PR I MA R Y 1
2
3
1
3
2
3
Draw a self-portrait
THE 2
4
8
5
6
1
3
7
ISSUE
PRIMARY focuses on the first stage in any creative process.
We hope to impart to our readers the importance of a youthful, uninhibited outlook on any endeavor.
Be young forever.
In this Issue The beginning stages of any creative project—including this one—are when the ideas are most potent and untainted; so why go any further? Whether distilling those moments or reflecting on them, Primary breaks them down to creativity at its simplest and most potent. Through the Art Issue, we explore the interactions between high-concept modern art and the uninhibited imaginations of children. In the Art Issue you will find a wide range of editorials, which include our staff following children around the Museum of Modern Art, interviews with artists of all ages, and plenty more. It is through these photos and stories that we explore the democratic nature of art. Within these pages, we hope you find a new sense of creativity.
Lucas Dawson
Esther Sasouness
Cara Best
Morgan Thomas
Leah Roth
In the Beginning The staff of PRIMARY reflects on their first memories and interactions with art and its many forms
Name: Leah Roth Object: Father’s Day Gift Age: 20 Memory: When I was younger, I used to visit my dad at his office, and when I was bored, I would draw things for him to hang up on his file cabinet. I drew this when I was probably about six. It’s of me and him and it hung on his filing cabinet until last year when his office moved locations. I found it in a box of my dad’s old office supplies in our basement along with two other Father’s Day gifts I made him in second grade.
Name: Cara Best Object: Elmer’s Glue Age: 20 Memory: I think glue is the first artistic element pre-school teachers across the globe trust young children with after they grow tired of crayons. At age four I couldn’t find anything I enjoyed more than taking two pieces of paper (usually in the shape of birds or other animals), slathering them with the sticky Elmer’s glue we were provided, and smacking them together to create something more substantial. I still keep a bottle of the stuff in my dorm room just in case, although now it is mostly called upon for more practical uses. Seeing it in my drawer next to pens and legal pads reminds me fondly of waiting anxiously for craft time when I could get creative in the messiest way possible.
Name: Esther Sasouness Object: Mr. Sketch Scented Markers Age: 19 Memory: From the first moment I took off the cap of the purple Mr. Sketch smelly marker, I couldn’t get enough of its intoxicating smell. I knew I loved to draw with markers, especially those that are scented. I relished the markers’ smooth feel and bold tones. Markers brought happiness to my daily activities and to the friends and family I drew pictures for. I haven’t used Mr. Sketch markers for years now, but whenever I catch a whiff of its various scents, a wave of nostalgia hits me and I am suddenly taken back to my primary phase of creativity.
Name: Morgan Thomas Object: Eyes Age: 16 Memory: My first art class was a lesson of faces when I was six. We learned how to draw the face shape, then we learned how to draw the sections of the face, then we drew the eyes. When I first drew faces, the eye was the feature I enjoyed the most, for there is so much an eye is able to tell you. From emotion to stories, the eye is the soul to a person.
Name: Lucas Dawson Object: Play-doh Age: 21 Memory: Whether I rolled it, sculpted it or ate it, Play-doh satisfied my affinity for sculpture and working with my hands when I was four. Its moldable and expressive nature worked well with my unrestrained childhood creativity. It’s also an extremely democratic medium.Whether used by my four-year-old self to create figures and animals or Jeff Koons to inspire a massive Play-doh sculpture in painted bronze. Even though I’ve strayed from an art-based path Play-doh is endlessly fun at any age— and still non-toxic in case you are curious about its taste.
Bridging the Gap Leah Roth interviews two artists with a lifetime between their experiences revealing unexpected connections
Maddie, 11 What inspires you? Bright colors, nature, I can’t draw animals. I tried to draw a dog once. Didn’t go over so well. What is your favorite medium? Oh, I like photography. I like photographing nature! Especially water. It looks pretty. What is your favorite piece? Clay houses in art. It was a stilt house. It was blue and black and different colors. Are you currently working on anything? No. What are you working on next? I like taking pictures of my house. It’s 200 years old and has four columns and its huge!
Sorcha Tucker, 21 What inspires you? I’m inspired by experiences, and encounters with everyday situations that challenge me. I enjoy humor and irony and like to play with these in my artwork in a satirical manner. What is your favorite medium? I love working with a camera, and making installations. Sets and scenery are my favorite, but require a lot more thought and hands to proceed with, as well as funds—to make them as realistic as possible. I wish I still picked up my pencil and pen more often though, I used to love mark making and expressionism with these mediums and was thoroughly encouraged by the work I made to pursue it. What is your favorite piece? My favorite work, or the piece I am most proud of is an installation entitled ‘A State of Mind,’ where I built a maze, for the viewer to explore. I was trying to help empathize and sympathize with depression and anxiety issues through the piece. The maze was a metaphor of the mind, with twists and turns, and no direct route, there were obstacles in the path, which the viewer had to encounter and overcome, before they could get out. Turning back was not an option, for we cannot go back in time to erase our actions. The installation was very dark in a number of ways, and it created a massive response in everyone that entered. Are you currently working on anything? Currently, I am just gathering ideas... I am in a new transition phase of my life, and I am just reflecting on my thoughts and emotions before I begin to create something. What are you working on next? I’m in the planning phase for a few
Frantisek Kupka, Mme Kupka Among Verticals, oil on canvas, 1910
“My kid could do that” Michele (8), After Frantisek Kupka, crayon on paper, 2014
Mark Rothko, No. 3/No.13, oil on canvas, 1949
Michele (8), After Mark Rothko, crayon on paper, 2014
Josef Albers, “The Interaction of Color,” Portfolio VI-3, silkscreen, 1963
Color Dissected
Jenn Pavlick discusses the fundamentals of color Art and science are often distinguished as entirely separate from one another, and in some ways, this can be true. So much of the history of art, however, depends on a certain science—the science of color. Painting, sculpture, photography, and beyond art, every colorful thing we see in the world, depends on the science behind color. The very basics of understanding the way color interacts can open up endless possibilities when it comes to manipulating and creating images. Josef Albers, an artist who is famous for his color and geometric abstract paintings, wrote the book Interaction of Color, an in-depth exploration into color theory. It focuses on the ways that colors can trick us.
