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.