Influences In Art Practice

 

    Ishmael Adams

    Professor Doris Cacoilo

    Studio Research 1 

    2/5/2026

    Part 1: Five Artists 

The five artists I chose for Influences In Art Practice are Sarah Sze, Gabriel Orozco, Barry McGee, Michael Rakowitz and Julie Mehretu 

    Part 2: Themes Artists Addressed 

Sarah Sze -  acceleration of time, the speed of movement in a transit space that transitions into a different environment entirely 

Gabriel Orozco - The exchange of information and knowledge  

Barry McGee - A positive view of the urban graffiti artist community 

Michael Rakowitz - Lost history and culture of Iraq art as an art piece of haunting and to let the viewer put themselves into the Iraq's shoes inside the palace before ISIS destroyed it 

Julie Mehretu - combining different mediums and layers to create a whole new unique composition with no specific narrative to pinpoint  

    Part 3: Challenges Artists Faced

 Sarah Sze -  How you would see the stations from the bottom level

Gabriel Orozco - The setting was on the bottom 3rd floor which didn't give people much access to interact with others

Barry McGee - Trying to replicate his feeling of freedom/danger doing graffiti art in an exhibition 

Michael Rakowitz - There was difficulty in Covid safety concerns and finding an Iraq museum willing to display his work

Julie Mehretu - There's not just one way to see it, there are a whole multitude of differing perspectives to the piece.  

 Part 4: Inspirations 

Inspirations I drew from the five artists I selected was that you can create art from literally anywhere at any place the only limit for how is your imagination and how you use it to create. You can create on walls, ceilings, floor and even stairs, there's no where you can't make art.  

Part 5: Incorporations In My Work 

Things from these artists I want to incorporate into my work is the idea of working on a variety of different surfaces other than the standard front facing wall. I'd like to try an experiment with painting on ceilings or floors, or even incorporating both whilst adding things in via digital illustration. I find the idea of that extremely creative and I haven't seen it done in the modern day for a while.   

Sarah Sze, 96th Street Station, 2017

 

Julie Mehretu Art Car, 2025