ArtsXpose #3 – Gibbs
Art21 Leonardo Drew & David Brooks- Gibbs
Leonardo Drew
- Finding Piet Mondrian
- Influence of Piet Mondrian on Drew’s work
- Drew visits Mondrian’s gravesite
- Was named as notable by his grave after Drew found it
- Leonardo Drew in “Investigation”
- Doesn’t always know what his works are going to be about “but they always find there way”
- From Bridgeport, CT
- First taste of fine art was in High School after exposure to Jackson Polocks black and white drawings
- Went to Cooper Union, says he was “the greediest person there” as he absorbed everything and then asked for an extra year to stay and study
- His piece, number 8, is comprised of all of his so-called failures, mashed together into one work
- Speaks on his experience as a person of color:
- Made a cotton wall piece which he wheeled down the street on a dolly to which many people took photos suggesting it was a political piece despite that not being its intentions
- Used the heat in San Antonio to cook some of his materials
- Traveling & Making
- Took time to travel and digest art, was amazed that he didn’t miss the studio because life and art were still going on within him
David Brooks
- David Brooks Takes the Roof Off
- Always goes down to South Florida every year
- Fascination with the Everglades and the contrast between the preserved nature and unchecked urban development just a few miles away
- Constructing a piece comprised of rooftops in time square to speak to this unchecked development in the US
- Was challenged on whether this was art or not
- David Brooks Hits the Pavement
- Also went to Cooper Union, would skateboard around town
- Started to break some preconceived notions of what art was while he was in NYC
- Talks through his piece of a deconstructed tractor combine
- David Brooks In His Element
I watched several videos containing interviews with Leonardo Drew and David Brooks, yet I do not have the word count to speak on Brooks. Drew spoke about the influence of Piet Mondrian on his work. During his rise to fame, Drew discovered the location of Mondrian’s gravesite and made light of it to the MET with the hopes of gaining the distinction for he felt Mondrian deserved. Drew grew up in Bridgeport, CT, a not particularly affluent area, where he began withdrawing as his primary medium, working for cartoonists and comic artists as early as high school. His first taste of fine art came in the form of Jackson Pollocks black and white drawings around this same time. While attending Cooper Union in NYC, Drew said he “was the greediest one there” as he absorbed anything and everything during his time there, going as far as to ask for a 5th year of school to further his quest for skills. Drew speaks on his experience as a person of color and how it influenced one of his pieces where he wheeled a cotton ball down the street on a dolly, to which many passersby were assuming a political nature in his work. Drew continues to work in San Antonio, a place, he says, has as much to do with the method of his creative process as the inspiration, as many of his materials can only be prepared by cooking in the hot sun of Texas. I was surprised most by the free-flowing nature of much of Drew’s work as he says often that he has “no idea what many of his pieces are about but they always find their way there”. This is often how I approach my work. I do find it surprising that Drew tends to stay away from political commentary within his work, choosing rather to express himself instead of society.
Source Images
Detailed Sketches Styrofoam/Wood
Jeffrey Gibbs artXpose #2
Jeffrey Gibbs artXpose #1
AI Research
Venerations of Phenomena – Gibbs
[1] Since discovering a love of athletics, I have always been in awe of the greatness achieved by athletes all around the world as they reach the highest levels of their sports. Growing up playing just about every sport available to me, I never truly found the one that clicked with me. Baseball, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer all had team components which were infuriating when you couldn’t control the individuals in the game. Physical limitations held me back in many of the sports I played, including the one that I ultimately found the most joy in. Throughout middle school, I started running. I barely hobbled through races and was greatly limited by my mental strength and physical endurance. Once I reached High School, however, the mentality changed from a sport to a privilege. Running became something that I get to do, that made me feel good about myself. This reaffirmed itself as I started to progress in my running career, dropping my times and building friends in the process of working towards goals. The love that I found for running carried heavily into my college decisions as I looked for a space to develop my athletic career further still. Since coming to college I found an even further love and appreciation for running in the Steeplechase discipline. Now my sights are set on a time barrier. Breaking 9 minutes in this event cracks onto the top 10 all-time list at Bucknell and it has been in my periphery since my first race in this event.
In my design, I hope to convey this growing desire to put my name in the record books in this event. I don’t necessarily have a specific audience to cater to as I truly want this piece to be a reflection of an insatiable need to work hard and get as close as I can to my version of greatness. I feel the need to communicate the difficulties and struggles of the event itself in my work but I am wed to a general amount of ambiguity to allow for multiple interpretations of the piece.
Project 1: “Accumulations” – Gibbs
I have chosen to work with a porcelain kitten. The porcelain serves little purpose other than looking pleasing to the eye. The kitten itself denotes the human desire to take care of pets and fill a space with something that could be perceived as alive. The prone pose of the cat reminds me of the nuanced relationship of cats to their owners as historically cats have been both worshipped and demonized by societies across the globe. I want to explore the relationship of cats with their owners in different forms. Cats are often seen as support animals, able to lower the heart rate and improve the mental state of those around them. Further, cats are also seen as evil creatures and solitary animals, refusing to coexist in packs and families. In these different explorations, cats can be represented as embodying the mental health issues of their owners, at war with one another, and living in a communal pack society.