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I found a lot of very interesting art with my foray into the collection at Marciano Art Foundation. Much of this collection consists of contemporary art, which for me is a genre that is very hit-or-miss. As is typical of much contemporary art, many of the works featured here are conceptual in nature. This doesn’t mean that these works can’t stand alone as pieces of visual art, but rather that the concept behind these works serves to add more depth to the art.

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Upon seeing this image of Yayoi Kusama’s piece, “Repetitive Vision”, I immediately recognized her work. As a result of an affliction which causes her to see spots, her work acts as a mirror of her own vision. I find this idea very interesting and empowering: instead of having her vision hinder her work, it makes her work. Pictured is one of two permanent installations she currently has at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Damien Hirst’s exhibition on the Gagosian website gives me mixed emotions. On one hand, I appreciate some of what Damien Hirst seeks to do with his work. But on the other hand, his tendency to have others create his works for him bothers me personally as an artist. Reading the article about the Gagosian also made me realize how some artists and organizations can become more obsessed with notoriety and branding than the creative process and idea behind art. I believe that Damien Hirst falls into this category of art that has lost it’s original way and in a sense, it’s soul.

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Trenton Doyle Hancock’s exhibition at The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis speaks to me greatly on a visual level. “The Re-Evolving Door to the Moundverse” does an amazing job at exemplifying Hancock’s style, which incorporates text and heavily-outlined images that are reminiscent of newspaper comics. My interest in the few images posted on CAM’s website pushed me to seek out more of his work, which I found to be very though-provoking and inspiring.

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This photo is from Marguerite Humeau’s installation at Tate Britain. As part of Art Now, a series of free exhibitions exploring the work of emerging artists, Humeau utilizes sound, sculpture, and computer-generated forms to create what she refers to as “situations” or “ecosystems”. Although a French artist living in London, Humeau’s installation at Tate Britain is based on the death of the late Egyptian ruler Cleopatra. Many of Humeau’s works involve themes of death and ancient Egyptian culture.

One thing I found very interesting about Humeau’s current installation at the Tate Britain is how she provides the background for a larger narrative through her use of color. The inspiration for the bright, sickly yellow used in this installation comes from the venom of the black mamba. This ties back in with Egyptian culture, as Cleopatra is believed to have arranged for a snake to be delivered to her for the sole purpose of killing her. 

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Creative Time Summit Response

I thought that the screening of the Creative Time Summit was fairly interesting. The set-up reminded me of a TED talk, albeit more focused on social and cultural issues than individual stories. I found Kinana Issa’s segment to be particularly moving as she recounted her experiences growing up in Syria. I would love to have the chance to attend next year’s Creative Time Summit in person, and might even consider volunteering in order to do so. 

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DIS/UNITY Response

I personally found DIS/UNITY to be an extremely interesting and compelling performance arranged by a very talented groups of artists. Upon entering Englert, there was already so much to take in: a room filled with balloons with notes about equality attached, a performance artist dressed in an American flag and a plastic cape, and a woman doing tarot readings. The main performance itself involved members of the audience doing the Cha Cha Slide on stage and watching performers dance and interact in very lively, exciting ways. The performance as a whole had an underlying message of change and of unity for all people regardless of race, skin tone, or ethnicity. Given the current state of affairs in America, I think this is a very important message and I’m very glad to have seen something like this in Iowa City.

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Eclipsecore Response

I found all the works that were part of Eclipsecore to be very interesting, although some works made much more sense to me than others. My favorite work out of the entire exhibition would have to be the one by Carl Burton. His contribution consisted of a 3D rendered scene of what appeared to be an eclipse viewing party atop different levels of a vertical landform. Other works I enjoyed included those by Peter Burr, Scott Gelber, and Kate Parson & Ben Vance.

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“Untitled” Response

I thought the film Untitled was amazing. It did a great job of representing the modern art world with its depiction of struggles that artists, collectors, and gallery owners alike may face. It also incorporated comedy into the plot without subtracting from it at all. Seemingly every traditional art stereotype was explored and properly represented while still remaining fairly realistic.

Untitled is a film that crosses the boundary between the art world and everything else to give better insight into how the arts operates.