Muto's Vacation Vignette

In my history of African art class, I was asked to chose a vacation picture that best captures the trip during which it was taken. The above picture was taken during the same vacation to Michigan on which I saw Arch Rock. The picture is not edited at all. I think it sums up the experience well.

I enjoy abstract expression. This picture has extreme beauty and meaning in my eyes. Its qualities are large, flat, subtle, blurred, calm, and soft. The vacation was a whole week, a long time, but my memory blurs it into one moment, full of relaxation and pleasing scenery. The picture brings back my memories of sitting out in the back yard, a huge, flat expanse of soft grass stretching out to the water, and watching the sun slowly set.

Muto's First Frustration

This piece is the result of the first time I remember being excited about art and then getting frustrated. I think I was in late elementary school. My art teacher had just showed us some work by Georgia O' Keefe, and she took us outside to do oil pastel drawings of the garden. At first I thought of doing a flower, but something went wrong. It was probably the same problem I continually encounter of thinking something should be easy, effortless, or have a shortcut. I got frustrated. I went crazy, but all the crazy came out through the oil pastel. I found a fun task in blending the colors, and the crazy was replaced with happy. I went way off task, but I pleased myself; I think that is all I wanted.

Muto's Doodled Dreamland

What would the world look like if you took all your favorite topographic, atmospheric, and climatological phenomena and mixed them into one landscape? What would the sky look like? What type of animals inhabit the area? Are there man-made features involved? Everything is subject to your inclination.

Last summer, I did a small oil pastel drawing based on this concept. I have always been fascinated by fields of flowers, desert landscapes, and waterfalls. Even though I only have experience with the latter feature, I think they would all be great together. I thought the purple of the matt board looked cool for the sky, and of course I love clouds. It is still not perfect though. I will definitely be developing this idea and spending more time on it.

What does your dreamscape look like?

Muto's Minis #8

At the very beginning of the school year, I used texture medium to make a heart shape raised above the surface of a canvas card. I left it very subtle, hoping to make it a sort of hidden secret of the piece- only visible through close observation. I didn't touch the piece again until right before Valentine's Day. I scraped my previous idea and made a simple heart design incorporating lime green, my girlfriend's favorite color. Voilà.

Muto's Manipulated Images

One previous summer, I went through a phase during which every time I could not sleep, I put on headphones, listened to music, and took pictures of myself reacting to the sounds. I remember it usually being past 1:00 am and Nine Inch Nails' live recording And All That Could Have Been was the album of choice.

Some of the resulting portraits are very expressive, with very exaggerated faces, but I rather like the image the two previous works are derived from. My expression seems to be a reaction to something unimaginable, such that I cannot react in any way other than complete stillness and awe.

I am drawn to the idea that the human face can be a mirror for the invisible, reflecting an image for things that cannot actually be seen. The face's physical form can give emotion and meaning to any experience or phenomenon. I also like the dual nature of the face reacting and expressing. One ability of the face is so instinctive and natural and the other can be trained and calculated. An artist can also add a layer of calculated expression on top of the image the face has already created; such is the nature of these two works.

Do you get different feelings from the individual pieces?

Muto's Music #2

Here is a simple song form off the top of my head. I played it on the upright piano at my parent's house that hasn't been tuned in ages. I plan to add drums to it once I get better at playing the piano.

Muto's Instant of Inspiration

Freestyle on Fire

Inspiration
Igniting my desire
An internal fire
Consuming my will to be complacent
Immolation
I sacrifice my plans
And rise from the ashes
Ready for the task at hand
A phoenix
Of unrelenting force
Break the limits of reality
I achieve
My dream
Don't falter when I meet temptation
Because I have
Inspiration

~Greg Halloran

Muto's Mosaic

20/20?



I do not recognize you by your face
I have memorized your hair style
So that I can spot you
From far away

The numbers on the prescription
The thickness of the lens
Simply more reminders
We are different

Reality is relative
Text on a page
Or merely
A blur?

A red car
Or only
Noise?




~Greg Halloran

Muto's Moment #3

A Splash of Tears

I remember the day you lost your shoe
At the side of the pond on the school field trip
Our teachers didn't know what to do
The day that you lost your shoe

It took about thirty seconds
For Mr. Yountz to reach you
And about seven minutes
For your mother to stop screaming

Your wet clothes clung to his cradling arms
As if your life had soaked out into them

I could see your breath
In the winter air
Fragile
Like the push of air from a butterfly's wings

I took off my big black winter coat
And wrapped it around your soaking sweatshirt
I hoped it wasn't like the body bags
I had seen on TV

Then Mr. Yountz ran off
Back to the school bus at the end of the trail

I ran to the rock by the side of the pond
I saw the spot where you had slipped
As you said "Cheese"
On your fifth birthday

I saw your little pink shoe too
The teacher's didn't know what to do

So I cried

We were going to be partners
The very next week
When swimming lessons started

~Greg Halloran