Michael Pantaleon
Shaun Leonardo: The Freedom to Move
“I come from a background in which I never experienced any male members of my family cry. That inability to express any level of emotionality was something that I started to question.”
After college, post-football career, Leonardo would take up performance art, dressing up as a masked luchador wrestling an invisible man.
“I wanted people to feel it and to allow their bodies to say what the piece needed to be. I really wanted to see if by dialing into our experiences of confrontation, of conflict, we could sense some sort of truth in another person’s body, and therefore question our perceptions of how we initially read an other.”
Target audience and those in attendance primarily consisted of the Caucasian demographic, coming into terms that minorities and people of color are not able to move freely through the world to pursue their passions.
As a big fanatic of sports in general, I was immediately drawn to this artist purely out of speculation based on the hover preview, and to my surprise, came something much more grand. Similar to most, if not all artists, I tend to create my work based on emotion, whether it is purposely portraying how I currently feel, or if I’m in the creative mood. Majority of Leonardo’s work focuses on the psychological aspects of both art and life, and being in tune with your vulnerable side. As a male artist, I simply would not be able to create if I have not had the ability to comfortably express myself.
Chris Ware: Someone I’m Not
“It was sort of an experiment to write from the standpoint of somebody who I’m not…”
Growing up attending art school, Ware was advised to not draw women, and that as a White writer, it was forbidden to write from the standpoint of another person; constantly contemplating to himself if he is doing the said perspective justice.
“I wanted to be able to write about everything and anything because that’s what life is.”
My personal opinions of myself becoming a creative individual always involved the idea of branching out into different fields of art, not being “boxed in” or categorized solely on one practice.
“What art is all about is trying to figure out if the feelings that you’re having are the same as the feelings that I’m having.”
When I’m feeling extra creative, I dabble into poetry, most of which not only relate to an art piece to go along, but based on personal experiences. As much as I enjoy writing poems, I tend to get real personal and soon realized that should I publish this for whomever to see, they would get an unwanted glimpse into my life. After viewing this video of Chris Ware, the challenge of writing from a different point of view is one that I will definitely consider.
Jamian Juliano-Villani’s Painting Compulsion
“When I look at something, I just take notes of ideas.”
"...I'll have thirty images in a month or two months that I'll keep on coming back to, and I'll try and make those work with what I'm doing, but they'll never look like they're supposed to be together…"
This is a creative process that I subconsciously perform often. Many times when I’m not in the mood to produce artwork, I am still inspired by all things around me. I would jot down random ideas, concepts, color combinations, phrases, etc., into my iPhone notes and refer to them once the creative juices start flowing.
What is most inspiring is her compulsion and act of doing out of necessity. A part of the reason why I get so discouraged when I begin to create is the immense pressure I put myself through to not only generate a deep, thought-provoking piece, but to also execute it perfectly. Being able to use the feeling of wanting to create as an emotion itself, later understanding how or why it was deemed appropriate for the time being is a step in the right direction to evolve.
Brian Jungen: Printing Two Perspectives
“In mass media, you’re always portrayed in either a sympathetic or a very negative way.”
“One thing I always liked about the [Inuit art tradition] that you see in the cultures of the coast is this bilateral symmetry – trying to portray both sides of something on a flat surface.”
Jungen creates fascinating two-sided prints of newspaper clippings in ways that highlight the insensitivity of news outlets, demanding a strong, emotional response facing reality.
After taking on a printmaking course, I began to figure out ways that I can naturally incorporate that practice into my own body of work. The physicality of the technique held more sentimental value to the piece, all while being similar to graphic designing on a digital program; reasons why I enjoy and am interested in printmaking.
Olafur Eliasson: Become Your Own Navigator
“Everyone sees something different because the artwork hosts whatever subjective matter you bring to the artwork.”
The unlimited interpretation of art is its greatest strength. Eliasson’s work consisting of space, light, and color further supports this idea, evoking emotion out of the viewer. The simple understanding of basic concepts somehow creates this complex subject matter that pushes your critical thinking to a point of self-reflection.
“If you are active, it will change. If you’re passive, it will be out of reach.”
A lot of my illustrative work includes clever concepts that mash two or more ideas into one cohesive piece. As fun and exhilarating it is to find a solution to execute this, I believe my next step includes not having an intentional outcome, or rather not being so explicit in terms of portraying what I create.
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