Final Sophomore Seminar Post

Although this course did have quite a lot of reading, I really feel like I have learned a lot: about artists I didn't know anything about, specific theories of art, the greater art world/community, etc.  This class has also helped me to begin thinking seriously about my own art and myself as an artist.  I am so glad that we were required to go to at least 6 art events/talks for Soph. Sem. because I ended up going to the majority of talks that happened this semester and I really enjoyed them!  I definitely would not have gotten around to going to many if not for this class and I am really grateful.  Hearing artists talk about their own work has been inspiring and thought-provoking.  

As for my studio practice, I am hoping to consistently set aside time for myself to do my own artwork, not just classwork.  I am hoping that after I come back from Italy later this summer that I will be inspired to do a lot of my own artwork.  Right now I have some more sculptural ideas that are knocking around in my head that I would like to pursue before school starts again.  I just hope that the summer does not fly by like usual without me getting anything done!  Goals for myself for over the summer / fall semester: spend several hours per week working on my own artwork, spend time looking for shows in which to apply/exhibit, and build my resume.  I am really excited to continue to define my vision as an artist in preparation for my BFA year...and am definitely a little relieved that I still have another year before I will be stressed out about all that work.  But at the same time I can't wait to have the BFA experience because I know it will be a great time of personal growth.  Taking Sophomore Seminar, hearing all these different viewpoints and thoughts on art and artists, seeing so much artwork, and thinking about my own work has only further cemented my knowledge that art is what I want to do with my life.      

"A Room of One's Own, a Mind of One's Own" by Robert Storr

Storr begins his piece by describing all the different places that artists work, from studio space in their homes to rented space in an old factory downtown.  Some artists are lucky enough to have expansive, fairytale studios; ones designed around their every whim.  Storr reflects on the role of studios in the public imagination: many people see them as mysterious places of divine inspiration and creation.  Storr sees the studio as often doing one of two things, either informing clients that the artist is of the same social status as them and is therefore deserving of their respect or creating a theatrically different space, one that separates the artist from the client and adds to the artist's mystique.  

Willem de Kooning, A Tree in Naples, 1960

De Kooning grew up humbly and upon making a lot of money, he became very nervous and uneasy about it.  His studio space, though using up quite a bit of money, was practical, and by design seemingly made to use up the money that made him so uncomfortable.  De Kooning actually had his bedroom placed above his studio so at any time of night he could look down at his work from a balcony and ruminate on new ideas.  Storr also describes de Kooning's ex-wife's role in helping him get out from under a bad drinking habit by buying him massive amounts of high-quality oil paint (another common artist luxury/indulgence: having unlimited amounts of materials).  Arshile Gorky and John Chamberlin were also hoarders of material--Chamberlin's old garage/workspace a myriad palette of old metal and car parts.  Storr also goes on to talk about artists who lived and worked in extremely minimal or hermit-esque environments: Raoul Hague with his Gothic house out in the country and Agnes Martin in New Mexico, among others.  Storr's parting wisdom is that "artists work where they can, and how they can.  There is nothing mysterious about this, since artists must be pragmatic even when they pretend not to be or do the best they can to disguise themselves and conceal their process.  The mystery and the marvel is in the work.  The rest is contingent reality and real estate."

Naked Arts talk with BFA students (part I) 4/37/11

Shayna Bicknell, Road, 2011

I thought Josh, Katie, and Shayna all did a good job talking about their work.  Josh definitely seemed the most comfortable of the three to me.  I enjoyed hearing about how his ideas developed from one piece to the next: how they are on a similar line of thinking but how the core idea of each piece is quite different from the other two.  I had talked to him a little about his work in the wood shop previously, but it was nice to hear him talk more formally about all of his pieces.  I think my favorite of his pieces was the third one (the tallest of the three).  I don't know why but I just love how he was able to incorporate the wood and the metal together and how they both looked so organic and cohesive.  The forms of his pieces are so beautiful.  I appreciate how much work he put into bending the wood and composing/forming his works.  

Katie seemed a little nervous but I thought she did a lovely job talking about the main concepts behind her work.  I loved how she approached the interiors as a series of color comparisons, letting the forms and shapes appear from these interacting relationships.  This mindset reminds me a lot of Brian Chu's approach to painting.  I liked how she pointed out that her kitchen triptych incorporated both natural and fluorescent light.  Besides the wonderful fuzzy quality of her pieces, I most enjoy her unique perspective and the curving of rooms/ceilings that results.  

I liked how Shayna compared her different approaches to her smaller paintings as opposed to her larger one that was in the show.  It was interesting to me that she felt more comfortable with the smaller works because I often feel like small works can be hard to do, as you have less space to work with and you need to do more with less.  I think her command of color is pretty great--my favorite piece was her large work of the stairwell outside the service building.   

"Recipe: Perfect Studio Day" by Michael Smith

In this piece, Smith recalls when he was younger and used to look forward to working in his studio because he would easily get swept up in the creative process, captivated by working out new ideas.  Now, however, he is merely nervous about working in the studio and not as inspired as he used to be.  Now, he spends a lot of time looking through old boxes of work, organizing and trying to find things.  At the very beginning of the piece, Smith lists elements of a recipe for a perfect studio day, including fresh coffee and quiet, among other requirements.  As he has gotten older, he has decided to add another aspect to his recipe: "embracing distractions."  He feels that he is more comfortable when he keeps himself busy and has less time to worry about a blank canvas or an undeveloped idea.  He thinks of himself as his own clerk and makes the following interesting statement: "To be busy is to be creative."  He holds to the belief that things will eventually work out and find their own place, himself included.     

