"Self-Confidence" - Performance Selfies Inspired by Marina Abramovich (Nicolette Capua)

Nicolette Capua, Self-Confidence, 2022

        Self-confidence is a feeling of one's qualities, abilities, and judgment. We must own who we are to be confident in ourselves. The way we see ourselves is the way others will see us if we aren’t happy in our own skin. Marina Abramovich's first performance art was when she tried to break her nose on her bed so she could get a nose job. Her plan was to put pictures of Bridgett Bardot in her pocket, break her nose on the bed and when she would go to the hospital she could show them the picture of the nose she wanted. She was self-conscious about it and her mother would slap her every time she asked to get a nose job. She figured breaking it would allow her to get it done. Her nose made her feel ugly and insecure.

    The first picture in my series is showing a girl contouring her nose. She is doing this to change the shape of it to look smaller. The second picture is the girl covering the bump on her nose with her finger. She is covering the bump to see what she would look like without it. The third image is of the first looking down with her hands covering her face. She is very overwhelmed and frustrated. She doesn't feel beautiful and hates the way she looks. These pictures reflect Marina Abramovich's first performance. This girl is upset with the way she looks and will do anything she can to change her nose.

The Art of Self Invention

By Joanne Finkelstein


Chapter 4 : Advertising

1- “Advertisements have to be arresting. If they address us in embracing terms then we are drawn into their universe” (Finkelstein 147).

    Advertisements need to be addressed to a specific audience to draw them in and get them hooked on what they are promoting or selling. They have to be very specific in the advertisement in order to engage that certain audience they are looking for. We are drawn into their “universe” if they use distinct terms that we are attracted to.

2- “Commercial entertainments and modern advertising have structured a globalized communication system crossing linguistic, politics, economic and cultural barriers. An international community of like-minded individuals thus comes into existence” (Finkelstein 151).
    

     Entertainment and advertising has changed the way we communicate across social media. When these advertisements are put up, it is meant to target a specific audience of people who have many common traits. The idea is to promote and select a certain audience so your product or business will get more engagement. Social media is a great way to advertise your business. This way you can get more followers and people will see what you are up to.


Chapter 5: Fashion

1- “The birth of fashion coincides with other changes in society and heralds an era in which individual desires are made into realizable pursuits” (Finkelstein 192)
     

    Fashion is always changing. There are new trends everyday that people follow. Different eras of clothes are always coming back into fashion years later that people want to try. Once a style of clothing is starting to trend then that will be the clothes everyone wears since everyone likes to copy each other and follow what others are doing. Pursuing a certain fashion statement is your choice and you should be able to express yourself through clothes anyway you want, not just by what's popular.


2- The same attention to detail is applied to celebrities in the modern era who are captured by the paparazzi in unflattering poses and then described as too fat or too thin, possibly pregnant or anorexic, drug-addicted, unhappy, lonely, and depressed. Every detail of their presentation comes under close security that forces a conceptual collapse between identity and appearance” (Finkelstein 195).

    Celebrities are the ones who get the most hate with anything they do. They are always criticized by how they look, what they wear, what they eat, how they talk, etc. Fashion is very popular in the celebrity world and if you ever have one off moment where you don't look good, the paparazzi will get a picture of you and write something terrible about you. You always have to look presentable and wearing the latest fashion designs as a celebrity. Fashion will never stop being important and it depends on you if you want to stay up to date with it or not.

Khan Academy Performance Art: An Introduction

1- “These performative approaches to making art built on philosophical interpretations of Abstract Expressionism, which held the gestural markings of action painters as visible evidence of the artist’s own existence” (Khan Academy 7).

     Artists are very deliberate when making performative art. There is intention behind the lighting, visual effects, movement of the camera, etc. These performances help bring these arts visions to life and express an even bigger meaning behind it. They are great for making people more interested in their work and engaging a larger audience.

2- “By effectively calling attention to the hum of fluorescent lights, people moving in their seats, coughs, whispers, and other ordinary sounds, Cage transformed them into a unique musical composition” (Khan Academy 8).

     Everything used in these performances have a purpose towards the meaning of these artist's work. They are able to even make their work into musical performances that raise larger questions and bring more awareness to their art. Being able to make their art into performances helps their stories come to life.

