For this weeks activity I tried to switch it up a bit. I wore clothes that I wouldn’t normally wear on the daily. I usually always wear leggings and a hoodie just because I feel comfortable wearing that. I chose to be more girly than what I normally am by wearing “girlier” colors and by doing my makeup. I even wore fake lashes to actually feel different. My friends thought I looked good, we all went out and afterwards I told them about this activity and so we all took pictures in the end. They know I don’t usually wear colorful things or wear accessories so they were surprised that I was branching out. When I was buying the purse from forever 21, the girl at the register complimented my pants and said they matched with the purse I was buying. I still picture me being a communications major with the clothes I was wearing because a communications major offers various paths that I can take so I’m not restricted to just one thing.

I chose to share this because I want to be healthier. I want to take care of my body by watching the things I put in it. Of course, eating junk food and eating whatever you want can be fun especially when you deserve it. I hope to communicate that being conscious of the food we put in our bodies can have consequences in the future. I think that the picture reflects my point because it captures the fries at a good angle and shows all the condiments the burger has. I think that by bringing awareness to the food we eat, we can create healthier lifestyles. For next time, I will most likely choose a more controversial topic such as the way women are looked at in society. I would consider this shocking because women are called whores and sluts for the clothes they wear but men aren’t treated in the same way.

• Artist: Fengwan Qing, Heidi Fernandez Saavedra, Mark Hertzel, Vega Leonard, Charlie Rosas, JP Gonzales, Quang Tran, Dickson Janda, Roger Ramirez, Sara Pennington, Vale Fragoso, Alejandra Guardado Gochez, Alejandra Uribe, Jennifer Tejada, Scarlet Sidwell, Andy Phillips, Dounya Mouzoon
• Exhibition: Sculpture BFA Group Exhibition (Afterburn)
• Media: Sculpture
• Max L. Gatov Gallery
• School of Art CSU Long Beach

Afterburn is a group exhibition done by a couple undergraduate and graduate students at CSULB. Most of these students have their Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture while the others are working towards their BFA. This exhibition touches on trauma and how pain and discomfort are part of life learning experiences and identity shaping factors.

The sculptures and pieces in this exhibition are different from other art pieces people would normally see because they are a bit more intense. There is a piece showing a “corpse” or a body covered in a black trash bag, taped up to the wall. Another piece is a head with a disfigured face and an open mouth hanging from the wall by a metal wire. Two other appealing pieces include a blue blanket with white clouds on it and sculptures of tiny disfigured bodies and multiple faces. The blanket gives a sense of uneasiness because it has a shape and figure to it sort of as if someone was holding it. The tiny sculptures are also different in the way they look, one of the bigger pieces has about three faces in the torso and the ones beneath it have missing heads or feet.

According to the artists of this exhibition, “Afterburn” is the sensation your body experiences as a result of excess, whether that be an excess of oxygen, pain, or discomfort. The pieces in this gallery reflect the ideas that afterburn, or the sensation that our bodies feel as a result of excess, is a crucial part of our lives because it shapes us into the person one becomes, that is why this exhibition celebrates and welcomes pain and discomfort. We have no control over the things we experience such as pain and trauma and these artists are encouraging that we simply accept the things that happen in our lives because it is part of learning and unlearning.

Overall, the art I saw in this exhibition was truly admiring and once I learned about the idea behind the artists and their thoughts, I was able to resonate with the actual art. The whole idea of “afterburn” made sense to me which is why I have a good connection with the art itself as well as the artists’ perspectives.

I chose to share this story because it brings me happiness. Going to my dad’s ranch to visit the animals is such a peaceful thing for me. I think I did pretty good overall. The animals were all cooperating and even posing. I think the best image is the one of the two baby goats because I think it’s really cute. They had just finished feeding from their mother so they had to stay inside or else they would try to eat the hay. I don’t think any of the images on their own would be of less significance or uglier looking than if they were all together.

