Art '17 @craftystarlightwombat-blog - Tumblr Blog

Week 15

Personally I was very confused to learn that sound was our topic for this week, I never had thought of it as art if you will. First off I would love to talk about Tim Hawkinson. At first I was really confused when he recreated his face, and have the art features move. So its really cool to see how he created a work that moves, and that is recreating faces that hes actually made before. To be honest I really didn’t understand the point of that art piece itself, but did think that the concept of the idea was overall very interesting. I do really like how Hawkinson created that drumming machine to capture the rain sound. I really liked this. He used the most random of things to create this, I mean one of them looked like a tin pin that you could buy at the grocery store for pies. He would put that under where the “drops of rain” are coming from and makes the sound effect sound different than what it normally would. For example, when I go outside and its lightly sprinkling, I don’t really hear anything. The sound I imagine rain sounds like, he makes. To me, the drops of water hitting the pan, sounds peaceful. After I watched his clip, it made more sense to me how art and sound go hand in hand. Both makes you feel something, makes you think of something, makes you just think in general. For example other artworks that we have studied made me feel at peace, like pictures of the ripples in the ocean. This rain sound makes me feel the same way, made me feel at peace. Its soothing, and brings you to a place in your mind where no stress can reach you. Overall I have a lot of respect for Hawinson, he creates all these sounds with no technology. I really think he thinks outside of the box in a lot of ways and is really bringing new things to the table. The artist I want to talk about this week is someone who when I look at his work I feel almost as if Im in the future in a way. This would be Haroon Mirza. He give me a different perspective on things. He would have the light change, based on what you hearing. I know this may seem odd, but finally this made everything click for me with this sound topic. When your sleeping, you don’t hear anything, and what do you see? Nothing darkness. Without hearing is like being in the darkness, and when you hear a sound is when you open your eyes and see the light. The light starts to come in flashes when you hear things. He really helped me understand the process, and why he does it. He wants to open their eyes, and actually hear whats going around them. When you focus on what you want to see, you only hear what you want to hear in a way. If you are paying more attention to the things around you, you’ll hear and see different things.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

I can relate with you this week on your blog post. I too was a little surprised when sound art was our topic this week. It is interesting that you found the sound of the water hitting the "drums" to be peaceful. I couldn't imagine having to listen to that all day; I'd go crazy. I too chose Haroon Mirza as my relevant artist this week. I like the piece you chose by him. It definitely seems to have a futuristic and/or "out of this world" theme to it. Excellent blog this week.

Week 15: Sound Art

If you would have asked me at the beginning of this semester if I though “sound” was a form of art, I probably would have said “no.” But that would have been without even thinking. After saying no, I would have been like “well, music is art, so yeah, I guess so.” I liked when I was reading An Introduction To Sound Art it said “You cannot get hold of it, you cannot touch it, you cannot feel it in your hand. It’s not a ‘thing’.” I mean, if you take enough drugs you can feel it in your hand, but he is right. Sound is not tangible. I really learned to appreciate this week’s lesson because it had a lot of interesting points to make about it. Sound art is more than just music. In fact, it isn’t music at all.

This week’s artist interview was surprisingly my favorite one this semester. Tim Hawkinson’s mechanical work with his own face was truly fascinating. While I was watching the video, I honestly had no idea what his face piece had to do with sound art; therefore I was a little confused. Little did I know, the actual sound art piece was to follow. The idea of using dripping water to create a sound piece it incredible. I am one who simply loves to listen to the sound of rain falling when it is incorporated with storms. I think it would have been cool if he would have added some cymbals underneath some of the drip faucets to create other sounds. He said he wanted it to be something that someone could almost dance to and that really would have given it some more unique sounds.

One thing I really enjoyed about this week’s lesson was “One Square Inch of Silence.” It’s interesting to think that there really is no such thing as silence with all of the noise that is constantly created in this world. Listening to “One Square Inch of Silence” was actually really relaxing. It reminded me of what it would sound like to be in a rain forest. You could hear the sound of birds chirping, water dripping, and even the sound of a bug buzzing by. Now that might not necessarily be “silence”, but if you’re referring to not hearing anything that has to do with humans, this is it. Amazing.

For this week’s relevant artist, I chose Haroon Mirza. The piece of his that really stood out to me was his piece ACIDGEST which he says is a play on the word acidtest. This piece is a room with a circle of eight speakers and each speaker has lights on each one and different colors. Each letter of the phrase has a color assigned to it. He says “there’s a score, which a computer sort of generated which is every single combination of letter in the phrase.” The speakers play each letter so you can hear and see the letters in the phrase. It is a very interesting piece. Youtube it if you have time.

jdanielsus-blog

Week 13

Relational aesthetics seems to me to be installation art that is acted upon. It takes some form of installation art or mixed media and uses the viewer to either make their mark on it or to use the art to personalize it to the viewer. Either this type of art hasn’t been explained well or is very confusing to me if it’s too much more than the simplified definition I tried to give. The conversation in the first article really makes it seem like it could be anything until an outsider states that is what it is. I saw the photo of Untitled (Ross in LA) by Felix Gonzales Torres and it instantly made me think of installation pieces from a few weeks ago. The leap to relational aesthetics comes from the viewer taking pieces of candy and how this represents the dwindling ideal weight of the partner with HIV. This makes a strong impact when explained.

