Final - In My Room

In My Room 

My project is a series of self portraits entitled “In My Room”. I was inspired by self portrait artist Cindy Sherman’s project entitled “Untitled” released in the 70’s-80’s. As well as contemporary artist Kristen Lewis; she specializes in day in the life photography. Everything in this photo was meant to represent the things I did in my room, or the secrets I kept to myself while in my room, an emotion I felt, or the way I existed by myself, in my room. I want these self portraits to be relatable and real. I think these convey a more emotional and private part of myself that I generally try to not share with others. 

My first self portrait was a clay sculpture inside of a color therapy box. Although they both touch on a more intimate part of myself, they were expressed through different mediums.  My midterm was arts and crafts, this is photography. My midterm involved other materials such as paint, clay, glitter, tape, and string. I changed the way I wanted to convey my self portrait for a few reasons. The first being that I want to be a better photographer for the sake of my art. I feel like I need to be able to express myself in multiple ways to be happy with my work. The first project was just a clay sculpture that went into different details of my life emotionally. I feel like this gives you a more understandable approach towards me because this is visible. 

These changes were actually influenced directly by this class. Usually, I always try and do something closer to arts and crafts, which include lots of separate pieces and a lot of different supplies. This time, I wanted to keep it simple.  In this class we do a lot of talking about identity, and the portrayal of it. In her book, Finklestein says the “power to be and not to be, to detach oneself from oneself, to be oneself and at the same time another,” (61). To me, this meant that I could still be the artist that uses paper and colors and glitter and streamers…. But I could still also be the artist that conveys the same message through just a simple image. I am capable of learning different and new innovative ways to say the same things. And by being able to send these messages about myself in different ways, they each give a little bit more about myself to the audience. 

The spectacle of my project is identity. It is tackled by using a series of stills that depict who I am. My project is only affected truly by how i think I want people to see me. 

As Finkelstein points out,“Such a character values the idea of a ‘core self’ that emanates our ethical best but also understands the necessity of the opposite, namely, being able to invent an identity to suit the fluid character of cosmopolitan life.” (10) I wanted to create or portray myself in a way that was relatable to most people, while still being myself. 

*please open link to see power point in a new window* : Jocelyn Rodriguez Self Portrait Final

Warris In Egypt

This project depicts my name (Warris) in the art of writing in the old Egyptian way. The ancient Egyptians believed that their writings was God's words. They believed that writing was given to them by the great God Thoth. I chose this composition because every word in the ancient Egyption writing tells a story. I choose this composition because there is a religious and cultural background in ancient egypt writing i can relate to. 

I have made my decisions on the project based on the research I have done on the egyption way of writing. As mentioned above not only the artwork speaks to me but the connection to the form of writing being tied to my religion and culture. After doing some research I sketched out the artwork of my name  in pencil then i took more time perfecting my piece making necessary changes and adjustments to tell the story of my name. When all of the main contributions to my piece was done, I used a sharpie to shade in the finishing products. 

I would categorize my work under the art of hieroglyphics. Like the educator Bisa Washington works, I believe that my piece is not just a form of art, it's not just my name. This piece of work includes three important factors in my life. This artwork of my name also has my ethnic cultural and religious background incorporated into it. Therefore if there was an artist I would compare my work to it would be Bisa Washington.  

When the audience look at this work, they see art, they also see a story. On like 21st century writing, my audience don't see Warris but instead they see the story of Warris. 

This project differs from my midterm but yet still they are still somehow connected. My Midterm Portrait showed who is warris as a person what makes up his life etc, but this portrait elaborates on the story of Warris not the person but the name.  

A spectacle is a visually striking performance or display it is usually memorable for the appearance it creates. A spectacle functions through most importantly  social media and internet proliferation. This project exists in the spectacle because it is an ancient way to tell a story, this project is using history to create something in the now .

