On December 9th, 2015, me and a couple of my classmates, decided to take a trip to MoMA. To be honest, finding a piece of art work that I actually liked was very tricky for me considering I'm not really a big fan of modern art. After walking through the entire museum and only seeing a             couple pieces that I liked, I finally stumbled across the Ocean images: New photography gallery. In the gallery, you're greeted by a video of a man in a wig and make-up moving in slow motion, smiling and looking very intensely into the camera. Automatically I knew I would like this section. Almost every piece that I looked at I loved. Down to the security guard who jokingly told me that I would be able to take home one of the pieces I was looking at, for free. Out of all the amazing artists that I could've chosen, I choose Lieko Shiga. Shiga decided to do a series of stills titled "Rasen Kaigan" that bordered the line of offensive and beautiful. What caught my eye is the use of color, and value. Definitely the big thing that Shiga decided to play with was how dark and light she could get the photos to specify how important     the colors are. According to the wall label, "Shiga moved to the Japanese village of Kitakarna, she became its resident photographer, documenting events in the region and collaborating with it's inhabitants. Rasen Kaigan (Spiral Coast) is a series of 250 dramatic images (eleven of which are seen here), show before, after, and during the 2011 Tohoku tsunami that battered Japan's coast. BUt the series is not documentary in the traditional way. Shiga uses filters and blatantly manipulates the negatives, creating vivid and ghostly scenes: a man who seems to be impaled by a tree; a woman with a bike careens down an impossible ravine; a birds eye view of the earth reveals scrapes and scars; hands reach towards a limp female body. Shiga tells the history of the land through the bodies of her neighbors, nature and humanity linked in life and death." To Shiga, her best way to document the tragic event is to use her photography. The decision to try to make the works seem so ominous is probably one of the best uses of filters that I've ever seen. She really is something special. 

     During this class I've learned that art is so much more than just a picture in a frame. It has emotions of its own and it has layers on top of layers that need to be peeled before you really understand what it's about. I've learned so much about the effect that light and dark have on a photo, or that what you chose to title your work could have a huge impact on the meaning of the piece. All in all, this class was by far my favorite class that I've taken this semester. 

        

The topic I have chosen for this project is the sexualization of women in advertisements. I chose this because as a woman living in NYC or America in general, everywhere you look there is an advertisement for something. Buy this peanut butter, buy these underwear, buy this iPad. And within those most of the time there is some sort of underlying sexualization. Like this commercial for Bavaria Beer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMCtpOwBdlY). or the commercial for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's commercial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1krJqn3smbI) or even this commercial for dog food with the women in her underwear and bra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oitYLuiNEpw). Why is it that the media feels that the way to get the attention of their customers is to have half naked women that have nothing to do with the product? The answer, is that sex sells. We teach our children that it's okay for women to be seen in this way and not as themselves. Let's try to change the perception on our women.

          Putting an end to sexualization of women in the media is important to me because objectifying these woman make it seem that that’s all woman are good for. It allows men and women to see other woman as these pieces of meat. It puts the idea into the heads of people that as a woman you should be sexy and if you aren’t you aren't considered a “real woman”. I chose this because I try to make it my goal to never let a women feel let down due to the way that she dresses or carries herself. Theres no reason to ever make yourself feel uncomfortable showing your body off when all you want to do is wear sweats and Netflix & Chill.

What I want to do to show this idea off is make memes and post them on social media and put them on stickers too. The stickers would be posted all over the most visited parts of the city like Times Square, Columbus circle, Downtown Brooklyn, 34th Street, Union Square, etc. They would there be so many stickers that people will be bound to start talking about it and sharing it. Both the stickers and the memes would have one picture of a woman doing something weird with food. Then there will be the word “YUM” somewhere in the picture. I choose the word YUM because I want people to be uncomfortable thinking of women as food.YUM can also stand for You U Movement. Meaning that you should be accepted as you come. No need to be sexual to be a woman.  

           I really hope people will learn to think about how to embrace the woman without making her feel like she has to be half naked to do it. And I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with woman being naked and expressing their sexuality, but there comes a limit when sexuality is used to define “Woman”.

Original:

Created by Armor of God.

On the ride home, all I could think about was getting home and reading god's reply.

I cannot lie

So, I keep a notebook with me only God knows.

Stacks of papers, notebooks, and Bible reference books littered the coffee table.

Clear the Clutter.

Missing: socks.

Missing: mascara. ‎

God forbid someone labeled me a harlot in those god-damned wool socks.

What would wonder woman do in a crisis?

Be a Bombshell

As I entered the room, Chris was slamming his sock drawer shut.

not completely unfortunate looking.

He wore my Batman cape, his black soccer socks, and used my mother's mascara under his eyes like football

What do men and mascara have in common?

