Sunday, July 27, 2014

Book Cover Abolitionists

In the third unit of my summer class, "P'art of History," we talked about revolution in Chicago. The third unit that we have been working on is called, "Revolt." In this unit, we learned about how the people of Chicago have revolted in the past. This whole project was actually quite fun, I found minimal amount of difficulty. I decided to focus my project on discrimination as a whole. I chose the main subjects that come to mind when I think of discrimination and inequality.



"Book Cover Abolitionist Visual" (By DR) Jul 28, 2014. 


By DR
Title: Book Covers Abolitionist
Medium: Linocut/ Plaster
Size: 6x6 inches
Date: July, 2014


Discrimination is huge EVERYWHERE. Only thing I could think of in a broad point-of-view.
The oppressed people that I will be discussing are the gays, women, African Americans. The oppressors I will be talking about; Catholics, men/media/government, the people. The oppressed that I will be talking about were stripped of their rights to be expressive, to be discriminated against because they are black, and to be equal.

My poem is read below:
This is the year that wages & salaries are paid by ability and not by gender,
where WNBA players get paid even a third of what NBA players make,
where a salary of 72 thousand is not equal to a salary of 5.15 million,
where playing in the NBA is only a side job,
where one player from the WNBA gets paid more than 100 players from the NBA

This is the year,
a time where the woman comes home from work to a clean house and nice dinner ready to be served,
where the woman is recognized as someone with a goal instead of someone on a pole,
a time where people will see a feminine figure screaming “Yes We Can” at the inauguration.

This is the year that we see gays and Catholics together in harmony because they have simply realized that we are all human,
a time where people aren’t breaking the law just because they fell in love.

This is the year when activist, Bobby Seale of the Chicago 8 who was discriminated against his race, locks up Judge Hoffman (discriminator) for knowing his own rights.

This is the year that black men and women will work hard and not be held back because they can’t afford to go to college,
where the emancipation proclamation is actually realized,
where discrimination is abolished along with slavery.

This is the year that people look past clothing, beauty and style to see education, potential, and uniqueness.

If the Emancipation Proclamation began
with the vision of equal rights amongst blacks and whites
then this is the year;
If the legalization of the civil unions began
with the vision of people in love coming together
then this is the year;
If Women’s Lib began with the vision
that the glass ceiling would be shattered
then this is the year.

So may every person that is discriminated against
be able to live on
and be free.

This is the year that discrimination is abolished.
______________________________________________________________________

My image represents the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Instead of saying the term, I instead, open the book and say, “you have to open it first.” My poem is based on discrimination so I thought about how people assume women aren't strong enough, or black people aren't smart, or people who don’t have the new Jordans aren't cool. So basically the message that my visual tries to get across is to stop assuming things about people who are “different,” because at the end of the day we are all human. A propaganda poster is a visual that is fighting for something that someone believes in. Some elements of propaganda posters are a clear message, symbol of power, and simple. I used elements of Propaganda Posters by incorporating a clear message in my art piece.

I created this art piece by, sketching my image, then flipping my Image onto Soft Cut Linoleum, then transferring the drawing onto the lino by rubbing, then start carving the lino, then build the clay walls around the carving, then pour plaster onto carving, then paint carvings, lastly I installed the visuals.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Práva Homosexuálů

In the second unit of my summer class, "P'art of History," we talked about rebuilding our Chicago. The second unit that we have been working on is called, "Rebuild." In this unit, we learned about how Chicago has came back from many crisis' in the past. It was really difficult to find an event where Chicago has showed weakness or resilience. I decided to focus my project on Gay Rights. Creating the drawing and carving was even more difficult this time. This project took plenty of time and required very hard research to complete.



"The Práva Homosexuálů Visual" (By DR) Jul 16, 2014. 


By DR
Title: (of your piece) Práva Homosexuálů (Gay Rights)
Medium: (used to create the piece) Linocut/ Clay
Size: (of the piece) 6x6 inches
Date: (Month/Year of completion) July, 2014


The purpose of my art piece is to represent the equality issues in Chicago.

The problem I am addressing is inequality regarding gay rights.

Word has spread that god doesn't believe in homosexual people. The bible says that god put us all on this Earth to reproduce and the only way to do so, is to be involved with someone of the opposite sex. This has lead to political and environmental chaos between gay people and religious people. This has also lead to people all around the world using the term, "gay" and "fag" loosely. I don't really know what the fight is for, god loves all his children.

Based on my Chicago experiences, there are still people here that are completely against gay people, aside from this setback, same-sex marriage was recognized by the U.S. state of Illinois by means of a law signed on November 20, 2013 by Governor Pat Quinn that took effect on June 1, 2014. Despite any resilience Chicago has shown for gay rights, till this day, the government still looks at gay people as second-class citizens. Life isn't only discriminatory but, it can also be expensive for gay people.

