Week of April 25

Wednesday, April 27

Jill Magid is an American artist that was once involved with the Dutch Secret Service. In 2008, she created the work "I Will Burn Your Face" which was a wall mounted piece with 7mm neon transformers and wires. It was altered permanently in 2009 to reflect confiscations by the Dutch Secret Service. "To Burn a Face" is a phrase used to expose a source's identity. Jill Magid wrote down descriptions of agents she interviewed and then used these descriptions to "burn" them. The neon words are from her notebook in her handwriting.

Week of April 18

Monday, April 18




Banksy is a British street artist that juxtapositions images to create his works. The place where the image is located connects to what he is trying to say. However, a lot of his works are anarchy signs. Banksy does not like copyright laws as he does not believe that people should "own" their images. Banksy is an anonymous artist. He displays his art on public surfaces such as walls and even goes as far as building physical prop pieces. He does not sell photos of his art directly himself, however art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location. The image above is located in West Los Angeles, California.

Week of April 11

Monday, April 11

Today we watched the video "A Darwinian Theory of Beauty" by Dennis Button. In this video it is shown that beauty goes beyond the standard idea that it is in the eye of the beholder. Dennis Button believes that how we experience beauty is based upon our evolved human psychology. We adapt to beauty and use this in the creation and enjoyment of art and entertainment. Beauty travels across cultures which underlies the foundation of what every person believes is beautiful. We do agree somewhat with Dennis Button's belief as many of our instincts and feelings toward certain objects is learned. However, every person differs in what they feel is beautiful even if they follow the same cultural characteristics as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Wednesday, April 13

Jeremy Deller is best known for his "Battle of Orgreave". This piece was a reenactment of the actual Battle of Orgreave that took place in 1984 in the UK. This reenactment took place in 2001. Deller collaborated with members of historical societies and with local people from mining communities in South Yorkshire. Jeremy was drawn to reenactment because it was seen as a type of folk art. Folk art is specific to a particular culture and it is hard to describe it as a whole.

Week of April 4

Monday, April 4



Above is the watercolor by William Powhida entitled "Why You Should Buy Art!". This work takes art to the masses than just the limited pool of collectors who have the ability to buy unique and expensive art objects. This piece is interesting as it is not what people would automatically consider to be art.

We have been discussing collections in class. As a child Christina collected Pogs. I got them from a variety of sources including birthday parties, game rooms and trading them with friends. As a child Katie collected Beanie Babies. Katie received them as presents and when new beanie babies would come out she would purchase them. Although we didn't know it at the time, our collections told us about what we were the most interested in. Collections come in all shapes and sizes and can be defined by collecting many different objects not just art.

Wednesday, April 6

In 1992, Fred Wilson did an installation piece at the Maryland Historical Society. Fred works with various collections to put together exhibits that will mean something else. At the Maryland Historical Society the collection was to highlight the Native and African Americans in Maryland. His unique artist approach is to examine, question and redefine the traditional display of art and artifacts in museums. This leads viewers to recognize that changes in context create changes in meaning. The way Wilson places objects, forces the viewer to question cultural institutions and how they convey historical truth and artistic value.

Week of March 28

Monday, March 28



Above is an image of Doris Salcedo's work called "Shibboleth". This is the first piece of work to ever directly be done in a turbine hall. The walls of the crevice are lined with a steel mesh fence. Salcedo's work focuses the viewers eyes directly to the floor making it the principal focus of this work. "Shibboleth" stirs questions regarding sculpture, space, architecture, and the shaky foundations of which modern objects are built. "Shibboleth" is used to exclude those who do not belong to a particular group. It deems them unsuitable. This work was entitled "Shibboleth" because Salcedo is addressing racism and colonialism. This work enables the viewer to question the truths that we already know by living in the modern world.

Friday, April 1

Today we visited the University Art Museum at the University of Albany. The exhibit that was taking place was Eunjung Hwang - Three Thousand Revisits and Ati Maier - Event Horizon.

Above is a photo of  the work "Sharpie" by Eunjung Hwang. We found this inflated sculpture to be particularly interesting as it is out of the norm. It has a cartoon design to it which we found is unique to Eunjung Hwang's style. This piece of her work derives from a family of quasi-figurative characters from her personal dreams.

