Art Appreciation

[bigmayne92-blog]

Blogpost Week 15

This week, learning about sound art was quite intriguing. It is very interesting - for me - to think about what people think sound could look like as a visible medium. Given the fact that scientists have predicted sound formulas, formations, and frequencies, sound waves remain invisible to the human eye.

Keep reading

[torikricke-blog]

Hello! I find it interesting that you didn’t get any sound from Tim Hawkinson’s piece Drip. I love the sound of rain but I do understand why you might have had a confused feeling. I at first felt confused a little because the machine was so complex looking that it distracted me and I felt confused as to what I was listening to. In the end, I really enjoyed the piece. Your video Time is Local was really weird. I definitely got weird feelings watching the video and I don’t think I would want to watch it again.

[torikricke-blog]

Week Fifteen

This week reading about sound art was one of the most interesting topics we have talked about yet. In my life, I have heard only one other sound art besides what I heard this week. I heard it at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. The piece was of a person talking and it was about 3 years ago so I don’t remember much, but I do remember thinking I was there with the person as if they were talking to me directly. I find that so cool. It amazes me how throughout this class I have learned about all the different ways you can make art and it really fascinating to me that through sound is one way. I really enjoyed reading the article “An Introduction To Sound Art,” by Robert Worby. I thought how he described sound art was really interesting. He explained that sound is not a “thing” and that things make a sound but sound is nothing. When you are done listening to a sound there is nothing left but the memory of it. That struck out to me a lot because I never thought of it that way. Sound is something we can’t touch it's just something that we hear and then the memory is left with us when it’s over.

The artist this week Tim Hawkinson was really interesting. I love the sound of rain so I loved his piece Drip. Tim made a drumming machine using buckets and pie tins and many other tools that confuse me. This machine captured random drips of rain and made it into music. The machine was really complex to me anyway because I don’t know how stuff like that works but in the end, it was really cool to see rain turn into music.

One Square Inch of Silence was my favorite piece this week. I really felt like I was there in the Hoh Rain Forest at the Olympic National Park. Silence is something that myself and people all over don’t really have. Us humans are always so busy and always have thoughts running through our mind so we don’t really ever get to enjoy silence and peace. I think the piece is so important because it is trying to get people to listen to the natural sounds of the environment. We really take our environment for granted so listening to this brought awareness to me that it is so important to protect this world and our environment and all the endangered resources. The piece inspires me to do better for the environment and really just listen to the sounds around me and bask in the beautiful world I live in.

The artist I choose this week is Carsten Nicolai. Carsten was born in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany in 1965 and he is a German musician. He studied architecture and landscape before he got into sound art. Carsten founded the record label Raster-Noton in 1999 and has been pursuing music ever since. My favorite piece by Carsten is Unicolor. Unicolor examines the psychology of color perception. What stuck out to me with this piece was the colors. I loved all the pretty colors and loved how they were always changing. I noticed that as different colors were put on display that my moods changed. I got a different feeling looking at each color and that really surprised me and interested me. An example of this is there were their colors on the screen and at first, they started blinking on and off slowly and I felt calm and relaxed and then they started the speed up and as they speed up I started to feel more anxious and nervous. I find it so interesting that colors can affect you like that. Carsten is defiantly one of the most interesting artists I have ever seen and I think it would be so cool to see Unicolor in person. 

[bigmayne92-blog]

Week 13 Blogpost

Social art or practice is an art form that focuses on engagement through human interaction and social discourse. The artist we studied this week is Tania Brugera. Brugera is a Cuban installation and performance artist who has participated in numerous international exhibitions. In her presentation - Legacy -  we learn that she is very passionate about social change, activism, and engaging the people. What is extraordinary about Brugera’s work is that it conveys a political representation of immigrants while maintaining the essence of art and not politics. In Legacy Brugera recreates a number of political events in order to bring awareness of Cuban immigrants and Cuban culture to America. Although many may not address Brugera’s work as art, I am intrigued with her work and I believe that she does a wonderful job in staging past and regular events that typical Americans are not accustomed to. In summary, Brugera does an exemplary job in bringing awareness to the people noticing “art can go places that people can’t.”

The relevant artist that I chose is Theaster Gates. Gates is an American social practice installation artist from Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works. In his presentation - Collections - I learned that Gates is fascinated with whole collections. He believes that collections are like “time capsules constitute a persons way of seeing the world.” Gates values the process of looking for people’s personalities inside collections and seeks to uncover why the pieces of the collection are important to them. The piece I’m most intrigued with - of Gates’ - is the Jet Magazine collection. Gates states “the collection functions less as an archive and more like a monochrome painting.” I’m impressed with the tenacity Gates showed in getting all the books together and binding them by color coding and the decade they were released. The purpose of these pieces were to prompt viewers to want to look in the books. For those unfamiliar with Jet Magazine, it is a digital magazine that is weekly marketed toward African-American readers, it was founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois.

https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/theaster-gates-collecting-short/

[torikricke-blog]

I find by Tania Bruguera’s work very extraordinary as well for all the reasons you said. I love how she uses her art to try and make a change. Some of the topics she discusses and bases her work on such as Cuban immigration are very important and I think it is so great that she talks about these issues and wants to make a change. Her work is definitely very different than anything I have ever seen but I appreciate it and can’t help applaud her for her need for trying to make a difference in this world. 

