Amber Perdigon: Influences in Art Practice

 1-Who are the 5 artists you chose?

• Raymond Pettibon
• Margaret Kilgallen
• Gabriel Orozco
• William Kentridge
• Yinka Shonibare

2-What were the themes the artists addressed about making work?

• Pettibon created several illustrations for punk band album covers, and he's known opened the door for drawing to be recognized as a main art form and not just the sketch before the painting or sculpture. He also created an art form of his writing, meaning that much of his illustrative works are filled with written text. He believes the written word and imagery go hand in hand with his medium. He also seeks to let his artistic process flow fluidly and he values narrative.
• Kilgallen has a passion for illustrating inspiring women who are lesser known. Women who do 'small things' and still have an impact on her. For example, Matokie Slaughter, Algia Mae Hinton, Fanny Durack, etc. She also train-marks and practices the art of graffiti.
• Orozco and photography was the video I focused on and learned that he found photography (stressing he wasn't completely and utterly reliant on it), to be a useful art tool in expanding his art medium and types of projects. He also sought to understand something "totally" and see as many faces as possible of an object in one place.
• Kentridge worked primarily in charcoal illustrations that he animated in a stop-motion sort of process. He fully went into his craft with the idea that he would illustrate his experiences in life, and he actually learned that his ideas and his stories were worth watching by the greater public. That idea reinforced his motivation to stick with his passions. He made little shadow puppet shows, which is also very cool.
• Yinka is a very political artist and explains that he seeks to pull people into a fantastical world, away from the ugly realities of discrimination. 

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

• He couldn't draw a straight line! I quote from Pettibon directly. In all seriousness, he discusses how he manages to strike a balance between humor and anger. Much of his works appears to depict some amount of discontent, specifically when touching on more political subjects. He's explained that he doesn't typically gravitate toward politics, but he makes observations and satirizes them from a somewhat impersonal level. I found it surprising that he didn't really pour too much of his own personal feelings into his works.
• Kilgallen sometimes struggles with the highs and lows of artistic inspiration, but she finds that the idea of introducing these women to the public and how she might inspire other women reignites her passion for her art practice.
• Orozco explains that, despite using photography as a sort of "sketchbook", he doesn't carry a camera with him or even take that many pictures by himself. Though he enjoys having his camera-sketchbook, it's challenging to rely on it wholly to use in the process of all his projects.
• Kentridge seemed to have struggled with his ideas of who he wanted to be when he grew up. It's common to sort of force someone to quickly choose who they wish to be and how they'll profit. Kentridge wanted to be a number of things, and it wasn't until his late 20's that he went full tilt into choosing his art craft as his life's pursuit. This goes to show how passion, dedication and persistence could make or break an artist. How the content they produce and how it resonates with audiences also plays a role.
•  He always wondered why it was that he needed to experience the world differently from his white peers when he moved to the UK and that inspired him to create a world in which this wouldn't be the case. So, while this wasn't a bar for him to overcome, this drove him harder to create art.

4-What were the inspirations you drew from the artists?

• Something I noticed with Pettibon was that his mistakes weren't taken as things that needed to be fixed. Mistakes such as drips or spatters were just something that he worked around and allowed them to give the drawing character and more energy. I'd like to embrace my mistakes and make something new and fresh with them, rather than being so rigid in what a final illustration might have looked like in my head.
• I find it quite inspirational to see how Kilgallen works around her struggles of art block/art slumps. For however difficult it is to deal with, she manages to dust the block away with self-discipline and a drive to see her goals met, both long-term and short term. 
• Photography is an important reference! I've always tried to use photography in my work as reference to make sure that what I illustrate has some level of realism to it.
• Kentridge is an intentional, deeply complex and determined artist. His art is something he chose no matter the paycheck he expected or didn't expect. It was never about becoming rich, but about telling his story and an outlet to release his experiences. Very cool.
• Yinka's attention to detail and his ability to have his art take up space is something I find very inspirational. While I enjoy talking about my personal projects, I still need to be loud about it. As someone who wants to bring a comic to an audience, I need to announce my presence and speak with confidence about my work. That in itself can go very far.

