In my opinion, internet culture involves giving people a platform for any purpose they might have. This means that the internet is capable of empowering individuals by allowing them the freedom to publicize whatever they want. However, this freedom does come with inherent risks as being on the internet means being public (usually). This risk lends itself to fear as you never know who might see what you put on the internet and you don’t know what they might do with it.

I think copyrights are important to protect people and artists who have created something. However, I know that there are cases where copyrights have been abused to shut people down that have used a song in their video or made something similar to the original. I think there should be some modification to copyrights. Maybe allow things to be used if the resulting product is not for profit.

For my work, I chose to have a Public Domain license. I chose this because I don’t intend to make any money from it or be recognized for it. It is simply just something fun I did and I don’t mind where it ends up.

For my remix activity I chose to do an image remix. I had a lot of fun making my image as I had friends giving me idea after idea on what to put into it. For my image, I wanted to give it some meaning so I also referenced current events such as the pandemic and pop culture like the show Tiger King. I didn’t really expect an amazing image, just something fun so I think I did well! There were a lot of challenges during this project as I didn’t really have any experience in editing pictures. I learned the bare minimum on editing photos together and had a blast doing it!

For the sketch, I wanted to do bubble lettering but in a not so boring way. So I made the letters overlap a little and be different sizes. However, going from the pencil sketch to painting was very difficult as I didn’t have a paintbrush. I used my finger to try and paint within the lines as best as I could. It was a fun experience, I just wish I had the ability to be a little neater with my painting!

Exhibition Information
Artist: Micol Hebron
Media: Studio Work, Writing, Social Media, Photography
Website: http://micolhebron.com/
Instagram: @unicornkiller1

About the Artist
Micol Hebron is an artist that dabbles in many different mediums of art, the most famous being her work involving social media and the censorship of the female nipple. Micol has an extensive academic background, having studied theater and visual arts at the University of California, San Diego from 1991 to 1992. before going on to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in Venice from 1993 to 1994. From there, she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts in 1995 before finally graduating for the last time at the University of California, Los Angeles with a Masters of Fine Arts in new genres and contemporary art history. Hebron is now currently an Associate Professor of Art at Chapman University. Hebron is an artist that does not like to be limited to one type of art and she sees art as a way of dealing with trauma or as a way to fulfill her wishes.

Formal Analysis
In Hebron’s presentation to our class, she presented us with a multitude of photographs. Many of them were colorful photographs that mostly pertained to one central subject: the censorship of the female nipple. Thus, many of the photographs presented involved images of exposed women. However, the female subjects would have their body censored through the tactical placement of male nipples. This censorship would be done by editing male nipples onto the subject through Photoshop or with physical objects like stickers.

Content Analysis
Micol Hebron’s projects and works involving social media and the nipple is her way of standing up to the unnecessary oppression and sexualization of the female body. She is a proud feminist and expresses this through her works, advocating for the equal treatment of women through the ridiculousness of censoring female nipples with male nipples. Her art perfectly frames the double standard between the nudity of women and men because though they are both nipples, only female nipples would have to be censored.

Synthesis
I chose Micol as the artist I wanted to write about because I’ve never seen an art piece with such a polarizing subject. The censorship of the female nipple is a very controversial topic and Micol says what is on everyone’s mind: why is the female nipple censored but not the male nipple? Personally, I feel as though the female nipple is only censored because it is seen as taboo by our society and media currently. If we just stopped censoring the female nipple, I believe there will be a lot less stigma and sexualization surrounding it. Thus, I agree with Micol Hebron’s message regarding the female nipple and I agree that it should not be censored any longer.

For my cognitive map, I started off drawing the area I frequent most: the engineering buildings and the area near the recreational center. As I drew more areas and buildings, I soon realized that there was no way I was going to fit all the buildings I had in my mind onto the paper. So I improved and only drew buildings that I went to most or buildings that I strongly associated with the thought of CSULB. In the end, I really liked that my map isn’t directionally accurate but still showed its location in relation to other landmarks. I also liked that my map was specific to me and the places that I thought were important.

Creating my automatic drawing was a lot better than I thought it’d be! It was really relaxing to just settle down after writing the artist conversation and close my eyes, letting my hands go where they wanted on the paper. When I opened my eyes, I was really surprised that my drawing wasn’t just incomprehensible squiggles. To me, it looked as if I drew the outline of a turtle or a bear. And so, I continued with my art project by adding paint! I didn’t have a brush so I just used my fingers to paint in the sections of my outline. The resulting product isn’t perfectly within the lines but I really enjoyed the process of making it!

