How the class felt about the four artists...

On Jeff Wall : I agree with Patty B. that his work was not appealing and somewhat boring.


On Greg Crewdson : "Crewdson captures in great details one moment in time and regardless of how polished his photos are, they are left somewhat undone in that the viewer does not know what will happen next and is left with that for their imagination." - Kim
         I completely agree with this and feel Kim has stated what all of us were thinking beautifully.

On Cindy Sherman : Alison stated it correctly...Cindy Sherman is very vain. I'm not sure I would give her praise when she clearly is fishing for just that.

On Tuen Hocks : "The comedy, surrealism, and strangeness of Tuen Hocks' work seems akin to a fictitious children's illustration. However, while the artist's work initially seems comical, the viewer eventually perceives the presence of other emotions present in the work, like thoughtful, poignant, and sometimes hopeless undertones." - April
          I absolutely love the way April described his work.

Overall, I feel the class as a whole were in agreement with each of the four artists work. Some of us favored one over another, while others were just kind of neutral about all of them. We all think pretty much the same thing of each though. 

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman's photographs show women in many different stereotypical settings. She invites the viewer to interpret her work as they please, while giving only subtle hints at what she really intends to convey. I enjoy her work because of the simplicity of it. She doesn't over work her subjects or settings, but simply chooses the right ones to convey her message appropriately.

Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall's photography can be broken into two basic categories : Realistic and Unrealistic. That being said, all of Wall's work can, potentially, happen in every day life without the need to stage anything. However, happening upon a destroyed room, or business men walking through a farm just as a gust of wind picks up is unlikely. His work makes me think about normal, day to day interactions with people and things and about how there are many times when I think 'if only someone got that on camera!'

Teun Hocks

Teun Hocks uses a single, middle-aged man in almost all of his work. He 'photographs' this man in many different positions and situations that may be considered absurd. Most of his work makes me stop to think what that man has gotten himself into and how he could possibly have done so. Other pieces are more dream like and have me saying 'if only that were possible'.

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson's photographic images (I'm not sure how else to refer to them) are definitely emotion driven. The time, thought and effort he puts into each piece he creates is amazing. His goal is said to be to get people to have dark emotional reactions to his work. Any observer can tell that he aims for surface beauty. But look a bit closer and you will start to wonder what his thoughts were behind his work. Some of it makes me think 'What twisted person would even be able to think this up?' while others will get me thinking 'Why didn't I think to make this!?'

My Inspiration

Johnnie Walker Taipei-Edgar Muller

Dragon-Eric Schultz

  My inspiration, similar to what you will hear from almost every other artist, comes from everything I encounter during any given day. Sure, there are days that go by without a hint of inspirational activity, but on the days that something happens or I happen upon some creative goldmine, I take off running! Most of the things that stimulate my artist flow come to my at night.

I'm also inspired by other artists who think outside the box and follow a new artistic endeavor that others may be too afraid to try themselves for fear of failure. I don't believe in the 'try everything once' approach. How can you tell if you like something or are good at something by only trying it once. I look at work like those shown above and love the fact that these people tried something new and kept with it. That is what inspires me. Not art that is amazingly reproduced, but art that is new and daring and fearless.

My Art Experience

I have a lot of experience working with Adobe products on both Mac and PC. I have played around with Illustrator, Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS3, CS4, and CS5 and have taught myself a lot about each of these programs. I have also taken Graphic Design 1& 2, Web Page Design, and 2D Design, each of which I have had education in all of the aforementioned programs.