Identity

My inspired selfie comes from the works of Mickalene Thomas. What made me inspired by Thomas's works is how each painting that she creates is a way of showing something special about someone's features and how those features are able to show what makes you. Also what I have noticed is how every person she paints, they are focused on the artist creating them. In a way it makes you feel as though you are the model being illustrated, even if someone is also taking a picture of you. My selfie identifies me by showing the curiosity side of me and not paying attention to what might seem important but at the same I still know a photo is being taken as I still smile.

In many of Mickalene Thomas's works she is loser naked in front of the camera. My selfie is inspired by her because in this picture I am naked in front of the camera. I'm showing who I am. Not physically naked, but without the disguise of everyday life.

My #1 Fear

As I was browsing Mickalene Thomas galleries, I didn't really get inspired at first on how to take this weekly selfie. After relooking through her gallery, I saw that they she played around with each portrait she did, so I played around with my hair, putting on a hair tie and trying out different pony tail styles and even tried a man bun (epic hilarious fail by the way). As I was messing around in the mirror I remembered one of my biggest fears, and that is revealing my ears. Weird right? Why would someone be so afraid to show their ears, I mean their ears right? Through my experience growing up, I recieved harsh remarks on my ears and how they make my face resemble a rat. High school was tough as many of my pears reminded me of it, thus brought down my confidence. So in my senior year of high school, I finally decided to grow out my ear to conceal the sight of my ears, and then peers started to compliment me on having nice hair. It is something I have yet to come to terms with and I'm not sure if I ever will, It's tough having such a weird insecurity and having it be my number one worst fear, but It has brought about some good aspects, such as improving my sense of fashion and alertness on physical insecurities and not to bring someone down for something they may have no control over. Mickalene Thomas though has showed me some confidence in the art she has made and to smile and have fun regardless of what you may or may not have.

mickalene thomas selfie

I tried to have a bright color in the back ground because all of Mickalene Thomas art are bright.  I love how people modeling for her are being themselves.  I am always happy, so I want everyone to see how I am happy in a picture. 

I actually decided to do a drawing / painting/ collage , on a cardboard inspired by mickalene thomas's 2015 : Portrait of Sidra #2. I was adding new photos to my wall & decided why not. This is my own take on it & I decided to incorporate all of my favorite colors. I did a splatter paint background , and a cut out of an outline drawing of a girl I had laying around. I divided her face into four sections and colored each in different colors& in one section I actually outlined everything in my name. Entirely I believe this was one of the most creative things I have done & im proud of myself 

The Male Gaze

The Gaze...inspired by Mickalene Thomas

This selfie was inspired by some of Mickalene Thomas' art work. Most of the women painted kept their eyes on the painter, giving off a gaze such as myself. The one giving off the gaze is called the sitter and the sitter is the one who has control of how he or she, in this case myself, will deliver the gaze. I chose to deliver my gaze as a normal look. As Mickalene said "the gaze itself is like a mirror" and right now I am mirroring myself, but since I am mirroring myself I get to control what I look like and how others should look at me. I can choose to either look like what others wish to see me as or look like how I would like others to see me as.

Exhaustion

Rosa Garcia, Exhaustion, 2017

Mickalene Thomas shows self in color and in the most natural state. Thomas shows that self is beautiful in any form. In this image, I've only slept 3 to 4 hours. My eyes were ready to shut. My hair fluffed and curly. I wanted the lights to hit and divide my face, allowing that light to define whatever features the image wanted to show. I had sent this selfie to my boyfriend who said "That's so hipster. You look so tired yet beautiful." I achieved the goal which was great. 

Naked face: a fear of mine

Naked Face

                From looking at the artwork of Mickalene Thomas, especially seeing the nudity of women and seeing all the selfies I've posted that were inspired by other artists, Thomas made me feel encouraged to step out of my comfort zone and take a selfie without any makeup on which I haven't even done so far; and so it felt like I was becoming part of the art she tried to encourage others to make even if it looks so subtle and plain at the same time.

