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Lexuz and I first decided to go to the Bradbury Building to start our sight seeing day. It was amazing to walk inside this large building that was seemingly hiding in plain sight. There were a couple people already inside and a small group followed us in so it was nice to know that this place was known. I am amazed about how little people knew about this, especially because I had one friend who was bragging about how much he knew of LA to also be amazed. I got to learn a little about the history and definitely went home to do my own research. It was also cool to find out that this place had a small career in the movie industry.

The architecture of this building was absolutely stunning. I have rarely seen something that looked like that and wish there were more buildings that represented that. The stairs and railings were something special with the amazing elevator in the center of the building. It was a quiet place that gave off an old but serious feeling.

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I then went to the Biddy Mason Memorial Park. It was another gem hidden in plain sight. This place is in between multiple buildings and is hard to find unless you are looking at a map. It had a serious atmosphere and gave a lot of different vibes. I was intrigued to read the wall and learn the story. It was deep and definitely had a lot of meaning that I believe everyone should know. The wall was also beautiful to look at and I do wish it was upheld to maintain that beauty.

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We then went to lunch at the Grand Central Market. It was enjoyable and I was overwhelmed from all the possibilities. There were many different varieties from italian to mexican to chinese. The most interesting place was a PB and J sandwich shop. I tried some amazing mexican food that I was recommended. The food was served quickly and it was also really really cheap. The place was really crowded but luckily we were able to find seating. I definitely would want to go back and eat more food here. 

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We finally went to the MOCA. The Museum of Contemporary Art is a place I have known of for quite a while, but never had the chance to go. Being able to go to this was eye opening and lovely. It is free to get into and all I had to do was wait in a 10 minute line. After that, my friends and I spent more than an hour admiring and talking about all the different types of art. From more meaningful art talking about racism to a weird sculpture of hundreds of eyes. This place kept me entertained. I often drifted away from my friends and got lost because I was stuck looking at a piece and trying to take it all in. They also had a small interactive room of different colors and it looked amazing. It was fun to walk around inside the different colors or even watch the other people change color as they went to the different windows. 

This day was memorable and enjoyable and I would love to do it again some other time.

Artist: Ricardo Corona

Exhibition: The Enchanted Borderlands, The Arrival at Lordsrun

Media: Animated 

Gallery: Csulb School of Art, Dr. Maxim Merlino Gallery

About the Artist

Ricardo Corona is in CSULB’s School of Art for Pre-production as an undergraduate student. He said that this piece of art is a different style from what he usually does. He also has not tried out the fantasy western style based off of video games. He did not really play video games much, but found inspiration in the new game Red Dead Redemption 2. He also got inspiration from French American Artist Mark Maggiori.

Formal Analysis 

Ricardo Corona’s “The Arrival at Lordsrun” is a brightly colored work of art. It shows an elvish man entering a town. These pieces are supposed to show the story of elvish people in a western fantasy world. There are lots of different shapes that are in the scenery. It is a detailed animation that really emphasizes the environment. The piece is a moderate size for a picture, so it is not hard to see all the details in it.  The wildlife is flowy and lively with the rocks being more jagged. 

Content Analysis

The animated picture shows the adventures of an elvish man entering a new town. It takes place in a western world mixed with fantasy. Ricardo Corona said he got his inspiration from a couple of video games, but mainly Red Dead Redemption 2. This exhibition was a new experience for the artist as they wanted to try new things. The picture is part of a rough draft of a cartoon. Corona said that he has not done these types of animations before but enjoyed them. 

My Experience

I greatly enjoyed this art piece as I played a lot of video games in my life so I felt like I could instantly relate to the pieces. I knew that the pieces were based off of a video game because of this. Talking to the artist about their inspiration and why they did their art on this was really enjoyable. I do wish to see more of this type of art. 

Taken by Mason Wells of Makalo Taddwilliams not wasting water.

I chose to do this idea because I thought it was important to show the importance of water. Many people don’t seem to understand that water is a limited resource that everyone needs. 

I hope I was able to portray the importance of water and how it should not be wasted. 

I think this picture was pretty successful at showing how important water is. I hope people can also see what I was trying to capture in my picture. 

I would take more pictures and send them to a massive art publisher to become famous. 

Another idea I thought about exploring through “shocking art” would be to show homeless people and how they are viewed by others. I feel like this is a serious problem that others should know.  

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All photos taken on 2/23/20

1. I chose to do this story because this was a random and exciting trip. Since none of us were prepared and planned to do this, I felt like it was important to document. 
2. I think I did a decent job at capturing the moments to me. The photos are meaningful to me even if other people can not understand them.
3. I think the last picture would be the best one because it shows the ending of the trip. It makes it seem like not much happened and it was a normal experience. 
4. Yes, I think a decent amount of the pictures I took were not great, but they do help tell the story. It does go along with the spontaneousness because of the poor quality of the pictures. 
5. I would like to be more prepared and go during morning. It was hard to capture pictures in the night. 
6. No, there are no other photo stories I want to tell because I am not one for taking pictures and I don’t do it often. I enjoy telling stories in different ways too because I am not a fan of pictures. 