[torikricke-blog]

Week Thirteen

This week reading about social practice was really interesting for me because I never really knew anything about it. Social practice focuses on how humans interact with each other. I really enjoyed the artist this week Tania Bruguera. Tania is a Cuban installation and performance artist. Tania is very passionate about what she does and most passionate about creating change. Her work points in the direction of issues of power and control and also base her work on her Cuban history. I really like how Tania is so passionate about activism and change, and I liked how she incorporates those things into her art. She also believes that art should be in peoples lives and out into the streets. I really like her way of belief. It is a lot different than most people, as most people want their art in a museum, Tania wants in to be shown in the world in people lives in the streets.

Tania art was defiantly different than anything I have ever seen before. Her piece The Burden of Guilt really shows this. Her inspiration for this piece is from the people in Cuba who vowed to eat dirt and nothing else rather than be the captives of the Spanish conquistadors. In this performance, Tania is naked with a lamb carcass hanging from her neck. The performance was 45 minutes long and it consisted of her consuming soil mixed with water and salt and that represents tears.  I think of the lamb around her neck as her shield from the guilt and sadness that the people of Cuba might have felt. Her soil and tears she is consuming also show the guilt and the emotion that the people felt. The performance is very disturbing to watch and it made me uncomfortable. I appreciate her need for change and I appreciate the art that comes with that, but her work is defiantly not for everyone.

The relevant artist I choose this week is Rikrit Tiravanija. Rikrit is a contemporary artist who lives in New York, Berlin, and Chiang Mai. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961. He has been to many art schools such as Ontario College of Art in Toronto, The Banff Center School of Fine Arts, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Whitney Independent Studie Program in New York. He has definitely seen and been through it all. Rikrit’s art is all about bringing people together. His art is often based on cooking meals for people and reading or playing music to help “bring people together.” His first time engaging in this was in the early 1990s with his series called Pad Thai. Rikrit decided to cook and serve meals for the people who visit his exhibitions. I think that is so cool that he does this. He really allows everyone to be apart of his art and I think he does a great job of bringing people together just like he wants because what better way to bring someone together than through food.

[mpalmer21-blog1]

Week 12 - Performance

     Performance art consists of more than what I originally thought it did. Before reading the text and watching the media for the week, I thought that performance art was when an artist is in front of a crowd, such as a musical performance, dance, or drama. The text opened my eyes this week and made me realize that there is much more to performance art than just being on stay.

     Performance art had five main original subcategories that many works could also be classified as. Action is one of the earliest and creates suspense, often relating the artist to the work itself. Body art positions the artist within the work or the artist’s body is used as a canvas or media. Happenings are influenced by Dada and are often characterized by improvisation. Endurance tests the capabilities of the human body, often being near the line of torture and abuse. Ritual art begins to make the work have a sacred meaning or background.

     Bree Newsome is an African American contemporary performance artist (shown below) who is known for her activism for equal rights. Her works can be controversial. One of the most controversial is her removal of the confederate flag. She voiced her opinion and took down the flag, then was arrested for it. It is her right to voice what she believes in and she got arrested because what she did was illegal, however, removal of the confederate flag, in my opinion is not right. The flag is part of our history and reminds us of all the lives that were lost. We need to remember so history doesn’t repeat itself.

     Our featured artist this week, Janine Antoni, is a performance artist whose work often closely resembles that of sculpture. Her work “Touch and Moor” was interesting to learn about. It is amazing that, although she may have wanted to anyway, Antoni learned to tightrope for this piece or one of similar design. When you think about it, tight roping represents our everyday life. Different events happen that throw everything out of balance, and we make adjustments to stay upright and keep moving. When we fall, as many tight ropers do, we get right back up again and try again. It is a balancing act where we have to make constant adjustments, and if that adjustment isn’t just right we fall back and have to try again.

     One of Antoni’s pieces that really caught my attention, is Lick and Lather, shown below. I believe that she is trying to convey to us that the more we are used, and abused, the less we are recognized. We have to stay out of situations that will make us unrecognizable otherwise we will end up like the sculptures did, unable to be recognized.

     The relevant artist I decided to touch on this week is Adrian Piper. She is an American performance and concept artist known for her works that provoke controversy over race, gender, class, and identity. She uses many medias and often features herself within her works. Both of her parents are of mixed racial background; therefore, she confronts many topics many wouldn’t consider.

