Khalo-Sherman-Xiuwen Comparison: "self-portraits/female portrayals"

Cui Xiuwen’s angel series focuses on a pregnant woman in a white dress. From the title it is easy to think of having this baby is a miracle from heaven. The white dress helps strength that innocence and purity. Cui Xiuwen shows an interest in womanhood. She portrays herself as a woman who is pregnant. In all of the pictures I get a sense of worry like she is unsure about the baby and her future. I can tell the anxiety and vulnerability in the body language. I think the photos are really interesting. Her skin looks so white it’s almost like porcelain.

Cindy Sherman is another photograph who likes to focus on womanhood, being the main subject in all her photographs. Cindy Sherman keeps popping up everywhere lately in my readings. I like how she takes like a stereotypical role of women throughout history and photographs herself in those situations. I do not think Sherman meant to say anything negative about women, I don’t believe she’s a feminist. I think she is just shedding light on women in general almost glorifying them. My personal favorite film stills by her are her “Fairy Tale Nightmare’s.” I find these stills to be visually appealing and I am drawn to them because I want to know more about them. They are kind of abstract because you have to think about what they are.

Frida Kahlo has a different approach than the two women artist’s because her medium she uses is painting. Even though she has a different approach Frida’s main focus is portraits of herself. At first glance her paintings are not traditionally feminine. Frida’s unibrow and semi mustache are not exactly appealing. However, Frida uses a lot of symbolism in her pieces. I do not know exactly what they mean but I can tell they are significant to her works. These paintings are self expressive, representing her life and sexuality.

All three of these women are representing women in their own ways. They all are the subject of their own works. In many cases they put their own emotions and feelings into the work. Cindy Sherman is a little different because she creates a persona that is not herself she is just a character in her work. Frida Kahlo uses her life as inspiration for her paintings. I think it is great how these artists are representing women. For so long the art world has been dominated by males.

Film Still: Illustrator Edit

Photoshop Final

Illustrator Exercise

still getting use to the pen tool

Photoshop Exercise

Film Still Illustration

Here is the photo I will be editing in Photoshop for my Film Still Illustration.

Film Still Artists

Gregory Crewdson:

Out of the four of these artists, Gregory Crewdson is my favorite one. The scenes he sets up are very interesting and the evoke so much emotion. There is a very dismal quality in his photos which is easy to relate to since most people felt sadness at one point in their life. The cool blueish gray tones add to the whole melancholy tone. I like how he plays with reflections in water or mirrors as a way of reminiscing.

Teun Hock:

Teun Hock's photographs are more playful in nature compared to Crewdson's. The colors he uses are more warm and bright and some of his compositions are pretty funny. I think it is cool how in each one he is getting himself into some sort of predicament. I found it interesting that he would actually paint canvas's as backgrounds and put the photos on top of that.

Jeff Wall:

There is something strange about Jeff Wall's photographs. In the photos where there is people there is almost no interaction. This makes me feel uncomfortable about the composition just because the people in the picture are situated awkward. I get a sense of solitude from his photos as well. I'm not sure if I think its a little depressing or not. I really like his photograph called "The Flooded Grave" a lot. I think it is such a unique concept and visually it is very interesting and pleasing.
Cindy Sherman:

The project that I react the most to from Cindy Sherman is her Fairy Tale Disaster's Collection. Some of these pictures are sort of haunting yet they still have an artist quality that makes them very intriguing. I think it is interesting how she can take ordinary fairy tales that are supposed to be cheerful and bring out a quality that is not normally seen with fairy tales. It is almost like she is reacting to the sugarcoated fairy tales and bringing them back to their original form as in The Grimm Fairy Tales. Her other work focuses on a woman in various settings and situations. Those photographs look old fashioned from an earlier era. The photos are done in black and white which adds to that whole quality.