Artist Statement

       To Start my final piece for this class I was very clueless, But I was simply reminded to not reinvent the wheel. So I decided to go back to the list of "Richard Serra Verb List" and choose three words at random. The three verbs that I came up with are:
To Fire
To Tear
To Suspend
However, I only decided to use two of the three words for my four different images. I used "To Tear" and "To Fire". In my first three images I used to "To Tear". The one thing that I knew when starting with this verb was that I wanted to do an image with a tear through the image. I just did not know what image I wanted to use. I thought deeply about what images to use then I thought about how much love I have for sports and the athletes that play them so I resorted to my Sports Illustrated to look for images. The three athletes I found are very recognizable faces, Muhammad Ali, Michael Phelps, and David Beckham. I tore the photos out of the magazine and then made a tear down the middle of the photos. Then when I thought about these three athletes they all are very important to their own respected countries. Thinking about this, I wanted to put their country into my piece in some way. To do this I put the countries flag into the background of the piece. The flags fill in the tears in the piece. I really like all three of these images but most of all I like the Muhammad Ali photo. I like how Muhammad himself is the main focus of the picture with the tear showing the american flag to the left. Honestly, I feel that this Muhammad Ali piece is the best picture I have done yet. 
         For my final piece I used the verb "To Fire". At first thinking about this verb I thought about Donald Trump firing someone on his TV show but when I thought much more deeply about it I thought about firing a gun. Then it hit me, I wanted to to a picture that is looking through the scope of a sniper rifle. So I put a black soldier like figure in the photo firing his gun. But little does this soldier figure know is that he is being secretly looked at through a sniper rifle. At the bottom of the piece I put some text in it reading, Ready!!!... Aim!!!... I did this so the viewer could figure out my verb. I also did this to leave the viewer in a little bit of a cliff hanger because as most people know the saying goes as Ready... Aim... Fire... So what do you as the viewer think? Does the sniper fire on command? 
       This concludes my final project, overall I am very happy with my work. This project was a lot of fun to do because there was not a strict set of guidelines to follow. Also, This class as a whole was a lot of fun and a great experience. It really allowed me to realize that I do have some creativeness and artistic ability.

Final Project Blog #1

My thought process up for this final project went from a cluster of things down to just a few really quickly. When I first read about the final project I thought there was a million things I could do, The thought of having a "Big Idea" was almost overwhelming. I thought no way Im going to be able to narrow this broad topic down in a short amount of time, but within minutes I was simply reminded that you do not have to reinvent the wheel. Meaning I could take a topic from a previous project and make a few changes to it. Thus, my thought process on my "Big Idea" was finally narrowed down. I decided to use the "Richard Serra Verb List" to pick three words at random. To randomize the selection I used my friend Trey; I closed my eyes and slid my finger up and down the verb list and Trey told me when to stop.Whatever word was the closest to my finger when it stopped I chose. At the end of this process I came up with three verbs:
To Fire
To Tear
To Suspend
 I have yet to decide if Im going to use all three, two of the three, or just one for the final project. Guess we will just have to wait and see!

"Tension"

At the beginning of this project I was given two words, disarranged and tension. I chose to use the word "tension" for my piece. I used the sport of basketball because it is something I do nearly everyday of my life, and to me there is no moment that is more tense and nerve racking than the end of a basketball game when it is close. I also used my favorite basketball player, Carmelo Anthony and put him into a situation where he is going to shoot the game winning shot. I did not choose to use Carmelo because he is my favorite player, I chose him because he is one of the most clutch players in the NBA. Everytime the game is on the line for his team he is always the one that steps up and takes the game winning shot. I also input some text into the piece, I tried to make the text sound like it was a sports broadcaster announcing the final moments of the game. The purpose of this text is to show how important the shot is, and to create a little tension within the piece. Also, I used the question at the bottom to play as a basketball court. If you notice, the two pictures of Camelo are balanced across the top of the font as if he was standing on a basketball court. The question that Carmelo is standing on top of reads "does it go in???". I purposly put this question there to create tension and to leave the viewer with a cliff hanger. So after viewing my piece what do you think? Does it go in???

Super Human Powers

     Every single time I watched any type of super hero on television when I was younger, I always thought about how cool it would be to fly. I would always wonder what the world would look like from a birds eye view. Then this project came up in class and it was the perfect opportunity to allow myself to fly. The situation I chose was saving a man falling from a building and me flying in and saving him. When I was brainstorming this idea I knew what my special power would be but I did not know what situation I wanted to put myself in. Then I thought about super hero's and what they stand for. One thing all super hero's have in common is that they always save people from dangerous situations. So I went with a man falling from a building and me zooming in through the air to save him. Overall I am very happy with how this project turned out but if I were to change one thing I would probably make the whole thing a cartoon, instead of having only my super hero suit look like a cartoon. Even with that said, I still and very happy with this piece.

