Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Lorenzo Triburgo

Wow, just came across this work and I am by far amazed. Not many words but the way the artists talks about the work and the time it took to make is absolutely inspiring. This is something I have always wanted to do within my "gay" community of friends and family and now students.

Check out the work here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/07/09/lorenzo_triburgo_transportraits_captures_the_heroism_of_transgender_men.html

Productive Morning

Ok so before I head into work today I have these sheets of bristol, watercolor, and drawing paper coated with red wine, beets and a strawberry puree almost with beet juice mix. See what I get tomorrow. 
I have decided I was going to collage with 35mm film onto leaves as well but before I really spend a lot of time on the collage I want to know which leaf is going to print best. I have out here with some old high school 35mm negatives on a maple, kale, tomato, three leaf clover sort of, and I believe an oak tree if my memory serves me correct. This should be interesting. Ill give them the day and probably tomorrow before I try to take a peak to see whats happening. The thought keeps running through my mind too my obsession with vegetables and healthy eating, printing on them, using their juices for emulsion.......where is this all going?

This is a beet juice paper that was coated from the other day and now I am exposing just a negative on it to see what king of contrast I can get. I used a difficult negative for this kind of process so it'll be interesting to see what comes of it. I have my fingers crossed.


Remember what I said last week? Found some old negatives, that apparently I was supposed to develop and it was all on pure accident. I spoke about how I would print these images of my ex-boyfriend and spend that time on them because I had developed this film and I was supposed to use it for a release or I dont know what.....I had to do something with it.
Here is where some fun stuff came in and I opened up in my own studio and really felt a sense of revelation. I started to feel the emotions come out of me and into this piece. The three different materials were interesting to think of the type of emotion that accompanied them. Nail =  I was in physical pain because of the hammer and my poor wrists, anger, hate, uncontrollable.

Paint, invisible, nothing, crying, a song came on my mix that was a band he had found while we were together something I couldn't grow to love because he was the one who introduced it to me. I didnt find it on my own so there for they are not good enough me for to listen to. This was an interesting coincidence and really helped to bring out some of the emotions in this piece. I kept painting over it till I couldnt see anymore of him. Peaceful strokes, just washing away that pain and seeing my stubbornness.



This was probably the most enjoyable for me but I may not of felt it as strongly yet. I grabbed weeds and grass from outside and glued them onto him. Covering his skin with these flowers and his spine with the grass. He was weak, so was I.  I liked this feeling. It was beautiful for me to work with. I like the earth in my hands using it to heal what I thought was a painful time. I would like to continue working in this process, it was peaceful and most connected with me although I did not feel the more apparent emotions as in the other processes. This is my own way of coping and dealing now. I think it fits best for my personality and person I have grew to become.


Experiment; Putting it back in Nature

So I am working down in my studio until the time comes I have to actually go to work to make some cash. I have been trying to finish my couple books I started and write my notes on them to go until my notes tab. Should hopefully done those tomorrow.

This morning I was working and putting together some wine coated paper to expose onto as well because I read that someone had experimented with it. So I have coated a sheet of drawing paper and watercolor paper but I may be skeptical. It didn't coat as well as I had hoped. I will be also using some more of the beet emulsion I made to coat a couple more pieces of paper. Those will dry overnight and hopefully they will have a full day of sun tomorrow.

I was feeling stuck for a little bit, bachelorette parties, stressed for cash, etc. but I rearranged my house a little bit. Every time I do this I feel better! I redesigned my second living space and it looks great so I am hoping my mind is back on track and I can get lots of amazing work done with a couple more organization days ahead of me.

So I went outside with my exposed leave and put it back into the space it once was and photographed it. I am going to play with this idea for a little bit. I am thinking of taking a black and white negative with the exposed leaves back in their natural habitat. These are quick shots done with the digital camera, nothing seriously composed but to see the idea. This is what I got.




I was trying to see how vast the difference is between the dead and printed leaf and the floral that is still alive. This will be determined in a black and white print. This process also will give me the more tactile connection I crave with the print itself. The fact that I built what is in the image. Maybe I should make a  lot of them and create my own "weed bush" by pinning multiple exposed leaves into the ground....... this will be my next experiment!! After having said that, I opened an image in photoshop and changed it to black and white to see the tonal quality of it. Look at these...there were only some minor adjustments made. Of course these would be printed in the darkroom.



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Waste Land


This documentary was wonderful, actually made me shed a tear. This artist Vik Muniz has really touched a soft spot in my heart where I feel the urge to usually create. The way he uses his materials is inspiring and the relationship he creates with these people based on his modern art is enriching. I crave that and someday maybe, in my own, will I be able to achieve this type of beauty that he has through his art. Really worth the watch.

My plans have been set back a little because of the rain. Everything is wet there for I can not go and gather materials to collage with. I may be able to do some a little later but for now I am going to try and finish my reading. Currently I am reading three books off my list. I am hoping to finish one today and summarize it in my notes.

Test prints

Ok. So these are the ones worth showing. The celery and kale emulsions are basically all pale with no definition on them. I have here a close up of the negative print that was on the beet emulsion along with a full image. By far this was the best print. I would be interested in doing it again maybe making a thicker emulsion next time. The lighter pink is the strawberry emulsion which did not take as well and is also starting to fade quickly. So far the beer wins. I also show here the print made on a weed leaf from my backyard. The veins of the lead really pop out and the actual print up close is alright. I was trying to find a leaf that was a little more closer to the size of the negatives I was using. The leaf got wet during one of the exposure times and then stuck to the negative under the glass. It created a leaf like impression on the negative leaving its characteristics on the negatives emulsion. This would be interesting to print on the next darkroom day. I am going to attempt some collage in the morning on top of my prints I did Friday but for the remaining of the evening I think ill watch the documentary Waste Land.