Tania Bruguera brought this type of art to life for me. Tatlin’s Whisper seemed to be a better representation, or less confusing, way to represent this art form. Tatlin’s Whisper number 5 made the museum into an area where mounted police directed people to move in order for them to feel the oppression that protesters may feel when they encounter this situation. The art is interacting with the viewer. Tania did state that she likes to be on the periphery where people may not see what she does as art. This is the most important for her. She wants to use art to empower and change. I think the mounted police would make someone who may have never been in this situation to change their view and feel some empathy. Whisper number 6 was even more engaging. One minute speeches where the speaker was removed made me see how a political regime can silence its people. Free speech isn’t seen everywhere and I think we may be getting to a point where speech is what divides us in this country. I also really appreciated the Honest Shop in the museum. It would be nice if this is how the world actually worked. Art can have an ideal but the world isn’t anywhere near that honest. I also liked how she thinks that political art can’t be save by a few photos in an exhibit but it must be a living thing that grows.

I chose Theaster Gates for the relevant artist this week. He grew up on the south side of Chicago and his art deals with this. He has many sculptures and other pieces but the one thing that really stuck out to me was the piece titled True Value. Theaster purchased a local hardware store and transplanted it to Italy for an installation. This piece is about the global economy, about these small mom and pop stores being swallowed whole, about the landscape of his hometown changing in a way that transforms his local neighborhood. I think this is very relevant and a good use of art to provoke social change.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

I agree that this type of art is very confusing. I still don’t quite understand how or why it is even considered to be art. However, I did watch the interview with Tiana twice and the second time around, I was able to sort of see her perspective on it and it definitely brings it to life.

Week 13-Social Practice

I’ll start off by saying I did not enjoy the lesson this week. This week’s lesson was the most mind blowing weeks I’ve had thus far during this course. I say it is mind blowing because social practice is not something I would have ever considered to be art. At this rate I’m starting to think that everything could be put into the art spectrum, and to me I think that’s doing too much. If we’re putting things like politics and social issues into art, the what really is art? It seems as though people are just throwing everything into the art spectrum and this brings me back to the whole political aspect I brought up in my last post. Yes, you can turn certain aspects of each category into art, but that does not make the category of politics or social practices to be art.

In the Art 21 interview this week with Tania Bruguera, she said something right off that bat that really caught me. She said, “for me, the most important moment for an art piece is when people are not sure if it is art or not.” And that is exactly what I stated in my first paragraph. Regardless of the matter, I do appreciate what she is trying to do with her work, I just don’t consider it to be art.

I’m not really sure if I quite understand what the An Introduction to Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice read was all about. I’m still wondering what I was supposed to take out of that. Certainly, that was not art and no one could convince me otherwise. I don’t think any of what I read this week made any sense to me. I just don’t get it and I think in turn, it’s making me angry just writing about this week’s class. I guess that’s what art is all about, right? Striking emotions and making us feel something? I guess that’s pretty much all it did for me this week. It almost makes me feel stupid because I feel as if I can’t actually contribute to the discussions this week.

The one thing I did like about class this week was the essay “Our Failure of Empathy,” in regards to Kevin Carter’s photo. That was the only thing I could understand this week. The photo of the Sudanese girl with the vulture was truly a beautiful picture. With pain and suffering, there can be beauty. I find beauty in such work because the photo was powerful enough to strike sadness and anger in me. I was able to feel the empathy for the girl and it made me wish I could help her. That is powerful.

The relevant artist that I chose this week is Philippe Parreno. I chose Philippe for my artist this week solely because I liked one of the pieces from his exhibition Thenabouts. The piece I chose is the photo below, it’s called Invisibleboy. For starters, I liked it because it looks like two rabbits sitting at a table thinking about something or having some sort of conversation. After taking the name of the piece into consideration, it made me think that maybe it is one rabbit and it’s “reflection” sitting together because he/she is all alone. You see people in the background sitting together and talking, but no one is sitting and talking with him/her.

glitterydonutartisan-blog

Week 12

Janine Antoni

Performance art has been making waves in the modern times beginning in the 1960′s as a way to protest injustices along with challenging traditional forms of art. Performance art is an art form that the canvas is a persons body. The artist might put themselves though great struggles to bring to light a certain social or societal struggle taking place. The purpose of performing art for the most part is to challenge the viewer.

What was a major starting point was the feminist movement. Performance art was an outlet for women to protest the injustices that they faced for being women. They fought the oppression and woman’s suffrage by using their bodies to show self-expression, anger, and sexuality. This movement was also in the same time frame as the Vietnam war and was used to “ fight the man”. It brought in to question political power and motivations. This movement brought uncomfortable images to the public and made people face what was going on with the issues being protested.