Above is another piece of artwork from Eunjung Hwang. This piece is in a series of works of various animations. The animations follow a story line in favor of something that is instinctive. The images derive from an oddly twisted world in which certain behaviors lead to violence. Hwang's characters lead us through a world in which the foolishness of humans actions are played out. Hwang has a fascination about supernatural things (ghosts, superstitious beliefs) and sometimes encounters dreams that show the hidden truth about the human condition. Hwang also gets ideas from comic books. At the exhibit there were also works of Eunjung Hwang's animations in video projections.

Above are two photos taken of works by Ati Maier's - Event Horizon. Ati Maier uses a dizzying variety of colors, lines, warped spaces and swirling movements that attract the viewer to its complexity. She depicts landscapes that use conventions of traditional painting while keeping a connection to historical art and sources of science. Maier has used her works to develop 3D animations which you can see in the second photo. She produces the sensation of actually moving through her paintings.

Week of March 21

Wednesday, March 23

Today we began to watch the video "The Mona Lisa Curse" narrated by Robert Hughes. This video explained that the art world is different from the 1960s as the "Mona Lisa" created new expectations about art. This artwork became a piece of art to an icon of mass consumption. People came to see the "Mona Lisa" at the Met in the 1960s not to enjoy the painting itself but to just simply say that they saw it. It deeply changed the way that art was seen. In 1963, the painting was quickly scanned and then disregarded showing limited viewer interest. This video shows how money and wealth has become a curse in the way art is made, controlled, and experienced. Hughes focuses on New York in this video but speaks to art everywhere.

Week of March 14

Over break we were assigned a reading by Arthur Danto entitled "After the end of Art". This work presents Danto's reformulation of his original insight that art ended in the sixties. With abstract expressionism art has turned from what it was established to be in the Renaissance. Arthur engages the reader in several conversations that discuss the relevant philosophical issues of art. His reading covered art history, pop art, "people's art" the the role of museums. He states that it wasn't the invention of pop art and modernist art that ended the traditional ways of what art seemed to be. Danto challenges readers to think about the role that contemporary art plays and what direction it may be taking in the future. This article was interesting as it allowed us to challenge Danto's propsed thesis and formulate our own thoughts about how we felt about this topic.

Week of March 7

Wednesday, March 9

Today we discussed the work "Sunflower Seeds" by Ai WeiWei. This work was made of millions of sunflower husks in a turbine hall that seemed identical but were each unique in their own ways. Each seed was handcrafted and made out of porcelin. This gave the locals of the Chinese city, Jingdezhen, opportunity for employment as jobs were hard to come by. These workers individually sculpted and painted these porcelin seeds. "Sunflower Seeds" allows people to express powerful commentary on the human condition and the geo-politics of of cultural and economic change that takes place in our world today. In the turbine hall, people can no longer walk across the vast amount of sunflower seeds because of the air quality. The interaction between visitors and the porcelin creates a dust that can be damaging to your health if inhaled for a long amount of time. This work allows people to understand their individual (unique) role in society among the masses.

Week of February 28

Monday, February 28

On October 9, 1999 New York Time Magazine published an article about the importance of Matthew Barney, a performance artist. Barney came onto the scene in 1991 after making the cover of Artforum before his exhibition at Gladstone. His first solo show to be viewed at Gladstone was a videotape called "Blind Perineum." Barney instantly became successful and since then his work has only got better and stranger. His early works consisted of elaborate sexual and biological allusions and references to sports and fashion. His work was gender-bending and body-oriented; however it was also meant to be funny and silly. It was also meant to have its own strange glamour. He produces films and videos, most of which he performs in. Barney and his crew also make all the sculptures and objects for the films. The sculptures, photographs, books, and films are all expressions in different forms of the same ideas. Barney's works of art are a mix of autobiography, history, and private symbolism. He carries out death-defying acts and wears elaborate makeup. One of his most famous works was "Cremaster", a sequence of five films that took several years to complete. The films were wordless and shown on video monitors, along with his sculptures. They were slow-moving and weidly hypnotic taken place in desolate settings. The films became visually more deluxe as the series went on. Barney is now considered to be the most important American artist of his generation due to his big imagination.


