week 10

I thought Donald Morgan was a very interesting guest speaker. He is called a painter, which his paintings happen to be extremely beautiful in my opinion, but I find it interesting that he doest not classify as anything else. A lot of his work that he showed such as the christmas poop log, I believe thats what it was called, does not classify as painting to me. I think that it is incredibly cool that he does both of these things, I just also find it extremely interesting he doesnt also identify as something else along side painting. Some of the paintings he did I thought were really cool, the ones where they were like the same painting but mirrors of each other almost were one of the ones I happened to enjoyable due to the fact that it was geometric in a sense with the shapes that were a part of the picture and it was very sharp. There were many strong points throughout the painting. I find a lot of humor in the work that he creates and I think that is important part of art that might be forgotten sometimes. I thin that it helps people who view the art feel better and be able to relax and just get a nice laugh out of some things. His work with the robots were extremely funny. I like it because with some things you can actually sense the laughs that actually happened while creating work, this is one of those pieces. The robot that was the “high” robot I think was one of the funniest, because as he explained when trying to think of how to make a robot appear high seemed difficult and then it is as if the final depiction of high was such an easy way to going about creating that specific work. The simplicity in it makes me laugh because not only does it make sense, but i myself would try and thing of a thousand different possibilities and then this being the outcome makes you think, well that was easier then I made it. Morgan was a fun last guest speaker to experience.

I thought that this reading was interesting, and I feel like I found a connection between the reading and Morgan in a different way than I usually would. But, as I was reading this all I felt was that Leo Castelli truly enjoys his artwork and as I was reading it was as if i was listening to Morgan talk. He was so into what art he had created or was creating and I get that exact vibe from reading Castelli’s words. He talks about how he likes being a celebrity of the art world. I think that he sounds a lot different than most of the other artist’s that have been read about throughout this term, he has a more positive tone than a lot of the other artist’s did.

One of the pieces that I enjoyed of Morgan’s because it is so different and a little strange in a way.

week 8

I really enjoyed hearing from Tannaz because not only was her work extremely interesting but she is also the first person who we have heard from that showed their ethnicity in their work. She was proud to show aspects of where she is from in her artwork and I find that is something that is very strong. I feel this way because she is putting herself out there for a chance to be getting more negative feed back and maybe even attacks against her personally. I think it makes her work more interesting and unique, I also like the fact that she puts herself into her artwork in general. There was the piece of artwork where she reenacted the man who sewed his eyes and mouth shut, it is cool to me that she looks at something like this and makes it part of her work. I also respect the fact that she looks at something so intense like that photo and as she said would keep it put up where she sees it regularly until it no longer has meaning to her anymore. This, along with other ideas that she shared was all very different and it was interesting hearing about them, I liked her opinion of what a self-portrait is. She was saying that a self-portrait is changing the understanding of how you exist by becoming objective. It is like a way to self examine. A couple of the works that I really enjoyed were seeing was her work of Go On and Save Me along with her work I Forgot. Both of these are filled with multiple ways of effecting the way someone ma feel after viewing them. When she explained the I Forgot piece when I saw it, I thought, I forgot to talk to the leasing office again because my mom is always telling me to, but when she mentioned about the holocaust my thoughts of I Forgot completely changed. I think that I was able to understand these works more than her others that were more science fiction looking and futuristic.

Reading the conversation between Barbara and Suzi Gablik was very interesting to me because I can relate to what Barbara feels art is. She is art everywhere and in everything pretty much, that is how I think of art. I like that she says that art should not be based on strictly beauty, also that art has never left the everyday world. I can find a connection to Tannaz’s art in this because I feel that her art is connected to the everyday world. Her art has to do with what is going on in the world like her work about the Persian flag, or even what has to do with the body and reactions felt from her installations. I think that her work has a lot to do with giving value meaning as well. Tannaz even said herself that most of her work is really about how to inform meaning and how to take pedestrian objects and fill them with meaning. I think this goes along well with what Barbara has to say about art.