5-What were the things you would like to incorporate into your own work after watching these videos?

In my own work, I'd like to find the balance between incorporating my own political believes and tying them inseparably to my art. Now a days, it's become nearly impossible to separate my thoughts from the current social and political climate. Unlike Pettibon, who is very emotionally detached from his own pieces, I feel inspired to write and illustrate stories that highlight the good in the presence and visibility of minorities or peoples without a voice. I've noticed that there is a positivity and enjoyment in recognizing your own life and identity in media and how it's even better that that identity is recognized with research and respect.

I also want to take more pictures and keep more references for my comic work. While I keep a Pinterest with many photographic references, for example, anatomical poses, architecture, and fashion photography, I seek to expand my references to lighting studies, color palettes, and expand my cultural visual folder. I've gotten quite a bit of medieval fantasy fatigue. I want to write a story that a broader audience can see themselves in.

Post 2 - INFLUENCES IN ART PRACTICE | Christopher Cruz

 1. Who are the 5 artists you chose?

The artist I chose is Guadalupe Maravilla, Michael Rakowitz, Firelight Báez, Tanya Aguiñiga, and Grabriel Orozco.

2. What were the themes the artists addressed about making work?

Maravilla: Empowerment and healing for undocumented immigrants and cancer survivors. 

Rakowitz: Lack of Iraqi representation and truth of the culture.

 Báez: Power dynamics, victimhood and the representation of Black and Brown bodies.

Aguiñiga: More representation and visibility of immigrants themselves and struggles mirrored. To add, to create greater connection between people.

Orozco: Lack of Spanish being treated as a path to have open communication and information exchange instead of being a commodity.

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

Maravilla: Having to deal with cancer.

Rakowitz: Challenging the view on Iraqi people and culture and express truth.

 Báez: Changing existing power dynamics and narrative of Black and Brown bodies.

Aguiñiga: Making the horrors of the border more visible and defining more than just pain and trauma.

Orozco: Define Spanish as more than just a commodity to shop and buy.

4. What were the inspirations you drew from the artists?

Maravilla: How he took his new perspective on art and sound to create a space of peace for undocumented immigrants.

Rakowitz: His approach on alter the narrative by creating replicas of Iraqi relics and a space for people to learn, taste, and hear the truth about Iraqi culture.

 Báez: Flipping victimhood narratives and transforming the representation of woman’s body into something beautiful and empowering.

Aguiñiga: Her approach to transforming a negative space into a positive one and creating a organization which connects people using the border as a stating point for conversation.

Orozco: Creating a spaces where exchange of information, communication, and art is utilized help teach Spanish. 

5. What were the things you would like to incorporate into your own work after watching these videos?

After watching these videos, I’d like to experiment and expand my approach in my work. I want explore more whether that is with identity or other. 

Assignment 2

1-Who are the 5 artists you chose?

Untitled (Le Jue Du Monde), 2020 

- Firelei Baez: 

Blueprint for a Landscape (2017)

- Sarah Sze

"Serwaa and Amokohene", 2019, in the exhibition "Within Reach"

- Jordan Casteel

Desert Samples, (2010)

- Gabriel Orozco

Dom (Viktor Dominik Yasser Figueiredo), Salvador, 2025

- Zanele Muholi

2-What were the themes the artists addressed about making work?

- Firelei Baez: She started the series of paintings was looking at the first scientific illustrations by Carl Linneaus and said that it was nonsense. That his work of the New World Black and Brown body was equated to beastiality. So, she leans into their falliable vision and creating something new. Her paintings of "ciguapas", is suppose to make viewers come to terms with a women's body.

- Sarah Sze: She wanted the subway station to mirror how we move through space. How the speed of movement transitions into different environments that we don't appreciate, but do repetitively. When she was working on her installation, she was thinking about the Russian Constructivists and the Italian Futurist. They were obsessed with the idea of acceleration of the experience of time mostly through transit.

- Jordan Casteel: To see people who might be easily unseen. She tries to find her kindred spirits in the world, usually she states that it's somebody that is standing off to the side. Her works are meant to make you feel what it's like to be present with someone in a moment.

