VECTOR ARTIST POST: Dan Mumford

ARTIST POST~ DAN MUMFORD

When I typed in the search bar for "vector artists", Dan Mumford's art work immediately caught my  eye. His use of vibrant and highly saturated vectors against bold, pitch black lines really bring his pieces to life. He is a freelance illustrator based in London, England and has made a line of clothing called Mumford clothing as well as prints that are available through his website (linked below). 

Many of his works are seemingly deeply rooted in narrative, containing a sort of esoteric quality to them. For example, the print titled Blood Sample was influenced by the novel "Blood Sample" as well as a live musical performance. The negative space of the black areas creates an ethereal and soft focus on both faces in the composition. Their faces feel as if there were a fire lighting them from within and the yellow hues outlining their faces. Many of his other works use these sort of complex, detailed vectors to create light and shadow as well as depth of space. Looking at these works, I hope to emulate the sort of ebb and flow kind of vector art that Mumford is going after by using negative space to emphasize specific vectors more than others. Also, the highly texturized and emotional depth I feel when viewing these works is also something that I want to capture in this upcoming Project.

Blood Sample

Ghostbusters 2

Radiant Dusk

Radiant Dusk (detail)

Reference Links

1. Dan Mumford's website where all images and biographical information come from: http://www.dan-mumford.com

2. Interview about Mumford Clothing: http://iamthetrend.com/2010/05/19/we-interview-illustrator-and-owner-of-mumford-clothing-dan-mumford/

Musical Line Drawing

Portrait Images

Artist Blog Post: HAROLD COHEN

His work being exhibited in many major museums, Harold Cohen is a well-renowed computer science artist. Cohen developed an impressive machine called AARON that can compose it's own paintings. He started producing art in the late sixties, around the time that computer programming was under the radar. He taught this robot how to create every thing from black and white abstractions to complex human anatomy and animals. This is whats called "procedural knowledge", where Cohen tells the robot what it knows, and then AARON decides what to do with that knowledge. Others claim that AARON is very creative but Cohen argues that just because something has a brain doesn't mean it is creative. 

Computers are not living beings who experience life and emit emotions of all kinds. This machine that he created really struck me as an amazing reminder that even though we have such close and intimate relationships with technology, they will never be human, just a puppet of one's ingenuity. Maybe in that sense, if Cohen wanted to, he could try to make AARON human-like, but I don't think that is what he was going for. 

It was almost as if the program said, ‘Stop telling me how to do things. Tell me what you want done and I’ll do it my way.’— artist Harold Cohen on AARON

Secret

1964

Oil and acrylic on canvas

King

1964

Oil on canvas

Mother and Daughter

2002

Painting created by AARON

Standing Figure with Decorated Background

1993

Oil on Canvas

Meeting on Gauguin's Beach 

1988

Painting by AARON

References---->  1. http://www.studio360.org/story/220056-robopainter/; Backstory on the AARON

2. http://www.artnet.com/artists/harold-cohen/; Works of Harold Cohen

3. http://viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/cohen_h.htm; Explanations of how the AARON works

Signature on Illustrator

Project #1: Growth and Deterioration

E x p e r i m e n t a l S c a n z

               I had fun making these experimental scans! 2 of these images are very clear and crisp, which makes them outliers but that is ok with me. I wanted to work with interesting compositions and see how abstract I could make an object by distorting it as much as I can! I found quite a few ads for anti-wrinkle creams in one of my magazines and I loved how distorted the word "WRINKLE" became next to the woman's face. Overall, I love all of these images for different reasons and hope to complete more experimentzzzz in the future!

24-HOUR TECH LOG~ Sunday, January 25th, 2015

Technology Log for Sunday

9:30-11:00 am: Checking email, listening to Spotify

12:00-12:50 pm: Duolingo and Babbel App for leaning Spanish

4:00-6:30 pm: Mindlessly staring at YouTube videos....don't judge me!!!


1.5 hours
50 minutes
1.5 hours = 3hours and 50 minutes


Reflection: My computer has been a complete shit lately and I really don't use it that often. Most of the time on technology is spent using my phone just because I love to stream music a lot while doing other activities simultaneously. I spend WAY too much time on Youtube, and honestly its hard not to watch videos all day about things you love learning about. I also commit a large chunk of my time learning Spanish because I want to become fluent in the language. Overall, I don't feel too guilty about it but I do feel like stepping away from technology and taking breaks is necessary for me to keep my sanity.

RESEARCH DIGITAL ART ENTRY:THE LOVELY NANCY BURSON

                                                                                                                        The Human Race Machine

                     Nancy Burson, an American artist and photographer born in 1948, creates works of art that serve as commentary on the era of digital manipulation in photography. Many of her works are seen in public, like The Human Race Machine (2003) and Focus on Peace (2002). Burson was one of the first artists to use 'morphing': the transition of one image into another by way of digital animation. There is a sort of underlying connected-ness that humanity shares and the creation of these interactive pieces drives this point home.

              During the late nineties, Burson completed a series of polaroids titled He/She (1997-98) featuring dramatic portraits of individuals that seem to float between gender identities (he and she). This series of polaroids captures my attention and leaves a bit of mysterious ambiguity to the story of these individuals. I hope that Burson continues to create these kinds of works and hopefully there will be some that show the full figure but still feature those awesome cast shadows!!

                                            He/She

Nancy Burson's works have had such a profound impact on the way society views photographs. Photography has always been viewed  as a representation of "reality", but really what you see is what you believe. Burson's works have been viewed on large billboards, in universities and museums alike. I hope to see more morphing images that go beyond the study of interaction between humans and into the study of humans interacting with the environment. 

Videos: Nancy Burson at ClampArt Gallery http://vimeo.com/91248233

Image Sources: 

The Human Race Machine  http://pages.ucsd.edu/~bgoldfarb/cocu108/data/images/Week8/human_race_machine.jpg

                                                  He/ She Image   http://nancyburson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/anne-e1378329371493.jpg?timestamp=1420416000022

Text Citations: Christane Paul PDF on Blackboard SMCM