A piece of Mickalene Thomas's inspired work (Gabriela Ortiz)

Inspired by Mickalene Thomas

  I used vibrant colors like Mickalene Thomas used on her work. I also used flowers because I saw many flowers on the images she created and painted. Her work is very versatile, in my opinion.. She uses many vibrant colors and things to capture in her image. I like how she is very open about sexuality and how she has models pose naked to embrace their bodies and to share the diversity of bodies, too. That is why I put this guy and this girl (me) looking comfortable in bathing suits. This work I created shows body positivity just like Mickalene's work shows it, too.        

The worst the breakup, the better the art. Sophie’s calle breakup inspired her to create art. Her method of getting over the shock consists of recounting her misery to everyone she meets and asking them to describe the worst moment of their life in return. My breakup was the worst and I found myself getting rid of this pain by writing. I always loved writing and my sister likes to say that I get myself in relationships just so I can have something to write about.

Calle is France's most famous conceptual artist, who has been teasing her admirers with stylist portraits of her own life and images of the lives of strangers for the past 25 years. I found this picture of my ex taking a picture of myself, I used to call him my personal paparazzi, my stalker because he was always taking pictures of me, which kind of reminds me of Calle when she got a private investigator to follow her.  My mom captured this pic and it was one of my favorites, and I decided to write a piece of the letter he sent me the day of what was suppose to be out wedding date …

“I woke up this morning and I wanted to die because it’s sad to know that everything I want in life now, is everything you ever gave me and I feel sad and guilty for everything I did to you, for pushing you away, just knowing that today we could be getting attached to be together forever and thanks to me that’s not happening anymore and it still breaks my heart… just know I will always love you and if you answer this and tell me that you want me I will run to you and marry you at this moment…”

I've Been Seen!

This selfie was inspired by Sophie Calle, a strange artist who took a different approach to taking photos of other people. This particular selfie isn't necessarily a selfie of my physical self but what I do when I'm in class taking "notes" that a classmate sent me, its creepy but interesting like Sophie Calle's work. I see it as invading someone's personal life through stealthy alternatives to not have to arise any suspicion. While trying to watch someone else, I was being seen already.

Calle to me is like an under cover agent who is investigating people's lives from close yet far, discovering little habits, or activities they enjoy participating in. Shes created a work of art that stands out in a gallery, people don't know how they really are until they see it, while being watched and not knowing it allows people to act as they would in whatever situation they are in without the pressure of being watched.

Finding out what to present was difficult, as I didn't just want to photograph random people walking down the street. I wanted to do something a little more personal, something that actually interested me, and my classmate gave me this brilliant idea by sending me all my doodles I do in class. It was perfect, I didn't know this person was even taking photos of me taking my "notes" in class. So I saved the photos they sent me and I took it upon myself to post them here because I didn't really think before that I had this strange habit of doodling, rather than looking at my phone or going online to tweet something or check out Instagram.

"All Eyes On Me"

                                            
One of Sophie Calle's exhibitions that interested me was "The Shadow, where she hired private detectives to follow her around. What I liked about this type of artwork is that it captures the person's every move and every direction the person is going into. To a viewer's eyes it may seem like a regular picture being taken of someone on the street. Also, these type of photos being taken can make a viewer ask questions as to "Why is this person being investigated ?", "What did this person do ?" or "What are they about to do in the picture ?", etc. Most of Sophie Calle's artwork might be unusual to people but at the same time it raises their curiosity and want to learn more about the artist and the artist's creations as well.

For my selfie, I took the same approach that Sophie Calle took by having someone "investigate" my every move as I took a small walk from my house to a local park and back home during the evening. The experience made me feel like someone important in a way, even though everything was planned out. "The Shadow" is basically like a connection to today where everywhere a celebrity goes, the paparazzi has to follow them; whether its from a far, where the subject can't see you, or up close and personal. Having that type of prestige can make a person feel like a somebody instead of a nobody.

In the text I found this quote stating, "Publicity has in fact understood the tradition of the oil painting. . . It has grasped the implications of the relationship between the work of art and it's spectator-owner and with these it tries to persuade and flatter the spectator-buyer". To me it can connect to Sophie Calle because the way she sets up her work it draws attention to many people and make them curious and want to have a better understanding as to what Sophie Calle is trying to express.