     Attached below is Piper’s work, I am the Locus #1. I find this work intriguing because the word locus is defined as a particular point, position, or place. The work is stating that the person is the point of consciousness. Consciousness can be described as having knowledge or awareness of something. This leads me to believe that the person knows something that nobody else does, and no one know it. Consciousness can also be worried or painfully aware of something. This could mean that he is worried for someone else. He seems to be lost in thought so either of these could be the case.

Sources:

https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s2/janine-antoni-in-loss-desire-segment/

http://www.artnews.com/2013/02/21/chocolate-self-portraits-by-janine-antoni-and-dieter-rot/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adrian-Piper

http://theconversation.com/bree-newsomes-superwoman-style-confederate-flag-pole-climb-was-an-artistic-statement-44050

Performance Art  - the Art Story

[torikricke-blog]

Hello! I love what you think about Jamie Antoni’s piece Lick and Lather. While I was doing some research on Jamie, I saw her piece Lick and Lather and I really didn’t know what to think about it. I love how you think what it means. I never thought about it as how you did and it really opened my eyes. It definitely changes how I look at this piece and I have a new appreciation for it. Thanks for sharing!

[torikricke-blog]

Week Twelve

Whenever I think of art I think of drawing and paintings never someone actually performing. Before this week I have never known much about performance art and reading about what performance art is really opened my eyes and made me appreciate art on a whole other level. Art has always fascinated me but performance art took my understanding of art up ten notches. I think it is the coolest thing when people actually perform their art. I think it is so rare and special if you can perform your art with such emotions and really bring it to life. It is amazing.

Performance art isn’t just acting though and the performance artist Bree Newsome shows that. She is an activist and she one day decided to remove the Confederate flag at the South Carolina State House. This flag has been there since 1961. She was arrested for removing the flag but she doesn’t regret it. It is her right to do that and to voice her opinions about the flag. Everyone is going to have mixed opinions on whether or not what she did was right or wrong but I personally think it was her right to do what she did and it helped open my eyes to some controversial topics.

Our featured artists this week, Jamie Antoni, was a very interesting person to read about. She is a performance artist and works mostly with sculpture. I am always open to art and she definitely opened my eyes. I love looking at art and having to think about what is going on and why this is happening and her work made me do that. It’s amazing how she talked about her work and why she does what she does. I loved her performance Touch and Moor. She performed this in her home the Bahamas. She practiced every week for this performance trying to get her balance good. Her reason for doing this was my favorite. She knows that you can’t touch the horizon and that it doesn’t exist but the horizon is a place you want to go and each time she took another step it was like she was touching the horizon. That is really amazing.

Another performance by Jamie that I really liked is Loving Care. The performance is of her mopping the floor with her hair. At first, I was confused as to why she would want to do something like this but after she explained it, I found a new appreciation for her and her work. She mopped the floor with her hair because she is so interested in taking her body to those extreme places because she feels like if she does these things then she will learn more and she will feel lost in her body. I think that is really interesting and it’s cool the way she thinks.

The relevant artist I choose this week is Chris Burden. Chris Burden is a performance artist born in Boston Massachusetts and is most known for his shocking performances. Chris moved to California and went to Pomona College to study physics and architecture. One of his teachers has been the artists Robert Irwin. He began his extreme performance art in college. He has spent five days in a locker without food or water, been kicked down a flight of stair, and also performed a human crucifixion where he pushed pins into his body. He is defiantly one of the most interesting people I have read about. He does such crazy performances because he likes to explore the nature of suffering by setting up extremes situations that he has to endure. He actually wants to feel the pain when performing. He is most known for his performance Shoot. He asked a friend to shoot him with a .22 rifle from 15 feet away. The bullet wasn't supposed to actually hit him but rather just graze his arm, but the shooter missed the target and shoot him through the art. The audience watching said that they felt like they could feel his pain. To me, that is a whole other level of extreme. He wants his audience to not be so sensitive to violence hence why his art is so extreme.

[bigmayne92-blog]

Blogpost Week 11

Architecture is the art and science of constructing buildings and other physical structures. The artist we learn about in this week’s presentation is Maya Lin. Lin is an American designer and artist who is known for her work in sculpture and land art. In Identity, we quickly see that Lin is very involved in her work. In her case, her “assignment” is a little different because she is required to do certain things with her piece because it is property of the city. Not only does Lin design the piece, she also is brought on as an architect because of her piece’s relations to the surrounding buildings. I love the “pool” that she created because when frozen, it turns into an ice skating circle in which members of the community use as such - as we were able to see.

Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian-born American architect, residing in Los Angeles. A number of his buildings, including his private residence, have become world-renowned attractions. From Gehry’s Fish Lamp piece, I can tell why his work has become so notable. His simple “fish lamps” turned out to be quite elegant and an un-ordinary - yet extraordinary - piece to have in a home. I Like the fish lamps and in my opinion, they are elegant and lovely.

