Honey Badgers and Karma

The second action project calls upon the sophomores of GCE, and this time, we're making a fable. A fable is of course a type of story that contains a moral, or lesson. In the one I have made, it tells the tale of a bad badger who gets his own medicine when Karma intervenes in his mischief. I must say that making this was what I enjoyed, creating the general story was both fun & challenging. Hopefully, the message is clear to see because it will not be directly stated here, or in the story, just to leave interpretations sake. So with this brief explanation out of the way, I hope you enjoy.

Karma’s Been Badgered

“Ben. Ben Badger. A misfit amongst misfits, and no I don’t mean he acts good or proper. Imagine the worst bully you had, multiply by eight, and straight up know this guy’s got no incentive whatsoever. His most frequent victim is Joe the Swan, a bird who can’t fly, can you guess why? Years ago, Ben was being egotistical as usual, and when he saw, ‘Some feathered finch on his turf ’ he instantly slashed those silky wings making him flightless. Joe never went near that maniac again, it’s just a shame others have.

VG, Karma 2014

The poor people of Elwood need to put up with this furry beast everyday, and since nothing about their democracy says there can be an option of exile, they truly are stuck with him,” reads the report, “You know, I can’t believe I’ve overlooked this issue for so many months now…” mumbled Karma.

-Okay, so first things first, you’re probably wondering who, or what, Karma is. Karma is an invisible force of equivalent exchange, simply put; good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But something to note would probably be how busy Karma is, you know, kind of having to serve the entire world ‘n all… sounds like a job for Santa. Coming around back to… Ben… he never got paid back for what he did to me, I valued my wings just so much, especially since I made a living off of them. I used to be an airdevil, somebird who pulls of tricks of flight for show, but my career came to an unfortunate ever since that overgrown rat sliced ‘em up. So now I’m retired, unwillingly, and am doomed to narrate this story forever… or at least for however many times anybody’s going to be reading this really.-

Moving on, Karma was determined, knowing that it’s been ignoring such a threat only boiled it up some more! The question is, how should Karma play it out? It thinks, and it thinks, and it thinks of it some more, and now the answer is clear. Karma realizes that surely, should every mischievous deed of Ben’s backfire, then he would definitely see them as signs. Unfortunately, only moderately intelligent or smarter creatures get this point… Ben of which, is not.

Searching for the brown, black, and gray troublemaker wasn’t all too hard for Karma, seeing as how the ability to fly comes very useful in it’s job, yet the large city of Elwood is rather, uh, large. “In the multiple reports, Ben has been described as a large Honey Badger, often wearing a leather jacket, skinny jeans, and of course, his valued necklace of a golden number one,” Karma remembers, “So if I was a badger, I’d probably be hiding in my hole, wouldn’t I?”

As Karma searches for the mangy mammal, it finds out that everyone else always knows where he is. Karma heard the Owl cousins discussing that Ben was planning to put up offensive graffiti on the domestic houses, simply to assert his… dominance.

As you probably guessed by now, I truly have a fond hatred for that striped furball, so the best thing I could do after that incident is warn everyone I know about Ben’s horrible acts. It’s just a shame I couldn’t tell Glen about him before Ben decided to prank him. Now Glen is a hummingbird with a swollen chin, and a sprained wing… Ben’s idea of a joke usually consists of a tripwire near some stairs… if only Glen embraced his flight, but he’s not really one of flight, poor guy never learned how.

VG, Ben Badger 2014

About midday in the Birch line ETA stop Simble, Karma finally found Ben. Oddly enough, he was just leaning on the corner of the wall, holding something… “What could it be,” wondered Karma, but then it hit him, that was a graffiti can, it’s obvious that he’s going to spray some other nasty comment on the wall. “Well if someone doesn’t want their property to be sprayed, lets see how you’d like it on yourself,” Karma uttered. Quickly, the invisible spirit vanished into the can itself. Ben says to himself, “Everybody always passes by this stop, so why not spice it up a bit, heh, no one will think of what I have planned, besides, who cares for private property anyway, it’s not stopping me,” as he shakes the can of red graffiti paint, this is when karma acts.

The can explodes, the paint dripping everywhere, but all of it on the wall simply slides off and leaves no mark. Ben, however, is splattered in red, not in a consistent manner either, frustrated, Ben chucks the remains at a car, shattering its window, yet peices of glass fly to his hands. “Augh, what a day,” Ben groans sarcastically, “Stupid can! Stupid car! Whatever, there are still plenty of mailboxes that could use renovation!”

