Zach's Artist

Zach Stoebner

Robert Arneson

            Robert Arneson was an American sculpture who worked primarily in ceramics, he’s taught art in a variety of universities as well as had exhibits all around the world. His work is generally that of human figures or faces, he works primarily in ceramics. His work is often cartoony in nature which reflects the fact that he worked as one prior to getting into sculpture as a career. He is considered the father of the Funk Art movement which began in the 1960’s. Funk art is primarily work portraying popular culture in an array of medias. Robert unfortunately died of cancer in 1992, his work is still held in high regard today as very fun and still exhibited around the world. 

Kiki Smith

            Kiki Smith is an American sculpture whose work often portrays the question of what really controls the human body. Her work has also been largely rooted in feminist activity. Her interest in the body came from her work as a medical service technician however not on a scientific level; she works in the idea of external forces that influence people’s actions. One work of hers is two wax figures Untitled made from microcrystalline wax with metal stands; the figures are both larger than life representation of human anatomy. There are also fluids running down the man and woman’s bodies representing what looks like milk and semen. Her work is very profound at first and has a very interest social aspect as well as very fine craft.

 

Zach Stoebner

Duane Hanson

            Duane Hanson is a superrealist sculpture who lived from 1925-1996. He perfected a casting technique, that are so convincing that may people mistake them to be real at first. His work consists mainly of life-size figures, he first made them from live models. One famous work of his is Supermarket Shopper made in 1970, it’s a polyester resin and fiberglass polychromed in oil sculpture. He used actual clothing as well as a real steel cart in this work which portrays a motherly woman shopping with a filled cart. His work often portrays stereotypical American models.

Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg is a swedish a Swedish pop artist, he was born in 1929. His work often comments on American consumer based culture. His most early work focused were small reliefs of food which he contructed with plaster around chicken wire. He often uses plaster in his work as well as stuffed vinyl sculptures, he creates many things like giant pieces of soft sculpture cake, as well as plaster molds of ice cream. His works were first on a very small range, but he eventually upped his scale in favor of larger than life work. His work has eventually become almost monumental in nature which he often produces with his wife. His most famous work is arguably the giant cherry spoon at our very own sculpture garden.

Zach Stoebner

Jeff Koons

            Jeff Koons is a world renown sculpture who’s humor has been a major part of his work for since he graduated the Maryland College of Art in 1976. He has had a number of gallery’s all across the world including MoMA to Tokyo Metropolitan Museum. Jeff Koons uses a variety of mediums in his sculptures, which are often very playful in nature, like his massive structure of a shaggy puppy made with live flowering plants to an inflatable bunny made out of vinyl. Why I picked him is his artwork seems to always incorporate a sense of humor, never taking himself to seriously, which I find very appealing.

To see more of his work you can visit his website here

http://www.jeffkoons.com/site/index.html

 

           

Yulia Brodskaya

            For my soft sculpture artist I chose to do Yulia Brodskaya a Russian illustrator/designer. Although she primarily does advertisement she does all her illustrations with paper. Now she isn’t entirely a 3-dimensional artist as her imagery is flattened, it is however crafted in three dimensions. She had a deep interest in a multitude of fields including textile painting, origami, and collage work to name a few. She went to School in the UK and graduated with a degree in graphic communication. She has since become very popular with her paper illustration, which is crafted seamlessly. Her ability to make type with folded paper is astounding. She has worked with a very large list of big name companies such as Target as well as Martha Stewart.

To see Yulia’s work you can go to her website

http://www.artyulia.com/index.php/About

Dawson's Artists text book

Sophia's artists

1. The artist I've always admired most is Isamu Noguchi. Primarily a sculptor, he explored almost every medium and area of art. he originally started going to school studying to be a doctor, but took art classes as well and decided to continue his studies in art further. He started sculpting portraits, and then decided to become a full-time sculptor. He is half japanese half american, and as a result has a unique insight on both cultures, particularly since he lived during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He experienced and worked with almost every area of art, in mediums including: stainless steel, marble, cast iron, balsawood, bronze, sheet aluminum, basalt, granite, and water. He also worked with architecture and design as well as 2D work and 3D. Different time periods reflect very different styles and thought processes, as he never stopped continuing to challenge and develop his work as an artist. While his sculptures leave me speechless--his museum in Queens is my favorite place in the whole world--I admire him mostly because of who he was, how he made art such a huge part of life and was able to experience almost every art of it, never got stuck doing the same thing over and over. He is my hero--if I could come close to experience art the way he did I would be forever happy.

