Everything you want is wrong,
And right now
All your dreams are waking up,
And right now
I wish I could follow you
To the shores
Of freedom,
Where no one lives.

Rise Up

Sometimes, we feel down and defeated. It is like carrying all the problems of the world on our shoulders and we are the solution-makers. But it feels like the world is against us, at the same time, and we'll start to lose to everything we believe in. We lose our Faith to God. We lose our trust on someone. What have I done to deserve this? Of all the people, me? Why is that? The feeling is remorseful and depressing. And when no one would be there to bear with us during these difficult times, life can be as miserable. But we do have to realize that life is just, and also unfair, and that everybody else has been in the same situation as yours and mine. It is a bittersweet sensation that we enjoy everyday. One day could end tragically, but there would always be a reason to rise up and shine on the next morning, for each day is full of endless limitless possibilities and impossibilities. This is life as we know it!


About this photo: I noticed this hazard cone after a heavy rain, possibly knocked down by the strong winds.

A Review: The University of Auckland's Top Ten Recent Acquisitions

Summer school is almost over, and the grading for our final marks is nearly finished. I'd just like to share this exhibition review that I made as one of the prerequisites for the course (or paper). I got a decent mark for this one so I might as well share this one with you, guys (although I could have done better if I hadn't started late). Be sure not to miss out this Top Ten Acquisitions for the Art Collection held in The Gus Fisher Gallery (along Shortland St) before 5 March 2011. Admission is free. Read more.

  

Portrait of a Life-cast of Matua Tawai by Fiona Pardington

Foyer ceiling

Chromatic Interaction by Sara Hughes

Yvonne Todd's Gynecology and Reuben Paterson's Fish To Water

Fish to Water

Closer look

Pink and Green Abstraction with a Dragon by Andrew McLeod

 Bellevue Series by Yvonne Todd

Top Ten label

Colour Bars by Daniel von Sturmer

Oddooki and Oioio by Seung Yul Oh

1020 Metres in 26 Minutes: Waitangi Day Auckland Harbour Bridge Protest by Alex Monteith

Top Ten: new acquisitions for The University of Auckland Art Collection Review

by Jan Feliciano

Art galleries have been housing works of renowned and up-coming artists of our current and previous generations. They have been opened to the public to appreciate the artists’ works, but for some, to relive the past. These are showcases of gifts and talents that one could easily be a formalist and forget about the true essence of art. But, little did many know that art, in a sense, is an extension of one’s self? It is not mainly about the aesthetics and beauty and technical details, rather it requires one to understand, interact and be in one with the artist. It would discourage hasty evaluations, but require a sensible reading.

Ever since the development of Science and technology in the 19^th century, people became aware of the possibilities in the art world. This led to several art movements the shaped the art world as we now know today. As the First World War escalates, it affected almost all people of the nations involved one way or another. The art world began to lose its confidence— modernism was the term coined to this era of self-disintegration and pessimism, alongside with the inventions and discoveries of notable persons in Science. The artists lost their faith to reality. They also felt loss of their artworks’ sense of uniqueness as the mass productivity of the mechanical age entered the scene, specifically the advent of photography. But Sigmund Freud found an analysis of the subconscious mind and its possibility, or rather ability, to produce art. This continued until after the war has ended –of what others would call postmodernism. And a subset of it called contemporary art (and sometimes used interchangeably) made use of a wide variety of media that was made available to artists over the years until today.

Linda Tyler talks about the recent acquisitions of the University of Auckland’s Collection, entitled Top Ten: New Acquisitions for the University of Auckland Art Collection, at the Gus Fisher Gallery that was made open to public for viewing. The exhibition features some of the top contemporary artists of the country. It also showcases a fine line of students from the Elam School of Fine Arts and is now in the contemporary art world. Taking great note of the media used, Tyler talks about how each artist with their choice of medium— from the most common to the latest and innovative— could extend his artistic mind to his viewers. Nevertheless, this would serve as an effective primer to contemporary art for those who are interested.