- Gabriel Orozco: He has try to open many level of exchange, communication, and research. That art became a teaching aid to serve the purpose of teaching Spanish. That it isn't just a commodity that you can just come and shop. It is a place where you can learn and exchange knowledge.

- Zanele Muholi: They are trying to form mobile studios, where you don't have to be fixated by one space. Their work is their own way of writing South African LGBTI history. Muholi tries to make sure that they can empower the people that are featuring in the series and the people around them. To give the people a place to express and that they have their personal story to tell.

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

- Firelei Baez: She found it exciting to incorporate things that were labeled as something bad and were seen as unwanted. To reframe "ciguapas" as something beautiful and "an eye of desire", as she words it. 

- Sarah Sze: When working on the subway station installation, Sze felt the pressure that she will have to see that everyday and that her great grandchildren might see it. Since, it is very permanent. Another thing that was hard to understand until it was made was how you would see the stations from a level.

- Jordan Casteel: Casteel takes speedy photos of the people, however she feels the most intimate time when she's by herself in the studio. She gets to notice the small things while she paints. For example, her painting with A-Thug and Louie, she doesn't know if she would have noticed the "melanin" shirt sitting on the table. Or what A-Thugs shirt states. Casteel states that the camera has become a connection for the photographer and the sitter.

- Gabriel Orozco: The only interactions that it gets are mostly through the market and institutions, which Orozco states is not good. 

- Zanele Muholi: In an article, "Facing the Unspeakable: An Interview with Zanele Muholi"; it states that they resent reduction of their work to narratives of deeply embedded violence and trauma that the Black LGTQIA+ community faces in countries. Each interview that they have it becomes bloody and unnecessary. They rather talk about queer people's stories, and for the conversation to be pure and clear.

4-What were the inspirations you drew from the artists?

- Firelei Baez: Something that I drew from the artist was towards the end of the video. Where she states, "think of themselves as part of a longer cycles behind them and long cycles before them--that every choice we make it predicated by the people we hope to love in the future and thee people we love in the past." That there is always something in our grasp to make something new. 

- Sarah Sze: I really like the idea how she followed the movement of the station. For example, the mezzanine it follows how a train would pass with just the movement of papers. Or when you are descending to the station you feel like you're getting deeper into the sea. 

- Jordan Casteel: I really love how she makes each person feel when they are able to see themselves in a gallery. Someone states that they felt like a superstar. Casteel makes them feel seen as a person and that there is a value of just existing. It gives them an opportunity to feel represented outside of just criminality and entertainment.

- Gabriel Orozco: Something that drew me was to apply what Orozco states to listen something you already know, but in Spanish. "Meaning changes when you translate," that it is fundamental. 

- Zanele Muholi: I think that their message is empowering and love the way that they bring the people to the galleries to see what happens to the photography. Creating the "activist wall" subverts the peaceful imagery of the gallery. 

5-What were the things you would like to incorporate into your own work after watching these videos?

I would like to incorporate telling people's stories in a way that gives them a voice. That they can see themselves and relate to a story or a character. Whether it be from folklore or something small from everyday life. 

Christopher McVicar-Influences in Art Practice

 Christopher McVicar

Professor Jung

Studio Research 1

05 February 2026

Influences in Art Practice

The five artists I chose consists of... 

1. -Miranda July, a performance artist and writer, inspires me through her commitment to rituals and creative independence. Her habits, like insisting on writing at the same dinner table and protecting her private space, are a stubborn dedication to her process. She explores the human condition through costumes and alternate personas, using them as tools to express freedom and vulnerability. I also connect with the challenge she faces when others misunderstand her work and fail to see it as an act of personal liberation. 

2. 
   

2. -Hadi Falapishi motivates me with the way he uses fantasy as a response to political tension. His combination of cartoon-like figures and realistic painting critiques the pressure society places on people to conform to high ideals. He frames visual art as a space for freedom, which resonates deeply with me. I also relate to his struggle with avoiding his artistic intentions out of fear of rejection. 