 

2. http://24flinching.com/word/gold-seal/inspiring-artists/drowning-beautiful/

I found this through a friend and was BLOWN AWAY. Oh my god. Stunning. By Jason de Caires Taylor, these sculptures of people are dropped into the ocean and left. I love that concept--while these sculptures would be beautiful on land, they are more stunning underwater, with the concept of people living beneath the surface beyond where we can see them. We can't experience them in the same way we would on land. I also like that included in the photos on the site are images of the gradual process of becoming a part of their environment: coral grows on their features and makes them EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL!! Allowing sculptures to naturally erode or decay, to let time affect them the way nature intended, is so so beautiful to me. I love this concept and the sculptures are super cool.

3.http://cottonmonster.com/

The cotton monster is such a cool site as well as a good example of sculpture. I love the uniqueness of the monsters, and how something 'scary' can be so innocent. All seem so sweet and unique. I love the relationship between soft sculpture and toys, and I think it's cool when artists combine both function and aesthetics, especially when it means an artist can make a living off their art. The toys come in so many varieties of appearances sizes and shapes. I would love to own one.

4.Louise Bourgeois

I think her work is beautiful visually and fascinating conceptually. The giant spiders are stunning, elegant, organic and creepy but in a really compelling beautiful way. I can't imagine constructing something that size, which makes me even more impressed. The fact that these spiders are a symbol of her mother are really powerful to me. I originally started making ghosts in monotype prints as a symbol for my family. I have a small phobia of spiders, inherited from my brother, as I didn't used to be afraid of them and would keep them in jars. But now when I know a spiders in the room it makes me a little nervous, so the concept of an artist associating their mother with something mildly disturbing seems strange. her argument for why is interesting too: spiders are actually extremely beneficial, they don't carry diseases like other bugs such as mosquitoes, and in fact eat them. So the spiders represent this protective mothering presence. Sitting under them I can imagine I would feel safe too--there is something sheltering about their structure.

 

5. Jeff Koons

I love the concept of taking unusual materials and using them to create art, specifically in sculpture because the outcome is already interesting in a sense, just in the manipulation of a new material. Jeff Koons seems to do this a lot. his topiary work is stunning: again, allowing art to change is really moving to me. I like that the material is organic and will naturally shift and change overtime, won't last forever. His work with inflatables is interesting as well, it's not a material I would've expected to be used a lot in art. His flowers are very sweet.

6. Ralph Helmick

His work is very very different in each piece: of course because he made all of them there are similar elements but they strike me as very separate works. He works a lot in multiples, and has them suspended in a really cool way, as if they were swarming. I really like the piece Exquisite Corpse, I love when artists combine scientific elements into their creations: science and art both depend on innovation and creativity, inventiveness. I really like his wood sculptures too, I wish I had more patience for wood. His wood pieces seem to be structured of pieces as well. The portrait of Neal constructed from many stones blows me away, it is so beautiful.

Do you need more information on these artists?

Let me know

Thanks so much Abbi!

Sophia Zdon

My final three Artist Descriptions (Kara Gregory)

For three of my artist’s descriptions I’ll be talking about three of the pieces I did in this class. This past year has been the hardest of my life and most of my art this semester has been a reflection of those feelings. I started my freshman year in college last year, mostly because I had been out of school for a few years and my dad kept asking me to go. My dad and I didn’t always get along but we had a respect and love for each other and he was one of my best friends. Two month into my first semester my dad lost his 5 ½ year battle to cancer. I was only 22, his passing was devastating, still is, and if my dad hadn’t been so proud of me for going back to college I would have given up and dropped out. Instead I worked my ass off that school year and made the deans list at Normandale Community College. Since my dad’s death I feel my life has been an uphill climb. Life is a lot harder without him and I’ve proved to myself how strong, and weak, I really am. I don’t mean to sound narcissistic but I haven’t gotten a chance to express myself like this and this level of vulnerability with others in explaining my art is healing I think in a way.