“So,” Karma directs to Ben, “You still haven’t figured it out?” But being a spirit of equivalent exchange, Ben, nor anyone else hears a thing, but the others in the area watch as Ben storms off.

“My beautiful bike, oh how I couldn’t live without you,” Ben says to the motorcycle in his garage, “I’m so glad I found you that day.”

Karma, trailing behind him, notices that this was mentioned in a previous report, but it didn’t related to Ben… “Mr. Brown’s motorcycle was stolen by an unknown alias, he appeared to be skunk like, but Mr. Brown knew every skunk in his family, it’s just unfathomable because they could’ve simply asked. So other skunks are out of the question,” remembered Karma, “Meaning that it must have been Ben who stole it!”

Ben hopped on the bike, revved it up, and pulled out his bat. His necklace is partly spotted from that red paint, Ben, still irritated at that fact, drives of to break some mailboxes. “Venting out anger is good, and smashing stuff is even better,” Ben sneers. As Karma follows it realizes that Ben is about to hit a home run from that mailbox, so quickly thinking, Karma launches itself into the mailbox, strengthening it by, oh lets say, strong enough to withstand Ben holding out his bat while travelling at 35 mph. As soon as there’s impact, Ben flies off his bike, twirling through the air like a ballerina, and falls, banging his head… he’s not moving…

Ben’s spirit rises up from, what was once, his body and sees the strange anomaly known as Karma pop out from the mailbox. “Phew…” Karma sighs as Ben looks down. Frightened, very frightened, Ben asks, “Hey chump, w-w-what’s happening?! Why is my body there???” Karma simply smirks, “Tell me troublemaker, have you ever heard of Karma?” Ben shakes his head. Disappointed, Karma explains what it is and what’s been happening. Ben lashes out, “So that dumb stuff happened to me cuz of you?! I oughta knock your lights out… even if you are just one big light,” Karma smiles and replies, “Listen, have you tried not being bad?”

“Heh?”

“You see, I am equivalent exchange, I make bad things happen to bad people, so if you want me to leave you alone, just stop doing these misdeeds,”

Ben still has a baffled look on his face…

“Okay,” Karma starts, “If you ain’t a jerk, than yo life can be peachy, but keep doing this and Imma hafta make yo life a nightmare homie,”

Ben scoffs, “Yeah right, as if… besides, all I’m doing is having fun and keeping my land, is that so wrong?”

“Should you harm others along the way, then yes, like I said bad things happen to bad people, that’s just how, I, Karma works,”

Hours later, Ben regains consciousness, looking down at his necklace… but wait, it’s not even there. He searches for it, but there’s no luck, and then he realizes, that was no dream. What he was told by that odd little fireball must have been true. Glancing at the damaged motorcycle, Ben walks up to it. “Maybe if something I valued got lost, I’d make a hissy fit… and I may hang out at a spot a lot, but does that make it mine?” Ben contemplates and stands there, until he figures out what he must do.

The Planet of Mirkys

In my other class, "Stories", the first action project was to create, describe, and draw your very own planet. At least three features are needed and the sketch is to visualize the worlds we make, this was a practice for descriptive language and sensory details. My planet is named Miryks, which I will go more in depth on the actual project, but I'm definitely proud of how I was able to develope the planet mentally. Throughout the week of making it, I learned a few different things, such as using adverbs on things that don't normally make an action, like mountains... they kind of just stay there, but I've managed to say to the best of my abilities what my world is like, hope you get sucked into the adventure. Below you can see the hand made visual.

VG, original piece, The Land Known as Miryks, 2014

The Planet of Miryks

The planet of Miryks is an odd world, filled with a plethora of wondrous creatures. Most beings are of a high intellect… that is, they can adapt to culture and civilization. This fascinating planet received it’s name by it’s creator; Miryks. This god was ambitious, and wanted to show off his abilities to the other gods who doubted him. Now it is said that a little bit of these deities’ jealous may seep to the life on that planet, adding up to an immense power. At times, the gods will directly attack the planet’s land yet their intentions are their own undoing, with the magma lava covering itself up as soon as it is exposed. That is how the vast mountain ranges came to be.

Like a scar of endurance, the tall, snowy mountains stand tall, towering the plains, deserts, and other wastelands of Miryks. And speaking of landscape, the many types on this world include plains, deserts, prairies, and many more. The land is expansive as the heavens themselves and truly represent the heart and soul of Miryks’ work. Serine, quiet, fresh, a luscious environment for all to enjoy. Calmly blowing in the wind, the green lands vibrantly shine in all of its glory. Miryks ambitions truly made a wonder as he was sculpting this masterpiece.