 

I really enjoyed this work, I also like her use of florescent lights in a lot of her work.

week 7

I enjoyed hearing from and her works of art very much.  I think its funny that she has to tell people that she is an artists instead of a photographer because I would never consider myself a photographer even though I take pictures with my friends all the time. When I think of someone saying they are a photographer I think of the kinds of things that she creates. I really like that she likes to experiment with so many other things. I really enjoyed her photos that were done on the fabric, it was so unique and different from anything I have seen before. Her focus on the human connection with nature captured in pictures was incredibly beautiful. I think it’s awesome that she slept under the stars for over 100 days to observe the different characteristics of nature. This along with the field studies and public installations I have a great appreciation for.  Another series of work I really enjoyed getting to see was the vanishing points works. I really the idea that locations are always changing, nothing is ever the same, it is only a certain way at that certain point in time and after that it will look different from before.  I like to notice the changes in places I go too, I always note changes to myself whether they be positive or negative, and so it is cool to see someone photograph the changes they see. I honestly really enjoyed all her different works she showed, the way she plays with layering materials and relationship of surface and image makes her photos truly beautiful.

I like what Richard  Shusterman has to say about art and the idea of art. He says that art cannot be denied as ephemeral, meaning that art comes and goes. He says that lots of things can be meaningful and beautiful; I like his idea of art in this way.  I think that this kind of goes along with my idea of art, pretty much that it can almost be anything and that it should not be thought of in one way. The fact that he says that it comes and goes and changes makes me think of vanishing points. All of Terri’s photos that had to do with her series vanishing points were beautiful, like she said they were all slightly different, but they changed and still kept their beauty and meaning.

In the Conversations before the end of time story with Carol Becker they talk about the fact that artists are trained to “remain autonomous” and that they are taught to keep themselves in the studio. I think that the fact that Terri always puts herself out into the nature of the world is another way that she experiments. She is not doing what everyone else has taught, or thought of as the norm, she goes out and gets the experience she wants and interacts with nature on her own personal level. I think this is one of the reasons her works are so beautiful to me, don’t get me wrong I think that those who stay in the studio also create beautiful works, but there is something different about her photos, you get the feeling of how real it is. I really enjoy it.

A photo of Terri’s that I enjoy.

week 6

I was so excited to hear that we were going to be reading about the Guerrilla Girls. Ever since taking art history and being able to look at some of their works I was extremely interested in them. I love their artwork and have a great appreciation for it. What they do is amazing, fighting for women rights and educating people of the lack of women represented in the art world through their own works of art. It is clear that there are a lot of people who are interested in what they do since they travel all over the place creating awareness. I really like how they wear Gorilla masks and then have the female body. Like they said they are showing that women are angry, it is very creative and witty. I like the fact also that they spell it like Guerrilla, I never knew that it was because of the freedom fighters; there are so many little details that make what they do so much more powerful. I also like the humor that is used, they explain how they took the word feminism and made it sexy and funny when the word was becoming a dirty word at the time of the development of the Guerilla Girls.  They took something that was looked at negatively and made it a positive. Through these positive and powerful moves they are helping women get recognized more and more, being a woman myself I think that it is extremely important and daring to make moves such as they do. They put themselves out there and take a chance for all other women, even if a lot of women are not artists who view their work they are still doing it for those women as well.

I understand Mary Jane Jacob as someone who does not like what a museum does to art that is created. I think that she is very much more interested in the experience and what the actual meaning of the art is, she is not interested in how much someone would pay for it and such. She says that she is interested in the juncture between art and life. Her saying this made me think of the fact that the Guerrilla Girls are making a connection with art and life. I think also that they are connected in a way because to me I feel that the Guerrilla Girls are not trying to be trapped up in a museum with their art, like MJJ. She is also interested in ethnic diversity in art, which I appreciate, I believe that there is importance in variety and getting different perspectives of what other cultures may have. Mary Jane Jacob also talks about challenging what is art, stepping out of what the “professional sphere” is. Both the Guerrilla girls and MJJ experience this, I actually feel as though a lot of time I enjoy viewing this art more. With the Guerrilla Girls its because one its about feminism, and two because they have there own way of doing what they do. I think that that is important in art, actually doing what you want to do and not just what others expect you to, or like you to do.

 

The first piece of Guerrilla Girls artwork that I ever saw, and one of my favorites.

week five

Ron Graff was a very interesting person to hear from, especially because he is the first painter to hear from, his experience in art was very much different than the people who have come and spoke before. I thought that his paintings were incredibly beautiful, even the ones he said didn’t work, or there was something wrong with it, I only saw it as an amazing piece of artwork. I have actually never heard anyone talk about there technique of painting before and it is amazing how he would paint something and then make it into a completely different painting later on. The technique of painting the sheet completely one color and then playing with the color that he first put on the canvas changing into something else and actually creating a picture is incredible. The fact that he depicted a morning setting so well is very talented to me, because i feel that that would be so hard to accomplish without it looking like it was day turning into night. I also think it is really interesting the way he would build a studio within a studio and block himself in there to find himself in his art again. I also think that it is interesting that it doesn’t seem like he really has an opinion on what he does is art or not, it seems like he does it just because what he feels he shows on canvas and that’s it.

