Art to Reflect

Last Wednesday I attended Nicholas Carbonaro’s art opening in the Rose Dinning Hall. I wasn’t sure exactly how they were going to pull that off, but they had a jazzy band playing on the stage and some tasty chips and salsa that really put you in an art gallery kind of mood.

Before Carbonaro formally introduced his work, I had a chance to walk around and take a closer look at the variety of artwork that was hung on the wall, from photographs, paintings, clothing, and some smaller sketches. The majority of them featured a distorted human face decorated in various symbols and colors. I was intrigued, but mostly a little confused.

When Carbonaro walked up to the microphone to talk about his work, I finally saw the correlation between the idea he was trying to get across and the artwork itself. Carbonaro described how growing up social media and “selfies” weren’t a thing for him, and how today we use these tools to present a specific image to the world of ourselves. His pieces were instead trying to reflect the reality of how the world sees us or how we feel we are being seen, even if it isn’t so pretty. After his talk, I was able to appreciate his work more now that I understood the premise behind it. Overall, the artwork made me reflect, which is what I think he was hoping for.

Interesting Meeting

Last Wednesday, I had the honor to meet the artist Nicholas Carbonaro during the house dinner. We had an enjoyable conversation with some Grf and his friends. We talked about everything but not only art- related. I even  learned that he is also a hair dresser here in Ithaca.

Before I get into the details about our conversation, I talk a bit about this concept of high table. It is very interesting. It gives students the opportunities to talk with grf and professors around a relaxing and nice dinner. I truly enjoyed it. Everyone was so comfortable. It is true that last semester we could still have the opportunity to discuss at the table with grfs but I do not think that it was as easy as with the high table. I will really recommend students to sign up for this high table spots. In addition, they also give credit for the rose scholars.

Regarding my conversation with Nicholas,  we discussed on his work and his inspiration. I confessed that one of the painting was based on all the surgery he got throughout his life. I do not recall exactly the amount of surgery procedures, but I remember that he had several. At the end, we finished by discussing and criticizing movies. As I said, interesting meeting.

Art for your own sake

As someone who tends to lean more towards the left side of the brain when viewing art (I love art museums but I always seem to want to contextualize the pieces within the time period/culture in which it was produced), I was really excited about Nicholas Carbonaro’s exhibit because it provided the opportunity to hear from the artist himself about the art we would be viewing. For me, this is one of the biggest pieces missing from art museums because for me art is a conversation. I’ve heard artists refuse to talk too much about their work because they want the viewer to come to their own conclusions. Now that is all well and good, and I certainly have no problems with artistic interpretation, but I think when you aren’t given ANY context, art becomes a one-sided conversation, which we all know is really boring. So for me, getting to look at some art and then engage with the artist about it is really ideal because it fills in that context.

My favorite series featured in the exhibit is the set of portraits done in ink. When I was looking at them before the Q&A, I wasn’t so enthused by them. Somebody asked why he seems to focus on the asymmetry of the human face, especially in regards to eyes, and he responded that the series was a set of portraits he did from memory of people he saw on the New York City subway (I was already hooked) and that the asymmetry is his way of expressing how the real world sees the real you. It speaks to the fact that nobody’s face is perfectly symmetrical, yes, but on a deeper level it speaks to the reality that life does not come with photoshop. You cannot control how the world sees you coming home after work or school on the subway in the same way that you can control how the world sees you through social media, a point that Mr. Carbonaro also brought up in answering this question. I, and anybody who has stumbled upon me napping in Uris, can definitely attest to this. But at the same time, while this idea certainly puts a damper on “classical” beauty (whatever that means), I don’t think it’s fair to say that this reality is a denial of beauty altogether. When you look at the portraits as people, when you try to imagine what they must look like “in real life”, beautiful is probably not the first word that comes to mind, but the creativity and style of art certainly is. And furthermore I contend that these portraits do not mock this perhaps at times ugly reality, but rather celebrate it as a part of life and the human condition. These portraits do not read as satire to me personally, but rather as a playful celebration of what it means to be and look human. I think it also reflects what I was mentioning before about art being a conversation and the relationship between context and interpretation. At the end of the day, there is always a limit to the control you have over how people see you. Even if you are constantly putting your best, most beautiful foot forward and every candid photo of you is Instagram worthy, people are still going to interpret that image differently. And this is not something to be afraid of or something to be seen as bad. That’s just how communication works.

