Project #5: Humument Image and Text gallery Draft + 50 word note

Student Posts, ENG1101, ENG1101 Project #6, Coursework

Building New York, a Humument created by Kevin J. Ayala is a Piece that was inspired by Tom Phillips’s rendering of text from the original Humument. In this Humument, We are shown of Ayala’s expression for New York and  his love for it explained by this short Humument. Complemented by the drawing of what seems to be an interpretation of New York during a night time setting, it reads, ” I’m Here because i was born here, Building private New York, All worldly possessions in hand, Look, there is the first brick in your city”. The text that Ayala creates this Humument from was from Colson Whitehead’s “City Limits”, a Essay describing people first encounters with New York and how its settings begin to change overtime, but not the person’s Interpretation of “Their own New York”. The piece was made in Brooklyn, N.Y in December of the year 2014, Being displayed in the Brooklyn Gallery of Art and Poetry.

This piece seems to be made from an actual document (Or a possible copy) that contains part of Colson’s Whitehead’s essay, “City Limits”. The document was painted over with what seems to be gouache paint, using cool, dark colors to compliment the Night setting of what seems to be drawn as Ayala’s Small interpretation of what New York looks like in a small window, With Buildings Painted on both sides of the page, along with a small view of a bridge in the middle of the buildings (what seems to be Brooklyn Bridge). The one red rectangle on one of the buildings that surrounds the word “Brick” in the humument really gives diversity into the work, also passing the message of seeing “The first brick in your city”

By Using Whitehead’s Text, Ayala wanted to give a short but meaningful message of experiencing New York for the first time, and what it has to offer to that person’s experiences in life. For all his life, Ayala has lived in New York, surrounded by influences and inspiration. To capture those small moments in life, he decided to study in an artistic major. This way, he can draw out those small moments in his mind and be able to transfer that idea in a creative way, either be by poetry or a drawing, painting, etc. For his whole life, he always had a thing with music and drawing, the music part being an influence into poetry. Originally when he created his Humument, it was a project in his freshman year at City Tech College located in Brooklyn, New York.  For his whole English 101 class, the writing that was done was mainly revolved around the New York area and its influences towards the student.

Ayala’s influence to make this humument was once again, his love for the New York state and its appealing moments, areas, etc. The picture drawn for the humument was inspired by the Brooklyn area, and its plentiful buildings along with a sight of the Brooklyn Bridge. The area was new to him during the time and it was something he wanted to explore with his free time, thus came the idea of the picture for the Humument. Ayala was so fascinated and intrigued by the surrounding Brooklyn area, he wanted to capture that scene with both a drawing and a type of poetry. Since his situation fits the theme of Whitehead’s “City Limit”, Ayala thought it would be the perfect essay to use to describe the experience of his first time on Brooklyn when he attended college.

Ayala’s Piece has earned its place in our museum due to its artistic look and excellent use of poetry within a text as a normal Humument would do. He really did capture the meaning of coming to an area for the first time, beginning a new map of your personal New York and your experiences that are to come in the future.

 

 

50 Word Note:

Building New York, a Humument created by Kevin J. Ayala is a Piece that was inspired by Tom Phillips’s rendering of text from the original Humument. With Text Taken from Colson Whiteheads “City Limits”, the Humument shows a single red Brick (Over “Brick”) to show the ” First brick in your city”

Reflection

Student Posts, ENG1101 Project #5

This semester for me had its ups and downs. I was a little behind in the beginning and soon caught up, then I fell behind again and was always turning in things late. I liked the projects overall because they were interesting- not dull and boring where you just do research at home, write an essay and turn it in. There was some exploration and adventure for these assignments which I’m glad for because it made it more fun. I think my writing skills have improved in the past 4 months however I could do better with my procrastination level. College is time consuming because of the work but this class made it fun and I was able to do some of the work with my friends outside of school. I think I need to work on my vocabulary words more because I want a wider range of vocabulary and I’ve been slacking with that this semester, mainly focusing on the assignments. Overall the work was fair and our peer mentor was helpful throughout the semester and I can say I will use what I learned in the next semesters I have left here and in real life.