3. 
   

3. -Trey Abdella’s surreal, multidimensional mixed-media paintings stand out to me for their emotional intensity. He intentionally weaves elements of “misery” into his work, transforming difficult experiences from his past into creative motives. That ability to turn discomfort into momentum is something I admire and hope to experiment with for my own practice. 

4. 
   

4. -Hyeree Ro, a performance artist, connects her body directly to her work as a way of grounding meaning and presence. Her idea that art can communicate what words cannot feel especially powerful. I strongly relate to her belief that what remains unspoken often holds the most significance. 

5. 
   

5. -Ilana Harris-Babou, a performance artist and filmmaker, draws inspiration from the staged identities of reality TV, particularly cooking shows. She exposes the illusion of perfection in advertising and entertainment by presenting uncomfortable truths within familiar, inviting formats, ultimately challenging social norms and expectations. 

6. 
   

Reflecting on these artists has led me to critically reassess my own practice as a painter and future direction. I want to expand my techniques and mediums by incorporating found materials and pushing my visual language beyond familiar habits, while staying committed to finding my own creative identity. Admittedly, I feel a bit lost and restricted when trying to describe my work. 

Yet these artists' willingness to begin without rigid plans challenges my structured understanding of art and encourages me to take more risks and allow experimentation to guide the process. Although I am drawn to sociopolitical themes and sometimes worry that personal subject matter is self-focused, I am learning that personal experience is inseparable from broader cultural realities. Moving forward, I aim to create work that merges my emotional perspective with larger social narratives, resulting in art that is both honest and socially engaged. 

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

INTRODUCTION to the CLASS

 

    Ishmael Adams

    Doris Cacoilo 

    Studio Research 1 

    2/5/2026 

      Part 1: Smart History: Why Art History isn't like Math 

     " In addition, throughout history, most works of art were made for a specific purpose, to address a specific audience, and often for a particular location. They may not have even been understood as art until they were isolated from that original context."

    People throughout the course of history that have extracted and studied historical objects in order to have a greater understanding of a world that came and possibly even went before their time. In that elusive mystery of time came people who could only ever know half or even a quarter of the original symbiology of an object. Stories that are lost to time, never to be discovered or spoken, that could be turned or reshaped into a completely different meaning without the context to keep it's original meaning. 

    "Art history uncovers just how significant we understand and feel images to be now and through history."

Art as a subject is a communicative medium able to in a way reach people across time. From paintings, to music, to statues, to even architectural buildings art has a way of reaching people no matter how far back you go. Art history is able to showcase these various art forms and pieces that could've otherwise been lost to time forever. With that exposure to otherwise deceased art forms and pieces, it allows modern artists to not only observe these pieces, but to also copy these pieces and improve them for a new age.  

    Part 2 : Art Influence 

    I've never been influenced by one artist in particular for inspiration for my artwork, but comic book artists and mangaka have been severely influential to me in both creating the specific type of art I do and a large part of why I wanted to be an artist at such a young age. Comic book artists like Chris Samnee, Oliver Coipel, Mike Del Mundo have been just a select few of the amount of different comic book artists that've affect why and how I do my particular brand of art. Mangaka like Vagabond author and artist Takehiko Inoue, Naruto author and artist Masashi Kishimoto and Chainsaw man author and artist Tatsuki Fujimoto are also great influences on my artwork via their collective mixes of line work, sketches, black and white art and being able to have a successful career as both an artist and writer. Looking into art for professional study to learn from other artists to get better has been a continuing goal of mine to improve myself as an artist. In terms of art history, though I understand it's importance in the grand scheme of art I've never really gravitated towards art history as a subject, though I am open to becoming more knowledgeable on the the subject. As for genres I'd like to explore further as a subject is oil paint in terms of being able to paint more consistently.  