The thing about performance art is that it is ever evolving and dose not fall into a pretty little box like other art forms. It challenges the viewers. There are two main practices of performance art, symbolic and actual. Symbolic tends to be more socially motivated. It tackles the issues in an artistic form. Performance art challenges the idea that art has to be in a static form. It is a true from of art in my opinion, even though there are many out there that would disagree. It is an ongoing debate.

Janine Antoni

I find Janine to be fascinating. Even though some of her work takes understanding what it is supposed to represent. For instance, the tight roping. The fact of touching the horizon. At first it just seems like a person walking on a tight rope but after hearing her talk about it, the idea makes sense. Its about keeping her life in balance and going back to her roots. Which I think everyone could relate to at one point in their life or another. As for the cow thing. I get what she is trying to say. That life is a cycle. The fact that we drink the cows milk and use the cow to keep us warm. And that we need to take care of the cow as well. I found the way that she looks at things to be enlightening. But it does challenge the way we see things. It is almost like taking off the blinders for me. I think that her expression of the chocolate and soap bust of herself is all about self awareness. It is about loving yourself. Just me interpretation. I enjoyed listening to her story and it did cause me to sit back and think about myself. I guess that is the point.

Sonya Clark

I love what Sonya is doing with the confederate flag. I think that it takes a lot of strength to confront such a forceful debate that surrounds the flag. I like how she is taking one string at a time out of the flag to represent the unraveling the painful history that flag holds to a lot of Americans. It is a quiet protest but a powerful one.

Yoko Ono- Album Cover for Two Virgins with John Lennon

As for the relevant artist I picked Yoko Ono. I think that she is the most well know to American pop culture today from the list. Most people associate her with John Lennon. He was part of the Beatles for anyone that still does not know that. He was actually killed on my birthday as well. Yoko is actually more then just Johns counterpart. She is a well established artist. She uses her art to bring light to social issues too. Love her or hate her, she is an artist in her own right and in my opinion a good one.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

I think what Sonya Clark did with the Confederate flag I far more on the realms of art than what Bree did. I also love how you said it is as if she is unraveling the history behind it thread by thread. Very great interpretation. Seems as though you really have an eye for art.

Week 12-Performance

I would have to say when I first saw the title of this week’s topic, I pretty much had a generalized idea of what it was going to be about. Performance or also known as “live art” is one of those types of art that gets “written off,” so to say. I feel as if you were to talk to people on the street and were to ask them what they think of when they think of art, most of the answers would be things like sculptures, paintings, drawing etc. I truly believe performance art is the most expressive and the most beautiful. When you see live art, you get to see the emotion through their body language and even their facial expressions. What did surprise me is body art. I never would have thought of body art as performance art. Also, when I think of body art, I think of tattoos, not paint on someone’s body acting as the canvas.

If I’m being honest here, I can’t really say I took anything away from reading the Art21 Janine Antoni Touch and Moor written interview. Can we talk about what the heck Janine was doing around 39:00 in that video?! She states that she does extreme things with her body in her art; thanks for the disclaimer, but that was intensely weird. Literally on the ground painting with her hair as if she was the paintbrush. I’m all for expressive art, but that was almost too much for me to even take her seriously. She really is a strange artist. The construction bucket piece I have actually got to see in person, so that was very neat to see come on in the video! I did find the bathtub and cow thing to be interesting.

In regards to Bree Newsome’s “superwoman-style” Confederate flag pole climb; that is not art. Like I stated before, I am all for expressing oneself and living freely, but this is just not art. Protesting is not art in my opinion. Anything political is just not art from my stand point. I remember hearing and reading about this event in the news, and to this day it still actually makes me mad. Yes, the Confederate flag was used as part of the Civil War to essentially signify the extension and south’s separation from the north. However, that is clearly not what South Carolina was still flying it for. Yeah, yeah, we all know some redneck out there that has the Confederate flag flying because he/she is “country” and uses racial slurs; those people are idiots. I believe the Confederate flag is a part of the United States history and means much more than racism, slavery or even white supremacy.

The relevant artist I chose this week was Teching Hsieh. There was something about his work that really caught my interest. He seems to have this depressing theme in his art, but I’m still so drawn to it. A common theme I recognized was a jail theme. Or maybe it’s even a “captured” theme or “tied up/down.” My favorite of his work would have to be One Year Performance 1978. This is an image of a man sitting inside a cell. I guess I can just relate to the image; not completely, but it’s relatable.

mattererik1-blog

Week 11 Architecture

I liked reading about architecture as it ties so closely with history as I love reading about. Reading about the Greeks and Romans when I was younger filled me with great joy, and reading more about there architecture has given new perspective to these civilizations. The Greeks built great marvels and feats that astound even people today such as the great Parthenon. I personally love the Romans and there architecture which not only continued what the Greeks did but improved upon what they otherwise couldn’t succeed at. The romans built arches and domes to their buildings influencing kingdoms and countries long after they had fallen and their empire lay in ruins. The romans built the aqueducts which brought water to their cities and served as a piece of architecture to be looked at.