Sophie Calle's work is one of a kind she is inspired by the work of mystery in a way. Her mind is such a creative tool because she thinks in a unique, yet strange way. Calle's idea of following people and taking these pictures of them is very interesting. The way Calle exposes her work of photography is so intriguing that others would think she's crazy. I for once do not. I find her work to be very interesting in terms of her view of voyerism. Sophie Calle was inspired  first by a address book she found on the streets, she even took pictures of the address book and made that her first piece of photography.
My photo was inspired by Calle's work of taking pictures of other when they aren't noticing. My picture is me taking an off guard picture of my friend while she takes a picture of the New York City skyline, as if I was Sophie Calle taking random pictures of other people.

Selfie inspired by Sophie Calle

            Sophie Calle has a weird taste in art because it is unique.  I would not think people would be interested on seeing how people live in hotel room.  In the video, “Sophie Calle’s voyeuristic portraits of hotel rooms” she became a maid to take picture on what people bring to hotel rooms.  I would not believe she had the audacity to read someone’s diary.  A diary is something person where the just want to let their feelings out.  She did not care and though it was fascinating how someone would right what we had to eat and drinks of the day.  I was inspired by Calle because of the hotel room.  I wanted to shoot in my room because of how you can make a place look like a shoot.  It does not matter where you shoot an image because she inspired me anywhere can be art.

            In the chapter “Identity”, I agree on the quote, “One has a to live always an angle … to be oneself at some time another … nothing absolutely nothing, is as it seems.”  For example, people are well dress to go to work to look like they are responsible. They have to fake it till they make it to have a bright future.  That is an angle people other will see of you but others would see something define.  Sophie Calle would see hotel rooms that are untidy and people going through a lot in their life.  Calle found someone threw out a pregnancy test that was unable to read the results.  My selfie is inspired in my room to define me as being happy for everyone to see but I am stressing over a lot and other are not able to see.

           My selfie was an example of both the quote and the reading because people do not know the real me.  People see me as a joy people and would not think I would not be stressing in life.  That is not the case because my image was to show on what I stress once I wake up.  I stress on what I want to wear so I model in my pajamas just wondering in my pose of what to wear.  I always keep my room clean but once school comes in the picture, I just get stressed out so I wanted to show that but not organizing the books in the table.  Someone can have images to make them look good but someone else does not see the angle.  I wanted to be in my room because my room is a area where I can just be myself.  I can cry and laugh about my self without other judging me because my room is a place fore me to reflect on my life.  If you can see the calendar is almost about to fall because I wanted to show on how dates can affect me because of me being stressed out.  I wanted people to see how certain dates can affect me by knowing a certain paper is due on a certain time.  People can see me as a strong, funny man but do not know of my angle being worried about life.           

My 10 Year Old Perspective

My Diary- inspiration from Sophie Calle

It all started in the year 2007...

Sophie Calle approaches her projects by going about another's perspective. As illustrated in her video "On turning her life into art," she starting her art life when her boyfriend broke up with her through email, she asked other women how would they approach the situation. One can easily show an image of self from another's point of view by reacting towards what another says or does. For example, if you pick your booger and another looks at you in disgust, you would stop picking your booger in order to avoid getting looks of disgust from others. In this simple example, one was already influenced by another's reaction and possible insulting comments. Joanne Finkelstein pointed out how people became "self reflective" and developed "a visual imagination" in which they "trade places with others" and predict how certain scenarios might influence how they "think, act, or feel" (87). Using the example above about the booger, the individual who picked his/her nose would imagine his/herself in the shoes of the other and would predict how he or she might act if he or she saw someone else picking their boogers. This would influence how he or she acts next time.
As for my selfie, this was inspired by the video of turning life into art and manners. My selfie was my journal from 10 years ago. I figured what better way of going about another's perspective when I can do that with my 9 year old self. When I was 9 years old, I guess I was watching too many Disney movies that I chose to start writing a diary. In my diary I spoke about my teachers, my friends, and of course a crush. Throughout the years I kept writing and writing but I started fading off where the writing went from everyday to once a week to once a month to once a year and so on. As I look back, I noticed how innocent and different things were back then and how much I've changed as an individual. If one reads this journal (will most likely be when I die), he or she will notice the transition of growing up each year or couple years. One day I was like "O.M.G. he smiled at me" and in a few years I say "never going to trust again."
The connection is show easily through the events going on in this journal. If we go about my last sentence of my second paragraph, we will notice how because of someone breaking my heart a couple years ago, it influenced me to developed a wall to not trust another guy with my emotions. This simple connection can relate to many women out in the world and if they were to ever read this journal, my question would be...How would you have approached the situation?

