New flash website

So I just spent the past couple hours setting up a flash website using wix.com

check it out: http://www.wix.com/adlonart/portfolio

Old and New

Here is a mixture of old and new material.
-Madonna of the sky (2009)
-Frozen (2010)
-Bury me at sea (2010)
-The Dark Knight (2009)
-Senior year (2008)

portfolio

Im overhauling my portfolio right now; editing a lot of images and getting rid of some as well.

video update

So I have run into a bit of a snag with the video. Apparently iMovie '08 does not have a video effect which allows me to speed up footage. I have almost four hours of film of me making the piece and I cannot crunch it down to roughly 4 minutes. Hopefully I can figure something out over the up coming Christmas break.

my personal paradox

I hate everything about the rich, from their fashion to their art. Yet I am not happy with the way I dress and I want my art to be successful.

Update 12.02.10

"Art is doing what you didn't get to do" -Mike Mills Beautiful Losers

That's exactly what I'm doing.

Here's a sneak preview of my current project.

The empire state part 2

For this entry I want to touch on a lot of random things I thought about while in NYC. It was great to have my mind spinning with creativity. But I could not ignore some things that seemed to either frustrate me or strike a never of anger.

On saturday I visited the MoMA. This was not my first trip to this museum but I seemed to realize why I don't enjoy much of the art I see in that building. The thought struck me that art cannot rely on a few elements and principles, in fact in order for someone to be a true master of art the must be able to successfully incorporate all of these factors into their artwork. Now, this does not mean that I hate almost every piece of art I have ever seen. What this thought made me realize was why I held so much doubt in my own talent. I'm not some great artist but I do have the ability to become something great and I often wonder if I will ever master all of the elements and principles of art, and in my mind be a "true" artist.

Sunday morning the group I was with took a stroll up fifth ave into central park and visited the Guggenheim Museum. If you haven't visited this museum then I should explain the the floor is a continuous slope forming a spiral. While looking at some art from the early 1900's from German, France, and Italy, I wondered, "In a building with crooked floors how do you hang a painting 'straight'?" Either you hang it strictly vertical, ignoring the floor an have it look crooked in relation to the floor, or you hang it perpendicular with the floor and have it appear to slanted with respect to the viewer who is standing vertical due to gravity.

The final thought I want to touch on was brought up by my adviser. I noticed how the cathedrals of NYC are dwarfed by the skyscrapers. He pointed out that the point of a cathedral is to stand above all other buildings and be viewable from around the city. Now these majestic temples are hidden in the shadows of penthouses and office buildings. This is the perfect illustration of how the culture of America has changed over the past century.


PS- The sketch above was done in my hotel room after leaving the MoMA. I do like very few pieces in that museum.

The Empire State

So over the weekend I had the chance to visit NYC, meet some artists, and visit some galleries. I'm going to use a couple posts to talk about my adventures.

I went to NYC with the Visual Arts Department from Gettysburg College. We spent Saturday Morning walking around Chelsea visiting different Art Galleries. Over all I was not too impressed by what I saw hanging on the walls of the remodeled garages. The works by Wangechi Mutu as well as Albert Oehlen did spike my interest, but the majority of the art I saw was plain and simple shit. The Galleries were filled with to much "Modern Art", which in my opinion, while modern art does demostrate skill and planning it fails to incorporate all the elements and principles of art. Now before I go on I will state that I am a hypocrite and by no means to I consider myself to be a good artist. I see all this art that moves millions of dollars around the world and wonder how it is possible. I am never fully satisfied with my own work because I feel that I am still learning how to use all of the elements and principles to create truly great work.

I don't mean to say that I hate every piece of "Modern Art" I have ever seen. However I cannot comprehend how some people can enjoy such simplistic, "conceptual" work. But to each his own, and my own is to be the anti-"Modern Artist".

On a closing note, amidst all the multimillion dollar galleries we stumbled upon a great alley way underneath a bridge. Along the walls were some great graffiti/street art pieces mixed amongst parked cars and empty wine bottles. The piece which displays a two headed eagle had a tag next to it which stated "blog about this". I'm debating as to whether the artist was looking to get their work out onto the internet world or if it was a blatant statement expressing disdain for the blogging community. Either way it is an impressive piece and I think people should see it. I mean, it is street art right?

sketch update 11.09.10

Just a few sketches from my figure drawing class, a sketch of a graffiti style steel project I'm working on, and a sketch from class this morning.