What I appreciated most about Carbonaro’s art (and Carbonaro himself for that matter) was that everything about it was raw, real, and unapologetic. Even before I spoke to him and heard him talk about the exhibit briefly, you could tell that he was an artist who created visuals that spoke to him in whatever medium spoke to him. I loved how he encouraged everyone to seek creative outsets without inhibition and I am hoping that I will be able to make it to his workshop later this month. Of course he is a very talented artist who loves his craft, but he is in no way pretentious about it. What I got out of the reception was an idea of art for art’s sake, or perhaps even better, art for your own sake. Hopefully I can carry that inspiration with me for the rest of the semester!

Back to the Start

The Art Exhibit Reception in which we viewed Nicholas Carbonaro’s works was interesting. I thought that he took a very lighthearted approach to his work, which is often hard to find in today’s art world. I thought that “Art” was supposed to either make a political statement or display a difficult conclusion or detail about the human condition. Nicholas’s art was nothing like these two genres. His art was more about learning to laugh about the imperfections that life brings us.

I was very surprised when Nicholas told us that he often performed sketches for people on the subway. It was strikingly different than my preconceptions about people formally painting detailed and realistic images of people who desire to be painted. He also told us about how he just woke up from sleep, trying to recover from reconstructive face surgery and started drawing what he looked like and how he felt in that moment. I think that the ways he does his artwork is a form of art that is very raw and real. His stories about spontaneously drawing and painting was almost innocent, in a way. It reminded me of the spontaneous and innocent way that a child draws when he or she is bored. Often, this can often engage an area of the brain and create masterpieces.

In conclusion, Nicholas Carbonaro’s artwork brought me back to a simpler time, when art was accessible and simple for my peers and I. I am glad I was reminded of the comedic elements of art and the idea that life does not always have to be so serious. Especially in college when everyone has so much to do, it is comforting to be reminded of this fact.

“Instead of being religious I’ll be creative”

Last week I attended the opening of Rose Dining’s new installment of works by Nicholas Carbonaro. Roaming around the room, at first I was confused by the collection of works on the wall. The artist used a variety of media, from sheet paper and ink to t-shirts and dye. Despite the variation in the platform that the art was displayed and created on, each piece was focused on the human. Most of the art took an interpretive view on the face, with great asymmetry and interesting details added in.

To me, one piece seemed to be different from the others. Whereas the other pieces included a lot of detail and often lacked color, this one was vibrant and more simple. This makes sense with the title of the piece, Silhouettes. However, if I wasn’t told that this work was made by the same artist, I never would have guessed it. I think this is interesting with Nicholas’s overall message- that art and creativity is used by everyone and in many different ways. He embodies this not only in his work, but his whole life with his pursuit of creative work. Just like his pieces are all diverse and creative, his jobs are like that too. Nicholas brings his creativity into creating wax figures, photography, painting, hair cutting, and more. To me, this is inspirational. No matter what he does he brings his passion into it. It is lucky to be able to make a living off of your passion, and I am happy that he was able to share it with us in Rose.

What People Really Look Like

Last Wednesday I attended an art show showcasing the work of Nicholas Carbonaro. I found the art to be quite fascinating to look at, as it was not exactly what I would call “typical.” Instead of paintings of people that display a type of  perfection not usually found in real life–faces that most would consider to be “beautiful”–Carbonaro’s work depicted faces that appeared distorted (I think that most people would prefer to not share any image of themselves that looks like that). However, Carbonaro himself pointed out that usually the images of people that we see on social media, such as selfies, do not accurately display how a person often looks, but instead depict a brief–and often fabricated–moment of perfection. Just from looking at photos of people on social media, one might suspect that most people look “perfect,” but in reality they usually do not.