Each picture has a meaning behind them so I think each picture looks great. For next time, I would probably try to take the pictures on a day where the rain didn’t make the dirt all muddy because my feet were sinking into the mud and goat shit that covered the ground.

Overall, I think the soggy mud made the experience more fun and a little more challenging. Pictures are a fun way to share a story so I’m sure I would like to tell other stories in the future.

The whole drawing experience was fun to me. I like to draw when I’m bored or whenever I feel like it. I probably will try drawing again just because it’s something i already enjoy doing. I think that if i practiced more and put more effort into my drawings they would look better. I think 1000 or even 100 hours would significantly improve my skills.

I’m a communications major and I think that drawings or sketches would be beneficial to those who are visual learners. My main focus is to persuade and I could achieve that both vocally and artistically by using sketches I draw and plan out.

In my eyes, drawing is considered a language because some pictures speak louder than actual words. Drawings can give messages and emotions that our own words fail to do.

• Artist – Chanmealea Huy
• Exhibition – Glass Eyes
• Media – Wood panels, acrylic
• Gallery – LBSUSchool of Art
• Website – chanmealeahuy.com
• Instagram – pichhuy

Chanmealea Huy is a graduate student from CSULB. She is in the pre-production program at Cal State Long Beach. Speaking with her gave me new ideas as she was explaining how her art touches on technology and anxiety caused by it.

A lot of her art includes a dramatized look on the characters or “robots”. In the piece where she uses a sort of black clipboard as her canvas, Chanmealea uses mostly primary colors like red, blue, and yellow, and black. In one of her other pieces, she creates some colorful “blobs” or mixtures of colors as her background. Her “canvas” seems like a wooden frame or wooden tray. The texture of the actual paint looks smooth.

The content and meaning behind her art reflects anxiety and a world full of technology. Her paintings symbolize a “man vs. world” ideology. Man being oneself and world being technology. That’s why most of the people depicted in her art resemble robots. Her passion and love for art is truly revealed as soon as she begins to talk about her own art. I feel like Chanmealea and I share a similar perspective on the whole man vs. world idea because technology has taken over our everyday lives that most of us can’t go a day without using some sort of technological device.

I had a great experience overall. My conversation with the artist really effected my experience when viewing the actual art. It gave me a more in depth explanation to the images depicted. The artist and I shared similar ideas which made the experience even better. The whole message behind her work and the way she portrayed it was really thoughtful and unique. She touched on topics such as technology being a part of our lives that emerges energy such as anxiety and unease.

For the art piece my group and I decided to frame, we chose the trunk of a tree. It was a large tree with dark green leaves hanging on it’s side and roots growing from the bottom crawling all the way to the branches. The texture of the tree was like any other, pretty rough and raspy. Although it had a rough texture to it, it was aesthetically pleasing to look at and feel because it reminded me of how beautiful nature is. To me, something is or looks aesthetic when it is beautiful and I view nature as something that is very beautiful but also as something that goes unappreciated so taking my time to view the tree was a pleasant experience for me. The idea behind the tree is deeper than it seems. The roots reaching up from the soil represents how they are accepting the nourishment from the earth. I find that the earth gives us so many things that a lot of people take for granted, and we still manage to mess it up. Viewing the tree made my appreciation for nature grow which is why I think that our art piece was significant. 

Anything nature like is considered art to me. That is why I believe the tree was art before we decided to frame it. Even after the frame is removed, the tree will remain there with all the beautiful qualities it has to offer like oxygen. Trees give us life, nature is life. Trees are art. I think art does not reside in the body of the object because anybody who views something as art will call it art. But other people viewing that same “art” piece will not view it as art. So art depends on the experience of the viewer. Art can be anything the viewer wants it to be not just something labeled as art. I might find a simple drawing art because of what it evokes in me but others viewing that same drawing will not feel the same way I do and will experience different ideas toward the art. They might even call it ugly.