Thank God, I'm Home - Gallery Essay

T-Bone Phone - Julie Green

Whopper, Fries and Then - Julie Green

     

               Our class got to visit the Thank God, I’m Home: First Meal exhibition at NJCU. The artist behind this exhibition, Julie Green, had asked wrongfully convicted people about the first meals they had when they were released from prison. After hearing their responses, she painted their answers and put up her work in this exhibition. When walking through this exhibition and seeing all the works of art that she created and reading the stories of all the people who have been wrongfully convicted was very powerful to see. There were two pieces that stuck out to me the most. One of them was titled T-Bone Phone and the other was called Whopper, Fries and Then.

               The first piece I’m going to talk about is T-Bone Phone. What I really loved about this piece is the boldness of the colors that Julie Green used. Compared to the other works in the exhibition this one had much darker colors. Something that’s apparent in this piece is that the steak is within an iPhone with photos of Charlie Brown along the sides of the painting. When reading about what this piece is about, it was sort of hard to imagine what the exoneree had to go through when released from prison. The exoneree had been in prison for 27 years and when he got out of prison, he was exposed to a whole new world than when he went in. Hearing this was hard for me to imagine, maybe because I was born into a world of when technology was growing and slowly grew along with it. It must have been very complicated for the exoneree to get a grasp on this new society that moved on without them. I think the Charlie Brown border on the side is meant to symbolize the society that he grew up in. And the iPhone in the center of the painting is meant to obviously show the new society that he has to get used to. I think it’s a really cool painting that does a great job showing how this person felt while getting his first meal from a whole new world to them.

               The second piece Whopper, Fries and Then had this sort of cruel irony to it which is small reason as to why I like the painting so much. What first caught my eye about the painting is the colors that were used. It has a bit of gold incorporated to the painting that really caught my eye. When this exoneree got out of prison, he wanted his first meal to be a whopper from Burger King. On the painting it says that the exoneree, Juan, had been in prison for 17 years while on death row. On the bottom of the plate, it mentions that after eating his first meal outside of prison he ended up throwing up. So this person had been waiting all this time to have a good meal once finally being able to leave prison, and once this moment has finally arrived for him, he ended up throwing up the food he had eaten. It’s a very cruel irony that Juan had experienced. I’m unsure as to whether or not this painting could have been commenting on fast food restaurants and the processed foods that are used that people eat regularly without a second thought.

               Julie Green had another exhibition that used plates to show the final meals of those who were executed while in prison. She painted food on porcelain plates to represent the convicts final meals. A quote from an article about this project of hers, “She began painting these meals on secondhand porcelain dinner plates, up to 50 a year. She’s since created 600 of these plates, sometimes making one each day.” This quote shows her dedication toward this cause that she’s very passionate about. She cares so much about those in prison and has a great empathy for them that not many people do. Even with the Thank God, I’m Home: First Meal exhibition she shows how much she cares about those she interviewed by how detailed she made her paintings. She wanted to convey their stories accurately as well as show the importance of meals for both of her projects. Another quote from this reading is “Individually, the plates are deeply personal.” This is another aspect of Green’s work that she expressed in this exhibition. Though some of the exoneree’s chose not to give too much information about their stories or even their names,  she’s still telling their stories and keeping the artworks dedicated to them as personal as possible. A final quote from this same article states, “One convict’s story forces us to think, seeing 600 such stories gathered in one place creates a roar that is impossible to shut out.” I feel like this quote does a great job capturing the overall work that Julie Green has done for these convicts and exoneree’s. She made sure to make their stories known even if many people may not have heard of their stories while in prison. This is truly a beautiful exhibition that I really enjoyed seeing. It made me appreciate meals in general and how lucky we all are to be able to eat every day with or without people around us. We have food at our disposal and not many people have the same privilege as we do.         

The power of food - Julie Green assignment

 

                                                 "The power of food" Dominique Ciaffone 

 Julie Greens artwork reminded me of how amazing being able to enjoy a meal is. Personally, I think food is one of the greatest parts of life, and something I look forward to the most while traveling to different countries. Food allows you to create new memories and bond with the people you love. When I look at this picture I remember a great time I had with someone I love. I still remember how amazing this food tastes, and feeling the need to take a picture so I don't forget it. 