5 Words

Rosa Garcia, Me In The Eyes Of ______., 2017

I started on a little project before I got introduced to Sophie Calle. I asked many people to describe me in five words. Little did I know this was so connected to this assignment of seeing myself in the eyes of others. I did not want to include myself in the image physically. I wanted to let the words speak instead as well as having two images including my boyfriend to sort of capture the idea of who I am. I kept the rose from a previous selfie, I felt it was too pretty to erase. (proud of my art skills) I forgot one word which was mysterious and I messed up putting some of the words in black but were meant in green, but I’d like to say my mistakes are a part of this as well as being human. I wanted something intimate and in my writing or one kind of hand writing I have. But the idea is that the way I see myself is barely anything to what everyone else sees, so I felt the need to ask and almost validate what I am. I say I am all of these things yet defining these words used to describe me has been a journey in itself.

This reminded me of the  breakup letter Sophie Calle used as art. I felt like this was a letter to myself but at the same time I feel like it’s an invasion of everyone else’s point of view. It is personal yet impersonal because it is not me speaking but it's about me.  And to connect manners into this specific piece, I feel the best quotes to describe are:

“Manners refer to the nature of relations between people, to standards of bodily deportment, to ethics, and the control of vice and brutishness, and to how we imagine ourselves”(112). This particular quote I feel expresses how manners, or the way I present myself influences others views which influences me. It’s a form of expressing the human qualities I have. Especially the flaws yet the quirks of what creates me. The other quote, “Indeed, the term has no simple and reliable definition , but it does have the important function of bringing focus to how we conduct ourselves in the public domain and how we pursue pleasures and cultivate tastes”(112). This is based of the same concept, explaining how things we see form our ways or manners. In my case being told things I did not know about myself influences me to be what I am told. If that makes sense. I’m not sure.

inside my sock drawer: sophie calle

Sophie Calle has been one of the most unusual artists being covered so far in the class when it comes to self-portraits. Sophie Calle is known to be very intimate and have "no filter" when it comes to her artwork by first looking at it. Personally I felt that way when I first saw her artwork of her ex-boyfriend break up letter. Although some of her art seems very much like it is privacy-invasive (like the "sleepers" and "hotel" art pieces), she shows how they can be much like a self portrait. My "selfie" here that does include a picture of me and my hands and feet is inspired by Sophie Calle's art work of the hotel rooms of other people. Since her way of displaying art was to show the true intimate self through emotion and physical actions, I first thought to myself what would be left of me to show that truly defines me from the same way Sophie Calle does? I chose to put a picture of myself sleeping at 5-years old next to a small rosary box and my retainer case inside my sock drawer. I figured to myself these items in a sock drawer are the "inner" part of me that I dont usually show right off the bat. On page 126 in The art of self invention, Frankenstein infers from the writing of Elk man's FACS to point out that the way we act on the outside sometimes causes others to draw to a conclusion. He goes on to say that we naturally are trained to respond to details in presentation. For example if we see someone rubbing their eyes a lot some would assume their blind like with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
    From this information we can assume that there our own identity has a "underneath" side. In this Frankenstein says,
    "At minimum the self is bi-curated, it has a double; there is the conscious and unconscious, private and public, civilized and based, good and bad, and we can create ourselves as well-rounded beings from the management of these seemingly opposed elements." (126)
     These ideas also confirm that our self-identity has to do with how our experiences shape us and how we have different personalities and image for different occasions.