"Criticizing Art" Chapter 6: pg. 167-178

The last sections of this chapter talk about how important editing is in the writing process and also that you should use a word processor (an example of how old this book is...I guess this edition is from 2000 though the original was 1994).  The section also gives two examples of student writing about art and criticism.  The first is a student writing about Robert Mapplethorpe who is of the view that Mapplethorpe's photography furthers moral decay in society by causing people to become desensitized to sexually explicit and masochistic images.  The second student piece is a comparison of three critics' views on the photographs of Joel-Peter Witkin.  This piece shows how critics can have very different interpretations and judgments of a piece, mostly based on their personal criteria for art.  The last couple sections give advice on how to talk about art in different situations (like in a group critique as well as informally with a friend, etc.).  The author makes the point that people need to be comfortable with one another and feel like they can talk freely for a good conversation to be able to happen.       

"The Art of the Billionaire: How Eli Broad took over Los Angeles" by Connie Bruck 2010

Eli Broad

This article details Eli Broad's quest to be the influential person in the Los Angeles art/museum scene.  Broad has gone back and forth between various museums for a couple decades.  He was instrumental in the creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) but then began to get too pushy about what work was shown and was resented.  His prevailing ideology was that the museum should emphasize its permanent collection and focus on "populist" shows.  He was then involved with the creation of Disney Hall for a time, where he and Frank Gehry clashed in their dealings.  

He since tried to find a place to house his own collection of art and one where he could have almost complete control over the showing and goings on.  In a deal with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), he planned on donating his private collection, but in return wanted a building all his own, one that would essentially be separate from LACMA and have its own committee of trustees and director.  The Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) was eventually built but then right before its opening, Broad decided that he would only lend his collection of artwork to the museum to be shown, rather than actually donating it, creating a big ruckus.  He then became more involved with MOCA again, as he swooped in to save the museum from a financial crisis in 2008.  He is also working on the construction of a building across the street from MOCA to house his collection that would run in tandem with MOCA but be its own entity, one that he can control.      

"The Worship of Art: Notes on the new god" by Tom Wolfe 1984

This article is much along the same lines as the last Tom Wolfe article we read.  Essentially he is railing on against contemporary/modern art and how ridiculous he thinks it is.  His particular point in this article is that art is the new religion of the wealthy and cultured.  People do not donate their estates or money to a certain church anymore, they donate it to a major museum or the creation of such a museum.  He talks specifically about corporations quite a bit and how they hire art critics/consultants to buy art for them so they can say that they support the arts.  And these consultants buy modern, often abstract art, not art that the companies' employees will enjoy.  This art is not meant to be enjoyable but is rather a legitimation of this company's wealth and evidence of their support of the arts.  

Jean Dubuffet, Group of Four Trees

He also goes on for a while about abstract sculptures that are put in front of buildings and in public areas.  People wanting to put in a sculpture always employ people from the art world in their decisions resulting in merely a celebration of modern art, Wolfe argues, rather than, say, a monument to Franklin Roosevelt.  Wolfe scoffs at critics like Clement Greenberg, who said that "all great contemporary art 'looks ugly at first.'"  He also bemoans the fact that now the major reason that the public is going to museums is to learn about contemporary art instead of just going to enjoy the works.  He obviously believes there is too much theory going on and it is all a big sham and a waste of people's time.   

ArtBreak with MFA students 4/20/11

I enjoyed these talks because I did not know any of the MFA students at all and I was interested to hear what they had to say about their art and their process.  I also came at it from the standpoint that this is going to be me in a little over a year (just a BFA student) and I was hoping it might give me some ideas for what to look at during my BFA year and how I should talk about my own art.  I thought the talks were good, although a little on the short side.  I mean, I completely sympathize because I am definitely not super comfortable talking about my own work for very long, but I guess I just figured that these are older, more advanced students and I thought they would have more to say.  I did like hearing Nicole's talk, I especially enjoyed that she talked about how her's was kind of circuitous journey to get where she is today with her work.  It was nice to hear that she had times where she was unsure and searching for an approach to take.  

Nicole Weber, Untitled, 2011

Youngsheen was hard for me to hear, but I liked the concept behind her work.  I think it was pretty fascinating that she settled on the interaction of people and mannequins as a microcosm for her experiences being a foreigner in the U.S. as well as in Italy.  That sense of otherness and isolation is certainly a universal one that everyone can relate to.  

Youngsheen Ahn Jhe

I thought Mark's talk was a little cryptic but I appreciate his use of color and form simplification in his pieces.  I could definitely see how he was inspired by dramatic darks and lights like he mentioned at the beginning of his talk.  I was curious why he painted the objects that he did--did they have a specific meaning to him or were they just convenient?  

Mark Soderling, What It Is, 2011

"Criticizing Art" Chapter 6: pg. 155-167

The first half of this chapter gives tips and ways of approaching writing and talking about art.  One of the major points (at least at the beginning) is that you need to be invested in and passionate about what you are writing.  I think this is very important advice.  If you aren't invested in your writing, no one else is going to want to read it because they will be able to tell that your heart just wasn't in it (This applies to everything, not just art).  The section goes on to look at how you should write about group shows versus solo exhibitions.  In group shows you should at least mention most (if not all) of the artists, unless there are more than 10, in which case, focus on the ones you think are most important or the ones you believe give a good overview of the theme/feeling of the exhibition.  

The next couple sections are basically overviews on describing, interpreting, and judging, all of which were looked at in detail in previous chapters.  The author also goes on to give practical advice, like making sure you know how long your piece of writing is supposed to be before you begin (because this will dramatically change how you write about the pieces).  He also advocates looking at the art, taking a lot of notes about it, and letting your thoughts wander for a few days, just so you can best decide what to write about and what angle you should approach your piece from.  Additional writing suggestions/cautions are given: avoid plagiarism, make an outline, rewrite, etc.  

