REPOST: Butterfly art project creates gateway to Cancer Survivors Park

Greenville artist Yuri Tsuzuki has designed a series of very special butterfly sculptures connected to the forthcoming Cancer Survivors Park that will represent the struggle for life, rebirth and hope of the cancer survivors.

With the arrival of spring, scores of artful butterflies are expected to descend this month into downtown Greenville.

Fittingly, you’ll find most of the 200 butterflies gracing Spring Street — on buildings, lamp posts, street signs and trees.

The silvery steel figures, each about the size of a human hand, are designed by Greenville artist Yuri Tsuzuki, for whom the delicate creatures represent Greenville’s dynamic metamorphosis from small textile village to sparkling world-class city. Tsuzuki’s butterfly project, connected to the forthcoming Cancer Survivors Park, also stands as a potent symbol of the possibility of victory over an often-devastating disease.

“Butterflies celebrate the struggle for life, rebirth and hope,” Tsuzuki said.

The butterflies, a permanent display, will create a fluttery line down Spring Street, starting at Coffee Street and leading toward the park.

“It forms a journey into the park,” said Kay Roper, executive director of the Cancer Survivors Park Alliance. “It’s a beautiful idea. We were thrilled she came to us.”

The initiative will culminate at the entrance of the park with Tsuzuki’s large sculpture, 10 feet in height, of dozens of butterflies swarming together.

Tsuzuki’s public art project — which bears the title “Do Butterflies Dream?” — emerged from pride in the artist’s hometown but also from grief.

Tsuzuki’s own father succumbed to cancer.

“For me, it was very important to do something to help connect downtown to the park,” Tsuzuki said. “I think this park is going to be a wonderful place for survivors and families.”

Speaking in her studio — a converted two-story garage near the Cleveland Park-area home where she’s lived since the age of 1 — Tsuzuki recalled one of the inspirations for the project.

“I remember going to one more chemotherapy session with my father in spring and seeing a butterfly,” Tsuzuki said. “Even though he was so sick, I know that created a moment of happiness for him. That’s what I’m trying to capture.”

Some of the butterflies Tsuzuki is devising will be available for purchase, with the proceeds going to help fund the Cancer Survivors Park, slated for construction beginning in May.

Tsuzuki said the butterfly project also was born of her fascination with how Greenville has changed for the better through the years.

“Like many of us who grew up here, I’ve left and come back many times, and each time I’ve come back, the city has changed dramatically,” Tsuzuki said. “I wanted to give something back to the city in artwork. This celebrates Greenville and the city’s transformation, what brings people here.”

She hopes the butterflies, which she creates with the help of fabricator J.R. “Dude” Hannon, will resonate with people on a very personal level.

“I thought about my own life and how each of us would like to continue to progress and change throughout our lives,” Tsuzuki said. “I thought the butterfly was a very apt symbol for ourselves and for Greenville.”

Tsuzuki is creating the silvery butterflies in three sizes, adding a clear coat — and another layer of meaning — for a shimmering reflection in the sunlight.

“I wanted people to see these butterflies as both fragile and steel, that they’re very strong,” Tsuzuki said. “I wanted to keep the integrity of the material.”

Mayor Knox White said city leaders were particularly pleased that the initiative would bring public art to Spring Street. Much of the city’s public art is centered on Main Street.

“It’s a creative project that’s sure to get a lot of attention,” White said. “One of the great ingredients of a great downtown is that there should be great surprises around every corner. This is one more of those many things that make the downtown pedestrian experience particularly appealing.”

Tsuzuki hopes the butterflies, which she will begin to install this month, will catch people unaware, similar to the bronze Mice on Main.

“The happiness I derive is that moment of surprise that I can create for someone,” Tsuzuki said. “In any culture, seeing a butterfly is a magical moment. To be able to create that as an artist is wonderful.”

Tsuzuki credits the City of Greenville and its Arts in Public Places committee for their support. The butterfly project is funded by the city, the Cancer Survivors Park Alliance and its donors, and Tsuzuki herself.

