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Social Justice Sculptors and their works

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Social Justice Sculptors and their works

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O ur May event was framed around the theme of New Social Sculpture . Social Sculpture , a term coined by artist Joseph Beuys in the 1970s united his idealistic utopian ideas with his aesthetic...

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Art has massive power to move people to social change.

By using their art as an innovative medium for awareness, artists become advocates, challenging the biggest issues of our time. Public art, then, capitalizes on the power of socially-aware works, reaching people in their everyday environments and confronting them with social injustice that is otherwise easily ignored.

From sculptures addressing systemic racism to murals celebrating Indigenous communities, public art is making a real-world social impact that deserves to be celebrated.

Though certainly not an exhaustive list, here are 15 recent, ongoing or upcoming public art projects working to advocate for human rights and improve communities.

1. Ethnicities

Created for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, this mural depicts five Indigenous people from five continents - a concept based on the five Olympic rings. The bold, geometric mural - created by Brazilian graffiti artist Eduardo Kobra - is meant to show how "we are all connected," according to the artist. It currently holds the Guinness World Record for largest mural created by one artist.

Kobra conceptualized the 623-foot mural, called Ethnicities, or Etnias in Portuguese. More than 493 gallons of paint and about 3,500 cans of spray paint were used to complete the mural, which took more than two months to create.

2. AIDS Memorial Quilt

A traveling public art project, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was created in June 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis in the United States. The ongoing project memorializes those who have died from HIV and AIDS through quilted panels, embellished with their names and symbolic imagery representing the person memorialized. Currently, the quilt is made up of more than 48,000 panels, with more added every year as more AIDS casualties are submitted to The NAMES Project Foundation.

The massive quilt is rarely displayed in its entirety, as it's become too large to display in many public spaces. Upcoming displays of the quilt can be found here. You can also view the quilt virtually here.

3. Field of Vision: A Garden for Others

In December 2015, artist and environmental activist Jenny Kendler was commissioned to create a butterfly garden in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. In creating Field of Vision: A Garden for Others, Kendler used reclaimed wood, ultraviolet LED lights and milkweed to create a garden in Louisville that would draw people back to an often-overlooked river, while also supporting vulnerable butterfly populations.

Kendler first designed the garden for pollinators, creating the art to primarily attracted monarch butterflies to a space where they could feed and lay eggs. All the elements are meticulously intentional - the milkweed attracts butterflies, for example, while blacklight replicates the far-superior sight butterflies have compared to humans.

4. Invisible Homeless

Homeless populations are often ignored on the street. A British artist wanted to challenge this, creating a glass sculpture of a sleeping body resting on a bed of cardboard, to represent how homeless people struggle to be seen on city streets.

The glass figure, which was on display in Bristol, England, in late December 2015, was created in collaboration between artist Luke Jerram and UK-based youth homelessness charity 1625 Independent People.

5. Stop Telling Women To Smile

These simple posters, created by New York City artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, carry a big message about a type of gender injustice women face regularly: street harassment. The series, called Stop Telling Women To Smile in reference to a common catcall, started in the fall of 2012 and is ongoing by the artist.

The publicly displayed posters feature the portraits of women, along with a quote relaying their experiences with street harassment. Fazlalizadeh hopes the captions speak directly to offenders by placing the posters outside in public spaces where harassment happens.

6. Untitled refugee life jacket installation

This art installation by noted Chinese artist Ai Weiwei showcased 14,000 used life jackets previously worn by refugees traveling from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos. The artist, hoping to highlight the severity of the ongoing refugee crisis, tied the striking orange vests to pillars of the Konzerthaus Berlin to command the attention of the general public.

The installation was debuted in Berlin in February 2016 outside of the concert hall in Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt square.

7. Breathing Lights

Concentrated in areas with high levels of vacancy in Upstate New York, Breathing Lights is meant to show society and communities that there is life still lurking in vacant properties. Artist Adam Frelin and architect Barbara Nelson conceived the temporary installation, which will illuminate windows of empty buildings with warm light that gently fades on and off to mimic breathing.

The art piece is meant to shed light on the ongoing divestment from low-income communities in the upstate region using bold imagery. Breathing Lights will premiere in Albany, Schenectady and Troy in October and November. The project received funding and support from Bloomberg Philanthropies in early 2016.

8. The Za'atari Project

The Za'atari Project is an ongoing series of public art murals that engages Syrian refugees, especially children, in art to make refugee camps less sterile and more welcoming.

Through a partnership with several nonprofits, artist Joel Artista has traveled to the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan for the past four years to help bring life to the camp. Many of the murals hinge on social issues, like access to water and hygiene. Artista says the activity is one of few structured activities for refugee children, many of which are out of school since being displaced.

9. Bodypainting at the Library

In June 2015, photographer Substantia Jones and artist Andy Golub collaborated to confront tourists and locals with radical body positivity - on the front steps of the New York Public Library. Gloub painted three self-identified fat women with green body paint and fluid black lines. Jones, a noted activist for the fat positive movement, photographed the women, also talking to passersby about body positivity, fat visibility and sizeism.

From navigating police officers questioning the legality of the project to men sexualizing participants, the two were up against a lot of hate.

But Jones said there was no doubt: "We made some people think."

10. All Hands On Deck

This project tackling racial justice, dubbed All Hands On Deck, was created by artist Damon Davis and activist Michael Skolnik in the aftermath of the death of Michael Brown. The pair decided to tackle the issue of police violence through art, uplifting those on the frontlines of activism and calling impacted communities to action.

Davis took photos of activists involved in Ferguson protests, representing those "holding up" the current racial justice movement. Their hands were photographed in a "hands up, don't shoot" gesture, a symbol that became iconic after the death of Michael Brown. The posters were pasted on boarded buildings around Ferguson during the protests following the acquittal of Darren Wilson in the death of Brown.

11. Stand Tall, Stand Loud

The sculpture, created by artist Aaron Bell, ties the history of current racial discrimination to historical roots of black oppression. The bold work features a noose-like head on a muscular body with a captivating windmill-like part in the heart of the piece. The base of the work reads, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter," quoting Martin Luther King Jr.

Bell went through a lengthy fight to have the work publicly displayed in Riverside Park in New York City, as city officials were quoted to say the work was set to be "adjacent to an area regularly programmed with passive recreational activities such as yoga, Pilates and senior movement." The piece, however, is currently on display.

12. Inflatable Refugee

The title of this work says it all. This art project is a 20-foot inflatable refugee, hoping to focus the general public's attention on the refugee crisis. Dubbed a nomadic art project, the inflatable refugee has set out around the world to spread awareness in places like Venice, Melbourne and Copenhagen.

The work, created by Belgian visual artist collective Schellekens & Peleman, is made from the same material used to make the inflatable boats many refugees use to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

13. Non-Violence

This knotted gun, simply titled Non-Violence, was first created by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd after the murder of John Lennon in 1980. Originally placed across the street from Lennon's home in New York City, the sculpture was moved to the U.N. Headquarters, calling for peace and non-violence.

Since then, however, it has become a symbol of the ongoing struggle for non-violence and gun control worldwide, serving as the symbol of the The Non-Violence Project, a nonprofit advocating for social change through violence-prevention programming.

There are currently 16 copies of the statue on display around the world, most of which are in Sweden.

14. Songs for Thomas Piketty

This may look like a regular boombox - and, truly, it is. But Dutch visual artist Dries Verhoeven took an innovative approach to throwback device, using it to advocate for homeless populations in the Netherlands.

The art project, Songs for Thomas Piketty, was created in response to the Netherlands implementing a ban on panhandling. The " begging boomboxes" play a song about unity and ask passersby for spare change, collecting money for those who can't. The temporary installation was in the Netherlands in March 2016, with all money collected donated to charities for the homeless.

15. Untitled wall around Donald Trump's Walk of Fame star

This wall, conceptualized and constructed by the artist known as Plastic Jesus, was placed around the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star of Donald Trump on July 20, 2016 - the same day Trump was officially nominated as the Republican Party's presidential nominee.

Complete with barbed wired and tiny "Keep Out" signs, the work played of Trump's controversial statements about building a wall on the southern border of the U.S. as part of a plan for immigration reform. The artist, known for progressive messages on social inequality, used the work to oppose Trump's comments.

"Personally, I've got nothing against Donald Trump," Plastic Jesus told The Huffington Post. "I have everything against his policies and the culture he's trying to create in America."

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15 public art projects that boldly advocate for social justice

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Art has massive power to move people to social change. By using their art as an innovative medium for awareness, artists become advocates, challenging the biggest issues of our time. Public art, then, capitalizes on the power of socially-aware works, reaching people in their everyday environments and confronting them with social injustice that is otherwise easily ignored.

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Cornelia Butler and David Platzker, 2018

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Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965–2016 | MoMA

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Exhibition. Mar 31–Jul 22, 2018. In 1996 Adrian Piper wrote, “It seemed that the more clearly and abstractly I learned to think, the more clearly I was able to hear my gut telling me what I needed to do, and the more pressing it became to do it.” Since the 1960s, this uncompromising artist and philosopher has explored the potential of Conceptual art—work in which the concepts behind the art takes precedence over the physical object—to challenge our assumptions about the social structures that shape the world around us. Often drawing from her personal and professional experiences, Piper’s influential work has directly addressed gender, race, xenophobia, and, more recently, social engagement and self-transcendence. Bringing together over 290 works, including drawings, paintings, photographs, multimedia installations, videos, and performances, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience her provocative and wide-ranging artwork. Occupying the Museum’s entire sixth floor and the Marron Atrium, Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions 1965–2016 charts the artist’s five-decade career, including early paintings inspired by the use of LSD; key projects such as Mythic Being (1973), in which Piper has merged her male alter ego with entries from her teenage journals; My Calling (Card) #1 and My Calling (Card) #2 (1986), business card–sized, text-based works that confront the reader’s own racist or sexist tendencies; and What It’s Like, What It Is #3 (1991), a large-scale mixed-media installation addressing racist stereotypes, which will be shown in the Marron Atrium. The result of a four-year collaboration between the artist, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, this is the most comprehensive retrospective of Piper’s work to date.

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Great lessons using signs and symbols in society

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Great lessons using signs and symbols in society

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Good for Grade 10 perhaps?

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Download the PDF here:
Listen Up Ive Got Something to Say.pdf
View the Issuu version here (if problems viewing, it is also available below):

We live in a society that is saturated with images and symbols. Every day we are bombarded with messages in the media. We are individuals, citizens, consumers as well as target groups. In this unit, the teacher will challenge students to create and examine the creative process and the role of the artist in society. Students will explore a societal issue through graphite, charcoal, pen and ink, watercolour and possibly mixed media. The three essential questions in this unit are linked to the strands in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10, The Arts, 1999. These questions will help students find and develop creative ideas, reflect on where original ideas come from and explore how ideas are developed and improved. This profile provides a variety of strategies for students to investigate creative theory. Through guided discovery and activities, teachers direct students to explore communication through art. Students use drawing and painting techniques, review the elements and principles of design and participate in activities that foster the creative process. This unit invites students to look at cross-curricular topics through social studies, literacy, history and mass-media. The process of the project rejects pre-planned solutions in favour of giving art students the experience of letting content emerge through expressionist strategies-opening themselves to what is given, downplaying unimportant text and imagery, emphasizing significant words and pictures, and juxtaposing additional materials to the emerging work (Olivia Gude, "Newspaper Ground" activity 2001).

Theory: How do artists use imagery to influence their audience?

Creation: How can artworks create reactions from the viewer?

Analysis: How do I communicate to others through my work?

Students are given several tasks to explore various techniques and the creation process. With the summative task, students will incorporate and elaborate these techniques to produce a work of art with a societal issue portrayed. The task given to students is:

The guidance department needs your help! Grade 10 Art has been approached to produce eye-catching work to promote awareness on various issues within student's lives. You will need to select and research your topic to generate ideas. Your work must be a response to the theme or issue you have chosen. You must create a work of art to be put on display throughout the school and possibly throughout various organizational offices within the city. Your piece must not be larger than your sketchbook (10 inches x 12 inches). You may position your work landscape or portrait. Your work must be in black and white but may have 1 additional colour if necessary (text only). Your work may be done using graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolour or mixed-media. You may include values in your colour choices if you see fit. All works should include text and have a written artist statement that is coherently eplaining your creative process and the interrelationship between your art, your theme and the community.

There are no prerequisites for Grade 10 (Open) Art. Teachers may need to do some diagnostic assessment in order to determine what prior knowledge students have acquired and modify the unit accordingly. Teachers may wish to refer to The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8, The Arts, 1998 if they wish but the activities should allow ample discovery, growth and experimentation.

Activity 1: What's Your Symbol? (Identifying and creating symbols) (1 x 70mins)

Task(s): Show various popular everyday symbols for students to identify (appendix 1).

Discuss and brainstorm in small groups of 4 (provide appendix 2) answering:

When do we use symbols? Where do we use symbols? Why do we use symbols?

Teacher leads a mind-map activity with groups taking turns sharing their answers (see appendix 3 for example).

Have students create 1-3 symbols that represent aspects of their lives (family, hobbies, cultural identity, interests etc.). Symbols may be drawn and cut out using black paper. Remind students that symbols should not contain text. Students can then arrange and glue them on white or coloured card/construction paper. Students may look through newspapers/magazines to generate ideas if needed. When complete, exchange with a partner to see if they can interpret the meaning.

As a closure, discuss symbols, symbolisms and review the mind-map. Present summative task to students.

Accommodations: Instructions are in print form and read aloud. Buddy scriber in groups.

Planning Notes: Have popular symbol photocopies ready and enlarged. Have Appendix 2 enlarged to A3 size and photocopied. 1 sheet per group. Teachers could also project the images using an LCD projector. Have various newspapers and magazines available in class.

Activity 2: iThink (Identifying issues and creating symbols) Essential questions 1 & 2 (2 x 70 mins.)

Task(s):The following words are each written on small cards:

abuse, alienation, animal rights, authority, bullying, celebrity, consumer, conspiracy, cultural identity, democracy, domestic violence, gender, global warming, heroes, human rights, inequality, injustice, isolation, loyalty, mass media, marriage, myself, obesity, patriotism, peace, peer pressure, politics, prejudice, propaganda, racism, scandal, security, sell, social class, stereotype, surveillance, terrorism, war, wealth, social welfare

Students are organized into groups of 3 or 4. Display all cards on a table for students to see. Read aloud all cards. Have groups select 2-3 they are interested in and return to their tables. Within their groups, students are to discuss their words and create symbols or visual representations for each using small pieces of paper and black marker. When complete, gather all symbols and words and see if the class can match them. Tape them to a large sheet of paper to display in class.

Look at Carl Beam's "Columbus Chronicles." Paul Insect's "Dunce Boy," Basquiat's "The Nile," Keith Harring's untitled work featuring a nuclear bomb and Banksy's "Applause 3" (see appendix 4).

Students choose 2 pieces of work and complete the Venn diagram task (see appendix 5).

Model an example with students. How do artists use imagery to influence their audience? How can artworks create reactions from the viewer? What do the works symbolize? Are there any similarities or differences? What do they mean? How do they make you react? Are your views influenced by the piece? What techniques were used to accomplish this? Where are the works displayed? Is it art?

Accommodations: Group students accordingly.

Planning Notes: Prepare words on cards. Print art productions. Photocopy appendix 5. Art pieces could also be digitally projected.

Activity 3: Art is the Issue (Artistic techniques using pen and ink) (6 x 70 mins.)

Part A: Have students look through magazines or newspapers and select 1 large image that interests them. Using tracing paper, have students trace the image using black marker (or ink) to create a silhouette and transfer to black construction paper. Look at the work of Kara Walker (appendix 6). Have them trace it again colouring in the negative space. Can the same image be interpreted differently?

Part B: Have students find 2 opposing images from magazines/newspapers that interest them. Students may trace or freely draw a line drawing of the image. Instruct students to place only 1 image on each piece of tracing paper. When complete, have students outline them with thin brushes and ink. Place one tracing paper over the other. Do the overlapped works change in meaning when combined? Highlight juxtaposition, substitution and overlapping. Show additional works by Banksy (appendix 7a) to strengthen the idea of juxtaposition. What effect does this create? Also show the work "Temptation" by Faile (see appendix 7b). Remind the students of Carl Beam's work and the 2 images he used.

Part C: Students draw a simple still life using twigs and ink (i.e. a piece of fruit). Have students draw another piece of food using pen and ink. Which do the students prefer? Why? What are the differences? Do they provoke any feelings or communicate different emotions (Essential question 3)?

Part D: Give students photocopy of Charlie Chaplin (appendix 8). Using charcoal, students colour their page black. With kneaded erasers, students erase the black to create the image of Chaplin.

Part E: Have students create a value chart of 3 tones (with 1 white/blank) using ink or watercolour. Model for students how to dilute the ink and/or apply watercolour. Show the work of Antony Micallef (appendix 9). Have students create an expressive portrait using a brush. What effects can be used? (stipple, splatter, wet on wet, dry on dry etc.)

Accommodations: Demonstrate relevant activities to students and have examples available.

Planning Notes: Print or digitally present the artworks. Have various newspapers and magazines available in class. Gather and prepare small pieces of black construction paper, tracing paper, thin brushes, ink, ink pens, twigs, and objects for still life (i.e. fruit). Print appendix 8 for students.

Activity 4: I Got the Power (Research) Essential question 3 (4 x 70 mins.)

Part A: Remind students of the issues that were raised in activity 2 by referring to the displayed symbol list. Are there any issues that students have concern about that are not represented? Add to list if necessary. Some issues may need to be elaborated upon and/or clarified. However, the issues are open-ended for personal interpretation. Students select an issue of relevance to them and write a statement explaining why this problem is of importance. In groups, students present their issue and statement and brainstorm ideas about the topic with their group. Each student may take notes from their groups to gather more ideas.

Part B: Students begin researching their topic through the library, the internet and begin gathering images (library, internet, newspapers, magazines etc.). Give students the planning sheet (appendix 10). Students should create juxtapositions that typically might not be related to the issue or idea. Where could your art have the most impact? How do I communicate to others through my work? Keep a log of your research in your sketchbook.

Planning Notes: Photocopy appendix 11. Reserve IT lab. Coordinate visit to school library.

Activity 5: Text Me (Writing verbal commentary to accompany) (2 x 70 mins.)

Task(s): Students should write a written commentary to accompany their piece. Students should also consider how to incorporate text into their work. They may include random words/sentences/facts or decide if they wish to write a slogan. The text may be a quote or the artists' own words. This activity may switch back and forth with activity 4.

Accommodations: ESL students may require language support for the written statement.

Activity 6: Ink Me (Summative assessment creation) 4 x 70 mins.

Task(s): Students should begin planning their composition. Remind students of juxtaposition and overlapping. They should create draft sketches and explain their work in small groups for feedback (What works? What doesn't? How can it be made more effective?). Some students may wish to project their found images to enlarge them. If so, projections should be alternated with discussions to maximize use. How do I communicate to others through my work (reinforce essential question 3)?

