Tony Avila and his blog

Art event #8 Escondido Arts Partnership Municipal Gallery

deftony99 — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:28:41 +0000

This past week I was able to go to the Escondido Municipal Gallery. Initially I wanted to stop by to check out the “Enlightened Lens 2011″ photography exhibition put on by palomar students, but while there i was able to check out a few more non-photographic galleries. First of all I was very impressed by some of the work by Palomar Students, it seems like they have a very strong photography department there because the exhibition has some FINE work. The gallery ranged from abstract composition to landscape photography. I was really impressed by the details in the work and was very motivated to once again pickup my camera, Some of the most attractive shots in my opinion were photographs of distant lands with subjects being candidly photographed of their daily life. I kind of kick myself in the butt everytime i see these kind of photographs because before i started traveling i didn’t invest in a good camera and missed out on some great opportunities, although it seems like the best thing from traveling is going places for me it definetly has to be the memories i bring back and since I’m a visual person what better than a good photograph…but now that’s changed a little bit i just have to get back on the road and commit myself to get some good images. another thing that interested me were the metal fusion photography samples on display, I had heard about it before but i never considered putting some of my work on that type of material, I will look into it in the future perhaps. I was also able to check out other art displayed by non-palomar students which included oil painting, acrylic, metal work and watercolor. It’s always inspiring to see the amazing work, like I said in the past, yes digital work is the way to go now and thats why I decided to look into graphic design but the reality is that I started drawing on a piece of paper, using crayons and colored pencils, that aspect of my art is something that I really want to go back to, I just have to find the time and just do it…

Click to view slideshow.

Art Event #7 – Gallery at CSUSM

deftony99 — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:23:25 +0000

The most recent gallery at CSUSM I’ve attended is up in Arts 100 building, I tried to find the gallery name but I couldn’t. The gallery has different art pieces, photography, oil painting, crafts and a few other. Often the work displayed in galleries is open to interpretation, you really don’t know the authors reason on why he took a certain photo, why they created a certain sculpture and/or the meaning behind their work. The nice thing about this gallery is that the artist showing give you a brief explanation behind their compositions. I think this is nice, sometimes when one creates something we do it with an agenda with a purpose, when others see it they might see it from a totally different point of view. Not in this case, you are given a reason and you understand what the author is trying to transmit. There where some strong pieces and were very well created. It’s also nice to be able to put a face to an actual work, some of the people showing I’ve had in classes and their personality is well reflected in their work…. The shots below have some samples, the photos and explanations are random, you want to find out what goes with what go check it out.

Art Event #6 – Queen Califia’s Magical Circle at Escondido

deftony99 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:18:44 +0000

So this past thanksgiving week my dogs got sick so i couldn’t really do much since i had to have one of them always by my side, the only thing i could do as part of her recovery was walk her a little bit. I really wanted to use this break to finish up all my Art events but was hindered by my predicament. While on one of this walks at kit carson park i came across a sculpture park, Queen Califia’s Magical circle – This is the work of the late Niki de Saint Phalle, a french sculptor, painter and film maker. To my surprise the creator was a well known artist in her time and had a long an successful career. I never knew how much history was behind this park. While researching her work i found out a little about her background, like that she had been kicked out of school for painting fig leaves red on the school’s statuary, she was once a model and other interesting facts. Another thing that stood out was that while living in spain she came in contact with the work of Antonio Gaudi, his work deeply influenced her and opened many unimagined possibilities for her, especially with regard to the use of unusual materials as structural elements in sculpture. Saint Phalle was particularly struck by Gaudí’s “Park guell” which persuaded her to create one day her own garden-based artwork that would combine both artistic and natural elements. A few years ago i had the chance to visit barcelona and was able to see gaudi’s work in person, as I stood in front of the sculptures in escondido I can totally see his influence in her work, this really changed how I saw the park it really became something special after i saw it in those eyes. Specially knowing that i was standing in front of her only work in america, she has other installations around the world like the one in italy where she bought the land on her own and created a sculpture park that took her 20 years to create but nowhere else in the States she had work but there where i was standing. With newfound respect for this park and artist I will remember the person that created it everytime i walk by it. hopefully others have the opportunity to enjoy it also.