The name of the project — “Do Butterflies Dream?” — was inspired by an ancient Chinese story that comments on the often dreamlike nature of reality.

“A philosopher took a nap one spring afternoon and dreamed he had turned into a butterfly,” Tsuzuki said. “The dream was so vivid that when he awoke he rubbed his eyes and said, ‘Did I dream I was a butterfly? Or did the butterfly dream it was me?’”

‘Heart of steel’

Tsuzuki, who worked with the renowned environmental artist Christo for 10 years, has spent considerable time outside of Greenville but always returns home. Tsuzuki’s father came to Greenville from Japan to work in Greenville’s then-thriving textile industry.

A graduate of Princeton University in fine art, Tsuzuki later attended graduate school at Columbia University and worked for 10 years as a TV reporter for “Good Morning Japan.” Hoping to focus on art-related stories for the Japanese-language program, she ended up largely covering business news live from Rockefeller Center.

Since devoting herself full-time to art, Tsuzuki has enjoyed major solo exhibitions in New York, Tokyo, Nagoya, Bogota and other international cities.

It was during a recent six-year stint in Bogota, Colombia, where she had journeyed for her husband’s work, that Tsuzuki began extensively working in steel sculpture.

Artist Yuri Tsuzuki’s butterflies are taking shape inside H&H Mechanical Services, where she’s working with metal fabricators to create 200 of them for a public art project in downtown Greenville. | Image Source: greenvilleonline.com

“It gave me a chance to create larger works and move them outside because they’re durable,” Tsuzuki said.

She got her artistic start as a sculptor in clay and wood, later becoming a painter. She now works almost exclusively in steel sculpture.

“The fun challenge of it all is to make this medium, which has such a masculine image, to shimmer, to give it a light feeling of movement,” Tsuzuki said. “That’s what gives me the most fun and the most headaches.”

Some of the Tsuzuki’s work currently can be seen in an exhibition, “Heart of Steel,” at the Hampton III Gallery in Taylors.

Gallery owner Sandra Rupp said “there’s a dance going on” in Tsuzuki’s work. “Yuri’s sculptures create a tension that elicits contemplation of reality with a joyful playfulness.”

Tsuzuki will present a gallery talk today, 11 a.m. to noon at Hampton III, 3110 Wade Hampton Blvd., Suite 10 in Taylors.

Cancer Survivors Park

The 6.8-acre Cancer Survivors Park has been in the works for 15 years; after many delays, construction should begin in early May, Roper said.

“We’re anxious to get started,” Roper said.

The park will be located along the Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Trail, connecting Falls Park to Cleveland Park behind the Greenville Chamber of Commerce building.

Currently in the area, graffiti dots the pilings that support the Cleveland Street bridge. A large, black sewage pipe runs alongside the notorious “cheese grater” bridge that stymies runners and bikers — and more than a few dogs whose owners end up carrying them bodily across.

All of that will be transformed into a lush space with a 2,000-square-foot education center, children’s garden, a labyrinth, manicured plazas and more.

The children’s garden will include a bronze sculpture of a lion by Charles Pate Jr., titled “Fear Not.”
Supporters have raised $4.3 million toward the park’s projected pricetag of $7.5 million.

Current plans call for the park to open sometime in summer of 2016

The park was inspired by a Greenville high school student’s project to beautify the area outside a local cancer treatment center.

Over the years, the idea grew to become the current plan for an expansive park dedicated not only to those who have survived the disease but also those who are battling it and others who have lost loved ones to cancer.

“We want the park to be there not only for those who have survived cancer but for caregivers, children and parents who are left behind,” Roper said.

For the latest in local arts news and reviews, follow Paul Hyde on Facebook and Twitter: @PaulHyde7.
YOU CAN GO

See the artist’s “Heart of Steel” exhibition from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Hampton III Gallery, 3110 Wade Hampton Blvd., Taylors. Tsuzuki will present a gallery talk today, 11 a.m. to noon at Hampton III.