Then there’s the skies. Purple, like the ripest of grapes, being our watchful protector. Bright and colorful, the purples skies are said to be one with the gods, for Miryks is depicted with violet eyes, so he is always looking at his creation, slowly changing, for what we call night, is when Miryks slumbers. Glorious heavens shine down upon the civilizations, including what you may call humans, elves (which you are already familiar with), oketins (what you may recognize as humanoids for many of these “mammals” you go on about), gorks (the brutish cave dwellers), grogs (the hairy cousin of gorks who prefer outdoor weather), nailitpers (the scaley warriors), shiviks (the elusive thieves of the west), and the legendaries, who have a story of their own.

Essentially, you may believe Miryks to be similar to your Earth, and in that practical sense, it would be, but there are many lifeforms that you do not know of. The legendaries are a legend themselves, but the myth speaks of those with a color of hair that is unnatural, relatively impossible to obtain. These people appear to be “human” yet they have extreme abilities beyond compare, even the mighty dragons can be slain by a twitch of these beings. It is said they are the result of the gods jealousy, for it is not limited to the world itself, corrupting it’s people… or at least, that is the intent, but the result is an addition to power, a legendary power if you will.

New school year, and echidnas

   Another year has arrived, with that, another Action Project too. My first sophomore project for unit one was to choose an animal from a list, to then research it and create a project about it. The main purpose is to practice taxonomy, which is how creatures are scientifically classified (such as the kingdom animalia, or how a Canis Familiaris is the genus and species for a dog) and goes by the assessment of;

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

This is how animals are now categorized today, but there was once a time in which the only way to do this was by just looking at them. Before modern taxonomy, we used a comparison of phenotypes (or physical traits) to identify any relations, yet this wasn't the most effective method... If bugs and birds both have wings, would that make them the same? That's why the modern version is much more accurate, because back then, we couldn't look at a single hair, feather, or scale, and determine what animal it currently is. Analyzing genotypes makes the classification all the better, because if you have an exotic short hair (cat) and your top of the line lion, by appearance you probably wouldn't expect them to be related.

Throughout the project, I'm proud of my collage, especially considering all the spiky spines and quills on an echidna. Yet I learned many interesting facts that I hadn't already known before, like the fact that echidnas can lay eggs, indigenous to Australia, and that their... ahem, reproductive organ for the males has... one shaft and four heads. Why is that so? I really can't even fathom, but it's there...

Below, you may find the full report, which contains this information, and more.

_________________________________________________________________________________

The echidna, it has quills, it has claws, it lays eggs, and it rolls up into a ball. So what exactly is an echidna? Well there’s a special way to determine this using a method that scientists use all the time, taxonomy. Taxonomy is how we genetically list things to identify who’s related to what and so on. General taxonomy goes by a categorization of; Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species (scientific names of creatures is the genus then the species, such as canis familiaris for a dog). An echidna is an odd animal, in the kingdom animalia, it does indeed have a spine, which makes its phylum chordata. In a more in depth visual, I have here a table representing an echidna’s taxonomy.

Taxonomic Level	Your organism’s group	Key characteristics of group
Kingdom	Animalia	It’s multicellular
Phylum	Chordata	It has a spine
Class	Mamalia	It has warm blood (and fur)
Order	Monotremata	It lays eggs (and has a pouch)
Family	*Tachyglossidae	It has quills
Genus	*Tachyglossidae	Classification for echidna
Species	*Tachyglossidae	Classification for echidna

*only results for those criteria of an echidna

Oddly enough, as if an egg laying marsupial wasn’t strange enough already, tachyglossidae is the only classification for the categories of family, genus, and species. In the evolutionary line, an echidna was determined to have split from a platypus from around 19-48 million years ago. Though the borrowing *spiny anteater may be unique as it is, I’ve compared it to 2 other organisms; and potoo bird and an axolotl.

On the left is a venn diagram of the three creatures and the other picture is of an echidna. Similarities between an echidna and a potoo bird include the fact that both have lungs, claws, and are insectivores (a diet of bugs and insects).  Between the three, they all come in brown, lay eggs, and are animals with a spine. Echidnas and axolotls have nothing in common when it comes to just those two.

Another representation for the echidnas, whom of which are indigenous to Australia, is through math. Yes, math can be used, as it is commonly used anyway, to represent taxonomy in a different manner. The follower are terms used to describe an echidna and will have an explanation underneath it.