The exhibition showcases a variety of media. One would usually see paintings in watercolour, acrylic and such, in most art galleries, but how often would you see the use of glitters, digital lenticular polypropylene print, large-scaled toys and a television as artworks? Most will be sceptical, but today’s artists were not limited to certain cliché media, if you’d like. As technology starts to prosper through the years, they have used it to their full advantage to create ground-breaking art works as well as to make their own signature using it.

The exhibition was arranged as balanced as possible putting together relevant pieces for easier understanding of the viewers. Welcoming art-lovers were Fiona Paddington’s Portrait of a Life-Cast of Matua Tawai and Seung Yul Oh’s Oddooki and Oioio artworks. Paddington wanting a sense of realism captured the sculpture on different angles with her creative lighting techniques which has made her subject to look like real. Oddooki and Oioio were made in fibre-glass material and could be inspired by Seung’s childhood days. These round sculptures, however, makes use interaction – the light passing through the ceilings reflects on the sculptures’ heads, completing each body with a single eye—like those in the cartoons. These surely were humorous and catchy, especially to children, and the child-like, to be preoccupied. And both could be thought of as a juxtaposition of the use of past and present mediums of artwork. The Gallery Two, situated on the right side, holds a video clip of Alex Monteith’s 1020 metres in 26 minutes: Waitangi Day Auckland Harbour Bridge Protest. It holds intrinsic values like any other movies: an isolated dark room, a huge display and a comfortable but limited seating space. But I reckon no one would finish watching the sluggish-moving vehicles as it traverses through the Harbour Bridge –or not—though it possesses an interesting view from the front and rear of the motorcade. 

Taking the left entrance of the Gallery One, you will be presented with symmetric and geometrical pieces of Roger Mortimer and Sara Hughes. It showcases their meticulous and almost seamless works as you look closely and scrutinize each of those. But the fact that there were no descriptions regarding each work, Hughes’ Chromatic Interaction could be thought of just a collection of hexagonal palette of colours; Manaia could be an elementary child-like inspiration that was only brought to life by Mortimer. Only a few would know that they were representation of the top banks’ website colours and a trace of family history, respectively, unless researched. Moving to the next artworks, Megan Jenkinson presents to us a glacier, possibly in the Polar Regions or in the Antarctica continent, and behind were the northern lights (aurora borealis or aurora australis) on a digital hologram-like print. It is viewed while moving from left to right or vice versa to see its lighting effect and its light could be turned on and off (which would have a subtle effect) according to the viewer’s likeness. This is certainly a very different kind of medium for first-timers to see one. It suggests that as you witness this phenomenal natural light display at the ends of earth, it moves into something more outside of the Earth’s boundaries, passed through its atmospheres and into the outer space, which connects to Yvonne Todd’s Gynaecology. This shows a pregnant woman dressed in an old-fashioned long dress and is somewhat like forming a cult in a new galaxy. Somewhat inspired by the sci-fi genre— the rest is left for the viewers to fill in the story. Robert Patterson’s use of glitter complements the shiny stars in the previous work, in a way, as his choice of medium strongly attracts every viewer. Patterson’s Water to Fish brings you back down to Earth and into reality. It gives you the idea of the relation of these distant entities as you traverse from beneath the Earth’s ground surface and below to seabed level, into the outer space of vast darkness and stars. Andrew McLeod illustrates his abstraction of horizontal lines of shades of pink and green that seemed to be like a three-dimensional level of steps or a maze, a dragon and below it is a peculiar tree in his Pink and Green Abstraction with Dragon. This seems to break the cycle of the previous works that we’ve seen of relating to symmetry, natural wonders, and fiction contrasting realism, with his puzzling mindscape fantasy world. Completing the round were a set of female portraits taken by Yvonne. Formally dressed in the occupation that each represents – as stated in their titles—, they present a cliché of a generic fatal attraction of femininity. But if there’s one thing that could be noticed second, third or last it would be Daniel Von Sturmer’s Colour Bars. Displayed in high-definition video, Daniel made of use of modern technology to emulate the natural phenomenon of the dripping paint, forming an SMPTE-like television test pattern, which is rather interesting as it iterates itself – television represented within a television. It was also of immense wits that the television was placed adjacent to the entrances and in contrast to Patterson’s glitter work, where both display lustrous characteristics and has the attracting force to hold the viewers.