Planning Notes: Projectors may be required.

Activity 7: Guerilla Gallery (Presenting final product) Student mural project? (1 x 70 mins.)

Task(s): Display works and written statements around school and have a gallery walk. Invite other students, staff and parents to attend. Have each student write a description of the process and final product.

Extensions with real world connections: have students contact organizations within the community that may be interested in displaying their work such as local organizations or local papers. Collect donations for a suitable charity.

Encourage student self-evaluation of final design solutions. Teacher/self/peer evaluations of product with a rubric and teacher anecdotal comments/records. Providing comments at each stage of the project is important. Students should be given the rubric before beginning the summative task. Students to write a self-reflection of the process and final product.

Banksy: http://www.banksy.co.uk (BBC news report: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0IJSOq0xg)

For biographies and artworks on several of the above artists: http://www.lazinc.com/artists/zevs/

Kara Walker: http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker">http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/walker/index.html http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker

Jean-Michel Basquiat (interactive): http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/basquiat/street-to-studio/

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Download the PDF here: Listen Up Ive Got Something to Say.pdf View the Issuu version here (if problems viewing, it is also available below): We live in a society that is saturated with images and symbols. Every day we are bombarded with messages in the media.

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Working to Help transform our Conversation About Our World

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Jenny Holzer is an American Conceptual artist best known for her text-based public art projects. Exploring how language is used both as a form of communication and as a means of concealment and control, Holzer has employed a variety of media throughout her career, including large-scale projections, LED displays, T-shirts, and posters. "I used language because I wanted to offer content that people-not necessarily art people-could understand," she explained. Born on July 29, 1950 in Gallipolis, OH, Holzer received her BFA from Ohio University in 1972 and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975. Her popular series Truisms began in 1977, when she started pasting ambiguous quotes such as "ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE" and "PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT" throughout New York, while enrolled in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. The artist's works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, among others. in 1990 Holzer was the first woman to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale She currently lives and works in Hoosick Falls, NY.

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Jenny Holzer is an American Conceptual artist best known for her text-based public art projects. View Jenny Holzer's 976 artworks on artnet. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. See available sculpture, prints and multiples, and paintings for sale and learn about the artist.

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Gillian Wearing OBE RA (born 1963) is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the annual British fine arts award, the Turner Prize, in 1997. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Her statue of the suffragist Millicent Fawcett stands on London's Parliament Square.

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Gillian Wearing OBE RA (born 1963) is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the annual British fine arts award, the Turner Prize, in 1997. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

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Download Lesson Plan
Your students will love studying the artwork of contemporary artist and master painter Kehinde Wiley. They'll form opinions about his work and form a personal interpretation. Next, they will use their observations of the work to find inspiration for their own original art.

If you are unfamiliar with Wiley, this CBS News video and article provide a good overview of Wiley's work.

And, while Wiley is a great artist to start with, there are so many others that could serve as inspiration. For tips on how to choose the best artists to teach, be sure to take a look at the Art History in the Elementary Art Room PRO Learning Pack. You'll learn how to choose the perfect artists, themes, and projects to infuse art history into your curriculum and discover new ways to further students' understanding of big ideas.

This Art Ed lesson plan is 100% FREE to download! Use it in your classroom and share it with your colleagues. For more free lessons like this one, visit our Lessons Page, and download them all!

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Artists Are Inspired - Kehinde Wiley: Free Lesson Plan Download - The Art of Ed

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Your students will love studying the artwork of contemporary artist and master painter Kehinde Wiley. They'll form opinions about his work and form a personal interpretation. Next, they will use their observations of the work to find inspiration for their own original art. If you are unfamiliar with Wiley, this CBS News video and article ...

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30 Best Quotes in Pictures of the Week – May 19th to May 26th, 2012

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1. John Steinbeck on politics in America 2. ”It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” 3. ”I mean, people say y

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Sculpting a Modern Hero (Education at the Getty)

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Lesson plan in which students discuss attributes depicted in a sculpture of Herakles and create their own sculptures of modern-day heroes.

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Guerrilla Girls-Art for the Social Conscience

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Art, Books, and Creativity is a yearlong arts curriculum developed by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. ABC provides meaningful arts learning experiences while highlighting the natural connections between visual arts and language arts.

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Painting and shading over magazine images

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Painting and shading over magazine images

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Art, Books, and Creativity is a yearlong arts curriculum developed by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. ABC provides meaningful arts learning experiences while highlighting the natural connections between visual arts and language arts.

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Grayson Perry is a great chronicler of contemporary life, drawing us in with wit, affecting sentiment and nostalgia as well as, at times, fear and anger. In his work, Perry tackles subjects that are universally human: identity, gender, social status, sexuality, religion. Autobiographical references - to the artist's childhood, his family and his transvestism - can be read in tandem with questions about décor and decorum, class and taste, and the status of the artist versus that of the artisan. Perry uses the seductive qualities of ceramics and other art forms to make stealthy comments about society, its pleasures as well as its injustices and flaws, and to explore a variety of historical and contemporary themes. He works with traditional media such as ceramics, cast iron, bronze, printmaking and tapestry, and is interested in how each historic category of object accrues intellectual and emotional baggage over time.

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Grayson Perry is a great chronicler of contemporary life, drawing us in with wit, affecting sentiment and nostalgia as well as, at times, fear and anger. In his work, Perry...

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Biggie Smalls Canvas Art Print by Neil Shigley

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Biggie Smalls Canvas Art Print by Neil Shigley | iCanvas

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ALTER FALTER : Photo | Inspirational Artists | Pinterest | Coca Cola, Cola and Wei wei

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Visoth Kakvei, a Cambodian graphic artist, illustrator based in Maine, USA. The artwork includes Cambodian subjects and influences. Follow the inst… | CAMBODIANS | Bloggers | Pinterest | Illustrators, Artwork and Artist

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Visoth Kakvei, a Cambodian graphic artist, illustrator based in Maine, USA. The artwork includes Cambodian subjects and influences. Follow the instagram account and youtube @visothkakvei

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Cambodia. | Ethnicité | Pinterest | Cambodia

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Vik Muniz was born into a working-class family in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1961. As a young man he was shot in the leg whilst trying to break up a fight. He received compensation for his injuries and used this money to fund a trip to New York City, where he has lived and worked since the late 1980s. He began his career as a sculptor but gradually became more interested in photographic reproductions of his work, eventually turning his attention exclusively to photography. He incorporates a multiplicity of unlikely materials into this photographic process. Often working in series, Vik has used dirt, diamonds, sugar, string, chocolate syrup and garbage to create bold, witty and often deceiving images drawn from the pages of photojournalism and art history. His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide. His solo show at MAM in Rio de Janeiro was second only to Picasso in attendance records; it was here that Vik first exhibited his "Pictures of Garbage Series" in Brazil.

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Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of "catadores" -self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.

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These intimately scaled portraits use the visual language and gestures of 15th century icons to depict contemporary subjects selected by Wiley from the streets of New York City. The portraits are presented in specially designed frames that are architectural and gilded in the style of their Byzantine forebears.

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These photographers capture beautiful but sobering images, using their art to help fight for social justice.

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Dustin Yellin: A journey through the mind of an artist

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Dustin Yellin makes mesmerizing artwork that tells complex, myth-inspired stories. How did he develop his style? In this disarming talk, he shares the journey of an artist -- starting from age 8 -- and his idiosyncratic way of thinking and seeing. Follow the path that leads him up to his latest major work (or two).

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The Guerrilla Girls are feminist activist artists. Over 55 people have been members over the years, some for weeks, some for decades. Our anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from who we might be.

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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry examines the complex intersection of artistic practice and social activism as seen through the life and art of China's preeminent contemporary artist.

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How do artists respond to a world in flux? In what ways do artists act as agents of change, and what kinds of aesthetic choices do they make to express it?

This episode features artists who bear witness, through their work, to transformation-cultural, material, and aesthetic-and actively engage communities as collaborators and subjects.

More information and credits

Credits

Series Created By: Susan Dowling & Susan Sollins. Executive Producer & Curator: Susan Sollins. Series Producer: Eve Moros Ortega. Associate Curator: Wesley Miller. Director of Production: Nick Ravich. Production Coordinator: Ian Forster. Consulting Director: Charles Atlas. Editor: Lizzie Donahue. Director of Photography: Bob Elfstrom, Mark Falstad, Gary Henoch, Ian Serfontein, Joel Shaprio, Takahisa Araki, & Andrew David Watson. Additional Photography: Calistus Eziokwu & Laura Paglin. Sound: Steve Bores, Patrick Christensen, Ray Day, Darryl Dickenson, Lin Hau, Heidi Hesse, Mark Mandler, David Williams, & Dick Williams. Assistant Camera: Dave Bouley, Liu Hui, Jin Long Nan, John Marton, Joe Price, & Ted Sikora. Production Assistant: Logan Needle, & Dan Parsons. Ai Weiwei Interview: Phil Tinari. Assistant Editor: Crystal De Boulet, Dahlia Fischbein, Bahron Thomas, & Alex Zustra.

Art Direction and Design: Open, New York. Online Editor: Don Wyllie. Composer: Peter Foley. Voiceover Artist: Jace Alexander. Sound Editor: Margaret Crimmins & Greg Smith. Sound Mix: Cory Melious. Sound Assistant: Steve Giammaria. Artwork Animation: Frank Ferrigno. Graphics Animation: Urosh Perishic.

Artworks Courtesy of: Ai Weiwei; El Anatsui; Catherine Opie; Asia Society, New York; Cleveland Clinic Art Program, Arts & Medicine Institute; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; & Regen Projects, Los Angeles. Travel Agent: Sue Mackiewicz.

Special Thanks: The Art21 Board of Trustees; Ai Weiwei studio; El Anatsui studio; Nicole Belle; Nina Berger; Lisa Binder; Tanya Brodsky; Suzanne Bronski; Pat Casteel ; Cleveland Clinic; Joanne Cohen; Rita Cordova; Ralph Cuccurullo; Andrew Daubar; Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College ; Keith Eland; E-Shyh Wong; Jennifer Finkel; Lisa Fischman; Fotomuseum Winterthur; Harvard University; Toan Huang; Inserk Yang; Samara Levenstein; Lisson Gallery, London; Sheila Lynch; Christopher Mao; Elaine T. Meguerian; Fausto Meza; Museum for African Art, New York; Jennifer Ng; Diana Nyad; Office of the Mayor, New York; Jim Powell; Keith Shapiro; Somerset House, London; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama; Taliesin Thomas; Larry Warsh; & Steve Wylie.

Curatorial Advisory Council: Rachel Blackburn Cozad, Kris Douglas, Gary Garrels, Karen Higa, Margo Machida, Marti Mayo, Jill Medvedow, Anne Pasternack, John Ravenal, Paul Schimmel, Katy Siegel, & Judith Tannenbaum.

Additional Art21 Staff: Daniel Barrett, Carrie Caroselli, KC Forcier, Joe Fusaro, Jessica Hamlin, Claudine Isé, Marc Mayer, Jonathan Munar, Heather Reyes, Kelly Shindler, Sara Simonson, & Diane Vivona.

Interns: Alex Abelson, Paulina V. Ahlstrom, Don Edler, Lucy Healy-Kelly, Clara Jo, David Levine, Maren Miller, Molly Nathan, Tayo Ogunbiyi, & Persis Singh. Bookkeeper: Valerie Riley.

Public Relations: DKC Public Relations. Station Relations: De Shields Associates, Inc. Legal Counsel: Albert Gottesman.

Major underwriting for "Art in the Twenty-First Century" Season Six provided by: The National Endowment for the Arts, Agnes Gund, Bloomberg, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Broad Art Foundation, The Japan Foundation, & Toby Devan Lewis.

Closed captions

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Through the Art21 Translation Project, multilingual audiences from around the globe can contribute translations, making Art21 films more accessible worldwide.

Licensing

Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.

An outspoken human rights activist, Ai Weiwei infuses his sculptures, photographs, and public artworks with political conviction and personal poetry, often making use of recognizable and historic Chinese art forms in critical examinations of a host of contemporary Chinese political and social issues. In his sculptural works he often uses reclaimed materials-ancient pottery and wood from destroyed temples-in a conceptual gesture that connects tradition with contemporary social concerns. He also employs sarcasm, juxtaposition, and repetition to reinvigorate the potency and symbolism of traditional images and to reframe the familiar with minimal means.

Catherine Opie investigates the ways in which photographs both document and give voice to social phenomena in America today, registering people's attitudes and relationships to themselves and others, and the ways in which they occupy the landscape. At the core of her investigations are perplexing questions about relationships to community, which she explores on multiple levels across all her bodies of work. Whether documenting political movements, queer subcultures, or urban transformation, Opie's images of contemporary life comprise a portrait of our time in America, which she often considers in relation to a discourse of opposition.

El Anatsui 's sculptures are mutable in form, conceived to be so free and flexible that they can be shaped in any way and altered in appearance for each installation. Working with wood, clay, metal, and-most recently-the discarded metal caps of liquor bottles, Anatsui breaks with sculpture's traditional adherence to forms of fixed shape while visually referencing the history of abstraction in African and European art. The colorful and densely patterned fields of the works assembled from discarded liquor-bottle caps also trace a broader story of colonial and postcolonial economic and cultural exchange in Africa, told in the history of cast-off materials. The sculptures in wood and ceramics introduce ideas about the function of objects (their destruction, transformation, and regeneration) in everyday life, and the role of language in deciphering visual symbols.

Art21 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

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Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21's mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists.

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paintings by Jacques-Louis David and Kehinde Wiley | Art project ideas | Pinterest | Kehinde wiley, Paintings and Art history

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paintings by Jacques-Louis David and Kehinde Wiley

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Jenny Holzer, Times Square Sign, 1982. But honestly, that doesn't make me feel better at all. | Words & Quotes | Pinterest | Jenny holzer, Times square and Times

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Jenny Holzer, Times Square Sign, 1982. But honestly, that doesn't make me feel better at all.

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They are people who are to most of us, invisible. They are the homeless.

I have focused my art on capturing the incredible character that life on the streets has given these individuals, many of whom are from my neighborhood near downtown San Diego. A character that is hard earned through sometimes many years of life on the streets and the daily struggle for survival that that may bring.

Nobility, beauty, strength, vulnerability, they are there if we only look. The next time that you pass someone sleeping in the street. I hope you will realize that as a child, this is probably not the life that they had dreamed of leading. Each has a family, friends and a story of why they are where they are. By presenting these faces on a large scale we are forced to confront them and the situation that so any like them find themselves. Children who are without parents or role models are at most risk of being on the streets. As a human being I can't help but feel compassion for these individuals and by presenting them in this large format perhaps it will bring them into focus. Making them visible.
"Invisible People" A film by...
March 10, 2015
Successful exhibit at the Oceanside...
March 10, 2015

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I have focused my art on capturing the incredible character that life on the streets has given these individuals, many of whom are from my neighborhood near downtown San Diego. A character that is hard earned through sometimes many years of life on the streets and the daily struggle for survival that that may bring.

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In Quaint Cambodia - Costume, Dance & Sclupture  - Camnbodia & The Khmers | // musée de l'histoire khmère | Pinterest | Cambodia, Angkor and Siem reap

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In Quaint Cambodia - Costume, Dance & Sclupture  - Camnbodia & The Khmers

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Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950, Gallipolis, Ohio) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick Falls, New York. The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces. Holzer belongs to the feminist branch of a generation of artists that emerged around 1980, looking for new ways to make narrative or commentary an implicit part of visual objects.

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Anton Kannemeyer - 12 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy

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Find the latest shows, biography, and artworks for sale by Anton Kannemeyer

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Last Updated on April 2, 2023

Many art students begin the year by brainstorming possible ideas, topics or themes for their art projects. This article features creative mind map examples and other visual brainstorming illustrations to inspire high school students.

Sometimes coming up with ideas for an Art project takes place within the classroom - an interactive discussion between students and teachers; on other occasions students formally document ideas within their sketchbooks. Humans have a tendency to think in a multi-dimensional way - that is, with lots of things occurring simultaneously, triggering further ideas. Rather than attempting to record thoughts in a sequential, linear fashion (i.e. writing these down in lists or paragraphs), students can find it helpful to collect, record and organize ideas graphically, using visual diagram such as a mind map. If this brainstorm is submitted as part of assessment material, it is essential that this is presented well.

What is a mind map?

Mind map creator Tony Buzan coined the term 'mind map' to refer to a diagram that has a branch or root-like structure radiating from a central image on the page, and which uses lines and color to show relationships, groupings and connections between words, ideas and images. A mind map helps students think clearly and ensures that a range of possibilities are considered, encouraging thinking outside-the-box.

How to make a mind map

Tony Buzan's recommendations include: using a landscape format; starting with a central image to represent your topic or theme; using curving lines to add main branches to the center and then connecting these to smaller branches; using single words and images; and adding colors for aesthetic and organizational purposes.

It should be noted, however, that when your Art teacher asks you to begin creating a mind map, they are almost always happy with any visually pleasing representation of ideas - such as a tree diagram, spider diagram - or even just a splurge of thoughts on paper, as long as it documents a range of ideas and possibilities connected to a theme (or a set examination topic). The examples below, therefore, contain different visual brainstorming methods, not just those that are official mind maps.

Guidelines for Art Students

When brainstorming ideas for a high school Art project, remember that:

Single words are unlikely to express an idea adequately. As you think though possibilities, it is likely that you will want to jot down whole phrases and brainstorm possible ways of beginning or approaching a subject. Intentions and possibilities should be clear to someone else who reads the mind map at a later date;

Images should be sourced first-hand (i.e. drawn or photographed yourself) or clearly referenced, and should be integrated within the mind map in a visually pleasing way;

The appearance of the mind map is crucially important. This is likely to be one of the first things an examiner sees when opening your sketchbook - first impressions count.

Creative mind map examples and visual brainstorming ideas

Please note that although some of these presentation methods are more complex and time consuming than others, this not does mean they are better. Sometimes a quick, expressive splurge of ideas upon paper is all that is needed.

