AAR-January '11 (#1)-For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver

So Finally, the first weekly installment of my "Album Art Recreated" series is ready. This is my recreation of indie rocker, Bon Iver's album: For Emma, Forever Ago.

Who's Bon Iver, well let me tell you. Because in addition to creating alternative album covers, I am going to discuss the entire album as well. And sorry in advanced to people who like to review albums, because I'm not that great of a writer, but this is good practice!

Bon Iver is a music project founded by Justin Vernon. His style is considered to be indie folk rock. When playing live, he is backed up by four other musicians that he gathered over the years to bring his sound to life.

For Emma, Forever Ago is a brilliant album completely written and composed by Justin. He actually recorded it in a cabin, while he was isolating himself after a break up with is band DeYarmond Edison, break up with his girlfriend, and being ill with mono. Self recorded using only a microphone, a guitar, an old drum kit, and anything else he could find, Justin Vernon found comfort in being alone and in the cold. Which is said to be part of his inspiration, aside from all of the stress foramentioned.

The use of overdubbing gave this album

a really strong rich sound, that Justin Vernon seems to have a knack for. This is why I love his work. He can start off really mellow and many of his songs are very chill. But when he wants to, in a song, Justin will bring in heavy bass and percussion. That mixed with layers of voices singing the lyrics, really are what make this album so different from other artists' work. The lyrics themselves are cleverally thought out and were actually written to the melody, rather then that other way around as many other artists prefer.

Although Justin wasn't intending to release all of his songs as an album, the deal with record label Jagjaguwar, allowed for him to release For Emma, Forever Ago as a complete album. The big single for the album was "Skinny Love", which received a lot of recognition and was even a free single on iTunes for a week, as well as being played by Justin on the Late Show with David Letterman. In my opinion though, the entire album is amazing, there is a reason why this album made it in the top 50 albums of 2008 by Rolling Stones. I'm looking forward to listening to more of Justin's work in the near future. On top of For Emma, Forever Ago, he also released the EP Blood Band in 2009, as well as appearing on The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack; the Dark Was The Night Compilation; and helping write and appear on Kanye West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Left: the original album art work.

You can check out Bon Iver's website or myspace here:

boniver.org

myspace.com/boniver

Some information was paraphrased from the following websites:

wikipedia.org/Bon_Iver

yellowbirdproject.com/products/bon-iver

Advanced Art Work Update-1.24.11

Silver Lining. 2010-2011. collage, paint, spring, on cardboard.

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COE. 2010-2011. collage, paint, thumbtacks, twine, on cardboard.

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Doorway. 2010-2011. collage, newspaper, cardboard, on masonite.

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X. 2010-2011. collage, paint, on wood with pallet.

Is This Art?

In the Fall of 2010, I put together a brief exhibition, called Is This Art?, of the current work for my Senior thesis project. Since this is only the halfway through my Senior year, this is only a glimpse of direction of my work to be shown in my Spring 2011 gallery exhibition.

The concept behind this particular exhibition was showing how I've been influenced in the past few years by artists like the Dadaists, Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg. I show these influences by using similar techniques and styles learned from studying these artists. And the highlight piece to this exhibit, A Progression of Broken Chairs, shows the path that my work is going.

I Hate My Job. 2010. mask, wood.

on sale: $5.00, email njjared@coe.edu to purchase

3 Open Containers (Smells Included). 2010. jars, clay.

Untitled. 2007. book, paint, tape, collage

on sale: $10.00, email njjared@coe.edu to purchase

Tribute to Ceramics/Iburg Erased. 2010. wood, collage, plastic, spray paint, vase.

Iburg Erased. 2010. broken/reassembled vase

Y?. 2010. wood, keyboard, wax, collage, spray paint

on sale: $15, email njjared@coe.edu to purchase

detail of Y?

Lantern. 2010. lantern, wax, string.

A Progression of Broken Chairs. 2010. collage/assemblage on broken chairs

A Progression of Broken Chairs was the main piece for my art show Is This Art? The story behind this project is definately interesting. The chairs were given to me, after they were broken during a student theatrical production at Coe College, after the production student director, Trevor Ketteman, allowed me to take his broken chairs. After his last show was finished, I quickly approched him, saying that I would like his broken chairs, and he reluctantly agreed. And so I cleaned up the chairs and moved them into my studio, which was conveniently next door to the theatre where this performance was being held. It was once I had them all in the studio, that I realized I wanted to fix the chairs, but not just in anyway, but to sort of create a metamorphasis. Starting with one who chair, each chair, I decided, was going to become more creative, more decorative, more...me. This was the first time in a while that I've felt this close to my art. And I think that this piece has really reflected itself upon me and I back at it. The piece itself is reflecting my life in past few years as an artist. From nothing to something, I guess. And being one of the last pieces to be created for my show, I can definately see the direction of my show to open in the Spring of 2011.