Raw & Un-cut

 

Sophia calle is one of the most important artists , tryung go grasp her wondrous works motivated me to dive deep into realms in my psyche I didn't know exist. She approaches her work with a sortve agenda. She doesn't assign a meaning to her work , she leaves the beauty in the eyes of the beholder. Sophia lets us define the images& only we can choose the way we percept them. But a lot of times we let others opinions define us. Especially common perceptions and assumptions of Our bodies and sexuality.

We let society govern the way we use and portray ourselves. I strongly believe everyone should seek everyday to climb out of the mental boxes of conformation that society tends to place us in. Only then can we attain a true level of self and identity. Your identity is yours, only you can define that , and only you can control it.  In the finklestein book there was a quote - "We are an in an era where impressions matter and where reputation is both an asset & liability" and I have never agreed with anything more. It is true that we tend to identify ourselves through the eyes and opinions of other people. She was a very voyurestic artist which we see clearly portrayed in her group of works entitled "The Hotel Room" she "invaded" the guests personal space , spying and photographing their most intimate of possessions. She was somewhat of a stalker. Creeping in hotel rooms where she was a cleaner & Capturing their physical environment from the way their bed was left , to reading their personal thoughts in their diaries , postcards etcetera. This was my favorite piece of work , she left the explanations to us ,& just described the rooms from her visual perspectives. In my selfie series this week , I decided to take photos of the people around me , when they weren't looking & asked them to do the same for me. I also took a lot of photos of my immediate environment throughout this week span. This was the result. 

I felt like capturing these enigmatic experiences through my camera lens at the most random of moments can properly define the human experience as : unpredictable , beautiful despite the chaos surrounding it. The world is on fire and we are burning in the center. 

Sophie Calle Turns Life Into Art (Gabriela Ortiz)

Inspired By Sophie Calle

   This photo of me "sleeping" was inspired by Sophie Calle. Sophie Calle is a French writer, installation artist, a conseptual artist, and most importantly a photographer. I was looking at her photographs and saw many photographs of her capturing people when they are doing things or doing nothing at all, like sleeping. Her projects/works are to capture human vulnerability. In this picture, I am most vulnerable because I am "asleep." The color of my picture was also inspired by her photographs because most of them are black and white. Many believe that black and white photos shows truth. Many also believe that color photos also seem to be a distraction, and when a photo is black and white it shows its rawness, shows the truth of a person or a thing. She also examines and captures the human identity and intimacy, which most, find weird, but this is what makes her work, art. Us, humans, are a form of art. What we do and say is art. Capturing humans at their most vulnerable times, is art. I was reading that Sophie Calle said that " The worse the break up, the better the art." She talks about a project that she wanted to do after she split from her lover. Misery was a form of art (as she described) that showed emotions that solely became art.

  Stalking was all she did, of course, for the sake of art. She stalked people when they were in the moment and captured them because it showed their true selfs. Usually for a photo, one has to pose and pretend to put a big smile or silly face. Capturing moments and people unexpectedly made the photo, the person, etc., art because it showed true emotions, true reactions, and/or actions at the moment, which to her is a form of art. It is all about capturing human vulnerability that makes her photographs art. Her photos to me are also connected to phychology because her photos were like studying humans; studying human behavior and the relationships with one another. This made the image seem more realistic and helped give the photograph meaning to it.

 I thought about the way Sophie Calle approached her projects... She was very raw in my opinion. Had no care in the world. In my opinion, one can show an image of self from another's point of view. Like for example, Self-image. Self image's definition is the "mental" picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only the details that are potentially available to objective investigation by others, but also items that have been learned by that person about themselves. It could be either from personal experiences or by internalizing the judgements of others. Another thing, it could be kind of contradictive but I think what defines us are our identities, our actions, and our perspectives. It is funny because usually you hear people saying "Your past doesn't define you. It helps shape you." Now the question is "what defines us and our experiences," and once again I think they are our actions... It is kind of confusing in a way... Now the last question is "How does Voyeurism and how others see us influence our self identity?" Well I looked up Voyeurism because I didn't know the meaning of it and it turns out to be gaining sexual pleasure from watching others naked or performing sexual activity. Well I feel our identities most of the time are shaped by society. Most of the time the view of ourselves comes from contemplation of personal qualities and and impressions on how others perceive us. It is said that usually people are shaped to be who they are by understanding how others perceive them. This is something everyone struggles with at one point in our lives, that we cannot admit sometimes, but can be true...