"Museum" 4/19/11

It was fun going to the play on Tuesday in that it was a nice change of pace from our normal class.  I thought the actors all did a good job.  It definitely seemed like they had a good time playing all the outrageous personalities/characters.  I did think that a lot of the characters were just stereotypes but there was certainly a lot of truth to some of them.  It's funny to me how art and museums are used for all sorts of things, like socializing and showing others how "cultured" you are.  It's also pretty amusing how museums tend to be such stifling, serious environments.  I'm sure a lot of artists would appreciate their art being shown in a more relaxed atmosphere.  But then if you think about it, this might take away from people's serious contemplation of what the pieces are trying to convey.  And I feel like art being on a pedestal in a museum is almost our societal way of giving it legitimacy--like these works are important, therefore we must raise them up on this pedestal in order for you to contemplate them.  I don't know...there is a lot of contradiction and sillyness that exists in society's relationship with art and artists.       

BFA/BA/MFA Opening at the Museum of Art 4/15/11

 I quite enjoyed this exhibit!  It was so much fun to see the final product of everyone's hard work.  It was especially meaningful to me this year because I had seen some of the BFA candidates work in progress (Josh and Katie mostly) and it was exciting to see their work framed/finished and in a gallery setting.  I could not believe how many people were at the opening!  It was crazy!  I definitely want to go back at some point when I can spend more time looking at each piece without having to dodge people and try and get out of their way.  

I think my favorite works were Josh's, Katie's, and Liz's.  I had talked to Josh a little about the ideas behind his work and I think the forms he was able to create were just absolutely beautiful.  He told me that for at least one of his pieces, he kind of wanted it to look like a piece of machinery/a tool that had been discarded that people found and decided to use for something else.  I think his thought process behind his pieces is really interesting and thought-provoking.  

Joshua Torbick, Bent Ash Bench, 2011

I loved the quality of the empty rooms in Katie's work.  I think she has an extraordinary command of color and space, and the perspective in her paintings is so intriguing.  I especially liked her painting of the wood shop and it was great to see that one finished because I was around working on my projects while she was in there painting.

Katharine Austin

Liz's work was so fun in that there was so much going on.  Her set-ups were so complicated but she was able to simplify them in a really thoughtful way.  I also liked the perspective in her pieces in that the food was looked at almost from above, so much of the top of the table was visible.  This was a really pleasant departure from traditional still lives.  Also, her way of outlining the objects gave them a unique look...I loved her use of line!   

Barbara Kruger "'Taking' Pictures" 1982

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987

I'm not sure that I really understand what Kruger is trying to say in this excerpt but I will try to summarize it simply nonetheless.  First she identifies a couple opposing practices/forces that she sees in art: studio work and more reproductive work (such as photography).  She looks further at this more reproductive work and observes that is used by many artists.  By taking a picture, these artists use the original meaning of the image and distort it or comment on it by how the picture is taken.  They are informed by fashion photography, media imagery, film, television, etc.  These types of works also "question ideas of competence, originality, authorship and property."  However, these types of works can also be cliche and may only add an additional version of an already repetitive, stereotyped image.   

"Road Show: The journey of Robert Frank's 'The Americans'" by Anthony Lane 2009

This article is about Robert Frank's project "The Americans" and what his photographs revealed about our country at a time when people were not too keen to hear what he had to say.  Frank was born in Sweden, came to the U.S. after WW II, and applied for a Guggenheim grant in the 50s for his proposed project.  Upon winning the grant in 1955, he set out on a grand road trip across the U.S., spending some time with his family in California but ultimately using most of his time to travel back and forth across many states, accumulating tens of thousands of photographs.  

Robert Frank, Parade--Hoboken, New Jersey, 1955

People were initially antagonistic towards Frank's work, seeing it as critical of America, whereas Frank approached his work through the lens of discovery and a recording of all that he saw.  His work was honest, not necessarily critical or complimentary.  Revealing a lot about social issues during that time, Frank took many photos portraying the African American experience and his pictures did not shy away from other issues such as class disparity and the working class experience.  Frank's work is most important in its blatant honesty and its subtle portrait of a country. 

Robert Frank, Charleston, South Carolina, 1955

Robert Frank, U.S. 285, New Mexico, 1955

 

"No More Boring Art: John Baldessari's crusade" by Calvin Tomkins 2010

John Baldessari is a provocative conceptual artist whose most recent retrospective was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  Baldessari made abstract expressionist paintings early on in his career but soon switched to more conceptual art incorporating photographs and printed words.  In his work, the idea is more important than the image and his art is about leaving things out so that the viewer can fill them in.  In addition to being an influential conceptual artist, Baldessari was a well-respected teacher.  He worked at various schools, including CalArts right after it opened, and influenced many students.  Some believe that his role as a teacher was more important than his art.  Baldessari was married and had two children, but the marriage didn't last.  His wife felt he was too focused on his work and his teaching to really have time to contribute to a marriage/family.  Some have criticized Baldessari's work for being to silly/funny and not serious enough.  Others seem to only see pretension and little talent in much of conceptual art.  Baldessari's response was, "If I were trying to be funny, I wouldn't be doing this" (48).  Through his art, he wants to make people stop, stare, and try to understand.    

John Baldessari, "Semi-Close-Up of Girl by Geranium (Soft View), 1966-8

  

"Criticizing Art" Chapter 5: pg. 143-154

This second section of Chapter 5 describes four main categories/theories of art: realism, expressionism, formalism, and instrumentalism.  Realism is the belief that nature should be the reason for making art and art should be held to the standard of nature.  This theory is one in which artists try to accurately portray the world they see.  An example:  

Chuck Close, Nancy, 1968

 Expressionism caters more towards the artist's feelings and expressions than to the object(s) depicted in the work.  In this theory of art, the handling of the materials tends to be more apparent than in realism.  Though this type of art is not just about the objects/subject, it is not entirely about form either.  