I liked watching Maya Lin and her work on an Ice skating rink in which she placed lights to resemble the night sky. I found her work to be interesting as she seems to put great emphasis on detail, and it is this detail that makes her night sky in her ice skating rink seem so real and life like. I found her passion to be interesting as well as she truly put a piece of herself into this ice skating rink and changed it from an urban area into a piece of art that is both a piece of art and usable in other ways.

My relevant artist this week was Renzo Piano and I chose to focus on his work on the Shard in London. I love the piece as the sides seem almost translucent and mysterious. The whole thing towers over London and it almost seems to impose it’s own image upon London, as if it has a mind of its own. I like the piece as it is unique to the rest od London and seems like a giant amidst the rest of the London Skyline.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

I can strongly relate to you being able to enjoy the history of architecture. I too love the fact how architecture relates to history and the Greek romans. Greek mythology is my favorite thing of all time, so any time I see any relation to Greek mythology in art work, I instantly fall in love. Also, I too loved how Maya Lin incorporated the night sky into the ice rink. It really brings out creativity in the piece. I honestly did not research Renzo Piano, but I really enjoyed what you said about the work. The Shard in London is truly a remarkable piece.

Week 11-Architecture

Every week I tend to find the study of art to be more and more interesting. This week’s chapter on architecture is no different. Architecture is a form of art that I can really take the time to appreciate. I believe architecture is sometimes the form of art that people don’t really see as art. I am definitely an old soul, so when I am walking in a town or city, I’m really able to stop and take in older architectural structures. I find buildings to be especially interesting because each one holds so much history and has so many stories to tell. Even people’s houses hold so much history. The older the building, more than likely the more people have stepped foot into it, so many different things could have happened in that very building you stand in or near. Some of my favorite architectural structures are cathedrals. The way they are built gives them so much character. I spent a lot of time analyzing the cathedral on page 394. There are so many different shapes and substructures to it.

This week’s artist interview kind of threw me for a loop at first. I had a hard time understanding what Maya Lin was trying to accomplish and get at in her piece. However, the more I watched, the more I was able to appreciate what she was doing. I really liked her approach on the park and the fact that she was able to turn her art and make it into architecture. She really went all in with this project. At first, she seemed to be a little eerie about accepting the project because she wasn’t sure how one simple piece would help the park. But she was able to use her artistic abilities on the whole thing and in turn, she was able to get more of an architectural trait from it. I really loved how they gave the pool a night sky reflection theme to it. It’s truly beautiful.

The relevant artist I chose this week is Zaha Mohammad Hadid. Hadid accomplished a lot as an architect while she was a live and like any good artist, her work will forever be admired. Zaha was the first female to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize and she went on to win many more awards for her works. I chose Hadid because of her unique architectural structures. Nothing about her work is basic and that is what I am truly able to admire. She tends to use a sense of geometry in her work which gives her structures unique shapes and characteristics. A lot of her work has be used to host many events such as the 2012 Olympics and even the location for the future 2022 FIFA World Cup. If I had to choose a favorite it would be Changsha Meixihu International Cultural Center. I mean, just take a look below. This is what I meant by using geometry and getting such unique shapes and designs for her work. It is really remarkable and I can’t even really process words about it.

shaferbailey-blog

Blog Post Week 10

To me, the reading in the book this week was a combination of a lot of things we have been studying in the past few weeks. As I read, I felt bad for artists whose work is being looked over because people aren’t looking very far for beautiful art. They can just go to Target, pick up a mass produced painting or sculpture, and end it at that. I like many others are guilty of this, but this class is opening my eyes. Some things, such as quilts and pots, don’t immediately come to my mind when I think of art. They are more useful than a painting on a wall, as well as more common. This is why I don’t think they are always thought of when art comes up.

Paula Winokur’s piece, White Butte, was an interesting piece to try to figure out. After reading what she modeled the piece after, I can for sure see eroded hills. The slabs covering the whole piece remind me of a city. To me, this piece shows how something very unique can come out of a normal object. At first glance, I didn’t think that this piece would take a lot of time to complete but after reading the article that changed. I never knew how much clay is used in a piece like this, or how long it took all that clay to dry. That sure is a long process!

The article about Renwick Gallery and it’s exhibit, Wonder, was interesting. What I have read about craft is it is mostly concerned with function. From what I read in the article, the pieces in the Wonder exhibit didn’t really connect with each other. They also didn’t seem very functional or have much meaning. Plexus A1 (pictured above) is very fun and creative, but is it functional or meaningful and could it be classified as craft? I think not. It makes sense that a museum wants to be appealing to visitors and wants to draw people in but to me bringing in pieces of art that aren’t classified as craft ruins the point of a craft museum. For the better or worse, I think the Renwick Gallery will continue to move away from craft pieces because people are more interested in other pieces more than they are in crafts.

My favorite part of Kimsooja’s bundles was their colorfulness. The point of these bundles was far beyond the color. I think the point of these little bundles was to show that even though the outside of something may be beautiful, what is on the inside is the thing that counts but they also show that some people aren’t as fortunate as others. I think the way the bundles are arranged in Kimsooja’s exhibitions shows how much some people have vs. how little others have because some bundles are larger than others and there are more bundles in one place. In Kimsooja’s younger years her family moved around a lot. These bundles also showed that she couldn’t take a lot of things with her when she moved around. She could only take the most important things.