Night at the Museum

I did not visit the Montclair Museum due to personal issues, however, I was able to visit the MOMA. The exhibits were displayed in order by year 1880’s- 1940’s, 1940’s-1970’s, 1970’s- present. Many of the artists we studied during class were present as well as many of the other innovators of their time periods, some of which I've admired for quite some time outside of this classroom.

Identity is how we are able to make sense of ourselves, and portray that to other people. Figuring out what makes you happy and unique and mentally sound everyday is who you are. So many people in life feel like they have to rush to find out who they are, or what they want to be doing in life. Truthfully, this process does not need to be rushed, it just needs to be expressed properly. Our expression is how we construct our identities. We construct these identities through our relationships and how we are towards others. We have experiences that help us figure out how we feel about things, and then apply them to ourselves and how we deal with things moving forward. These identities are always changing depending on how others see us, and the trends of society, as well as how we see ourselves. 

I was inspired by many of the pieces in the museum. One of the artists displayed, and one of my favorite artists that we’ve studied in class was Cindy Sherman. 

           

        Cindy Sherman released a series of self portraits called “Untitled” in the late 70’s early 80’s. She photographed herself throughout New York City, and in her apartment; using pieces of her own life to tell a story. Her art tackles issues of power, identities, and manners. In her photos she wanted to be seen as In many of her photos she is portrayed as a very proper woman, always very well dressed and very delicate looking. She has a very soft feminine look to her, which as a woman, gives her power over the viewers. I was very intrigued by the fact that these stills were all black and white. This made them look simple and still so captivating. 

The Male Gaze 

         Many of her works were criticized for catering to the “Male Gaze. This was something I witnessed while I was the only woman standing there in a room full of males for quite some time - which is quite unusual for the MOMA. "Fashion products and images deliberately manipulate the gaze to stimulate the pleasure of looking and infuse goods with a sexual charge" (Finkelstein 214). This was however what she wanted. She wanted to be seen as a sexy, city girl. 

Another artist that we studied in class, which is my personal favorite, is Jean - Micheal Basquiat. 

                   

I wish I was rich enough to buy this piece. It was genuinely my favorite piece in the whole museum. I used this one as my proof to say that I went to the library, and that I was ever in its presence. His artwork explores the themes of morality, race, self-identity and religion. In this particular piece you get a look at identity. As a troubled person who was very much into drugs and other vices, his mind seemed to be very crowded at times. Knowing that, this piece stood out to me the most because of how busy it is. Then, the one main piece in the middle is so unique to him, that you would know this was his painting anywhere you went. He chooses to use deep brush strokes and various colors to show you the many parts of who he is. In his work you see letters that look like graffiti which is much of who he is and his style as an artist. His work is very striking overall. 

The next artists that caught my attention was Lady Pink and Jenny Holzer. This painting came about in the 1980’s during a period of social injustice and pleas for reform. The painting reads  “TRUST VISIONS THAT DON’T FEATURE BUCKETS OF BLOOD” in spray paint across a painted canvas. This painting is about the war in Central America during the early 80’s. The people were concerned that President Reagan was giving guns to the wrong people during the war, and they wanted to say what they had to in the most effective way they knew how to at the time. They used their New York flare (graffiti) because during the 80’s it was the most popular emerging art form. This touched a lot on class as well because the artists who made this painting were broke. All the materials used to make this painting were shoplifted or stolen by the artists. This is ironic in a sense because they’re talking about justice while stealing. What intrigued me most was the size of the painting. I feel like it was just as big as it’s message. At the time the artist - Lady Pink - was 15 who just wanted adventure. At 18 years of age this was how she wanted to portray herself. 

Lady Pink & Jenny Holzer
"TRUST VISIONS THAT DON'T FEATURE BUCKETS OF BLOOD"

The artist Jacob Lawrence emerged in Harlem in the late 40’s, from where he drew much of his inspiration. Lawrence took as his subject the exodus of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities during and after World War I, when industry's demand for workers attracted them in vast numbers. As the son of migrants, Lawrence had a personal connection to the topic. He researched the subject extensively and wrote a matching narrative before ever making the paintings. This showed a two sides of him, the educator and the artist.                        

