Author: Sofia Narciso

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Internet culture allows us to have freedom in the sense that we have so much access to almost everything instantaneously, but it also comes with the fear of lawsuits and other messy drama. For instance, the saying goes “Once something is on the internet it never goes away.” This is saying is all too true because from one post people can copy and share and keep that post alive. There’s also a fear of people stealing your work and not giving you credit. Which is why copyright is available. I personally believe copyright should be weakened a bit more to allow other people to be able to easily use someone’s work in a different way. I used the CC Attribution 4.0 International License because it seemed like the one that allowed people to use my work with more freedom.

I enjoyed making my Remix piece. It reminded of my computer design class in high school where we used the editing software Pixler. That’s what I used to make a sort of parody on the brand “Thrasher.” The only difficult thing was trying to find a font generator that had allowed for free download of the Thrasher font, but eventually I found it.

Last week artist, Micol Hebron visited our class via Zoom. My first impression of her when I logged onto the Zoom meeting was thinking that whatever she was going so speak about would be interesting. She did not disappoint. Her energy was vibrant from the start, and she had my attention when she told us that she would show us some “nasty” photos.

Her work is based on her body and the fight for feminism. She really captured the definition of “shock art.” The first photo she showed us was picture of her pubes, and then she kept going showing us artwork of her boobs and then her entire body. A specific problem she had was that our society views men’s nipples as okay to show, but women’s nipples are not. Her art then focused on trying to break those constructs and she posted a topless picture of herself photoshopped with male nipples. My favorite photo she showed us was her take on Romulus and Remus, where she photoshopped having many boobs to “nurse” her dog.

Micol mentioned that she had been sexually abused from a young age and until her 20’s. Her art was a way for her to accept her body, and that’s why she would post pictures naked and also post detailed photos of her genitals.

Honestly, she is my favorite artist to have visit us. She is definitely an amazing example of a strong women and her fight with instagram was crazy but awesome story. I am grateful she was able to come and speak to our class.

This week I convinced my brother to join me in spray painting our names onto some cardboard. It was difficult to spray big bubble letters on the small piece of cardboard, however, we still got our names on there. I used my tag as “Suhfia” which is just my name spelled wrong. This experience was fun and easy. I put on some music and my brother and I began painting. We first tested our spray cans on some smaller pieces of cardboard, before moving on to the bigger pieces.

For my sustainable art project I chose to make a tower of used Keurig cups. The project is mix of small plastic cups and used coffee grounds which I used as fertilizer for my house plants. My idea was to build something but also have purpose and I achieved that through building the tower and using the coffee grounds. As you can see my household drinks a lot of coffee and the K-cup were just building up trash in the corner so it gave me purpose to clean as well as make art.

A kiss should last a good minute or until someone needs to breathe. A great meal should last a little over an hour. A work of art should last one hundred years. A marriage should last until death. A human life should last eighty years. Things that have a finite time should experienced more gratefully. Clean water, air, and land should be sustainable and long lasting. One person can make a difference in a problem such as climate change. The difference maybe incredible small but it is still a change.

The goal of my video was just to document my quarantine experience thus far. I did accomplish my goal because in my video I told my audience how I was coping with quarantine and things I’ve done in quarantine. If I were to vlog again, I would probably vlog myself actually doing something instead of just sitting in front of a camera talking about what I’ve done. I will probably vlog again if I ever travel. My favorite YouTubers are probably the Merrel Twins because they do the most random stuff and they’re pretty funny. Whenever they make videos they are truly themselves even when they make mistake they just laugh about it and still put it in their vlogs. Authenticity is someone’s true self, while performance is presenting something as a form of entertainment. Both of these ideas are not opposite and can are able to exist together. Sometimes when people perform they can be their authentic self. An example is when I was watching a video Little Mix performing live, and one of the members, Perrie Edwards breaks down and cries during one of their song because the lyrics were just hitting a little too close to home because she was dealing with a recent breakup. I think in the moment her sadness was authentic, yet she was still performing for her fans.