Formalism is art about art.  It is primarily concerned with form and divorcing artwork from life and culture.  An example: 

Agnes Martin, Untitled, 1960

Instrumentalism is art that is done for a higher purpose, to get across a point or message.  It recognizes that art is not just aesthetic.  Political and activist art are good examples of instrumentalism.  

Critics often have a particular theory that they believe in and they tend to write their criticism from this point of view.  It can be more helpful, however, to look at pieces of art from the viewpoint of the theory that they have been created in.       

"Searching for Silence: John Cage's art of noise" by Alex Ross 2010

John Cage

John Cage's music is playfully constant invention.  His works utilize silence as well as sounds that aren't normally perceived to be music.  Cage was one of the people instrumental in opening music up as an art form and broke away from its significant tradition.  Employing performance art-type techniques in many of his compositions and pieces, he had a unique view of and appreciation for noise/music.  Cage's father was an inventor, and in a way Cage himself followed exactly in his father's footsteps.  Always wondering what would happen if he tried to make music in a new and different way, Cage constantly experimented.  He would incorporate voices and speaking as well as mechanical noises in his work.  One of his most famous pieces, "4'33," was one of musical "silence."  Rather than playing anything, the pianist would sit at the piano, silent, for 4 minutes and 33 seconds and allow people to listen to anything and everything, all the random background noises and sounds that we never pay attention to.   

"The Death of the Object: The Move to Conceptualism"

This article was quite long and chock-full of information about several decades in art history, mentioning many many names and movements within conceptualism and the transition into this type of art.  Starting in the late 60s, the reading looks at art commenting on politics and radical artist groups, especially in Europe, such as CoBrA.  The use of Decollage (tearing advertisements or public posters to create new and interesting images) was involved with Lettrism.  Broodthaers was an important artist from this time period.  In the late 60s he commented on art museums in some of his works, creating collections of objects that looked like they could be in a museum and pairing them with signs like "This is not a work of art."  The Arte Povera movement in Italy was going on concurrently, as a response to the traditional art aesthetic there.  There was much friction between the north and the south at this time, in addition to student protesting.  

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

 In the U.S., Robert Smithson helped shape the Land or Earth Art movement.  One of his most well-known works is Spiral Jetty, where he had workers move earth into the shape of a spiral, extending the jetty into the Great Salt Lake.  In the move into conceptual art, the main point of this movement was that thought was a significantly important part of art and a medium in itself.  Victor Burgin used photography and text to create commentary on advertisements and the mass media in one of his pieces, "Possession."  Bernd and Hilla Becher used photography to create a sort of faux-scientific study of industrial buildings like water towers and organized the photos into alike sections.  Feminism in art was emerging during this time and also body/performance art.       

"Western Disturbances: Bruce Nauman's singular influence" by Calvin Tomkins 2009

Bruce Nauman, One Hundred Live and Die, 1984

This article discusses Bruce Nauman's life and work.  His work has tended to be all over the place in that he has used a variety of media including neon lights, sound, film, etc.  Many people seem to be confused/bored/antagonistic towards his work.  Reading this, I definitely identified with him in that he liked math and music as a child and then decided to turn to art in college when he realized he just wasn't dedicated enough to math to be a physics major.  Nauman gained success quite early in the art world, having his own solo show at a young age of his odd sculptures.  Some of his early work involved sculptures that illustrated puns.  Being a quiet, unemotional man, Nauman's first marriage dissolved and he had one other long term relationship before entering into a partnership with Susan Rothenberg that is still going today.  An early retrospective sent Nauman into a funk and as he came out of it, his artwork took a more political, angry turn.  Living in New Mexico near Sante Fe, Nauman's work has become more brooding and meditative as he gets older.  He is still ever on the lookout for a new challenge or media to take up--now he is pondering the self portrait and has been experimenting with drawing from a plaster mold.     

"Sentences on Conceptual Art" by Sol LeWitt 1969

LeWitt's piece is a collection of 35 statements about conceptual art, some of which detail the artist's role and thought process, others of which read sort of as founding theories or tenets of the avant-garde movement.  LeWitt emphasizes that conceptual art is not logical.  It is rather the product of a beginning concept that often changes and evolves as things come to the artist during the process of creating the work.  Just an idea can be a work of art; it is not necessary to have a physical object as an outcome.  In this vein, the spoken or written word can also be employed in the creation of conceptual art.  Much of conceptual art is breaking away from tradition and the use of traditional materials (such as in painting and sculpture).  I was especially interested in LeWitt's last four statements:

"32   Banal ideas cannot be rescued by beautiful execution.
 33   It is difficult to bungle a good idea.
 34   When an artist learns his craft too well he makes slick art.
 35   These sentences comment on art, but are not art." 

"Criticizing Art" Chapter 5: pg. 121-142

This section begins the chapter on "Judging Art."  It looks at the judgments and interpretations of several critics concerning the work of Frida Kahlo, Martin Puryear, and Romare Bearden.  In regards to Kahlo, two critics' reviews of her and her work are looked at in depth: Peter Plagens and Hayden Herrera.  Plagens' review is a little sarcastic and not quite as appreciative where Herrera's is very positive and complimentary.  This is an example where both critics agree on a lot of facts and interpretations of Kahlo's work, but they disagree about how important her work is.  

Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940

 The next section discusses the sculptures of Martin Puryear.  The judgments of Puryear's work are consistently positive, though for varying reasons.  Some critics like his work because of how mysterious it is.  Others appreciate his work because they believe he stays true to himself as an artist, does work that he wants to do, and doesn't fall prey to popular influences.  Yet others like how his forms really elicit strong feelings in viewers--how is work is very emotional.  Many praise Puryear for his exquisite craftsmanship that he makes look easy.  