Take a beautiful photograph to place in the center, as in this example of a mind map by Dave Tiedemann:

Use painted areas to contain text, as in these creative examples by artist Martha Rich:

Draw lots of small pictures to illustrate ideas visually, as inspired by this map of London reimagined as the human body, illustrated by Nicole Mollet:

Use collage to make a mixed media mind map, as in this example by high school student Chloé Zinn:

Integrate a mind map with an 'incomplete' image that extends across the page, inspired by this digital illustration by Alex Plesovskich:

Collage torn images, textures and surfaces together, as in this example by Brittney:

Create mind maps from flowing painterly forms, as in this amazing example by artist Ward Shelley:

Draw over an abstract watercolour ground, as in this artist mind map by Roberta Faulhaber:

Create a simple mind map using text, with circles and dots for emphasis, as in these examples by Lia Perjovschi:

Record a stream of consciousness using handwriting and images, as in this journal by Sabrina Ward Harrison:

Brainstorm ideas using chalk on a blackboard or whiteboard and photograph it, such as this mind map by Julien Muckensturm:

Make a mind map on small pieces of paper and cardboard, inspired by the road map created from multiple sketches by strangers, compiled by Nobutaka Aozaki:

Attach images and notes to a pinboard, as in the 'Capturing Memory Mind Map' by Red Biddy:

Hand write ideas over a photograph, as in this example by Stefan Sagmeister:

Create a mind map online using free mind map software, a mind map app or any other digital drawing tool, as in these bubble diagrams by Leoni Wharton:

Make a textural collage of ideas, as in this GCSE Art mind map by Jessica Rump, while studying at King's Lynn Academy:

Produce a sprawling hand-drawn mind map, as in this example by Tlemermeyer:

Use illustrations and colors to communicate and emphasize ideas, as in these sketchbook pages by Eva-Lotta Lamm:

Integrate observational drawings, as in this example by high school student Laura Viruly:

Organize ideas visually in a grid formation, as in this illustration by Grid London:

Add a painterly splurge in the center, from which ideas extend, as in this Year 11 exam example from Bishop Luffa School:

Integrate text within an artwork, as in this example by Julia Lewis-Thomas:

Use multiple colored pens, as in these examples by Asiphe Sinari and Elà Aguiar:

Use a ruler to frame images and text, as in this example by Annie Richardson:

Once you have selected a presentation method for your brainstorming, the next step is to actually generate some ideas! Please read our guide to selecting a great Art project idea.

You may be interested in our new book: Outstanding High School Sketchbooks. This book has high-resolution images so that fine details and annotation are clear, making it an excellent resource for students and schools. Learn more!

Need more help with your high school sketchbook?

This article is part of a series we have published about high school sketchbooks. You may also be interested in viewing our other sketchbook resources:

This mind map collection is continually updated. Please bookmark this page so that you can return to it when needed! If you would like to submit your own mind map for inclusion, please contact us. ????

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How to Make a Mind Map: Creative Examples for High School Art Students

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This article features 23 creative mind map examples and other visual brainstorming illustrations to inspire high school Art students.

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This Kehinde Wiley presentation is a great way to introduce your students to this phenomenal artist. It includes a script with questioning. Allow 10 - 15 minutes.

The script is within the presentation that you download. Open it in PowerPoint and then go to View, Notes Page, and then file, print.

Register and then choose the 'Free' subscription to download 3 free resources a month!

For even better value, purchase an All Access Pass here

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Kehinde Wiley Presentation - The Arty Teacher

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This Kehinde Wiley presentation is a great way to introduce your students to this phenomenal artist. It includes a script with questioning. Allow 10 - 15 minutes. The script is within the presentation that you download. Open it in PowerPoint and then go to View, Notes Page, and then file, print.

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"When we were young, we loved being modern," an unseen female narrator says at the start of "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock & Roll," the 2014 documentary film directed by John Pirozzi. The words are spoken in Khmer, Cambodia's official language, and translated onscreen, accompanied by stark graphics and ominously rumbling music composed by Scot Stafford. "Then Pol Pot took over Phnom Penh in 1975," the narrator continues. "I was a singer." An old photograph of a lovely young woman, smiling and chic, materializes slowly, its sepia tone connoting faded memories.

There is a surprise waiting in "Don't Think I've Forgotten," a labor of love that Pirozzi painstakingly assembled over a span of close to a decade, although the story it tells holds no mystery. Anyone who knows the history of modern Cambodia - its peaceful liberation from French occupation in 1953, its rush to modernization under the culturally enlightened monarch Norodom Sihanouk, the incursion of the Vietnam War, and the blood-soaked rise to power of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, which exacted a horrific toll on intellectuals and artists in particular - will understand that Pirozzi's topic is not the stuff of happy endings.

The surprise, then, is how much tangible evidence of a thriving, joyous Cambodian musical scene the director was able to retrieve and bring to light. Pirozzi, who became aware of Cambodian pop while working on Matt Dillon's feature film "City of Ghosts" in 2001, pursued his subject with a detective's resourcefulness and a music nerd's gusto. In a previous documentary, "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong" (2007), he took the members of Dengue Fever, a Los Angeles band inspired by vintage Khmer pop, to Cambodia, the native land of its lead singer, Chhom Nimol, and tracked down some of the surviving artists of that era.

Some of the biggest names in Cambodian pop, understandably, were no longer around to participate - in particular Sinn Sisamouth, a suave, prolific, and trend-setting singer who might be considered the Khmer Sinatra, and who is presumed to have died in the Killing Fields. But Pirozzi located and interviewed witnesses, scholars, and a key handful of musicians, such as Sieng Vanthy. Hers, it turns out, are the voice and the image that open the film. In a gripping interview, Vanthy, who died in 2009, reveals that she'd survived an encounter with the Khmer Rouge by claiming to be a banana merchant.

Through miraculously preserved film footage, as well as old photographs and album covers, we are introduced to a lively, swinging milieu that suits perfectly Cambodia's embrace of all things modern in the '50s. Its participants - artists and listeners alike - are young and happy, their adoption of French and English styles, Latin American influences, and American appropriations adept and joyous. Viewers will delight in discovering acts like the twangy Baksey Cham Krong, Cambodia's eminent surf-guitar combo, and the heavier, funkier Drakkar - both of which have reunited to reap unexpected benefits provided by screenings of Pirozzi's film.

The music, the stuff of cultish collectors for decades, is thrilling. And although there is genuine horror in the way that many of these luminaries were cast into shadow, prematurely and brutally, there remains a certain triumph to be had in Pirozzi's film. It offers confirmation, if not exactly consolation, that brighter efforts of the human spirit can sometimes persevere.

More movie reviews:

* 'The Look of Silence' revisits the 1965 Indonesian genocide

* Following the path of justice in Florida in '3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets'

* In 'The Tribe,' a school for the deaf becomes the world

Steve Smith can be reached at steven.smith@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nightafternight.

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An unexpected look into Cambodian rock before the killing fields - The Boston Globe

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"When we were young, we loved being modern," an unseen female narrator says at the start of "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock & Roll," the 2014 documentary film directed by John Pirozzi. The words are spoken in Khmer, Cambodia's official language, and translated onscreen, accompanied by stark graphics and ominously rumbling music composed by Scot Stafford.

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"Don't Think I've Forgotten," an upcoming documentary film, traces the story of Cambodia's lost rock 'n' roll era.

The movie's title, Don't Think I've Forgotten, was taken from a famous Sinn Sisamouth song of the same name.

When it comes to Cambodian music, many people are familiar with contemporary pop songs or some of the more traditional stuff.

Far less familiar is the country's rock 'n' roll scene of the 1960s and 70s, when performers infused traditional Cambodian music with power rock rhythms from the West, creating a rare and original soundtrack to the defining decades of modern Cambodian history.

It's a subject that American film-maker John Pirozzi attempts to capture in his yet to be released documentary, "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll."

It was a time when the country's most prized voices - Ros Sereysothea, Sinn Sisamouth, Pan Ron and Huy Meas, to name but a few - boomed from the clubs of Phnom Penh and blared across the radio airwaves from Ratanakkiri to Koh Kong.

Yet for all its musical magnificence, the story of Cambodia's rock 'n' roll scene is nearly forgotten, Pirozzi says.

"It just seemed like an interesting story that hasn't been told," he explains of the movie's inspiration during a telephone interview from Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Pirozzi is no stranger to Cambodia. He is married to Linda Saphan, a Cambodian-born artist who did research for the documentary. He was the camera operator for "City of Ghosts," a 2002 feature film shot in Cambodia and directed by Matt Dillon, who also starred in the movie.

"Don't Think I've Forgotten" is still unfinished. Editing, a long and arduous process for any feature-length film, still needs to be completed. Pirozzi conducted more than 70 interviews. He spoke with many of the musicians who played during the 60s and 70s. Some still live in Cambodia, but many have moved abroad to France, the United States and elsewhere. In the process, Pirozzi amassed nearly 150 hours of filmed interviews in three different languages - Khmer, English and French.

He spoke with two sisters of the late pop starlet Ros Sereysothea, who disappeared under the Khmer Rouge regime.

"They had very good memories of her," Pirozzi says, noting that Ros Sereysothea's mother used to watch many of her daughter's shows.

The Western-influenced rock 'n' roll scene in Cambodia stretches back as far as the early 1960s, when such hits as "The Twist" were popular, Pirozzi explains.

Pirozzi and his film crew pose with Sieng Vanthy, former lead singer of the 70s super group SKD.

Long hair for guys and bell-bottoms soon followed, and the scene continued to flourish until 1975 when the Khmer Rouge came to power and went about systematically wiping out all traces of Western influence.

Still, there was a vibrant rock scene in place for over a decade.

"The middle class, upper middle class and rich kids were pushing the boundaries," Pirozzi says.

Sinn Sisamouth started out as a "crooner and big band guy" in the 50s and continued to be a prominent figure for the duration of the rock 'n' roll scene, he points out.

"I always saw him as an Elvis Presley of Cambodia," Pirozzi says.

Pirozzi recently screened a rough-cut of his film at a local movie house in Phnom Penh. The response was "overwhelming," he says. The final cut should be finished by January, if everything goes smoothly. And if Pirozzi can raise more money, which he admits has been difficult.

Traveling around the globe to interview people for the film has been daunting, not to mention expensive. But for reasons not always easily explainable, the native New Yorker says that Cambodia's music remains a story he just can't forget.

"Sometimes," he says, "I look in the mirror and say, 'I am crazy'."

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"Don't Think I've Forgotten," an upcoming documentary film, traces the story of Cambodia's lost rock 'n' roll era. The movie's title, Don't Think I've Forgotten, was taken from a famous Sinn Sisamouth song of the same name. When it comes to Cambodian music, many people are familiar with contemporary pop songs or some of the more traditional stuff.

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Cambodian Space Project: Not Easy Rock N Roll, by Cambodian Space Project

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Cambodian Space Project: Not Easy Rock N Roll by Cambodian Space Project, released 24 May 2013 1. Not Easy Rock N Roll / Che Vet Nak Reng Chreng Rock & Roll 2. BABY LADY BOY / Koun K'Tey 3. Don't Say You Love Me / Kom Vea Cha Tha Snaeha Khnom 4.

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cambodian traditional dance | Traditional Cambodia Dance | Pinterest | Traditional, Dancing and Cambodia

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Angkor Watt Vintage travel ad | ★VINTAGE★ | Pinterest | Angkor, Cambodia and Vintage travel

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Phnom Penh, Samand, one of the royal dancers - "Picture Postcards of Cambodia 1900-1950" by Joel G. Montague. | Khmeritage | Pinterest | Picture postcards, Phnom penh and Cambodia

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Phnom Penh, Samand, one of the royal dancers - "Picture Postcards of Cambodia 1900-1950" by Joel G. Montague.

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FlourishAnyway believes there is a playlist for just about any situation and is on a mission to unite and entertain the world through song.

You Have the Power to Make a Difference

If you feel small and anonymous, there's a good reason for it. Along with 7.5 billion other people on this planet, you're just one person swimming in a vast sea of humanity.

What could a single individual do to make a difference? Problems such as climate change, gun control, immigration, poverty, and pet overpopulation-they may seem too daunting. Is it worth the effort to try to change the world?

I urge you to instead consider the consequences of not doing so. Pick an issue you care about deeply. Dare to educate yourself about it because facts still matter. Connect with other people and share your story, your vision. Go local or go big, just do something.

Rather than stand there and shake your head, be a soldier in the good fight by throwing grenades of kindness, love, and compassion. Disrupt the status quo with fresh ideas and a desire to see them through. Hurl smiles and encouraging words. Arm yourself with civility and acceptance for others. Whether you're seeking to change laws, individual lives, or attitudes, the opportunity is yours to step forward and make a difference.

To motivate and inspire you onward, here is a list of pop, rock, country, R&B, and hip-hop songs about changing the world. Now go use your powers for good!

1. "One Man Can Change the World" by Big Sean (featuring Kanye West & John Legend)

Written as a tribute to Big Sean's late grandmother, this 2015 hip-hop song reminds us that we each have the power within us to change the world. Mildred V. Leonard was one of the first black female captains in World War II, returning home to earn a bachelor's and master's degree and serve as one of Detroit's first black female police officers-a true trailblazer.

As the family matriarch, Mildred encouraged Big Sean to pursue his dreams, and he passes her message of inspiration to others:

I hope you learn to make it on your own
And if you love yourself just know you'll never be alone ...

And when you get it all just remember one thing
Remember one thing: That one man could change the world.

2. "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer

Every generation feels misunderstood and disenfranchised because they are young. Each wave of young people faces its own crisis of conscience regarding whether to stand up and make necessary changes in the world or continue to watch from the sidelines.

In this 2006 rock song, the narrator describes feeling marginalized by leaders and resents that his generation is regarded as standing for nothing. He describes the heavy burden of working to change an unfair system that controls the flow of information. (Hey, nothing worth fighting for is easy!) Rather than getting angry and impatient enough to change the world now, he takes the approach that one day his generation will be in charge. How do you want to do it?

3. "Spiritual Revolutionary" by Nabil and Karim

With a central message that change begins from within, this 2017 hip-hop song encourages listeners to discover what inspires them and know what they stand for. It cites Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote about changing the world by starting with yourself: " You must be the change you want to see in the world."

4. "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke

Released in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement, this R&B song was inspired by Sam Cooke's personal experience of racism and discrimination. It reminds us that "You must be the change you want to see in the world."

6. "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson

Let the dominoes of positive change start with you!

This 1987 tune is one of my favorite pop songs with a message, and it features a narrator who confesses that he has too often been self-centered rather than being concerned with the world around him. By becoming a better person, he seeks to grow into a role as a more conscious global citizen:

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.

8. "Change" by Carrie Underwood

When you're on the very low end of the wage scale, even a temporary setback can mean the difference between having nightly shelter and being forced to live on the streets. Sadly, more than half a million people in the United States today live on the streets, in shelters, in subsidized transitional housing, or in their cars.

This 2009 country song oozes empathy for such vulnerable people by drawing attention to that spare change on your floorboard, sticky with Coke. That forgotten money may not be worth much to you, but it could help change someone else's world. The song puts the onus on you: " Whatcha gonna do?"

Tell Us in the Comments Section How You're Trying to Change the World

12. "I Need to Wake Up" by Melissa Etheridge

In a world full of problems, become one of the solutions. We need you!

This 2005 rock song urges you to wake up and speak out so that others can feel your urgent call to action. The narrator feels that she must have been sleeping until now, having ignored the plight of climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution. Making up for lost time, she wants to spur others onward to change.

13. "Imagine" by John Lennon

John Lennon sang of peace and unity in this classic rock song during the waning years of the Vietnam War. A decade later, he would become a victim of gun violence.

This tune creates an idyllic picture of humanity laying down its weapons and joining together in brotherhood, no one hungry, greedy, or self-righteous:

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.

14. "One Love" by Bob Marley and The Wailers

Now as much as ever, we could use the global unity that Bob Marley is calling for in this reggae-infused song from 1965. The narrator urges us to hear the children crying, give thanks to God, and join forces for good.

He also notes that evildoers with their hearts full of corruption will have no place to hide. During his lifetime, Marley was a vocal anti-apartheid advocate.

16. "Once a Day" by Michael Franti & Spearhead (featuring Sonna Rele & Supa Dups)

You never know what curveballs life will throw you, so rise up and live a purposeful life. This 2016 reggae-influence song nourishes the soul with its positive message. Written after his young son was diagnosed with a kidney disorder, it encourages us to each show kindness and gratitude in our lives as a way of making the world a better place.

If you like this song, why not make yourself a playlist of other uplifting and positive songs to help boost your mood and keep you motivated for change?

17. "Same Love" by Macklemore & Ryan (featuring Mary Lambert)

This 2012 hip-hop song became an international hit, the first Top 40 in America to promote gay marriage, and ultimately an anthem for marriage equality. The narrator describes various homophobic stereotypes. I'm sure you know them all. He also calls out hip-hop culture for its homophobic slurs by pointing out that civil rights are human rights, whether we're talking about the LGBT community or people of color.

Gay marriage was eventually legalized in the United States in June 2015 as a result of a landmark Supreme Court case.

18. "Change the World" by Colby and Awu

There are so many factors dividing our world today, including politics, religion, and socioeconomic status. This motivational pop song from 2013 urges us to stop dehumanizing and polarizing the opposition, and instead seek common ground.

The fate of humanity is intertwined, thus the song advocates seeking to understand others first and opening both your heart and your mind to the mindblowing possibility of peace. Hate won't get us to a better place. Only sympathy, empathy, and positive partnerships will. Are you in?

19. "Do Something" by Matthew West

Tired of waiting for someone else to do something about the issue you care about? This Contemporary Christian song from 2012 takes the vantage point that recognizing the problem is not enough. Wanting change is simply a start. You have to do something.

Nothing will change if you simply sit still, so get up and own your place in the world to make it better.

20. "If You're Out There" by John Legend

Consider this 2008 R&B number an urgent call to action. It's time for the new generation to answer the narrator's plea and lead change in the world.

The narrator urges listeners to conquer hunger, hate, and violence through love. He has the conviction that a better world is possible:

If you hear this message, wherever you stand
I'm calling every woman, calling every man
We're the generation
We can't afford to wait
The future started yesterday, and we're already late.

Even More Songs About Changing the World

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You're more powerful in changing the world than you think. Whatever your social cause is, become an activist and make positive change now. Here's a list of pop, rock, country, and hip hop songs to motivate and inspire you. Use your powers for good.

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On his way to becoming an international icon, the subversive and secretive street artist turned the art world upside-down

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Kehinde Wiley Puts a Classical Spin on His Contemporary Subjects

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The painter Kehinde Wiley, the subject of a coming Brooklyn Museum retrospective, is known for vibrant, photo-based portraits of young black men in poses culled

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Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He developed a love for drawing at a very early age, learning basic cartooning skills from his father and from the popular culture around him, such as Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney.

Upon graduation from high school in 1976, Haring enrolled in the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, a commercial arts school. He soon realized that he had little interest in becoming a commercial graphic artist and, after two semesters, dropped out. While in Pittsburgh, Haring continued to study and work on his own and in 1978 had a solo exhibition of his work at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center.

Later that same year, Haring moved to New York City and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In New York, Haring found a thriving alternative art community that was developing outside the gallery and museum system, in the downtown streets, the subways and spaces in clubs and former dance halls. Here he became friends with fellow artists Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as the musicians, performance artists and graffiti writers that comprised the burgeoning art community. Haring was swept up in the energy and spirit of this scene and began to organize and participate in exhibitions and performances at Club 57 and other alternative venues.