I think both videos of Jennifer Anniston are authentic. In both Kimmel asks questions about her and she answers them. The one in studio, however, is more performative because they are doing an interview in front of a live audience so things do have to move smoothly and be entertaining for audience.

Mahsa Soroudi is an Iranian artist. She was born in Tehran. Her father was a painter which sparked her connection to art. She has her BFA Painting from Sooreh University also located in Tehran. Soroudi is also an avid succulent caretaker.

Her piece, titled “Faded Away,” pictures above uses mixed media. The girl in the painting is monochrome, while the background is made up of cold colors and a rough textured patterns. This makes for a big contrast between the subject and the background. The girl is smooth and well put together, while the background behind her is rather messy and chaotic.

The woman in this painting has a very cautious look to her face as if she is scared something or someone might approach her. In this painting Soroudi brings to light the pressure than women feel even in their own solitude. That is why the woman in the painting looks uneasy although she is alone.

The contrast between the subject and the background is what initially made me choose this piece to write about. The girl in the picture is just putting on a sock, however she still looks scared. That emotion is what drew me in. It made me ask “why is she scared?” It also pushed me to ask myself, “Is something that I’ve been scared of that I always have my head turned back?”

I enjoyed doing the Human Spirograph project with my brother. I’ve only been back home for a week so we took precautions by wearing gloves and masks. I didn’t have a large sheet of paper so we just used a piece of cardboard. On the other hand trying to draw the CSULB campus was more stressful because it took more focus rather than just relaxing like the Human Spirograph. I think the Human Spirograph turned out much cooler than my version of the CSULB campus because it’s colorful and the lines just seem peaceful compared to a jagged map.

Ashley Anderson is a senior in the School of Art’s Illustration Program working on her BFA degree. Most of her art is fueled by her intake of art, history, books, movies, music, and video games.

Her piece Frog Went A-Courtin’ features light colors of blue and green. The lines are smooth, but the texture has a roughness to it. The scale of the painting fairly small, however, the wood behind makes the painting pop. The wood also gives it a rustic feel.

Listening to the explanation of the piece, Anderson explained it was frogs gathered to listen to the larger frog tell a story. She said the large frog was telling the younger frogs about the time he was had gotten married to a mouse which he later got a divorce.

My experience with the piece was very calming. It was simple, but still moving. I always love when artists’ have a story behind their pieces. It just adds more than what can be seen.

COVID-19 DREAM KILLER by Sofia Narciso

Laid back sitting here, chillin in the sun. We got no place to be. Stop your rustlin and settle down. Savor this moment with me.

Time is slipping as we’re gripping on to what we know. Hours pass by and we don’t why. I’m just trying to hold you close.

Cause it feels like the world is coming to an end. We can’t even begin to pretend that is everything is alright. Because COVID-19 is ruining our dreams. Yes, COVID-19 is ruining our dreams.

Get up on your feet, now it’s time to go. We got places to be. Leave your stuff that you won’t need. Now is not the time to be slow.

Time is slipping as we’re gripping on to what we know. Weeks pass by and we don’t know why. I’m just trying to hold you close.

Cause the world is coming to end. We can’t even begin to pretend that everything is alright. Because COVID-19 is ruining our dreams. Yessir, COVID-19 is ruining our dreams.

In this song, I was just thinking about what is going on in life at the moment. So I basically just spoke about what I was doing and then tried to rhyme it. It was pretty easy for me, and I expected it to be simple. I don’t think my song is super successful, however, it is more relatable. I would write another song, and it would probably be about my friends or my time in college.

For this project, I opted out from my usually jeans and sweatshirt for my minion onesie. My goal for this project was to try to weird as possible while still being approachable. When it was rush hour (in between classes) people just gave me weird looks or would have a little giggle. People who had the time came up to me and asked me questions trying to get clues for the questions I asked. Many people thought my name was Sarah, Grace, or Sam. Also many people guessed I was a theatre or art major and that I was from LA or Orange County. I found people’s reactions to be very joyful because it’s not everyday you see a minion offering a $7 starbucks card. I added the starbucks card as an incentive for people to talk to me. I actually found this project to be fun. I think of my self as a pretty sociable person so I enjoyed having conversations with strangers.