Martin Puryear, Alien Huddle, 1993-5

Martin Puryear, Old Mole, 1985

The collages of Romare Bearden are all agreed to be good art, but each critic goes about reviewing him in his/her own way.  Some talk extensively about his southern background while others emphasize how they feel he has beautifully captured the essence of the black south.  Some compare his collages to his paintings.  

Romare Bearden, Recollection Pond, 1975

At the end of this section of the chapter, negative judgments are briefly looked at through the lense of David Salle's paintings.  His paintings tend to portray women as objects and as the sexual playthings for men and so many critics fault him for his objectification and continuation of stereotypes.  Robert Storr, however, believes Salle's paintings show that no one can control how they are represented and is more positive about his work.  

ArtBreak with Janvier Rollande 4/6/11

I went to Janvier's talk today and it was pretty enlightening.  To be honest, I appreciated her work from a technical standpoint but I just didn't look any deeper than that.  For some reason, I don't really know why, I guess I saw her portraits as just portraits, with little thought behind them.  It was great to be able to hear her talk and some of the psychology that is going on behind her images.  She told us that she came to art later in life.  She got married early and had her daughter, and one day on a whim she went into the art institute in Manchester to look at some of the work.  (Prior to this, she had really no knowledge of art or art history).  She said that she saw some works by James Aponovich and Gary Haven Smith and was immediately intrigued and thought, this is something I want to do.  She showed us some lovely portraits of her daughter as well as her and her daughter and I really wanted to post some here but it was impossible to find any of her work!  I could only find these two below (which were in the Museum show) and some other portraits that weren't my more favorite pieces of hers. 

Janvier Rollande, Adieu Maman, 2007

Janvier Rollande, Portrait of Sage, 2008

The story behind the top image was an especially sad one.  Her mother was essentially on her deathbed and Janvier had been with her for weeks.  It was such an emotionally draining, difficult experience that she felt she needed some way to process it, and making that drawing of her mother was what she felt she needed to do.  She said she felt almost as if she was doing a sort of illicit thing, doing this drawing of her mother.  Apparently later on, someone wanted to do an article about her and this drawing but their editor wouldn't print the photo in the article, saying it was disturbing.  It is so sad how afraid we are of death in our culture. 

Excerpt from "The Originality of the Avant-Garde" by Rosalind Krauss

This excerpt was a bit over my head at times so in my summary I may be oversimplifying or misconstruing what Krauss was trying to say, but here goes...

Krauss observes the connection between the avant-garde artist and "originality."  Not just originality in the sense of a work being different from past works, but one of the work literally starting from nothing, from a void.  She then moves on to discuss the grid and its overwhelming ties to artists who considered themselves avant-garde.  The grid inherently has a kind of silence to it that echoes the originality-needs of the avant-garde artists.  While many artists made significant use of the grid because they appreciated its originality, they also engaged in a repetition of works that is inherent in the continued use of the repetitive grid.  

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red, 1942

 Krauss later goes on to question the issue of copying and theft in art, citing the work of Sherrie Levine.  Levine took photographs of images already created by Edward Weston.  But the case is easily made that Weston's "original" work was inspired by Greek male torsos that have been copied for centuries.  Hence, there is a long line of copying and "theft" taking place so Levine's work is merely another layer in this cycle. 

"On the Rights of Molotov Man: Appropriation and the art of context" by Joy Garnett and Susan Meiselas 2007

Susan Meiselas, Molotov Man, 1979

This article is told in two parts, one from the point of view of Joy Garnett, the other from Susan Meiselas.  Garnett is a painter and was working on a series of riot-inspired paintings.  She bases most of her paintings on photographs she finds online and, upon finishing the riot series and having it exhibited, was contacted by Meiselas's lawyer who explained that Garnett had used one of Meiselas's photographs without her permission in Garnett's painting "Molotov."  

Joy Garnett, Molotov, 2003

Garnett eventually felt uncomfortable enough that she took the painting down from her website, but she had talked to other artists online about the conflict and they began to reproduce the same image, in different forms, out of solidarity.  Garnett raises some interesting questions concerning copyright and creative plagiarism: "Does the author of a documentary photograph--a document whose mission is, in part, to provide the public with a record of events of social and historical value--have the right to control the content of this document for all time?"  A blogger also asked, "Who owns the rights to this man's struggle?"  

Meiselas responds to Garnett's version of the story in that she wants to give the context behind her photograph.  She is at odds with Garnett's painting de-contextualizing her work and thinks it is important to understand why this man did what he did, who he was, and what was going on in Nicaragua at the time the picture was taken.  Meiselas ultimately believes "it would be a betrayal of him [Molotov Man] if I did not at least protest the diminishment of his act of defiance".       

"The Ecstasy of Influence: A plagiarism" by Jonathan Lethem 2007

This article reads like an opinion piece but is in fact a bunch of quotes strung together with writing from the author.  It is a tongue-in-cheek way of furthering the author's point about plagiarism and the arts.  In our country, we have this curious obsession with originality and an abhorrence towards plagiarism and the stealing of "original," copyrighted ideas.  Lethem's point in this piece is that everyone is influenced by a multitude of other sources, whether it be consciously or unconsciously.  There really is no such thing as an original idea.  He contrasts this point with the somewhat ridiculous extent of our copyright laws--how they can be extended almost eternally just to keep money flowing in to the originator's family or company through royalties.  Disney was one of Lethem's examples in that the company has borrowed stories and characters from many places but now jealously guards their copyrights. 