[torikricke-blog]

Hello Jay! I really liked Maya Lin’s piece the “pool.” I love when artists create something that people can use and find joy in. I love how the community can skate on this and get to see the beauty up close and personal. I also loved the relevant artist you choose this week. Frank Owen Gehry is a really cool artist and his fish lamps are really beautiful and unique. I would love to see them in person. Thanks for sharing!

[torikricke-blog]

Week Eleven

This week I read a line in the book that really helped me understand architecture. The line was, “The architect is an artist, but also a social servant.” This helped me understand what an architect does and what architecture even is. An architect works with form, texture, line, space, and color. An architect's main goal is to design something beautiful for whoever is asking for it. If an architect is designing a home, then they will need to make sure the home brings comfort and happiness to the buyer. Their job is very complex and reading about architecture this week really brought a new appreciation to architects and all the hard work and passion they put into making something beautiful that someone will find joy in. I think that would be one of the best jobs in the world to make people happy.

My favorite structure in the book was by Barma and Posnik Yakovlev, St. Bail’s cathedral, in Red Square, Moscow, Russia. This Cathedral was built from 1555 through 1561. This church is amazingly beautiful. There is so much detail into it. It amazes me that only two people contracted this. I appalled anyone who has such a creative vast mind that they can produce something so beautiful and grand. This church is something I definitely would love to see in person.

The artist this week, Maya Lin, was a very interesting person. She is an American designer and works mainly on sculpture and land art. She calls herself a designer rather than an architect. She wants to design art that means something to people. She thinks people can use art to say things that they normally wouldn’t say and can use art to really express yourself. I love that and I totally agree with her. The quietest people have the loudest minds. Someone might not say much or be kind of an introvert but that doesn't mean that they don’t have a lot to say. People use art as a way to express themselves and say things that they want to say but would never in real life. That’s why I love art some much. You can be whoever you want and not worry about what people think. I loved the design of Wave Field. Wave Field is a park and a place people go to but it is so unique and beautiful. It is really cool that she contracted literal waves in the ground. It’s something that I would love to see in person.

The relevant artist I choose this week is Andrea Zittel. Andrea is an American artist and she works with space and objects and studies the questions, “How to Live?” and “What gives life meaning?” When Andrea first started making art she based her art off of her own surroundings and daily routines. She would create art relating to shelter, furniture, and clothing. She worked off that and now makes art that could be seen as something simple but can really make you think. My favorite piece by her is her first public project called Point of Interest. It is located in Central Park. This piece is two giant faux rocks, constructed from steel and coved in concert, emerging from the ground. I like this is so cool and fun. People can sit on it on it and admire the beauty close up. It doesn’t look so complex but it makes you think, “What was she thinking was she created this?”

[santinosantana-blog]

WEEK 10 BLOG POST

  I can recall going to The Smithsonian back in 1991 as a 15 year old eight grade student on a field trip and my classmates as well as myself being in awe of the sheer beauty and majestic feel of an enormous and beautiful pieces of art and exhibits that I still cherish to this day. I remember the boys running off to see the many different airplanes that were on display as the girl wandered off into their own world. It was my second time in Washington D.C. in 4 years and I was a little bit more appreciative of the architecture of such an amazing city/district. My first visit was with my mother in 1987 after my father passed so it was a little getaway for us to get our minds off of things. I didn’t visit The Smithsonian then but I was well aware of its existence. I recall going to the Renwick Gallery as well but it bored me so I don’t remember what I saw or even did while being there. I was more interested in going to the White House as well as George Washington’s old home and Arlington National Cemetery. Reading the article on the Renwick Gallery gave me a little more appreciation and made me wish I would have paid more attention while being there. The exhibits being shown in the reading was amazing and jaw dropping.

           My thoughts on the video of Kimsooja were her perspective of her “Needle Woman” performances. I like how she came up with the thinking of herself being a needle placed on the earth and the people walking by her. The craft work of her Botari were beautiful and the truck performance of the multi colored Botari’s were brilliant. I also was in awe of her ‘laundry woman” art show with beautiful colored linens blowing in the wind. The lantern artwork was very beautiful as well. They way they hung in the train station and the beautiful colored lanterns and watching people walk in and looking up at them in amazement was wonderful to see. The Crystal Palace piece was majestic to me as well because of the gorgeous colors seeping through the sunlight made me think of a heavenly place or a heavenly being showing itself by way of the glass. It was simply beautiful.

My thoughts on the reading for this chapter was that crafts are something that has been done since the beginning of time and it is still carried out to this day and it has become more and more amazing to see. I live in a Victorian home that was built in 1865 and the craftwork is amazing. I noticed right away that the woodwork and the carvings in the wood was intricately done and done with precision. I usually looked at clay as being the main work of crafting but I see now that I was totally wrong and misinformed. The craft work done on glass has always been something I was fond of seeing. Churches are where I mostly see them but on my home there is a great work of art done on my front glass window that I am sure has been here since 1865 and it amazing to look at. This chapter has really opened my eyes more and more about the many facets of art. Art comes in many different forms and with many different backgrounds that it is certainly not one dimensional.