Watchful Eyes and Outstretched Hands - Charcoal 

Blue Head Balloon, Oil Paint

Head in a Box, Charcoal/Graphite

Self Portrait, Charcoal  

Life and Death, Charcoal 

    I'm Ishmael Adams a Junior Illustration major for New Jersey City University (NJCU). I've been drawing since I was around five, mainly using graphite pencil and ink pen for my work before I came to college. I enjoy sketching the most out of all the art related things I do, but drawing digitally so far has been a very close second as compared to most other mediums digital is the most versatile with a whole host of different tools at my disposal. Ever since I was a child I always wanted to create things, creating worlds, characters and stories that could last several lifetimes. 

    Most of the stories and artwork that I do make I base it off of a great deal of the subjects that I naturally gravitate towards. Most of the time these subjects include fantasy elements, sci fi or a mixture of both genres. Growing up I read a great deal of both genres so it's not particularly surprising that it comes through in my artwork. 

Week 2 post Stephanie Rodas

 

1-Who are the 5 artists you chose?

I chose Jenny Holzer, Gaudalupe Maravilla, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Salah Elmur, Barbara Kruger, and Carrie Mae Weems.

2-What were the themes the artists addressed about making work?

Jenny Holzer: Jenny addresses the theme of wanting people to concentrate on the content and the writing and art, and not who did it. She wants the work to be of utility to as many people as possible. 

Gaudalupe Maravilla: Gaudalupe addresses the theme of his ancestry and his own personal history of migrating to the United States from El Salvador. Aswell as connecting yourself to the universe to heal, but also help complete his artwork

Tuan Andrew Nguyen: Tuan addresses the theme of being open-minded and experiencing history through his own lens, as well as his journey of listening to unheard stories. He dives into migration and working with the Vietnamese community and history. Tuan works with moving image and sculpture to give objects new meaning

Salah Elmur: Salah addresses the theme of history, his own history and his family, nostalgia, and His home country, Sudan. Specifically, the political situation there.

Barbra Kruger: Barbra addresses the fact that the availability of her work is important to her, as well as discussing and questioning power, value, political, and social issues through the visual language of text, design, and ads.

Carrie Mae Weems: Carrie addresses how her series is a voice for all women, spaces of domesticality (the kitchen) that historically belonged to women, how to alter this domestic space, and the social dynamic between men and women.
3-What were the challenges the artists faced in making their work?

Jenny Holzer: Jenny faced challenges in her artwork due to trying to find locations that would allow her to display her artwork, since it is a projector displaying large images. She also struggled with finding the right words or phrases sometimes, to project as she wanted to keep the sentences short but powerful

Guadalupe Maravilla: Guadalupe struggled with emotion while making his work. He traveled around places gathering materials to use for his work, and he would become emotional. For example, in Mexico City, he found a pair of children's silver sandals that looked to be very worn, and he became emotional, thinking and feeling the energy of all the unaccompanied and displaced children walking with him.

Tuan Andrew Nguyen: Tuan struggled with the idea of home and place, since he never felt a sense of welcoming or home in the U.S.

Salah Elmur: Salah struggles with not being able to go back to his country, Sudan, because of the war. He said this is the longest he's gone without going back, and he is struggling because when he needs to feel like himself or "recharge his battery," that's where he goes.

Barbra Kruger: Barbra struggled with her early artist journey as she knew she grew up lower class and how that would effect her chances of her future. She also struggled with being intimated going to museums and thinking she could only produce art or become an artist in one medium.

Carrie Mae Weems struggled with finding her own voice.
4-What were the inspirations you drew from the artists?

Inspirations that I drew from the artists are that art doesn't always have to be paintings or images for me to express a message or how I'm feeling. I could also use different mediums such as words or even items that I find, to create something new. These artists also inspired me to use my environment to really think and feel about where I am and the idea of place, instead of getting lost in my day-to-day and incorporating this into my art.

5-What were the things you would like to incorporate into your own work after watching these videos?

I would like to incoperate into my own work more phrases and text into my own work, simple words and sentences with large scale or colors can really be impactful and eye-catching. I would also like to incorporate more thought of my environment, along with my own history, into my work. I feel like i dont take the time to feel my environment and think of what it means to me.

Jenny Holzer

Frida Kahlo "Self Portrait on the border between Mexico and the United States" (1932)