Wednesday, March 2

The Installation art movement came into prominence in the 1970's. It describes an artistic genre of three dimensional works that are created to transform a viewers perception of space. It also changes the notion of what the artist does with the space. Space is utilized as energy and allows the viewer to look at many things instead of just one. Many installation art pieces have been created in museums and galleries as well as public places. These pieces incorporate many everyday and natural materials and are site specific (only designed for the space in which they were created in). An example of installation art is "Pharmacy" by Damien Hirst. "Pharmacy" is a room sized installation piece. It represents a real pharmacy setting with cabinets that contain bottles and prescription drugs. On the counter of the pharmacy there are four bottles that represent the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Damien Hirst's intent was for each of his works to have meaning and contemplation.

 

Week of February 21

Monday, February 21

Movements in various types of visual art and design when stripped down to its original features is called minimalism. Minimalism existed in the late 1960s early 1970s with visual art. Many minimalist artists were sculptors who strived to reduce certain forms to their original simplicity. These artists felt that a work of art should not refer to anything but itself. They attempted to create their works of art without any extra visual effects. Flat surface colors, factory finishes and industrial materials were some of the tools used. Repetition also was entwined in artists work. Minimalism led to the future of process art, land art, performance art, conceptual art and installation art. Some of minimalism's most prominent artists were Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Richard Serra, Donald Judd and Dan Flavin. Minimalism was an attempt to explore art through its elements.

Wednesday, February 23

Performance art began in the United States in the 1960s. Performance art was originally described as any large artistic event that included the actions of a person or a group of people. Their unconventional actions appealed to a large and public audience. Performance art contains four specific elements that include time, space, performance body, and a relationship between the performers and the viewers. An example of a performance artist is Matthew Barney. Barney's earliest works involved sculptural pieces with performance and video. Below is a picture of  one of the images in Matthew Barney's "Guardian of the Veil" which consisted of an exploration ritual of Egyptian symbolism. The "Guardian of the Veil" explores eternal life as the protagonist dies in a fire and begins his journey into seven different stages of death. Matthew Barney is a very successful and imaginative artist with many achievements.

Week of February 14

Monday, February 14



Above is the "Rabbit" done by Jeff Koons. Jeff Koons is a contemporary artist known for his sculptures of balloon animals. In 1986, "Rabbit" was created and eminates a soft inflatable bunny cast in stainless steel. The sculpture's polished surface allows the viewer to see their reflection regardless of the angle in which it is viewed. This work is glamorous and erotic despite its kitsch origins. Jeff started his rise when he changed contemporary and popular american art into controversial high art. In the case of "abstract art" Jeff Koon's painting were appreciated compared to other artists. His works feature simple imagery that is transformed into sculptures using fine materials.

Wednesday, February 16



Andy Warhol was a key artist in the "pop art" movement that emerged in America and other places in the 1950's. He connected the idea of television/film (media) influence into his paintings. Above are several photos of Marilyn Monroe with various colors and tints. These different forms and prints create and convey different sensations and moods. Warhol experimented with silkscreen printing, a popular technique that was readily used. Warhol moved away from the typical traditions. Many people did not welcome this new technique.

Week of February 7

Monday, February 7



This picture is entitled "A Few Small Nips" by Frida Kahlo. Inspired by a newspaper report about an unfaithful woman murdered by jealously, Frida created this work. A drunken man threw his girlfriend on a cot and stabbed her 20 times. However, he claimed that he only gave her "a few small  nips". Frida's sorrow and anger is eminated in this painting after she found out her husband was cheating on her with her sister. The viewer can feel the physical and emotional pain that Frida experienced. This picture is graphic and grotesque making the viewer want to know more about the story behind the painting. To many viewers, this piece of art may not seem beautiful but art does not have to have certain conditions for it to be beautiful. Beauty is personal.