In addition to being impressed by the innovation and energy of his contemporaries, Haring was also inspired by the work of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Robert Henri's manifesto The Art Spirit, which asserted the fundamental independence of the artist. With these influences Haring was able to push his own youthful impulses toward a singular kind of graphic expression based on the primacy of the line. Also drawn to the public and participatory nature of Christo's work, in particular Running Fence, and by Andy Warhol's unique fusion of art and life, Haring was determined to devote his career to creating a truly public art.

As a student at SVA, Haring experimented with performance, video, installation and collage, while always maintaining a strong commitment to drawing. In 1980, Haring found a highly effective medium that allowed him to communicate with the wider audience he desired, when he noticed the unused advertising panels covered with matte black paper in a subway station. He began to create drawings in white chalk upon these blank paper panels throughout the subway system. Between 1980 and 1985, Haring produced hundreds of these public drawings in rapid rhythmic lines, sometimes creating as many as forty "subway drawings" in one day. This seamless flow of images became familiar to New York commuters, who often would stop to engage the artist when they encountered him at work. The subway became, as Haring said, a "laboratory" for working out his ideas and experimenting with his simple lines.

Between 1980 and 1989, Haring achieved international recognition and participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. His first solo exhibition in New York.was held at the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981. In 1982, he made his Soho gallery debut with an immensely popular and highly acclaimed one-man exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. During this period, he also participated in renowned international survey exhibitions such as Documenta 7 in Kassel; the São Paulo Biennial; and the Whitney Biennial. Haring completed numerous public projects in the first half of the 80's as well, ranging from an animation for the Spectacolor billboard in Times Square, designing sets and backdrops for theaters and clubs, developing watch designs for Swatch and an advertising campaign for Absolut vodka; and creating murals worldwide.

In April 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retail store in Soho selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons and magnets bearing his images. Haring considered the shop to be an extension of his work and painted the entire interior of the store in an abstract black on white mural, creating a striking and unique retail environment. The shop was intended to allow people greater access to his work, which was now readily available on products at a low cost. The shop received criticism from many in the art world, however Haring remained committed to his desire to make his artwork available to as wide an audience as possible, and received strong support for his project from friends, fans and mentors including Andy Warhol.

Throughout his career, Haring devoted much of his time to public works, which often carried social messages. He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, in dozens of cities around the world, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, children's day care centers and orphanages. The now famous Crack is Wack mural of 1986 has become a landmark along New York's FDR Drive. Other projects include; a mural created for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, on which Haring worked with 900 children; a mural on the exterior of Necker Children's Hospital in Paris, France in 1987; and a mural painted on the western side of the Berlin Wall three years before its fall. Haring also held drawing workshops for children in schools and museums in New York, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo and Bordeaux, and produced imagery for many literacy programs and other public service campaigns.

Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, its mandate being to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children's programs, and to expand the audience for Haring's work through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images. Haring enlisted his imagery during the last years of his life to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS.

During a brief but intense career that spanned the 1980s, Haring's work was featured in over 100 solo and group exhibitions. In 1986 alone, he was the subject of more than 40 newspaper and magazine articles. He was highly sought after to participate in collaborative projects ,and worked with artists and performers as diverse as Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T. Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol. By expressing universal concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war, using a primacy of line and directness of message, Haring was able to attract a wide audience and assure the accessibility and staying power of his imagery, which has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th century.

Keith Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 on February 16, 1990. A memorial service was held on May 4, 1990 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, with over 1,000 people in attendance.

Since his death, Haring has been the subject of several international retrospectives. The work of Keith Haring can be seen today in the exhibitions and collections of major museums around the world.

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Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He developed a love for drawing at a very early age, learning basic cartooning skills from his father and from the popular culture around him, such as Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney.

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When people think of art, they think of bizzare creations and beautiful intricate paintings hung up in museums. Essentially, the process of bringing an artwork to life is a creative one but art itself can also serve a purpose. It can be used as a way to raise awareness about issues that affect us in our daily lives.

In this instance, we'll explore the creative innovations of artists who create their art not just for the sake of it but to get their message out to a global audience. Let's take a look at these 20 creative ways art can be utilized to create public awareness. Maybe they'll even inspire you to spread your own message.

Recommended Reading: 60 Creative Public Awareness Ads That Makes You Think

Selfridges' Ocean Project. Helena Maratheftis is an artist, designer and illustrator who uses recycled plastic to create sea creature sculptures. She does this to draw attention to the dangers of polluting the oceans with plastic, as sea animals like turtles, often die from eating plastic debris. The plastic sculpture of a life-sized turtle featured here is a testament to that. (Image Source: helenamaratheftis.com)

Stories From The Changing Tide. As part of his time as a student artist in residence at Recology, San Francisco, Ethan Estess used recycled materials to create sculptures showcasing marine environmental problems. He wanted to show the world how the excessive consumption of materials by human beings is hurting the ocean. He used 8,000 coffee cup lids to create the incredible backpack that you see below. (Image Source:flickr.com)

The Tackle of The Tentacle. The Miha Artnak is an artist and freelance designer that strongly believes in Utopia as an ideal guide for the evolution of humankind. His project uses plastic bags and cups to create a giant monster with tentacles. It amplifies the dangers of discarded plastic on our environment. The more plastic you use, the bigger the monster gtes. (Image Source: The artnak.net)

Water Carrier. French artist, Elise Morin, turned 5,000 test tubes filled with colorful (but safe) substances into illuminated sculptures. Elise Morin and her team drained the artificial river before installing her structures. She uses Water Carrier to educate people about the waterway. (Image Source: elise-morin.com)
Editor's note: This post is written by Gina Mark for Hongkiat.com. She likes to read, is interested in indie bands and loves to eat and travel.

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20 Stunning Art Expressions That Create Public Awareness - Hongkiat

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When people think of art, they think of bizzare creations and beautiful intricate paintings hung up in museums. Essentially, the process of bringing an artwork to life is a creative one but art itself can also serve a purpose. It can be used as a way to raise awareness about issues that affect us in our daily lives.

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The elusive graffiti artist known as Banksy has broken cover and offered to help transform Bristol's under-threat library service, the city's mayor has revealed.

The artist, whose identity remains a mystery, has a track record of supporting social causes and is said to have contacted the city council offering his services.

The future of 17 out of 27 libraries had been uncertain due to £1.4m of proposed local cuts.

"Banksy has a track record of supporting causes, often political," The Guardian says. Last year it emerged he gave over £200,000 to human rights groups from the sale of one of his works. He also encouraged voters to fall foul of election law by offering Bristolians a free limited-edition print if they sent in a photo of their general election ballot papers proving they had voted for anyone other than the Conservatives.

As is so often the case when Banksy hits the news, many commentators have returned to the question of the artist's identity. His origins, nationality, age and gender are a constant source of interest for those people whose towns find themselves chosen to feature one of his works.

However, with no official confirmation, there are still plenty of other theories to ponder.

Has anyone ever met Banksy?

Here are some of the key Banksy "sightings" over the years:

Banksy meets The Guardian, 2003: One of the only journalists to have met Banksy is The Guardian 's Simon Hattenstone. He described the artist as "white, 28, scruffy casual - jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. He [Banksy] looks like a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner of the Streets."

Banksy in Bethnal Green, 2007: A passer-by "familiar with Banksy's work" snapped the artist and an assistant painting a mural in Bethnal Green, east London. The picture "could show the reclusive artist at work", said the BBC.

Banksy is "nice middle-class boy", 2008: The Mail on Sunday broke the mould by running a sharp picture of a smiling, curly-haired man it insisted was Banksy. His real name is Robin Gunningham, said the paper, which also claimed he was a public schoolboy educated at the £9,240-a-year Bristol Cathedral School. Fans of the artist's "anti-establishment stance" would doubtless be "shocked" to learn of his true identity, the Mail added.

Banksy self-portrait, 2009: When a Banksy "self-portrait" appeared on the side of an office block in east London, the Mail on Sunday felt vindicated. "The image is almost identical to the Mail on Sunday's picture [of Gunningham]," it said. "It is possible the graffiti art was created by someone else," the paper admitted. "But evidence compiled in a Mail on Sunday investigation suggests that Banksy is indeed Robin Gunningham - and that in his latest graffiti he has coyly acknowledged his unmasking."

Banksy goes to the Playboy Club, 2011: Was that Banksy wearing a vicar's outfit and a skull mask to a celebrity bash at the Playboy Club in Mayfair, London? Members of the paparazzi insisted it was, Digital Spy wasn't so sure.

Banksy unmasked in Santa Monica, 2011: Another grainy, out-of-focus picture, this one taken in Los Angeles, was published in the Daily Mail. It showed a man wearing a green baseball cap who the Mail says has just painted the words "This Looks a bit like an Elephant" on a container near a busy motorway.

Banksy in New York, 2013: One of the most recent pictures claiming to unmask the reclusive millionaire street artist was taken in New York in October 2013. It shows a gaunt-looking man wearing a flat cap and "paint-spattered overalls". The snap, taken by one of the stencil artist's fans, was captured as a delivery truck being used to display one of his art works was parked on a Manhattan street. When a battery failed and the lights illuminating the picture of a lush garden went off, the man in the cap "sprang into action". There were several men at the scene, but the one in the hat "stood out from the group", said the Daily Mirror.

Banksy in Tel Aviv, 2017: Last year, a woman claimed to have spotted the artist at an Israeli shopping centre just north of Tel Aviv. It came just days after Banksy had opened an exhibition in Bethlehem. Video footage shot on a mobile phone shows the mysterious man, wearing a white hat, blue shirt and camouflage trousers, carrying a stencil before putting up a hand to cover his face. Israeli newspaper Haaretz cast doubt on the report, saying the man caught on camera was indeed a British graffiti artist, but James Ame, who is married to an Israeli woman.

Banksy 'spotted' in Hull, 2018: Footage recorded by a scrap dealer in Hull is said to reveal the "original" Banksy - believed to be Gunningham. The man, who bears a striking resemblance to Gunningham, was caught on video in Hull at the same time that three "Banksy" artworks were discovered in the city. According to The Independent the artist was spotted wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses to shield his identity, metres from a daubing that was later confirmed to be genuine.

Is Banksy another well-known artist?

Perhaps rather than holding a Clark Kent-style ordinary day job, Banksy's alter ego is already well-known in the art world. The Daily Telegraph suggests "Banksy" could be an alias for trailblazing British artist Damien Hirst. "The pair collaborated for the piece Keeping It Spotless, which features a French maid sweeping under a spot painting," the paper says.

Is Banksy a woman?

A recurring theory is that "he" is in fact a "she". Previous evidence supporting the "flimsy theory" that Banksy is a man is likely to be a form of "misdirection" planted by the artist herself, suggests CityLab writer Kriston Capps. "Girls and women figure into Banksy's stencilled figures, for starters, something that isn't true of 99 per cent of street art," he says.

Canadian media artist Chris Healey has maintained since 2010 that Banksy is a team of seven artists led by a woman, although he refuses to reveal his "legit and reliable" source.

Should the quest to unmask Banksy continue? Salon thinks not. "It's inevitably much more fun to think of some masked Warhol biting his thumb at the mainstream art world and taking the mystique of an anonymous graffiti tag to its inevitable conclusion," it says. "Banksy is everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

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Who is Banksy? Elusive graffiti artist offers to save Bristol's libraries

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The elusive graffiti artist known as Banksy has broken cover and offered to help transform Bristol's under-threat library service, the city's mayor has revealed. The artist, whose identity remains a mystery, has a track record of supporting social causes and is said to have contacted the city council offering his services.

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It would be easy for you to dismiss art as excessive, as unnecessary, a waste of money and resources when compared with the destitution, ills and social injustices ever-present around the world. If you did this, you would be missing the point of art.
Art exposes and helps resolve issues of social justice. As a cultural tool, art helps humanize and actualize the emotions, grievances, and fears of those who may not have another place to voice concerns. As an illustrative and journalistic tool, art shocks and inspires us to action. What art depicts can illicit a visceral, almost cellular, reaction.

These 5 TED talks that follow are a testament to the power of art to affect positive change, righting, addressing and vocalizing social injustice in the world.
Shirin Neshat - Art in Exile

Art is our weapon. Culture is a form of resistance

A passionate affirmation of the power of art as an instrument of social change. Shirin Neshat demonstrates, through the story of Iran and her own personal position as an exile, how art possesses an immense power to engender change.

James Nachtwey - My Photgraphs Bear Witness

Photographers go to the extreme edges of human experience to show people what's going on.... They aim their pictures at your best instincts: generosity, a sense of right and wrong, the ability and the willingness to identify with others, the refusal to accept the unacceptable.

Inspired by the photojournalists of the 60s, James Nachtwey has gone on to be the pre-eminent photographer of our generation. His work is often harrowing, always symbolic, and, at times, hopeful. His photographs have not only exposed world issues and inspired conversations on them, but also so enraged public opinion that they have truly helped to change the world.

Suheir Hammad - Poems of War, Peace, Women, Power

I will not dance to your war drum...I will not kill for you. Especially, I will not die for you

These impassioned odes to the suffering of women worldwide echo the hurt Suheir Hammad has witnessed and the knowledge she has gained through her Palestinian-American heritage. Her poems are a voice for all women who suffer such pain.

Emmanuel Jai - The Music of a War Child

The dreams I have sometimes are like the voices of the dead that I have seen who would tell me, 'Don't give up. Keep on Going'

A former child soldier in Sudan, Emmanuel Jai witnessed the rape, murder and destruction of his family and all that he knew. When retelling his stories, you can see in his eyes and hear in his voice that those memories are still alive inside him. Rescued by an aid worker, he is now using his poetry and music to both enlighten the world to the fate of those who suffered, and still suffer, as he did. Through this exposure he is raising money to educate the youth of Sudan and help to slowly bring justice and peace there.

Mallika Sarabhai: Dance to Change the World

If we think we can all agree that we need a better world, a more just world, why is it that we are not using the one language that has consistently showed us that we can break down barriers, that can we can reach people? What I need to say to the planners of the world, the governments, the strategists is, 'You have treated the arts as the cherry on the cake. It needs to be the yeast

A pioneer of using dance and the arts for social change, Mallika Sarabhai's TED talk is entertaining, insightful, and a great advocate of art's power, in particular the power of physical theatre, to both affect social change and challenge social injustice. Touching on issues of rape, water sanitation and the escalating culture of violence in our society it is a compelling example of using alternative methods to achieve great results.

Bonus talk: Later this month, Cloudhead will feature an interview with Iain Thomas, the creator of I Wrote This For You. His project and blog have gone on to win a wealth of prestigious poetry, literature and photography awards, as well as topping bestseller lists worldwide. His own TED talk touches on the power of art to affect positive social change.

Sign up for Cloudhead updates to be alerted when we publish the interview with Iain Thomas.

There's no story I can tell you that is as powerful as the story you can tell yourself

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How art creates social change in 5 TED Talks

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It would be easy for you to dismiss art as excessive, as unnecessary, a waste of money and resources when compared with the destitution, ills and social injustices ever-present around the world. If you did this, you would be missing the point of art. Art exposes and helps resolve issues of social justice.

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▪️ by @banksy ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ #banksy #banksyinparis #napoleon #horse #hidden #red #squadsky #wall #streetart #streetartparis… | ☠  Street Art & Graffiti  ☠ | Pinterest | Banksy, Napoleon and Street art

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▪️ by @banksy ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ #banksy #banksyinparis #napoleon #horse #hidden #red #squadsky #wall #streetart #streetartparis…

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Excellent video about how art changes society from TATE.

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Hear Tate Exchange artists and Associates share their thoughts on the power of art for individuals and society as a whole.

Can art really change the world?

I do think that art can change society. I don't think it's one artwork that does it, I think it's the collective effort of artists and institutions together.

It's one of the biggest questions that comes to mind when we really, truly think about the value of art: can art make a difference?

Many movements in art history have tried to change society in one way or another: Dada artists advocated for silliness and nonsensical behaviour in daily life as the only response to the horrors of the First World War. Fluxus sought to "promote a revolutionary flood and tide in art, promote living art, anti-art" through its network of international artists. And groups like the Situationist International played a major role in the revolutionary Paris events of 1968 by exposing the divisions between artists, consumers, and the means of production. And of course art can take the form of protest, addressing political and social issues with direct action.

So we know that art movements can change society, but what about art today? Are there works of art that have changed the way you think or feel about something? Can all of those small changes add up to something bigger?

Art making positive changes

Art opens everything up to such a bigger spectrum of people. And this is why I personally believe art is powerful, because art saved my life.

David Tovey

Artist, Museum of Homelessness, Tate Exchange

At Tate Exchange we've been questioning the impact of art on society through a range of open events with our artists and Associates: with the Guerrilla Girls, we opened a Complaints Department for airing of public grievances, big and small. We hosted an ongoing debate on how we talk about sex education, desire, and consent with Bedfellows. We created a week-long art school of the future. We asked how art can serve in therapy in wellbeing. We created an alternative Fairground questioning the impact of art on politics, ideas, and society. And more.

And now, Tate Exchange is opening up the floor to you and asking: how can art make a difference to people's lives and society? We invite you to share your stories and ideas through writing, drawing, talking and making. Join us at Tate Modern and online to tell us how art made a difference in your life, and get a chance to see your responses displayed in the gallery.

Want to get involved?

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Can art change society? - Talking Point | Tate

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Hear Tate Exchange artists and Associates share their thoughts on the power of art for individuals and society as a whole. It's one of the biggest questions that comes to mind when we really, truly think about the value of art: can art make a difference?

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Khmer architecture ( Khmer: ស្ថាបត្យកម្មខ្មែរ), also known as Angkorian architecture is the architecture produced by the Khmers during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE.

The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly the sculptures, were widely adopted in South Indian, and Indianised architecture of Cambodian, Annamese (Khmer) and Javanese temples (of the Greater India). In any study of Angkorian architecture, the emphasis is necessarily on religious architecture, since all the remaining Angkorian buildings are religious in nature. During the period of Angkor, only temples and other religious buildings were constructed of stone. Non-religious buildings such as dwellings were constructed of perishable materials such as wood, and so have not survived. The religious architecture of Angkor has characteristic structures, elements, and motifs, which are identified in the glossary below. Since a number of different architectural styles succeeded one another during the Angkorean period, not all of these features were equally in evidence throughout the period. Indeed, scholars have referred to the presence or absence of such features as one source of evidence for dating the remains.

Sambor Prei Kuk style (610-650): Sambor Prei Kuk, also known as Isanapura, was the capital of the Chenla Kingdom. Temples of Sambor Prei Kuk were built in rounded, plain colonettes with capitals that include a bulb.

Prei Khmeng style (635-700): Structures reveal masterpieces of sculpture but examples are scarce. Colonettes are larger than those of previous styles. Buildings were more heavily decorated but had general decline in standards.

Kompong Preah style (700-800): Temples with more decorative rings on colonettes which remain cylindrical. Brick constructions were being continued.

