POST 2 - INFLUENCES IN ART PRACTICE - Abagail Serrano

February 1, 2025

Abagail T. Serrano

Influences in Art Practice

The artists I chose 

1. Cindy Sherman
2. Laylah Ali
3. Chris Ware
4. Wong Ping
5. Aliza Nicenbaum

Themes the artists addressed

1. Cindy worked at making herself into a character and expressed this through costuming and makeup. She uses it to view the world through different lenses, and explore characters whose lives and personalities don't necessarily align with her own.
2. Laylah addresses Racism, interpersonal relationships, and uses the colors in her work, specifically skin color to elicit different responses from her viewers. She explores the violence that different communities have gone through but recently moves her attention to the moments before and after violence.
3. Chris Ware embraces the world of Empathy through telling stories that are not related to his identity.
4. Wong Ping Uses his animations as a form of escapism and a way to look at the world and express himself. He uses eroticism, not for the sex appeal, but because people are more themselves in the bedroom.
5. Aliza Uses her work to connect to the people that she is painting. She worked with a Mexican community, specifically in a place that was built for immigrant families to adjust to their new spaces. She Wants to connect to others, support her community, and show candid views of people. All of which she achieves.

Challenges the Artists Faced

1. Cindy used her art as a second skin to protect herself when she moved to NYC, but also had the issues of being perceived as one of these characters rather than herself. Another issue she faces is during her creative process is finding inspiration, the time she needs to make her craft, and the load of work she puts on herself by being the artist, the model, and the photographer. She also says it is hard to work with different models because She “doesn't know what she's seeking until she sees it.
2. Laylah described the “next thing” to be an issue for her at some points. Thinking of how she wants to represent her characters and her ideas in the lens of what is “now” but still tells the racial stories she wants to tell.
3. Chris Ware is a white man that wanted to create stories and drawings about anyone. He wants to use empathy but when trying to draw women of color he is often told that it is not his place. He just wants to explore empathy and creativity but ensuring that he is representing these people in a way that is truthful is always a challenge for him.
4. Wong Ping finds issues with inspiration. He uses his materials well, but he has said that finding inspiration is a challenge, especially after covid. He Wants to open a store without written prices as a simple way to interact with others for inspiration
5. Aliza doesn’t directly mention a challenge but some potential ones could be, the size of her work, and working with live models and that relationship with time.

Inspirations I drew from the artists

1. Cindy has a connection to herself that is not directly linked to the outside world. She worked with a big name fashion brand for a few advertising photos. Often these shoots are one day and go quickly, but she spoke up for herself, letting the client know that she would need the clothes much longer than that, and would need time to do successful work.
2. Laylah uses her work as a commentary on racial problems through a cartoon lens. Her ability to express such heavy topics and scenes in an almost cute style is very inspiring and pushes the envelope.
3. Chris’ ability to capture many different walks of life he hasn’t taken in an empathetic and authentic way is very inspirational because it requires a lot of open mindedness.
4. Wong Ping describes his urge to create, the way he deals with lack of inspiration and the way he steps on the line to create more provoking work.
5. Aliza gives so much of her time and cares so deeply for her community and is able to support them in some ways through her art. The one family she has been drawing and painting for years were able to keep some works she made of them, and the gallery was able to help them through covid.

Things to incorporate into my own work.

1. Cindy used creative characters for her work and they grew their own personalities through the costumes and images. I want to begin to explore styles of character clothing that aren’t generally fitting into my personal aesthetic.
2. Laylah’s mindfulness about color is something I would like to incorporate into my own work, specifically the ways people respond to skin color of characters.
3. Chris Ware uses the day to day life of others to create his work. I want to start and explore characters that I don't directly relate to, but still deserve space in my work.
4. Ping’s use of eroticism to explore a more “real” element of people was really inspiring and I want to explore this a little more in my work.
5. Aliza’s use of candid live reference is really cool. I will be using some candid reference as opposed to posed reference in my illustrations.