One could be tempted to forget the underlying meaning of the artworks if no contexts were provided to them. That would not be a good impression, though. I think it is a great deal to let the viewers give meaning to each artwork themselves as this will imply interaction between the artist and the viewer—some sort of a mutually beneficial relationship. But it could be as overwhelming as one could imagine. There is a quick tendency that viewers could easily be impatient and be blinded by the formalist characteristics of the artwork. I thought that they would need a curator or, at the least, a brief description or history of what each artwork is about, so as to constitute an understanding of how they work to together as an exhibition and what the theme is all about. 

Viewers and visitors would not be misguided throughout the exhibition as it constitutes a fairly segmentation of artworks. The Grand Foyer is definitely the first to hail greetings, of which the thick-black-frames isolates and focuses on Paddington’s portraits and the large-scaled sculptures, or toys, could keep the children company—a plausible juxtaposition of precedent and present media. Either way to Gallery One, the viewers won’t be lost in transition as each artwork was arranged methodological with complementing components, so as to form a theme or genre, and series were clustered together –like Todd’s Bellevue. It was also notable that each artwork occupies a decent amount of space for isolation and easier digestion of the subject at hand. The Gus Fisher Gallery was a perfect venue of the exhibition also, as it provides a plentiful amount of space to give the viewers an ambiance of pleasant relaxation. It is also suffice to say that it is just that the artworks were installed here, since most, if not all, of the artists featured were The University of Auckland’s graduates— so as to be readily made available to university students.

Tyler made up a great exhibition for the art-lovers to enjoy, selecting the university’s Top Ten images to welcome everyone in contemporary art. So, whether you’re an art-lover, an avid art gallery-goer or just a curious individual wanting to learn, then this is an essential supplement for your artsy mind.

Back to AKL

Some snapshots from our trip back to Auckland. It's been a month or so, and I wanted to go back to Manila. I wish I could spend some more time when I get back

14/02

Cheesecake

Two is better than one

 And for some known reasons, I missed this. And I'm missing her...

A Surrealist in me

Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog)

I first witnessed this during my first semester in my Art History paper. First topics include, of course, the common painting and photography media. I've came up with the word common to describe these mediums, just solely because these were the ones most found in art galleries. It barely came in to my mind that videos or film can be thought of as an artwork. I meant, film, for me, is all about theaters and movie houses - in terms of venues - and narrative, of relating to plots and storyline. Film is something commercial, where the masses get to watch a decent, or crappy, movie in a huge screen and share the experience with a few other people and friends, while seats get paid.

So, going back. I thought that this films was gruesome and horrific. It gave me a peculiar impression the first time a saw it. It was not my usual black and white film (I've seen b&w films, but with plausible storylines) because its plot or storyline is rather messed up - or it is actually plotless. It jumps from one scene to another, from one place to another, from one time to another. The actors were also portrayed to do unimaginative things in the most uncommon settings (such as cutting the eyeball, a man cycling in a nun's dress, ants in palm, grabbing a woman's chest and buttocks, etc). Well, I guess these are what make the film work. Or rather, it was because of the Surrealism in it. Maybe that was the reason why I admired it so much and I tried to look for it after 2 years. Eventhough it contains peculiar and random stuffs in it, you cannot call it nonsensical. I guess this is what makes Surrealism work. The automatism of one's subconscious works. It has something Sigmund Freud's discovery of the human unconscious mind, especially in one's dreams (read more here). I loved the idea behind and hopefully one day perform a Surrealist art with my own choice of medium.