Echidna e U {mammals}

Echidna is an element of the “universe” which currently consists of mammals.

{Dogs, Weasels, Dolphins, and Humans} n U

Other animals in the “U” of mammals include dogs, weasels, and dolphins.

Echidna≠{reptiles}

Echidnas are not in the set of reptiles.

Echidna e {marsupial, quadruped}

Two other defining elements are the fact that an echidna is a marsupial and a quadraped.

V=echidna X=chordata B=Amphibian

V U X = {echidna, potoo bird, axolotl}

An echidna is in unity with chordata, as well as potoo birds and axolotls.

V (is not an element)≠ B

Yet an echidna is not an element of an amphibian.

Overall, this concludes the report on the fascinating echidna, I hope you enjoyed learning more about this truly intriguing ani-- hm? What’s this… I seemed to have left out some *extra* information. Well there is of course no time like the present, so when it comes to reproduction, the females lay eggs, these  eggs will hatch inside of the pouch that the mothers have. As of the male, their reproductive organ consists of one shaft, like most mammals, but 4 heads. The purpose of this has still yet to be clarified, but it is present, so take that as another, possibly useful, piece of information revolving around the echidna.

The Last Action Project of Summer

As the final Action Project in the summer courses at GCE, this assignment was simple. Think of the perfect utopia. Now really it's more of a, find something you'd create a revolution for or against, yet this utopia can still easily beb found. In the format of a poem, the assignment was to describe the utopia and also have a visual for it. I'd say the poem was probably what I feel most proud of especially considering the speed of which I completed it. Down below you can find the poem, descriptions and other details.

Your Name: Vítor Garcia
Title: Year of Peace
Medium: Linoleum and plaster, w/ carving tools
Size: 6x6
Date: 7/23

Revolution Poem:

This is the year when war is abolished,
for war itself, is an act of slavery.

Slaves to violence and meaningless struggles,
merciless killings, millions of deaths, all for just a few people, supposed “leaders”.

As a wise man once said, war never changes
It is just an instance of when the old and bitter trick the young and brave to do their dirty work
The poor, the innocent, the gullible, all are suffering
when land is more than life
resources greater than respect
animals never made a war, so who’s the real animal?
If only those so called leaders could see what they are truly doing;
The bystanders, the citizens… the real victims

Just as the citizens of Chicago were oppressed,
The Black Panthers, the Chicago 8,
all were denied their rights and oppressed.
The year was 1968,
The court was filled,
The judge was biased and fixed the trial,
The people were infuriated.
But that’s not the year I speak of.

The dogs of war do their job in fear of losing their country
Yet they cause someone else to lose their country
If only there was a way to limit the damage
But no,
All wars are held in a land of which many others will die,
It’s not just a fight of x and y, because we’re in the third dimension,
there’s always a z,

Oppressed in their land, their homes, their lives,
but there is still a chance.

This is the year when grenades are filled with love,
Bullets of companionship,
Missiles of understanding.

This is the year when no one is going to die
from someone wearing a uniform.
This is the year when global peace is found, discovered,
discovered by the snakes who have tasted their venom,
found by the hidden citizens who don’t fear anymore.
Most people convert to a different religion,
this is a conversion to a different government.

But this is the year,
when elephants and donkeys, red and blue
“Free” and “Protected”
will unite together,
Stand as one and fight the fighting.

This is the year,
When war is abolished.


As you may already know, this project required a visual to go with, a sort of protest poster, or even propaganda. Well the propaganda/protest poster I’ve made includes a missile on the left and text that reads “Why Destroy the Land You Are Fighting FOR?" I’m going to illustrate the piece and transfer it to a carving linoleum cut slab. Once I carve the piece it’s going to then go in a plaster to be pasted. I hope you've enjoyed reading this and have a great rest of summer.

Fight for Land, VG

Second Summer Project

Vítor Garcia

True Chicago

Medium: Soft Linoleum cuts, Carving tools, Concrete, Non-stick oil

Size: 6x6 inches

“How may a city demonstrate resilience?” That is the main question, and using the olympics to answer this is because many people see this “loss” as a true defeat for Chicago. Chicago didn’t win the chance to host the olympics for 2016. This is because of the media influence and emphases on crime. Global diversity is another cause considering how 3 out of the 8 last olympic events were held in North America and 2/6 of the last olympic events in the U.S. We can also consider the lack of funding that the country did which had an influence on the choice, Brazil was willing to fund Rio, but the U.S not directly funding Chicago, for such a large event for only one city to attempt to suffice is a challenge on it’s own. Yet even with that point considered, Chicago still was able to create this 2016 olympic project, but Rio was chosen. As stated earlier, media revolving around Chicago only seems to state the crime, unless it is a local news station which will tell a bit more about the city itself. I believe that if national news stations had given out information regarding the other events rather than simply broadcasting the homicides (and theft), the chance of host the 2016 olympics would have been much greater (instead of being the first declined bid). But no matter the media coverage, many people still visit or stay in Chicago, knowing that’s it’s a wondrous city, and yes it may have crime, but that’s everywhere. At this point it’s impossible to say anywhere is crime free.

