Wk 14- Artist Conversation – Micol Hebron
Artist: MICOL HEBRON
Exhibition: Nipples!
Media: Photography/ Bodies
Website: http://micolhebron.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unicornkiller1
Micol Hebron is an interdisciplinary artist who has been making individual or collaborative projects since 1992. She works in Los Angeles, and has worked at several art institutions in a variety of places including UCLA, Chapman, and in Utah. Micol does not only exhibitions, but also performances and lectures. She reaches an international audience mainly through social media.
The form of the “Nipples!” project is simply a photo of a man’s nipple that can be cut out and resized onto a photo of a woman’s chest so that the photo will be “acceptable.” This went viral, and women across the world began putting the man’s nipple over their own. The photos look odd, yet humorous and actually quite ridiculous.
Micol made this nipple sticker to fight the sexist censorship women are faced with on social media. The purpose of the sticker is to demonstrate how absurd it is that in this day and age, there are still unfair rules regarding the female body on social media. Micol describes Instagram as having “puritanical, hypocritical, [and] sexist ‘community guidelines’” Alongside her other work, the purpose of this piece is to protest the ongoing sexism on social media and in general.
Listening to Micol speak was quite extraordinary. I was slightly starstruck. She is someone who has been written about in several globally well known magazines, but more importantly she is someone who disagrees with the sexism that women face. This is something I am extremely passionate about, so listening to her talk was empowering and fired me up. I find it repulsing that a man’s nipple is acceptable, and frankly everywhere, but when a woman posts her body it is shamed or “offensive.” She is a fantastic advocate for all genders and embracing the human body.
Wk 10- Artist Conversation – Mahsa Soroudi
Artist: Mahsa Soroudi
Exhibition: Nature’s Cadence
Media: Plants!
Website: http://www.mahsasoroudi.com
Mahsa Soroudi is an immigrant from Iran. She was born into a moderate Iranian family, where they didn’t practice so much. Her father was a painter, so she was influenced by art and expression from a young age. Her two projects Nature’s Cadence and 7500 Miles represent what she has endured and felt from being an Iranian Immigrant and moving to the United States when she was thirty years old.
Her work focuses on the way plants, specifically succulents, mirror her personal experience with immigrating. In Nature’s Cadence, she cuts and moves succulents from their original place to create new plants with different formations. Mahsa takes the leaves from her succulents when trimming them, and places the leaves individually in soil so that they grow new plants. She notes that the new plant is seperate from the leaf it grew on. She focuses on the different ways and speeds they grow.
When talking about her Nature’s Cadence piece, Mahsa focuses on a specific succulent. She pointed out a plant where she had put a cut in the root, and then planted it in soil. Nothing happened for a long time, and then finally a beautiful plant grew. She reflected on this by saying that although plants are beautiful to look at, there is a lot going on with the roots underneath the soil as well. Soroudi then related this to her situation, where she was still for a long time, and then finally grew into something much more. Additionally, she says that her idea for this project came when she found that her succulents were very dry and withering, at the same time that she was feeling extremely homesick and sad. She also brought up the point that these tiny sprouts are fighting to grow into a succulent, and this gave her inspiration to push through the hardships of being away from home.
I especially enjoyed listening to this artist conversation. I liked it because of the unique idea of using leaves to create new succulents. Her succulents turned out beautifully. I would never think of something so creative. I think that using plants as her medium, and comparing it to her life made the situation so much more genuine and authentic. As Mahsa noted, succulents are very resilient and strong plants. That comment made me smile, and I will be purchasing a succulent to keep in my backyard.
Wk 8- Artist Conversation – Sienna Browne
Artist: Sienna Browne
Exhibition: Product of the Palette
Media: Paintings and drawings
Gallery: Black Umbrella Tattoo and Art Gallery
Instagram: siennabrowneart
Website: http://www.siennabrowneart.com
Sienna Browne is in her final semester at California State University, Long Beach. She is getting her BFA in drawing and painting. In this exhibit, she plans to showcase the art she has made from 2013 to 2019. The exhibit not only reflects her growth as an artist, but also her personal growth.
Sienna’s work varies in style. She loves to use as much color as she possibly can, and has no problem exploring different ways to express her feelings through art. She describes her work as somewhere in between representational and abstract. Her use of different shapes and lines creates a perfect aesthetic to her work. Sienna has a variety of work, including black and white drawings, ultraviolet paintings, and she is currently working on a painting of the California Reef that turns into a sculpture.