Wednesday, February 9



The above piece of art was created by John  Baldessari. He made many works of art by placing colored shapes over the faces of authority in black and white images. Art gave him an understanding of what the universe was all about. Art is more than simply painting. Artists have control when creating the piece of art and the viewer has control in how they view the painting. This painting is interesting as the colors stand out against the black and white background. Many other artists do not approach creating their pieces in this way which makes this piece of art unique. This forces the viewer to contemplate what John Baldessari is communicating. We feel that the men with the red and green colorblocked faces are attempting to either save or help the man with the yellow colorblocked face.

Week of January 31st

Monday, January 31


The above photo is of a neon light installation done by Emilio Perez. We thought the neon light artwork we saw in class was extremely interesting so we decided to look into it further. This piece takes into account the greatness of a spectacle but quickly contradicts it. It makes the "spectacular" comment loud and clear but says silently that it is "empty" too. If a piece of artwork moves you to attentiveness and catches your eye then it is art. It is not art if it does not move you to attentiveness.

Wednesday, February 3

After reading "Enter the Dragon: On the Vernacular of Beauty" by Dave Hickey we decided to comment on the following quotations: 

"Beauty is not a thing. The Beautiful is a thing. In images, beauty is the agency that causes visual pleasure in the beholder..."

We agree with the above statement. Beauty is what attracts the viewer to the painting. Beauty is in the eye of the  beholder, therefore, some people may view beauty differently than others whether it be a violent, graphic painting or a soft and calming one. However, if a painting does not visually attract the viewer it does  not necessarily mean that it isnt't beautiful.

"The task of beauty is to enfranchise the audience and acknowledge its power-to designate a territory of shared values between the image and its beholder and then, in this territory to advance an argument by valorizing the picture's problematic content."

Beauty should liberate the audience and allow the viewers of the painting to realize the power it can have. The artist of the painting exhibits their values in the painting and the beholder sees these values as beauty. Therefore, the artist and the viewer share the same values as the beholder is attracted to the beauty of the painting.

Week of January 24

Monday, January 24

What We Think Art Is:

Christina:

Art is the creation of a design that uses an artist’s skill and imagination. Art represents an artist’s thoughts and outlooks on a particular subject or vision while forming a connection with its viewer. The viewer is then able to interpret the work and form their own opinions. Art does not always have to be a painting but can be a sculpture, a photo, a piece of pottery or a piece of fiber art. Art does not have to be publically viewed at a museum or gallery, have monetary value, be expensive or reviewed by a critic. It can be any unique or original design that has value to the artist and allows the viewer to think about the artist’s intentions of creating the piece of art. Anyone can create art. It does not have to be created by a recognized artist but should be unique and original. Art does not always need to be difficult or confusing to understand. Art can evoke emotion in the viewer and could potentially influence a viewer in how they see the world. Art stimulates different parts of our brain and gives people a way to be creative and express themselves. Art is a very big part of our lives that many people may not realize.

Katie:

Must be important to the artist

Can be anything

Must be inspired by something

Must have a hidden meaning that only the artist knows

Must send a message to the viewers

Must make the viewers think

Must represent the artist’s mood

Must be different from all other works of art

Must be created by a person themselves

Can be a picture, painting, or sculpture

Can be viewed in a museum or someone’s home

Can have different meanings to different people

Can look like one thing to one person and another thing to another person

Is beautiful

Is ugly

Must be unusual

Must be one of a kind

Must be creative

Must be imaginative

Must bring a certain emotion to the artist and viewer

Must be fun to look at

Must challenge the viewer

Can be strange

Must reflect the artist’s talents

Must represent the time period in which it is created

Does not have to be created by a famous artist

Anyone can create a work of art

Can be confusing at times

Must be worth something

Must communicate to the viewer

Should not bring the viewer down

Should inspire people

Must be appealing

Must grab the attention of its viewers

Wednesday, January 26


Above is the painting "Lavendar Mist" by Jackson Pollock. Many people would not consider this art because it looks like Pollock simply splattered paint on a canvas. However, we believe this is art. Jackson Pollock is in control of the paint, therefore there were no accidents in this creation. The lavendar color scheme catches the viewers eye as the viewer cannot focus on one specific area of the painting. Rather, the viewer's eye is eager to constantly move across the painting.