Kimsooja’s bundles reminded me of the Persian carpets (above) we read about in the book. In ancient Persia, these carpets were also used to wrap their possessions while they were traveling. Persian rugs are extremely intricate, symmetrical, and some can be very large.

Faig Ahmed is an Azerbaijani native that is well known for his re imagination of ancient crafts. My favorite of his works is Liquid (pictured above). This piece starts off as a normal Persian rug but then at the bottom it seems to liquefy and run down onto the ground. I think the meaning of this piece is to look cool, but also modernize and bring attention to ancient crafts. This rug would be more likely to draw my attention than a traditional Persian rug.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

Wow! That piece in the gallery Wonder is truly incredible! I spent a good few minutes analyzing that photo before I actually started reading. That is truly one captivating piece of art. I also like the relevant artist you chose this week. I like the way Liquid starts to liquefy towards the bottom. However, I do think it almost appears too fake. What I mean by this is that the liquidation starts too suddenly, it doesn't gradually turn into a liquefied rug. Are you familiar with ombre hairstyles? It's the same concept to me. You wouldn't want an ombre to just go from one color straight to another; you would want it to flow.

Week 10: Craft

This week’s class about craft reminded me a lot about our week about sculpture. In my opinion, I find them to be very similar. It’s kind of crazy and weird to think that art has so many sub categories. The things I viewed in the chapter this week, such as the stoneware pot with lid or even the White Butte, I would have considered those to be sculptures. However, after doing the reading, I have a better understand of the differences between sculpture and crafts. One of my favorite types of crafts that I read and saw in the chapter this week, were metal works. For instance, the door handle on page 351. Door handles and door knockers are just so unique sometimes, I just really can appreciate those types of work.

The video this week on Kimsooja’s art was not my favorite. I think I wasn’t too fond of her work because I still don’t quite understand what she was getting at. I understand that she was comparing her body to a needle that threads through space and time; and that is why she had the people passing by in slow motion. However, I don’t understand how that was considered to be art. Part of me can kind of understand because it’s almost the same category as music videos, and I think that is art. I just didn’t grab the concept of that particular piece by her. I’m still trying to understand what her obsession is with the whole needle and thread concept because she seems to roll with it a lot.

I got really excited seeing the list of relevant artists this week. I remember a few weeks ago I had mentioned my favorite sculpture that I’ve seen in person was inappropriate. Well, I get to post a picture of it today because the relevant artist I chose this week is Beth Cavener Stichter. I was able to see a few of her pieces in person when I visited the Chazen Art Museum in Madison, WI in spring of 2016. I like her art particularly because it has a huge focus on animals. Without further a du, my favorite piece is A Rush of Blood to the Head. This piece is of two deer like animals making out and each animal has an erection. I would assume that’s the whole reason for the name of the piece. I read a review that someone was shocked that Chazen, being a private museum, would accept “such a piece of work.” When it comes to art, I think people need to have more of an open mind. Art is meant to be expressive and it’s meant to be raw. That’s why I think art museums like this should be for more mature audiences. Don’t bring your children to places that are meant to be quiet and for the intellectuals. A couple other of her pieces that I got to view when I was at Chazen were L’Amante and The Question That Devours. If you ever have a chance to see these pieces in person, I highly recommend it.

glitterydonutartisan-blog

Installation

Do Ho Suh-Stories

Installation art is 3-D works that are meant for a specific space. It is not a new concept. But has been transformed in recent years with the development of technology. Installation art is meant to be an experience. Unlike most other art, installation does not go from one piece to the other, it is as a whole one piece, one experience. It can also incorporate different mediums to create one experience. The work is meant to be engaging for the viewer. It is the focus of ideas rather then just an object.

Do Ho Suh- Seoul Home

I enjoyed watching Do Ho Suh’s story. His art work does a good job of portraying his ideas. I love how he created his “home” to “carry his house with him” by using transferable fabric. He does a great job with portraying his cultural displacement. He is recognizing anonymous everyday life. I love his idea of interpersonal space and how he uses that “space between people” in his work. How he talks about Korea and how maybe that people are not that unique, and he shows it in his yearbook photo project. How he sees the same face years apart and the individuals seem to converge. His experiences in the Korean school and army is disheartening. How they are called by numbers and even though they hate their uniforms, they still hold an attachment to them because it is a Korean mans identity.

Do Ho Suh- High School Uni-Form

His last line of the interview was kind of heartbreaking. “Physical, psychological to extreme- Dehumanized, something to think about”. I appreciate his work and the ideas that are behind his work. He takes the struggle and creates masterpieces. Sometimes they look like simple ideas, but they go much deeper. I like that he leaves it up to the viewer to decide.

Walter De Maria- Lightning Fields

Talking about Installation work and how it takes up a specific space, Walter takes it to the next level. By using nature as the gallery. Lightning is sometimes hard to capture perfectly. I love his lightning fields work. Nature is the perfect place to really show “environments”.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

Installation art truly is an interesting concept. I would say the best thing about installation art is that it is created to create and experience for the viewer. It's not just there to look at and observe. And everyone will have a different experience and I think that is also he beautiful part about it. I like that you included Walter De Maria in your post this week. I love when artists include nature in their work; I'm able to appreciate it more.

