I finally finished 5 of my favorite mixed media graphic design series pieces tonight. I think I already mentioned them before in a previous post, but be sure to check out all of the finished series at the link above. I think they're pretty rad. Pretty deep. And pretty involved.
This series is more meaningful to me than any series I've ever really done before. It all pretty much started with my Mixed Media Masterpiece titled, "What's Going On Inside [Under the Surface]" and the mother of a boy that I was dating last year, (and earlier this year) -- who kindly bought me a stack of brand new canvases one day. I don't regularly use canvases because they're somewhat expensive, I'm somewhat cheap, and I'd often prefer to experiment painting on other unique surfaces, like wood, metal, glass, etc...
I decided that the new stack of canvases needed to be used to create a series of pieces that all go together -- which I don't always think about doing. "Mixed Media Masterpieces," I decided I'd call them. Mixed Media, as in the use of many different mediums, but also as in mixing mediums involving the actual media: internet, television, radio, social media, advertising, magazines, commercials, billboards, newspapers, etc...
I cut a bunch of pictures out of popular magazines from all different genres -- National Geographic, Wired, Scientific American, popular women's magazines, men's magazines, nature magazines, educational magazines, history magazines, art magazines, sex magazines... whatever I could get my hands on for free from friends and dumpsters...
I also cut a bunch of famous black and white photos out of an old school famous photography book that I got at a garage sale in Santa Cruz a long time ago, and then combined all of these images with some cut up photographs, both digital and manual, that I've taken myself over the years. After painting the canvas with some brightly, cool, colored acrylic paints, I decided I wanted a big portrait to be placed on top. Not necessarily a portrait of any particular person -- but rather a generic silhouette, of a unisex-looking individual (that turned out to appear somewhat alien-like), filled in with a bunch of my favorite cut-out images from popular culture that bombard us today, in 2010, on a frequent and intrusive basis.
Since I contributed photos that I've taken, and imagery that I can relate to, or like, or feel strongly about, the portrait turned into a rather personal piece, interpreting what is going on inside of me... as if I even really know anyways?
But it's what's going on inside of you too. Because you're part of the population. Part of the generation. Part of the inspiration.
What gets internalized is essentially from the external world... right? I think so. Especially today. TV, billboards, commercials, advertisements, magazines, newspapers, radio, internet, signs, photographs, movies, cities, even buildings -- they all just throw images, products, places, things, ideas, words, and concepts in our faces -- whether we like it or not.
What are we supposed to do with all of this stuff?
It's virtually impossible to ignore.
Yes, you can try to block all of this stuff out, and pretend it doesn't effect you. You can act as though you don't care. You can say that this is just the way it is. The truth is that even just looking at these images does something to us. We have no choice but to glance when we're on public transportation, driving somewhere, listening to music, working online, receiving e-mails and even regular mail, cell phones, in the store, waiting in line, staring at our computer screens... everything...
"Buy this product because it will do this for you, [maybe]" "Don't do this because it's bad for you and others," "Wear this because it's hot right now," "Do this because you're probably fat," "Eat this because it's cheap and tastes good," "Go here because you need a vacation," "Read this because you have to," "Listen to this because it's popular," "Get this because you need it," "Take these because they'll make you feel better," "Put this on because it'll make you look better," "Buy this because everyone else is," etc...
Gosh. Leave me alone.
Where did the trees go? The flowers? The plants? The animals? The sky?
Nature is being taken over by civilization, population, commercialization, participation, evaporation...
Granted, advertising is just the way it is now a days. It's everywhere. Even where we least expect it, or thought it would never go. There's so much money in it. Even with blogs -- everyone who has a blog [including myself] is able to put ads on their blogs, and make money off the clicks they receive on those ads.
(Be sure to click the ads on my blog by the way, so that I can make some much needed money.) [See, even I'm going to advertise to you now.]
I agree that spreading the word is essential, and businesses make money by having other businesses advertise with them, and vice versa. Networking. Social networking. It's all a vicious, seemingly unavoidable cycle. Deal with it, or go somewhere far, far away from human civilization, electricity and modern life.
Okay.
So, here I am, and here you are, being bombarded by images, concepts, products, words, ideas, influences, etc... that all effect us in some shape or form. We internalize them all, even if we forget about them. They all get stuck in our memories... somewhere. Brands, logos, designs, products, photos, images, people, characters, titles, and what not -- they all just want to be imprinted on your brain, shoved into your head, so that you'll remember them, trust them, buy them, and blend in with everyone and everything else, so everyone can have money, make money, spend money, and be money.
MONEY.