Scholars have worked to develop a periodization of Angkorean architectural styles. The following periods and styles may be distinguished. Each is named for a particular temple regarded as paradigmatic for the style.

Kulen style (825-875): Continuation of pre-Angkorean style but it was a period of innovation and borrowing such as from Cham temples. Tower is mainly square and relatively high as well as brick with laterite walls and stone door surrounds but square and octagonal colonettes begin to appear.

Preah Ko style (877-886): Hariharalaya was the first capital city of the Khmer empire located in the area of Angkor; its ruins are in the area now called Roluos some fifteen kilometers southeast of the modern city of Siem Reap. The earliest surviving temple of Hariharalaya is Preah Ko; the others are Bakong and Lolei. The temples of the Preah Ko style are known for their small brick towers and for the great beauty and delicacy of their lintels.

Bakheng Style (889-923): Bakheng was the first temple mountain constructed in the area of Angkor proper north of Siem Reap. It was the state temple of King Yasovarman, who built his capital of Yasodharapura around it. Located on a hill (phnom), it is currently one of the most endangered of the monuments, having become a favorite perch for tourists eager to witness a glorious sundown at Angkor.

Koh Ker Style (921-944): During the reign of King Jayavarman IV, capital of Khmer empire was removed from Angkor region through the north which is called Koh Ker. The architectural style of temples in Koh Ker, scale of buildings diminishes toward center. Brick still main material but sandstone also used.

Pre Rup Style (944-968): Under King Rajendravarman, the Angkorian Khmer built the temples of Pre Rup, East Mebon and Phimeanakas. Their common style is named after the state temple mountain of Pre Rup.

Banteay Srei Style (967-1000): Banteay Srei is the only major Angkorian temple constructed not by a monarch, but by a courtier. It is known for its small scale and the extreme refinement of its decorative carvings, including several famous narrative bas-reliefs dealing with scenes from Indian mythology.

Khleang Style (968-1010): The Khleang temples, first use of galleries. Cruciform gopuras. Octagonal colonettes. Restrained decorative carving. A few temples that were built in this style are Ta Keo, Phimeanakas.

Classical or Angkor Wat Style (1080-1175): Angkor Wat, the temple and perhaps the mausoleum of King Suryavarman II, is the greatest of the Angkorian temples and defines what has come to be known as the classical style of Angkorian architecture. Other temples in this style are Banteay Samre and Thommanon in the area of Angkor, and Phimai in modern Thailand.

Bayon Style (1181-1243): In the final quarter of the 12th century, King Jayavarman VII freed the country of Angkor from occupation by an invasionary force from Champa. Thereafter, he began a massive program of monumental construction, paradigmatic for which was the state temple called the Bayon. The king's other foundations participated in the style of the Bayon, and included Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Angkor Thom, and Banteay Chmar. Though grandiose in plan and elaborately decorated, the temples exhibit a hurriedness of construction that contrasts with the perfection of Angkor Wat.

Angkorian builders used brick, sandstone, laterite and wood as their materials. The ruins that remain are of brick, sandstone and laterite, the wood elements having been lost to decay and other destructive processes.

The earliest Angkorian temples were made mainly of brick. Good examples are the temple towers of Preah Ko, Lolei and Bakong at Hariharalaya. Decorations were usually carved into a stucco applied to the brick, rather than into the brick itself. This because bricks being softer material do not lend itself to sculpting as opposed to stones of different kinds such as the SandStones or the Granites. However, the tenets of the Sacred Architecture as enunciated in the Vedas and the Shastras, require no adhesives to be used while building blocks are assembled one over the other to create the Temples, as such bricks have been used only in relatively smaller temples such as Lolei and The Preah Ko. Besides, strength of bricks is much lesser as compared to the stones (mentioned here-in) and the former degrade with age.

Angkor's neighbor state of Champa was also the home to numerous brick temples that are similar in style to those of Angkor. The most extensive ruins are at Mỹ Sơn in Vietnam. A Cham story tells of the time that the two countries settled an armed conflict by means of a tower-building contest proposed by the Cham King Po Klaung Garai. While the Khmer built a standard brick tower, Po Klaung Garai directed his people to build an impressive replica of paper and wood. In the end, the Cham replica was more impressive than the real brick tower of the Khmer, and the Cham won the contest.

The only stone used by Angkorian builders was sandstone, obtained from the Kulen mountains. Since its obtainment was considerably more expensive than that of brick, sandstone only gradually came into use, and at first was used for particular elements such as door frames. The 10th-century temple of Ta Keo is the first Angkorian temple to be constructed more or less entirely from Sandstone.

Angkorian builders used laterite, a clay that is soft when taken from the ground but that hardens when exposed to the sun, for foundations and other hidden parts of buildings. Because the surface of laterite is uneven, it was not suitable for decorative carvings, unless first dressed with stucco. Laterite was more commonly used in the Khmer provinces than at Angkor itself. Because the water table in this entire region is well high, Laterite has been used in the underlying layers of Angkor Wat and other temples (especially the larger ones), because it can absorb water and help towards better stability of the Temple.

Preah Ko, completed in 879 CE, was a temple made mainly of brick

Ta Keo, a temple built in the 10th century, was constructed more or less entirely from sandstone

The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically Shiva or Vishnu in the case of a Hindu temple, Buddha or a bodhisattva in the case of a Buddhist temple. The deity was represented by a statue (or in the case of Shiva, most commonly by a linga). Since the temple was not considered a place of worship for use by the population at large, but rather a home for the deity, the sanctuary needed only to be large enough to hold the statue or linga; it was never more than a few metres across. Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower ( prasat) rising above it, by its location at the centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls. Symbolically, the sanctuary represented Mount Meru, the legendary home of the Hindu gods.

The prang is the tall finger-like spire, usually richly carved, common to much Khmer religious architecture.

A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. During the period of Angkor Wat in the first half of the 12th century, additional half galleries on one side were introduced to buttress the structure of the temple.

House of Fire, or Dharmasala, is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th-century monarch Jayavarman VII: Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Chhmar. A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows.

Structures conventionally known as "libraries" are a common feature of Khmer temple architecture, but their true purpose remains unknown. Most likely they functioned broadly as religious shrines rather than strictly as repositories of manuscripts. Freestanding buildings, they were normally placed in pairs on either side of the entrance to an enclosure, opening to the west.

Srahs and barays were reservoirs, generally created by excavation and embankment, respectively. It is not clear whether the significance of these reservoirs was religious, agricultural, or a combination of the two.

The two largest reservoirs at Angkor were the West Baray and the East Baray located on either side of Angkor Thom. The East Baray is now dry. The West Mebon is an 11th-century temple standing at the center of the West Baray and the East Mebon is a 10th-century temple standing at the center of the East Baray.

The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hinduism. The style was influenced by South indian temple architecture. Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple.

The first great temple mountain was the Bakong, a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 by King Indravarman I. The structure of Bakong took shape of stepped pyramid, popularly identified as temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur in Java, going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur might served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java. Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas, but also technical and architectural details of Borobudur, including arched gateways in corbelling method.

Other Khmer temple mountains include Baphuon, Pre Rup, Ta Keo, Koh Ker, the Phimeanakas, and most notably the Phnom Bakheng at Angkor.

According to Charles Higham, "A temple was built for the worship of the ruler, whose essence, if a Saivite, was embodied in a linga... housed in the central sanctuary which served as a temple-mausoleum for the ruler after his death...these central temples also contained shrines dedicated to the royal ancestors and thus became centres of ancestor worship."

Bas-reliefs are individual figures, groups of figures, or entire scenes cut into stone walls, not as drawings but as sculpted images projecting from a background. Sculpture in bas-relief is distinguished from sculpture in haut-relief, in that the latter projects farther from the background, in some cases almost detaching itself from it. The Angkorian Khmer preferred to work in bas-relief, while their neighbors the Cham were partial to haut-relief.

Narrative bas-reliefs are bas-reliefs depicting stories from mythology or history. Until about the 11th century, the Angkorian Khmer confined their narrative bas-reliefs to the space on the tympana above doorways. The most famous early narrative bas-reliefs are those on the tympana at the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei, depicting scenes from Hindu mythology as well as scenes from the great works of Indian literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. By the 12th century, however, the Angkorian artists were covering entire walls with narrative scenes in bas-relief. At Angkor Wat, the external gallery wall is covered with some 12,000 or 13,000 square meters of such scenes, some of them historical, some mythological. Similarly, the outer gallery at the Bayon contains extensive bas-reliefs documenting the everyday life of the medieval Khmer as well as historical events from the reign of King Jayavarman VII.

The following is a listing of the motifs illustrated in some of the more famous Angkorian narrative bas-reliefs:

bas-reliefs in the tympana at Banteay Srei (10th century)

bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer gallery at Angkor Wat (mid-12th century)

bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer and inner galleries at the Bayon (late 12th century)

battles on land and sea between Khmer and Cham troops

scenes from the everyday life of Angkor

civil strife among the Khmer

the legend of the Leper King

the worship of Shiva

groups of dancing apsaras

Angkorean shrines frequently opened in only one direction, typically to the east. The other three sides featured fake or blind doors to maintain symmetry. Blind windows were often used along otherwise blank walls.

Lintel, pediment, and tympanum

A lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean Khmer lacked the ability to construct a true arch, they constructed their passageways using lintels or corbelling. A pediment is a roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment.

The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles. The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of the Preah Ko style from the late 9th century.

Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the kala, the nāga and the makara, as well as various forms of vegetation. Also frequently depicted are the Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element. Indra, the god of the sky, is associated with East; Yama, the god of judgment and Hell, with South; Varuna, the god of the ocean, with West; and Kubera, god of wealth, with North.

List of Khmer lintel styles

Prei Khmeng style : Continuation of Sambor Prei Kuk but makaras disappear, being replaced by incurving ends and figures. Arches more rectilinear. Large figures sometimes at each end. A variation is a central scene below the arch, usually Vishnu Reclining.

Kompong Preah style : High quality carving. Arches replaced by a garland of vegetation (like a wreath) more or less segmented. Medallions disappear, central one sometimes replaced by a knot of leaves. Leafy pendants spray out above and below garland.

Preah Ko style : Some of the most beautiful of all Khmer lintels, rich, will-carved and imaginative. Kala in center, issuing garland on either side. Distinct loops of vegetation curl down from garland. Outward-facing makaras sometimes appear at the ends. Vishnu on Garuda common.

Bakheng style : Continuation of Preah Ko but less fanciful and tiny figures disappear. Loop of vegetation below the naga form tight circular coils. Garland begins to dip in the center.

Koh Ker style : Center occupied by a prominent scene, taking up almost the entire height of the lintel. Usually no lower border. Dress of figures shows a curved line to the sampot tucked in below waist.

Pre Rup style : Tendency to copy earlier style, especially Preah Ko and Bakheng. Central figures. Re-appearance of lower border.

Banteay Srei style : Increase in complexity and detail. Garland sometimes makes pronounced loop on either side with kala at top of each loop. Central figure.

Khleang style : Less ornate than those of Banteay Srei. Central kala with triangular tongue, its hands holding the garland which is bent at the center. Kala sometimes surmounted by a divinity. Loops of garland on either side divided by flora stalk and pendant. Vigorous treatment of vegetation.

Baphuon style : The central kala surmounted by divinity, usually riding a steed or a Vishnu scene, typically from the life of Krishna. Loops of garland no longer cut. Another type is a scene with many figures and little vegetation.

Bayon style : Most figures disappear, usually only a kala at the bottom of the lintel surmounted by small figure. Mainly Buddhist motifs. In the middle of the period the garland is cut into four parts, while later a series of whorls of foliage replace the four divisions.[32]

Angkorean stairs are notoriously steep. Frequently, the length of the riser exceeds that of the tread, producing an angle of ascent somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees. The reasons for this peculiarity appear to be both religious and monumental. From the religious perspective, a steep stairway can be interpreted as a "stairway to heaven," the realm of the gods. "From the monumental point of view," according to Angkor-scholar Maurice Glaize, "the advantage is clear - the square of the base not having to spread in surface area, the entire building rises to its zenith with a particular thrust."

The gajasimha is a mythical animal with the body of a lion and the head of an elephant. At Angkor, it is portrayed as a guardian of temples and as a mount for some warriors. The gajasimha may be found at Banteay Srei and at the temples belonging to the Roluos group.

Garuda serves as an atlas supporting a superstructure, as in the bas relief at Angkor Wat that depicts heaven and hell. Garudas and stylized mythological lions are the most common atlas figures at Angkor.

In free-standing nāga sculptures, such as in nāga bridges and balustrades, Garuda is often depicted in relief against the fan of nāga heads. The relationship between Garuda and the nāga heads is ambiguous in these sculptures: it may be one of cooperation, or it may again be one of domination of the nāga by Garuda.

A series of bas reliefs at the 11th-century temple pyramid called Baphuon depicts scenes of the birth and childhood of Krishna.

Numerous bas reliefs in various temples show Krishna subduing the nāga Kaliya. In Angkorian depictions, Krishna is shown effortlessly stepping on and pushing down his opponent's multiple heads.

Also common is the depiction of Krishna as he lifts Mount Govardhana with one hand in order to provide the cowherds with shelter from the deluge caused by Indra.

Krishna is frequently depicted killing or subduing various demons, including his evil uncle Kamsa. An extensive bas relief in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat depicts Krishna's battle with the asura Bana. In battle, Krishna is shown riding on the shoulders of Garuda, the traditional mount of Vishnu.

In some scenes, Krishna is depicted in his role as charioteer, advisor and protector of Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata. A well-known bas relief from the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei depicts the Krishna and Arjuna helping Agni to burn down Khandava forest.

The linga is a phallic post or cylinder symbolic of the god Shiva and of creative power. As a religious symbol, the function of the linga is primarily that of worship and ritual, and only secondarily that of decoration. In the Khmer empire, certain lingas were erected as symbols of the king himself, and were housed in royal temples in order to express the king's consubstantiality with Siva. The lingas that survive from the Angkorean period are generally made of polished stone.

The lingas of the Angkorian period are of several different types.

Some lingas are implanted in a flat square base called a yoni, symbolic of the womb.

On the surface of some lingas is engraved the face of Siva. Such lingas are called mukhalingas.

Mythical serpents, or nāgas, represent an important motif in Khmer architecture as well as in free-standing sculpture. They are frequently depicted as having multiple heads, always uneven in number, arranged in a fan. Each head has a flared hood, in the manner of a cobra.

Nāgas are frequently depicted in Angkorian lintels. The composition of such lintels characteristically consists in a dominant image at the center of a rectangle, from which issue swirling elements that reach to the far ends of the rectangle. These swirling elements may take shape as either vinelike vegetation or as the bodies of nāgas. Some such nāgas are depicted wearing crowns, and others are depicted serving as mounts for human riders.

To the Angkorian Khmer, nāgas were symbols of water and figured in the myths of origin for the Khmer people, who were said to be descended from the union of an Indian Brahman and a serpent princess from Cambodia. Nāgas were also characters in other well-known legends and stories depicted in Khmer art, such as the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the legend of the Leper King as depicted in the bas-reliefs of the Bayon, and the story of Mucalinda, the serpent king who protected the Buddha from the elements.

Nāga Bridge

Nāga bridges are causeways or true bridges lined by stone balustrades shaped as nāgas.

A quincunx is a spatial arrangement of five elements, with four elements placed as the corners of a square and the fifth placed in the center. The five peaks of Mount Meru were taken to exhibit this arrangement, and Khmer temples was arranged accordingly in order to convey a symbolic identification with the sacred mountain. The five brick towers of the 10th-century temple known as East Mebon, for example, are arranged in the shape of a quincunx. The quincunx also appears elsewhere in designs of the Angkorian period, as in the riverbed carvings of Kbal Spean.

Most temples at Angkor are dedicated to Shiva. In general, the Angkorian Khmer represented and worshipped Shiva in the form of a lingam, though they also fashioned anthropomorphic statues of the god. Anthropomorphic representations are also found in Angkorian bas reliefs. A famous tympanum from Banteay Srei depicts Shiva sitting on Mount Kailasa with his consort, while the demon king Ravana shakes the mountain from below. At Angkor Wat and Bayon, Shiva is depicted as a bearded ascetic. His attributes include the mystical eye in the middle of his forehead, the trident, and the rosary. His vahana or mount is the bull Nandi.

Suman

Angkorian representations of Vishnu include anthropomorphic representations of the god himself, as well as representations of his incarnations or Avatars, especially Krishna and Rama. Depictions of Vishnu are prominent at Angkor Wat, the 12th-century temple that was originally dedicated to Vishnu. Bas reliefs depict Vishna battling with against asura opponents, or riding on the shoulders of his vahana or mount, the gigantic bird-man Garuda. Vishnu's attributes include the discus, the conch shell, the baton, and the orb.

Chinese and Vietnamese houses in Cambodian town and villages typically are built directly on the ground and have earthen, cement, or tile floors, depending upon the economic status of the owner. Urban housing and commercial buildings may be of brick, masonry, or wood.

Coedès, George. Pour mieux comprendre Angkor. Hanoi: Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, 1943.

Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2011). Angkor, Eighth Wonder of the World. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN B0085RYW0O

Freeman, Michael and Jacques, Claude. Ancient Angkor. Bangkok: River Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8348-0426-3.

Glaize, Maurice. The Monuments of the Angkor Group. 1944. A translation from the original French into English is available online at theangkorguide.com.

Jessup, Helen Ibbitson. Art & Architecture of Cambodia. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.

Ngô Vǎn Doanh, Champa:Ancient Towers. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2006.

Roveda, Vittorio. Images of the Gods: Khmer Mythology in Cambodia, Laos & Thailand. Bangkok: River Books, 2005.

Sthapatyakam. The Architecture of Cambodia. Phnom Penh: Department of Media and Communication, Royal University of Phnom Penh, 2012.

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Khmer architecture ( Khmer: ស្ថាបត្យកម្មខ្មែរ), also known as Angkorian architecture is the architecture produced by the Khmers during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE.

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An excellent series of short clips that teach both art history and brushwork simultaneously.

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Brushstrokes (Part 1 of 3) - The Early Masters

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Pin by anthony schultz on buddhist nagas | Pinterest | Buddhists and Dragons

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You brought Ai Weiwei's Tree to London

Thank you to our 1,319 Kickstarter backers who contributed £123,000 to bring Ai Weiwei's monumental installation, Tree, to our courtyard.

Made from reassembled pieces of dead wood from the hills of southern China, Tree has been likened to the modern Chinese nation, where ethnically diverse peoples have been brought together to form 'One China', a state-sponsored policy aimed at protecting and promoting the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Read more about Tree in curator Adrian Locke's blog.

Watch a timelapse video of the installation of Tree here.

Image: Ai Weiwei, Tree, 2009-10, 2015. Installation at the Royal Academy of Arts, London 2015. Photo: Fraser Marr.

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Shop a unique series of limited editions by Ai Weiwei, from exhibition catalogues with individually painted dust jackets, to handmade porcelain flowers.