Week 9: Installations

If I’m being honest here, before this week’s readings and video, I had no idea that installation was even a thing. I do have to say though, this is such an interesting type of art work. Even now, I don’t think I’d be able to explain it to someone if they ask me exactly what installation was. And come to think of it, I’m not really sure anyone exactly knows what installation art is. I find installation art to be a lot like outer space or the depths of the ocean; no one really knows exactly what it is and it is so out of the ordinary. I think in order to appreciate this as a form of art, you have to be able to “think outside the box” and have more of an open mind about life. Not everything is supposed to make sense.

This week’s video artist was very interesting. I found the reason as to why Do Ho Suh made the fabric sculpture Seoul Home/L.A. Home to be so sweet and hear warming. I think it’s something a lot of us can relate to after time goes by and we move on with out own lives. There is something about going home to your parent’s house or the place you grew up that literally feels like home. Like they say in the Wizard of Oz “there’s no place like home.”

The relevant artist I chose this week is Olafur Eliasson. I chose Olafur as my relevant artist for a few different reasons. For starters, I enjoyed and was drawn to the way he uses color in almost all of his pieces. He has a piece called Seu Corpo Da Obra (Your body of work), that is simply a bunch of transparent pieces of colorful glass in a gallery. Some people would see this and not bat an eye, but I think this particular piece is truly beautiful. I could go through his different work all day long and not get bored. However, if I had to pic a piece of his that was my favorite, it would be “your strange certainty still kept.” In this piece, a waterfall is created of water falling from the ceiling of the gallery. It creates this sort of “curtain” of falling rain that can be viewed from both sides of the piece. Also included in the piece is a strobe light that is flashing so fast that you don’t even notice it flashing. This then creates the illusion that the water is dripping in midair. This piece is truly remarkable in ways that are unexplainable. I think that is why I liked this week’s lesson. It doesn’t necessarily need any explanation.

palexie-blog

Blog Post Week 8

My reflection of the reading this week is that I found a lot of the information very informative. I never really made the connection as to how much work is put into sculptures. Yes, I understand that they would take time to do, but I never thought they had to be so precise with the scaling and carving. What I found most interesting was casting. I strongly liked the process of casting and even did further research on the process. I strongly liked the sculpture of Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The casting is beautifully done and the detail to the body and head. I also really enjoyed Palma, the sculpture made out of steel found around wherever. I find that very interesting because of how people take random things from the streets and anywhere and turn them into sculptures or whatever else art they decide to craft.

The video and text connect by how they both o through the process of sculpting. I really enjoyed how Kara Walker stated how she does sculptures about history. There are a lot of famous sculptures based around historic figures or historic event. Kara Walker does an amazing job on her sculptures and her work has definitely have been one of the highlights of the course so far. Another idea that I really like about Walker, is that she seems more down to earth than the other artists we have seen. I feel more of a personal connection with Walker than I have with past artists. I believe it is the way that she carries herself in her work and the way she presents herself. She also does more upscale sculptures which leads into my relevant artist for the week, Anish Kapoor. Both of their sculptures really pop out to me and make me appreciate the art more because I strongly like their work more than others.

The first sculpture that I chose to do by Anish Kapoor is one that I have physically seen in person. Cloud Gate is one of my favorite pieces of art of all time because of the mirror affect it gives off from any angle a viewer may be looking at it. Cloud Gate gives a different view of Chicago by distorting the skyline on the bean shaped piece.

The second piece of work I chose by Anish Kapoor, was Sky Mirror. I really like this piece because of how the mirror is reflecting the skyscraper upside down from the sky. I also get the feeling that it also shows the relationship that artists may have. Artists see things very differently than I do, and that is what I get through this certain piece of art. When I look into a mirror, I see straight on, but When looking at this mirror, I am seeing upside down, how many artists see.

My understanding for art has improved this week with video, relevant artist, and text this week. I was very surprised with how the content was presented and how interesting it was. Nothing this week felt boring or kept dragging on. I felt engaged the whole time wanting to give myself a better understanding about sculpting.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

I too never really put too much thought into how much time it really takes to create these beautiful works of art. I guess it's just like anything, if you don't really pay attention or care to know, you become ignorant to things like that. I also like how you included your opinion of the Greek Mythology pieces. I'm a sucker for all things that have to do with Greek mythology. Also, I too chose Anish as my relevant artist. The way he uses reflective materials really gives art a different perspective.

macaulipirillo-blog

Week Eight- Sculpture

So, this weeks Artist of the week, Kara Walker was interesting to learn about. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see a sculpture being made from a sugar paste. They used corn syrup, sugar, and water and like the guy says in the video is that this is like the ingredients one would use to make caramel, that’s crazy to me! The sculptures melt in the sun giving the sculptures a weeping appearance. I think the idea of this is super awesome. I would love to be able to see one of these in person.

