Vik Muniz Part II:

My artistic process is similar to Vik Muniz's process in the sense that I create photographs based upon the materials I have in front of me. For example, this past summer I decided to create a series of photographs based on me creating drawings on different plants and photographing them. I would not have come up with this idea if I had not been sitting through a tennis match bored out of my mind. I picked up a leaf and began to draw it and my idea came alive. 

 I also attempt to base my artwork off of other pieces and styles as Vik Muniz does. My "Family Portrait" is an example how I was studying different portraits photographers had created and the idea hit me to create a portrait that sums up my family as well as enacting a specific feeling. The day I was shooting my family portrait I had the idea in mind of creating a tragedy, so i shot a photograph based on my mother getting hit by a car, while exercising. Anyone who knows my mother knows that she is a fitness instructor for a living, so through my work, I was able to not only expel a specific feeling but also i provided my viewer with information about my family. 

Vik Muniz Homework Part I:

These are two of my favorite images that Vik Muniz has created. I enjoy the  first piece for the simple reason that i love taking pictures of landscapes, yet as much as i love photographing landscapes it is a problem for me to create a picture that is "perfect" in my eyes because usually when one takes a picture of a landscape there is a myraid of information in a small photograph. This leaves all the individual beauty to be clumped together resulting in the overall look of many landscapes forming into mush. Vik manages to not only create and isloate beauty in this landscape, but he also is responsible for carving this landscape out of the sand. I like how the subject of this photograph is so simplistic yet at the same time it is so beautiful, it illustrates to me the idea that all art does not have to be intricate, in fact some of the best pieces can be as simplistic as a paper plane if the overall design of the piece of art is executed correctly. 

The photograph below strikes my eye because creating art out of my food is often something that i try to do when I am bored at dinner. It is amazing to me that it occurred to someone else that this was possible and it amuses me that they actually used their plate as a canvas. This photograph really captures the essence of what i believe to be a true artist. A true artist can create something out of whatever crosses his/her canvas whether it is string, food or sugar.