See- the problem is that God gives men a brain, Mascara, Superpowers and a penis- and only enough blood to run one at a time

A Tale of Two Masks?

NEVER.

I dotted my “i”s with a heart once, but in secret, when I wrote Stevie in my spiral notebook on the last day of our first day of school.

What is it about a new notebook or a new pen that holds so much promise?

I run straight to the furnace.

Translated:

           Under the armor of God.

The way of the more seems to be.

It must be said that there is nothing to read at home,

go home.

I find,

Do you want to know God alone?

The Charter of the Bible books, according to the works of the table,

to raise it,

we define violence.

Missing: Tap.

Mascara: missing.

Pan me fucking to show less

And I see a woman problem.

Chris socks in the drawer that includes.

Hit the spot.

It looks very bad.

Batman has a black dress in front of his dreams as a mother

and soccer socks.

What people and dreams.

Maru question quite cerebral blood running one dream rod of God and humanity

Two stories high farce and in the future.

No.

The day of the last day when you wrote that, I had it in secret,

but I will spiral "those who are"

The head.

The new style, new orders promise.

Straight out of the oven.

This is my self portrait.

To be able to explain myself, I have to first show all the things that make me up.

 My friends, my family, and my art form. 

On the top left, is a picture of my and my friends on twin day at school. We all wore white shirts and Adidas pants and converse in an awful attempt at being quintuplets. 

At the top right, is a family picture that we took at Daytona beach. 

(My family has never taken an entire group shot, so this was kind of a big deal for us.)

The two middle pictures, show my love for theater and playwriting. On the left, is a picture of the sign posted on the door of the room we used when I workshopped my first full length play. On the right side is a picture of me and some friends going to see Les Miserables in broadway. 

On the bottom left is a picture of my last performance with my Bass Clarinet. And last but not least at the bottom right, is a picture of me and my boyfriend on picture day our senior year in high school.  

As my medium, I chose to use pictures because I can't draw and you can get way more detail out of me through photography. By combining these six pictures, I showed the most important things that make me up. I believe that the people you surround yourself with and the things you decide to spend your time doing are what make you, you. By using these pictures I'm able to show you what I spend my time doing and with whom. To me I feel that I don't live up to any stereotypes. As a Dominican and Puerto Rican young woman living in the projects in Bed Stuy, I'm expected to be pregnant on my second kid, being in the street getting into trouble. Instead I spend my time going to school, seeing shows, writing, and spending time with the important people in my life.

Hopefully when people look at the collage, they see someone who cares about people and how expression helped them find something that they love.

Dear Rodriguez Calero,

Last week, I visited El Museo del Barrio and all I can say, is wow. Your art work is so different than the typical stuff you expect to see in museums. It's like the canvas' called to me, begging for my attention. They really pulled me in.

There are five questions that I have for you. First, in general, how did you decide to use the mediums that you chose? The use of paint and photographs on one canvas. that was so smart. It's like the paint is trying to cover what we don't want to see, while the eyes of the people in the photograph are still protruding. Much like "Christ of the Christians"(photo inserted on the top right). It's amazing how you captured so much emotion in just the eyes of this young man.

Second, how did you decide that you wanted to involve social justice in your artwork? Every piece of work, in my opinion, had to either do with injustice in the church system, or segregation of race and class in society.

When I walked into the gallery space, I was automatically drawn to one particular acrollage. "Renegade of God"(inserted on the left). I stood staring at this piece trying to decide why i liked it so much. When I read the caption, I understood why; "This painting is the antithesis of most of the works in this exhibition. It is an image of darkness, or breaking away from the spiritual, or reneging God. Its massive grey forms advances and explodes towards the viewer, evoking both terror and emptiness." At first glance, it seems weird, abstractly created. But when you sit in front of it for a little longer, you begin to see what you didn't before.  Just like the label says. You see a woman trying to disconnect herself from something she has no belief in. Her mind is distorted in make the decision to spilt. She is in all white which makes her seem sort of pure and innocent. At the same time the colors surrounding her make it seem like she is rebelling the expectations placed on her.

Question three, walking through El Museo, there were quotes of yours written on the walls. One quote in particular caught my attention. "I am defined by but not limited to being a Nuyorican, and I embrace all that is an extension of my heritage and beliefs. I gather inner strengths from the never-ending struggles that we deal with as people and as individuals." Do you feel that it is more important to stay true to your heritage and your beliefs or is it more important to search for what you need and want as an individual?

Question four, as a child were you forced to belief in the idea Catholicism thus being the reason why you made these pieces?

And finally question five,  in your piece "En el nombre de la madre" (inserted bottom right), were you trying to allude to the fact that a lot of people do bad things for the sake of their religion?


All in all, I would say that I was extremely impressed by your dedication and talent that was put into this exhibition.


Sincerly,
Stephanie.

P.S. I am now a huge fan.