 

The Russian Avant Garde(iel)

On March 12, 2017, I decided to visit the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) to see which exhibition would interest me. Starting off, the coat check is extremely long, everyone gets confused on what lines to go to to either retrieve or leave items. I wasn't to thrilled at first checking out the first two floors of the museum, it was pretty average work in my eyes, with a couple exceptions to some old school propaganda/ entertainment posters. When I reached the Russian Avant Garde exhibition hall, I was pleasantly impressed finally. The oil paintings I saw captivated my eyes with the uniqueness of each painters paintings,

(Bespredmetnian zhivopis' n. 80 [Chernoe na chernom]) 1918, By Aleksandr Rodchenko 

Spanish Dancer, 1914, By Natalia Goncharova 

The Russian Avant Garde was a revolutionary time period for avant garde modern art to enter the Russian empire from the early 1890's-1930's. The Russian avant garde doesn't consist of a unique art style, it was a revolutionary art movement to present the struggles of daily life living in the Russian and Soviet empires. It was a complicated art movement that removed religion and moral beliefs, while on the other hand, developing revolutionary power to create new ideas for life. The artists paintings that stood out the most to me during my visit in the Russian Avant Garde exhibition was Aleksandr Rodchenko and Natalia Goncharova.

Aleksandr Rodchenko was a artist that wanted to expel the belief that there is much meaning behind a painting. He conveyed his stance by painting three different paintings with three different primary colors, red, yellow, and blue to show that paintings are materialistic, with no other representation. Rodchenko states "I Rodchenko had declared the death of painting in 1921, with three monochrome paintings- Pure Red Color, Pure Yellow Color, and Pure Blue Color- exhibited in the exhibition 5x5=25 alongside works by fellow Russian artists Varvara Stepanova, Alexandra Exter, Lyubov Popova, and Aleksandr Vesnin" (MoMA website, 2017). I stumbled upon one of his works "(Bespredmetnian zhivopis' n. 80 [Chernoe na chernom])" that really caught my attention. Its a black and dark grayish painting with a circle that sort of resembles the yin and yang symbol in chinese religion. Rodchenko says that he painted this painting in response to Kazimir Malevich, who created the "White on White" painting in 1918. Rodchenko wanted to show the materialism in paintings to Malevich by painting a black on black painting, showing the physical properties of it.

Natalia Goncharova was second in charge of the leading of the Russian Futurist painting, She was a major artist in the Avant Garde movement and her painting "Spanish Dancer" caught my attention. There isn't much information on this particular painting of hers, just the date it was made, however, it does assist in discussing a bit of her history, She helped lead the Cubo-Futurism movement , which consisted of many poor painters, while she came from nobility. She received much controversy during her time but still pressed on, adapting to new painting styles and cultures.

I took this weekly selfie to kind of portray the message Aleksandr Rodchenko was trying to convey in his time. To me, this is just a selfie of me, in a bathroom, there is no special message behind it or anything, just me taking a selfie in a retail store bathroom. As I do love to see hidden messages or even life lessons from seeing art, sometimes I like to just appreciate what I see, not to sound narcissistic, or sometimes I see no meaning in what I see, its there and thats cool with me.

Spring Break at The Met

     During my spring break, I took a beautiful, windy 30° F day to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My girlfriend, who by the way was ecstatic to spend the one day a week I get to see her, and I explored a few of the sections in the museum. We explored the 19th and early 20th century European paintings and sculptures section, the modern art section, and breezed through the European paintings from 1250-1800 section and American wing.

Edouard Vuillard "Self-Portrait with Waroquy" 1889

     The first self portrait I examined was from Edouard Vuillard. He was a French painter who lived from 1968- 1940. In 1889 he painted this, "Self-Portrait with Waroquy." The portrait shows the artists identity through the details painted into the portrait. Vuillard paints himself holding his paint brushes and paint pallet, showing what makes up his self identity. In the background is Waroquy. He is Vuillard's friend. His position in the portrait, I feel, shows there friendship. Him being in the background shows his support of Vuillard. Waroquy "having his back" so to speak. The curator calls it "dreamlike" in the description card next to the portrait due to quality of it since it was a mirror image.