prostrate

Student Posts, ENG1101, Glossary

Adjective

Definition

1:  stretched out with face on the ground in adoration or submission; also  :  lying flat

2:completely overcome and lacking vitality, will, or power to rise

3. trailing on the ground

This word from Cora Unashamed by Langston Hughes. “All the family dressed in deep mourning. Mrs. Art was prostrate.”  This is a scene that on the funeral of Mrs. Art’s daughter. She shows like very weak and depressed. I’ve learned this word before, but forget some parts of its meaning, 

reference: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prostrate

Ubiquitous

Student Posts, Glossary

Ubiquitous (adj.) – existing or being everywhere at the same time :  constantly encountered. (merriam-webster.com)

I came across this word in the Ways of Seeing text on page 32 where it describes art. It says “For the first time ever, images of art have become ephemeral, ubiquitous, insubstantial, available, valueless, free.” I understand now from the definitions and the context clues in the sentence that ubiquitous means “open” or “surrounding”.

Gallery Catalogue Entry Final

Student Posts, ENG1101 Project #5

Garfield Crumbie

Fahrenheit 451 Text

This artwork is designed to introduce a new concept into an original piece of work that people would have never thought of. It ignites a new form of art that can cause a viewer to have to think, and break down what they just read. Art pieces that are generally known as “Humuments” are where this work originated from, as it conveys its own unique message. This message is brought forth and detailed by using the correct colors. The saturation, value,or even tone of the colors can either take away or add significance to a piece.

My art piece in particular comes from the well known novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Specifically from the first page, I skimmed the paragraphs for words that I could place together to create a new sentence. I had to decide if I wanted my sentence to carry out the same message from the novel, or if it should take a different direction. After 5-10 minutes of selecting the right words, I found that it depicted a similar mood as the text it came from. The end result states, ” It was his head burning down, and the fireflies in the furnace died and grinned- Later, that smile never went away- he walked one inch along the Earth as he felt the air there, and detected the temperature rise ten degrees”. This sentence structure has a flow that is broken, but it still makes sense. The slight descriptive language is just enough to help the reader picture the scene.

In order to select the right color for this piece, I had to determine which color would best represent the message that is being conveyed. In the piece, there are numerous references to heat, which can portray a dark mood for readers. Specific words such as “burning”, “furnace” or “rise ten degrees”, let me know to search for colors that have high energy. The colors that immediately came to mind was red, yellow, and orange. Generally, these are the colors you see in fire or anything that involves heat, which can give off high amounts of energy. I chose to adjust these colors by using Adobe Illustrator and making a color palette as a guide for my process. This is the most interesting part of the art piece because it was engaging by allowing me to experiment with multiple colors. During the process of searching for the correct color, I discovered colors that were new to me and depicted what seemed like an illusion. I decreased saturation, and increased value so that I can have the appropriate tone. After this portion of the art piece was complete, I was left with the main colors red, red-orange, and yellow-orange.

Figuring out how to apply these colors to the actual art piece was another experiment within its self. I printed out multiple copies of the texts to do test runs on in order to see which one turns out the best. I decided to make an illusion by outlining the words of the page so that it seems as if the text is coming off the page. I used jagged edge lines to help it look more appealing to the reader. This technique is commonly used in comic book art to depict a shock or explosion which gives a boost to the readers imagination. The color palette served the purpose of indicating the dominant colors of the piece as it gradually decreases to colors that are used less. The main concept of this art work is to emphasize the mood of the text by highlighting key words that give it such a mood. And now, as you can see, the end result depicts a new scene for readers, and it holds a similar concept to that of the original text.

 

Conspiracy (n.)

Student Posts, Glossary

Conspiracy: a secret plan made by two or more people to do something that is harmful or illegal

I got the definition form Merriam-Webster website. I encountered the word in the Ways of Seeing text on page 32. It says “By refusing to enter a conspiracy, one remains innocent of that conspiracy. But to remain innocent may also be to remain ignorant.” I understand better now that a conspiracy is a bad thing mainly but can be a useful thing because not being innocent means not being ignorant in this text.