Anahita's Blog
Hello! I've had a blog with my friends on discord for a little bit, but it was time to make it a website so all my friends can see <3
I am an Art History major and currently working on my BA! This blog is dedicated to fun art I come across aswell as general updates.
Feel free to look around, enjoy this little reel of my cat Chibi! 
It's been over 3 months since my last update, definitely did not meet my goal of 1 post a month lol. I finished my Spring Quarter beautifully!! So happy with the grades and the progress I have made. I took a Post-Media Art History class, which by far has been the most intriguing art history class I have EVER taken. On a side note, I updated the aesthetics of the blog just a tiny bit. I also might add a journal tab where I can put random journal entries I have written, I have been writing a lot more frequently. Summer is here now and things feel like they are moving slower, or maybe it's the heat taking over. But nonetheless, here is a new artist I learned about during my Post-Media AHS class.
The era of the class was about the 1930s onward, focusing on the developments of different media technologies and the effects they had on the growing modern/contemp. art scene. Nam June Paik was a South Korean artist in the 20th century who was pivotal in this art shift. His artworks encompassed many different forms of media and, as many scholars say, developed the form of Video art. John Hanhardt, curator of one of Paik's exhibitions, states that "Paik's work would have a profound and sustained impact on the media culture of the late twentieth century; his remarkable career witnessed and influenced the redefinition of broadcast television and transformation of video into an artist's medium." A work I wanted to showcase was the TV Garden, 1974.
This work is an immersive experience, where small TVs are hidden in bushes across a trail. On the TV screens we see video art from Nam June Paik on repeat across all TVs. As you walk down this trail of bushes, these new (for its time) technologies are embedded in everyday natural life. This is even more true for the current state of technology. For my final paper in that class, I focused on surveillance, and in that essay I state "The role of art in relation to technology helps us recontextualize the potential dangers hidden within the systems of our lives, ones we have already entered without realizing it." Nam June Paik's TV Garden anticipated the integration between technology and the everyday nature of our lives. Everywhere we look, we are plagued by CCTV, TV advertisements, and advanced technologies in things we never needed advancing. It has become so natural in our lives that we don't recognize this shift to technological dependence that Nam June Paik addresses.
Paik's work experiments with all sorts of media, I highly suggest looking into his work, he also uses a lot of music and dance in many of his pieces, which I think is a fun intermingle of all types of art forms.
Its been a while since I made a blog post, but I am here with some fun new updates!
My winter quarter is coming to an end, finally. Sadly I did not get the internship I wanted, but I have a lot of other exciting oppurtunities to explore so I am still hopeful. I am not getting this Art History degree for no reason!
I made a little album tab for photo dumps. One album is from a recent trip I went on with Astronomy Club to Joshua tree.
This was such a fun, but extremely cold, trip and I got to make some new friends.
We saw so many stars and got to look through some fancy telescopes! I got some cool pictures of the moon aswell 
I also went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The album is viewable now and includes pieces I had the pleasure of seeing in person. It was amazing to see artists I have read about and analyzed up close. I was practically hopping around in excitement every time I saw another artist I love. The photos in the album are from the Impressionist collection, which is my favorite art movement. I got to see works from Mary Cassatt, Vincent van Gogh, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, and many more!
New goal: 1 blog post per month.... hopefully
I was searching online collections of feminist art for a topic for a new blog post. I wanted something that truly resonated with me. While jumping between different collections and websites, I stumbled across the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum site, which opened with a popup showing a QR code and a phone number. I called it to pass the time while I scrolled through the collection, and it led me down a rabbit hole.
(866) 696-0940
Aliza Shvarts, Hotline, 2020-Present Link!I'll keep the summary short and sweet. Aliza Shvarts is a contemporary artist and writer who explores feminism and queer identity in profound and controversial ways. This project, "Hotline" (2020–present), began during the COVID‑19 pandemic. It's a 24/7 automated hotline that guides callers through a maze of prompts. The initial options include a crisis hotline, a kids hotline, a sex hotline, a psychic hotline, and an "I don't know which hotline I want" hotline. On her website you can also listen to messages that were left, one of them I found memorably dreary;
"I'm desperate for someone to love me the way I wanna love them."
"I'm desperate."
02 Message 574
I'm assuming this hotline didn't receive heavy traffic or it hasn't been updated, since only a limited number of messages were available to be listened to. Regardless, the project is beautifully assembled, especially given the isolation of quarantine, when "intimacy through proximity" was impossible for many of us. It also speaks to the roboticness and emotional distance that surfaced during COVID. When touch and closeness became scarce, people turned to technology for this basic human neccesity, connection.
All in all, this was an exciting find. I recommend calling the hotline or listening to the left messages on the linked site. Some are funny and some are surprisingly moving.
I hope everyone had a great New Year!
I didnt do a full board/list of New Year resolutions and goals unfortunately..
but here is a brief list of goals/wishes for myself for 2026
Past few years have been rocky for me, but the end of 2025 was the biggest shift in my life, and for good. I can't ask for more in 2026. I truly have never felt more at peace. I am so grateful for all my friends and family who have stuck by my side. I want to be nothing but the best, for my friends, my family, and for the new strangers I will meet. I'm 22 now, and I am happy. Finally.
Im finally 22!!!
“The Birthday Cake” by Harry Whittier Frees, 1914
Song for today! 22(Taylor's Version)
Its done. The blog finally is here. I know I want to add a guestbook and a tab for pretty pictures I take (once I fix the camera thats been sitting in my trunk..) Maybe even a catalogue of artists I like.
Until then, here is a piece by John Brosio. This is Two Earthlings 2, 2003/2009, Oil on canvas.
He is from socal, he is known for his contemporery style of pop-surrealisim (though on his portfolio website it mentioned anxious-surrealism, which also applies.) I love his work, its so surreal and detailed, but this work is actually different then his usual style. Its more realistic then surreal. I used this piece for an internship question.
The title, Two Earthlings, simplify what we are witnessing: the being who roamed this earth observed by the ones who inhabit the world now...Art history, to me, represents the final works of those who came before us, to experience the minds of artists encased in tangible forms. I find beauty in this continuity across time. I aspire to be someone who helps share these works with society...
Now if I get this internship relies entirely on my ability to afford moving out right now...
Two Earthlings 2, 2003/2009, Oil on canvas. John Brosio
His Portfolio Website here
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