The dust jackets for the limited edition of the catalogue of Ai Weiwei's 2015 exhibition at the Royal Academy have been individually painted by the artist in one of ten colours. You can also buy beautiful porcelain chrysanthemums, universal symbols of both freedom and remembrance, which have been manufactured especially for the Royal Academy.

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Ai Weiwei | Exhibition | Royal Academy of Arts

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Major artist and cultural phenomenon Ai Weiwei takes over our main galleries with brave, provocative and visionary works.

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Paint Inspirations | Re-Fashion - Footwear Painted-bemalte Schuhe-Sneaker | Pinterest | Image search

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Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965–2016 | MoMA

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Exhibition. Mar 31–Jul 22, 2018. In 1996 Adrian Piper wrote, “It seemed that the more clearly and abstractly I learned to think, the more clearly I was able to hear my gut telling me what I needed to do, and the more pressing it became to do it.” Since the 1960s, this uncompromising artist and philosopher has explored the potential of Conceptual art—work in which the concepts behind the art takes precedence over the physical object—to challenge our assumptions about the social structures that shape the world around us. Often drawing from her personal and professional experiences, Piper’s influential work has directly addressed gender, race, xenophobia, and, more recently, social engagement and self-transcendence. Bringing together over 290 works, including drawings, paintings, photographs, multimedia installations, videos, and performances, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience her provocative and wide-ranging artwork. Occupying the Museum’s entire sixth floor and the Marron Atrium, Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions 1965–2016 charts the artist’s five-decade career, including early paintings inspired by the use of LSD; key projects such as Mythic Being (1973), in which Piper has merged her male alter ego with entries from her teenage journals; My Calling (Card) #1 and My Calling (Card) #2 (1986), business card–sized, text-based works that confront the reader’s own racist or sexist tendencies; and What It’s Like, What It Is #3 (1991), a large-scale mixed-media installation addressing racist stereotypes, which will be shown in the Marron Atrium. The result of a four-year collaboration between the artist, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, this is the most comprehensive retrospective of Piper’s work to date.

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The 17th century was marked by increasingly robust global networks of trade, which brought a great deal of exchange of artistic objects and the global spread of styles. This was facilitated by British and Dutch trading companies in South Asia, the trade routes of the Ottoman Empire, and the Spanish administration of South America, amongst many other channels.

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National Portrait Gallery, London. Open daily from 10.30. Free admission. We look after the world's greatest collection of portraits.

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Last year, the editors of ArtReview magazine named the Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei the most powerful artist in the world. It was an unusual choice. Ai's varied, scattershot work doesn't fetch the highest prices at auction, and critics, while they admire his achievement, don't treat him as a master who has transformed the art of his period. In China, Ai-a brave and unrelenting critic of the authoritarian regime-has spent time in jail, was not allowed by the government to leave Beijing for a year and cannot travel without official permission. As a result, he has become a symbol of the struggle for human rights in China, but not preeminently so. He is too quixotic a figure to have developed the moral gravitas of the great men of conscience who challenged the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.

So what is it about Ai? What makes him, in Western eyes, the world's "most powerful artist"? The answer lies in the West itself. Now obsessed with China, the West would surely invent Ai if he didn't already exist. China may after all become the most powerful nation in the world. It must therefore have an artist of comparable consequence to hold up a mirror both to China's failings and its potential. Ai (his name is pronounced eye way-way) is perfect for the part. Having spent his formative years as an artist in New York in the 1980s, when Warhol was a god and conceptual and performance art were dominant, he knows how to combine his life and art into a daring and politically charged performance that helps define how we see modern China. He'll use any medium or genre-sculpture, ready-mades, photography, performance, architecture, tweets and blogs-to deliver his pungent message.

Ai's persona-which, as with Warhol's, is inseparable from his art-draws power from the contradictory roles that artists perform in modern culture. The loftiest are those of martyr, preacher and conscience. Not only has Ai been harassed and jailed, he has also continually called the Chinese regime to account; he has made a list, for example, that includes the name of each of the more than 5,000 schoolchildren who died during the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 because of shoddy schoolhouse construction. At the same time, he plays a decidedly unsaintly, Dada-inspired role-the bad boy provocateur who outrages stuffed shirts everywhere. (In one of his best-known photographs, he gives the White House the finger.) Not least, he is a kind of visionary showman. He cultivates the press, arouses comment and creates spectacles. His signature work, Sunflower Seeds -a work of hallucinatory intensity that was a sensation at the Tate Modern in London in 2010-consists of 100 million pieces of porcelain, each painted by one of 1,600 Chinese craftsmen to resemble a sunflower seed. As Andy would say, in high deadpan, "Wow."

This year Ai is the subject of two shows in Washington, D.C., an appropriate backdrop for an A-list power artist. In the spring, "Perspectives: Ai Weiwei" opened at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery with a monumental installation of Fragments (2005). Working with a team of skilled carpenters, Ai turned ironwood salvaged from dismantled Qing-era temples into a handsomely constructed structure that appears chaotic on the ground but, if seen from above, coalesces into a map of China. ( Fragments embodies a dilemma characteristic of Ai: Can the timber of the past, foolishly discarded by the present, be recrafted into a China, perhaps a better China, that we cannot yet discern?) And the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will present a wide-ranging survey of Ai's work, from October 7 to February 2013. The exhibition title-"According to What?"-was borrowed from a Jasper Johns painting.

The question that is not often asked is whether Ai, as an artist, is more than just a contemporary phenom. Is Sunflower Seeds, for example, more than a passing headline? Will Ai ultimately matter to China-and to the future-as much as he does to today's Western art world?

Ai lives in Caochangdi, a village in suburban Beijing favored by artists, where, like an art-king in exile, he regularly greets visitors come to pay homage to his vision of a better China. A large, burly man with a fondness for the neighborhood's feral cats, Ai, who is 55, is disarmingly modest for one who spends so much time in the public eye. He recently told Christina Larson, an American writer in Beijing who interviewed the artist for Smithsonian, that he remains astonished by his prominence. "The secret police told me everybody can see it but you, that you're so influential. But I think [their behavior] makes me more influential. They create me rather than solve the problems I raise."

The authorities keep him in the news by, for example, hounding him for tax evasion. This past summer, during a hearing on his tax case-which he was not allowed to attend-his studio was surrounded by about 30 police cars. The story was widely covered. In 2010, he established a studio in a proposed arts district in Shanghai. The regime, fearing it would become a center of dissent-and claiming the structure violated a building code-destroyed it early in 2011. According to Ai, "It made every young person who may or may not have liked me before think I must be some kind of hero."

Ai lives well enough, even under house arrest, but there's little about him that's extravagant or arty. His house, like many in the district, is gray and utilitarian. The neighborhood doesn't have much street or café life; it's the sort of place, one Beijing resident said, where people go to be left alone. His courtyard home consists of two buildings: a studio and a residence. The studio-a large space with a skylight-has a gray floor and white walls and seems much less cluttered than other artist studios. Both the studio and the residence have a neutral air, as if they have not yet been filled, but are instead environments where an artist waits for ideas, or acts on impulse, or greets cats and visitors. Like Andy Warhol, Ai always has a camera at hand-in his case, an iPhone-as if he were waiting for something to happen.

His life seems steeped in "befores" and "afters." Before the modern era, he says, China's culture had a kind of "total condition, with philosophy, aesthetics, moral understanding and craftsmanship." In ancient China, art could become very powerful. "It's not just a decoration or one idea, but rather a total high model which art can carry out." He finds a similar and transcendent unity of vision in the work of one of his favorite artists, van Gogh: "The art was a belief that expressed his views of the universe, how it should be."

His more immediate before, however, is not ancient China but the totalitarian culture into which he was born. Ai's father, the renowned poet Ai Qing, ran afoul of the regime in the late '50s and he and his family were sent to a labor camp. He spent five years cleaning toilets. (Ai Qing was exonerated in 1978 and lived in Beijing until his death in 1996.) To Ai Weiwei, there was also another, less personal kind of emptiness about the China of before. "There were almost no cars on the street," he said. "No private cars, only embassy cars. You could walk in the middle of the street. It was very slow, very quiet and very gray. There were not so many expressions on human faces. After the Cultural Revolution, muscles were still not built up to laugh or show emotion. When you saw a little bit of color-like a yellow umbrella in the rain-it was quite shocking. The society was all gray, and a little bit blue."

In 1981, when it became possible for Chinese citizens to travel abroad, Ai made his way to New York. His first glimpse of the city came on a plane in the early evening. "It looked like a bowl of diamonds," he said. It was not the city's material wealth that attracted him, however, but its dazzling freedom of action and speech. For a time Ai had an apartment near Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, where young Chinese artists and intellectuals often gathered. But he had no particular success as an artist. He worked odd jobs and spent his time going to exhibitions. The poet Allen Ginsberg, whom he befriended, told Ai that galleries would not take much notice of his work.

Although he has a special interest in Jasper Johns, Warhol and Dada, Ai is not easily categorized. He has a wandering mind that can embrace very different, sometimes contrary, elements. The same artist who loves the transcendental oneness of van Gogh, for example, also admires the abstruse and sometimes analytical sensibility of Johns. Much of Ai's best-known work is rooted in conceptual and Dadaist art. He has often created "ready-mades"-objects taken from the world that an artist then alters or modifies-that have a strong satirical element. In one well-known example, he placed a Chinese figurine inside a bottle of Johnnie Walker Scotch. Yet in contrast to many conceptual artists, he also demonstrated, early on, a keen interest in a work's visual qualities and sent himself to study at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League in New York.

Ai's interest in design and architecture led him, in 2006, to collaborate with HHF Architects on a country house in upstate New York for two young art collectors. The house is four equal-sized boxes covered on the outside in corrugated metal; the small spaces between the boxes permit light to suffuse the interior, where the geometry is also softened by wood and surprising angles. The award-winning design is both remarkably simple and-in its use of light and the grouping of interior spaces-richly complex.

But Ai's interest in design and architecture has less to do with being a conventional architect than with rebuilding-and redesigning-China itself. Returning to China in 1993, when his father fell ill, he was discouraged by two new forms of oppression: fashion and cronyism. "Deng Xiaoping encouraged people to get rich," he said, adding that those who succeeded did so through their affiliation with the Communist Party. "I could see so many luxury cars, but there was no justice or fairness in this society. Far from it." New consumer goods such as tape recorders brought fresh voices and music into a moribund culture. But rather than struggle to create independent identities, Ai said, young people instead settled into a new, easy and fashion-driven conformity. "People listened to sentimental Taiwanese pop music. Levi's blue jeans came in very early. People were seeking to be identified with a certain kind of style, which saves a lot of talking."

Ai responded to the new China with scabrous satire, challenging its puritanical and conformist character by regularly showcasing a rude and boisterous individuality. He published a photograph of himself in which he is shown naked, leaping ludicrously into the air, while holding something over his genitals. The photo caption-"Grass mud horse covering the middle"-sounds in spoken Chinese like a coarse jest about mothers and the Central Committee. He formed a corporation called "Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd." He mocked the Olympic Games, which, in China, are now a kind of state religion. The CCTV tower in Beijing, designed by the celebrated Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is regarded with great national pride; the Chinese were horrified when a fire swept through an annex and a nearby hotel during construction. Ai's response? "I think if the CCTV building really burns down it would be the modern landmark of Beijing. It can represent a huge empire of ambition burning down."

Ai's resistance to all forms of control-capitalist and communist-manifests itself in one poignant way. He refuses to listen to music. He associates music with the propaganda of the old days and prefers the silent spaces of independent thought. "When I was growing up, we were forced to listen to only Communist music. I think that left a bad impression. I have many musician friends, but I never listen to music." He blames the Chinese educational system for failing to generate any grand or open-ended sense of possibility either for individuals or the society as a whole. "Education should teach you to think, but they just want to control everyone's mind." What the regime is most afraid of, he says, is "free discussion."

Ai will occasionally say something optimistic. Perhaps the Internet will open up the discussion that schools now restrain, for example, even if the blog he ran has been shut down. For the most part, though, Ai's commentary remains bleak and denunciatory. Few people in China believe in what they are doing, he says, not even the secret police. "I've been interrogated by over eight people, and they all told me, 'This is our job.'...They do not believe anything. But they tell me, 'You can never win this war.'"

Not soon anyway. In the West, the artist as provocateur-Marcel Duchamp, Warhol and Damien Hirst are well-known examples-is a familiar figure. In a China just emerging as a world power, where the political authorities prize conformity, discipline and the accumulation of riches, an artist working in the provocative Western tradition is still regarded as a threat. Chinese intellectuals may support him, but the Chinese generally have no more understanding of Ai than a typical American has of Duchamp or Warhol. "There are no heroes in modern China," Ai said.

The West would like to turn Ai into a hero, but he seems reluctant to oblige. He lived in postmodern New York. He knows the celebrity racket and the hero racket. "I don't believe that much in my own answer," he said. "My resistance is a symbolic gesture." But Ai, if not a hero, has found ways to symbolize certain qualities that China may one day celebrate him for protecting and asserting. Free discussion is one. An out-there, dark and Rabelaisian playfulness is another. But the most interesting quality of them all is found in his best works of art: a prophetic dream of China.

Much of Ai's art is of only passing interest. Like so much conceptual art, it seems little more than a diagram of some pre-conceived moral. Art with a moral too often ends with the moral, which can stopper the imagination. Consider Ai's amusing and well-known Johnnie Walker piece. Is it suggesting that China is enveloped within-and intoxicated by-Western consumer culture? Of course it is. Once you've seen it, you don't have to think about it anymore. Jokes, even serious jokes, are like that. They're not as good the second time around.

But several Ai works are fundamentally different in character. They're made of more than morals and commentary. They're open-ended, mysterious, sometimes utopian in spirit. Each calls to mind-as architecture and design can-the birth of the new. The oddest instance is the "Bird's Nest" stadium of the 2008 Olympics. While an impassioned critic of the propaganda around the Olympics, Ai nonetheless collaborated with the architects Herzog & de Meuron in the design of the stadium. What kind of China is being nurtured, one wonders, in that spiky nest?

According to Ai, governments cannot hide forever from what he calls "principles" and "the true argument." He decries the loss of religion, aesthetic feeling and moral judgment, arguing that "this is a large space that needs to be occupied." To occupy that space, Ai continues to dream of social transformation, and he devises actions and works that evoke worlds of possibility. For the 2007 Documenta-a famous exhibition of contemporary art held every five years in Kassel, Germany-Ai contributed two pieces. One was a monumental sculpture called Template, a chaotic Babel of doors and windows from ruined Ming and Qing dynasty houses. These doors and windows from the past seemed to lead nowhere until, oddly enough, a storm knocked down the sculpture. His second contribution was a work of "social sculpture" called Fairytale, for which he brought 1,001 people from China-chosen through an open blog invitation-to Documenta. He designed their clothes, luggage and a place for them to stay. But he did not point them in any particular direction. On this unlikely trip through the woods, the Chinese pilgrims might find for themselves a new and magical world. They too might discover, as Ai did when he went to New York, "a bowl of diamonds."

Sunflower Seeds, his most celebrated work, yields similar questions. The painting of so many individual seeds is a slightly mad tour de force. But the scale of the work, which is at once tiny and vast-raindrop and ocean-seems no crazier than a "Made in China" consumer society and its bottomless desires. Does the number of seeds reflect the dizzying amount of money-millions, billions, trillions-that corporations and nations generate? Do the seeds simultaneously suggest the famines that mark Chinese history? Do they evoke China's brief moment of cultural freedom in 1956 known as the "Hundred Flowers Campaign?" Do they represent both the citizen and the nation, the individual and the mass, endowing both with an air of germinating possibility? Will China ever bloom, one wonders, with the joyful intensity of van Gogh's sunflowers?

Christina Larson in Beijing contributed reporting to this story.

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Is Ai Weiwei China's Most Dangerous Man?

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Last year, the editors of ArtReview magazine named the Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei the most powerful artist in the world. It was an unusual choice. Ai's varied, scattershot work doesn't fetch the highest prices at auction, and critics, while they admire his achievement, don't treat him as a master who has transformed the art of his period.

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On December 1, 2016, I asked myself the question: With only one month of practice, can I learn how to draw realistic portraits with only pencil and paper?

On December 24, 2016, after 26 hours of practice, I found out that the answer was yes.

During the month of December, I documented my entire learning process in a series of 31 daily blog posts, which are compiled here into a single narrative. In this article, you can relive my month of insights, frustrations, learning hacks, and triumphs, as I strive towards monthly mastery.
This post is sponsored by my education company Openmind. Openmind connects you with world-class mentors to help accelerate your learning and success. Learn more here.

New month, new challenge.

For the month of December, my goal is to draw a realistic self-portrait with only pencil and paper. Along the way, in order to learn the fundamentals of drawing and portraiture, I will also draw many other faces, which will hopefully keep this month's posts more varied and interesting.

This new challenge starts today, December 1, 2016, and, by December 31, I hope to be a master of portrait drawing.

My starting point

I've had strong artistic tendencies since I was a kid, but I've never invested much in my fine art skills. Instead, I've channeled my artistic impulses mainly through music, film, and computer-aided design.

Thus, to set a baseline for this month's challenge, I've drawn a before self-portrait with my current drawing skills. Although it's not the absolute worst thing ever drawn, it sadly doesn't look very much like me.

Measuring success

Measuring success for this challenge is certainly more subjective than last month (where I successfully memorized a deck of cards in less than 2 minutes).

In this case, the best I can do is show a photo that demonstrates the level of drawing I'm aiming to reach...

This portrait is the example drawn in the Vitruvian Studio Portrait Drawing Course, which is the course I'll be following this month.

Clearly, there are major differences in realism between my starting drawing and this example portrait. So, if I can match the level of this example (which will be, of course, a subjective, but hopefully honest judgement), I will consider this challenge a success.

With my goal set, it's time to start drawing...

In my life, I've created a fair bit of (what I'll call) art. However, I've done so, not by relying on well-developed fine art skills, but instead, by cheating my way through the artistic process.

Basically, I've used everything at my disposal (except for fine arts skills) to create artistically.

You can decide if this is cheating or not, but either way, this month is going to be different. This month, I am actually going to invest in my fine art skills. This month, I'm going to take a pencil and paper, and nothing else, and make it happen.

However, before I make it happen, I thought it would be fun to share some of my previous works.

1. Lego Portraits (with the help of Photoshop)

During high school, whenever I was tasked with making someone a gift, I usually opted to construct a custom Warhol-inspired portrait out of Legos.

Here are two portraits that I made for my cousins Adam and Marissa.

And another one I made for my grandparents.

While these pieces may look like they required some amount of artistic genius to pull off (do they?), that's really not the case. Instead, these pieces just required some clever computational analysis, planning in Photoshop, and executional patience (while glueing and placing each Lego piece).

The computer was the real artistic champion here.

