I am making art

This piece is a reenactment of John Baldessari's 1971 performance piece "I am making art." I chose to also incorporate another series of pieces that he became famous for by putting a dot over my face. Baldessari came to fame by questioning what art is through his work. He created pieces to make people really think about what art is, if it really has any concrete definition. Today we have endless technology that allows us to make art in countless forms, and we are no longer constrained to painting pretty pictures. Aesthetics have lost their power. While a piece can be pleasing to the eye, some are meant to scare or even make us feel uncomfortable. Others are created to raise questions. I chose to recreate Baldessari's piece because I question myself as an artist. Can I really claim to be one? I'm an art student who is assigned projects and then I do them. But when I think about genres such as performance art, I can't help but to also ask myself if I am making art without even thinking about it. Performance art can be private. So how I get ready in the morning could be considered art. The way I walk, is an art. Reading about and watching Baldessari's piece, "I am making art" flipped on the switch for the lightbulb in my head that art doesn't have to be some intricately detailed drawing, sculpture, or painting. Art can be simple. Art can be art because I say so. So this video is me.. it's me making art.

Left vs. Right (Cumulative Acts Project)

We live in a right-handed kind of world. It doesn't seem to matter much that ten percent of us are lefties. Every day the left-handed people are forced to accommodate to many gadgets and items that were strictly created for the vast and domineering right-handed power. Spiral-bound notebooks, 3-ring binders, ball-point pens, can openers, and the old-fashioned desks in the art history room make life difficult and frustrating. The problematic items mentioned are only a few from the vast list of everyday materials. It’s saddening to know that because many items are made strictly for right-handers, multiple studies have concluded that lefties live up to nine years less than their superiorly numbered counterpart. This fact unfortunately aids the numerous oppressive names lefties have been called over time and perhaps sheds light as to why the dictionary is against the southpaw population as well. The Oxford English Dictionary defines left-handed as meaning crippled, awkward, clumsy, inapt … doubtful, questionable, ill-omened, inauspicious, and illegitimate. As stated earlier, we live in a right-handed world. Now that I've explained the background a bit, here is my proposal. Every day, for five to fifteen minutes I will teach myself how to write right-handed. Since I am a student, the problems I face with pesky binders, notebooks, pens, and even pencils (due to the unavoidable fashion statement of graphite on my hand) seem to be the most prominent obstacle I face because of my handedness. Starting March 22 and ending April 22, I plan to write the alphabet (Aa Bb Cc etc.) during my set time interval. As each day passes I hope to not only improve my ability to control how neat my writing appears, but also to be able to write faster. Ideally by the last day I will be able to pass myself off as a right-hander and be able to write with my counterparts. I will document each day by writing the date in the upper right-hand corner of each piece of paper I use. I will time how long it takes me to write the alphabet one time to see if I get any faster as each day passes. For presentation purposes I will have photographs of each page as well. In the end all of the sheets of paper will hopefully show a gradual progression as I practice writing more. My proposal deals with process because each day I will focus on what I am doing that day; every day I want to make my handwriting look as best as I can.

use your imagination..

I can't be the only one.. everyone goes through a period where their creativity is just, well, nonexistent. Unfortunately for me, this happens pretty much every single time I'm assigned a project. I get all worked up racking my brain to try and just think of something.. anything that isn't going to end up stupid or boring. Pretty spectacular, eh? Something you've never heard of before.. an artist (or in my case most times, a wannabe) trying to come up with an original idea. Who'da thought.. So, after thinking and thinking and thinking about what to do for this assignment, and after recording numerous amounts of pointless footage, I found my idea by simply looking at my notebook. "Use Your Imagination." That isn't always easy.. but seeing those three words sparked my thought process. I decided to create a scene in which I'm assigned the dreaded open-ended assignment. Sometimes I really hate artistic freedom, hah. My short film shows me sitting, fidgeting, and thinking about what I could possibly do for the vague assignment. I come up with a possible idea (one that I had thought of back when I took 3-d art for a possible diorama idea) that ends up being ridiculous because I don't have the means of doing it. I get frustrated and want to give up until I glance down at my notebook and read the words, "Use Your Imagination." This signals the lightbulb inside my head and I have my idea. The film ends with the words, "go create" as an inspiration to all of us who struggle to simply let our imaginations lead the way.