A Progression of Broken Chairs is for sale. The cost for the for all three chairs (the first chair coincidentally broke) is just $45. If you would like to purchase this piece, please let me know. My contact email address is njjared@coe.edu.

Fan. 2010. fan, newspaper.

Monitor. 2008. computer monitor tube.

Artist of the Month: Robert Rauschenberg

Probably one of the biggest inspirations for me from the art community, Robert Rauschenberg is considered a highly influencial artist of modern American Art. He has been titled with being one of America's earliest Pop artists, and even been titled a Neo-Dadaist, although he considered his work to be very "Neo-Rauschenberg". Best known for his Combines in the mid-50s. This series of pieces all included found objects in a collaged element. His most famous Combine: Monogram can be seen below. But he did more than just paint and collage, Rauschenberg also loved to work with other creative minds, both in the field of art and dance. He worked with such names Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham, among other abstract artists of the mid-20th century. Rauschenberg had even experimented with movement and is a part of a group of people, whom some consider the first group to invent the idea of Happenings.
After his Combines, Robert worked with the scientific community to create EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology), which helped to fund art works with scientific elements, such as works that moved to sound, works that involved chemical reactions, etc. Rauschenberg would continue to create works for the rest of the century, and sadly passed away in 2008. His creativity and imagination has paved the way for many artists of the present day, and he is one of my favorite artists in modern art.

Monogram. 1955-59

Advanced Art Work

So I am halfway through my final year at Coe College, and that means taking the Advance Art course for a full year to help prepare me for my own art show in the Spring of 2011. Now most art majors stick to their art major emphasis: drawing, ceramics, digital, printmaking, etc., but I've decided to be bold and forget that I'm a graphic design emphasis. For my art exhibit, I'll be doing a mixture of 2D and 3D collage and assemblage. I had gotten into collage my freshman year during a course with the belloved professor, David Goodwin. And, although I was mostly taking digital art courses after that year, I always remember how much I loved using different materials, mixed with imagery and actual found objects. And so the summer before my summer year, I decided that I wanted to go to the world of 3D for my art. It was a bold move that I am quite enjoying, and even though I plan to enter the field of graphic design for a career, I am glad that I am challenging myself this much. I've done a lot of practice over the past semester and I beleive my skills are improving and I'm starting to find my niche. I've been told that my work is quite remeniscent of work by Dadaists and even my favorite artist as of right now: Robert Rauschenberg.

Below are photos of some of the work in progress that I am currently working on during my "winter break". I'll try to keep uploading photos to this blog to show how these pieces are turning out.

A Sweet Spin Off A Great Movie

So for those of you who have ever liked the movie (500) Days of Summer might like this website. Especially if you like Lil Wayne at all. Now I'm not a big fan of Hip-Hop/Rap, but there is something about Lil Wayne that I like. So here is the link to a sweet project that someone did called: (500) Days of Weezy.

Some one is talented enought to mash the soundtrack to (500) Days to Lil Wayne songs, and it turned out amazing. Who would of thought that Simon and Garfunkle with Lil Wayne would sound great together.

Now granted that this album has no actual connection to the movie or the rapper, I still think that this is something that everyone should know about, because it is so f*** amazing!

Initiative: The Beginning

So the purpose of this blog is to post any art that I may be creating at the time, any designs that I think might need some comments on, as well as posting things that I find to be creative in the art world. And not just the world of art and design, but the art of theatre and music too. I'll try to post links and designs from friends and of works that I find to be interesting. This will include everything from sketches and photos of my work, any scene designs from friends, productions that any of my friends might be directing or acting in, any Happenings that I may be organizing or participating in, story ideas, lyrics to songs that myself or others might be writing, or any albums that I think others should listen too.
And starting in January, maybe the second week, I'm going to try to create a weekly series on this blog called: "Alternative Album Cover of the Week!" In this design series, I will design a different album artwork for an album that I'm really into that week. I'll either redesign for the overall cover art, or I'll create a design for album art for a single song. I hope that I can keep up on this project, as I like to design, and I love music even more, so I'll probably blog about the album when I post the design.
If you have any ideas or comments, feel free to add them. I'm going to be adding various information left and right and I hope that someone out there will appreciate this blog.

"Life is Art!"-Nick Jared