Exhibition Information
Artists: Mahsa Soroudi
Exhibition: Nature’s Cadence, 7500 Miles
Media: Photography, Nature, Painting
Website: https://www.mahsasoroudi.com/

About the Artist
Mahsa Soroudi was born in Tehran in 1981, a daughter of a painter. She would go on to get her BFA in Visual Communication at the Azad Art and Architecture University in Tehran in 2006. Afterwards, she got married and immediately moved to Southern California. Soroudi is an artist that is passionate about revealing qualities of women that may be disregarded in favor of more stereotypical views. As such, her art is inspired by her own personal struggles in her move to the United States as well as overcoming the stereotypical view of Iranian women as passive victims.

Formal Analysis
In her first exhibition, Nature’s Cadence, Soroudi uses succulents as her medium. Soroudi’s succulents varied in size, color, shape, and structure. She had succulents that were fully grown and thriving as well as succulents that are just beginning to bud. Most interestingly however is a succulent she thought had failed yet began to recover and grow back stronger.

Her other exhibition, 7500 miles, is a collection of paintings that show things related to Iranian women and their lifestyles. Most of the paintings are colorful and portray Iranian women in a myriad of art styles. The art styles for some paintings might be realistic but others are also abstract and surreal. Moreover, the subject for the paintings are not just limited to Iranian women but might be something related to them such as a dress or a vanity.

Content Analysis
Nature’s Cadence is meant to illustrate Soroudi’s experience with leaving her home in Iran to move to Southern California. After moving, Soroudi says she felt a sort of disconnect between herself and her new home in Southern California. She felt gloomy and struggled to adapt to her new home. However, Soroudi uses succulents to show how she was able to use hard work and patience to overcome a hostile and unfamiliar environment. Just like her plants, she was able to put in the effort to adapt and grow in her new home in California.

7500 Miles is Soroudi’s other exhibition where she tries to overcome the overplayed stereotype of Iranian women being passive victims of oppression. According to Soroudi, a lot of Iranian artists pander to Western stereotypes by painting a picture of Iranian women dealing with hijab or oppression in their culture. However, she wants to show everyone that there is so much more to Iranian women than just being victims. Thus, 7500 Miles is her way of representing other aspects of the life of an Iranian women by painting a picture of their everyday, ordinary lives.

Synthesis
Soroudi’s art really made me think about how I viewed Iranian women. I’ve realized that my first thought of an Iranian woman was one that struggled to deal with hijab and other patriarchal issues. 7500 Miles has challenged this view and I will now think of Iranian women as ordinary people instead of victims, just like any other person. Moreover, Nature’s Cadence really let me understand her hardship in leaving her home to move to an unfamiliar environment. Being a child of immigrants, I know how hard it is to adapt to a new country and the challenges that come with it. I believe that her use of succulents to portray this struggle was excellent as it shows that hardship can be overcome through hard work, patience, and care.

Exhibition Information
Artists: Heather Anacker, Krista Feld
Exhibition: Dwelling
Media: Fiber, Ceramics
Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Gatov Galleries East & West
Website: http://kristafeldartist.blogspot.com/

About the Artist
This exhibition, Dwelling, actually took place in 2013! Dwelling was created by two artists: Heather Anacker and Krista Feld. At the time, these women were pursuing their BFA in Fiber Arts at CSULB. These artists wanted to convey a sense of naturalism in their exhibition while reminding people to take note of the small things in life we might usually take for granted.

Formal Analysis
The pieces of art within this gallery came in a huge spectrum of shapes, sizes, and forms. Some objects, like their collection of herbs and saw dust, were small. Others were large objects such as a hanging loom or a portable room! Nonetheless, each piece of art in the gallery seemed to exude some sort of natural richness to them. This richness can be seen in the texture of soft woven fibers or the texture of smooth glazed bowls. The colors of the art pieces varied but usually carried on with the theme of naturalism. A lot of the objects in the gallery were just the color of basic wood but others had vibrant colors from being dyed and stained with wood dust.