We usually think of people as being symmetrical–as in, if you were to fold someone in half vertically, their two sides would line up perfectly. However, this is not actually the case. Nobody is 100% symmetrical–not even when it comes down to facial features. Carbonaro showed this in his art by exaggerating these asymmetries in someone’s face (such as having eyes of two different sizes), which caused them to be more noticeable. Nobody would mistake someone in Carbonaro’s art as being symmetrical. Although the people in Carbonaro’s art do not necessarily look like the people in photos on social media, they are, in a way, more accurate depictions of people, as they draw focus on the imperfections that we all possess.

Silhouettes

The new works of art in the dining hall are striking for numerous reasons: the immense detail, contrast in colour and interesting subjects. Last Wednesday, I was fortunate to meet artist, Nicholas Carbonaro.

The event provided an opportunity to view the art without the usual bustle of the dining hall. Up till the event, there were two pieces that usually caught my attention: the one of the cat (With two different sized eyes) and the other of a man (the artist, it’s a self portrait) with a cat. However, during the event, I was drawn to a painting, Silhouettes, at the edge of the entire exhibition.

Like the name suggests, the painting consisted of a group of silhouettes, each of a different colour. While the other pieces were more detailed and bold, Silhouettes was more abstract and soft. The edges in the painting were gentle, and the colours were not in violent contrast with each other. Overall, I found it to be the most unique piece in the entire collection.

Later, I got an opportunity to speak to Mr. Carbonaro about Silhouettes. I learnt that Silhouettes was an early work of his, which was also the reason it was so different. Moreover, the painting was meant to represent group dynamics, which was added greater meaning to the piece.

With careful observation, one could notice that the two figures in the center of the group appear to be to in close contact, almost joined together. Around them, there are a bunch of figures that are trying to ‘fit in’ with the duo, some more successful than the others. For example, there is a figure that is next to the group but blends in with the background (Since that particular silhouette and the background share similar colours). This could be representative of how individuals may feel left out, despite being ‘a part of a group’. Another figure appears to be reaching in from outside the frame to join the group, but appears to be unsuccessful. Like this, one could assign roles to each of the silhouettes, to make the painting representative of emotions attached to social interactions.

It’s interesting because one could identify with each of those roles at different points in life or during different interactions. Although that painting came from a personal experience, it was something that I could connect with and reflect upon. For me, this was the highlight of the evening. Although often overlooked, art is an important aspect of our lives because it provides insight and allows us to reflect upon collective experiences.

Art in the Age of Social Media

I found the exhibition by Nicholas Carbonaro to be incredibly thought provoking. He challenged the idea of perfectionism on social media by making his attract portraits very unbalanced.

He makes a valid point, when I scroll through Facebook or Instagram all I see are perfect faces with perfect lives. We rarely share our struggles and difficulties on social media, instead we carefully craft out an ideal life we can display to the rest of the world.

This fact leads to all sorts of problems. I find that when I’m sad or feeling down, going on social media will only make me feel worse because I see how happy everyone else is. Social media can be a great and an empowering tool, but we need to change the stigma around sharing not so pleasant posts.

This is why I believe that Nicholas Carbonaro is important in creating dialogue around the content of social media. The artist realizes that no one is that perfect and by displaying his artwork, he is giving users the chance to speak up on social media.

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing Nicholas Carbonaro’s artwork last Wednesday, complemented by copious amounts of nachos and guacamole. His pieces are thick and rich in color- abstract enough to enthrall, but concrete enough to be recognizable (see the piece attached above, nicknamed Journey).  I was inspired that he was a graduate of Ithaca College and a longtime resident of this city (we are in the midst of such talented people).

What I really connected with was Carbonaro’s artistic philosophy, and how he endeavors to show human emotion. For example, during his talk, he expounded upon the meaning of one of his works in particular after an audience enquiry- one which portrayed his experience with plastic surgery. This immediately grotesque image attracts our attention, and draws us in. Carbonaro spoke about how this piece relates to his rhinoplasty, and the complex, disconnected feelings he felt for years following it. Like our feelings, it isn’t clearcut, austere, and obvious, but muddled, intense, and questioning; by looking at this piece, we can attain some understanding (however small) of his state during that period in his life.

