Portfolio

Portfolio Paper

            Over the past odd number of weeks, you have taught to our class a sum of things which I have directly functioned to my work. The thing which I focus on and have concluded to be the meaning and purpose of my life are the fecund realms of visual and audial creation—the making of art and music. Through these facilitations of expression I have found my true will, and upon taking your class I have discovered new ways to approach a very important aspect of art: communication to the public of my ideas and creations. There are several different ways to approach art to the public, and it has become very fickle in this world of ever-developing technology. The digital realm creates an atmosphere which earlier artists did not have to deal with; therefore the approach to it cannot be looked at elsewhere in history. But, I have devised my method in accordance the concepts which have been taught to us throughout the semester.

            The process I use to materialize a composition of music or art usually goes through several stages of meditative development and studies. For example, I will develop an idea for a composition for a painting through several days of constantly thinking about the entirety of it. Once I have a cohesive image in my head, I put my hands to work to perform various studies in relation to the composition’s subject matter. The most important elements for me to develop a painting most concisely are form, color, execution, thought process, texture, line work, and a few varying others. Music usually follows a similar process.

            Using Black Brothers as an example, (http://oldhomeorchard.blogspot.com/2012/04/black-brothers.html), we sketch out the idea of the song using a variation of methods which base their selves off of a single part which acts as the main idea, though a final version many have this part become a minor section of the overall composition or vice versa. After singling out the core idea, we improvise off of it for a certain amount of time and usually leave and think about the natural variations or extensions we created through automatic ensemble production. Upon the next meeting time, we talk about how we should execute writing the composition and being to toy with ideas—you cannot be genuinely decisive if you do not perform the idea in fullest form. This part of the process is a varying game of trial and error to which the final product is arrived at eventually.

            The important part of creation through expression though is communicating your ideas and pieces to the public as music and art are the true languages of humanity. As a painter, I must understand wholly the audience which will directly relate to my paintings however I may approach them. I have found an audience which relates to my work and that audience usually is found among the people who enjoy the facilitations of painting. A large problem with modern art in the West is the idea of practicality. “This painting looks pretty, but what can it do for me?” This is still an issue I am having trouble with. However, I can ignore that in some regard, given my do-it-yourself, organic approach, and find myself more accessible to an audience who are similar to me. In a sense, I cannot force a square to fit in the place of a circle; audiences are very concise with their likings. It is difficult to change their perception completely. The digital world provides grounds to publish work freely to the public, but the importance of physical and oral communication has not yet diminished. The artist and musician must speak to the people about himself. He must resonate with his work to communicate to the audience in the best way possible to see what he means, or what they both mean. It is important to convey your thoughts with the common person if you plan to publish your work.

            The criteria displayed on my blog are a few works I have completed upon taking your class. As you can see a distinct and obvious change in style, the approach is no different. Themes and symbols displayed in earlier illustrations contrive themselves in a more organic but veiled sense in later paintings, which are beginning to focus on the human form. Through studying various artist, I have found myself more appropriating an Expressionistic style, specifically from the areas of Eastern Europe around the time of the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. The compositional elements begin to take on an very intrinsic, self-studying atmosphere as though the viewer’s thought must turn to face directly his own life and mind. Through seclusion of forms, perhaps an isolated memory developed through sensory perception is invoked, thus striking relation to the painting and giving it their own vanity and meaning. This is important to the artist to do if he wants to be an artist of the public—of his fellow man. Simply, the way to do this is to understand the struggles of his brother in an empathetic manner.

            Throughout my life, I will use methods derived from your class to appropriate my work to the public. Communication is one of the most important things to becoming a successful artist and musician. Understanding my audience and further shaping and sculpting my work through meticulous procedure deems to be the most advantageous method to do so. My career is steady with productivity and work, and it is something that I do not see slowing down occurring anytime soon. With that said, thank you for the ideas and resources to further develop my execution of work to a bigger audience.