It’s not always gonna be easy having a career in the arts but it’s best to have fun and let your passion shine through your works. Hi, my name Louise Habash and I’m an art student from New Port Beach. Follow me on Twitter for more helpful tips for budding artists.

The world is a canvas: The best of street art

Evidences of human creativity date back over thousands of years ago from cave paintings to Renaissance murals. These bigger than life works of art still exist today because there are artists who make the whole world as their canvas. Below are some of the best street artists of today:

Image Source: urbanitewebzine.com

PichiAvo

The in-demand Spanish Duo (Pichi an Avo) has been leaving their mark in the form of eye-catching murals all across Europe since 2007. They paint various objects but most of their pieces are Greek gods, cats, and other animals painted in bursts of color and ink.

JR

JR is well known for his large black and white portrait installations. At first, he took beautiful photographs of street art. His career took off when he started capturing portraits and (illegally) showcasing them in public places. Now his works are displayed in art galleries in Shanghai, London, Berlin, and Los Angeles.

Image Source: banksyart.com.au

Banksy

Banksy is considered by many as one of the most popular street artists in the world. He started painting on walls in the early ‘90s and his earliest works were satirical and socially conscious stencils in his hometown in the U.K. His work has become so valuable that some people steal his work from off the walls, but despite his obvious success no one still knows his real name.

Flix

Flix, a Venezuelan artist, is famous for painting ordinary objects on the streets with his robots. The colorful robots also have elements of Aztec themes, adding color and giving the city of Caracas a modern edge.

Image Source: ekosystem.org

Hey, Louis Habash here! Visit my Google+ page to learn more about art in different media.

REPOST: 7 Types of Creative Block (and What to Do About Them)

Like writers, artists are also susceptible to getting creative blocks. This article from 99u.com enumerates the different types of blocks and how we can fix them.

Image Source: 99u.com

For a creative professional, a creative block isn’t just frustrating — it’s potentially career-damaging. When you rely on your creativity to pay the bills and build your reputation, you can’t afford to be short of ideas or the energy to put them into action

But all creative blocks are not created equal. Different types of block require different solutions — something that’s easily forgotten when you’re feeling stuck. Here are seven of the most common types, and how to unblock them.

1. The mental block.

This is where you get trapped by your own thinking. You’re so locked into a familiar way of looking at the world that you fail to see other options. You make assumptions and approach a problem from a limiting premise. Or maybe yourInner Critic rears its head and stops you thinking straight.

Solution: You need to change your mind. Question your assumptions, ask yourself “What if…?”, and adopt different perspectives. Go somewhere new, or read/watch/listen to something new. Talk to people you can rely on to disagree with you, or offer an alternative point of view.

You may find creative thinking cards useful, such as Roger von Oech’s Whack Pack, Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies or IDEO’s Method Cards.

2. The emotional barrier.

Creativity can be intense. It’s not a comfortable pursuit. Faced with the unknown, you may be scared of what you’ll discover or reveal about yourself. Maybe your subject matter is painful, embarrassing or plain weird. Whatever – all of these fears and qualms are just different forms of Resistance, leading to procrastination.

Solution: You need to face the worst and come through the other side. There are plenty of things that can help — such as routine, commitment, and meditation. But ultimately you are going to have to endure the fear, pain, or other unpleasant emotions.

It’s like getting into a cold swimming pool — you can dive in head first, or inch your way in. Either way, it’s going to be bone-chillingly cold. But once you’ve got over the initial shock, done a few lengths, and got into the flow of it, you may be surprised to discover how invigorated you feel.

Faced with the unknown, you may be scared of what you’ll discover or reveal about yourself.

3. Work habits that don’t work.

Maybe there’s no great drama — you’re just trying to work in a way that isn’t compatible with your creative process. You work too early, too late, too long, or not long enough. You try to hard or not hard enough. You don’t have enough downtimeor enough stimulation. Or maybe you haven’t set up systems to deal with mundane tasks – email, admin, accounting, etc – so they keep interfering with your real work.