I am generally not a fan of modern art, but I appreciate its engagement with what’s most human about us, and for that reason, I hope to see more of Carbonaro’s work in the future. At the very least, it has helped me appreciate aesthetic more.

Styled without Symmetry

Last Wednesday, I attended my third art show and reception at Flora Rose House in the main dining room. I’ve always enjoyed attending this event each semester and getting a “behind the scenes” look at the artwork I’ll be eating next to in the weeks ahead.

The first thing that struck me about this year’s art collection was the variety of media incorporated in one space. In addition to paintings, the display includes photographs of hairstyles, t-shirts, and prints hung in strands along the wall. The artist, Nicholas Carbonaro, was at the event answering questions and he gave a short talk on the ideas behind the exhibit. The variety of mediums, he explained, is designed to showcase his creative collaborations with various groups over the course of his artistic career. For example, the photos of hairstyles are taken from his work for Madame Tussauds and Broadway productions and the t-shirts were created by a friend of his from his artwork.

One feature that ties most of the paintings and prints together is the recurring motif of dissimilar eyes on the faces of the people and animals depicted. I was glad someone at the event asked him to discuss the significance of this stylistic choice, as it was the aspect that I noticed the most on first viewing the artwork. Mr. Carbonaro explained that this feature is supposed to represent the fact that no human face, or any object in nature, is completely symmetrical. In this way, he sees his artwork as a more realistic depiction of life than the artfully arranged selfies on social media which are designed to give the impression of symmetry and perfection.

 

 

Living with One Eye Open

This week I attended an art show hosted by the Rose House in the rose dining room. When I walked in, I immediately noticed a different aura than I was used to feeling in that room. I heard smooth jazz teeming from the corner, where a pianist and a sax player smoothly conducted their instruments. I tasted the fiery pinch of red salsa, which had been set out with chips for visitor’s delight. Most importantly, I saw art splattered across the walls, which popped out against the gray concrete that usually surrounds me when I enter the dining hall. This art was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was fascinating for one reason: because it revealed the beauty in the mid-blink. Think about it: have you ever seen a picture of yourself caught off guard, with one eye shut and an extra chin showing? These kinds of pictures represent the gut-wrenching fear of every person when they get a notification saying so-and-so “tagged you in a photo”. Immediately you think, “Oh god! What does the public think of me now!” Well, the walls of Rose dining hall were covered in pencil sketches of these moments. I saw a plethora of faces that were caught off guard, blinking, frowning, coughing, agonizing, slumping. While at first I was lightheartedly amused by these photos, with time I became more infatuated with them. This art show made me reflect on the human experience, and realize that there are no ugly faces. All of us share this extremely strenuous journey we call life, and sometimes that just makes us blink. Our faces are constantly evolving, expressing, living. There is something inherently beautiful about that.

Pursuing Perfection

Last Wednesday, I attended the art exhibit showcasing the work of Nicholas Carbonaro. His artwork was abstract, with distorted faces and lots of color in some of them. Many of the drawings had people with eyes that were different sizes, and not aligned. Before he explained what his inspiration and meaning behind his artwork was, I was intrigued by the drawings, as I thought they may be some representation that the world is not really how we view it, that nothing is really perfect, despite the desire in both the media and daily life to pursue perfection. His explanation of his inspiration and artwork really got at this exactly. He discussed the lack of symmetry in the real world, and the unrealistic nature of the “selfie” generation. This really resonated with me, as I have definitely noticed that there is societal pressure to attempt to make one’s life seem perfect and always seem put together, whether it’s a post on Instagram, or always having perfect hair and makeup whenever out in public. His artwork really provoked the opposite perspective, and the one he thinks is the true way the world is, and it is one that I agree with. The human race was not made to be perfect, and our attempts to counteract this on social media arise out of the false assumption that we should be perfect. Carbonaro made it clear, through both his artwork and discussion, that we should embrace our uniqueness, our lack of symmetry and the things that make us happy, which for him was being creative and expressing himself. Uniqueness is a key feature of being human, and failing to embrace this is a key mistake that many have fallen into. However, following Carbonaro’s advice, by embracing the things that make us different from others and pursuing the things we love and pleasing ourselves rather than others, we can overcome this pursuit of perfection that has been falsely instilled in our generation.