2. Portrait painting (with the help of a projector)

In January, 2016, I was just starting to develop the itch to draw/paint portraits. In an attempt to make something that was commercially viable (to cover the cost of materials), I decided to paint a portrait of Donald Trump.

While the result is artistically interesting, much of the work was done by a projector. I created a paint-by-number blueprint (again in Photoshop), projected it onto the canvas, and traced it in pencil.

Then, I simply filled in the sketch with paint according to my computer-generated instructions.

3. Counterfeit paintings (using optical tricks)

I've also experimented using optical tools (like mirrors and lens) to mechanically create. Although, I haven't invested enough time to produce anything worth sharing.

Tim Jenison, on the other hand, does have something worth sharing. Without any artistic training, he painted a nearly-exact replica of a Vermeer painting solely using optical techniques.

Tim's journey is documented in the Penn and Teller-produced film "Tim's Vermeer", which I highly recommend you check out.

Here's Tim's final painting.

This month I'm only using pencil and paper

While technology-aided art still should probably count as art (in some capacity), this month, I'm committed to creating using only the tools shown below: 9 black pencils, 1 white pencil, a few different erasers, and a gray piece of paper (which I'll explain another time).

It's going to be hard, but that's the point.

This month, to learn how to draw portraits, I'll be following the Portrait Drawing video course from Vitruvian Studio.

Today, I spent 2.5 hours starting the course and beginning my first portrait.

Selecting who to draw

For my first piece, rather than drawing the model from the course, I've chosen to draw Derren Brown, who originally inspired me to pursuit portrait drawing.

Derren is a British illusionist, who I've been following for a while now, and who, I recently learned, casually paints portraits on the side.

Here are a few things he's casually painted.

After seeing these, I decided I too would like to be the kind of person that casually paints impressively good portraits on the side.

For now, before I get to the painting, I'll start off by mastering the drawing part of program.

This is the picture of Derren I'm drawing.

And here's my setup.

Starting the drawing

The first module of the course focuses on mapping out the portrait, which includes determining the shape of the head and locating the features.

Finding the top and bottom of the head

I started by arbitrarily drawing two lines on the page to indicate the level of the top of the head and the level of the bottom of the head.

Then, I arbitrarily marked, on the top level, the highest point of the head, and then used the angle between this point and the bottom of the chin, to locate the bottom of the chin on the page.

I also drew in the level of the notch of the neck. The first time, I drew it too low, so I moved it up. I gauged this distances as a proposition of the head length.

Find the leftmost and rightmost parts of the head

With the topmost and bottommost points identified, I then needed to identify the leftmost and rightmost points.

To do this, I used a new technique I learned called triangulation. To triangulate a new point, I first sight (try to visualize) the angles to this new point from two existing points. Then, I draw lines from the existing points in the direction of the new point based on the sighted angles. Finally, I mark the new point where the lines intersect.

After checking the angles again, I updated these two new points.

To check, I then sighted the angle between the two new points, ensuring this angle matches what I see on Derren's head.

Drawing the shape of the head

With these four outer points drawn, the next step is to draw in the shape of the head. To do this, I continued to triangulate more points, and draw in the necessary curves to connect them.

I continued in this way, until I outlined the entire shape of the head.

It didn't look quite right, so I checked a bunch of angles.

Once it seemed closer, I added in the neck and shoulders.

With the neck and shoulders in place, it again didn't look right. So, I checked more angles and made adjustments as necessary (mostly to broaden the jaw)

The head was now looking pretty good, but the neck and shoulders needed a few adjustments. I retriangulated, and adjusted the collar upwards.

That's it for today

Getting to this point took me 2.5 hours, which was split between watching the video course and drawing my Derren portrait.

So far, the portrait doesn't look like much, but I still learned a bunch today. I particularly like the triangulation technique, which makes drawing much more procedural and mathematical (a.k.a. easier for me).

Tomorrow, I'll continue following the course, and start drawing in the facial features.

Yesterday, I started following along with the Vitruvian Studio portrait course, and began drawing a portrait of Derren Brown.

Here's what I accomplished yesterday.

And here's my end goal (more or less).

Today, I spent another 2.5 hours watching the course and working on the portrait.

Today's progress

Drawing in guides

The first thing I did today was add construction lines to my drawing. These construction lines are designed to act as landmarks and help me eventually place the facial features.

First, I drew in the vertical center line, which will help me laterally place the features.

Then, I marked eye level, to start gauging the features' vertical placement.

I followed up with the levels of the brows, nose, and lips.

I made a bit of a mistake here. I drew the horizontal construction lines perpendicular to the center line (which seemed reasonable), but did not mimic the angle of the features in the actual drawing.

So, I sighted the correct angles, and adjusted the construction lines accordingly.

Blocking in the features

With the construction lines as references, I was then ready to start blocking in the facial features.

I started by adjusting the center line slightly for the nose, and marking the nose's outer boundary.

Then, I drew in shapes for the brows.

Next, I included the eye sockets and some more detail around the nose.

Finally, I added in shapes for the eyelids and eyes, and finished up for the day.

Reaching this point took another 2.5 hours.

Progress still seems fairly slow on the drawing, but I'm making a conscious effort to work carefully through the blocking in phase (so I can practice what I'm learning, and so I can ensure the portrait is built on a strong foundation).

I'll start detailing the features tomorrow.

Today, for the third day in a row, I spent 2.5 hours on my Derren Brown drawing. However, unlike the other days, today, I feel like I made a lot of progress.

Finish blocking in the features

Picking up where I left off, I continued to block in shapes for the features.

I added in the center line of the lips and the shadow on the nose.

I then finished the lips and added a line for the chin.

Lastly, I blocked in the main structures of the ear and added an outline for the beard.

Drawing in shadow/highlight shapes

With the features in place, I next blocked in shapes for the shadows and highlights.

With these tonal contours in place, I darkened the shadow areas slightly, giving the portrait some roundness and three-dimensionality.

Detailing features

With the features and shadows blocked in, I detailed the features, starting with the eyes.

Left eye done.

Right eye done.

Nose done.

Lips done.

Finally, I finished up for the day with the ear.

After 7.5 hours of work (2.5 hours over the past three days), I'm finally hopefully that this portrait will resemble Derren Brown.

Tomorrow, I'll starting adding tonal values (i.e. shading) to the drawing.

Observation about today's session: Based on the output from today, it may seem like today's drawing was the most technically challenging. But, in fact, I found just the opposite.

Because I spent the past two days meticulously locating and blocking in the features, it was very easy to add the incremental detail. (Trying to draw big shapes is much harder than trying to draw little shapes. Little shapes are a lot easier to visually understand and replicate)

In fact, I suspect that today was least consequential to the outcome of the portrait. If I mess up the shape of the head and the location of the features, I have very little chance of capturing a likeness. If the features are not quite accurately detailed, but in the right place, I still might have something...

Yesterday, after 7.5 hours of work, I finally finished sketching / laying out my first portrait. Today, I started adding tonal values (a.k.a. "shading the drawing").

Before I show today's progress, I want to share two techniques I learned that make it significantly easier to accurately add tonal values to portraits.

1. Start with the most extreme values and then meet in the middle

The human eye is really bad at assessing tonal values in isolation - which is why your brain thinks squares A and B below are very different colors, when, in fact, they are the same.

Thus, instead of relying on visual inferences, tonal values can be better approximated through a simple, not-so-interpretative procedure.

Here's how it works:

Start by identifying the absolute darkest and absolute lightest areas of the drawing. For the darkest areas, shade them as dark as you can/want. For the lightest areas, highlight them as light as you can/want.

This establishes the entire tonal range of the drawing, which is called the key of the drawing.

Establishing the key is straightforward, and doesn't require much visual interpretation (i.e. it's easy to find the lightest lights and the darkest darks).

Once the key is established, and the lightest and darkest values are in place, the intermediate values need to be introduced. Again, this can be done procedurally, by identifying and shading/highlighting the areas which are slightly lighter than the darkest darks and slightly darker than the lightest lights. Continuing recursively in this way, the tonal values eventually meet in the middle, and the drawing (or the relevant part of the drawing) is complete.

2. Squint to better see tonal shapes

When keying the drawing (and developing tonal values in general) it's important that the shapes of the tonal areas are captured accurately.

In other words, if the highlight on the forehead is angular, drawing it with rounded edges wouldn't properly capture the form.

This sounds obvious, but again, your brain and visual system can play tricks on you. Your brain is attempting to see a face (via your psychologically skewed, emotions-based mental model of a face), and not just tonal blobs.

In fact, this psychological problem of misinterpreting faces is so common, there are entire drawing systems (like drawing upside down, drawing the negative space around the face, etc.) designed to combat these problems.
Side note: Here's a video of Derren Brown, the subject of my portrait, when he used to have hair, experimenting with some of these alternative methods of painting. It's a pretty cool trick.(If you're going to watch, stick it out until the end).
In order to accurately see tonal shapes, and avoid psychological errors, I've found one method to be surprisingly successful: squinting.

Basically, you look at the area you want to draw, squint your eyes (so the image becomes blurred and your brain no longer sees a face), and identify the tonal shapes you see through your eyelashes. This works super well. ( I didn't invent this method, I've just validated that it works for me).

Today's progress

With these techniques newly-learned, I began to add tonal values to my Derren Brown portrait.

First, I started with the eye.

In the course, the teacher mentioned that it's good to start with a small area that exhibits the full range of tones.

However, the eye was too small to help effectively establish the key. So, I keyed the drawing more aggressively, starting with the shadow on the nose and the highlights on the forehead and cheek.

I continued shading the darkest areas along the right side of the face.

Additionally, while doing this, to check the accuracy of my key, I started developing the eye.

I finished up my key, by adding shadows to the lower face and the back of the head, and was ready to begin modeling the form (finding the intermediate values between the darks and lights).

I started with the forehead.

Added a bit more detail.

And then smoothed everything out.

This is where I stopped for the day, after another 2.5 hours of working.

Derren looks a bit too shiny right now - a bit like a mannequin or the Tin Man - but I'm optimistic that this effect will vanish once I model the rest of the form.

I'm guessing I have another 5 hours of work left on this.

Today, like yesterday, I continued adding tonal values to the portrait. I spent a little less than two hours, and am getting really excited about the results.

Here's where I stopped yesterday.

I proceeded today by first addressing the nose.

Then, I addressed the right half of the face - further developing the shadow.

Next, I moved on to Derren's hair and beard.

Since the demo portrait in course is based on a long-haired female model, I had to do a bit more freestyling at this point. I think it works.

I continued with the upper part of the beard, and finished up for the day.

Tomorrow, I need to finish the mouth, the ear, the neck, the lower part of the beard, and perhaps the clothing.

Getting close...

Today, after another 2.5 hours of work, I finally completed my Derren Brown portrait.

In the coming days, I will write a few detailed posts about what I've learned, how I plan to move forward, etc., but for now, I'll just share the final photos of my progress.

Today's progress

I started off by detailing the lips.

Then, I added the mustache.

With this facial hair momentum, I finished off the beard.

Then, the ear.

Finally, I completed the neck, decided not to address the clothes, signed it, and I was done.

For my first portrait of the month, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Nine days ago, I began my 30-day quest to learn how to draw photorealistic portraits. Since then, I've watched the entire 10 hours of the V itruvian Studio drawing course, as well as spent 14.5 hours working on my first portrait.

Here's the result...

And here's a video documenting the progression.

Considering where I started only nine days ago ( see the before portrait), it's hard for me to believe that I actually drew this. It's not perfect, but I'm definitely excited about the outcome.

Part of me lacks the motivation to continue drawing, as I feel like I've already accomplished my goal. The other (more overpowering) part of me realizes that I have another 21 days to improve even further, so that's what I plan to do.

In particular, I'm going try to reduce the amount of time necessary to complete a portrait like this. With some practice, I think I can reduce my time down from 14.5 hours to 4-5 hours.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go through my previous posts ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and write up a "Portrait Drawing Cheat Sheet". Then, I'm going to break down the cheat sheet into isolated, practicable skills and drills, work on those individual skills for 1-2 weeks, and then start working on my self-portrait to finish off the month.

Here is my "Portrait Drawing Cheat Sheet", which features step-by-step instructions on how to draw a portrait.

These steps are based on the excellent portrait drawing course by Vitruvian Studio, which I highly recommend you purchase if you are serious about learning how to draw.

The Instructions

1. Mark the top of the head. Arbitrarily draw a line towards the top of the page. This represents the top of the head.

2. Mark the bottom of the chin. Arbitrarily draw a line near the lower third of the page. This represents the bottom of the chin.

3. Mark the notch of the neck. On the subject, using your pencil as a guide, measure the distance from the lowest point of the head to the notch of the neck. Determine how many of these distances can fit inside the vertical distance of the head. Use this is as guide to draw a horizontal line towards the bottom of the page to represent the notch of the neck.

4. Find the highest point of the head. Arbitrarily determine a point on the top line. This represents the highest point of the head. Often, on the subject, this point sits far back on the head.

5. Find the lowest point of the chin. Using your pencil as a guide, determine the angle from the highest point of the head to the lowest point of the chin. Draw a line at this angle from the highest point of the head (as marked on the page) down towards the bottom of the chin line. Draw a dash where these lines intersect. This intersection represents the lowest point of the chin.

6. Find the leftmost boundary. Identify the leftmost boundary on your subject. Determine the angle to this leftmost point from the highest point, and draw a line at that angle from the highest point towards the leftmost boundary on the page. Do the same from the lowest point. Draw a marking where these two lines intersect. This intersection represents the leftmost boundary. The technique used to find this boundary is called triangulation.

7. Find the rightmost boundary. Again, triangulate from the highest and lowest points to find the rightmost boundary of the head.

8. Check the angle. On the subject, use your pencil to find the angle between the leftmost and rightmost boundaries. Check if this angle matches the angle represented on the page. If not, retriangulate and check again.

9. Draw the outer-boundary of the head and hair. Triangulate points around the head and connect them with straight lines. Once the general shape seems right, smooth out the kinks. Check the angles between various points on the subject and on the page to make sure everything looks right. If there seems to be inconsistencies, retriangulate and adjust. Do the same for the hair line.

10. Draw the vertical center line. Pick some central point that looks like its on the vertical center line. Triangulate from outer-points inwards to find this central point. Check the angle from the bottom/center of the chin to this point. Use this as a guide to draw in the entire vertical center line. As the center line approaches the top of the head, it typically flattens, as it rounds back behind the head.

11. Draw the level of the eyes. The level of the eyes typically falls about halfway between the top and bottom of the head. Use this as a starting point. Draw in this level, and then check angles to confirm. Move up or down until everything checks out.

12. Draw in the level of the brows and bottom of the nose. If you divide the face length into thirds, typically the level of the brows fall on the upper third line and the level of the nose falls on the bottom third line. Use this as a starting point. Draw in these level, and the check angles to confirm. Move the level up or down until everything checks out.

13. Draw in the level of the start of the nose. The nose begins somewhere between the level of the brows and the level of the eyes. Gauge where this is and draw it in.

14. Draw in the bottom and middle of the lips. If you divide the distance between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the chin into halves, the level of the bottom of the lips typically falls at the halfway point. Use this as a starting point to draw in this level. Then, gauge where the middle of the lips falls relative to the distance between the bottom of the lips and the bottom of the nose. Draw that in.

15. Adjust the center line for the nose. Starting from the level of the start of the nose, adjust the center line so its angle matches the center line of the nose. Typically this will be in two parts. The angle outwards from the level of the start of the nose to the peak of the nose, and the angle inwards from the peak of the nose to the bottom of the nose.

16. Adjust the center line for the mouth. The mouth typically has some volume, which pushes the center line forward. Adjust the center line forward below the nose to account for the volume in the mouth.

17. Draw in the shape of the eyes and eye sockets. Triangulate the corners of the eyes, and then draw in the complete shapes. Do the same for the lids and the eye sockets.

18. Draw in the shape of the brows. Triangulate the corners of the brows, and then draw in the complete shapes.

19. Draw in the shape of the nose. Triangulate the peak of the nose and the wing of the nose. Then, draw in the complete shape.

20. Draw in the shape of the mouth. Triangulate the corners of the mouth. Then, draw in the complete shape.

21. Draw in the level of the chin. Triangulate the level of the chin, and draw a line to distinguish the shape.

22. Draw in the shape of the ear. Triangulate points of angle-change around the ear. Connect these points with appropriately angled lines, and then smooth out the kinks.

23. Draw in shadow shapes. Identify shapes of main shadow areas. Triangulate their boundaries and draw them in.

24. Darken the shadow shapes. Lightly shade in the shadow areas of the portrait. Use a soft, clean paint brush to smooth out the material on the page. This will introduce some 3-dimensionality to your portrait, which should help you better visualize if anything doesn't seem quite right. If there is something that seems incorrect, fix it.

25. Detail the eyes. Draw in the iris, pupils, and other details.

26. Detail the nose. Draw in the nostrils and other details.

27. Detail the lips. Smooth out the shape of the lips.

28. Detail the ear. Draw in some of the main inner land marks.

29. Key the drawing. Identify the lightest and darkest tones on the subject, and add these tones to the page.

30. Modeling an area. Pick an area of the head (like the forehead), and detail some of the main places of tone-change. Identify and add in the main light and dark areas. Using a shading stump and the necessary pencils, fill in the transition tones. To better see the shapes of highlights and shadow, squint your eyes until the face isn't recognizable as a face, but rather a collection of tonal blobs.

31. Model the remaining areas. Continue as above until all areas are modeled.

32. Sign it. And you're done.

A few days ago, I finished drawing my first portrait. Since then, I've reread my notes, reviewed some parts of the course, and wrote up my "Portrait Drawing Cheat Sheet".

With all the steps documented, it's now time to deliberately practice the most important skills.

In particular, as I said on Day 35, I believe that it's most important to accurately capture the proportions of the head, the head shape, and the level of the features. If these things are done correctly, the rest of the process is very forgiving. If not, the portrait will end up beautifully shaded, but won't look like the subject.

Today, I'm going to practice finding the correct proportions of the subject's head using a few celebrities: Matt Damon, Natalie Portman, and Morgan Freeman.

Matt Damon

Here's the photo I'm using.

Here's my attempt to locate the peak of his head, the lowest point of his chin (which is located on the chin's left side), the leftmost point of his cheek, and the rightmost point of his ear.

In Photoshop, I overlaid my sketch on the photo to check. I was pretty accurate.

Natalie Portman

Here's Natalie.

And here's my attempt to locate the peak of her hair, the lowest point of her chin (again on the chin's left side), the rightmost point of her cheek, the leftmost point of her hair, and the notch of her neck.

Checking in Photoshop, everything seems pretty accurate. Although, the low point of the chin may be slightly too far left.

Morgan Freeman

Here I try to locate the peak of his head, the lowest point of his chin, the rightmost point of his ear, the leftmost point of his ear, and the notch of his neck.

This one looks right on the money.

With each of the sketches, unlike with my Derren Brown portrait, I felt that I was able to see the angle on the subject and accurately replicate it on the page with limited effort.