Solution:

Step back and take a good look at how you’re working, and where the pain points are. If it’s email, learn a new system for dealing with email. If you don’t have enough energy, are you working at the right time of day? If you feel paralyzed by freedom, introduce more structure and order into your day. If you feel constrained by routine, find room for improvisation.

There are no hard-and-fast rules — the only standard is whether your work habits work for you. Look for the right balance of routines, systems, and spontaneity for your creativity to thrive.

4. Personal problems.

Creativity demands focus — and it’s hard to concentrate if you’re getting divorced/ dealing with toddlers/battling an addiction/falling out with your best friend/grieving someone special/moving house/locked in a dispute with a neighbor. If you’re lucky, you’ll only have to deal with this kind of thing one at a time — but troubles often come in twos or threes.

Solution: There are basically two ways to approach a personal problem that is interfering with your creative work — either solve the problem or find ways ofcoping until it passes.

For the first option you may need some specialist help, or support from friends or family. And it may be worth taking a short-term break from work in order to resolve the issue and free yourself up for the future.

In both cases, it helps if you can treat your work as a refuge — an oasis of control and creative satisfaction in the midst of the bad stuff. Use your creative rituals to set your problems aside and focus for an hour, or a few, each day. When your work is done, you may even find you see your personal situation with a fresh eye.

It helps if you can treat your work as a refuge – an oasis of control and creative satisfaction in the midst of the bad stuff.

5. Poverty.

I’m not just talking about money, although a lack of cash is a perennial problem for creatives. You could also be time-poor, knowledge-poor, have a threadbare network, or be short of equipment or other things you need to get the job done.

Solution: Like the last type of block, this one has two possible solutions: either save up the time/money/or other resources you need; or make a virtue of necessity and set yourself the creative challenge of achieving as much as possible within theconstraints you have. If you’re doubtful about the latter option, consider the first and second Star Wars trilogies, and ask yourself whether more resources always equal more creativity!

6. Overwhelm.

Sometimes a block comes from having too much, not too little. You’ve taken on too many commitments, you have too many great ideas, or you’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of incoming demands and information. You feel paralyzed by options and obligations, or simply knackered from working too hard for too long.

Solution: It’s time to cut down. If you take on too many commitments, start saying ‘no’. If you have too many ideas, execute a few and put the rest in a folder labeled ‘backburner’. If you suffer from information overload, start blocking off downtime or focused worktime in your schedule (here are some tools that may help). Answer email at set times. Switch your phone off, or even leave it behind. The world won’t end. I promise.

Sometimes a block comes from having too much, not too little.

7. Communication breakdown.

Creative blocks can happen between people as well as between the ears. If you work in a team, tensions are inevitable, and can make it hard to do your best work — especially if you have one of those proverbial ‘difficult people’ in your working life.Sometimes you get blocked by phantoms — merely imagining your work being booed by audiences and mauled by the critics. And sometimes this happens for real and you have to deal with it.

It could just be a marketing problem — after years of plugging away at your art with a miniscule audience, you wonder why you bother. Or maybe you just don’t have a hotline to the people who matter in your field, so you struggle to land the right opportunities.

Solution:
This is where creativity blends into communication skills. You need to be adept at understanding and influencing the right people, however difficult or mystifying they may be. Which means beefing up your influencing, marketing, or networking skills. I don’t care if you’re shy (I was) or introverted (I am). If you want to succeed, you need to do this.

And sometimes it’s about accepting that you can’t please all the people all of the time, and growing a thicker skin for rejection and criticism. Show me a creative who’s never suffered a setback or a bad review, and you won’t be pointing at a superstar.

We all go through some kind of creative hiatus, the best thing to do is to accept it so we know what to do to fix it. Hey there, my name is Louise Habash from New Port Beach and I’m an art student. Subscribe to my blog for more interesting articles about the life of an artist.

Back to basics: Building your own art supply kit

Image Source: crafthubs.com

Drawing is a skill that either makes or breaks a visual artist. So here’s a list of the most basic art supplies you’ll need in your kit on the path to creating a masterpiece:

Storage

It doesn’t matter if it’s an expensive 50 liter container from Ikea or a simple old shoe box you found lying around the house—as long as you can find a place to keep your supplies after use, it will work. This is optional because cleaning up is a chore and I know most artists prefer cluttered work areas. Personally, I just like to have somewhere to throw my supplies when someone suddenly wants to go into my room and I want them to think I’m tidy.