All the protests finally got to the government of Illinois. The idea of inequality was supposed be abolished on December 6, 1865, when slavery was outlawed. Is that not true? In doing the signing of same-sex marriage, it allowed the real freedom of our people. When people say "gay rights," it enrages me, because I think they mean "human rights." To say someone can't marry the one they love, they might as well outlaw opposite sex marriage too. Same thing right?

Chicago had their first homosexual rights organization in 1924 and now we have a same-sex marriage law enforced that was finalized by June 1st of 2014. 



Many people have recognized the significance of this subject, such as famous rappers, "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis"



My art piece represents baby mortality. The idea of humans being put on this Earth to reproduce. I drew a picture of a baby with skull eyes to represent the population depletion of infants. The idea I had for this visual was to show what religious people see as result for people being gay. It means if people are gay then they can't reproduce which means extinction of some kind.

There is a style of art called Art Deco and it is used often to describe art in patterns using clean, straight lines. I think the pattern of the skull eyes and the pattern of the face serve as Art Deco because of the clean lines making straight patterns along the face represented as facial features.

Before anything I had to create the circle which represented the face of the baby, the hardest part. Along the face, came the ears and the hair. Then when I was finished, there was a lot more left. I had to create the mouth and eyes. The mouth was quite difficult trying to center it and make it look decent.The eyes were one of the more impossible tasks. For the eyes, instead of eyeballs, I replaced them with skulls which was hard because I still had to carve the rather, small skulls inside the eyes. After I got through with the more difficult work, I just started adding texture the face and made it stand out more. My results are showed at the top of this blog post. 

Sunday, July 6, 2014

The Claim of Sanity

In the first unit of my summer class, "P'art of History," we discussed the history of Chicago and who laid claim to our Chicago. The first unit that we have been working on is called, "Reclaim." In this unit, we learned about the history of Chicago. I put a lot of thought into my piece and I believe I have a wonderful message that I'm trying to get across. Creating the drawing and carving was not easy. In order to create my piece, I had to exit my comfort zone of drawing and create clean, straight lines while focusing on the drawing itself.

"The Claim of Sanity Visual" (By TC) Jul 2, 2014. 



By DR
Title: The Claim of Sanity
Medium/Material: Linocut (Soft cut Linoleum, Carving Tools)
Size: 6x6 inches
Date: July, 2014


“The Claim of Sanity” 

Want to know who claims my Chicago?
The CPD
The Gangs
But not even the government
Because the government isn’t full of ruthless people,
if Chicago was claimed by the government,
there would be no homicide.
People wouldn’t complain about how their children starving
or not getting the right education
The people we call our “protectors” and “leaders”
are sitting on stacks of money so high,
they can see the hope we are so desperate to catch out of the sky
got old men on Stony Island sellin’ bean pies.
But yet we embrace Chicago like we satisfied
We live off, under 10% of the money that others make but we’re satisfied
well I'm not.
it’s funny how we all have conditions to live under
how we can work in hotels that we can’t afford
how most people say Chicago is “sane” but I’ve never seen these people in my neighborhood.
three of my cousins just got murdered in my neck of the woods,
where were you?
Already in 2014, 108 people have been murdered
How much time will go by,
until we tell another brave soul goodbye.
Insanity claims Chicago,
Meanwhile, Chicago claims sanity and that’s nothing but an illusion.


I was asked, "How Do You Visualize Your Chicago?" My answer was kind of long. 

I started thinking about something that is widely regarded as representation of my “beautiful” city. The first thing that came to mind was the skyline. Then I began to think about who really has the power in the Chi. The first thing to pop up in my mind was violence; The CPD and the Gangs. I’m starting to think the police kill more than the gangs do. So I tried to complete a six point star in the middle of the skyline to represent the police and I thought a gun inside the star would be just the right touch.

I honestly believe people are the same. Remorseless, Ruthless, Nonchalant, and Stupid. I think that just as people were trying to be greedy back then and just because they could, they would kill for reputation and land, it’s the same exact thing now. In 1763, “The French and Indian War,” was regarded as a time where the British took loads of land from the French, simply because they had the power to.

My art piece is the Chicago Skyline, representing how people think of Chicago as the best city and “beautiful,” but look past the fact that Chicago is ruled by death and violence. I will use the carving I created in the picture above to make a plaster sculpture.

I showed many Neoclassical qualities such as the badge in the middle of the drawing, meaning a supposedly “heroic” figure. Also there seems to be clean lines and it is pretty simple.