           The artist I chose was Justin Novak and his art work is very intricate and precise. His use of ceramics is mind boggling because it looks so real and so lifelike. One can tell that he took his time to make sure every inch of his work was detailed. The precision is something to behold. His talents are on full display and to me, should be award winning.

[torikricke-blog]

Crafts have been around forever and I think that it is so cool that you experience it every day because you live in a Victorian home. You get to see the imperfections and beauty of the woodwork and that is really cool. I also liked Kimsooja piece Needle Women and I loved her meaning behind it. I sometimes feel like a needle passing through life like it would fabric. I wonder if anyone else feels like way and I think it is awesome that she brought some thoughts that I think to life. 

[torikricke-blog]

Week Ten

This week I learned about craft media and I loved reading about it. Craft Media is one of the oldest genres of art. It has been around for centuries. Craft media deals with clay, metal, glass, wood, and fibers. The reason I like the type of work so much is that it is handmade. It isn’t perfect and craftspeople make no attempts to hide their tracks. It’s more personal and more of an individual piece of art when it’s not perfect and doesn’t try to be.

My favorite section to read on was glass. Glass is so beautiful and something that shocked and surprised me is that glass is made by melting sand with lime and soda. One way that glass craftsmen made glass vessels is that they would scoop up a glob of molten glass with a long metal blowpipe and blow it into a puddle with shaping its form with hand tools. As time went on, the need for glassblowers became less and less and by the 1920s and 1930s, there were only a few traditional glass craftsmen left. I find it sad that glassblowers have been abandoned because they made such beautiful pieces of art. One piece I found in chapter 11 that really stuck out to me was Louis Comfort Tiffany, Irish Bells, and Sentinels. It is located in St. James Country Club outside of Perryoplois, Pennsylvania. The colors in this piece are so bright and vibrant which stood out to me and the flowers are so lifelike.  This piece stuck out to me because of how beautiful it. It shows what glass can really do. This opened my eyes a lot. I drink out of a glass every day but I don’t even think of what it could be if I made something amazing out of it. I love the look of glass and would love to visit an art exhibit with all different types of glass art.

The artist in the video this week, Kimsooja, was very interesting. The culture she puts into her works is really cool. My favorite piece by her is A Needle Women. A Needle Women is a performance video. It shows the artist wearing the same clothes and standing the same way at the same time of the day in different urban environments. I didn’t understand this at first but  I think I get it now. Kimsooja thanks of herself as a needle passing through life and peoples lives just like a needle would pass through the fabric. I find this very interesting and I would love to know more about her thought process of making this piece and if she really feels like this in real life.

The relevant artist I choose this week is Nick Cave. Nick Cave is an American fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. Nick attended school at the Kansas City Art Institute and that is where he learned to sew. He earned his Bachelors degree in Fine Arts in 1982. His work is very unique and I really liked it. One piece I really liked is called Until and it is located at Mass MoCA. In an interview, Nick explains what the piece is. “A paradisiacal landscape where [black-faced lawn] jockeys appear — made from the crystals that would normally go into chandeliers, on a raised platform accessible via four ladders — is the heart of “Until.” “I had been thinking about gun violence and racism colliding,” Mr. Cave said. “And then I wondered: Is there racism in heaven? That’s how this piece came about.” I liked it mind behind this work of art and the piece is truly beautiful. I would love to visit it someday to see it in the flesh.

[booklover2460-deactivated201901]

Week Nine Blog Post

I absolutely love the idea of installation art. The fact that it is not limited to any standards or genre; it can just be what it is. I also really like that it usually takes up rather large space whether it is a building, in or outside, a park, or even in the middle of a plaza. The quote from Maurice Merleau-Ponty “I do not see according to its exterior envelope; I live it from the inside; I am immersed in it. After all, the world is around me, not in front of me.” really opened my eyes to what art and specifically installation art can be.

After reading the article about installation art I found that I really enjoyed seeing the work of Robert Irwin. Scrim veil-Black rectangle-Natural light was interesting to look at and read about. It really reminded me of a black and white movie. The lighting and shadows showed the potential for the space. The window looks like a skywalk to me. The movement of the outside and light coming through makes me think that you can almost walk through it into the outside world. Then over to the right you see a small black corner that shows an entrance almost like another hallway. The ceiling shows the differences throughout the space you can tell that there are two separate pieces to the ceiling each with a different pattern giving off different balances of light coming through the window.

