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Process

I have discovered most recently that I have been going about my process all wrong.  Originally, I created three works for this exploration.  I consider them to be very successful.  I explored, I answered, I discovered, and the art did all the work.  Since then, I have been studying up on the apostles in an attempt to make an informed work. This process was extremely slow until I realized that I don't need to be informed to make the work.  I wasn't for the first three but they still speak to and inform the viewer.  I am going to turn away from the approach of meticulously creating work that is based off of my readings.  Instead, I will just make it and let the work inform me.

I discussed this with Stephen Caffey and he said this approach would be much more conducive to creating work and not forcing the content.  The painting will speak for itself.

Leonardo

I have been working like crazy to answer questions, explore the apostles, render images, and stay on schedule.  Needless to say I have done all of those except staying on schedule.  I'm about a day behind of where I would have liked to be.  I will post some of the images I have been thinking about recently below.

Carol LaFayette brought these drawings by Leonardo to my attention.  These are fantastic drawings that speak so much to the subject's character.  The emotion evoked in these simple drawings really inspires my own face models and has motivated me to continue my work.  Leonardo has taken simple men, old in years, slightly manipulated their proportions and taken their shapes to the extreme.  Stricken with pain, malice, grief - these characters seem to be in a moment of exile away from the viewer. 

Visuals for Proposal

The Return to Postmodernism

I think back to the start of the semester when Carol was sharing with us the ideas of Modernism, Postmodernism, and Pop art - bringing up such artists as Munch, Seurat, Tansey, and Oldenberg.

But what period do we live in?

I believe Foster is suggesting that the contemporary state is a return to the postmodern.

The postmodern was a dominant concept for critical discourse in the 1980s and seems to be almost exhausted by the early 1990s.  When Foster wrote about the "return of the real" in '93 he also asked the question "Whatever happened to postmodernism?" in chapter seven.  (Chapters 5 -7 are available for free here).  It seems to me that Foster wished to bring back postmodernism as a critical force but he did not look at it as a historical moment with a start and finish but rather as anticipations and reforms.  This allows Foster to cut away from the preconceived notion of postmodernism from the 80s and (re)institute a (re)constructed postmodernism to the 90s.

Now this is where I get a little confused.

When referring to the postmodern of the recent past, the portions that are more developed from Foster are those that are not recent at all.  As he approaches the postmodern, it's not only because it has passed away but also because it needs to be (re)worked to meet the needs of contemporary work.  When I read Foster's commentary on the present state, there is a cause and reference for every "return."  Our present conditions alter the past so that any "return" cannot, by definition, be a recovery.  The return, instead, is motivated and filtered through the culture, society and drives of the present state.

We discussed this idea a little in class last week when we spoke about the "new" avant-garde and viral video. Foster claims that because the new avant-garde is about a "return to the real," then we can generally characterize our interaction with technology by the imaginary and attempt to escape from the real.  But much of the avant-garde that Foster describes accounts for the shock and trauma of reality.  Therefore fine art and film have become a medium of escape. It is a response to the traumatic of the present day.  It's in this topic that I personally find his reference to Warhol to carry more weight.  Foster identifies that Warhol does not give the subject a choice between the simulacral and referential interpretation; instead, he forces them to accept a world of product fetishism and harsh facts exposing consumerism and its degradation. 

...work in progress...

Congenitally Blindfolded as an Anatomical Feature

Screen capture from 3DS Max revealing lighting, topology and camera. I still need to do some work on the eyes.  I'm not quite satisfied with the wireframe or with the topology.

Here is a a rendering rendition of the current model with minimal lighting and facial detail.  There is only one light and a bump map applied to the skin.  I want to include some more atmospherics and volumetric fog.  I would also like to do a series where the eye sockets are present but no eyes.

Here is the image after some Photoshop work.  I want to keep working on this.  I really like where it is going but I need to get some more time on it.  I'd like to add some more detail in the lines and debris.  I would also like to really bring up the contrast to make the image really pop.

Micah Model 2

Four perspective view of model from 3DS Max.  This is the initial detailed digital representation of Micah.  I will come back and remove the eyes but I did want to have a model that has eye sockets without the portrayal of eyes there.