3 quotes: 

“this difference can be illustrated in terms of what was thought of as perspective. The convention of perspective, which is unique to European art and which was first established in the early Renaissance, centres everything on the eye of the beholder.” - Berger (pg. 16)

-The idea of perspective was definitely seen in Julie Green‘s art work. She painted many different foods relating back to the freed prisoners that each had a different perspective on what they would want to eat as their first meal home. The are portrayed the different perspectives of these people, and show the different views that we all can have. Art is special because it has the ability to capture different perspectives in a way that is relatable and true to many people. 

“The uniqueness of every painting was once part of the uniqueness of the place where it resided. Sometimes the painting was transportable. But it could never be seen in two places at the same time.” - Berger (pg. 19) 

⁃ uniqueness was definitely demonstrated in Julie Green‘s artwork. Each painting portrayed the same message of the first meal back home for the freed prisoners. However each painting of the food and their perspective was different than the other. They all had the same message but showed the unique beauty of the different meals and ideas of the people coming home for the first time. 

“Being able to judge whether strangers are dangerous or not, whether they are to be greeted or ignored, rests on rapid mental calculations that compress observations into reliable clues. From physical appearance and subtle bodily gestures, we judge whether to engage with the other person or not.” - Finkelstein (pg. 107)

⁃ this quote reminded me of how wrong and unnecessary the death sentence is. Being able to judge whether somebody else lives or not should not be up to humans. We do not have the right to decide or judge if anyone should live or die. Yes they should be punishments for crimes, but many times people are wrongfully convicted and face with death for no reason. This is because sometimes we just do not have the capability to see right from wrong sometimes. 

Julie Green's Exhibit: Thank God I'm Home by Kaitlyn Arroyo

Kaitlyn Arroyo

Self Image: I

Professor Cacoilo

March 25th, 2022

Kaitlyn Arroyo, Pastries a Delight!, 2022

Food plays a big factor in our lives: we need it for malnutrition and our survival. Desserts are my favorite treat because they are rewarding after a long day of work. This is a chocolate mousse cake made with cocoa powder for that extra sweetened flavor. This chocolate filling will make your tastebuds crave for more! My take on Julie Green's First Meals series is that these people who were once prisoners got a rewarding dish that was important to them, or something they've haven't tasted in years. I would pick a dessert because they are an edible delicacy and something I would order from my favorite restaurant. 

Julie Green's Exhibit

    Contemporary Artist Julie Green created an exhibition called: Thank God I’m Home which is based on the series First Meals that is presented in the Lemmerman Gallery. Based on the paintings that were shown, the labels were used to document Green’s journey of diving into the background of these prisoners who were wrongfully accused of a crime they did not commit. The idea for this exhibit was to show off the celebratory meals that they asked for when they got out of prison after their 10+ year sentences. Many of these people choose fast food options because you can’t get that sort of luxury in prison, so it lets the viewer feel connected to the piece and share that sense of familiarity. Green grew up in Japan which influenced her work to have an Asian aesthetic that symbolized old Japanese prints. One thing that was noted is that she used acrylic paint which was colored down to give it a watercolor effect. 

    The two paintings that captivated my attention the most were Whopper, Fries, and Thorn (2020) and Blind Faith for Juan Rivera (2019). These both share a little backstory that needs to be viewed deeper by reading the label description. In the Burger King painting, the Tyvek landscape is embroidered in this gold and this bronze paint which strikes royalty. The round circle in the center symbolizes a plate that the meal is sitting on and surrounding the plate is an inscribed typography that was used in medieval times. Acrylic, palladium leaf, silk, cotton, and glow-in-the-dark paper were used in this piece that gave the fries a felt texture that looked real. Now, looking the text at the bottom of the piece it reads: “17 years on death row, 1st meal on the outside then thrown up.” This could be depicted in numerous ways. Now the meaning isn’t always literal but there could have been a connection between this person and the burger king franchise. At first, the piece feels kind of light at the fact they can’t eat burger king after not having it in 20 years, but maybe as a kid, they had a relationship and this was their comfort meal.              