This is a good sign...

Yesterday, I practiced triangulating the proportions of a few celebrity heads.

For example, here's one I did of Natalie Portman.

Today, I practiced triangulating the complete head shape and gauging the level of features.

It took about 45 minutes.

To assess my work, I overlaid the sketch on Natalie.

My Critique

The face shape is accurate

The level of the features is accurate

The angle of the features is accurate

The center line curves a little too quickly as it moves up between the eyes

The neck shape is inaccurate - I especially misestimated the starting point of the neck on the right side.

Above the right eye, the angle of the head/hair is too steep

The peak of the head is too steep

The angle of the hair above the ear isn't steep enough

Overall, I'd give the sketch a B-.

Since I was accurate with the face shape and the level of features, if I continued working, I suspect I would develop the face fairly accurately. As a result, I would likely have enough accurate information to gradually correct the major mistakes with the head and hair shape.

Tomorrow, I'll practice again on a different celebrity.

Today, I didn't have too much time to draw. So, I quickly progressed the Matt Damon sketch I started two days ago.

Here's what I shared on Sunday.

Today, I spent 30 minutes sketching the head shape and feature guides.

Just looking at the sketch, the head shapes seems a little narrow for Matt Damon. But, overlaid on the photo, it seems to match up.

With the exception of the oddly tiny ear, everything else seems to line up well. The head shape, face shape, and hair shape seem accurate. The level of the features and the center line seem accurate. The wing of the nose is a bit too far to the right, but I really just threw that in for fun.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome - especially since I sketched this fairly quickly. I guess that means I'm improving...

Last month, when I was learning to memorize a deck of cards at grandmaster speeds, I started unintentionally seeing playing cards in the real-world. In particular, real-world things (like wheelchairs and airplanes), which have association in my mnemonic system, were triggering images of playing cards, without any conscious thought on my part.

Simply, I was rewiring my brain.

This month, as I learn to draw faces, I'm experiencing a new phenomenon... For the past few days, I've found myself scrutinizing and deconstructing other people's faces on the train, at work, on the street, at Whole Foods, etc. Wherever there is a face, I can't help but try to analyze it, and imagine how I'd draw it.

Now (and I hope this eventually wears off), when I see a new face, my first instinct is to estimate the ratio between the height and width of the head. Other times, I just look to see what shapes the eye sockets are. Or how prominent the brow ridge is. Or if the nose and brows equally break the face in thirds.

Basically, I can't stop staring at people.

So, thank you people of San Francisco for not getting totally creeped out. I promise I'll stop soon.

For the past couple days, I've been itching to start my self-portrait. So, today, I did just that.

After working for about an hour, I was able to finish sketching the outline of the head, hair, and neck.

And here's a video of today's progression.

So far, so good. Tomorrow, I'll start blocking in the features.

Today, I continued working on my self-portrait. Although it's coming together nicely, I made a mistake upfront that's definitely costing me now.

Before, I get to that, though, let me first share today's progress.

My mistake

Although I'm loving the composition of my self-portrait, I've sadly draw everything 10-20% too small.

Take a look at the self-portrait side-by-side with the Derren Brown portrait. My head is noticeably smaller.

Again, I think this is okay compositionally, but it's still a bit of a problem - particularly, for two reasons.

1. A smaller drawing offers smaller margins for error. If I slightly misplace the corner of the mouth or the height of the brow, the distance between the correct and incorrect placements represents a proportionally larger difference on a smaller drawing. In other words, smaller drawings are less forgiving and errors are more pronounced.

2. A smaller drawing means finer details. My pencil sharpener doesn't seem to work very well with the pencils I have, which means I'm drawing the tiny eyelids on my self-portrait with a tree trunk. Basically, the smaller drawing requires that I work in finer areas, which is challenging with the tools I have.

Nevertheless, I will persist, since, even with the sizing mistake (and the associated challenges), I'm quite happy with the portrait so far.

In fact, challenges are probably a good thing (I hope). Ideally, they push me to become a better artist.

Anyway, I think the takeaway is that I need to invest in a better pencil sharpener...

Today, my self-portrait progress is broken into two parts:

1. Finishing the sketch

2. Defacing the sketch (a.k.a. adding tonal values)

Finishing the sketch

Yesterday, I was able to sketch about 80% of the portrait. Today, I just need to add the final details.

I start by blocking in shadow areas near the mouth, on the forehead, and on the neck.

Then, I darken the hair and eyebrows.

I add detail to the eyes, and the portrait jumps to life.

Finally, I detail the ear, which is one of my favorite parts of the whole process. (Ears are just weird looking and fun to draw)

With the ear done, my sketch is complete.

Interestingly, this completeness is a bit problematic: Because the sketch feels whole (and, from my perspective, represents an interesting, standalone piece of art), I struggle to continue working on it.

The portrait just feels balanced at this point. As soon as I start adding tonal values, that balance will be disrupted, and won't return until I'm nearly done with the whole portrait.

It almost feels unnatural to add tonal values to the sketch, as if I'm defacing something I worked hard to create.

Nevertheless, I must continue. So, here I go... Time to temporarily deface my work.

Defacing my portrait

I start by blackening one of the eyebrows. This is easy, and hopefully will help me build momentum.

I continue with my black pencil, darkening the other eyebrow and the hair.

I can't seem to easily get the hair to be one smooth black mass. Instead, the grain of the paper is very noticeable, giving me a nice salted look. Even after aggressive blending with a blending stump and a dry brush, I still can't get the material distributed nicely on the paper.

I may need to invest in some powder graphite (but I'll return to this later).

Next, I start on the prominent eye. This is where the real defacing starts, as it's going to be a while until it doesn't look like I'm wearing makeup.

After many more minutes of work on the eye, I stop for the night. I'll continue more tomorrow.

Today, I spent a couple hours working on the eyes and nose area of my self-portrait.

My tonal approach is noticeably different than that used on the Derren Brown portrait.

With Derren, I wanted to ensure the portrait emanated three-dimensionality, so I pushed aggressively on the contrast of the portrait. I also didn't care much for the micro-gradations of shadow/light, as I was more concerned with the correctness of the bigger shapes.

As a result, the portrait definitely has a stunning roundness, but I wouldn't call it photorealistic.

Thus, this time around, with my self-portrait, I'm aiming to more closely match tones, while also paying attention to the smaller areas of light fall-off. With this attention, my hope is to create a more realistic rendering of my face.

It's still hard to tell whether I'll be successful, but we'll find out soon...

In most of my posts, I tend to be pretty positive (i.e. "Whoa, today went better than expected...", "I'm really pleased with today's progress...", "I can't believe how good this is...", etc.).

This is mostly because I'm very bullish on this entire project.

However, in my past three posts (I made a mistake, Intentionally defacing my self-portrait, and Fighting for photorealism), I've tried to interrupt this trend, and share some of the day-to-day challenges I face.

While I am still very positive about this project, and happily take on the micro-challenges, I thought sharing some of these things would be more interesting than writing about how every day is always better than the last.

Anyway, continuing with this theme, today, I want to share an interesting struggle.

The Light Situation in San Francisco

For some (perhaps, legal) reason, most apartments in San Francisco don't have overhead lights in their main living areas. Usually, apartments only have overhead lights in the bathroom and (sometimes) the kitchen, which is the case for my apartment.

As a result, the rest of my apartment is lit via Ikea floor lamps, which, although they do a 90% good job, it turns out, at night, there's just not enough light for detail-oriented drawing.

During the sketching phase of my self-portrait, I didn't need to see precise tone, so sketching at night was no problem.

However, now that I'm trying to carefully model the lights/shadows of my face, I need more light.

I considered drawing in the bathroom, but this isn't entirely comfortable. Especially because I was worried that the portrait would get wet/damaged on the sink, whose counter is the most viable drawing area.

Since, without deconstruction, the kitchen table doesn't fit through the bathroom door (I tried...), I needed to find somewhere else to work tonight.

I ended up across the street from my apartment at a well-lit coworking space, which was great for drawing, but not-so-great for picture-taking. The abundance of overhead lights meant that, however I positioned my body, I was always casting a shadow on the portrait.

Thus, once I finished drawing, I came back to my dark apartment to snap a photo.

After my light-seeking adventure, here's what I was able to accomplish.

Today, I only had ten minutes to draw, so I spent all ten darkening the hair and eyebrows on my self-portrait, until they were as black as I could get them.

This greatly improved the portrait in two ways:

1. The relative tones of the face to the hair are much more accurate now, which helps with realism.

2. The shape of the hair on the left side of the portrait wasn't quite right, so this gave me the chance to fix it.

Here's the before...

And the after

At first, the blackness of the hair is a bit jarring, but it accurately represents the "exposure" I'm going for (where the hair is emitting no light, and thus, shows up as pure black).

Although today's darkening session improved things, the portrait still seems a bit odd and unbalanced because of the nakedness of the mouth and cheek. I'll start tackling those areas tomorrow.

Yesterday, I declared that today I would start working on the mouth and cheek areas of my self-portrait. And yet, somehow, the day is over, and the mouth and cheek areas are still naked.

Instead, I got caught up making micro-changes to the parts of the portrait I've already worked on (the eyes, nose, forehead, etc.). It seems I can make small improvements forever.

This is clearly not the right approach. Especially because... As I begin shading the mouth, I will need to make adjustments to the nose area, so everything fits together. As I begin shading the cheek, I will need to make adjustments to the eye area, so everything fits together. And so on.

Perhaps, I'm just stalling out of fear: Once the mouth and cheek are developed, I'll have a much better idea if the portrait is any good.

If I am fearful, I definitely need to get over it.

To do so, tomorrow, I'll focus, not on perfectly detailing the mouth and cheek, but instead, broadly blocking in the right tonal values.

With the general tones in place, I'll have enough momentum to push the portrait towards completion.

Today, I spent an hour developing out the rest of my self-portrait.

It went from looking like this...

To looking like this.

It's starting to look like me, but it still looks like a drawing - mostly because I haven't blended the newly developed areas like the neck, cheek, mouth, ear, forehead, etc. Pretty much the whole thing.

I've been holding off on the blending because my blending stump is unusably dirty.

Tomorrow, I'll go swing by the art store and pick up a few fresh ones.

I picked up some new blending stumps today, and went to work smoothing the value changes over my face and neck. Here's the result...

When compared with the before, the difference is pretty striking. In the before portrait, I look like a sickly, pencil-sketched version of myself, while the after version has a much nicer roundness and weight to it.

Tomorrow, I'll make some minor tweaks, sign it, and hang it on the wall.

24 days ago, to kick off December's challenge, I tried to draw a self-portrait.

Then, over the next 3.5 weeks, I completed a 10-hour drawing course, drew a few other people, and then spent 8 hours on a new self-portrait.

Here are the before and after.

And here's a time-lapse of the 8 hours of drawing.

I'm happy with the result, and actually think the self-portrait looks a lot like me.

Tomorrow, I'll write up a more thorough critique. But until then, I'm declaring this month's challenge a success.

Yesterday, I declared this month's challenge a success, noting the differences between my before and after self-portraits.

And while my most recent self-portrait is a major improvement, and does look very much like me, I still do have some quick critical thoughts on it, which I've broken down into two parts: 1. Likeness and 2. Artistry.

1. Likeness

Overall, the likeness is strong. The portrait unequivocally looks like me. Although, it isn't perfect.

My expression/emotion in the portrait is plausibly mine, particularly in the eyes.

The shape of hair near the ear and back of the head is very accurate. However, the hair line doesn't seem completely right, and it's probably the second biggest reason why the portrait doesn't look perfectly like me. The hair line should probably come down on the forehead and should be less rounded. When I snapped a photo of myself (on which I based this portrait), I had just gotten a shorter-than-normal haircut, which is probably why I'm not used to the haircut I drew.

On paper, I feel I captured the nose perfectly, but, as a result of the shadow, it may seem slightly too small/short. To address this, I could have accentuated the tonal difference between the cheek and the shadowed part of the nose, but I wanted to remain as tonally accurate as possible and chose not to.

I'm very happy with how the neck turned out. Its weight and main features (the Adam's apple and the notch at my collar line) seem accurate.

There is something odd about the ear. It seems a bit out of place.

The eyebrows may be the slightest bit thin, but they are very close to reality.

The biggest potential miss is my cheek. While I do have prominent cheeks when I smile (which I'm not doing here), I also have a fairly slender face and a reasonably defined jaw. Depending on how I look at the cheek, it sometimes appears too round and too full. Other times, when I look at the portrait, my eye renders this area properly. If anything, I probably could have made the bottom of the face (in the rolling shadow) a bit more angular.

Nevertheless, even with these critiques in isolation, the portrait as a whole comes together nicely and captures a strong likeness. Thus, I've left it as is, since I care more about an overall likeness (versus a non-cohesive collection of individually accurate features).

2. Artistry

Before I drew my self-portrait, I drew a portrait of Derren Brown.

This portrait has two big advantages over my self-portrait: 1. The tonal range over the face is much greater, and 2. The midtone of the face matches the tone of the paper.

With my self-portrait, I strayed from both of these advantages. For one, on purpose. For the other, less so.

1. Narrow tonal range

Purposefully, I chose to base my self-portrait on a photo with a tighter tonal range, since I wanted to challenge and push my abilities (Drawing a portrait with heavy contrast requires less subtly and is, in my opinion, easier).

Arguably, the contrast of the Derren Brown portrait makes it a more visually compelling portrait, but this is another topic completely (first, I wanted to master accurate portraiture before tackling well-composed portraiture).

Even with the narrow tonal range, my self-portrait still maintains a believable roundness and depth.

2. Dark midtones

Less purposefully, I chose a photo where the midtone of my face was darker than the paper.

This was a bit of a mistake, but a good learning opportunity. As a result of this decision, unlike with my Derren portrait, I had to pencil-shade the mid-tones on my face, leading to a slightly dirtier portrait. (In the case with Derren, where there were midtones, I left the blank paper untouched and clean).

Especially before I smoothed out my face, it looked as if I had just been cleaning chimneys.

While the Derren Brown portrait (with its ultra-contrasty tonal range) may be a more dynamic portrait, my self portrait seems closer to photorealism, which is the main improvement I was aiming for.

Overall, I'm very happy with the result.

After spending nearly a month learning to draw portraits, I'm more convinced than ever that anyone can draw. Even if you don't have any artistic talent.

To me, drawing is a bit like doing your laundry. Before you do it for the first time, you feel it's much more complicated than it actually is, and thus, you feel incapable of trying. Then, you're shown that doing your laundry is only a matter of putting your clothes in the machine, pouring in some soap, and clicking a button. Much easier than you thought.

It turns out drawing is very similar. From the outside, it seems much more complex than it actually is. However, once you learn the two or three basic principles, drawing (at least, at my level) becomes nearly as straight forward as doing your laundry.

In fact, in order to draw a reasonable portrait, you only need to know the two following skills:

1. Triangulation

2. "Outside-in" Shading

Once you're equipped with these two techniques, you'll be ready to follow the "Portrait Drawing Cheat Sheet" and draw your first portrait.

You'll be surprised at how well it goes. I know I was...

As I mentioned at the beginning of this month, British illusionist Derren Brown originally inspired me to start drawing portraits. In fact, to acknowledge this inspiration, Derren was the subject of my first portrait.

However, Derren didn't inspire me with his drawings, but rather, his paintings, like these...

Of course, these paintings are built on a prerequisite foundation of drawing, but they also introduce a whole new skill set that I would love to cultivate.

Watching Derren paint, it seems like there are clear parallels between shading a drawing and painting a portrait: He sets a mid-tone color, adds the lights and darks, works his way towards the middle, and then adds detail.

There are also clearly major differences, like evaluating and mixing colors, general painting hygiene (letting paint dry, etc.), and best practices I'm probably not yet aware of.

And while this seems like a major leap from my drawing studies, I now have the artistic confidence to attempt a painting like this, without any (or very little) additional instruction.

In the coming months, I plan to start sketching a portrait on canvas, and then experimenting with paint.

Last month, I memorized a shuffled deck of cards in under two minutes, which required obsessive, consistent practice. If I were to stop practicing, over time I would lose this skill.

However, I don't think the same is true for my newly-found drawing skills. Mostly because... I didn't learn anything new this month.

Well, that's not exactly right. While I didn't cultivate any new drawing-enabled motor skills or artistic skills, I did learned to structure my already-existing skills inside of a better drawing process.

In other words, if I can remember the process, which, in my opinion, only depends on two very straightforward insights, I will always be able to draw at the level I can now.

In 20 years, even if I don't practice from now until then, as long as I can remember triangulation and outside-in shading, I will be able to fully replicate my results from this month.

I think that's a pretty cool thing, so look out for my Medium post in 20 years.

On December 1st, I drew this.

26 hours of practice later, I drew this.

In other words, after practicing for about an hour per day for 26 days, I majorly improved my portrait drawing skills.

Last month, it only took me 22 hours to become a grandmaster of memory.

I think this is going to be a theme for the entire Month to Master project: If my practice is deliberate and consistent, it's going to take a lot less time than expected to master these seemingly expert-level skills.

The trick, then, is to create a mechanism to force deliberate and consistent practice month after month. This is the hard part about learning these new skills, not the time required.

Something to think about as you start planning your 2017 resolutions...

Today, I flew from San Francisco to Florida to meet up with my family for a few days. I'll be here until January 4th.

I left all my drawing supplies behind, so I'm definitely not drawing any more this month.

I did, however, bring a Rubik's Cube with me in preparation for January's challenge (which starts in two days).

I'm definitely eager to start a new challenge, since I like the idea of always being in pursuit of something (which maybe suggests that I need to learn how to relax). Nevertheless, instead, these past two months, I've finished both challenges on Day 24 (of the month), and thus, needed to wait, without a challenge, for a week, until the next one began/begins.

Should I just start the next challenge once I finish the previous one? I'm not sure. On one hand, this seems reasonable and time-efficient. On the other hand, there is something very tidy about starting on the first of each month.

Clearly, I have some amount of obsessive compulsiveness going on, but I'm curious to know what you think...

Should I wait for the first of each month to start a new challenge, and enjoy my few days of relaxing (if available), or should I just use my extra time towards future challenges and start immediately?

Let me know.

Today, to celebrate the New Year, I decided to compile my personal highlights from 2016, which includes Month to Master, but also everything else from my life.

Rather than writing another M2M post today, I'll encourage you to check out that post if you're interested.

This post is part of Max's year-long accelerated learning project, Month to Master.

Max Deutsch is an obsessive learner, product builder, guinea pig for Month to Master, and founder at Openmind.

If you want to follow along with Max's year-long accelerated learning project, make sure to follow this Medium account.

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How I learned to draw realistic portraits in only 30 days

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On December 1, 2016, I asked myself the question: With only one month of practice, can I learn how to draw realistic portraits with only pencil and paper? On December 24, 2016, after 26 hours of practice, I found out that the answer was yes.