     The next image is one from the modern art section. This image, "Stationary Figure" by Phillip Guston was created in 1973 near the end of his life. It is a cartoonish person that looks like he's wrapped up and bleeding. It is said that this is a self portrait. The description says this because he is an anxious smoker who lies awake at night while the clock ticks away. To me it looks like he is fighting depression. Tied up all alone in a room at night bleeding out as time goes by and all you can do is try to get a high. That's what seems to be the message in this image to me.

 

     My selfie is partially inspired by Francis Bacon's "Three Studies for a Self-Portrait." I felt connected to this artist due to our mutual dislike of selfies. Bacon stated, "I loathe my own face... I've done a lot of self portraits, really because people have been dying around me like flies and I have nobody else left to paint but myself." He doesn't use the entirety of his face either which also connects to me because I feel the less of my face in a picture, the better the picture.

The MoMA

My trip to the MoMA was pretty exciting, all the exhibitions and paintings they have are amazing. They were a couple of them that really caught my attention. When I entered the place the first things I looked for was the Frida Kahlo paintings. I was surprised and sad to know that they only have two of them, but happy at the same time because I got to see them. We all know and love Frida and admire her for her work. The one that caught my attention the most was Fulang- Chang and I, which is a two parts oil on composition board with painted mirror frame and a mirror with painted mirror frame. The mirror caught my attention and I wanted to know what it meant. For me I see it as a look at yourself, you are beautiful, you are your own painting, you are beautiful enough to be in this exhibition. Then I searched for more information and what I discovered is that the painting and the mirror were combined when Kahlo decided to give Fulang Chang and to her close friend, as a gesture of gratitude for a different painting Sklar purchased from the Levy show, Kahlo gave her this one, telling Sklar that she had added a mirror so that they could always be together.  Frida often painted her self portraits by looking in the mirror, the mirror included in Fulang Chang and I, gave me a sense of what it was like for Frida, like an open invitation to enter her work. We are invited to see ourselves and to enter her world

The Campbell’s soup can collecton by Andy Warhol was really interesting, who thinks about painting soup cans? I had to include this in my pictures. I was so curious to find out why soup cans and I found something really interesting. Soliciting suggestions for subjects to paint, he asked a friend, who suggested he choose something that everybody recognised like Campbell’s Soup. In a flash of inspiration he bought cans from the store and began to trace projections onto canvas. At this time he received a return studio visit from Irving Blum of Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, who was expecting to see comic-strip paintings and was surprised by the new soup cans. Everyone was surprised but it was a success.

After that I went to the Nan Goldin collection The Ballad of sexual dependency. I found this collection really interesting the pictures were extraordinary. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is a visual diary chronicling the struggle for intimacy and understanding between friends, family, and lovers. The pictures are captured in intimate moments of love and loss. They experience ecstasy and pain through sex and drug use; they revel at dance clubs and bond with their children at home; and they suffer from domestic violence and the ravages of AIDS. The Photographs are really interesting, and if you take the time to look at them deeply, you will find the meaning in each one of them.

They currently have the Francis Picabia exhibition our Heads Are Round so Our Thoughts Can Change Direction is a comprehensive survey of Picabia’s audacious, irreverent, and profoundly influential work across mediums. This is the first exhibition in the United States to chart his entire career. His painting are beautiful. The exhibition aims to advance the understanding of Picabia’s relentless shape-shifting, and how his persistent questioning of the meaning and purpose of art ensured his iconoclastic legacy’s lasting influence.

Going to the MoMA was a whole adventure. From taking the path train to walking through the beautiful street of NY in such a cold day, to getting to the museum. Everything was so fun. It was even better with my best friend by my side. We went through the exhibitions, read, and took notes. It was really interesting to see the painting and different collections that they have. We took a lot of pictures a walked through every exhibition we could in the little time that we had. We both agreed that we definitely have to go again.

This Frida filter was the best :)