Tough Little Princess

For my identity collage I decided to show and express how my personality has evolved to what it has become today. How I took on more traits as I got older, and realized how I use them all together to create the identity and personality that I have now. I chose my sparkly girly piece and my strong and tougher side. I took Mr. Zucman’s advice on creating contrast, and placing two different things side by side, or juxtaposition. These two may be different pieces of my identity, but they definitely work together to create my very own unique identity.

Sparkly and Girly
I have been this way for the majority of my life. I love anything that has to do with pink; any shade, any shape, it doesn’t matter to me. Everything I own is pink! Sparkles and glitter only make pink even better. I’ve never liked sports, but I absolutely love to dance. I’ve been dancing all my life and I never want to stop. It’s just me. I’m fun-loving, passionate, caring, sweet, very girly and at times a Diva. I sometimes even refer to myself as the little princess (since my older sister has taken the title of princess). That’s why as you can see the larger side of my collage is covered in pink and sparkly things, because that is the way I have been for the majority of my life. The majority of my life has the majority of my collage. I decorated this side with my favorite things; pinks in all different shapes, shades, and textures, and words that describe my personality. I’ve got feathers, sparkles, tiara’s, dance shoes, and not to mention the letter A for Ashia. Check it out.

Strong and Tough
I have only just discovered this piece of my identity within myself. In my early years I was always shy and soft-spoken, I never knew how to stand my ground and speak up for myself. I have recently lost 50 pounds, and that for me was the push I needed. I worked hard to lose the weight, and I had to work out frequently. I got physically stronger, and mentally as well. As my mind and body changed I realized that I can do anything that I set my mind to, and I’m much stronger than what people perceive me to be. All of this gave me the courage to speak up and be myself. I’m stronger now and I fight for what I want, I’m tougher, I’m brave, and there’s much more to me than just being a girl who loves pink. That’s why this side is smaller, because I have just acquired it. It doesn’t have pink or sparkles, I put strong women and words in their place. This doesn’t mean my other half will go away, it means that I’m a tough little princess.

My LACMA identity

I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on Saturday, March 12, 2011. It was a very large museum, and a good experience. But I found the size and the large number of people a bit overwhelming. In total I found eight works of art that describe my personality and identity, and they are my absolute favorites.

The first is “Balloon Dog” by Jeff Koons.
It represents the goofy and silly part of my identity. I love to goof around and have fun, and I also love balloon animals so it’s a wonderful choice for me. I think the dog was fun, it was so big and bright I started laughing when I seen it. It was the first thing I seen at the entire museum and it fit me. It was fun and silly which is the way I act, and it looked so realistic I wanted a balloon animal at that moment.

“Untitled” by Maurizio Cattelan
This work really captured my curiosity. It was a mini working elevator, and I don’t know how long I stood there just admiring it. It grabs everyone’s attention and makes them wonder what it meant, how it worked, and why it was so small. I know it showed the childlike curiosity that I sometimes have, which is a part of my identity. I couldn’t help but gaze in awe at this creation.

“Swimsuit” by Catalina Sportswear. “Playsuit” by Margit Fellegi. and “Swimsuit” by Rose Marie Reid.
This exhibit had three pieces to it, and I loved all three. This beckoned to the shopaholic in me. I love to shop, and seeing cute clothes in a museum was great. This exhibit showed the serious shopper that I am.

“Toward Disappearance” by Sam Francis
This painting is like me emotionally. I feel like this work conveyed the different emotions that the artist was feeling, and at times I do get emotional myself. The different colors and their placing and how they can be so random, or spaced out may have been the way the artist was feeling. Or trying to get the viewer to feel. I feel like this work was emotional, and connected to my emotions.

“Giant Pool Balls” by Claes Oldenburg
This work was an expression of my playful side. It was a giant game of pool, and looked like a lot of fun. It shows how playful and fun-loving I am. If it wasn’t bolted down to the floor I would have loved to play.

“Dance Headdress”
This was a functional piece that people used in the past when they danced. It looks like a sculpture because it is so big, but it’s a headpiece. I love to dance so this piece was a real connection and personality piece for me.

