Logo Design

I was actually quite challenged by the logo design project.  It's really hard to symbolize everything about yourself into one simple picture.  Of course, I took the most important thing about me, my music, and emphasized it in my logo.  I felt very accomplished afterward, but trying to symbolize myself was very frustrating!

As far as creative process goes, I just thought about all of my interests and tried to emphasize them in a sketch.  I brainstormed and eventually came up with the idea to use my own guitar, a forest green Fender Jazzmaster, as a basis for the logo.  From there, I added a swirly musical staff, which i colored purple for "mystique."  It was tough to incorporate my name into the logo, but in the end, I just decided to use the guitar's neck as a guide and it ended up looking pretty cool!

The most important discovery I made while creating my logo is how much emphasis I place on the musical aspect of my life.  I could barely think of another viable interest to incorporate into my logo (video games?  I think not).  Without music, I don't know how I would define myself - I'd say that's a pretty epic discovery.


The Powerpoint gave me the most valuable information of all the resources; although the others were helpful too, I liked the Powerpoint because it gave a lot of extra information on the history of design.  I liked the chronology of characters and the ideas for getting started.  The Graphic Design: What’s in a Logo? video was my favorite.  Seeing as how I'm a Public Communications major, all of the information in the video was important to me and it emphasized that redesigning a logo can help to redefine a company’s identity.

Albright Knox

On Friday, I ventured out into the snowstorm to visit the Albright Knox.  I didn't think we were allowed to take pictures so I found most of them online (Blue Velvet and Nana were not pictured online, so I found similar works of art by their artists, Ed Moses and Niki de Saint Phalle respectively).  Also, I couldn't find any information on scale anywhere at the gallery.

Which artworks made an impact/impression on you?

1.) Andy Warhol, oil on canvas, 100 Cans, roughly 3' by 5', 1962.

I was surprised to see such an iconic work of art here in Buffalo.  It was interesting to find out that the Albright Knox had some extremely famous paintings that I recognized.  I appreciate how simple of an idea 100 Cans is and I like the fact that it is so popular despite being so repetitive.

2.) Niki de Saint Phalle, mixed media, Nana, roughly 3' tall, 1965.

Right behind 100 Cans was this extremely interesting sculpture.  I was surprised to see such a chubby figure, but I was almost mesmerized by it when I saw it.  Besides the interesting figure of the piece, I liked the hearts that decorated the body - it gave a good reason to title the piece Nana.

3.) Sol LeWitt, graphite on 3 walls, an entire room, Wall Drawing #1268: Scribbles: Staircase, 2010.

Since we learned about Sol LeWitt's work earlier in the course, it was interesting to actually see it close up.  I was amazed by the control of value the different artists used throughout the piece - when the wall needed to be black, it was black!  I was also amazed that there were no smudges throughout the piece.

Which artworks did I connect with?

1.) Jehan Georges Vibert, oil on wood panel, The Marvelous Sauce, roughly 5' by 3', 1890.

Besides being the most realistic painting I saw during the entire visit, I connected with this painting because I am Italian and sauce is a very important part of my life!  I have tasted sauces many times with my family with the same results.  I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw this one.

2.) Ed Moses, acrylic on canvas, Blue Velvet, roughly 7' by 4', 2008.

This was my favorite work of art from the entire visit.  To be honest, it reminded me of my bedroom.  I loved the colors and I loved the technique Moses used throughout the piece.  It was mysterious and interesting to look at.  I wish it was for sale because I probably would have bought it!

3.) Barnaby Furnas, urethane on linen, Untitled Flood, roughly 12' by 6', 2007.

This was a close second in terms of my favorite piece.  I loved Furnas' use of sweeping strokes and vibrant reds.  Despite there being a gigantic, shiny silver work of art in the middle of the room, this painting immediately caught my eye.  I was also interested to see that Furnas is a younger artist, since many of the works of art I saw were either very old, or painted by older artists.


Which artworks would I like to know more about?

1.) Ellsworth Kelly, oil on canvas, Blue, Yellow and Red, roughly 1.5' by 7', 1969.

This was the first piece I really stopped to look at.  It was so simple - the three primary colors painted in equal proportions on a crooked canvas.  There wasn't much to the painting other than that.  I am interested to see if all Kelly's paintings are like that and, if so, the inspiration behind painting such simple works of art.

2.) Brice Marden, oil and wax on canvas, Red Yellow Blue Painting No. 1, roughly 4' by 4', 1974.

Right after checking out Ellsworth Kelly's painting, Brice Marden's painting caught my eye.  The two paintings are so similar, I initially thought it was going to be another of Kelly's works of art.  The paintings were done five years apart - I wonder if Marden took any influence from Kelly.  I was mostly interested in this piece because of the striking similarities between the two and I would definitely like to know if there is any connection between them.

3.)  Paul Pfeiffer, LCD video monitor, DVD, and metal armature, Long Count III (Thrilla in Manilla), 2001.