In the reading Searching for The Essence of Art I thought it was very interesting that  there were so many people who said such harsh things about the museum. Although I cannot exactly find a connection with this article and Ron’s work, I found a connection of the reaction of his friend. The way he said his friend reacted to his abstract work reminded me heavily of the way the journalist from the New York Times and others reacted to the work talked about at the beginning of this article. Both having such strong opinions, the only thing different is the way in which the artists of the works reacted. Ron’s friend effected him so much that he actually burnt his abstract paintings and such and started over. I like what one critic wrote when saying that it is okay if you may not the like art show but the hatred that they express should be questioned. I completely agree with this, just like I think that Ron’s friend was extremely harsh when finding out that he had done abstract work. Like I have stated before, I strongly believe that what an artist chooses to create should not be judged that harshly.

Just as the article before I could not really find the connection between the reading and the artwork of Ron. I did however find the article very interesting though, as well as upsetting. I can’t believe that people actually treated the artist’s the way they did, trying to burn them with cigarette buds and making gorilla noises at them is ridiculous. I can’t even imagine how that must have felt to experience. Although I couldn’t see a connection I did however get reminded of how Ron’s friend reacted again though, these extreme reactions are similar in my eyes. Although I believe that the reactions towards the two artists in the cage is severely worse, they are slightly similar in the way that peoples reactions sometimes are just too severe towards others.

 

week two

I think that both Colin Ives and Natalie Jeremijenko’s works are ones that not only help the environment but help people learn about the environment as well. They are bringing awareness to the community along with a different appreciation for art.  With Colin’s work I think that it is very creative the way that he chooses to exhibit his work on the kit foxes. Not only are you able to watch and learn about how the kit foxes are in their own environment, but also you are able to experience how they react to people. The way he makes it so that they will only appear when the observer are still is extremely creative.  I find it interesting, it is art that draws you in and teaches you about animals that we may have no idea about. I would never think that these foxes thrive in this kind of community, but knowing that they are there can help people be aware of what not to do so that they can continue to survive.

Both these artist’s can relate to the story of the couple moving out into the middle of nowhere and cutting off contact with people. There method was a little more extreme than Colin’s and Natalie’s but all three of them were raising awareness about the environment in their own ways. Instead of discarding of all their possessions Colin and Natalie put their works in the public eye, through putting their work in museums and on Youtube to raise awareness. I believe that disappearing into the wild doesn’t have the same effect as does Colin and Natalie’s works of art, but they all are something that the artist felt they had to do. Even though some people do not understand the reasoning of the couple escaping into the wild, I think that there should be a sort of respect for what they did. It has to be extremely hard to give up all their possessions and disappear; I know that I couldn’t do it to make a statement.

Thinking of all these works that these artists create makes me think of how important their style of artwork is. I think that it is important for people to be able to learn about our surroundings through art. I think it is important because art has a way of making people make revelations through the help of the artwork, but these revelations are things they come about that they might not have ever gave thought to before.  Experiencing the art can help others make a change and make some people aware in their own way. At this point in time works of art that Colin and others take part in are even more important due to the fact that our earth is suffering so badly. It makes the work even more important than ever I believe, I think it is weird that some people don’t believe when artists are raising awareness through there work its not actually art and its more a political statement. Hearing people say those kinds of thinks makes me think that it is unbelievable because I truly believe that there are millions of different forms or artwork and when people are taking the time to express themselves it shouldn’t matter if it seems political or different, it is still art.

 

week one

I really enjoy Ty’s work. There is a lot of creativity to it and it gives me the impression that she does what she feels like and does not try to follow anyone else’s rules. A lot of the works seem to have a sense of irony to them. The ebola-cola made me laugh a little, it made me think of companies that try and market a product like it is completely healthy and fine, when really it is not the best thing to be putting in your body. I enjoyed the rubric cube as well; it reminded me of something Andy Warhol would create with his pop art. I do not know if that was the intention, but I happen to really enjoy his artwork and so I immediately was drawn to it when I saw it. The other work of art that I really enjoyed was the one where the writing is all over the walls, I have complete respect for the time that it must have taken to cover the entire room. I think that it is amazing how interesting a white walled room can become something like this just with black writing.

