Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi-born artist who gained his fame for creating art with a focus on international politics and their dynamics. Much of his work is influenced by the fact that he fled his homeland in hopes of finding a better life for himself. Many of his works can be found in installments at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography and more throughout the United States and the world. Additionally, Bilal has even turned his own body into a canvas by having his back tattooed to represent the casualties of both Iraqi and American soldiers and civilians as well as having a camera surgically installed to document his daily life.

His work consistently evokes feelings of astonishment, fear and disappoint in our society for lack of knowledge and understanding of other cultures. One of my favorite pieces of his was the Iraq-Iran neon sign. This was done to show how quickly Western cultures, make assumptions about other cultures and how quickly they use these two distinct names interchangeably.  The other two images are both heartbreaking and fascinating. In his Ashes Series, he took a series of photographs in what was once Saddam Hussein’s palace, but is now destroyed. However, it was interesting to see what structural components and furniture remain.

Iran-Iraq

 

 

Home

https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/photo/112869977 
http://www.driscollbabcock.com/exhibitions/installation/wafaa-bilal-the-ashes-series# 
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127348258

Kristen Lepore is an animator and director that is well-known for her work, especially the “Hi Stranger” stop motion film. Recently, she wrote and directed an animated episode for Cartoon Network’s show “Adventure Time”. Many of her videos have won awards and are frequently featured in museums, film festivals and more on an international scale. Under some of her videos is a video explaining the process that went into the video’s creation which really allows for you to see Lepore’s creativity and what things influence her work.

Of her work, here are some of my favorites:

Summer Solstice

 

Booty Clap

Bottle

 

 

http://kirstenlepore.com/Info-Contact
http://kirstenlepore.com/
https://vimeo.com/kirstenlepore

Jason Salavon is an artist based out of Chicago, who works with reconfigured material to make familiar looking work but with a new perspective. His work has received numerous awards and has been featured in exhibitions consistently for the past twenty five years. In some of his work, he will take hundreds of photos and combine them using software that he’s written to color average the photo to give it a blurred look. One of his most extensive projects has been working on making amalgamated videos from all episodes from The Simpsons series.

His work is exceptionally different from that of the other artists that we’ve looked at thus far. Although it is all still digitally created, it seems to have roots in collages which is fun. One of my favorite pieces of his is ‘Good and Evil’ from 2012. This piece has a side by side comparison of photos that are based on the 100 most popular words associated with good and evil. It was surprising to me because the overall colors of the panels didn’t have a stark contrast in colors and typically evil is associated with darker shades while good is associated with bright colors like yellows, blues, etc. I really loved how in some of his other pieces, Kids with Santa for example, he utilizes 100 photos from the internet to then create one photo that is familiar to everyone.

This last image is especially interesting to me because Salavon does a fantastic job at taking what one would think to be boring statistical information and making it into exciting images.

http://salavon.com/
http://www.markmoorefineart.com/exhibitions/jason-salavon3?view=slider#11
http://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/past/salavon_jason.php

https://www.instagram.com/jasonsalavonstudio/

Kelli Connell is exceptionally well known for her work with multiple self portraits called ‘Double Life’ where she appears multiple times within one image. With these images, she hopes to convey believable situations about a couple and their interactions. These depictions are based off of her own life as well as situations that she has witnessed throughout her life. These images provide a visual of questioned gender roles, identity, how one views the self, and more. In an interview with Photo-Eye blog, Connell mentions that one of her early inspirations was Francesca Woodman. Like Woodman, Connell tries to project herself and her personality through these images despite using a stand-in model.

Each of the images that she’s created seem so ordinary and simple which is what’s so intriguing about them. Her subtle changes from one person to the next add so much to the image and the story at hand. She has a very tasteful use of props, costuming and lighting that are relatable to a wide audience.

 

http://kelliconnell.com/
http://blog.photoeye.com/2012/06/interviews-kelli-connell-on-double-life.html
http://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/connell_kelli.php
https://www.kopeikingallery.com/artists/kelli-connell-1#images-artist-object-46-

Kelli Connell

Rashaad Newsome is a multidisciplinary artist who works with video, collage, computer programming and several other mediums. He has works featured in galleries and museums all throughout the country, and had received several honors and awards for his pieces. Frequently, he will partner with companies and create dynamic, exciting videos to advertise their product. He also does incredibly interesting collages which were my personal favorite. In each of his pieces, you can see the influence that growing up in New Orleans has on his work.

His work is so different from any other artist that I’ve encountered. It’s so much more excessive and dramatic than most art that I tend to look at. Not only are the pieces that he creates exciting and filled with flair, they also have custom frames that are equally as excessive and dramatic that are essentially another piece of art framing more art. Sometimes, they’re even printed and wrapped onto a car. Who knew!

Hands Up

King of Arms Float 

Status Symbol #33

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT

https://www.debuckgallery.com/artists/rashaad-newsome/

 

ABOUT

Archangel was born in NY and is currently living in Norway and commuting back and forth to NY. He majored in music technology and also has some background in coding. Most of his art is technology-based as well as available online. One of the things that he is most well-known for is his work with the Super Mario Clouds. Here, he tweaked the game so that only the clouds would appear as the background. He’s also done a decent portion of his work using Photoshop and frequently uses the gradient tool.

Of his pieces, I really liked these three:
The first was made using the gradient tool on photoshop and the simplicity of the image appealed to me. The second image was fun to look at because it was only lines drawn on paper but the final product almost has a three dimensional effect. This last image was made in Photoshop using the gradient and smudge tool. After learning about what each of the tools did, I found it interesting to see how he chose to combine the usage of tools and how vibrant the colors were.

“Spectrum”

“Hello World”

“Photoshop Gradient and Smudge Tool Demonstration”

https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/cory-arcangel
https://twitter.com/cory_arcangel?lang=en
http://www.coryarcangel.com/

David McLeod is an artist originally from Australia. He works primarily with CGI illustration, and plays around with many different forms of textures. His work is incredibly captivating because of the different textures and colors that he uses. His work seems familiar which is understandable given that he has worked for Toyota, Mastercard, Motorola and many other popular, everyday brands. Prior to working with 3D art, he was doing digital advertising. The majority of his work is created with programs such as Cinema 4D or Houdini.

 

Personally, I liked his 3D lettering and his Toyota Mirai collection best. It is a similar style to the 3D lettering that he created, but I especially loved that the words were made out of the materials that the car runs on. Each of his pieces were interesting because there was so much texture involved. It’s so clear to see each of the different particles, elements, etc. in each of his pieces. I especially liked in the third picture how much of a combination of textures there was.

 

 

From the Toyota: Fueled by Everything campaign

 

Photo from McLeod’s instagram:

IBM Outthink 

 

Talking Art and Technology with 3D Artist David McLeod

https://www.instagram.com/david_mcleod/

http://davidmcleod.com/gallery/

https://www.behance.net/davidmcleod