Disney's Mickey Mouse

 
Lethem views plagiarism in art not necessarily as a bad thing but a recognition of someone else's work.  Many works are famous in the first place because they have been copied and quoted so much.  Art walks a fine line between being both a gift and a commodity.  It is art's gift-form that keeps it from being totally commodified like other objects in our society today.  Lethem also talks a lot about the cultural commons and how it is important for us to realize how crucial this artistic commons is, where people can be influenced by other works and celebrate other works in their own work.  Their ability to do this comes from access to a public cultural commons.         

"Criticizing Art" Chapter 4: pg. 96-120

Jenny Holzer, part of a projection at the ICA in Boston, MA, 2010

The second half of this chapter continues to discuss how to interpret works of art by looking at the work of Jenny Holzer and Elizabeth Murray, and concluding with a list of principles of interpretation.  In looking at Jenny Holzer's work, the author shows that there can be multiple interpretations of an artist's work that do not agree at all.  Some consider Holzer's work to be an important reflection of America (she was chosen as the United States representative for the 44th Venice Biennale--a prestigious international art exhibition).  While others consider her work to have little merit in that they feel there is little to interpret.  Some question whether her work is really art because it is primarily word based.  A lot of her work involves projections (seen in the above right photograph) as well as the creation of signs and clothing with her phrases or essays printed on them.  

Elizabeth Murray is a painter who works mainly through oddly shaped, layered canvases.  Her work is somewhat surrealistic but often has a basis in everyday home life.  Incorporating pieces of furniture, interiors, and objects such as food and dishes, her work is often considered a unique woman's perspective, but not to the point of being feminist.  Murray's work is pretty much universally appreciated and applauded.  In looking at this artist, the author shows how there can be many different positive interpretations of an artist's work.  One particular one he focuses in on is one critic's sexual interpretation of some of Murray's pieces.    

Elizabeth Murray, Open Drawer, 1998

 

Elizabeth Murray, Bowtie, 2000

Here are some of the principles of interpretation discussed at the end of the chapter that I found particularly insightful/helpful:

- Arworks have "aboutness" and demand interpretation

- Interpretations are persuasive arguments

- Some interpretations are better than others

- Good interpretations of art tell more about the artwork than they tell about the critic

- An artwork is not necessarily about what the artist wanted it to be about

- Interpretations are not so much absolutely right, but more or less reasonable, convincing, enlightening and informative

Guest Artist Lecture: Vivian Beer 3/31/11

Vivian Beer, Slither.walk.fly, 2008

Leah (my professor for woodworking) really encouraged us to go to Vivian Beer's talk and I am so glad that I did!  Her stuff is just beautiful, and I can't imagine working with metal the way she does.  She makes it look so fluid and effortless.  

She began her talk by discussing how much her upbringing in rural Maine has influenced her work.  She described herself as being almost a feral child when she was younger, spending most of her time outside in gorgeous landscapes that she now draws inspiration from.  She showed us some samples from a collection of photographs she continuously adds to whenever she wants to record a new place or aspect of a landscape for future work.  

Vivian Beer, Current, 2008

She also discussed how we are all barraged by a multitude of images everyday, a lot of advertising and mass media, and how she is influenced by these as well.  As Leah said when she introduced Vivian, her work treads through and between different disciplines, being both craft and fine art, design, furniture, sculpture.  

Vivian works pretty much exclusively with metal.  She said she loves using sheet metal as a basis for much of her pieces.  She enjoys distorting the form of the sheet into unusual smooth shapes, altering the thickness and character of the sheet.  In finishing her work, she uses a lot of automobile paint which is where she gets many of the bright colors like in Current (at right).  

  

Vivian Beer, Filled with birds and beasts, 2004

I love all the works I have pictured here, but I enjoyed a particular aspect of Cloud Couch (below).  Vivian told us that she made it slightly higher than a normal bench so when someone would sit on it, only their toes would touch the ground, echoing the "cloud" part of its title.  Though this is seemingly simple, it just shows how much thought she puts into every one of her pieces and the particular concepts she tries to communicate with each one.  (Cloud Couch is installed in a park in Portland, ME).

Vivian Beer, Cloud Couch, 2008

"Walking Through Walls: Marina Abramovic's performance art" by Judith Thurman 2010

Marina Abramovic

This article looks at Marina Abramovic's life and the evolution of her performance art.  Soon to have a retrospective at MoMA, Abramovic is training performers to do recreations of some of her past works, and also participating in the exhibit herself, of course, Abramovic has created the idea for a new performance called "The Artist is Present."  In her work, Abramovic was greatly influenced by her upbringing.  Her mother was extremely stoic and expected her daughter to be the same.  Abramovic uses this learned stoicism to her advantage in that she has trained herself to tolerate considerable pain in the name of a performance.  Often seemingly masochistic, many of her performances, at least many of her older ones, were more "ordeal"-focused, similar to the work of many of her contemporaries.  In recent years, she has been criticized by some for reviving past performances.  People then question what makes her art different from a theatrical performance.  Performance art is often characterized by being completely in the moment and open to anything, with the artist having some particular jumping off point, but letting whatever happens happen.  Abramovic believes that it is important for new spectators to view and participate in her works.  She doesn't think that words on a page or a recording are an adequate way for people to look back on and understand her work.     

Ana Mendieta 'Art and Politics' and Marcel Duchamp 'The Richard Mutt Case'

In this speech, Mendieta discusses why she makes art, why she believes art is important, and criticizes the culture of the 1970s/80s.  First, she makes clear that she believes that art is kind of a job.  She can only make the art that she can make--no other kind.  She emphasizes she has no choice in the matter.  Mendieta believes it is important to know oneself, because only then can one begin to know the world.  Turning to culture, she believes art is crucial because it can greatly influence culture and society.  She questions current (1982) U.S. culture, believing that it is mostly controlled by advertising agencies and the wealthy, who create products for mass consumption and through these products, a fake world.  She complains of the effects of mass communication and how it is coming to influence the arts as well.  Many important artists are getting ignored in the wake of this all-encompassing cultural consumerism.