The piece entitled Rain Room I’ve seen before in a movie. In the movie its shown as a sort of healing ritual to stand in the rain and let it wash you clean even though you aren’t actually getting wet and I think that’s what makes this piece stand out. The movement, essence of forgiveness and reassurance of hope really made me fall in love with this piece. (Also I just made a pun)

Now onto the artist interview video this week. Do Ho Suh’s work really surprised me. When I started the video I really didn’t know what to expect but I actually really enjoyed it. Mostly because of his back story about leaving home. He says that it was mostly because of his father and his over shadow because he was a very impressive painter. I understand that. Suh obviously isn’t your typical, everyday painter. He uses different medias to make his work and I can see why he thought he had to leave. It really hit when I saw his first work; the house. He says that he wanted something that he could take with him wherever he goes and that really hit me.  

For my relevant artists this week I chose to read more into the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work. I’ve seen some of their work before but I really didn’t get to read about it. It really interests me because of the close connection with environmental protection. They seem to use a lot of metaphors and interesting ways of showing what we need to do in order to help the environment.

Thank you!

[torikricke-blog]

Hello! I love the idea of installation art for all the reasons you said. There is no standards and it can be whatever it wants to be, and I really love that. The quote by Maurice Merleau-Ponty also opened my eyes. I love when she said, “The world is around me, not in front of me.” It inspires me to live life not just watch from afar. That opened my mind up a lot so thank you for sharing!

[torikricke-blog]

Week Nine

Before this weeks reading, I couldn’t even tell you what installation art is. Installation art is it’s own genre you could say. Installation art is whatever you want it to be and I really love that. To me, it is a difficult type of art to understand. Throughout this class, I have been becoming more open to all different types of art, and with installation art, you really do need an open mind. Not everything will make sense but it does have a meaning behind it, even if you don’t understand it. I love how it has no standards and how it can be whatever you want it to be. It really opened my mind to all types of art and made me see that it is a good thing to not understand all art but to just appreciate it for what is it.

One piece that I learned about this week that not only confused me but fascinated me was Rachel Whiteread: Embankment at Tate Modern. Embankment all started with just a cardboard box. The box belonged to her mother and she found it after she died and was going through her things. She started with that single cardboard box and worked from there. I find that really interesting. It shows that you can make art out of anything and that really inspires me. I don’t necessarily understand the piece but I appreciate the work and all the thought that went behind it. It would be very interesting to talk to Rachel one on one and see what she was thinking when she created this piece.

This weeks video artist surprised me. Do Ho Suh is a very interesting person and his work shows that. I enjoyed learning about his home life. His sculpture Seoul Home/L.A. was amazing. His reason for making it really touched my heart. I’m moving out on my own next year so knowing that I’m going to be not living at home, the place I have lived my whole life is scary. I can already relate to this piece because I might have a new home someday but the house I grew up in with always be forever home.

The relevant artist I choose this week is Spencer Finch. Spencer Find studied sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He is most famous for his piece The River That Flows Both Ways. The piece was Inspired by the Hudson River. It documents a 700-minute (11 hours, 40 minutes) journey on the river in a single day. This piece is integrated into the window bays of the former Nabisco Factory loading dock. The piece is a series of 700 purple and grey colored glass panes. The colors are specifically chosen because everyone single color matches the center pixel of 700 digital pictures. There was one taken every minute of the Hudson River. This piece is amazing, to say the least. He put so much thought and passion into this and it really does inspire me. Honestly, this is one of the most impressive works of art I have seen and deserves recognition.

[mpalmer21-blog1]

Week Eight - Sculpture

     This week’s reads and medias were about sculpture. I have never been very fond of sculpture, often overlooking their true meaning and acting as if they have always been there, and it no different than the hill on the horizon which doesn’t have any significant meaning. This week’s reading opened my eyes that sculpture does have a meaning and most of the time you must figure out the meaning for yourself. Above Alice is Aycock’s work Tree of Life Fantasy which was figure 10.1 in the reading.

     The text explains it “combines steps that no one could walk on with structures from ancient Indian observatories, DNA helixes, amphitheaters by the early twentieth-century architect Walter Gropius, a roller-coaster to heaven, and a medieval and Renaissance pictures of an entrance to Paradise through a swirling hole in the sky.” To me, this sculpture shows that many aspects of the world combine to make the world. It unites all events and eras that have happened, and since it is white it resembles purity.

     Kara Walker became known for her silhouette works with themes of African American racial identity. She creates sculptures, collages, drawings, watercolors, and silhouette works often reflecting on slavery. If needed, Walker does research before or during a project to help bring out the full potential of the work. An example of this is her project called A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby in which she created sculptures out of molasses and other types of sugar, including a sphinx, which is shown above. A Subtlety was the first sculpture project she ever completed.

     Through these works of art, I believe that Walker was trying to convey change. The sculptures were melting as people viewed them because the sugar was softening, unable to hold its original shape any longer. Many of the sculptures reflected upon slavery and portrayed African Americans working on plantations. The melting of the sugar symbolizes that eventually slavery will end and a dramatic change will take place, however it will take a very long time, as it takes a long time for sugar to melt.