“Head of Woman in Profile” by Pablo Picasso
This painting was unusual to me in the beginning, but the more I looked at it I saw it as a form of Picasso’s self expression. I know I love to express myself, whether it be in writing, dancing, or decorating.

“No Title” (I forgot to write the name down)
I saw this painting as happiness. I’m smiling all the time, so for me this painting was my equivalent. It was big and bright almost like the sun, or a really big smile. Like my smile, it was bright and happy just like me.

Pics coming soon!!

I was trying to post pics of Cindy Sherman and her amazing work, but for some reason its not working! check back later for the pics, but while your here read my blog :)

Cindy Sherman

Cynthia Morris Sherman was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, on January 19, 1954. Her father was a camera collector and loved to take pictures, so she was around cameras all her life. Growing up she was very interested in the television culture of the 1960’s. She was also very drawn to costumes, disguises and makeup. In 1972 she enrolled at Buffalo State College, and graduated in 1977. But the road to graduation wasn’t a very easy one. She primarily went to college as an art education major, and she began painting. In 1975 Sherman was introduced to conceptual art, and it had an astounding impact on her. She returned to her love of wearing costumes and dress-up, spent hours transforming herself so she could go out in public to display her work. This new work excited her and she became bored and frustrated with the limitations of painting, so she switched over to photography. “There was nothing more to say (through painting)…I was meticulously copying other art and then realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead”.
Sherman saw the potential that photography had, and she could use it to express her creativity. At the age of 23 she moved to New York City. There she continued to dress-up and photograph the different things that she portrayed. She shot the majority of her photos, but she had family and friends shoot some as well. From 1977 to 1980 she shot her famous “Untitled Film Stills”. It consisted of 69 small black and white photos that actually looked and functioned like film stills, she designed them to lure the viewer into the drama of the photos. The stills depicted the female identity, and the stereotypes that women had to face in media, especially films. The stills were not specified, which allowed the viewer to construct their own narrative and story line. She hinted and guided the viewers through the stills by using her posing skills. This helped the viewer fall into the drama of the photos, because they looked so real you couldn’t help but get pulled into the drama.
In each shot Sherman was alone, but she portrayed several different women. An actress in different parts of her career, a floozy in a slip with a martini, a B-movie librarian, a secretary in the city, a voluptuous woman, an innocent runaway, and a film noir victim. Shortly after, success came quickly. By 1979 many magazines featured articles about Sherman and her work, and within 10 years she had over 30 one person shows all over the U.S. and other countries. In 1981 she released her “Centrefolds” collection, which called attention to the stereotyping of women in television and magazines. During 1983 to 1984 she released her “Fashion Pictures” series. In which the smooth flow of fashion photographs is interrupted by angry or strange poses, scarred faces, and bodily fluids. As if the models were physically rejecting that identity of feminity.
In the late 1980’s Sherman’s work became much darker. In her series “Fairy Tales” she replaced the traditional images of a fairy tale with death and decay. Grotesque monsters and body parts were also shown. By doing this she wanted to reveal fairy tales for what they were; showing their sexual undertones, real violence and horror. “Sex Pictures” was next; it contained grotesque and surreal images of dismembered medical dummies, prosthesis’, and mannequins. She had gotten even more graphic than that, in some of her pictures she even used body parts. She returned her focus on the female identity in the 1990’s and continued to use mannequins and even dolls in her photographs.
Cindy Sherman also has a countless amount of other works, awards, and films. She is a woman who is not afraid to voice her opinions and her mind. She used film and photographs to address the stereotypes placed on women in the media, advertising, magazines, and movies. Sometimes she is ironic or graphic; she even hands the viewpoint over to the viewers so that they may see her implications for themselves. She is a brilliant woman, a great photographer and an activist.

Real and Beauty

I'm sure everyone has heard the saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", a countless number of times in their lifetime. But the discussion in class got me thinking, what if this phrase applies to more than just beauty? What about things that are real? Real to someone may be completely different to another, just like the views on beauty can be very different between people. What's real to a person could also define what is beautiful to them. Maybe for them the real world or real things, could be something of beauty. Or the complete opposite, maybe real things to them are disgusting and revolting. But since the definition of what's real and what isn't varies, just like the opinion of beauty there can be so many different variations on the same topic. To me these definitions can be so complex, but so simple at the same time.