like a hero among the Christians. He is wearing brilliant robes and he is holding a book where the heading is: AD MAJOREM  De Gloriam which means "to the greater glory of God." In the picture of St. Jerome, he is shown out in the desert. He is there because he is spending time alone so he can study and pray while ridding himself of worldly desires. He is shown as a skinny, dirty, unhealthy looking man. The colors are very dark and he is wearing little clothing. The artist was showing the darkness that he was doing battle with. The darkness within himself. My question was, is Jerome less important or at a lower level than Ignatius? It seemed to appear that way. I thought these were very interesting because to me they showed examples of Christian men who were at different stages of their faith. For Ignatius, he was already in a glorified state. Jerome however seemed to be fighting to attain that same "glorification."

There was lots of other cool stuff at the museum. Lots of very interesting sculptures made in India and some of the surrounding nations. Lots of sculptures of Hindu goddesses. Many of them looked almost identical in nature. They all had very good craftsmanship. I took this picture of a sculpture of a lion. The lion was supposed to represent a guardian. When I took the picture I made sure to include the security guard in the background. It was like a pictures of "The Guards."

"The Guards"

There were many interesting pieces of art in the museum. I will admit that I did not completely understand many of the "newer" styles of art. The
abstract paintings were very appealing to the eye. They look really cool. Pictures that I would want to put up all over my house. However, I still do not understand the deep meaning behind such paintings. Perhaps I will understand better the next time I go to an art museum. Here are some more cool pictures that I took while I was there:

The Progression of Art

I thought it was really interesting hearing about how art has changed over the centuries. One of the questions that came to my mind during class was, is it really impressive if someone models their work after another artist? Sure we can admire that artists great skill in all of their works but it is the Monet's of the art world who really capture our attention. Its so important for artists to try to separate themselves from ALL other artists. At least that's what I think. Who will remember the guys who copied other styles. Very few! That was Jackson Pollocks dilemma. I think the real reason that he had trouble separating himself from Picasso is that fact that his art is very similar to that of Picasso. How can you compete with the great Picasso if you are competing in his area? However, that was Pollock's style of art. What could he have done? I don't think there was anything he could do except focus on his own work. The pressure of being recognized and the attempt to compete with Picasso must have screwed with his brain which really sucks. Its nothing profound but I guess the main point I got from class was, Originality: Very Important!