The next artist was Frida Khalo. Both the pieces on display gave me different emotions. But the one I enjoyed the most was her “Self Portrait With Chopped Hair” oil painting. This painting was made to signify a turning in herself. At this point in time, she redefined herself by cutting her hair off. Something that is very much a part of someone's entire personality.

              

The portrait reads  “Mira que si te quise, fue por el pelo. Ahora que estás pelona, ya no te quiero” which translates to “Look, if I loved you it was because of your hair. Now that you are without hair, I don’t love you anymore". Off first impression, it made me feel like she knew this is exactly what whoever response would be when they saw her with short hair. It legit played like a story in my mind. Artistically, she really showed her personality through composition. She was very straightforward and her use of colors always felt warm. This portrait just hit differently.

My Open Self

The subject of my final self portrait is my interests and the implementation of my newly acquired skills throughout the semester. I'm always very reserved which is why I decided to take an approach which explores my interests and also why I composed a self portrait with so much varying detail. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and experiment with the different mediums I had at hand rather than just draw or paint my self portrait. If it isn't already clear, I took inspiration from Mickalene Thomas; specifically her use of fabric and patterns in her work. I decided to implement her use of fabrics into my self portrait to cover up many of the blank spaces and add more content to the piece.

Since I'm more confident of my drawing skills than my painting skills I decided that I would sketch my face out on a large sheet of canvas paper. The sketch helped represent the fact that I like drawing and it accurately represented my skill level; at the same time however, I was debating whether I should implement painting elements into the sketch which is why I had everything done on canvas paper. I was originally thinking of painting onto the sketch with soft, possibly dull tones but I also had a completely different idea of using bright colors. There were a lot of clashing ideas like adding dabs of paint randomly onto my sketch, or using thin lines of paint to run throughout the entire self portrait, similar to the way I cut my sketch into different parts. Another hard decision to make was what to do with the blank space that was left around the sketch. I didn't want to paint a background but I still wanted to implement some color into the piece because if I didn't then my self portrait would be a dull black and white.

I didn't want my self portrait to convey a negative or depressing mood which is why I started to think of other ways to add color. I began brainstorming ideas such as cutting out paper from newspapers, magazines, or printouts and taping or gluing them onto the canvas. I wasn't sure if I wanted the self portrait to come off as messy or neat so the material to cover up the canvas sheet was hard to decide on. Ultimately I decided to glue fabric on because I've worked with fabric this semester and prior although I didn't get to sew any of it on which was one of my goals for this assignment because I've had to learn sewing for my painting class and I wanted to implement another one of my skills in this assignment. Moving on though, I chose these specific pieces of fabric because I wanted the color tones to be light and also contrasting. I wanted something that struck the viewer and caught their attention which is also why I used different fabrics rather than just 1.

Something I believe was really important to show in my work was my face being broken apart because I wanted to give the impression that I was being taken apart and analyzed. That's why I placed the spaceships flying out from under me and the dragon popping out of my hair, I wanted it to appear as though some things that were hidden about me before were finally coming out. The cardboard was just used as a support but I didn't want to leave it a bland brown so I painted it black in order to implement another of my skills, painting. I also thought it would be striking against everything else because it would sort of ground everything else with this heavy dark contrast, it acted like a base.

I feel like there has been some major improvement between my final self portrait in comparison to my midterms self portrait because this self portrait makes me push my limits more, I implemented different elements of collage and I feel like this one wasn't as personal as the last project but definitely easier to read. The 1st self portrait I did felt very chaotic and a bit too strong in comparison to this one, it felt like there was too much going on. That's why in my final self portrait I didn't add as much content and I went for a more down to earth design. I was motivated to make a lot of these changes because I wasn't completely satisfied with my first self portrait. My first self portrait was nearly all painting and barely any elements of collage and I wanted to make something that was easier on my eyes. This self portrait feels like it satisfies all the changes I wanted to make and I can see more of myself.

