Don Nace is Back!

Image by Don Nace.
I want to point out that Don Nace, who I previously mentioned in my blog here and here has started up a drawing-a-day again. I signed up on his email list to get a new drawing emailed every day. He is the artist responsible for the painted strawberries in the film Across the Universe (among his other artistic endeavours...). The new drawings have the same kind of scratchy honesty that drew me in originally, and the biggest difference I can comment on is that colour has been introduced with some.
Check out his drawings at his website: http://thefloor.org/

ART PROJECT COMMITMENT!

Some changes are about to make their way through my life in the next two weeks: I begin teaching at a new school, and I am moving(not far away though, within Winnipeg limits). With the beginning of these new things, and the end of summer, I feel the need to make a change or a commitment to my artmaking. Since drawing in London, and feeling renewed about how and what I'm drawing pictures of, I decided that I don't want this newfound inspriation to fade. My solution to not getting lost in the working world and having art energy fade is that I am commiting to making AT LEAST ONE IMAGE A DAY. I have been inspired by art-a-day artists and their blogs such as Don Nace who makes a drawing a day as a type of journalling, Kal Barteski a Designer who sought making art as a form of creative renewal, and Somsara Rielly who, to mark her 35th year began a collage a day for a year(And recently finished in July!).

I have decided to set a few rules for myself for this commitment:
-Images can be drawn, painted, collaged, sewn, etc, however a photograph doesn't count unless I put some time into editing, or if it requires a major amount of arranging to take the photo.
-If I miss a day and don't make an image I can make up for it the next day, or can make a bunch of images one day and be off the hook for days following. Either way, by the end of the week I should still have 7 images, one for each day.
-Images must be at last 4 by 6 inches, but one large piece does not count towards multiple images.
-Images can be made anywhere, on anything.
-This commitment begins at 12 AM August 30, 2010 and ends at 12 AM August 30th 2011. In one year's time I should have accumulated 365 images. If I am unsuccessful in achieving this deadline extensions may be permitted, but with a penalty of one extra image for each week it is overdue.
-I can terminate this commitment in the event of: personal tragedies, loss of limb, very major commissions, or extreme hatred of being committed to an image-a-day.
-I do not need to blog each image made.
-Images can include any theme, HOWEVER at least one image a week is to report on a current event in the news.
-Images made for Illustration Friday count.
-Images should feel finished.
-Projects started before this commitment began can count towards a finished image, upon completion of the project.
-Images made prior to August 30th can not be counted, unless reworked and refinished.

The Art of Reportage

Comics from the book Clumsy By Jeffry Brown.

My first homework assignment of the week was to come to class prepared to share about a reportage artist that I admire or a sample of my own work.
Definition of Reportage:
reportage |rəˈpôrtij; ˌrepôrˈtä zh |
noun
the reporting of news, for the press and the broadcast media : extensive reportage of elections.
• factual presentation in a book or other text, esp. when this adopts a journalistic style.

I can think of plenty of artists that I admire, but ones who specifically report on an event, or events? I realized that mainly the artists that interest me are the ones that report on their own lives. If they make things about themselves, their personal lives, and feelings it tends to make me interested in them and their stories. This goes for books as well.
As a starting point I made a list of artists who I admire that fit into the Reportage category (some may argue though that my definition of Reportage is a little loose...) Also, many of these artists have been listed in previous blog entries.
Artists/Graphic Novelists:
Marjane Satrapi-Persepolis and Persepolis 2. She also has two newer books that I need to read-Plumes of Feathers and Embroideries.
Don Nace-Drawn Out -Autobiographical sketches surrounding his life.
Jeffery Brown- His work is pictured above. I recently purchased his graphic novel titled Clumsy It is a collection of sketches done at the time of a relationship that he dedicated to anyone who has loved and lost. The actual drawing style doesn't interest me, but the story is full of embarrassing moments, heartfelt times between lovers, and true reflections of relationship blisses and disapointments. It is strikingly honest. Here is a proper review of it: http://beardedmonkey.wordpress.com/2007/02/
Sonja Ahlers-Another artist I had forgotten about. I have her book Fatal Distraction which is a combination of imagery, text, poetry and self-reflections. Read an article about her here: http://www.taddlecreekmag.com/bunny-heads-and-stranger-things
Ralph Steadman-has written and illustrated various books, but is known especially for his work with Hunter S. Thompson.
Photographers
Richard Avedon-Incredible black and white photos showing American people of the mid-west(among other photos, including one of Barack Obama before he became president.)
Diane Arbus- Do I really need to explain? Known for taking photos of freaks and sideshow acts, people who count as strange.
Edward Burtynsky-Large colour photos that deal with the masses of destruction that society inflicts on the earth-mines, oil-drilling, Chinese landfills, etc...
Edward Muybridge-Does his work count as reportage? He staged most of the images in his work; early film/photography studies in movement, and the human body.
Sculptors:
Ron Mueck-He may not have occurred to me at all, but I saw a postcard of his work at the British Museum today, but sadly his exhibit occurred two years ago, so I won't get to see it. Larger than life creations of the human form.

Don Nace's Drawn Out

I ordered the book "Drawn Out" by Don Nace, which arrived recently. I am intrigued, find his drawings alluring, and decidedly this was an excellent art book purchase. It reads as a form of a visual journal: black and white drawings document Don Nace's life-his struggles, joys, and perceptions. I find it glaringly and shockingly honest throughout many parts of the book. His style is strongly gesture-based, with lines and scribbles that make up the figures and relationships. Nearly each picture is narrated with a caption letting the viewer in on the events in the drawings. The majority of Don Nace's drawings were done on the subway train during his daily commute, which explains some of the abruptness of the drawing style. I first discovered Don Nace when doing a search for Art-a-day artists; artists who create something new every day. Don Nace is one of those artists who maintains a webpage with a new daily drawing. His site and his unique drawing style urged me to order his book. For his work check out: http://www.drawingoftheday.com/