Johnny Bravo

     The object that I chose to take pictures of is the Rpac. I chose this because I have always admired the building itself and I am a very big on staying in shape and what better place to do that at than the Rpac. When I was taking pictures the strangest thing happened. The cartoon character Johnny Bravo kept getting into my pictures. I tried yelling at him to get out of the way but he never did. He snuck into the corner of one picture and he even went all the way up on the roof to get into one of my pictures. He also kept making the same pose to show off his muscles. Ok, honestly I used my imagination on this one. I was taking pictures of the Rpac and decided to put Johnny Bravo in the pictures because I was always a fan of his cartoon when I was growing up. Also, he is always showing off his muscles in weird crazy poses. Since the Rpac is all about getting in shape and building muscles up I decided Johnny Bravo would be perfect.

     I got the idea of making this project a funny but random piece from Claes Oldenburg. We looked at many of his works in class on Monday and I figured why not make mine in a more non serious manner. I hope that my viewers look at this piece and think it is in some way funny cause I sure do.

Project 2 Explanation

The ten pictures that I have chosen for this project represent me in their own special way. This project represents what is very important to me and what my passion and dreams are. These pictures are all very important to me but one thing this project does not show is my character as a person. I love all of these things and they mean a lot to me but these do not show how I act as a person. Hopefully people view me as a nice, kind, and caring person and I feel that these pictures do not show that. I used Photoshop to crop these pictures and place them into no particular order. My life is always a cluster and I would not consider myself to be a very organized person. I feel that I have a very hectic lifestyle and never know what is coming next. This project was very fun to do, and I am looking forward to doing many more projects that represent who I am as an individual.

Project 2

This blog will explain the ten items that I have chosen to put into my second project. These items make up huge parts of my life and are extremely important to me.

Cincinnati skyline -I chose a picture of the downtown Cincinnati skyline at night because this is my hometown and no other place on earth is more important to me. This is where I grew up at and the meaning of this city is indescribable to me. Every time I drive into downtown Cincinnati I look up at the skyline of the city and just smile because it brings a great feeling of happiness knowing that I am in my hometown.
Cincinnati Skyline-Euphoria

Mom- My mother is Cindy Rogers, she has been my best friend in the entire world since I was born. My father passed away when I was young and ever since then my mom has been the most important person in the world to me. She has always been there for me and always has loved and cared for me as much as she can. Know matter what happens I know she will always be there for me.
Mom- Love and Care

Basketball- The sport of basketball is what I have done my entire life. I've played many other sports but none were as fun to me as basketball. Playing basketball is what I truly love to do. Without this sport who knows what I would be doing.
Basketball- Passion


Prom Picture- I chose this picture because it is me and all of my best friends that I graduated high school with. Every time I see these people it is always a good time. Seeing my friends is one of the best feelings in the world.
Prom Picture- Friendship


Drake - As many of you probably know Drake is a music artist. I love listening to all music but Drake's music is my favorite. His music wakes me up every morning and nearly every song he puts out I love listening to, I feel that I am emotionally attached to it. All of his music puts me into a good mood know matter what time of day it is. If I could I would listen to Drake nearly all day long.
Drake- Emotionally Attached

Cell Phone - This is a picture of the exact cell phone that I personally own, its a Sprint Evo 4G phone. This phone is my savior. My phone is my connection to the world, I don't go anywhere without it. That's bad to say but its the truth. Without my phone I feel naked.
Cell Phone- My Savior

Ohio State Poster- I have always been a huge fan of Ohio State athletics but since I have joined the basketball team here this OSU logo has taken on a whole knew meaning. This logo resembles me and what I represent. This logo represents my school, my teammates, and my team.
Ohio State Poster- My Team

Carmelo Anthony - Carmelo Anthony is my favorite basketball player. I look up to him as an idol in many ways. Every time his games are on TV I watch them, I even go as far trying to model some of my game after his. To me he is the best player in the NBA.
Carmelo Anthony- Idol

Audi S5- I always have appreciated a nice car, especially the Audi S5. This is the car that my brother actually owns and I am extremely jealous of him for that. Ever since my brother bought this car I've wanted my own. I promise you as soon as I am financially stable enough to buy this car I will.
Audi S5- My Dream

Shoes- Shoes are very important to me, in a way they say a lot about who I am. Most of the shoes I own are basketball shoes like the picture I've chosen. As I stated before basketball is my passion in life and what I love to do therefore, basketball shoes are extremely important to me. Shoes represent who I am and say a lot about me.
Shoes- My Style