The big eyeball on the "What's Going On Inside [Under the Surface]" piece is actually a photo of my eyeball, that I took myself, put into Adobe Lightroom/ Photoshop and converted to black & white -- bumping up the contrast, and limiting the detail -- printed onto acetate -- originally for my mixed media screen print series "Nature + Media" and "Nature + Culture" -- which I made for a final serigraphy class project in my last semester of college at San Jose State University.
I cut the eyeball out of the original screen print design, and slapped it over some white paper, onto the mixed media canvas piece -- "What's Going On Inside [Under the Surface]" -- making it even more personalized. The eye is obviously somewhat larger than the scale of the rest of the collage -- to mainly accentuate the idea that our eyes are wide open all the time, taking all of this outside, external, influential material and then interpreting it, consciously and unconsciously, inside of ourselves.
This is what's going on inside of me every single day. These are the products I consume, even if I don't really consume them in physical reality. These are the products that we're seeing advertised today. These are the magazines that are out now and the images that so many people look at. These are the shows that people are watching. These are the discoveries being made, the technologies being advanced, the foods being eaten, the political figures in charge, the animals in existence, the drugs being taken, the machines being used...
We live in a time where we, as humans, individually, but especially in masses, can control more that ever before: our laws, our employment, our bodies, our health, our knowledge, our relationships, our consumption, our travels, our networks, our abilities... We can buy drugs to control how we look, feel, think, and act. We can go places that used to take forever to get to, if get to at all. We can buy and eat foods that would normally be difficult to grow, kill or produce ourselves. We can talk to our friends and family members on our cell phones, on our computers, on video chats, on televisions, anywhere in the world. We can look up information in the click of a button. We can go to school online. We can essentially teleport, telecommute, televise, telephone, tele-everything. Tele, tele.
We're in the digital ages.
We're in the technological times.
We're in the future that we dreamed, imagined, and now, created for ourselves.
This is the world we live in today.
This is reality.
Hence, these ideas that I'm always trying to express, interpret, and understand, all flow back to one of my older mixed media pieces, "Everything Interconnects..."
Everything really does interconnect: Nature. Media. Culture. Politics. Animals. Plants. Music. Rocks. Crystals. Products. Pollution. People. Places. Feelings. Dreams. Spirituality. Outer space. It all interconnects. We all share wavelengths. We all blend into one another. Maybe we think we're separate, but we're all made of the same essential things. The same atoms. Molecules. Chemicals. Dust. Matter.
What is matter?
I try to express these thoughts, ideas, and realities in all of my artwork. Sometimes it comes out looking and translating better than others. Sometimes it makes more sense. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's beautiful. Sometimes it's ugly.
Regardless, these ideas, these concepts, these feelings, these understandings, these realizations, these interpretations -- they all strongly influence me, and they all influence my art work.
My mind is boggled every single day about all of this.
"What's Going On Inside [Under the Surface]," just seems to put it all together much better than most of my other recent works, I believe.
Believe.
When I was finished with the mixed media masterpiece, I took digital photographs, close up, of the collage details -- creating new and unique compositions, focusing on smaller concepts, rather than the entire piece at large -- which can be easily overwhelming, distracting, and therefore not wholly paid attention to, or focused on.
I wanted to accentuate the very strong subject matter going on within the overall mixed media piece. There's a lot going on within that head, within that collaged silhouette portrait. I really wanted to narrow some of it down. Highlight the essential details.
Details.
Since I basically went to college to study graphic design, and digital arts -- I combined my fine art abilities with my digital photograph skills, and my computer-generated graphic design details, highlighting some of the most influential imagery within the piece, "What's Going On Inside [Under the Surface]" for my graphic design portfolio, (that needed some personalized dk love).
Most of my graphic design portfolio is just filled with works that I've done for other people's businesses, companies, non-profits, projects, events, etc... I figured it was time I placed my own, personal touch on my graphic design portfolio. I wanted to create some designs that weren't necessarily about anything in particular, but about everything altogether. Does that even make sense?
Sense...
If I were a musician, I'd want one of the compositions from this series to be my album cover.
Maybe I'll make an album just so I can have my own album cover design.
Are you in a band? Want me to design your album cover?
Well, you should. I have some killer ideas.
Promise.
Are you even still reading?
Probably not.
Thanks if you even made it this far. I hope that this ridiculously lengthy explanation provides some sort of specific insight towards my recent, and always artwork. In case anyone ever needs me to repeat this information, or if anyone else ever needs it when I'm no longer alive, they can now find it on the internet. Next to some advertisements.
It's not just about the art itself. It's about the meaning. Love Dorey Kronick.