My first piece was the cardboard head with spikes. This piece will remain untitled but it has a feeling of annoyance and is supposed to capture a sense of overcoming. The cardboard piece has symbols of feminism and overcoming obstacles. The sharp pieces of cardboard are to represent the negative things in my life and how I’m trying to overcome them. The sharp ones inside my brain represent the hardships of losing my father last year and how his death is constantly on my mind. My dad’s partner has never liked me and now that my dad is gone I’ve had to take care of myself financially. The triangle between the legs is a representation of a vagina and the discovery of my self worth as a woman. I have been struggling with the way people who know about my dad’s passing look at me, it’s as if they don’t see me for who I am they just see what happened. So the cardboard face is unrecognizable and everything around and inside of it is meant to distract from my face.

The second work is “Myself in Three Parts”. This is my metal sculpture. “Myself in Three Parts” represents my body (what you see), my face (who you think I am), and my mind (who I really am). Although the jagged sharp pieces still represent the hurt in my life they are smaller and less overpowering. With the lights on it gives the piece a sense of wonder and evokes curiosity. The lights make you want to look inside and you wonder what’s in there. There is more to me than my circumstances and as humans we judge to quickly based on outward appearances. But each one of us has experienced pain, we have all cried and we are who we are today because of our choices during those difficult times. That is really what this piece represents.

My third piece will not remain untitled I just haven’t thought of a fitting title yet. The intention of this work was to capture playfulness, peace, and magic. I created this, like many of my pieces, in one night. Its skeleton is made of wood and then I wrapped the whole thing in strips of a canvas type material, the drapes were strips of material cut from an old skirt. The base was constructed out of welded metal rods. The balls of light were made from hemp wrapped around balloons with glue. I stuffed the hemp with bits of white material to hide the tea lights. Later on I added the little misfits, trees and other accessories turning the box into a stage. The misfits were hand sewn for the most part and had glass bead and artificial denture teeth for the eyes and mouths. They were meant to look slightly repulsive yet very cute and lovable. The piece was a way for me to reconnect with my playful side and was and artistic freeing of my emotions. After I finished with the stage I sat looking at in the dark for awhile because it filled me peace.

For me creating is a way to slowly letting go of something that is bothering me, it’s a means of self discovery, and has helped a lot in my healing process this past year. Everyone needs an outlet and my creativity has been mine. If it wasn’t for my dad encouraging me to go back to school I would have given up that first semester when he passed. It’s because of him I’m still in school and in a way school is helping me live past this difficult time. Thank you for reading.

AMAZING.

For my final/opened ended artist, I wanted to take at artists who share my love of the human figure and anatomy. What I found blew my mind. Dutch artist Peter Jansen captures the movements of the human body over a period of just a few seconds and translates each slight movement into a combined sculpture!

If that was somewhat hard to understand then just check out the images below :) Jansen's idea is new and exciting. I know I can't wait to see more!

If you want to see more of these amazing sculptures, be sure to check out Jansens' site here

Zim and Zou

I should be doing homework but this was far more interesting.

Zim and Zou is a graphic design studio based in France. It consists of artists Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmerman. They both went to art school and decided when they got out that they would team up and use their combined skills to make some amazing art work.

One the most recent ones they made was "Snowflake Spirographs". It's beautifully done. They used those cheap little plastic things that make geometrical designs.

Great design starts out with simple shapes like circles, squares, etc...
As we all know, no snowflake is alike, so they had to do a lot of combinations to make this piece interesting. I think it's fantastic.

This one is my absolute favorite. They mixed Font, String, and Geometry into one piece. It almost want to take the time to make it into an actual font on my computer. They don't have it as a download currently.

O_o

I can no longer complain about dealing with carboard after seeing this piece. The detail put into this work is fantastic. I'm also impressed that the colors were pulled off. Neon is one of those things that is a hit or miss. I think it worked out great here. Also, I added pictures of the old game boy they made.

Here are some other random works.

check them out here

-Jenna