For my relevant artists, this week I chose Damien Hirst. Damien Hirst is a British artist known highly for his work of dead animal displays and spin-art paintings. One of his most famous pieces is A Mother and Child Divided. It is four glass tanks total, two of the tanks contains half of a cow each and the other two contain half of a calf each preserved in formaldehyde solution. The cows are literally split in half and spaced far enough apart so that you can see the insides of these cows. I find this both super cool and interesting and slightly disturbing. I wonder how Hirst went about cutting them in half and to do this? I also find the name of the piece kind of ironic and funny. When I first seen it I just assumed oh a cow and a calf, the calf divided from it’s mother makes sense. But then I realized the cows are literally divided in half so it fits both ways.

Reading about sculpture this week I learned that there are four traditional ways of creating sculpture which include, carving hard materials, modeling soft materials, casting molten materials that will harden, and assembling materials that can be joined. Carving is the most common type of sculpting that I hear about. This entails a larger piece of working materials such as stone, ivory, or wood and you diminish this down and cut pieces off to make some kind of sculpture.

Casting was one that I hadn’t heard of before. In casting, easily shapeable materials are used to create a negative mold which a molten material like plastic or bronze is poured over then allowed to harden. I would think that using this process would make it hard to produce very fine details as pouring the molten material on I would think you would lose the definition. But in the Alter of the Hand or the Perseus with the Head of Medusa you can see perfect definition in these. The Perseus with the head of Medusa is really a quite fascinating piece. You can see all the muscle from of Perseus and with the head of Medusa in his hand you know this sculpture has a great significance of power that belongs to it

Earthworks is a different kind of art where the artist use the earth’s surface itself as their medium. It is an ancient form of art in which the earth is sculpted into mounds, spirals, and mazes. The Spiral Jetty was something new to me that I hadn’t heard of. Despite that it only lasted for two years due to the rising water of the lakes, it’s fascinating to me how they could make this out in the middle of the lakes strong and sturdy enough to even last that long.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

Yes! I too chose Damien Hirst asa relevant artist this week. His work with the dead animals are truly remarkable. I love being able to see all the different relevant artists and how different art can be. I literally laughed out loud reading "I wonder how Hirst went about cutting them in half and to do this?" His work is indeed strikingly disturbing, but still so fascinating.

Week 8-Sculptures

I enjoy the art style of sculpture because it can literally be made out of almost anything and everything. I personally cannot sculpt to save my life. In middle school I made a sculpture of a squirrel and some kid told me it looked like a hamster. So, sculpting is definitely not my calling, but it is definitely something I really enjoy viewing. One of my favorite sculptures that I have actually visited in person was up in Madison, WI. I don’t quite remember the name of the piece, but I do happen to have a picture of it. However, I will not post the photo because it might be slightly inappropriate. One of my favorite types of sculpture would have to be wood carving. I like the way that different types of wood create different colors and there’s a lot of depth in wood carvings. However, I think my favorite sculpture of all time would have to be the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington D.C. That sculpture I have also had the honor of seeing in person.

I really enjoyed watching the video this week of Kara Walker. The idea to create a sculpture out of sugar is very unique and also a fun idea. Watching the video made me realize how intensive and complicated it actually is to create such a piece out of sugar. She said something in the video that really stood out to me; “I think it was very important to me to have figures made out of a substance that is so temporal…so subject to change.” I like how her pieces are literally dripping and literally melting. Her largest piece is incredible. So much time and dedication was put into that piece. I appreciate her as an artist because she openly accepts change, which is why I believe she chose sugar as a sculpting model.

I know we are to choose one relevant artist, but I honestly couldn’t choose just one this week. The first artist I chose was Anish Kapoor. I chose Anish because of his piece in Chicago the Cloud Gate. The Cloud Gate is also known as “The Bean.” I find myself more able to appreciate certain artists and their work when I have actually seen their work in person. There’s a different sense of respect and appreciation to the work when viewing it in person. I like how Anish works with a lot of reflective materials in his art. I feel as if it’s almost giving a different perception on the things that surround you. The other relevant artist I really enjoyed looking up was Damien Hirst. Now this guy really has some interesting work. I love his pieces of the animals inside those tanks! However, my favorite piece is his piece called For the Love of God. This piece is a human skull created with platinum and over 8,500 diamonds adorned to it. I have a love for skulls and to me this is just a beautiful piece. What I wouldn’t do to be able to own it!

shaferbailey-blog

Week 7 - Photography and Filmmaking

Reading the book this week made me realize what an amazing thing photography/film is and how much we take it for granted. I enjoyed looking at many of the photographs, but the ones that stood out were the ones in which there was a lot of emotion. The famous picture Migrant Mother (pictured below) captures a lot of emotion, and the black and white filter accentuates the tone of the piece. It shows the mother’s pain and worry for the future and for what is to come. This photograph makes me empathize with the subject and want to help her. This is why I like photography. It shows emotion much better than paintings in my opinion, probably because of all the details. It was interesting for me to see the quality of the photos get better as time progressed. Taking photos used to take hours but now in just a tenth of a second, you have your picture.