Media has a heavy influence on identity and self presentation because people are easily persuaded and the media presents itself in many ways, shapes and form all around us. The media has taught us many things, one being manners, and another being self awareness. By providing us, the viewer with influential entertainment, we slowly subconsciously understand subtle messages projected at us and begin to follow them as law. In Joanne Finkelstein's book "The Art of Self Invention," she mentions that "The history of manners is closely intertwined with the rise of the commercial, consumer culture with its new emphasis on fashionability and the transformation of sociability into a transaction" (Finkelstein 81), briefly explaining how a new form of media influenced the way people present themselves and brought about a new way of communication.

A life in a Day

The point of my project is to present my day in sounds. I wanted this project to see a rollercoaster or adventure and to experience it all without sight. Taking away one of the senses allows the other sense to heighten and for them to pay attention to what they’re hearing. All the sounds that

I utilized are in my everyday life. I used those sounds to connect the audience to my body and my entire life to further to dimension of the original sound. For example I utilized an explosion from a video game to represent the explosion that happens in my mind when it’s 7 am and I have already experienced this much emotion. But the video game sounds itself represents my family because now my weekends are filled with brothers and nephews who come over my house every weekend and play videos with so much life. It’s a time when my whole family is in one room bonding. They are part of who I am today and who I will grow to be. The video I posted is simply a collage of sounds put together to create these emotions. I also uploaded the poem that goes along. 

The reason I chose to a performance art sensory experience is because last project I created my own art piece. So this time I wanted to create an art piece closer to home. I am a music and English major who grew up writing poetry, even from the beginning when I had no clue what it was. Music is becoming the center of my life and so is sound. I’m learning that certain sounds evoke feeling, certain sounds evoke anxiety and this will forever be apart of my life. So I wanted the class to experience something they may never have before. What also inspired me was when I was in Argentina I went to this event that put a group of people in a dark room, so dark you couldn’t see the person next to you. They then told us there were speakers all around the room and we would experience Queen in a way would never have before. They were right, beyond measures. There is sometime about having a sense taken away that allows you to experience life in a different way. I was inspected by Andy Warhol’s multimedia experience with his band he was managing. In a way Warhol gave his audience sensory overload. But I wanted to heighten certain senses. 

In my opinion this Artwork will take the audience to another place. It will allow the audience to go into my bubble and my world. It may even bring them to their own world because they may be able to connect to certain sounds or certain aspects of my life. I wanted this self portrait to be about me and how everyday worldly things have impacted my life. How I can be here yet, be in another place at the same time. The mind constantly wondering while you’re going through your day. I wanted everyone to see themselves in this self portrait. Which is why the only job the audience has is to listen, because not only are they experiencing life through the sounds but also through my words. I believe the audience will be able to be taken to another world, or be able to be go deeper into their own.  

My first self portrait was about the constant rebirth and death of myself. I too this idea of the female sex organ and expanded what it means to be this sex organ. Showing that as a female at times you are only seen through that organ. But the death was me redefining what it meant to me, showing the beauty and how even though having this organ has caused me pain or our a different lens on my eyes,

it was now time for me to take back that lens, take back that pain, forgive myself and allow this idea

that I have of what if means to hold such a valuable thing to grow. This project is about so much more. It is about how everyday aspects and outside things that I cannot control have got into my bubble and my world and has effected me greatly. At the end of the poem it is the sound of me getting in that train. The sound of me ending my day, but that sound also represents my awakened time. The

Time when I’ve got one of my head and am allow to explore all that is around me. This is the moment I am coming to in life. I still have all these clouded thoughts and emotions but through all that eventually the sky clears and there’s clarity and I can finally be alive, even if it’s just for a moment. There was no defining moment since my midterm until now that inspired this change. But a long moment of growth and spiritual growth as well. I never realized how much sound effected me until I became a music major.