Ana Mendieta, work from Silueta series, 1970s

Duchamp's excerpt is his response to the Society of Independent Artists for refusing his submission of a urinal to their open exhibition in New York, 1917.  He questions why, when he paid the $6 to exhibit, his piece--"Fountain"--was not exhibited.  He then assumes that people considered it "vulgar" and/or that it was just a piece of plumbing, therefore not an artwork.  His response to the first is that a urinal is no more immoral than a bathtub.  As for the second objection, he believes the fact that he chose the piece to exhibit is what matters, not whether he made it with his own hands.  By taking an ordinary object and placing it in a different context, he "created a new thought for that object."  

R. Mutt (Marcel Duchamp), Fountain, 1917

  

"Imitation of Art: John Currin's sleight of hand" by Lance Esplund, 2004

John Currin, Standing Nude, 1993

In this article, Esplund discusses the copying of other painter's work, specifically as this practice is employed by John Currin.  Esplund disagrees with many critics' glowing admiration of Currin, those who cite him as a modern day master.  He believes Currin's art is only similar to the old masters on a superficial level and that Currin just picks and chooses styles of painting or subject matter at random, employing each on a whim.  He borrows from painters but does not create a cohesive, intelligent work through his borrowings.  Often characterized by distorted figures, Esplund believes Currin's pieces are flat and lack depth inherent in better artists' work.  Currin uses solid background colors to isolate the figure, whereas old masters would use black (among other colors) as an agent of depth to create many different sensations, ranging anywhere from enveloping to closing off.  Each black would have a different feel to it and would not just be a solid wall.  Esplund believes that critics love Currin's works because they are like a treasure hunt for references to old artists and paintings.  In his closing paragraph, Esplund is particularly blunt in talking about artists he believes are real modern masters: "The mission of these artists is to paint, not to titillate and entertain; to engage with the poetic, universal language of painting instead of the fashionable chatter of a fickle art world.  And, as such, their works, along with the tradition of painting, will endure" (91).   

Shoot an Iraqi: pg. 128-177

This last portion of the book finds Wafaa in his final week of his installation.  Amidst some paintball supplier and technological difficulties, Wafaa is heartened by a peace lily (2 actually) sent to him by some friends.  The next day, a girl figures out that if she constantly moves the gun to the left, she can shield Wafaa and gets a bunch of other people involved, creating what they term "The Virtual Human Shield."  Though aided by the shield, Wafaa is dispirited by how much weight he has gained and how tired and unhealthy he feels due to the stress he has undergone during the month.  On Day 30, he decides to continue the project one additional day, as a message to the people who didn't think he would do it.  On the last day Wafaa silences the gun and proclaims, "We silenced one gun today and I hope we will silence all guns in the future" (162).  

Wafaa Bilal during his project Domestic Tension

Wafaa's alternate narrative about his past details his time in the Saudi refugee camp, the abusive treatment by the guards, and the ensuing uprising of the refugees. Finally, some people in the camp were selected to possibly be taken to the U.S.  Wafaa's name was among those on the list and so he was interviewed.  Both him and his brother were allowed to come to the U.S. and were sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Wafaa began to learn English and eventually enrolled at the University of New Mexico, studying art.  He continued to pursue political art and began to take his work down a more interactive vein, a crucial aspect to his art today.   

Shoot an Iraqi: pg. 45-127

Wafaa Bilal during his art installation, Domestic Tension

This section of the book begins with Wafaa's server for his project's website being overloaded by the amount of traffic, but the problem is soon solved thanks to his new programmer friend Jason.  A couple days later, Wafaa got an unexpected visit from a Marine who brought him a new lamp (because people had shot his old one) and wanted to tell Wafaa that his project really meant a lot to him.  Wafaa was moved by such a simple, honest gesture.   He also discussed how people visiting the website soon discovered that they could turn the paintball gun into a machine gun, shooting paintballs in quick succession.  As the days passed, the project continued to become more and more widely known, with some people posting really explicit and awful things.  Wafaa was able to have some intelligent conversations with people about his work but a lot of them either didn't care or just wanted someone to talk to.  He continued to develop more post-traumatic stress symptoms and often found it difficult to sleep, in addition to being paranoid and exhausted. 

In the sections discussing Wafaa's past, he talked about the major exams he had to take in order to get into college.  He was excited to get away from home and study art, but unfortunately he was not admitted into the art program because of a cousin who had run afoul of the government.  In college, Saddam tried to keep students from organizing and spreading dissent.  He would send them to military camps during the summer and banned dormitory housing for students the year that Wafaa began school.  Classes and professors were heavily pressured by the Ba'ath Party to teach their philosophy.  Wafaa later left school, convinced that he was being closely watched by Ba'ath Party members and student spies because of his refusal to keep his head down.  He eventually traveled to a refugee camp just over the border in Kuwait and lived there for a time before being transported with the other refugees to Saudi Arabia by American soldiers.        

Shoot an Iraqi: pg. 1-44

 
I have actually finished this book already so I think I'm a little ahead of schedule but I got so into it that I had to continue!  Plus I was on a long plane ride over break so that also factored into my decision.  :)  

The first part of the book introduces Wafaa Bilal and his art project, Domestic Tension.  He decided to live in a room of an art gallery for one month, with a paintball gun aimed at him, that people could fire through a website.  His installation was meant to bring attention to the war in Iraq and to make people think about what it means for soldiers and members of the U.S. military to be able drop bombs on other countries while sitting safely here in the U.S., often not really seeing their target.  He also had more personal motivations for the project, in that his brother and father had recently died back home in Iraq and he wanted to channel his sadness about their deaths and his self-consciousness about living comfortably in the U.S. into a thought-provoking, somewhat controversial installation piece.  