     This week my relevant artist is Tara Donovan. Donovan creates sculptures from common, everyday use materials such as Styrofoam cups, pencils, paper plates, and scotch tape. Her works are often reminiscent of organic or molecular structures. Donovan was the recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2008.

     Attached above is a Styrofoam cup structure created by Tara Donovan. I chose this work because it gives the illusion of a giant oddly formed cloud looming above your head. It is amazing that the sculpture is made completely out of Styrofoam cups and tape. Donovan uses the cups in an effective manner, creating different depths within her work, showing cloud as it might look in the sky up close.

     The reading and both my relevant artist and the featured artist this week connected through the art media sculpture. Both Walker and Donovan create sculptures, which is what the text was about, but in different manners with different intentions. Donovan wants to create works out of objects originally not thought of as art, and create something unique and interesting with them. Walker wants to spread a message about racism and inequality between whites and African Americans, making people aware about slavery.

Sources:

https://www.artsy.net/artist/kara-walker

https://www.artsy.net/artist/tara-donovan

https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/kara-walker-a-subtlety-or-the-marvelous-sugar-baby-short/

[torikricke-blog]

Hello! I loved your idea of what Kara Walker’s Project A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby meant. I also agree with you that she was trying to convey change and show that slavery will end just like the sugar will melt. The relevant artist you choose, Tara Donovan, was very interesting. I love how she uses everyday materials such as styrofoam cups, pencils, and paper plates to create something really cool and beautiful out of them. Thanks for sharing!

[bigmayne92-blog]

Blogpost Week 7

I want to start off by saying that photography/film-making are wonderful forms of art that - in my opinion - are centered around capturing a moment or a theme. In connection to our assigned videos, I felt like they were effective in doing so. 

In Short Film: Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please, by Jillian Mayer, I felt like she greatly depicted how sex is something that humans gravitate towards. Fruit flies are attracted to sweet things such as banana and peaches . For them that’s their source of energy. This video is simply simplifying life and how sex is something that humans gravitate towards. The girl in the video is like a banana. Although the theme of this video is very simple The next is quite opposite.

In Short Film: Belly, by Julia Pott, the theme was much more complex. I had to re-watch this film a few times. Initially, I was just confused, deciding that the film was just weird with unique animations, but ultimately I decided that it outlines the complexities of different individuals. Contrasting the defining principles of empathy and care. Pott primarily used 3 different characters in order to ouch her theme: Oscar - little brother and owner/friend of “The Beast”; Alex - Typical teenager and Oscar’s older brother; and lastly “The Beast” - Oscar’s pet and best friend. For me, Belly retains it’s mystery. 

The first couple short films are much different than Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road. In my opinion, Thunder Road begins in a funeral that quickly goes downhill when Jimmy Arnaud - main character - decides to give an unprepared speech at his mother’s funeral. The speech quickly turns into a comical dance recital in which a family member in the front pew begins to record on Snapchat. A couple themes from Thunder Road are love your mother while you still have time, and don’t proceed to publicly “reminisce” at her funeral if you didn’t!

I Chose Wolfgang Tilmans’ Peas as my Relevant Artist Piece. This short film most resembles the “hot” babe film by taking a simple and natural approach to providing mental stimulation. As the peas boil, the bubbles fade creating a oddly stimulating moment.

[torikricke-blog]

Hello! I love how you described each film. I agree with your description of the short film Hot Beach Babes Aims to Please. I agree that sex is something that people gravitate towards, and I feel like that is what the film is trying to say. Thanks for sharing! 

[torikricke-blog]

Week Seven

This week’s reading was over photography and film. This chapter is by far my favorite. I relate so much to photography. You can capture so much in a person just by taking a photo of them. I love the idea of capturing emotions. In chapter 8 one photo I thought that really captured emotions were Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother. I love this photo. The photo is of a mother and two of her kids that have their heads tucked into her neck. In the reading, it explains that this woman is 32 years old and has seven children to care for. This photo brings so many emotions to surface for me when I look at it. I see the worry and sadness on the mothers face. I see the kids scared. I see children wanting and needing their mother's love and support. It is a really powerful photograph and photos like these are my favorite.

I also really loved the section over film media. Film has come a long way and I love how a person can take something from their brain and bring it to life.

In the Short Film: Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please, by Jillian Mayer, there wasn’t a whole lot going on, yet there was. I think the film represented how many people watch sex and care about it that much. The film only showed a woman in a bathing suit but so many people would watch that even if it really is nothing that important to watch, but because it is a woman half naked, then people will watch it.

I really enjoyed the short film Thunder road by Jim Cummings. It is sad in a way but I also thought it was really funny. The film shows Jimmy Arnaud at his mothers funeral. He starts out by giving a speech about his mother. He is very nervous during this and is very unprepared. He then starts to sing and dance to Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen. People in the crowd are recording him doing this and his wife is looking very confused and embarrassed that this is happening. I loved this short film. I thought the acting is incredible and very funny.