Title: Nostalgic Stereo 
Artist: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Geography/Culture: American
Medium: Wood, Mesh, Copper, Metal.
Dimensions: 13"W x 12"H x 19"L
Source: Gift from Lissette Angeles (2012)

          In my apartment, there are not many things that you wouldn't find in a museum, unless you count the tv, which i'm pretty sure The Museum of Moving Images has that covered. SO while trying to do this assignment instead of looking for things that wouldn't be in a museum, I instead looked at things that make me happy about being home. My bed, my fridge, and my record player. I know it's kind of strange for an 18 year old to be happy about a record player, but music has always been an important part of my life. A couple years ago when my mother bought my the record player I was almost in tears. Let's be honest, that is one dope player. It has an aux cord, it plays; records, CD's cassettes, and it records vinyls or cassettes into CD's. I think music lovers, or people in general can enjoy this just because of the fact that it has something for everyone. It has the ability to give you the smooth sounds from the record playing, or the variety you get from turning on the radio, or the chance to play your favorite CD's or cassettes. That is why I think this player is one of the best things that happened to end up in my house.

             I chose this object because like I said before, music has been a huge influence on my life. It's always been something I go to when I need to relax and escape to another world. The record players name is Delilah. I named it that after my favorite song at the time. I thought the name stood for class and elegance and beauty and that's everything that I thought the name Delilah stood for. According to Dana, "Surely a function of a public art museum is the making of life more interesting joyful and wholesome." I think that by adding this record player into the museum people will get the same reaction that I had when I first saw Delilah. 




           

      During my trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw two pieces of work, nearly 500 years apart that looked extremely similar. The one on the top left is by Italian painter Pieve di Cadore titled Venus and the Lute Player (1485-1576). The Venus, was painted with Oil on canvas. In the bottom left, is a painting by the Belgian painter Paul Delvaux titled The Great Sirens (1947). The Great Sirens was created with oil on Masonite. In these two works of art have very similar themes. They both feature the same kind of softness in the faces and in the bodies of the women. Something that drew me to write a comparison about these two particular works of   art, which I found interesting, was that Delvaux   managed to stay in a representational traditional   way considering how obscure modern art             became in the time that The Great Sirens was       created. In Cadore’s Venus and the Lute Player,   in the foreground, there is a woman laying on a   couch of some kind. Also in the picture is a man playing an instrument and a baby with wings       placing a crown on her head. In the background   there are trees and bushes and a reflective lake     showing the sky in its ripples. In Delvaux’s The   Great Sirens, there are four women sitting in       chairs with blankets draped over their laps on left side. on the right side four more women are shown doing various activities (Walking, standing, sitting, stretching). In the background there are mermaids on the sands of what looks like a beach. One man is seen watching over them. In The Great Sirens, It seems like Delvaux is telling the story of mermaids and how they use to sing songs to lure sailors to their deaths. To me it seems like the man that is “watching” over them is just a man that the mermaids on the beach lured so that they could murder him (dun dun dun!) and maybe the women in the foreground are getting ready to be transferred into mermaids or they are just not wet so they have land legs. Also the darker colors made it seem more ominous as if the calm and serene women would be able to murder these men. In the Venus, I have been trying to find words to explain it better than the blurb provided by the Met Museum, but I could not conjure one up. so this is what the quote says ”In addition to celebrating love and music (Venus pauses from making music to be crowned by Cupid), they have been thought to address the Neo-Platonic debate of seeing versus hearing as the primary means for perceiving beauty.” This painting shows just that. The beauty in the venus’s face, the serenity that radiates from her face the softness from her body. She looks completely comfortable in her self and everything around her including cupid and the Lute player. The bright colors show how calm and happy everything is. This two works of art completely surprised me just for that fact that they are 50 years apart and yet are so similar. It seems almost as if they could’ve been painted by the same artist. There could be many reasons why these two paintings are in the museum. The obvious answer would be that they were donated to the museum, but I think they are still there because they have aesthetic emotion. The Great Sirens, is a gigantic painting. It measures at 79 1/2 x 122 in. When you walk up to it it’s almost as if you are transported to the world of these women. It’s almost as if the viewer is the sailor and the mermaids are trying to get you to come to them. The Venus, is a smaller painting measuring 65 x 82 1/2 in. but even with that painting it draws you in to want to know more about this woman with the soft, kind face. To me this is why these paintings are in the museums and should be recognized at all.

         

           Carlos Almaraz drew this picture titled Buffo's Companion using pastel on paper measuring; Sheet (sight): 29 7/8 × 21 3/4 in. (75.9 × 55.2 cm) Image (sight): 29 7/8 × 21 3/4 in. (75.9 × 55.2 cm) According to the Whitney where it is currently being held. This drawing is representational (you can clearly see the figure of a man holding up another person) and abstract (the use of color is used to contradict the fact that its supposed to be a real thing, the use of color makes it abstract.) 

