Mar 07, 2005 12:16
My essays for Art Center. EDITED TO ADD: Thanks Greg for all your help! Its much appreciated.
Who do you believe to be the three major artist and designers who are shaping the discipline you are interested in pursuing or who have influenced you? These should be individuals who have brought relevance to the world or to you in some social, political, emotional, economic, or other meaningful context. Explain why you feel they are important. In what ways do you want your own work to contribute to or make a difference in the world?
I’ve always admired Cindy Sherman, Helmut Newton and Diane Arbus.
Helmut Newton’s nudes enrapture me. His sensitive, intimate use of light has always caused me to pause and stare at his use of form and the abstraction of form in photographic space. I admire the fact that he stunned and changed the fashion world with his bold, erotically charged portraits of naked women. I believe he became one of the leading 20th century photographers because of his command of technique and skill in working with his subjects. Newton’s lavish lifestyle is also a fascination, since decadence and "culture" are quite present in his rich tones and seductive viewings of the body.
Diane Arbus is the epitome of what I love about editorial photography. Her subjects seem more real and human than I feel myself most of the time, thanks to her searching personal connection with the individuals she chose to document. Her ability to build rapport with strangers she saw in her environment is a source of envy and inspiration for me. Photographs such as "Untitled (Marcella Matthaei)" from the Family Albums series have stayed with me because of my prying curiosity into the lives of others. Arbus proved to me that you can capture a believably real impression of a person on film, so much so that it becomes alive and personal. Throughout her career she bravely delved into subcultures and families, photographing the peculiar bonds that hold people together. I believe that she had the ability to capture things in people that normally wouldn’t be seen.
Cindy Sherman and her body of self portraits is exciting to me as I also have an affinity towards the distortion of self-image and manipulation of outward persona. Her "film stills", with their realistic cinematic feel, are some of her more known accomplishments. I want to be able to create something so beautifully fabricated that it becomes its own believable truth. I enjoy her for the fact that both her and her images are strange, outlandish, and just plain weird. Her more recent work with mannequins, such as "Untitled #256" with the prone and hooded nude mannequin with an ax hovering near its head, delve into how colors control emotional perspective and reassert that not everything you see is what you might think it is.
I feel that emotional quality to my work is probably most important to me. Pictures that resonate with something eternal have always stood out in my mind, either as pure pleasure or a sense of solace. I want what others have inspired in me-those moments of sitting busily working at something when suddenly an artist’s image surfaces in my mind, and that reflectance that comes from so many of the great artists. I hope to be able to achieve work that people can connect with on a subliminal level.
Choose one of the essay questions below and respond in a personal and thoughtful way. We are especially interested in the depth of your thinking, as well as the quality of your writing ability (100 words or more).
1. The ability of think critically and to approach the classroom with curiosity is vital to success at Art Center and in the professional world. Explain something that you once believed to be true that you have since come to question.
OR
2. Taking a risk comes more easily to some than others, but for most it will be an important part of becoming and artist or designer. Explain a risk you’ve taken in your life that has paid off- exploring something new, confronting a fear or problem, or taking a stand on an issue.
School has always been a source of debate for me.
As a youth, I was quiet and lost in any one of the novels I was able to gain access to. My passion for reading was fueled by all the imagery and ideas that came into being in my head with the urging of the text before me. It became a problem in regard to school because as the years passed I’d repeatedly be reprimanded for reading in class and not paying attention to the instructor. The problem for me was that I paid attention to what was needed to in order to understand what was being taught to me, but after that I felt that I should be left to quietly focus on other things. I felt like they wanted me to learn at a slower pace and not really focus on my own pursuit for knowledge, which is what the system of school is really all about (at least in the realm of early education through high school).
I hated school. I didn’t fit in. No one knew all the ideas that were screaming to come out, or that I was dying inside because no one knew how to listen. I blamed everyone. I blamed myself.
My perception of school has since changed due to my new passion: photography. About 5 years ago, I started visiting museums more, shooting randomly, and eventually created projects and concepts to work
on. I proceeded like that for over a year, but while I was growing and improving, I didn’t feel it was fast enough. I wanted to learn more about design, lighting, and what exactly I could do with my film. I
wanted someone to show me how to do these things, as well as all the things I didn’t even know of. I felt my two options were finding someone to learn under, or going back to school for a photo class or two. I was still painfully shy at that point in my life, and the idea of approaching someone who would intimidate me with their authority and knowledge was rather nerve-racking for me. And so the latter was chosen.
The combination of growing older/more focused and finding an interest that I was both talented in and passionate about is what turned my perceptions about school around. I enjoyed being engaged by the
professors, being able to ask questions about processes, being shown that there are many different ways of seeing the world, and how to capture that vision on film. What I loved most was the camaraderie that
sparked and flourished between some of my fellow students and instructors. Being able to help and be helped when it came to questions about chemicals and papers, sitting for shoots, and having someone there
that will be receptive when you have that wonderful moment of success with a print you’ve been working on perfecting for hours and now want to show off.
It has become important to me to have a nurturing, challenging environment containing individuals who are passionate about their art and who have a willingness to constantly demand more of themselves. I've
finally found that sense of recognition and affirmation I’ve been looking for, through photography and through the photography department at City College of San Francisco.