http://queencalifia.org/

Art Event #5 Museum of photographic Arts – San Diego

deftony99 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:23:38 +0000

Being that Photography is one of favorite pastimes if not a passion I always try to keep this interest alive by attending photographic exhibitions. This past semester I was finally able to go to the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego on the 19^th of Nov. Only one word comes to mind when describing the work on display…stunning. I was so inspired by all the photography exhibitions, what attracts me to photography specially is the way another individual sees the world and then tries to stamps that onto photograph, all the pieces definitely reflected the personality behind the lens. Although I didn’t take many notes and didn’t write any names down (an imprudence on my part) one name that did stick out (only because i have a friend whose last name is that) is benoit aquin. His work was very appealing to me, I can’t really put my finger on why, the perception on his photographs, the de-saturation on some, the sepia tone accompanied by the powerful compositions, I don’t know maybe all that together made his work very attractive. A lot of times we take pictures to take pictures and sometimes randomly and out of nowhere we capture that one shot that hits us in our soft spots, that one shot that says more than what’s on the actual paper and we wish all our photographs would say the same. I don’t know how many hours the photographers on display spent thinking about what they wanted to transmit and portray in their work, but it’s guaranteed that they spent time thinking about their process and work flow, Just like anything in life, very seldom anything comes by coincidence. If I want great results/work I’m going to have to spend some good time thinking about the process which is going to be reflected in the end product, that is what I took from my visit to the museum

Art Event # 4 – Zombie Gallery at CSUSM

deftony99 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:35:07 +0000

I’m trying to remember all the galleries I visited at CSUSM this past semester. Since I spend most of my day here I always try to make a conscious effort to stop by and support all galleries by Art students. An Interesting one I remember was the gallery put on around late october, it had various pieces in different mediums with the theme being horror/zombies it even included work from a current classmate. The gallery again was a good way to see the interpretation from diffrent artist and their prefrered medium. I remember there where oil paintings, photographs, digital media and if I remember correctly what water color? The compositions were very different from one another and very lively (or deadly i should say) and didn’t follow a particular pattern it seems like the artist where given the freedom to express themselves however they wanted. One that I remember clearly was done in oil painiting and it seemed to be a sequence coming out of a horror movie, the zombie hand sticking out from the ground, ending with the final scene – a zombie attacking a woman – it’s always inspiring to see other’s peoples work, it gives you that little push you need to keep improving as an artist yourself and it even motivates you to explore different mediums other that your prefrered.

Art Event #3 galleria Wall at Todos Santos

deftony99 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:12:01 +0000

On Otober 6-10 I was able to go on vacation to san jose de los cabos in BC, Mexico. Initially the plan was just to go relax not do much but once there we decided to go check out the surroundings which included a trip to the little but well known town Todos Santos. What sparked interest in us was the artistic reputation this town had among the san jose locals, according the the people we spoke to the town artistic scene derived from many ex-pats living in the area and we were even more intrigued by the rumor that supposedly the song “hotel california” was written in a hotel in the town (which doesn’t appear to be true). While there, we where a little dissapointed that a lot of the galleries where closed except for one… Galleria Wall. Galleria Wall is owned and is the studio for Catherine Wall a well respected artist in the States and in the world – I did not know this while there but according to her site her paintings are in private collections in New York, Massachusetts, Washington DC, California and Mexico, and also in various European countries - looking back at her artwork i do see why she’s well respected I remember her work clearly, very colorful and very meaningful – alot of her pieces reflected the local culture and the way of life of the indigenous people perfectly. It seemed like she had adopted the local way of living and was able to express it well on the canvas. I was very impressed by her work, one of her pieces even reminded me of a piece i did myself in one of my palomar art classes, although mine was done in a different medium. her style very impressionist like was awesome. I’m not really familiar with the work she did before being transplanted to the little town of todos santos. I often hear stories of artist or photographers moving to different settigns/places/cultures in order to work on a project to better transmit a message or what not. I’m not really sure the reason mrs Wall moved there but I’m sure it has helped her explore and expand her artistic works, the area is definetly a source of inspiration.

Final Project – Vector Self Portrait

deftony99 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:44:11 +0000

Bottles assignment

deftony99 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:59:44 +0000

I was working on this when i accidentally kicked the power cable for my computer and I hadn’t saved my work so frustrated by all that lost time I re-did this but with less detail sorry….

Bottles

Crate Fruit label Project

deftony99 — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:17:38 +0000

For inspiration I chose the label below…Fighting bear my labels brand -

Rolling Mesh Assignment

deftony99 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:34:31 +0000

Rollinghills