things we forget.

I’m really digging this blog: http://thingsweforget.blogspot.com/

“Post-it notes left to their fate in public places.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MoMA: Talk to Me

The works featured in the Talk to Me exhibit at MoMA are fantastic and so, so inspiring.

nicholas felton

Nicholas Felton documents his life – everything from what he eats to where he visits to what music he listens to – and exhibits this personal data through charts, graphs, and tables in booklets aptly named “The Feltron Personal Annual Reports.” These yearly collections are clever, beautifully designed, and extremely accessible, offering the viewer a glimpse into his life through a graphic, meticulously constructed lens.

 

Excerpts from The Feltron 2006 Annual Report:

 

Excerpts from The Feltron 2008 Annual Report:

 

Excerpts from The Feltron 2009 Annual Report:

 

Felton’s work is incredibly intriguing to me personally because of my own [almost overly] organizational tendencies, at least in my artwork, as well as his focus on ordinary, daily activities. Much like the Craigslist bank of data I’ve been working with, also a record of everyday encounters that don’t discriminate between types of people or locations, Felton’s own life provides the same source of comprehensive data, and gives him all the material he needs to work with. It’s just a matter of keeping track of it all, extracting very specific aspects of it, and visualizing all those snippets through clean and creative design.

The content and form of Felton’s Annual Reports are perfectly complementary. Without frills or flashy embellishments, the layout and variety of pie charts, bar graphs, carefully dissected maps, and balanced coordinated headings all seamlessly come together to create a simple yet bold statement. There is also an interesting contradiction between the scientific look and feel of these reports, right down to their titles, and the personal information contained within them. They are intimate yet displayed in a distanced brochure, and this same dichotomy is present online and through the increased use of social media outlets today. This is what first attracted me to the Craigslist Missed Connections section, but whereas I creep on others and use what they have contributed as my source material, Felton is self-reliant. He serves as both the muse and the artist, and his conceptual ideas and technical ability are equally remarkable.

—

All images obtained from http://feltron.com/ and posted with permission of the artist.

sagaki keita

Sagaki Keita is amazing. His work is truly incredible and unlike anything I’ve seen before, which is why I’m dedicating this blog post to him even though his content and style are not at all similar to my own. Keita creates pen and paper drawings that look like replicas of famous works of art at first glance, but upon closer examination are revealed to actually be composed of nothing more than humble doodles.

THE 36 VIEWS OF MT.FUJI/the Waves off the Coast of Kanagawa

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa detail

The Last Supper

The Last Supper detail 1

The Last Supper detail 2

Borghese

Borghese detail 1

Borghese detail 2

Diskophoros

Diskophoros detail 1

Diskophoros detail 2

It is remarkable how Seita’s simple scribbles and doodles magically come together to transform into incredibly realistic and convincing images of old-time, world-known masterpieces. He portrays multiple dichotomies, from blending together different art historical periods to mixing forms of art that typically belong on different rungs of the artistic hierarchy – cartoon line drawings versus “high art” oil paintings and sculptures. Seita has an incredible amount of talent rivaled perhaps only by his imagination, and I’m sure that if I ever saw one of his pieces in person, I’d be staring at it for hours on end, only becoming more impressed as I continually discover new hidden characters and shapes.

The only common thread between Keita’s work and mine (which may still be a stretch) is the attention to detail Keita puts into his drawings and my own obsessive working style. I think there is a high degree of perfectionism in Keita’s drawings, despite the carefree and relaxed tone that the cartoon aesthetic usually emits. The visual illusions he creates must take meticulous planning and extensive practice to perfect, and this degree of artistry and craftsmanship is something I really appreciate. The end result is impressive, but so is the process that Keita must go through to ensure that everything falls in place in the end.

There is also an intense sense of balance in the pieces, despite the seemingly randomly scattered doodles. The shading is accurately corresponds to the famous piece each drawing is modeled after, and even the mostly white backgrounds seem to be perfectly distributed with hollow cartoons whose outlines are dispersed at just the right distances from each other. Each drawing is contradictory in content and style yet ultimately cohesive, fitting together like intricate handmade puzzles.

I’m not sure how well known Keita’s work is or what his museum accolades are or if I’m just late to hop on his fan bus, but I am sure that he is going in my small pocketful of artists whose work I will continually refer to and remember. I don’t have an extensive knowledge of art history or even contemporary artists, but there are some I’ve come across and featured on this blog whose names and work I will surely file away forever inside my otherwise molecular biology and genetics brainwashed mind.

—

All images posted with permission of Sagaki Keita.

artist’s website: http://sagakikeita.com/

—