Artist: Yucen Li

Exhibition: Metal Group 

Media: Copper, gravel, 

Gallery: Csulb School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

Instagram: yucen_metalsmith

About the Artist

Yucen Li is in CSULB’s School of Art for 3D media as a graduate student. She works with metal and uses it to make sculptures. Li is currently working on her MFA and wants to continue making these sculptures. She prefers copper as she finds it easier to work with. She also incorporates animals into her sculptures. 

Formal Analysis 

Yucen Li’s sculpture may look simple with a bear, but there is much detail in the bear and the flowers coming out. As the sculpture is small, it requires a closer inspection. The colors are dull as the copper kept its original color. The flowers have a nice contrast as they are a shiny gold color. The gravel is seperate from the sculpture and is not held together by anything. The head of the bear is smooth with fine detail in the hairs. The leaves are more cut and jagged. 

Content Analysis

This sculpture does give off the childhood like feel as it was intended to by Yucen Li. As her pieces show animals, it is supposed to give off a warm, childlike message that is comforting. She wants to show her childhood with the multiple animals she makes that she used to have. 

My Experience

I greatly enjoyed this art piece as I also loved having teddy bears when I was a child. It did remind me of the past and was a good experience to see. I have rarely seen art galleries, but I do enjoy going. This was a cute sculpture and I look forward to seeing more like this. 

This week was a fun project to do. I do enjoy drawing and it was nice to be out doing it with others. I am not very good at drawing but it is still fun and I would like to do it again. 

I definitely think that if I put in the practice, I could get a lot better at drawing. I used to only be able to draw stick figures when I was younger, but the repetitive practice I did on homework assignments helped me get better.

I am a Criminal Justice major and if i ever needed to sketch what a person looked like, drawing would be helpful. But I doubt I would ever have the ability to do that. I am not sure of other ways drawing can help.

I believe drawing is a language and can convey things that are hard to put into words. There are many details drawings can have that would be missed if you simply tried to describe the object.

1. The object is monochrome but it is also 3 dimensional. It is a great piece of art as it can be different when viewed from every direction. It is a very simple object but can be viewed in many different ways. The object itself has different shapes and features shown with the curves. The aesthetic of the piece can be viewed as pleasant with how smooth and flowing it is. It feels pure and open. Our art shows the ups and downs in life and the highs and lows. 
2. I tend to find art in more obvious places like paintings and sculptures. But I have come across many other things that I find beautiful and are art to me. My art was art to me before I put the rectangle around it. I chose to use this as art because it evoked a feeling in me. I found it intriguing for its placement and definitely was drawn to it. 
3. My art could still be considered art without the square. I tend to look for things that I do not see often and catch my eye. Colorful things and out of place things are the main things. Other people can do this too so they may see my art as art. Anything that I would not normally see is art to me. 
4. I do not believe that art resides in the body of the object. I believe that all objects can be considered art depending on the environment, time period, and person. A person can see something as art depending on how they feel and how the object looks at the time. I consider art to be art if it really evokes a feeling or emotion in the person or maker of that object.
5. Art can be something that is not an object. Music is art because it gives feeling and has meaning to it. Not all art needs to be an object. 
6. In my opinion, art does reside in the experience of the viewer. I believe deeply that art is in the viewing experience and it does require someone to take the time to observe it. Art can come in any shape or form and can be anywhere, so it is up to the viewer to find it and realize. 

I believe it was a fun experience that allowed me to show my creative side as there was no end goal. I could just do whatever I wanted and what felt right. 

It was harder than I expected because I was not sure if I was doing it correctly. It took me a while to feel comfortable and get the hang of just painting.

Painting with no subject was liberating and inspiring after I got comfortable and in the groove of it. It was a lot more fun than trying to paint with a goal because you did not have the fear of making mistakes.

This is a lot more messy and crazy than most other paintings I have seen and I think it shows that I had no idea what I was doing.

1. It felt good to be able to work together and quickly clean up such a large sculpture. It was cool how fast we were able to work and clean a centerpiece of our school.
2. Ukeles’ Maintenance Art is an example of how different and perceptive art can be. To me, it shows that even the little tasks that people do everyday can show great meaning and be perceived as art. Serra took a different way to show art as it may not be as beautiful as cleaning. But throwing molten lead at a wall showed me a different picture. This shows more power and aggression. Both are art to me even though they are opposites in the expression, both have powerful meanings. 
3. I would say that Ukeles’ Maintenance Art is considered art as it is a way of her expressing herself. The fact that it was at an art museum did help consider it art because if she was just doing it as a job, it would not be her intentionally expressing herself. I believe the idea of doing something to express one’s emotions and thoughts is considered art.
4. I believe anything can be art if it shows a message that the artist wanted to express. To me, art is highly dependent on the artist’s intentions. Art does not have to be specifically shown in certain areas to be considered art. Anything and everything an artist wants to express themselves can be a canvas for an art piece. 
5. I do not really understand the meaning of women’s work and how it is art. But I believe all work can show a certain degree of art depending on the meaning it has to the person doing the work and how they do it.
6. I would clean Marvin Gaye’s star because he is a foundation to Motown music.