Content Analysis
The entire exhibit had an extremely comforting, homey kind of vibe to it. Being that the exhibit was called Dwelling, all the different pieces within the gallery lived up to that name. From the familiar pots holding food you might find in any home to a soft woven chair you could surround yourself in, this exhibition definitely made me feel at home. Anacker and Feld wanted their audience to recognize that all these different pieces in the gallery could be found in our own homes yet are taken for granted. Only under a spotlight from a gallery could people begin to appreciate all the hard work that goes into producing the materials we use every day.

Synthesis
From visiting their gallery, their idea of actually thinking about where my stuff comes from and what went into making it has resonated with me. I recognize now that I am surrounded by objects that countless people have labored over. The place that I call home is filled with these pieces of art that are both familiar yet unique. This feeling of comfort and naturalism is something that hopefully everyone can relate to and I think that people should try and hang on to that feeling. We have to realize that no matter how mundane they are, these everyday objects help bring beauty and stability to our lives. Because right now, many people still fail to appreciate the little things in life.

The days feel so much longer now,
waiting for you to come back.
All the time that I’ve wasted,
your scent I just can’t seem to track.

I’ve sat waiting by the door,
hoping you’d come home soon.
But as the hours pass,
I realize now — you’re not coming back.

I start to cry,
I start to yelp.
Because I still need you,
I’m beyond help.

And when all the lights are down,
and I’ve given up on waiting.
I swear I could still hear your voice.
And I realize now —
waiting for you was never my choice.

I start to cry,
I start to yelp.
You’re back home now,
you had no idea how I felt.

My day feels so much brighter now
you were always the one I picked.
And in your arms I see it —
the bag of doggie mix.

Dog Days

What were you trying to think about in your song?

For my song, I wanted to do something that would do the subject of romanticism justice. So I started off trying to write about heartbreak. However, I got a crazy idea to make the song a little more realistic and grounded by making it about a dog instead. So I was basically just thinking about a dog being heartbroken waiting around for its owner.

What was your process for writing your song?

The process for writing my song started off very rocky. I didn’t know what to write a song about and so the first thing that came to my mind was what a lot of songs are about — heartbreak and break ups. I started off with some intense lyrics when I realized I wanted to make this assignment more fun. So I kept writing these intense lyrics while being mindful that the singer is actually a dog.

Was it easy? Hard? What you expected? Surprising?

The process for writing my lyrics was extremely surprising. I thought I’d take forever to think of lyrics and that it would be super hard. However, once I made my subject into a dog the lyrics wrote themselves.

How successful do you think your song is?

Regarding the prompt, I think I nailed the sense of romanticism. The sense of longing, heartbreak, and the self-loathing that comes with it is something that I think is always romanticized. I wanted to poke fun at this by grounding the whole idea back into what a dog might realistically act like.

Do you think you will ever write another song?

Though it was fun, I don’t think I would write another song. I am definitely not musically gifted nor am I a lyrical genius. Moreover, it just isn’t something I want to do.

If you did write another song, what do you think it might be about?

If I wrote another song, it’d either be for an assignment or someone I care about enough to write a song for. So maybe something like a funny rap about school or something more heartfelt.

So for this activity, I tried to do something really out of the ordinary and went with wearing a panda onesie to school. It goes without saying that this is something that I would never wear out in public ordinarily but figured it fit the assignment. When I got to school, I stood in front of the recreational center asking questions to people that I thought looked friendly. The reactions I got from random people walking by were either grins, confused looks, but mostly people who were indifferent. The few people I asked were super nice about it though and didn’t mention my outfit, they just answered my questions and left. The answers I got for my name were Steven, Brian, John, and Daniel. For my major, I got “some engineering major”, computer science, biology, and art. I didn’t think they responded too differently than if I just asked them these questions ordinarily. If anything, I think they were more willing to answer my questions because I was wearing something strange.

Honestly speaking, this activity was not my favorite. I felt really out of place and a little self-conscious wearing my outfit. To be straightforward, it was super awkward being in a panda onesie at school and I admittedly went back to my car right after to change. However, I was glad that people didn’t ignore me which I was scared was going to happen and that people were so friendly about answering my questions. I’m normally a very shy person and so I heavily considered skipping this activity but I’m proud that I ended up going through with it! Needless to say, I wouldn’t want to do this again but if I did I think I would go with something that doesn’t stand out as much next time!

Why did you choose this idea?

