INSTILLATION 101: my installation in Beverly Hills

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Some of my newest art work 

Danny whats an installation??
      "Installation art describes an artistic genre of three dimensional works that are often site specific and designed to transform the perception of the space. "

      So what this means is that instead of creating art that can be hung anywhere, you are creating art that transforms or compliments a specific 'place' or 'space'. This forces the artist to think about how people will SEE your work as they walk through it or around it. The artist has to take into account the composition of the space, mood and feeling it gives the audience.

So what does this have to do with me?
      This whole last month I have been dedicating my time to some personal work of mine. Thanks to a wonderful opportunity given to me I am lucky enough to have some of my work hanging in the lobby of the W Hotel in Beverly Hills. My work is inspired by the book 'The Bell Jar', and my friend's fashion line for this fall. Her design studio is called 'MDOT' and thanks to her I had this opportunity to collaborate with her fashion show.

      Here is my artist statement (wait danny, I thought artist statements were just annoying tasks art teachers made you do to torture us!!) No believe it or not artist statements are really important. When I go to an art show or gallery I right away look for the artist statement. It gives me insight to the artist's mind. If the statement seems bullshitted .. er.. I meant rushed, then I can assume that the work is also done in the same manner, and that the artist might rely on spontaneity and last minute pressure to complete their project. If it's thoughtful and clearly written then I would like to guess that they apply a lot of research and brainstorming to their work. Any way, I really like to read artist statements.

Artist Statement:

       "From the themes of “THE BELL JAR” by Silvia Plath and inspiration from MDOT, Daniel Gonzales has created a body of work entitled: “I am” that is displayed as mixed media compromised of charcoal figure drawings and loose leave book pages. With cultural and historical cues Daniel has depicted these women in poses that express their strength and power. Neither over sexual nor submissive, he created a neutral point that depicts their confidence without under minding their presence."

THE SPACE:

       The space I was given is an enclosure in the lobby of the W hotel. Initially I wanted to do something grand but after going to the space and being in it... I realized it is a space that people pass through, rest, and have conversations. It is not so much of a spot to make a dynamic in your face statement. So I took a step back and decided a gallery display would compliment the space well. So then I got to work!

W hotel with the installation hung up 

the Lobby before my installation

THE PROCESS:
        Like any normal artist I initially bit off more than I could chew! I agreed to do this installation while working crunch time for Disney trying to finish up FROZEN (which reminds me to recommend you to check out the new trailer, it's awesome) So half the time I couldn't work on the installation until 3 weeks before it was due to be up. But with the memories of all nighters still freshly scared in my brain from college, I took the challenge like a boss and pumped out piece after piece of art work until I had a body of work worthy of showing.

The process is never pretty..

     The idea of book pages initially came from an old Instagram photo I took. It was of a bar bathroom wall that was covered in music sheets. Its not a lot of work to tear pages from books but the image it creates stays with you. So I thought I'd apply it to my drawings.

pumping out work with my creative juices

Source of inspiration

        I didn't do all this work on my own. I had two very important helpers, their names are Izchel Moreno and Carla Villela. They stayed up with me and helped tearing and gluing the book pages. Izchel even helped make these center pieces for the tables in the lobby. Never under estimate the fresh perspective other people can bring to the project! Izchel's secret? She would go on Pinterest for inspiration and make 'boards' of ideas she liked.

Izchel's art

SETTING UP:    
     How you hang the art work is very important. You must keep in mind colors, composition, line of sight and the experience of your viewer. Also make sure that your work is hung properly with the appropriate materials. You do not want your work to fall off after 2 weeks when it has to survive a month of staying up!