Pencils

It is the most basic drawing medium. It’s versatile, erasable, and cheap compared to other media like charcoal and markers. There’s a world of pencils outside just the no. 2. There are various degrees of hardness and softness in the medium that directly affect the tones of a sketch.

Image Source: harryrobertsonpainter.com

Eraser

Because you have an erasable medium, it is only obvious that you should have an eraser. Drawing with a pencil means accommodating an artistic change of heart, which an eraser can easily grant. There are also various kinds of erasers available in stores like the pink eraser, the kneaded eraser, the gum eraser, or the vinyl eraser. It is entirely up to you which kind you want to use because each serves unique drawing qualities.

Sharpener

It’s hard to draw details with a blunt pencil. Whether you go for a small hand sharpener, a crank sharpener, or an electric one doesn’t really matter as long as it does the job. Although I prefer to use the trusty hand sharpeners myself because they’re compact and easy to carry around.

Image Source: suck.uk.com

Paper

This could be a sketchbook or some loose pieces of paper. It could be white or colored, thick or thin; all that depends on what you want to create. You can even get a mix of different types just to switch it up a bit sometimes. Obviously this is important because this is where you turn a creative idea into a concrete work of art.

Coloring materials

This largely depends on the media you are most comfortable with. Crayons, watercolor, poster paint, acrylic paint or oil paint – these are just some of the coloring media you can choose from.

Image Source: en.wikipedia.org

Let your imagination run free! Hi, my name is Louise Habash, an art student from Newport Beach. Follow me on Twitter for more fun artist tips and tricks.

Meaningful ink: Five popular tattoo designs and what they symbolize

While there are some people who get tattoos just for the way they look, most people choose a design because of what it symbolizes, and how the meaning behind the image relate to their lives. Here are five of the most popular tattoo designs and their meanings:

Image Source: fulltattoo.com

Cherry blossoms, the flowers of Japanese cherry trees, are known for blooming and fading quickly. To the Japanese, the cherry blossom is a metaphor for the beauty and ephemeral nature of life. Cherry blossoms figure into the cultural concept of “mono no aware,” a wistful or sad awareness of the impermanence of life. Many choose a cherry blossom tattoo to honor a lost loved one.

Image Source: cottoncandy-dreams.tumblr.com

The ankh is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph that symbolizes eternal life. It’s seen frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings, where it’s carried by gods and goddesses. It also represents the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

Image Source: tattooartz.com

Sugar skulls are decorated with colorful icing and used to adorn altars for honoring the departed during Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday that dates back to Aztec times. The foreheads are often decorated with the name or names of the departed. Sugar skull tattoos are often used to memorialize loved ones who have passed away.

Image Source: tattoodesigns24.com

The koi fish is known for swimming upstream and against the current, making it a symbol of tenacity and perseverance in the face of hardship. The color also symbolizes many things: A black koi with white spots represents overcoming obstacles, while a red one represents love.

Image Source: cuded.com

The dreamcatcher‘s round shape represents life without beginning or end. It was originally used as a token to ward off evil and “catch” bad dreams. Before choosing this as a design, it should be noted that the dreamcatcher is a sacred symbol of the Ojibwe tribe, and it might be considered offensive to appropriate the symbol as a tattoo if one is not Native American.

When choosing a tattoo design, one should carefully consider its meaning and implications before getting it done. Tattoos are permanent, and it’s all too common to make a hasty decision only to regret it later.
Louise Habash is an aspiring artist from Newport Beach, California. For more related discussions, follow her on Twitter.

REPOST: Paper Furnishings

There is a recycled twist on furniture inspiration. Italian designer Luca Nichetto reflects on furnitures in the past that are made out of paper and uses the concept for his creations. Read more on this NYTimes.com article.