For my piece of shocking art, I chose to draw a picture of some people in a subway car. In the picture, the man on the right has a mask on and is being discriminated by the people on the left. I chose this idea because it is extremely relevant to the current issues we as a society are facing right now. Fear of the coronavirus is rampant throughout the world and much of that fear is misplaced into the Asian community. As a result, there are many who would discriminate against Asian people right now using fear of the coronavirus as an excuse for their prejudice.

What did you hope to communicate?

I hoped to paint the picture of an issue that our society faces today — racism as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Though the virus may have origins in China, this does not mean that every Asian person you see has the coronavirus. Furthermore, in my experience, a lot of the Asian people I might see on a daily basis are Asian-Americans who has lived their entire lives in America. Most of the Asian community has as much of a possibility of contracting the coronavirus as any other race. Thus, it is extremely stupid and hateful to discriminate against the Asian community out of fear of the coronavirus.

How successful do you think you were?

The characters on the left in the picture are clearly showing disdain toward the guy with the mask on the right. This piece of art successfully depicts the discrimination that Asians might face as a result of the coronavirus. Though my message could have been better communicated if I had more talent in art, I think I was still successful in getting my point across.

What would you do different if you did it again?

If I did this again, I think I would try and use a different medium. I realized that drawing is very hard and I think it would look better if I used something like photography as my medium.

What is another idea you might explore through “shocking art”?

Some other ideas that I might explore through “shocking art” could be the destruction of our environment or the corruption within our government. Or for a lighter subject, maybe that the chicken sandwich craze is over-hyped! I would also like to try different mediums for these ideas such as painting, photography, or even digital art.

Exhibition Information
Artist: SOSIA Group (interview with: Ren Torres)
Exhibition: Ai’sos’ Fables
Media: Illustration, Drawing and Painting
Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Dutzi Gallery
Instagram: @sosia_csulb, @4cetone

About the Artist
This exhibition is actually a collaboration done by multiple artists from the Society of Student Illustrators and Animators (SOSIA). However, I decided to focus on a single artist from SOSIA that contributed to this project. This artist’s name is Ren Torres and he is currently an undergraduate student working towards his illustration BFA at CSULB. Ren has a strong passion for art and gets inspiration for his works from different interests outside of school. These interests include watching TV shows, anime, and video games!

Formal Analysis
All the art in this exhibition were nearly equal in size. The art was all done on multiple small canvases, one for each artist. Despite being similar in size, every single piece in this gallery was noticeably different and unique. Each artist had a distinctive art style and this was clearly seen in the myriad of different ways the character was portrayed. Some artists, like Ren Torres, had a more animation-esque style to their art as if their piece was a frame from a TV show. Other artists, like Christian Balbido, had canvases with amazing texture that alluded to the paint used to create it. Nonetheless, each composition used beautiful, vivid colors that seemingly contrasted the art pieces before it.

Content Analysis
Being a collaborative exhibition from a large group, there is a single idea that is shared between each piece. It is the idea that the main character, Ai’sos, is breaking out of her shell and building her confidence up. This is accomplished through the use of Ai’sos’s paintbrush which lets her create portals that span different worlds. Ai’sos uses this paintbrush to travel between worlds, making friends or conquering challenges throughout her journey. This idea of a magical, paintbrush-wielding character is a metaphor for the students that make up SOSIA. As a student organization for aspiring illustrators and animators, SOSIA hopes to empower its members with confidence like the character Ai’sos. Being a part of SOSIA means meeting new friends and conquering different career or personal challenges along the way. This exhibition is meant to showcase each member’s personal voice and style, allowing them to share their talents with the public and showing them that the process of displaying art publicly is not as intimidating as it seems.

Synthesis
I really like this exhibition because it was so fun looking at all the different art styles that each member brought to SOSIA. Ren Torres really let his love for TV shows and animation shine through his art. I also thought the idea of relating the main character in the different art pieces to its members was brilliant and really showed me that SOSIA wants to elevate its members and help them improve. I can see how creating an exhibition for your own art might seem like a daunting task and that doing an exhibition as a collective would be a great stepping stone for that! The lesson that this exhibition taught me was that each member of a group can shine in their own way and that you can be successful if you have the confidence and drive for it. SOSIA seems like a really good organization for any aspiring illustrator or animator because it gives them the resources and purpose to create their own works of art. It makes me wish that there was something like SOSIA for my major as I would love to be able to contribute to a collaborative project in the computer science field!