Artist: Micol Hebron
Media: Interdisciplinary Artist, Photographer, Professor
Website: http://micolhebron.artcodeinc.com/
Instagram: unicornkiller1
Artist: Joseph Delappe
Media: Sculptor, Painter, Interdisciplinary Artist, Professor, Author
Website: Joseph DeLappe: Main
Instagram: josephdelappe
There are many types of artists in the world and the interest of most would, of course, interlap with one another. But their views are very similar and that is to showcase their opinions and thoughts to the world in their own creative ways. Micol Hebron is a professor at Chapman University and often works with collaborative projects, rather than fabrication of things. An outspoken artist, Micol utilizes humor to introduce new and different audiences into her world of perspectives and a new take on art. Similarly, Joseph Delappe is another fun artist to know and be shown a whole new world through his intermedias regarding video games, computer mice, and physics. His broad spectrum of work can be accredited to a conversation Joseph had with his army recruiter who talked him out of joining, stating that “it’s not always for everybody”. His decision to not join the army led Joseph’s career and work to be exhibited in over ten countries. Inspiration and wise words are useful, but its execution can happen in many multiple ways.
No matter what piece is looked at, Micol’s art follows a theme that pops out, creating an artist signature. An artist of the collaborative style, there are not as many works than there are performances; hours of Micol demonstrating her visions verbally and quite often the name alone showcases the message. In her photography pieces, Micol shows off her humorous side with a dab of magical touches as well as a heartwarming image when she often uses herself in her works. In contrast to this usage, Joseph rarely shows himself but takes the virtual approach in many of his game-based pieces instead. Many times, this artist manifests his mind in short, simple videos or demonstrative exhibit pieces. A true sculptor, his works are often a lot bigger than the man himself; one of them was 17 feet tall and stood in a hall of his university in 2009.
Despite not being entirely in the same field or having the same hobbies, artists can still create similar experiences at different points. A few of Micol’s themes are feminism and gender equality which are prominent in her works Burning Bush and the digital pasty of a male nipple that humorously got her Facebook account banned in June of 2015. On the other hand, Joseph commonly takes a world stand in the military aspect like his project Dead-in-Iraq where he joins the game “America’s Army” and drops his weapon before typing in the chat information of a fallen soldier, repeating this action with every gun he drops as an act of commencement. Aside from sculptures like Paper Soldier and Cardboard Soldier, Joseph is also outspoken about world peace through his works Cardboard Gandhi, Gold Gandhi, and Buddha Ball. While these two tackle different world views through separate media, their outspokenness and creative minds are fun to follow along to.
In conclusion, despite this being a rushed paper I’ve learnt quite a lot about these two artists along with the artworks they have created throughout the years in the fields of Art. There were many eye-opening and magical pieces to look at but also some non PG that an audience like my young childish self was not prepared for. Although I couldn’t find much resonation between the artists and myself, I was drawn to Joseph’s idea of utilizing the virtual world of games to bring a message or to simply act out an episode of a popular sitcom. It sounds like a fun experience and even if it’ll be hard to do, the memories will certainly be long lasting.