For this weeks activity we also had to finger paint. I chose five color including pink, red, light green, light blue, and purple. I chose these five because I pictured them in my head and thought they would look good together. My experience abstract finger painting was liberating and pleasant. I felt free to paint whatever I liked without the fear of doing it wrong. At first it was harder than what I thought it would be because I didn’t expect it to be so easy. Once I started making progress, my fingers kept making weird lines and squiggles. Being able to paint anything and not something with a subject made it frustrating in the beginning since I am not used to creating abstract paintings. Then when I started to ease up it became more fun and liberating.

Other paintings I have seen represent some particular thing or idea but the one I created doesn’t represent anything to me it was just a fun thing to paint. This is the end product. I’m happy with how it turned out. I kept painting abstract pieces because I had fun doing it. I enjoyed this activity and I think it is a great way to start off this class by letting us students free our minds through abstract finger painting.

When I was performing Maintenance Art last class I felt at peace with myself. Cleaning the sculpture itself was easy and doing it as a class made it more interesting. Doing this activity made the concept of maintenance work more clear to me. The overall experience was fun and helpful. Mierle Laderman Ukeles cleaning steps and Richard Serra flinging lead are different in that one is more straight forward than the other. Mierle is cleaning the steps for the purpose of making them look cleaner and better while Richard is flinging lead without having a concrete idea of what he is making. He is just doing what he feels is right. I believe they are the same in the way they are doing something they enjoy because if they didn’t, they would not be doing it. I would consider both of these ideas art because Mierle’s cleaning takes time and dedication to complete while Richard’s flinging lead is more free and going with the flow. Maintaining anything in life such as relationships, grades, and ideas can be difficult. Mierle cleaning the steps is something that takes effort to do, and because she did it without having too, makes it art.

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I believe that Mierle Laderman’s Ukeles’ Maintenance Performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum is art because maintaining something clean such as a staircase where many people walk and step all over is extremely difficult. Mierle could be cleaning it to get rid of the dirt and build up covering the stairs and to achieve that aesthetic look in the end of a clean staircase. Mierle performing this at an art museum has nothing to do with her performance being art. If she was hired to clean the stairs as her job, I would still consider it art because doing it everyday even as a job shows how little things like cleaning a staircase in some museum is exhausting and enduring. Art doesn’t always involve pretty colors or pictures, it can also be an act whether it is a job or a simple idea, anything that has value can be considered art. I believe that some intrinsic property of the medium does not define if something is art or not art. Art can be anything that delivers an idea or an emotion or anything at all. What the artist might be trying to deliver is not always what the audience will receive but as long as they are getting something from the art itself, is what makes it art. Sometimes we look at things or art paintings that don’t convey anything to us but if we think they are cool or interesting to look at, we might consider them art. Not all paintings on canvas are art because they have their exhibits at museums. As I said, I can look at one painting and not think anything of it but the one right next to it I can consider it art because I felt something when I saw it or because I liked the colors it had. Everyone looks at things differently that is why some artists are more popular than others. I believe that a painting on a canvas can be “not art”. If I were to paint my house for the simple benefit of making it look more aesthetic, I would consider it art. I am painting my house because I want it to look more fresh and cleaner. However, some people simply paint a house because their old paint is peeling and they need to revamp it. In that case, the painter probably isn’t painting it because he wants to, but they are still taking their time to paint it so I would consider it art.

I feel like Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Jlo emphasized my opinions on “Women’s Work”. I also feel that “women’s work” is art because most women’s work involves some sort of domestic skill such as managing a household or taking care of children, both of which are difficult things that involve making sacrifices. I have grown up admiring my sister because she has many roles in her life such as being a daughter, a sister, a wife, and most importantly a mother and she is constantly doing something that either involves cleaning, cooking, washing, or teaching. Being a woman can be hard that is why I believe that “women’s work” is art. In class we talked about a woman who cleaned Donald Trump’s star in Hollywood’s walk-of-fame. I would get down on my hands and knees to clean Elvis Presley’s star.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

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