The Importance of Creativity

Nicholas Carbonaro has a unique take on life–as he discussed with us at his art show. He truly believes in the importance of creativity in everyday life, and that we must all work to feed our creativity. He sees the world in a different way than most–the example of how he draws eyes has the most explanatory power. A student asked him why he seemed to always draw eyes as different sizes/ colors/ styles, and he responded that he draws them that way because that is how they are. Apparently, the human face is quite rarely symmetrical, and the way we appear to others is how we look in that picture that caught us off-guard, rather than the perfect selfie we post on Facebook. Since he is aware of this lack of symmetry, he exaggerates the motif in his artwork to draw attention to it.

I was personally struck by the contrast in his use of color. His work was either black and white, or full of vibrant colors. There was no in-between, no soft, muted pieces with pastel colors. I tried to see the possible reason for his use of color in his colored pieces, but either it just went over my head or there was no reason. I know that I was personally drawn to the vibrant colors more than I was drawn to the black and white pieces, which is probably a common response. Perhaps his reason for using black and white is to subtly put off the viewer. He definitely seems to enjoy making people uncomfortable by portraying something as different from how we would normally imagine it–like the eyes. I really enjoyed this event, because actual artwork is hard to come by on campus without going to the Johnson Museum, and I am especially glad that we got to hear directly from Carbonaro!

Real Expressions

On Wednesday, I attended an art exhibit reception for Nicholas Carbonaro, a local artist and the current Rose House Fellow. I went in not knowing really what his style of art was or exactly what I’d see but was very pleasantly surprised.

In the Rose dining hall on the back wall holds pieces of Nicholas’ work. He uses sharp lines and bold contrasting colors to create many different portraits. One in particular stood out to me. It was a self-portrait he painted of how he felt he looked like after a reconstructive surgery. The nose is overly-pinched. One eye is squinted far more than the other. The entire face looks gaunt. The background was filled with bold colors. Long hair was in disarray all around. It was wild. Free. Careless. Yet showed show much talent and work.

His message with all of his art is resonating. Those moments when you don’t care are the best ones. They show the true you. Your posed picture face isn’t what you look like. That moment you are mid cough: eyes squinting, hand raised to your nose, mouth slightly open. That is the moment that is great. Don’t focus on just a posed beautiful version of yourself. Every version is beautiful and find humor in everything.

Thank you Nicholas for coming to show us your work!

Memories

Yesterday, I went to Nicholas Carbonaro’s art exhibit event. Firstly, I want to say that I really enjoyed the setup. His art was beautifully arranged along the wall, there were chips and salsa (hard to go wrong there), and a great student jazz band playing. I went a little before 5:15, so I walked up close to the paintings and artwork to check them out in detail. It was interesting to see the different styles that Mr. Carbonaro had in his work. While some exhibited pointillism, some of the other paintings looked Picasso inspired. There were even photographs arranged in an artistic fashion. They were all very aesthetically pleasing.

Looking at the paintings, upon first inspection I didn’t really understand them. I could make out shapes of animals and people in some of them, but I didn’t grasp what their significance was. One of the biggest aspects of the night that stood out to me was when Mr. Carbonaro was discussing his artwork and pointed out that the whole exhibit was a showcase of “memories”. All of the artwork on the wall was his memories and the ways he had perceived them at the time. I really appreciated this point, and I was able to enjoy the exhibit in a new way after that revelation.

Lining the Walls

Before Wednesday night house dinner, we had a reception to welcome new art into the Rose House dining hall by Nicholas Carbonaro. While looking through the different pieces, I was fascinated by the lines and beautiful colors put together to create imagery. Examining the paintings up close was a much different experience than looking far away. Some of these art pieces were transferred onto shirts and presumably are sold in stores.

One thing that struck me was the process by which this might happen. I wondered what it might feel like for someone who produces art to have their pieces be put onto shirts and other objects to be sold. Is there something about the process of each individual piece that gives the art meaning? That is, if I paint an image on the canvas and that image is reproduced, is this reproduction somehow changing the art in such a significant way?  What about the process of marketing and selling of it? Does this diminish the integrity or meaning of the piece?