Entertainers v. Artists

In America people are always struggling to get ahead and to succeed. A perfect example of how we do that can be found in our entertainers, people have worked their way up through the ranks to gain money and fame. But there is an irony within this idea of success as an entertainer. Actors and actresses are often called stars because they shine in the eyes of the masses. But stars to not glimmer forever. This is also true for actors, especially comedians. Take a look at who the main comedic roles are played by in movies. It is an every changing group. Some comedians try to hang on but often fail. Like the stars in the night sky, they are born, they glimmer, then they dim and die out.
Lets examine artists now. For the most part, artists are born with a talent and through practice they improve. Some go on to sell their works in galleries, others find their works hanging in museums. But more often then not, artists find themselves producing works for commissions or work for graphic design. It is much harder to gain fame and prestige within this field. But once an artist sells a piece for millions of dollars, the price is set, they become established and will from that point out sell their work for millions.
The entertainers gain fame with ease through exposure to the public but are soon replaced by new comers. While success in the art world is much harder to reach but once one has achieved such a goal they own their prestige even after death.

Sketch update 09-29-10

Finally got the chance to do some figure drawing.
Hopefully I'll get around to doing some painting in the coming weeks.
I made a design for some shirts, bandannas, and stickers. The label would be called "Ride Local", meant to express respect for local skaters, boards, skiers, surfers, etc. I really like the idea so I think I'm gonna role with it.

BOMB IT

I sat down and watched a pretty awesome documentary on graffiti artist around the world called "Bomb It". I liked it a lot but it made me realize something... no matter how much I look up to street artist, I will never be one. I have some personal views on the problems in society but I don't have the balls to be in danger of getting arrested for tagging or putting up art on public walls. I'm one of those people who wants to take the graffiti style and put it on canvas. I'm something that graffiti artist despise. Fantasies to paint the sides of buildings are merely that, fantasies. Something I want to work on is to find a way to show my respect for street artist and stay away from becoming that which they hate. I'll stick with my canvas and paper, showing the world that graffiti is a revolution in the art world, in the world in general.

So to all you bombers out there, keep at it, and don't forget to realize the effect your work has on artists who don't have the balls to pay the price of jail time for art. I'll live vicariously through your can and your wheat paste.

sketch update

Finally got some time to update with some new sketches.

ps- still no camera

t

To make up for the lack of drawings being posted by myself, here are a few sculpture pieces I did last semester. The skull piece is entilted "dethroned" and was entered into a juried student exhibition at Gettysburg college. It was also awarded with a spot in the Mercury magazine.

well look it's almost april...

It's been forever sense I've been on here. It is rather difficult to post anything these days considering I still have no camera and wont be able to get one for while. I guess the real reason why I haven't made an effort to post anything though is the fact that I am pledging Sigma Nu fraternity. It's a lot of work but I'm seeing the benefits already.

To banter for a little while; I felt as if I were in some sort of comic book the other day when I read the news that a group known as the "Black Widows" were responsible for the subway bombings in Moscow. The name of the organization just seems like it should be out fighting the "RED legion" in a war filled with laser vision and atomic punches. The name does make sense, considering the background of the organization, but my mind couldn't help wonder into a landscape of turning pages and speech bubbles.

To close up, I have been falling behind on sketches but I've got a couple of things I'm working on that I'm looking forward to constructing.

God Bless the citizens of this world.

no camera

So over the holiday I decided to take my camera skiing with me to film some friends... I did some filming but managed to loose said camera on the slopes. With that said I'm gonna be looking for a camera to borrow while I'm at school until then I wont be able to post anything unless I decide to use my scanner... which won't happen.

01/04/10

I got a hold of a product (RED) moleskine sketchbook and a moelskine water sketchbook. I'm pretty excited to fill the pages.

Hope your holidays were enjoyable.

peace.

ps holy crap another decade is gone! that's two down for me.