****

Luca Nichetto is an Italian designer who grew up professionally among the glassmaking studios of Murano. These days, however, he often finds himself inspired by a humbler medium.

“Paper and cardboard are amazing materials,” he said.

Image Source: earth911.com

For one thing, Mr. Nichetto explained, they are easily recycled, and that “makes them really interesting materials that respect our planet.” But they can also assume a variety of forms — from simple sheets of material to pressed paper pulp — which allows designers to create a surprisingly diverse range of paper-based products.

Although his finished designs are usually made out of other materials, Mr. Nichetto, 37, said he frequently works with paper when he is developing them at his studios in Venice and Stockholm. For instance, when he was designing the Motek chair for Cassina, which was introduced last year, he said, “I played with small modeling paper to create a shell” that was informed by origami, which had folds that provided structural rigidity. And his Stewie lamp for Foscarini, introduced in 2012, grew out of an analysis of Japanese paper lamps.

Image Source: legacy.interiordesign.net

But he was quick to note that other designers have been creating finished products made of paper and cardboard for years. At the Vitra store in the meatpacking district, Mr. Nichetto pointed to a couple of classic cardboard pieces by the architect Frank Gehry: the 1972 Wiggle side chair and a miniature of the 1987 Little Beaver chair.

“Cardboard is usually just considered cheap and for packaging,” Mr. Nichetto said. “But he gave it a whole new meaning.” He sat down on the Wiggle chair, pronouncing it firm and durable, but malleable enough to “develop a patina as you use it.”

At the MoMA Design Store in SoHo, Mr. Nichetto found another cardboard seat: the Riki stool, designed by Riki Watanabe in 1965. “It’s super simple, but really cool,” he said, admiring the bold primary colors. And with the hidden voids inside, he joked, “You have some secret storage for when the police come to your flat.”

Image Source: stylecarrot.com

For a larger storage unit, Mr. Nichetto suggested the Paper Cabinet by Studio Job for Moooi, which he found online at Lumens. Made entirely out of paper and cardboard components that slotted together, it had a finish that looked like haphazard papier-mâché. “It’s typical in Venice to use this process for masks,” he said.

But the Trash Me table lamp by Victor Vetterlein, at YLighting, offered an even more surprising texture: molded paper pulp. “I like the really rough projection of the material,” Mr. Nichetto said. “He used a process similar to egg packaging.”

Louise Habash is an art student in Newport Beach. Catch more articles about art by visiting this Facebook page.

REPOST: ‘Looted Nazi art’ found hanging in Germany’s parliament

Read about the discovery of stolen Nazi art found in the German parliament in this Telegraph.co.uk article.

Image Source: Forward.com

An art historian claims to have found two art works stolen by the Nazis inside Germany’s parliament, in a new embarrassment for authorities after a huge stash of looted art came to light last month.
Bild newspaper said the two works were an oil painting, Chancellor Buelow speaking in the Reichstag, by Georg Waltenberger dated 1905, and a chalk lithography entitled Street in Koenigsberg by Lovis Corinth.

The Nazis plundered hundreds of thousands of art works from museums and individuals across Europe. An unknown number of works is still missing and museums around the world have conducted investigations into the origins of their exhibits.

The Bundestag, in a statement issued after the report in Bild, said an art historian was reviewing two “suspicious cases”, but a spokesman would not confirm the find. The art historian’s investigations into the German parliament’s art collection, which began in 2012, were continuing, the Bundestag spokesman said.
Last month German authorities revealed that a trove of Nazi-looted art, valued at €1 billion, had been found in a Munich apartment.