Sienna explained that while making her art, she was subconsciously painting pieces that reflected her personal struggles. Her art correlates directly with an eating disorder she battled with for ten years. When asked if she ever wished she explored other ideas in her work, she noted that she felt like she didn’t have a choice, as if she needed to “get her feelings out” onto the canvas to help her cope. Over the ten years, her art reflects the progress she made, and how she was feeling at each stage of life. While in recovery, she painted her last painting that represents body dysmorphia, and she decided she didn’t want to paint about her eating disorder, as that was no longer the state she was in. Additionally, Sienna created her own word! The word “Nuudles” depicts her idea of the correlation between nude bodies and noodles. She draws/paints noodle-like bodies. She is currently making a new exhibition on the relationship between nature and the physical body.
All of her work is extraordinary. She is extremely talented. Not only did I enjoy the color of her art, but I also respect her ability to express her relationship with her eating disorder and make meaningful art. I love her ultraviolet paintings, but my favorite piece was the sushi rolling off of the man’s head. I enjoy that it was a pun for “sushi rolls,” but I found the piece even more fascinating when I discovered that this was the first painting that made her realize she had been subconsciously painting about her eating disorder. I would love to have her artwork hung up in my house someday.
Wk 6- Artist Conversation – Adam Sabolick
Artist: Adam Sabolick
Exhibition: Evening Light (Symmetrical Murder)
Media: Oil canvas
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Max L. Gatov Gallery East
Adam Sabolick is in his final semester at California State University, Long Beach. He is getting his BFA in drawing and painting. In this particular painting, he delves into the beauty and depth that can be created with oil paint.
In the piece Evening Light, the breathtaking piece uses an array of colors including different shades of pinks and purples, greys and black. He used a classic ombré with the colors to create the sunset in the back. The birds are in a V formation, traveling from the bottom of the canvas to the top. In order to create the bird shapes, he used some quick brush movements, stencils, and also tracing the shape from a projection on the wall. The layered paint provides the image of a foreground and background.
After talking to Adam, I got to learn about his thought process as an artist. He mentioned that he feels that his paintings are sentimental. He talked about how he struggled with a “push and pull” between wanting to have a controlled painting, or a crazier/ uncontrolled approach. In all of his work, he tries to think bigger and paints as if the painting were to continue off the painting. Adam knew the general look he wanted for Evening Light with a V shape for the birds movements, as well as having different layers that added depth to the painting. Adam explores natural settings in his paintings with a touch of human manipulation, as nature is not always so appealing. He conveys the contrast between wanting to display the disorganization of nature, and the drive to keep the painting desirable to the individuals who see it.
This piece grabbed my attention right from the start. There was no painting in the entire art show that stuck out to me like this one. Not only did the size and the pleasing aesthetic of the painting draw me in, but it also calmed me down. Normally, a photo of hundreds of birds would not attract me, but it might make me anxious. In this piece, each bird has a perfect place on the canvas, which provides a soothing sight. Evening Light reminded me of the Nicholas Sparks movie “The Notebook”. This imagery of the birds is similar, and although the painting is not exactly displayed in the movie, it gave me the same feeling as the movie did.
Wk 4- Artist Conversation – Madeline Taylor
Artist: Madeline Taylor
Exhibition: Delve Deep
Media: Oil canvas
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Denis W. Dutzi Gallery
Instagram: @madeline_S_Taylor
Madeline Taylor is in her final year of being an undergraduate student at California State University, Long Beach. She is getting her BA in Studio Art. Her work explores oil painting and the different ways to convey what she was seeing, through her art.
This particular Piece, titled Delve Deep, uses different colors and line forms. The painting is very large, taking up most of the wall. Among the colors, there are several different shades of multiple bright colors such as pink, orange, yellow, and blue. The paint is spread around the canvas in a way that includes a swirling and melting effect. The layered paint provides the image of a foreground and background.
After having the pleasure of talking to Madeline (she was so nice!), I learned a lot about the thought that went into this piece. The first conversation point was figuring out her desire to use such a large canvas. Madeline explained that she was normally using a smaller canvas, along with much smaller brushes. She was encouraged by her professor to use a greater sized canvas. She also described what the painting process was like, and that she had to constantly take several steps away from the painting to make sure it was scaled. Lastly, when about the ideas for the content of the painting, she explained that she often hikes and takes photos of things she might later paint. The painting Delve Deep is her depiction of a cave, and the bright colors symbolize the feeling she felt when she looked at each part of the cave.
This piece stuck out to me not only because of its size, but the colors and the paint strokes. The painting was so full of life and depth. At first I didn’t realize it was a cave, but when I went back to the painting after knowing that, it was evident that the shadowing emphasized the depth of the cave. You’ll notice that the painting leaves your eyes in awe.
Siobhan Hernandez 