Offili

The public reaction to Ofillis "Virgin Mary" is eerily common. People often see something and assume that their first reaction is automatically correct rather than looking deeper into what something really means. It seems strange that if something raised an eyebrow people would not want to find out more about it.

hyper-realism

I would agree that trying to emulate something real almost exactly is not worth doing because the real thing will always be more correct. The exception would be to exagerate certain aspects in which case one is not really emulating reality.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus' work is interesting but it is specific to it's time. Today there are so many photographers that no matter how compelling the subject matter, there would be much criticism because of lack of composition. Photography now seems to be very competitive and the same subjects would likely have been shot by others. I order to get the kind of recognition she had then, these days she would have had to have printed them on sheets of human skin or something.

Assignment 1: Five Pieces of Art Which Describe Me:

I am Mario Casillas. I'm taking Art 001D because I am very interested in photography but I cannot seem to get much of an interest in other forms of visual art. I am more into writers and directors than I am painters and sculptors.

One: William Burroughs Photographed by Richard Avedon

URL: http://www.thecityreview.com/avedon2.gif

Richard Avedon is a famous photographer and I generally like his work although I can't really say why from an artistic point of view. William Burroughs is my favorite author so that is why I chose this portrait. William Burroughs was considered the father of the Beat Generation and was a huge influence on Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and even Hunter S. Thompson. I liked Jack Kerouac's On The Road, and Hunter Thompson's The Rum Diaries but I never read much of Ginsberg because I'm not one for poetry.

Two: Sarah Palin by Eric Schilling
Sarah Palin by ~p-erplex on deviantART
Less than halfway through the 2008 Vice Presidential debate was when I decided I could not vote for John McCain because of Sarah Palin. I tried to take in the candidates neutrally and educate myself to make an informed decision come election day but once I heard Sarah Palin for 30 seconds I felt that any alternative would be better. When I was about 15-18 years old, I was convinced that politics in the United States was a joke. I tried to change my thinking about it but it seems like the two parties always work together to make an obvious choice for everyone. John Kerry seemed to screw up real good, and John McCain appeared to have a fighting chance until he selected a human doorknob to be his VP.

Three: Self Portrait By Mario Casillas
Link: http://mac81688.deviantart.com/art/self-portrait-42892749

This was an assignment I had for one of my photography classes at CCSF. I don't really like taking pictures of myself so I hung up some recent photographs behind me and legitimized it by saying that my photographs are representative of me. I got an A and didn't have to really photograph myself.






Four: Studio Manly By Rebecca Nehse
Link: http://animalnoise.deviantart.com/art/Studio-Manly-108567721

This is a photo taken by my girlfriend of her sister. I like it because she is generally a shy person and doesn't like her picture taken but she was convinced to help with this for an assignment and everyone liked the results. This is a good example of why I like photography; a lot of my friends, as well as myself, are not the most outgoing people and photographs like these can show a little bit more about a person without saying anything definite.









Five: Highlander Cookie By: Mitch Clem
Link: http://www.mitchclem.com/rockcity/index.php?comic=42

Mitch Clem originally wrote an online comic called "Nothing Nice to Say," which was punk rock themed which he still updates occasionally. This one was from an autobiographical comic he used to do called "San Antonio Rock City." I found this comic funnier than I probably should have but apparently nobody got the joke about "There can be only one" highlander cookie on his end and nobody I explained it to in person got it either. I usually find things like this funnier than I should.