That collection had been held for decades by Cornelius Gurlitt, the elderly son of an art dealer of part-Jewish descent who was ordered by Hitler to buy up so-called “degenerate art” and sell it to raise funds for the Nazis. Bild said one of the two works discovered in the Bundestag collection had also originally belonged to the Gurlitt family.
German authorities have been criticised for keeping quiet for two years about the discovery of Mr Gurlitt’s trove of 1,406 European art works which included works by Picasso and Matisse.
Mr Gurlitt has demanded his art back, and lawyers working on reclaiming property for heirs to Jewish collectors say he may get to keep at least some of the works.
The Bundestag’s art collection comprises around 4,000 works and Bild said investigations had found some 108 pieces so far of unknown provenance. Four years ago it returned a portrait after it was found to have been stolen by the Nazis.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany called for a list of the Bundestag’s art works to be published.
“If the Bundestag is keeping lists of its collection secret, hindering the press in its investigations, protecting the perpetrators of Ayranisation and not informing the heirs, I would wish those responsible to show more sensibility and tact,” said Dieter Graumann, president of the Council.

Art student Louise Habash is fascinated by discovering art works from important time periods in history. For more art related news, visit this blog.

REPOST: Controversial New Project Uses Algorithm To Predict Art

How does an algorithm can help artists determine the ideal work to create at a given point in her career before consciously knowing it? Find out the answer in this HuffingtonPost.com article.

We’re all susceptible to FOMO, the dreaded Fear Of Missing Out.

Popularized by Sherry Turkle’s 2011 bestseller, Alone Together, the acronym refers to the uniquely alienating experience of scrolling through social media hubs like Facebook and feeling like everyone’s doing things without you and before you.

But what if that same technology told you what to do before everyone else? That’s the premise of a futuristic new project, “The Fear Of Missing Out,” by artist Jonas Lund. While Lund roots his experiment in art creation, his concerns are widely resonant: Can data be used to predict cultural flashpoints before we can? And if so, should we harness that power?

The project hinges on an algorithm designed by Lund. Using it, an artist can theoretically determine the ideal work to create at a given point in her career, before she’s thought of it herself.

Image Source: huffingtonpost.com

For the past few weeks, Lund has been using the algorithm to build a show at the Showroom MAMA in Rotterdam.

Here’s how the process goes: Lund enters vitals such as his age, the size of the space he’s exhibiting in, the price point he wants for his work, etc. The algorithm sifts through a vast database scraped into existence by Lund and populated with the names of top-ranking curators, works, galleries and artists. It then spits back an imagined work Lund should make.

Image Source: huffingtonpost.com

Each of the algorithm’s answers involve three elements — title, materials and instructions. One of Lund’s MAMA installations, “Cheerfully Hats Sander Selfish,” demanded that he “place the seven minute fifty second video loop in the coconut soap.”

Image Source: huffingtonpost.com

Humans can still have agency, he adds. “It’s up to you to follow the instructions in a convincing way,” Lund says. “You get a framework, but how do you transform it into something that could be viable?”

And computers can fuel human creativity. While many of Lund’s MAMA pieces seem exactly like what they are — chimeras generated by a crude art-making algorithm — some are more inspired. Take one of Lund’s prettier results, Shield Whitechapel Isn’t Scoop (nonsensical titles seems to be one of the byproducts of algorithmic art creation). The work, a rope stretched vertically and printed with ink, took Lund by surprise. “I would never have thought of doing it, and it’s really a great piece,” he says.

Image Source: huffingtonpost.com

Could the algorithm explode a career? Lund thinks not. “A foolproof algorithm for how to make, like, a Damien Hirst work” isn’t, in his mind, within the realm of possibility, he says, due to the demands of production and marketing. Even if the algorithm suggested using a diamond encrusted skull, for instance — the prime material in Hirst’s showstopper, For The Love Of God — only wealthy and well-connected artists would have the resources to follow through.

Simple triumphs, like the printed rope, are also limited in what they can achieve, Lund says. “Credibility” and a “large body of work” are more crucial to an artist’s career than a one-off success, he says, and “hard to generate” by way of a finicky algorithm.

But even if a brave new art world isn’t nigh, the questions simmering behind Lund’s MAMA exhibit feel newly important given our current technological capabilities. How important is strategizing in an artist’s career? What do galleries value?

Lund says he feels ownership when he looks at his MAMA pieces. At what point, then, does creation begin?

Image Source: huffingtonpost.com

While Lund says he could envision his algorithm working well in a classroom, as a directional tool, he adds that he’s not confident enough in the accuracy of his data to release it for public use just yet.