Just Another Review: Nikkor AF 35-70 3.3-4.5

I got a new lens from TradeMe (an online auction site) for a bargain. It's got a decent focal length of 35-70 which I think is so suitable for my needs in doing street photography. It's lightweight and compact in size. But it's AF is rather sluggish and noisy since this is an old film camera lens. The sharpness is so impressive, by the way. Even if stopped at 3.3 it's still got an over-all sharpness applied when focused at infinity. Pretty soon I'm gonna dispose my Nikkor 18-70, just because it's got beaten by this oldie in terms of size and sharpness.

Towels to dry.

Orange mouse

My trusty Nikkor nifty-fifty and orange mouse. Shot at 70mm f4.5. Reasonable blur.

Nifty-fifty

Reasonably sharp at 35mm f3.3

Start and End, right

Today was a start of something and an end of some thing.

Finals for FINEARTS 210G was held in the Epsom campus of UoA. I came in earlier than usual in the campus but I got inside of the lecture hall late— again— since I crammed a few more notes just before the exam. Well, New Year vows will be broken anyway so I didn’t bother listing my resolutions on a scratch of paper, just in case I did not do such a great job of keeping track of do's and dont's. So anyways, the proctor was kind enough to approach me and guide me to find a seat. 

A few more minutes later, my proctor called this Korean girl’s attention and was asked to hand in her test paper. But she did a great job of pretending not to care and refused to do so -- to our surprise. What's even worse, she even made my proctor lose all her patience and go to her place and try to grab the sheets from the her hands. With all seriousness, they were like a parent forcefully taking away this child's toy. I was like: what the heck? She just even made her situation more messed up, by implicitly proclaiming she's doing something naughty behind our backs while the exam was still in progress. Then she started crying, then sobbed and even went louder, then she ran outside. The moment she was out, she was all screaming and weeping and everything you could imagine like a brat child would do (if her wishes weren't granted in an instant). For a moment, I realized this is actually one of the many disadvantages of being late. One, you get to start late. Two, you'll start to panic your way around. And three, you get to sit at the back and witness what's there to witness in front of you. It's so freaking annoying when you get distractions during an examination. I lost all my concentration and thoughts regarding the artwork we were currently looking at. What a commotion! But the good thing was, our proctor called security to get rid of her wailing outside the lecture hall (because it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop inside), and reiterated the slides where we all got lost. Lesson learned: DO NOT CHEAT! You know I pity you so much, but you're so gonna fail this paper. Hoping for a B+, though.

McCap

Had my first paid training. Yeah! The good guys performed the induction rites for me, starting from the very basic, quintessential foundations of McBurgers and McChickens and everything associated with Mc or Mac. They helped me get along to this kind of customer food service. Got a minor burn and cuts though. But they admitted to me, and I meant every one of them including my trainer and manager, that I did a pretty good job for a first-timer. It was flattering, though. I just did what I did. And I did it good. But it's fast food. It'll take away your life that fast too. I do not recommend eating a lot of these fried stuffs, for your own wellbeing. So don't eat good ol' Mcdonald's. But they're good, the taste and smell, right? It's oh-so-yummy and delicious. So I'd rather over/under/super-cooked patties and chickens especially for you, just to give you people a bad impression of us, them, and realize that fast food is as bad as it tastes, as it kills people. Trust me, you wouldn't want to mess with Ronald.

What a day! I'll keep you posted.

-O

schmuck also shmuck  (shmk)

n. Slang

A clumsy or stupid person; an oaf

-from thefreedictionary

Sounds too cool for you, I think!

Regarding how you bodyclock works

I just thought I need to post this.

Good night!

-O

304

304, originally uploaded by owyzzz.

test

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Some of my first two rolls in starting film photography. I'm using a Diana Mini. Imported from my blogspot account. Follow me peepz!