 

Local Art

Last night there was a Rose event where the artwork of Nicholas Carbonaro was shown to the Rose community. The artwork was very unique, some pieces being black and white drawings of figures, while others being colorful shapes and lines on t-shirts. The artwork was interesting and captivating, encompassing certain social issues on beauty standards that we as a whole do not really discuss. In a series of work, Carbonaro drew abstract, surrealist depictions of people on the Subway with faces that were unsymmetrical and slightly askew. His reasoning for creating these was his realization that our difference and imperfections are what make us human. No one has a perfectly symmetrical face, even though we believe that beauty can be relative to how “normal” one looks. His past surgeries and health problems also influenced his work, as he channeled his frustration through a healthy, creative medium. Carbonaro also explained his commercial success as a stylist for some plays around New York and had images of his designs and stylings displayed on the walls.

Hearing his story about never giving up on creativity was inspiring. As someone who loves looking at and creating art, but never really having the time for it, I feel like I don’t have a consistent outlet for creativity. I definitely want to commit more of my time to the arts, such as taking another class in AAP or joining art focused clubs around campus.

His art is definitely not for everyone. It isn’t really a pretty picture, but almost a little distorted. It is definitely captivating in its own way. The work makes you think about what he might have been thinking when he was creating these pieces or how much frustration he felt for others. The intricate line work and continuous tribal designs in some of his work were very mesmerizing and beautiful to look at.

Subway Sadness

While I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas’ work, I was particularly drawn to the portraits on the subway portion. I couldn’t help but notice how all of the faces seemed to portray every unhappy emotion. Like great art does, this brought me back to a few months ago when I was riding the NJ Transit at 7am on a weekday. I found myself surrounded by individuals with headphones in. I couldn’t figure out if it was just the time or if, in general, subway rides are filled with individuals giving off unhappy signals. While I obviously don’t expect to be having a social on the subway, I also don’t see people smiling at individuals when eye contact is made or just observing and being present in the moment instead of staring at a phone. During my 7am ride, I felt down thinking about how these individuals are on this train every morning, M-F; I started to question whether or not this is what I wanted in my future.

All of this thinking came from the time I spent looking at Nicholas’ subway portraits. Across all of his work, I found myself recalling scenarios from the emotions I felt looking at his pieces. I also enjoyed the fairly large painting he did portraying his feelings while recovering from surgery. When he was describing how he felt during recovery, I could see those feelings in the piece itself.

Beauty Beyond Perfection

In addition to presenting a visually intriguing and thought provoking display of geometric patterns and unbalanced designs, Nicholas Carbonaro’s art provided a message about the beauty of imperfection that is much needed in society today. The collection I most enjoyed is “People on the Subway.” It consisted of several portraits of vastly different looking individuals, and these portraits were strung together and hung side-by-side, spanning much of the exhibit wall. Each person of the subway was created from a different combination of arrangements of spirals, patterns of triangles, collections of dots, and sequences of lines. The different combinations of these geometric patterns conveyed the personality of each individual. Following each detail of the portrait and reflecting on how these details combined and interacted created an experience similar to sitting on the subway and looking at the different characters with which you are surrounded. Similar to how people often pass the time on the subway by looking at others around them and thinking about what personality characteristics they have, what their biggest flaw might be, what their occupation is, and so on, “People on the Subway” prompted the onlooker to consider what was unique about each depicted “rider.”

Also, Carbonaro dynamically uses asymmetry and imbalance in his paintings, and this artistic device shows that difference and imperfection are beautiful and interesting. Perhaps more importantly, Carbonaro’s art shows that this imperfection is a universal human truth. Everyone is imperfect and asymmetrical in some respect. In a world where beauty standards create the perception that beauty requires a nearly unattainable combination of physical features, this art communicates that there are countless combinations of physical features, all of which represent a different form of beauty. In celebrating this difference, Carbonaro’s art encourages viewers to find beauty in all things. I also must note that Carbonaro’s dedication to his work and passion for creativity is inspiring. At a difficult time of the semester, his reminder to find creativity in everything was much needed.