But if it does emerge in perfect form some day? As with steroids in sports, an art-generating algorithm would split the playing field, Lund predicts. “Some people cheat,” he says. “Others don’t.”

Are you also passionate about the arts? Then, you can certainly relate with Louise Habash. Follow her on Twitter.

REPOST: Art museum invites students to show off

This university’s art museum is opening its doors to student artists who want to exhibit their works. More from the article below.

The Miami University Art Museum is hosting an exhibition opportunity for students to have their artwork shown in the university’s own art museum during the spring semester.

Works submitted to the show should be “reflective, reactive or explanatory” of the 2013 summer reading book “Reality is Broken,” authored by Jane McGonigal.

Jason Shaiman, curator of shows at the museum, explained why the department decided to host a show featuring works responding to a specific text.

“It’s all about videogaming and what we apply to the collaborations, the roles and participants in problem solving and how that essential understanding practice can be applied to life and not just video games,” Shaiman said.

Shaiman decided after the Department of Art requested the extension of the use of the book through the next semester, he decided to hold the call for entries regarding “Reality is Broken.”

Any medium and size is accepted, though there may be maximum size limits as space allows. The entrant is also required to be a student of the school. The works will be submitted to a selection committee, according to Shaiman.

“It’s a collaboration between the students, the museum and the faculty,” Shaiman said. “We’re trying to find ways to connect with students. It doesn’t always have to be that they come to the art museum on an assignment.”

Shaiman also said he encourages collaboration, even between faculty and students, on works for the show. Students can submit up to three works and have up to all three works in the show.

“It depends on largely the quantity of submissions, “ Shaiman said. “The approach the students take is entirely up to them.”

One student is taking the opportunity to expand upon work he believes already coincides withMcGonigal’s writing. First-year graduate student Greg Loring of Cincinnati may construct a new piece or enter one of his current pieces into the show.

“I just did a little bit of research on McGonigal and I realized we were having the same conversations,”Loring said. “I really like the ideas she is focusing on, some of the positive qualities.”

He said he agrees with McGonigal that video gaming and the Internet can improve the quality of life and better humanity through applying the same concepts utilized in video gaming to other aspects of life.

“My work in the past and moving forward tends to deal with our relationships with multi-media that can become sub-realities or alternate realities.” Loring said.

The deadline for entries is Nov. 22. All students interested in creating a piece for consideration should contact Shaiman at (513) 529-2241 or at shaimaje@miamioh.edu to receive a copy of “Reality is Broken”.

Louise Habash posts articles on the life of being an art student in Newport Beach, CA. Get to know more about it in this Facebook page.

Life in the world of art

Hello, it’s been a while since I last managed to write so please forgive me for the long absence. I’ve been trying to get settled in since I’ve moved to Newport Beach and I’ve only managed to link a few interesting articles when I had the time. This time, though, I’ve decided to once again talk about my decision to pursue my passion for the arts.

Image Source: parentmap.com

As a student in an art university, I can already say that I’ve got my work cut out for me. I started out with a feeling that I could actually do something with my talents and now, just a few years in, I’ve had to overcome doubts time and again if my work is worth something. For one thing, you can easily encounter many talented people in the school – from the members of the faculty to the new students and it’s easy to get discouraged about your own work.

Image Source: utahvalley.com

I can imagine that it must be like this in the professional art world too. I believe that the artists that thrive currently are those that found their center during their younger years, built up their confidence by accepting criticisms and praise equally, and gained a strong belief in their work and in what they can contribute to society through their art.

Image Source: thatindiedude.com

I’m still in the early stages of life in the arts but I can already say that it’s going to be an interesting journey. I’ve already gotten to meet many interesting people and I expect to find many of them with surprising developments in their own careers. Whatever happens, though, whether I manage to make something noteworthy or not, I plan to stick to my choice and live my life dedicated to my craft.

Visit this Twitter page for more links to interesting articles and some more of Louise Habash’s opinions on life in the art world.