Post 2: Influences in Art Practice

 Who are the 5 artists I chose?

1. Tanya Aguiñiga — Borderlands
2. Cao Fei — Fantasy
3. Wangechi Mutu — Between the Earth and the Sky
4. Guadalupe Maravilla — The Sound of Healing
5. Michael Rakowitz — Haunting the West

What were the themes the artists addressed about making work?

All five artists emphasized meaning over technique alone. Aguiñiga connects craft to identity and community. Cao Fei explores how digital fantasy intersects with real life, especially for young people. Mutu uses narrative and collage to express female and post-colonial experience. Maravilla blends art with healing, memory, and sound as activism. Rakowitz uses archaeology and sculpture to question cultural loss and imperialism. Across all five, making work is not just aesthetic it is social, emotional, and political.

What were the challenges the artists faced in making their work?

Each artist faced different challenges:

• Aguiñiga works between cultures and materials, finding belonging and representation isn’t easy.
• Cao Fei deals with translating intangible digital experiences into physical art.
• Mutu confronts histories of violence, race, and gender that are heavy and complex.
• Maravilla integrates personal trauma and public healing, art becomes therapeutic and vulnerable.
• Rakowitz tackles lost histories (like destroyed artifacts), forcing audiences to confront absence rather than presence.
  These challenges show that art isn’t just creation, it involves labor, vulnerability, and courage.

What inspirations did I draw from the artists?

I was inspired by how these artists:

• Turn personal and cultural identity into material choices (Aguiñiga, Mutu).
• Use unconventional mediums: sound, performance, digital worlds, and found objects to expand meaning.
• Blend art with activism and community care (Maravilla, Rakowitz).
• Use fantasy and imagination as tools for understanding reality (Cao Fei).
  Their approaches reminded me that art doesn’t have to be safe or pretty, it can be transformative and challenging.

What would I like to incorporate into my own work?

After watching these videos I want to:

• Be braver conceptually, not just technically.
• Let personal experience guide material decisions, not follow trends.
• Use mixed media: combining drawing, digital, and tactile materials.
• Make work that engages community or healing, not just personal expression.
• Explore narrative and storytelling beyond representation like Mutu’s collage or Cao Fei’s fantasy/virtual worlds so viewers can feel the idea, not just see it.

Overall, these artists taught me that practice is a journey of self-discovery, risk, and meaning, not just mastering tools. Their work challenges me to expand what I consider art and why I make it.