I really didn't expect to see something like this in the Albright Knox.  At first, when I looked at the LCD screen, I thought it may have been an optical illusion.  It kind of threw off my equilibrium for a moment until I saw the metal arm behind it.  It was also interesting to see that the boxers on the screen were completely transparent, though still visible.  This piece was just bizarre and I would like to know how Pfeiffer removed the boxers from the video so successfully.

Week 4 - Color Wheel/Value

This week, our objective was to create a color wheel and a value scale.  I was initially surprised when we were asked to use cyan, magenta, and yellow paint instead of red, blue and yellow.  It was interesting to see a "real" color wheel.  I have made several value scales in the past...  it is always so hard to get the final couple boxes to look right!

I liked working with paints.  There is something so satisfying about finally mixing the correct color after fiddling around for so long.  Furthermore, for some reason, I find working with color much more fun than working with black and white.

The most important discovery (and I'm pretty sure this will be the same for the entire class) was that our thought of a traditional color wheel is wrong.  "Red, blue, and yellow" is all I have heard since I started learning about art.  Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta is definitely a new concept.

In addition, the information about the color wheel is also the most important thing I learned from the videos.  I really enjoyed these videos!  They were simple, straightforward, and extremely easy to follow...  and best of all, they were short!  They definitely kept my attention span.

 

I took my Sony Cybershot camera and became a photographer this week!  Since it was insanely cold outside, I did my best to find great examples of each of the elements and principles of art in the indoors.

Line - I took a picture of one of my guitars - a Fender Mustang with a competition stripe.  I think this guitar is a great example of "line" because the competition stripe cuts straight through the body of the guitar in an interesting way.

Form - I took a picture of a treasure chest to demonstrate form.  It is clearly a 3D object with volume since it is holding objects.

Color - I love the colors in this picture of my band.  The blue from one of our lighting rigs is very intense.  This project gave us a good opportunity to take some new pictures!

Shape - I thought my brother's bass drum was a good example of shape.  The drum itself is a cylinder, but the skin is a circle with another circle cut for a microphone.  It is a good example of both 2D and 3D shapes.

Texture - This is a picture of my cat, Vivi.  I like the several different textures in this picture - her fur, the feather, and the rug.  You can tell how soft she is!

Rhythm - This is a picture of a bulletin board posted in my house.  One of our rooms has several leopard print materials and I thought it was a good way to demonstrate rhythm.  The colors and patters clearly repeat.

Proportion - These two birds are a few pieces that my grandmother owns.  They are both bluebirds but one of them is larger than the other which is a good demonstration of proportion.  It is almost like a mother and baby bird.

Balance - I laughed when I saw the zen garden since ultimately, I think balance is a great way to describe a zen garden.  The motif of the frog repeats and there are stones throughout the sand.  The sand also has a repeating pattern throughout the garden.

Movement - This is my younger brother, who I must say, is a beast on the drumset!  This picture clearly shows him playing since his sticks are slightly blurred - it makes you wonder which drums he's going to hit.

Emphasis - Since Valentine's Day is coming up soon, I thought this was a very appropriate way to explain my understanding of emphasis.  The sole green heart (which always seems to happen in these boxes) brings the viewer's eye right to the center of the picture.  From there, you can read all the corny messages.

Space - This is my mom's favorite lamp - she loves hearts.  Besides the hearts that are on the glass itself, she thought the way the lamp was shaped reminded me of a heart.  I thought the space between the two lights were reminiscent of a heart which is a good way to demonstrate how space can be an effective tool in art.

Variety - In the spirit of art, I took a picture of our colored pencil collection.  There are a number of different elements to this picture.  Besides all the different colors and brands of colored pencils, there are also a few pens, erasers, and scissors throughout the box.

Harmony - Though it was painful to go out in the blistering cold, I made a bunch of footprints in the snow to demonstrate harmony.  The similarity of the footprints in the otherwise smooth snow is a good demonstration of the element of harmony.

Value - This is a picture of a chandelier.  I loved all the shadows on the walls - the duality of the bright, white lights and the dark, interesting shadows on the wall was a good demonstration of value.

Unity - Finally, my demonstration of unity is a disco ball.  The disco ball is made up of hundreds of little mirror tiles that come together to create one big piece. 

Week 3

Color can have various effects on our emotions.  In the book, I learned that restaurants often have the color red somewhere in their logo/place of business because it increases appetite.  I also learned that cool colors like blue can have a calming effect on the body and can lower blood pressure.  I was surprised to learn that the hue, value, and intensity of a color can affect the way it is perceived.  For example, in the “color” video, an artist named Mark Rothko used deeper hues of red, like deep maroon, to evoke anger and other negative emotions to customers of a restaurant.  This is fascinating to me – how is it that one hue of red can leave a customer with a stronger desire for food and another hue of red can completely shut their interest off?

I have always been interested in the two different kinds of color, additive and subtractive.  One would assume that shining several multi-colored lights together would create an unattractive shade of brown.  This is not the case!  When a red light, a blue light, and a green light are shined on the same spot at the same time, they create white light.  On the other hand, if one were to mix red, green, and blue paint together, the results would not be as pretty.  This aspect of color is amazing to me – depending on the medium that color exists in (light or ink/pigment), it reacts differently. 