    In Blind Faith for Juan Rivera, acrylic on Tyvek paper, silk, glow-in-the-dark thread, Copic marker, turmeric dye, and garam marsala were used to create this piece. These were almost the same materials used as the previous painting except for the Illinois flag which is embedded in the center to symbolize where the prisoner lived. There are tons of religious aspects as the painting seems to emphasize the divine trinity of three main important parts that make up this person’s story. On the left-hand side, the person is blinded by this imprisonment, feeling that there is no escaping, and essentially losing all hope in humanity. However, the right-hand side depicts a much better outcome after being released from the sentence. Juan is now a free man with the same rights that you and I share. He is finally able to live for himself and looks forward to what the future has in store. His first meal out of prison was emphasized to be something with spice, which is the reason the spice packet is the central importance of the painting. In prison, the food tastes very bland and is handled without any care because these were criminals that people served to. No sympathy was shown for these individuals. He quotes:  “I don’t really remember but it was full of spices and flavor and the food was beautiful. I wanted flavors, there you don’t get any flavors.”

    Green passed away on Tuesday, October 12th after her long battle against ovarian cancer. She was a beacon of light for the art community and touched the lives of many individuals with her contributions. Friends quoted her as “A beautiful woman” and someone quoted from the Concord community that: “Her heart was incredibly generous. She knew the impact she had upon things and the Concord community, but she was humble about it. I loved her, and she knew that way before she passed.” These random strangers that she documented showed how completely alienated someone must feel when they’re in prison, and once they’re released having to adapt to this unknown environment that they were set aside from for a long period of time. Being put away from society made these people depressed, suffered from mental health, and have poorer sleep quality. Many of these we’ve all experienced at some point in our life but are able to snap back to reality with the help of our loved ones. Prisoners didn’t have anyone to care for them, and those cast off unrightfully only had a strand of hope to hold onto. 

             Whopper, Fries, and Thorn (2020)                               Blind Faith for Juan Rivera (2019)   

"Good manners must be invisible, they are the 'very art that appeareth not to be art." (Finkelstein 78)

When people view you, it shouldn't be apparent that you're a nice or bad person. There are many people that are quick to judge an individual by their appearance alone and never converse to get to know them for who they truly are inside. This relates to Julie Green's work because many of the prisoners that she documented were pleaded innocent after serving long sentences. They finally found the justice they deserved but at what cost? They already lost half of their life and started over on a clean slate. Without the court system, we wouldn't be hearing any of these stories that are prominent today. 

"The compositional unity of a painting contributes fundamentally to the power of its image, but here the composition is written as though it were in itself the emotional charge of the painting." (Berger 13) 

Composition in a painting relates to how different forms of mediums are set aside, but generally come together as a whole, making it the most structurally pleasing and appealing to the viewer. With the use of color and symbolic imagery, we can get an insight into Green's work on where the person came from, their nationality, and a little of the artist shines through the work to make it more unique. 

"The history of the tradition, as it is usually taught, teaches us that art prospers if enough individuals in society have a love for art. What is a love of art?" (Berger 84)

Art undeniably makes the world go round. It is about reclaiming the space and making it yours. If everyone comes to appreciate art, then maybe everyone will enjoy the little things in life. Art retells a story based on personal experiences and shows passion for something that is truly "loved". In Julie Green's work, she teaches that with art in the world a story could be portrayed in numerous ways just by the stylistic choices and usage of patterns and color schemes. 

"Thank God, I'm Home" Julie Green Exhibition - Nicolette Capua

 

Nicolette Capua, A Love for Pasta, 2022

     If I had experienced what many of these wrongly accused prisoners experienced and finally was let out of jail, the celebratory meal I would want is homemade spaghetti. This is because of my Italian heritage. I grew up loving to eat pasta since my family aways makes it on Sundays. It is definitely my comfort food because it reminds me of home. It holds sentimental value to me because my dad always says "he makes it with love". 