Depending on the lighting and the surrounding colors, we can be sure that we are seeing one color when it is really another. It’s the common situation where we think the shirt is orange when we are in the store, but then when we see it in a brighter light in our home, we realize it’s red, and in fact not at all the shirt we wanted. In the example with the two X’s (left), the X in the yellow rectangle looks darker than the X in the grey rectangle, but at the bottom, the lines connect to show us that they are indeed the same color. It is just the reflection of the light and the contrast with their surrounding colors that cause them to look different.
2
“We never really perceive what color is physically.� — Josef Albers With color, it is all about context; the lighting and the surrounding colors determine our perception. Before addressing colors themselves, there are three key words to understand: hue, intensity, and chroma. Hue is the name of the color, so if we say a shirt is yellow, it means the shirt has a hue of yellow. By adding black or white, one can adjust what is called the intensity of a hue: the lightness or darkness. For example, adding some white to a purple hue would result in a lighter lavender color. Lastly, Chroma is the saturation level of the color; it is how intense and present the hue is. At a very fundamental level, the color wheel is a break down of all of the colors in the world. The color wheel is made up of two triangles of colors, the main triangle being primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. These are
the three basic colors that make up all of the subsequent combinations and variations of colors that we see. Various combinations of the three colors then form the following set of colors, the secondary color triangle: purple (blue + red), green (blue + yellow), and orange (yellow + red). Between each secondary and primary color, there is a tertiary color, which is like a secondary color, but with the tertiary colors, there is more of one of the component primary colors than of the other. For example there is yellow-orange, which has more yellow than red, and thus the orange looks more like the yellow than the red, rather than being an equal mixture of the two. Colors directly opposite from one another on the color wheel are complementary colors, and this is always one primary color and one secondary color, like red and green.
Mixing two complementary colors creates a brown or a neutral tone. Colors directly next to each other are most similar in hue and are called analogous colors, like green and blue-green.
Jenn Pavlick is currently obtaining her BFA in Fine Arts at Goldsmiths University in London, England.
Do You See What I See? Modern art is loaded with context and hidden meaning. We wanted to see how the imagination of a child interacted with some of the leading visionaries of the art world.
Avigail & Ozzie excitedly ran up. Ozzie screamed, “It says, ‘door’!”
Ozzie said, “These are awesome.”
Avigail hid in a corner. Avigail said, “Can we go color?�
P
PHOTO
Litton’s work shows exploration in medium and concepts.
Young & Limitless Esther Sasouness interviews Parsons student Rachel Litton on her explorations in art and her new environment. As I walked into Rachel’s downtown New York City apartment, she opened her door with bright eyes and a big smile. Her energetic spirit was contagious and I couldn’t help but get excited to speak with this art-savvy 19 year-old. My eyes couldn’t stop wandering around her art-filled living room. Her strong use of color and detail is exhibited through all of her works. Rachel and her roommates were in the midst of unpacking a box of items, but when I arrived, Rachel eagerly sat down to speak with me, and told me about her journey as an artist. ES: At what age did you start getting interested in art, and when did you realize it was your passion? RL: As a child, I always enjoyed coloring and being creative, so I started taking art classes in 5th grade. ES: Tell us about your training. RL: I started off painting landscapes then eventually got to portraits. As I began, I copied many painters’ works, but then started to become more independent by crafting my own ideas. ES: We love your wide range of pieces, from a girl licking ice cream to the blue prints of a house. Where do you get your inspiration from? RL: I like colorful things that pop out to me, and I like everything to have a zoomed in view. I mostly do stilllife pieces. ES: You bring a lot of stunning color to your work. What different mediums do you use, and do you strictly use one type of paint? RL: I prefer to work with markers because they are more challenging in that you can’t blend with them. However, I use pencils, colored pencils, oils, and acrylics as well.
ES: How has it been being an art student at Parsons? RL: It’s really good! I learned how to use a lot of different material that I would never have thought to use, like shower curtains for blow-ups. Who knew that could be considered art?! (Rachel took out her iPhone to show me a picture of the blow-up teddy bear she made, and it was pretty incredible.) ES: Wow, that is very cool! I can definitely say I have never seen something like that before! (Laughs) What do you find most difficult about your artistic endeavors, and have you encountered any challenges that you weren’t able to overcome? RL: You’re constantly not happy with your end result and always want to improve. It gets frustrating when it doesn’t come out like your original vision, but that’s sometimes a good thing. It’s like you’re always trying to challenge yourself. ES: How do you view art as a sector in New York City? RL: It’s very inspiring to be in the city because new art comes out everyday. There is such a great variety of different people and cultures. ES: Yes, there is certainly no shortage of variety in this city. If you were to choose one famous artist as a mentor, who would it be and why? RL: That would definitely have to be Chuck Close because he went from doing very realistic to more abstract portraits. He totally changed his style, which I admire since that is a big challenge. It is so important for an artist to be constantly changing or else they will get hit with artist’s block, and never reach their full potential.
through
eyes
the
of
a
child...
Guess the next issue
16
15
14 13
12
11
10 9
8
7
6
5
3
2
4
1
Issue 1
August 2014