Films have also improved as time has progressed. It it hard for me to think about films without all the special effects we have today. Although we may think films would be boring without special effects, the people who watched the earliest films were amazed by the technology it had taken to produce those films. Short films can be an awesome tool to spread a message, such as anti-bullying, but like anything, they can be put to a bad use. A great example of this would be Hitler using films as propaganda. This was an easy way for him to spread his message to a large group of people and make more people believe in his way. Although it wasn’t good, I think it was probably very smart of Hitler and the Nazis to take advantage of this, as films can be very moving and make you feel strongly towards a certain cause.

The film, Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please, the computer pointer following the girl reminds me of gnats surrounding a person. I think the pointers represent beach goers eyes following the girl even though she isn’t really trying to attract attention.

Thunder Road was very meaningful to me, especially after a tough week in our school. Recently a teacher from our school passed away unexpectedly. It is extraordinarily hard for us students to deal with this and a lot of the girls in our school were outwardly crying but the boys remained stoic. I think they feel that they are supposed to remain unemotional, but this film shows it is okay to show emotion, let out your feelings, and get your thoughts off your chest.

At first I found it hard to follow the film, Belly. I had to re watch the video to fully understand it! The second time watching, I realized some things are connected, the two llamas at the beginning formed a tick-like thing (pictured below) and when it’s head popped we found out it was on Oscar’s friend. Also, the really blue ocean with the tents, where Alex got stuck, was the whale’s stomach. I think the meaning of this video was to prove even though sometimes you help someone, they won’t always be thankful or show their thankfulness. This was a surprise ending, as films I have watched usually have happy endings.

The reading and videos had a lot of similarities. I thought the film Belly had a lot of cuts which could be classified as jump cuts because there isn’t really a connection into the next video segment. Thunder Road was created using continuity editing which requires that all shots be taken following the “180-degree rule.” This rule states that the camera may be placed at any angle from the audience’s side, but not from backstage. None of the films we watched had any political meaning but all the videos had a message and meaning.

This week I was drawn to Sally Mann’s photographs. They had a lot of meaning, and this meaning was enhanced by the black and white filters on the photos. I was surprised when I read an article and found our the subjects were her children. My favorite picture from Sally’s album, Intermediate Family, was the photo of a young girl holding a cigarette (pictured below). I think this picture depicts how casually some people use something so harmful to their health, the only thing drawing attention in this picture is the young girl. It also depicts how people surrounding smokers just turn away and don’t say anything even though they know it is bad.

craftystarlightwombat-blog

I too had a hard time following the film Belly. I watched it on three separate occasions and I still don't think I quite understand it. I came to the conclusion, that it's okay that I don't understand it because not everything is meant to be understood. I do like your point of view on it though! I also really liked Sally Mann as a relevant artist this week and the photo you chose to post for her is perfect and I think it speaks volumes.

Week 7: Photography and Filmmaking

This week’s reading would have to be my second favorite thus far. Photography, I think, would have to be in my top five favorite forms of art. Reading about the history of photography was mostly interesting. It’s crazy to look back on the years and to see how much photography has changed. Think about it, 10 years ago, most of us probably had flip phones. Do you remember the quality of those pictures? It was a tedious task at one point to take a picture because you had to stay so still in order for it to come out correctly. For instance, if you look at the photograph below, that picture took a while to take because of the time needed for exposure. If we took that same picture today, it would take less than a second and it would have much more detail.

Filmmaking is also another great form of art that I sometimes enjoy. A lot of people think I’m crazy for not really liking movies or TV for that matter. I just don’t have the patience to sit down and watch something or commit a lot of time in front of the television. I do however, enjoy watching music videos because they aren’t too long, so I don’t have time to lose interest. I guess it’s also a good thing that videos we had to watch this week were short films, otherwise it would have taken me literally all week to get through the videos.

If I’m being honest here, when I first saw the title to the first short film by Jillian Mayer, I thought we were about to be forced to watch a porno. However, after watching the short film, I think that was the purpose of the title of the film. I think it was meant to show how people of the internet are when they see an attractive woman in a bikini. Women are overly sexualized for no reason. The second by Jim Cummings was a little harder to get through because I felt as if homeboy was just babbling too much. I think he was sitting in the back and not in the front with the rest of his family because he was ashamed of how he was towards his mother growing up. After listening to his eulogy, it is clear that he regrets his actions growing up. Lastly, you know, I don’t think I have many words for the film by Julia Pott. That was by far one of the weirdest videos I have ever watched. And I’ve watch Salad Fingers in middle school and that doesn’t compare to Belly.

The relevant artist I chose this week is Hiroshi Sugimoto. I love the way he captures nature. I also have a huge love and respect for black and white art, which appears to be his main focus. The light and exposure he chooses in his photos make different parts of the image stand out more than the others. It’s almost as if he is trying to get you to see something bigger than the picture. My favorite photo of his that I came across is the photo below. Notice how he really has the wolves stand out and the background landscape is more faded. It’s as if he didn’t want the beautiful background of the landscape to take away from his main focus of the photo.

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