intricate

I AM UTTERLY FASCINATED WITH RYAN MCGINNESS'S ARTWORK.

UTTERLY. FASCINATED.

Aesthetic Comfort, 2008, acrylic on canvas paintings (72 in. dia. ea.) with vinyl installation

under black lights, Cincinnati Art Museum, Courtesy Cincinnati Art Museum

Left: H.O.L.L.A.N.D. (Hope Our Love Lasts And Never Dies), 2006, acrylic on wood panel, 48 x 48 in.

[Love the title of this piece. Clever. Catchy. &love that it doesn't include "I" at the beginning.]

Right: Latet Anguis in Herba, 2006, acrylic on wood panel, 48 x 48 in.

Oh the patterns, layers, and colors oh my! So complex. It's so heavily patterned

Scorpion Syringe

Morning Inspiration

"Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent;
Leave the house before you find something worth staying in for."

- Banksy
(British Street Artist)

By the looks of his artwork, he's taken his own advice....

Feeling sick on this beautiful day?

Yep, I could barely believe it myself. That said, it gave me reason feel justified to lie on the couch all night, laptop in hand.

I did more research on Paul McCarthy, the Salt-Lake-City-Born and now LA-based artist who began his art career with and has this far culminated with his most recent exhibition, "Snow White," which features who else but the fair-skinned Disney beauty we all know so well. He places her in all kinds of sexual and, uhm, fecal(?) positions, with dwarves interacting and animals watching.

After spending the majority of Saturday with my friend and her class (from CCA) at galleries in LA, my mind has been blissfully frazzled. The variety of artworks we saw - ranging all the way up to a whopping $15-20,000 PER ARTWORK- really made me question what I have considered to be art within my own limited mind-frame. Now when I look at Paul McCarthy's art, I have a better picture of what the world - the art world of course- he is trying to make an impression on.

The blissful part is that I feel inspired - something I have been waiting a long time for. Since my high school art class, I paid way more attention than necessary to the rules of composition and formality. I've missed the feeling of getting completely lost in art, which is what a large chunk of my childhood was comprised of....

Final Thoughts & Adjustments

Overall I am mostly pleased with my results. As Kyle pointed out, my ipod ad isn't the best solution for the sky. If anything, it takes away from my overall idea by directing too much of the viewer's attention on one area with its symmetricality (is that a word?), instead the composition being equally overwhelming in all areas. I was thinking a monumentally large ad in the sky would further drive my point of chaos, but it ultimately gives iPods more credit and attention than I wanted. I'll admit that I took too long trying to categorize each building by certain types of ads, which led to me being frustrated and choosing the first visually-pleasing and striking ad I could find.

My new solution is to fill the "sky" space with advertisements and logos that are mostly blue. More to come...

Process

I started off by inserting the ads that caught my attention first, such as the fridge, the green Garnier Fructis hair products, and racy clothing ads.

Then I began categorizing each building with a certain type of ad (like personal grooming, appliances, clothing, fast food, grocery stores, etc) in order to give the chaos of ads some type of order. Ultimately I gave up because it was feeling too tedious and I enjoyed the process of placing pieces randomly - or rather, placed with the intention of overall composition, not categorization. Looking back on it, I'm sure the categorizing could have worked out, but I do like the purely chaotic feeling the final product gives:

If you haven't felt disturbed recently..

...Research Paul McCarthy. He appears to have somewhat of an obsession with disturbing sexualized images.

The following are a few of his well-known pieces.

Now I ask, is this art to you?

Giant inflatable poop.

Chocolate Santa holding a buttplug.

Which of course, is taken to the next level:

Aaaand even a step further:

(He also made various similar sculptures sans-Santa.)

Perhaps the internet has not explained his intentions accurately, but in my opinion, either he is truly demented & this is simply a product of that, or he is obsessed with trying to be demented. I don't think I have much respect for either.

On that note, if you like creepy crime-related stuff, the website Dreamin' Demon may be for you. It features true crime stories from across the country, some more disturbing than others.