Micro Project 1 Explanation

In this project we were asked to describe our journey to class. My project is a relatively simple piece, it is a map of the Ohio State campus with a couple pictures on top of it that have some significant meaning to me on my way to class. On the map you will see a yellow line going from my apartment to Ohio Stadium with red dots located along the line. The red dots represent landmarks that I notice on the way to class every day. The yellow line is the exact route that I follow to class. At the end of both sides of the yellow line you will see pictures of my apartment and a picture of Ohio Stadium. Those two pictures represent the start of my journey and end of it. You will also see two more red dots located on the line; these two lines are the Buffalo Wild Wings that is on the corner of Lane and High street and the Ohio State ROTC building. These are the two landmarks that stick out the most to me on my way to class. Also in this piece you will see what looks like a map key in the right bottom corner. In this key I have put three items, a music symbol, an orange Gatorade, and a granola bar. Every day when I walk to class I use all three of these items. I am always listening to music; it is what wakes me up in the morning. I also have my breakfast on my way to class with my granola bar and orange Gatorade.  Basically, this blog describes the meaning of my piece. Hopefully it allows you to better understand the meaning of this piece

Micro Project Explanation

In this project we were asked to describe our journey to class. My project is a relatively simple piece, it is igera map of the Ohio State campus with a couple pictures on top of it that have some significant meaning to me on my way to class. On the map you will see a yellow line going from my apartment to Ohio Stadium with red dots located along the line. The red dots represent landmarks that I notice on the way to class every day. The yellow line is the exact route that I follow to class. At the End of both ends of the yellow line you will see pictures of my apartment and a picture of Ohio Stadium. Those two pictures represent the start of my journey and end of it. You will also see two more red dots located on the line, these two lines are the Buffalo Wild Wings that is on the corner of Lane and High street and the Ohio State ROTC building. These are the two landmarks that stick out the most to me on my way to class. Also on this piece you will see what looks like a map key in the right bottom corner. In this key I have put three items, a music symbol, an orange Gatorade, and a granola bar. Every day when I walk to class I use all three of these items. I am always listening to music; it is what wakes me up in the morning. I also have my breakfast on my way to class with my granola bar and orange Gatorade.  Basically, this blog describes the meaning of my piece. Hopefully it allows you to better understand the meaning of this piece

My travels

My journey to class is a rather long one if you have to ask me. I walk all the way from Norwich Ave to Ohio Stadium, on average I would say it takes about twenty five minutes. While walking to class I usually have my headphones in listening to music. Music is my savior on this walk because it always wakes me up in the morning, but it also makes me very unaware of my surroundings. I can never hear cars coming. Im not very cautious crossing the street because Im to concerned about my music. So sometimes on my way to class I may have to dodge a car or two. I usually take Norwich to High Street then take High to Lane Avenue. The first day of class I was clueless to where this classroom could have been at, all I knew was that it was located somewhere in the massive football stadium. Finding the class on the first day could have went very bad but fortunately for me when I arrived at the football stadium I walked around the left side and not the right. As I was walking I noticed a sign saying Art 152 up these stairs around gate 20. This sign is just about the only reason why I found the class room and made it to class on time the first day.

Evolution By Alexis Rockman

The piece of art that most interested me at the Wexner Center was a piece by Alexis Rockman titled Evolution, 1992. This piece is constructed out of oil on wood and is 96 x 288 inches. While I was viewing this piece I was intrigued by all of the different types of life form in the picture. The denotation of this piece is hundreds of animals of all different species, extinct species and some species that are still here on earth today. However, when I took a closer look at the piece I started to feel very different about it, there is what looks like polluted water pouring into the water that all of the animals are living in and around. This gave me a feeling of sorrow for these animals. This feeling led me to the connotation of this art piece. I believe that the connotation is that all through the evolution of life, the human culture has been polluting the water and land that these very animals lived on and currently are living on. This polluting leads to extinction and suffering for many of these species. To me, I feel that Rockman is simply trying to show the damage and suffering that animals and nature go through because of the pollution by the human culture. The following artwork is the piece titled “Evolution” by Alexis Rockman:

Art 252 Introduction

Let me tell you a little something about myself. To start, my name is Alex Rogers and I am from Cincinnati, Ohio. Though I am a sophomore that is very close to being a junior, this is my first year at The Ohio State University. I originally started college at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. Honestly, it was not my first choice on my college list but it was the free option. I was awarded a college basketball scholarship there to play division II basketball. I was basically forced to attend Christian Brothers because of my mom. Now I am a walk on for the basketball team here at Ohio State.   

          Taking an art class is not something I am personally accustomed to. I am a fan of art and also like to create my own art but I can’t say that I am the best artist. However, I am looking forward to this class very much and am looking forward to what Art 252 has to offer me.