The last film I watched was Belly by Julia Pott. This film was a lot more complex than the other two and I found it harder to watch. Even though I didn’t understand it I liked it a lot. I like the graphics and sound effects. The film was very unique and different from any other short film I've seen.

A connect I found with the reading and the film is the emotions. In photographs, you can capture someone emotions very well, but you can also do so in a short film.

The relevant artist I chose was Carrie Mae Weems. She is known for her photography pertaining racism. Her first complete collection of photographs was over her family and it was called Family Pictures and Stories. The images show the story of her family. She decided to do this to have people explore black families. I love this idea and think it is awesome. I think she uses her work for something really great and can really make a difference in someone's life.

[mattererik1-blog]

Week 6

This week we read about printmaking and graphic design. I personally loved reading the technical aspect of making a print of a image, but most of all I found it most interesting that you can change the image ever so slightly while printmaking an image. Due to this I found Monotype most interesting because I find it so incredibly interesting when you take a simple image and every time to make it you change it ever so slightly. When it comes to Graphic design I love the selling aspect of it where a person designs wrappers, boxes, and advertisements to catch a persons eye and to get someone to notice a product.

John’s art is interesting to say the least. I found it most interesting that he uses a printmaking style in some of his art by layering images on top of each other, and in others he uses a typography or graphic design style by using colors to draw attention to certain shapes of parts of his art. His use of stills from movies most surprised me and interested me as they show a uniqueness to his work. Over all from the video John clearly has a great passion for his art, and I loved watching him.

My relevant artist is Andy Warhol. Andy did a lot of art I found it most interesting, but the one piece of art I found the most interesting is his Campbell’s soup can work. Its simplistic design is brilliant in my mind, and each time I look at it I see something different. Photocopying is part of Andy Warhol’s art and his Marilyn Monroe piece is beautiful. The use of light and colors brings Marilyn Monroe to life even after her death, and just like the Campbell’s soup can piece I take something new from each viewing of the piece. I have always loved Andy Warhol’s work and enjoyed looking over some of his art.

[torikricke-blog]

My favorite chapter was chapter six on printmaking. I also love the technical aspect of printmaking and found it very fascinating. It’s really cool that you found Monotype most interesting and love your reason behind why you like it so much. I wrote about Andy Warhol in my blog as well! I love his art and find it so interesting. His pot art is so colorful and bright looking and I really love that about his work! Thank you for sharing!

[torikricke-blog]

Week Six

This week I learned all about printmaking and graphic design. My favorite out of the two is printmaking. I’m all about the look when it comes to art, and I definitely feel more drawn to printmaking. I didn’t know that there were so many categories to printmaking. There is intaglio, which is where the print is engraved into the surface of a plate. There is lithography which is whee the prints are made from one flat surface rather than one that is raised. Then there is my favorite, photocopying. Photocopying is where there are multiple images copied but each a little different whether is the color or if it’s exposed to bright light. I really enjoyed Andy Warhol’s self-portraits shown in chapter 6. I like photocopying the best because I love the idea that is the pictures are one, all of them are connect and the same but yet they aren’t the same. Each photo has something different to it then the next photo. I like the originality behind it and I think it’s very creative.

Graphic design was a very interesting chapter for me to read as well as printmaking. Graphic design is all about visual relationships and providing meaning to a mass of unrelated needs, ideas, words, and pictures. A graphic designer needs to know what sells. Their art is usually aimed at consumers and they have to know what the people what. The featured artist this week John Baldessari doesn't really follow that. He creates what he thinks is art and doesn’t care if others don’t agree. He likes creating art that most people wouldn’t consider art. I really admire this about him. He has his own way and own path and doesn’t follow society and I think that is really amazing. I also really enjoyed his artwork. I thought It was very creative and loves how he works with the human body. I also love how alive and colorful his art looks. I love how it is not dull and boring, but rather exciting and bright. One of my favorite pieces by him is One Face (Three Versions) with Nose, Ear, and Glasses. I love the colors to it and as I mentioned I really love photocopying so I like how he incorporated some photocopying into is work.

This week I chose Andy Warhol for the featured artist. Andy Warhol was a leading figure in the art movement known as pop art. Andy Warhol really became to come to fame after moving to new york. Besides just art, Warhol engaged in filmmaking and writing. He has don't some advertising such as Campbell’s soup. Though he has engaged in other these other forms of art, he is most famous for his pop art. He is famous for photocopying famous celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, and even John Lennon, a famous member of the Beatles. I loved Andy Warhol’s art. I mentioned before up top of my love for photocopying, and that is really what is specializes in. His art is too bright and colorful. I love how he can turn one picture into four or more other totally unique and different pieces. I hope you can all see the beauty behind his art as well.