                                                                   

                                                                         Julie Green's Exhibit

     Julie Green is an artist best known for making paintings about fashion, food, and capital punishment. Julie created an exhibition called “Thank God, Im Home” which is based off of the series First Meals. In this series Julie Green got to hear the backgrounds and understand the stories of prisoners who were wrongfully accused of murder. The purpose of this exhibit was to show the first meals these people asked for when they were released from their 10 plus year sentence in jail. A lot of these people asked for fast food meals because they were not able to get that in prison. The primary reason for this is that when they entered jail they were very young and fast food was safe and familiar to them. Julie Green also made her audience feel connected to these paintings with fast food drawings because we all grew up enjoying fast food even though it is unhealthy. In addition to this Green's work extends past these people's individual meals and speaks up for the wide majority of wrongfully imprisoned people.
    The first painting that caught my eye was the Whopper, Fries, and Then, 2020 painting by Julie Green. This Burger King painting is presented on a Tyvek landscape. Various shades of gold and bronze are used to symbolize a higher power in this painting. The landscape is cut out to appear like a plate that a fast food meal can be placed on. In an effort to make the painting appear to be more realistic and to stand out Green uses acrylic, palladium leaf, silk, cotton, paper, and glow-in- the- dark coloring. On the bottom of the plate we see the words “17 on death row, 1st meal on the outside then threw up”. This can have many different meanings, but I feel since an unhealthy meal was the first thing he ate right out of prison, this could have contributed to him feeling ill and vomiting. Furthermore, this demonstrates how the Burger King franchise and all other fast food places are not good for your health and can lead to various complications or ailments. This meal may have been this person's favorite food, thus why he wanted to have it after his tenure in prison.
    This painting portrays several messages about identity, social injustice, law enforcement, incarnation, and power. These people were taken into prison at a very young age and were stripped of their childhood. This person choosing to have Burger King as his celebratory meal out of prison shows how he still associates the outside world with his childhood. Burger king was a childhood meal to him so it was easily the first meal he would think of when stepping out of prison. The failure of law enforcement to correctly identify the innocence of this child shows the corruptness of the modern day justice system. They hold too much power over the citizens to be able to afford making false accusations. These personal narratives highlight larger questions and raise awareness about justice and history. They show us how detrimental it was to these people to be taken away for something they never did. I believe this work is activist because it is prompting change in the justice system and speaking up for these people who were silenced and put away by law enforcement.
    Another painting that caught my eye was called At Home With Family, 2021. What drew me in right away was the color purple used in the painting. This painting has acrylic, fabric, thread, 24K gold, and glow in the dark paint on a Tyvek landscape. In the painting through a house’s window we see a family eating at the dinner table. The story behind this painting is about a black male who was wrongfully imprisoned and when he got out, his celebratory meal he wanted was a home cooked meal with his family. I personally can connect to this because I understand how comforting it is to be able to sit down with everyone in your family to eat and converse with each other. This is a time to reconnect with your loved ones. This person probably missed their family very much and wanted to have a healthy meal at the comfort of his home. In the painting Green chose a fukinuki yatai “blown away roof” Japanese bird's eye perspective to show the family sharing a meal. I thought this was a very interesting approach to the story as it truly draws the audience in and gives us a different view on the house.
    The message this painting gives off about identity, social justice, law enforcement, incarnation, and power is how flawed the justice system is. This person chose to have a home cooked meal instead of eating out, thus showing his familiarity with the warm nature of his family. The social justice system has caused this person to lose time with his family that he now has to make up. These personal narratives highlight larger questions and raise awareness about justice and history by making the audience feel empathetic towards the man. Illustrating his family sitting at the table eating together makes the audience reconcile with the man as he attempts to enjoy the family time he rightfully deserved but was not subjected to due to the chaotic state of the law enforcement system. I believe this work is activist because it is encouraging others to take note of what law enforcement is taking away from us civilians. This painting is a great way to show people what has been happening in the world and that we should take a stand to stop social injustice in society.

Julie Green, Whopper, Fries, and Then, 2020

Julie Green, At Home With Family, 2021

Quotes:

The Art of Self Invention 
By Joanne Finkelstein

“Manners are about strategies of social exclusion; they define the individual's thresholds of tolerance, of what is acceptable or not.” (Finkelstein 78).

    Sometimes it could feel like society is testing you, and it is hard to be your true self. Society's standards can affect people in many ways, and it can all affect our mental health tremendously. Manners show us someone's personality right away. It can tell us who they really are as a person.


Ways of Seeing

By John Berger 

"The history of the tradition, as it is usually taught, teaches us that art prospers if enough individuals in society have a love for art. What is a love of art?" (Berger 84)

    Without art the world would be boring. Art allows us to express ourselves and tell stories we may not be comfortable saying out loud. Julie Greens work illustrates the stories of prisoners who were wrongfully accused of murder and tells us their first meals they picked when they got out of prison. Her work is an example of how art is a great way to inform others about issues as well as express our own feelings.