The Chicago fire burned down many portions of the city and went on for a couple of days, truly becoming a catastrophe. Because of this, many citizens were left homeless, the fact that there was strong wind propelled the fire, and even many houses being made of flammable objects (such as wood) only strengthened the mighty blaze. Even the river assisted this inferno because of it’s oily contents. Yet somehow, the reserved logs and timber did not get singed to a crisp, resulting in a quick recovery when comparing the damage. Chicago go straight up back on their feet after this disaster and continued to grow.

In my image/carving there’s a news reporter who is gesturing towards a crime in a narrow alley and on the complete other side of the picture is containing preferable conditions, including sunlight, architecturally unique buildings, and parks. The buildings will have repetitive patterns and the shining sun will have it’s proper sunburst effect. After sketching the piece, I shaded (several times and very darkly) the areas that I would want to stand out. Then using the linocut, the graphite rub off, creating an outline. Then I could carve the same spots I wanted to pop out which in the final product, will be lifted from the concrete canvas.

The Summer Posts

It’s summer here I hearing about the class available during the summer at GCE (Art History), I thought why not. Just like every other term this year, there are the Action Projects which overall answer the guiding question and sums up the unit we were working on. As of this unit, we were to create a poem about who claims our Chicago experience, create a visual that represents this poem, and then write an artist statement explaining about what it is. The Action Project does involve art and had me working with a new medium, carving. I do always enjoy all types of art and using something different than a pencil, pen, piece of charcoal, and other handheld basic drawing tool was also a challenge. I had never used a carving tool before but I  learned that the way the linoleum cutout was going to be flipped through a filling, that meant everything carved in was going to be popping out, so basically I just had to draw while keeping depth in mind. Below this the artist statement as well as the poem and picture, I hope you enjoy.

Beauty is Everywhere

VG

Soft cut linoleum, Carving tools

6x6 inches

7/1-2/14

I answered the guiding question for this unit, "Who claims my Chicago experience?", using a visual that relates to my poem which was also written to answer it.By referring to art and beauty using this poem I answered the guiding question (free verse poem):

Who Claims the City

Do you want to know who rules this city?

The true one who controls common life,

Is not a person

One can say that it’s the government and judicial system

I can say it’s the art

The Art Institute, Marwen, even the streets

They all have art, and are famous for it

Not only visual arts either

Nothing restricted, multiple mediums

Not always hand made, or meant for the eyes

But what it is? it is beauty,

True wonderful beauty for all to behold

This is what controls my Chicago experiences, the amazing art for all

Photography, statues, models,

Figures, tags, graffiti,

Murals, paintings, animation,

music too…

Everywhere, everything, everyone,

you can find beauty inside it.

VG, Carving of Poem (mirrored for convenience)

My poem also connects to historical events because Chicago was a vast, empty land that may not be all so nice to the natives, but the Anglo-Americans (the settlers who came in afterwards/not native to the land) saw true beauty and possibilities with it and it’s rivers for water trade. They saw beauty where no one else did. Since I spoke of street art and the beauty you can find anywhere, I made a carving of street art that contained various styles and a graffiti tag of the word beauty with a hand below it pointing at the viewer (representing how beauty can be found anywhere).

Now Neoclassical art is a simple idea/subject art piece that contains symmetry and rather emotionless features (no strong influence or any specific feeling associated with it) with clean lines, the figure depicted may be of a heroic figure as well. My art piece is pretty simple with the word beauty and a hand pointing towards the viewer, I also added symmetrical elements with two human figures on the side. After sketching the piece, I shaded (several times  and very darkly) the areas that I would want to stand out.

Then using the linocut, the graphite rub off, creating an outline. Then I could carve the same spots I wanted to pop out which in the final product, will be lifted from the concrete canvas. As of the carving alone, it will be fine adjusted with the tools and then be the base a a concrete like mold, flipping it over and receiving the final product.