       In this drawing, Almaraz depicts a man carrying what can be perceived as a child on his shoulders. You can tell it’s a man because Almaraz makes very distinct shadows on the face of the man that gives him very manly features.  In the Berger reading we read in class on Wednesday, he says “Choose an image of a traditional nude. Transform the woman into a man. Either in your mind's eye or by drawing on the reproduction. Then notice the violence which that transformation does. Not to the image, but to the assumptions of a likely viewer.” To me I feel like this isn't true. We live in a day and age where seeing a naked woman is more scandalous than seeing a naked man. We tend to idolize the man and see it as just his sexual nature. So for a man to be naked or almost naked, as seen in the photo,  it’s not as big a deal and it doesn't really make many people feel uncomfortable. Or from people that I’ve talked to, or know, don’t seem to care.

This is a sculpture by the artist Kara Walker called "The Subtlety" or "the Marvelous Sugar Baby" The idea for this piece surfaced after Walker was told that the factory was closing and that it would be a good place to build something because of all the history that the Domino Sugar Factory held. When she stepped into the massive space she noticed how the sugar was still clinging to the walls of all the walls and molasses was dripping from the ceiling. According to creativetime.org, Walker was known for problematic, discomforting, and unresolved images so of course her sculpture had to stand for something more than just a memory of the sugar that was once made there. The idea came from tons of research where she discovered that many african slaves were forced to work in this sugar factories. Many of them were children. The sculptures spoke about the story of slavery and the triangular trade. The giant sphinx like figure was made to resemble african american women; with their full lips, protruding uvulas, and big butts. The small figurines were made to look like the children that worked for these companies. They were made of a caramel like substance that melted while the exhibit was open. Walker liked how temporary it made it seem considering that the piece was very sight specific. The mini sculptures were also made to resemble the dripping molasses that came from the walls and ceiling. The sphinx was carved out of styrofoam and then coated in a mixture of sugar and water. This piece was meant to stand for so much more than just the remembering of the sugar factory. It was made to make us open our eyes and learn to look at the world in a new way. To end this post I thought I would leave you with some food for thought said by Kara Walker herself, “looking forward without any kind of deep historical feeling of connectedness is no good…She’s powerful… iconic in a way and she is so monumental, so unexpected, if I’ve done the job well then she gains her power by upsetting expectations one after the other.”   

        I was excited to get the assignment of finding accidental art because this is something i already do. I like to look at the world as this place full of just beautiful things. This is a picture I took in the bathroom at my job. I've titled it, Zeus. The reason for this title I think is self explanatory but I'll give you my insight anyway. I should first start off with why I find this picture so beautiful. I LOVE color values. The lighter the value the better, to me that is. I love playing and experimenting with light. Objectively, this is a picture of a bathroom ceiling, with a lightbulb and a pipe the sprinkler system and the obvious signs of aging over the years that the building has been through. Subjectively, to me, the cracks on the ceiling resemble that of the aftermath of a lightening bolt strike with the lightbulb being the lightening bolt (hence the title Zeus). To me this is what art really is. I don’t really consider paint splatters and random shapes with random colors, art. But that’s just my opinion. True art should make you feel something. It should be the embodiment of aesthetic emotion and that is what I feel when I look at this photo. I see pain and power. I also see hierarchy with the pipe separating the light and dark of the photo. In the words of Emily Zola, A work of art is a corner of nature seen through a temperament.

This photo is just a section of a 20-30 foot mural across the street from my grandmothers apartment building.  When I first saw this painting I was in awe. In vibrant blues and purples are the faces of our african american brothers pleading for the freedom to have the ability to come home to their families every night. 
The caption reads "A contemporary blues piece. This mural echoes an original lyric calling for emancipation. The ballad stretches across the wall in a worried note.We yearn for a city free from intimidation and aggravated encounters with police. We stand against the displacement of low income families in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. We cry out for the nearly 50,000 16-17 year olds arrested in New York and facing the possibility of prosecution as adults each year. This composition extends itself to anyone who has experienced loss or heart break, with compassion and respect for the sanctity of life." This mural is just the one act of many trying to speak out about police brutality towards African American people. This piece is used to create a place for human purpose, to record and commemorate, to construct meaningful images, give tangible form to feeling, and most importantly to refresh our vision and see the world in a new way. Art like this encourages us to try to get involved in the cause and try to make a difference in our communities. 

Hey my name is, Stephanie. 

Bedstuy born and raised. My mother is Puerto Rican and my father is Dominican. I've been a stage manager for a little over
2 years now. I'm also a playwright and I write spoken word poems. My favorite food is pizza but I don't discriminate. I'm excited to be in college because it's a new experience that will help me grow as a person.