In the color video, I was most impacted by the artist that June was trying to take influence from - Mark Rothko.  Rothko wanted to provide an emotional response to his work using only color.  His work now hangs in the Tape Gallery in London, even though they were originally made to decorate the Four Seasons restaurant in New York.  Since he hated the restaurant so much, he purposely painted works of art that, in his own words, would “ruin the appetite of any son-of-a-bitch who ate there.”  He wanted to make the diners feel as though they were trapped in a room with all the windows and doors bricked up.  Although I personally liked his work, I was intrigued that an artist wanted to instill such anger and frustration simply through the use of “angry” hues like dark maroon, etc.  I actually laughed at the fact that he had such a bitter reaction to a restaurant.  In addition, I enjoyed how June applied the paint to her canvas in large sections and how she was indiscriminate about applying and removing paint.  Her method was very interesting and was actually quite inspiring – I wish I could write songs like that!

In the feelings video, I appreciated David’s message that without kings or religion, we would have more freedom to express ourselves.  However, I found myself much more intrigued in Goya’s work.  His work was said to be “uncomfortable” which is an apt description of his paintings – but that’s why I am fascinated by it.  Goya was a “normal” artist before a sickness in his life left him deaf and apparently very bitter.  His art became very “dark.”  In essence, Goya was picturing his own nightmares in an effort to try to face them head on.  Some of his “black paintings” were astounding – the old man eating his child was quite disturbing.  A theme that I found in his work was thick, smothering earth - I liked his constant use of quicksand/swamp imagery.   Even when he wasn’t painting a swamp or quicksand, the ground in his art looked convoluted and swollen like the hill in The Shootings of May 3^rd.

Week 2

Aesthetics - I learned that Plato's idea of aesthetics revolves centrally around "beauty" and what we consider beautiful.  In essence, the manifestation of something beautiful attracts us to it.  I also learned that Kant's idea was that aesthetics brings sensibility and reason together and that ultimately, aesthetic beauty was a feeling.

CARTA - Most of my key concepts revolved around Ramachandran since I found his lecture the most interesting.  Perhaps my favorite quote from the video is when Ramachandran said "art is about asserting individuality and science is about discovering universal principles...  the best place for them to meet is in the human brain."  Later on in the video, Ramachandran talks about "peak shift" and how they can teach a rat to understand that a square means no food and a rectangle means food, but when presented with an elongated rectangle, the rat will pick that.  

As I said in my discussion board post, I think Plato, a fifth century philosopher, was one of the most important philosophers to have a theory on aesthetics.  His idea was that "beauty had everything to do with aesthetics.  His idea that the manifestation of beauty is what ultimately attracts us to something is the concept I related to most.  Moreover, Plato paved the way for many other innovative philosophers like Kant to develop other interesting theories about aesthetics.

To be honest, I could barely understand Changeux, so I didn't take very much from his lecture.  From what I understood, he was trying to make a connection between the evolution of man and the evolution of art.  He related the discovery of man-made tools to what would eventually become art and aesthetics, which I understood and is an interesting concept.

I did, however, enjoy Ramachandran's lecture.  Ramachandran's said that art wasn't always about depicting an exact replica of something (in this case he was talking about an Indian sculpture of a woman and suggested that one could create an accurate representation with a $5 dollar camera).  Rather, art is about creating a "hyperbole" of an object in order to create a pleasing subject for the human eye to look at.  Furthermore, Ramachandran states that "peak shift" can also be applied to humans.  Peak shift in rats is similar to how humans do caricatures of one another (as in a characature of Obama might have large ears and a skinny lower face) but also states that it is how one might make an effective portrait of another (he then referred to the slightly hyperbolated sculpture of a woman from earlier and stated "you take what makes a woman 'womanly' and you amplify it").

The video on aesthetics gave me a background on philosophers who came up with the theory of aesthetics, rather than Getlein's book which mainly discussed the concept of aesthetics.  Instead of just learning about the concept, I now have knowledge about the philosophers behind it like Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, and Weitz.

The CARTA video had a similar affect, but focused more on the scientific/neuroscience aspect of art.  Ramachandran was able to express that there was a reason that aesthetics was important in art - our bodies and physically react to something when it is aesthetically pleasing.  Though some of the concepts went way over my head, I was able to get a better understanding of the science of aesthetics as a whole.

Unfortunately, the only part of the videos I really got into was Ramachandran's lecture.  I had a tough time understanding Changeux's thick accent and slow English which made his concepts rather frustrating to understand.  Furthermore, philosophy is a subject I've never quite grasped; although I understood Plato's philosophy and some of Kant's, I found that I took more history knowledge away from the Aesthetics video, rather than knowledge of art.  This is unfortunate since I am really enjoying the readings in the Getlein book.

For me, Ramachandran and Changeux's lectures gave a background to the concept of aesthetics.  Now I understand where aesthetics originated philosophically (besides Baumgarten's original definition) and some of the science behind what makes something aesthetically pleasing.  Overall, the videos were meant to supplement the reading as extra knowledge about a topic that Getlein was covering in his book.