"And the painter in him - who is both and less than the old man - has found the means to express just that, using a medium which had been traditionally developed to exclude any such question." (Berger 112).

    Expressing yourself through paint should come naturally. Painting is a way to relax and tell your truth through your art. It gives us the freedom to feel however we want to feel. Once you know who you are as a person then you will be able to become more passionate about art.

A Conversation With Myself - Self Portrait Collage Project

 

A Conversation With Myself - Amy Castellon

“Like money, and like fashion, identity itself was in danger of coming out of commercializing smelting kiln without real substance, referent, or real value (Wahrman, 2004: 208).” (Finklestein, 81)

“She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is crucial importance for what is normally thought as the success of her life.” (Berger)

My piece is called "A Conversation with Myself". I feel that this is a piece that many people can relate to. Using a designed piece of paper with a trippy background to represent one's subconscious, I placed two individuals standing across from each other, having a conversation. One person is the child version of the other. As children we often don't think about the way we're perceived by society and the people around us. We only thought about what made us happy and we went with it without a second thought. I placed items such as flowers and colorful insects surrounding the child to show her innocence. The child is also portrayed as pink and a light blue, bright colors to also signify her bright and happiness. However, as we grow up society takes its toll on us with its cruelty. The adult is surrounded by a cloud of dark blue with words lingering around the adult while speaking to their younger self. The adult has different patterns and dark colors on them to show how much negative impacts have taken a toll on them. By making this piece, I wanted to show how much society and people change us as we grow, that our younger selves probably wouldn't even recognize their adult themselves. 

Life of Mel

My inspiration for my collage came from seeing the works of all three artists, Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Wangechi Mutu. I was also inspired by the fact that it is Women’s History month in March and wanted to incorporate that into my collage with a slight twist. Yes, I wanted to include objects that make up a strong woman, but I also wanted to include things that specifically make me an empowered woman. I included things that build me up, such as my dog, my sister, hobbies that I enjoy, as well as words that I feel describe me. 

When taking a look at my collage, I really wanted each thing to have some sort of meaning. The cartoon-like bright posts were inspired by Andy Warhol’s art style, the sunflower’s that I distributed throughout the collage were inspired by Wangechi form of style. Her form of style gives off happiness and is very feminine. Whenever I look at her work, I cannot help but think about how it reminds me of flowers. I also decided to paint the background of my canvas pink so that her form of work could shine through some more. As for Michel Basquiat, I wanted my title to really stand out, so I decided to do graffiti letters for it.

Lastly, I decided to use washy tape to hold up my pictures as opposed to gluing them onto my canvas because the tape has a really big significance in all of this. I wanted the audience to see the tape holding my pictures, because I feel like sometimes we look at what is really holding art up and we might label it as looking “messy” or we would prefer to not see the glue so that it gives it a cleaner look. But, when I talk about being an empowered woman and being strong, I never deny the fact that I have my “weak” moments. It is because of everything that I included in my collage that I am the strong woman I am today, and it is holding me together. The tape also signifies flaws and imperfection which I am not trying to hide. 

 

 

4 Quotes 

“The one thing that’s always missing — I think it’s part of the trauma — is the personal element. My parents don’t often talk about their experiences in terms of how it made them feel”

This quote made me realize just how much the aftermath of trauma is overlooked. I think it’s important for us and our parents to talk about such experiences to finally move forward and heal. 

 

““The work of these women is immense. The regard for them is not.” 

When reading this I was reminded how little recognition women would get and how some those unfair treatments are still seen today.

 

“We are increasingly self-conscious and alert to how others are looking at us”

I relate to this a lot because for the longest time I cared more about the way in which others saw me more than the way that I saw myself. Over the course of years, I have moved away from this unhealthy mindset and starting to love myself more and uplift myself as opposed to tear myself down. 

 

“The well-mannered individual should not laugh too loudly, should not scratch, or sit with their legs splayed out, neither should individuals clean their teeth with a knife, nor cough when others are speaking."

Going back to my other reaction, I feel like we are told to act a certain way or judged to harshly simply for being human which causes us to become self-conscious.