Week 13: Interview with an Artist

  

MARTY KNOP

This week I really enjoyed Marty Knop’s work with printmaking. We’ve talked about printmaking quite a few times this semester along with 3D printing. This was the first time I’ve seen art like this and I enjoy it. I also love the colors of his work, it’s very vibrant and colorful and the shapes remind me of geometry. It was cool to find out that all the different shapes were created with math equations. He generates art through algorithms and coding.

Knop limits himself for cost and efficiency. Mixing colors waists money so he sticks to solids. A lot of his prints are printed with house paint. With Digital printing, Marty Knop said Sky’s the limit because their is so many different colors to choose from. I can tell that color is an important part of his work, it enhances a lot of the shapes. Knop said he is willing to try all the different spectrum’s of art.

Knop was very inspiring when describing his method of working. He believes art is a do it yourself experience. You should try all kinds of art and not get frustrated if you fail. He also took a lot of math classes in order to be good at his art so I know he works hard to try different processes. Knop’s work was very detailed and I enjoyed it!

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Week 12: Interview with an Artist

PIET EPPINGA

I was really excited to know that this week the galleries featured sculpture art. I’m really fascinated by the work people are able to do with their hands to create these intricate and detailed pieces. The work that caught my eye this week was Piet Eppinga. His pieces that signify human life and human interaction show a lot of hard work and thought.

One of the pieces I really liked was the female fertility statue. I love how two people viewed the piece in different ways. One person said that the statue showed how woman are the center of the universe, while another said that the fertility ball in the statue meant that a woman was meant to bear a child. I really liked how Eppinga accepted both of those thoughts and presented them to us.

I also enjoyed the “Father and Son” statue. I liked it because I understood what it was supposed to represent before Eppinga took the time to explain it to me. I could see how the son laid on the father to show the relationship. It was meant to show that sons don’t know affections from the father. Eppinga had many other pieces that were noteworthy due to their in depth meaning. The Christian crystallized piece was very nice as well. I loved how Eppinga mentioned his childhood and wrote about his siblings playing with clay. Who knew that something he did as a kid would train him so well for an art form he practices today? I really enjoyed Eppinga’s work and all the time and effort he put into showing our class which each individual piece meant!

Week 9: Artist Interview

RALPH ACOSTA

This week I looked at a lot of pictures from Ralph Acosta. When I first saw the pictures and how they were displayed, I loved the colors, it seemed like something someone would place in a modern style house for decoration. When I found out what all the pictures of the houses were for, I was touched. I know what it is like to have a troubling family life and how it’s like to have to move multiple times to different houses. I didn’t move as much as Acosta did but I’ve moved a total of 5 times to different places.

Ralph discusses how he had a rough past in his childhood. He was able to get through this turmoil with his siblings by his side. Acosta, his cousin and his older brothers found comfort in the Ambassador hotel that was not to far from his houses in the Wilshire District. It’s great that he found a place of comfort while going through a hard time with his family and even better that he had his siblings by his side. It was sad to hear about how the Ambassador is no longer there. It’s heartbreaking to have a place you believe is a second home to just disappear.

Acosta’s art did look like postcards when I first saw them so it was interesting to see that he made some of the pictures into gigantic postcards. I actually wanted one when I first saw them. I thought that was an interesting idea and I wanted one of my own! Even though it was meant to represent the massive issues his family was experiencing, it was a great metaphor. I could tell that the experiences shaped Ralph to who he is today. But his work just goes to show that our experiences shape who we are and whether good or bad, they influence how we see the world today. Overall I really enjoyed Ralph Acosta’s work! I love how he took his dark past and turned into art.