The media has a tight grip on us today. At times I can’t even watch the notes because if I do my mind will run all day about what’s going on in the world. I would never be able to pull myself out of that whole that never ends. The media and public create narratives that they expect you to where 

My project is about what happens when you where those narratives and the feeling or finally digging yourself out. They train can also represent going back home to start this all over again. 

A life in a day 

I would like to say 

I’m not afraid to die 

But fear has been my favorite guy

Can’t even watch the news 

Without wondering if my family will be the next ones to cry 

Then I get. this bubbling feeling 

Rupturing the lining if my tummy 

Darkness comes over my thoughts 

And my heart beat starts feeling funny 

Trying to check my pulse but those cpr classes did nothing 

No worries

That is not my death 

Just my mind exploding 

As my heart spills out my chest

That sound

Is not from the tears I cry

I don’t even feel those well up in my

Eyes 

That is how my anxiety trickles 

Feeling

Me up 

Until I can’t keep the lid on

You want to know

About me 

Well ask that bitch 

She’s got the best view of everything I dismiss 

She’s never hear now 

But always there in the future 

The present doesn’t give her a break 

It just makes me want to use her

Then there’s excess 

Just so much excess 

So much overflow 

Anxiety going everywhere 

But you all will never know 

It’s like I’m drowning

Yet I’m still alive 

I can’t breathe 

But there’s life in

My eyes 

I take a step 

Then the next one too 

Next thing you know 

I’m walking home from school 

Taking my time 

Because 

Those beautiful sirens

Although misery in ones eyes 

Keeps me alive

I remember there’s a world outside the bubble where I reside 

With the lights on now I can no longer be in disguise 

For however long it last..

I will allow myself to live until I die 

I Get Out ~Auntie LoLo

African Queen

     For my self-portrait final project, I decided to make myself the subject. I was inspired by a couple of artists while designing my painting. First I would say Frida Kahlo played a role in me using myself as the subject twice, first for the midterm and now for the final. Frida Kahlo always uses her face in her paintings and paints herself in different eras of her life. Cindy Sherman is another influence when it comes to me using my face as the subject. Cindy Sherman plays around with photography and always captures herself dressed up or disguised as a character or portraying something going on in society. Lastly, Mickalene Thomas was another amazing artist who inspired me to use my face as the subject of my painting. Mickalene's paintings represent the unrepresented African American women when it comes to art, being that I am an African American woman, why not use myself. The only difference between me and Mickalene's subject is the fact that she paints women in her life that are important to her that represents her in her painting.

Kehinde Wiley inspired my outfit, hair, and background in this painting. Kehinde Wiley's absent father is from West Africa, so he tends to incorporate his roots in his paintings in search of his identity. Both of my parents are from West Africa but I still feel a disconnect from my background and roots being that I never actually been to Nigeria. I understand the language my parents speak but cannot actually speak it myself, so to relate to someone who is from where I am from will be hard. The media can affect identity when it comes to this issue because the trend is something everybody always wants to follow. So if your culture was not popular, your interest was not there when it comes to learning and finding out more about it. I wanted to incorporate African prints to bring out my African roots, I did this by cutting up a piece of cloth called Ankara and gluing it onto the paintings. The roots and vibrant background was also inspired by Kehinde Wiley.

     

     The three symbols I chose was my mom, a grad cap, and a phoenix. I chose my mom because she is my everything, she keeps me on track and is always there whenever I need her. I added a grad cap to represent my journey of undergrad and speak my graduation to existence especially coming off of probation and using my last semester two semesters to prove to myself that I can push through. The phoenix represents me starting a new chapter of being more aware and conscious of my actions.