The book continues in an alternating sort of way, switching between narratives about his experiences during the month-long installation and narratives telling bits and pieces of his experience growing up in Iraq.  His family life was characterized by almost constant tension exuded by his father, a man depressed and frustrated with his lot in life.  Wafaa's parents separated several times and so life at home was somewhat unpredictable.  Interspersed with this dialogue, he also talks about the beginnings of his project and people that he met to help him construct the gun, program and website.  The first day that Domestic Tension opened, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward as people did not really know how to respond and Wafaa felt somewhat separate from the people in the gallery but still tried to interact with them.  The beginnings of his project were a little unremarkable otherwise.  The gun would not go off that frequently and so living in the gallery room was pretty bearable.           

ArtBreak with James Mullen 3/9/11

James Mullen did a nice job on his talk today.  I liked how he talked a little about the impact that UNH and the faculty here had on his artwork (I feel like most of the other art talks I have been to about the current Museum of Art exhibit haven't more than mentioned the subject).  He mentioned Craig Hood and Scott Schnepf, as well as a couple other professors before my time.  I was really impressed with the variety of media that he has explored in his years as an artist--how he began as an undergrad in printmaking and sculpture, later on got into painting, and more recently into photography.  That is something that I want to do.  Even right now, when I'm doing crafts and other things, I'll get really inspired by a certain material or technique and then do that for a while until I get tired of it and pick up something else.  

I quite enjoyed his landscape work.  I could really see his respect for and appreciation of landscapes and the environment.  Although some of compositions of his earlier paintings seemed a bit awkward, I liked how he incorporated both landscape and still life in order to look at man's relationship with nature--both how we view it and interact with it.  In the below painting, Nature, he really played with many different images of the landscape. 

James Mullen, Nature, 1998

His panoramic work was quite lovely, though for some reason I was a little disappointed when he told us that he projected photographs on his canvas, then traced the forms with charcoal, then painted the landscape.  I guess I just have it instilled in me from school that copying from photographs is somehow cheating.  

James Mullen, 17th Hole Spring Island, 2011

I liked the above piece a lot because he plays with the idea of man-made nature/landscape juxtaposed with natural landscape.  The little pond on the left is a man-made water feature for a golf course, the 17th hole of which is in the middle of the painting, while just off the golf course on the right is this great big salt marsh.  

James also talked a lot about his recent interest in photography, and how it really started when he purchased a digital camera and started taking photographs of everyday things whenever he saw something that interested him--this resulting in a lot of photographs of normal, recognizable objects, but from a unique perspective.  A lot of these also played with light and shadow.  I loved all the different oranges in the below photograph and the beautiful textures created by the netting and the shadows.

James Mullen, Chelsea Construction, 2004

 

"The Artist Interrogated: Interviews and Other Inquisitions"

This reading is an excerpt of some interviews and conversations with artists about their work and art in general.  The artists included are Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Balthus, Jackson Pollock, and Veronese (mostly modern artists, though not all).  Here are some short summaries of a few of the interviews:  Damien Hirst's involves questioning from the trial of Mark Bridger, an artist who defaced Hirst's work of a lamb in formaldehyde by pouring black ink into it.  Apparently Bridger thought that Hirst would appreciate the unconventional quality of the stunt, but Hirst did not seem to be very pleased.  He said that he thought about leaving the work, but then decided that would make it seem ok for people to come in and do whatever they wanted to works of art.  

Damien Hirst, Away from the Flock, 1994

Andy Warhol converses with a girl Damian about artists, taking risks, and "new" art.  Warhol sees Damian as naive and possessing a hopelessly romantic vision of artists as risk-takers who must make something people may consider bad initially in order to be successful.  Jasper Johns comes across as not being very thoughtful and premeditated about the decision-making in his works, at least until the end of the interview.  Balthus observes to David Bowie that subjects to him often have little or no importance, they are just an excuse to make a painting and to reach an inner feeling or truth.  

Field Trip to ICA 3/3/11

I was so glad to be able to go to the Institute of Contemporary Art because I had been wanting to go for a while.  I did like the building quite a bit, although I was somewhat disappointed in that only one of the floors was being used for exhibit space.  It just seemed like quite a large building to have only one floor of exhibits.  I think my two favorite aspects of the building were the huge glass elevator and the wonderful long glass window at the back of the fourth floor, looking out onto the water.  It was too bad that it was so dark out at that point because it was a little hard to see the view.  

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA

As for the exhibits, I enjoyed some of Mark Bradford's work.  I liked that he used found materials and that his pieces were often brightly colored and map-like.  Some of them had a wonderful fuzzy depth to them created by the repetition and overlapping of the small rectangular pieces of paper/posterboard/fabric/etc that he used.  The other exhibit was amusing at times--I thought often very stereotypically "contemporary art."  My favorite pieces were the enormous receipt blankets.  I also liked the can on the conveyor belt.  

drawing from "The Lost Thing"

Seeing the animated shorts was so fun!  I loved all of them so much...they were so creative and such wonderful stories.  Madagascar had absolutely gorgeous animation--I loved how all different types of media were included in it.  Let's Pollute was clever and really sad at the same time.  It was very effective at using humor to bring home how much we waste as a society.  I had seen The Gruffalo before and enjoyed seeing it again.  I think one of my favorites was The Lost Thing.  I was just really drawn to the quirky animation and the somewhat distopian world that the animators created. 


Overall I had a lovely time and am so glad we went!