       My last thoughts of the installation are: I had fun doing it and I'm glad everyone is enjoying my work. Of course I look at it and always think of ways I could of done it better but with limited time and a tight budget I think my friends and I pulled this off rather successfully. The fashion show was a fun experience to be a part of. I'm in aw of how my friend Michelle Aquino is able to stay sane while pulling it all off. I wish her label MDOT the best and I also had a lot of help art directing her photo-shoots and her magazine art! The amount of work that goes into everything is intense! (similar to how an animator will spend 6 months animating for just a 90 minute film!) This collaboration has reinforced my views of the art world. That you must always do your best and people will recognize the difference between hard work and half-assed work :)

Art Directing the photoshoot

 

 

Wreck-it-Ralph and tips for Crunch Time at a Studio

 
       Crunch time is over! I've been gone working at Walt Disney Animation Studios helping animate their next upcoming film, Wreck-it-Ralph. I can't say anything new about it other than whats already out there on the inter-webs but I can say that you've never seen a movie like this before. It's going to be a fun one to watch the world react to it. Already I'm starting to see a lot of Ralph around LA.


TIPS FOR CRUNCH TIME:
-sanity_going out,fun and food
-drive_dont give up bc you have 2 hr of unproductiveness
-concentration-turn off internet
-strategize_when to show, control image of yourself


SANITY
      Hey, remember what it was like to have a life? To go out, actually have time to sleep? Maybe even entertain a hobby?? most people who under a crunch time do not. You do not want to be one of those people. If it's a friday night, you got work tomorrow, but everyone kinda wants to go out and grab a drink at a bar... GO. BAar scene isn't your thing? Who cares, GO!! You benefit in two ways bc of this. One: you give yourself a break form the work-home-work routine. You spend some time with co-workers and keep your social skills up. Two: Remember, you get animation ideas from real life, so go out and live a little.
     Do not underestimate what your body can handle. You can easily go to sleep at 1 and wake up at 7:30 to get up and go to work. 6 hour sleep is just fine to recharge.





DRIVE
     Working hard all day, 6 o'clock hits and you still have a lot of work to do... so you stay 2 more hours and you realize you're not getting anything done. Now you have a choice: the tempting, "I should just go home and tackle this in the morning, I've been staring too long at this." Or my choice: you put your head down and power throw this 2 hour artist block bc sooner or later your mind gives up on procrastination and says, "FINE DANNY, I'll work I'll work just as long as you promise to go home after this" Sometimes I have unproductive hours but I dont give up, I work through them and sooner or later I get a second wind and complete a lot of work!

Remember all your work pays off. Pull your weight, you are now part of a team

CONCENTRATION
      You don't have time for a 2 hour artist block? Your shot is due in an 1 and a half hours and you barely finished blocking???? I go into a code red mode, I turn all chrome, safari, internet explorers OFF. emails turn off, iphones go in the drawer, heads phone go in the ears but have no music (keeps people from talking to you and block out noise)  ..This is my code read I have to get shit done mode. Its not fun but you turn up your productivity 200%

STRATEGIZE
      Probably one of the most important topics in this post, you only learn this through experience but I'll try my best to explain this.
     You are in control of how people see you and your work. Here's an example of bad control: You might be a perfectly capable animator but you show too early all the time. Then you do not show until you have polished your shot.
      I would say this is a bad strategy. Here is why, when you show early and its too under-baked, this is the image and memory you are leaving your supervisor with. And even if you turn your animation into a wonderful finished piece a week later, you left them with all that time with an image/memory of crude bad animation. The memory of the wonderful animation you just turned in will be erased once you show blocking two days later and its crude and too early once again.
      Another tip, Do not have facebook up when people walk by, let them see you working THEN bring up your facebook page even if they are there. These might be little differences but it can mean the difference of - "oh he's always on facebook and only works when im around." or "he's always working, ah he's just checking facebook. cool"
     -Always show strong work, with a lot of information and breakdowns. Give your supervisor as much information in your animation as they need so they can give correct accurate notes. Do not be afraid of doing a lot of work and then changing your animation. Do not be afraid of doing surgery on your splines and blowing stuff away and redoing it. Its your job. Don't treat your animation as if it's precious, it's the directors idea so be ready to change things at a moments notice. Always do your best. If you ever have a bad dailies or a bad drive by, make sure the next time you show makes up for that, make sure its GOOD. You don't want to be the guy who always has problems with their animation.

be aware of where you fit in your team. are you helping out, are you dead weight?  Do they really need me? What am I bringing to the table...

      Thanks for reading. We wont be starting on the next film for a while, expect a lot of new posts weekly and please don't be shy in sending new me work to check out! Whether its animation, short stories, drawings etc!