Reading the first couple of paragraphs of the introduction I was extremely surprised to read that people were so questioning about the change in art that the author made. I find it senseless when people think that they have the right to comment on what people choose to do with their artwork. Artwork is something that I feel is an expression of ones self and if they choose to create something people disagree with then yes, criticize the artwork, but I do not feel they have the right to criticize the artists decision in the kind of style they choose. If someone chooses to change the type of artwork they create it should be completely there choice, I understand the fact that people may be taken back by the fact that all of a sudden it is taking a change, but I do not think it is right for them to question them so much.

I find a connection in Ty’s work and the reading because the author writes that the art today is focusing on social problems but does not focus on “self expression”. I do not think that Ty’s work entirely relates to this statement but I do see a connection to the social problems or a political side to the work.  I don’t think I agree with the statement that because art reflects political or social problems that it no longer is self-expression. I believe the artwork that is created is derived from how the person feels. It is the artists expressing themselves due to how they happen to feel about what is going on in the world around them. I think that although Ty’s artwork comes across to me as relating to social or political issues that that in no way says that it is not a form of self expression.

 

A piece of Andy Warhol’s work I was reminded of when observing Ty’s rubric cube.

week 4

I did not exactly understand his earlier works that had to do with the checkmarks, I thought that they were very creative and unique, but I did not see what he saw in the works I guess.  I still think that they happen to be very interesting and like them in a sense because they are hard for me to see what exactly is happening. All in all I very much enjoyed Dan Powell’s works of art. My favorite thing of his photography was when he was taking photos of his environment and the landscapes surrounding him. I think that it is very cool that he was going around living out of a van for a while and taking photos of the things he was surrounded by, and was able to capture those moments that stood out to him during that time. A lot of them were incredibly beautiful. The cemetery where there is one cloud in the sky but it is right about the tombstone, I find it extremely beautiful and amazing how he captured that moment in time. I feel as though it was taken at exactly the right moment.

I think that his photography relates to what James Hillman believes that beauty is so important in human life and not just an accessory. I think this way due to the fact that Dan Powell is actually capturing the beauty in the world around him at certain points in time. He does not go and create something in a studio, he is out there in the world capturing what other people may have come across but did not see. He is able to let the other people in the world experience the beauty of their surroundings in a different light.

I have a hard time understanding one hundred percent exactly what it is Carolyn Merchant is talking about. It sounds that she is talking about the world and how it has been destroyed in a sense and there needs to be help in trying to rebuild or help with that destruction, but I am slightly confused as to the relation it has to art. She talks about the fact that humans have become merely spectators to art and other things, such as dance and music. Art could be seen as a spectator event because usually people are not involved in the creation of the art themselves they see the end result and then make their opinions about it. I feel that she would feel that Dan Powell’s work is the same way because he brings the beauty of other places and such to people through his photography but they are not physically involved. On the other hand she talks about people viewing the world in a way that is not manipulating the parts and I feel that this relates to the works Dan Powell does with his landscape photography. I believe this because of what I stated before, that he is merely showing people the beauty of the environment and the world around us and not changing something to become art in his photography.

 

I wanted to share a photo that happens to be one of my favorites of one of my favorite places, that captures something beautiful at a certain point in time that just seems to be done at the right moment.

 

 

I was very interested in hearing what Jack Ryan had to say from the way he started his guest speaking appearance. Although there seemed to be more people thinking that the iscochronic beats and mystic tone sequence were not art, I believe that they are. It takes imagination and skill to be able to do what he does with sound, yes there is a very scientific feel to it as well, but who says science cant be art as well? I think that there is beauty found in the tones and how they interact with human beings, playing around with what they can hear and what they cannot hear. Its interactive and I think that is important in art, when the audience is able to be involved.

His next works that he showed us were also interesting; I find it appealing that he uses humor in his artwork.  His artwork of the exploding whale was extremely funny. Not only did he make it humorous, but the way he connected the different aspects of the whale explosion throughout his different works was extremely creative, clearly it was very carefully thought out. The fact that not only people are able to come and experience this work of art but also able to take a piece of it home is really cool to me, and something that I feel doesn’t happen often. Usually you walk away from artwork and u take a piece of it with you mentally, but not physically. This was the first time I ever heard of an artist doing this, I think that it is a good way of getting people to be more interested in the artist as well.

There are some pieces of artwork that I did not understand, the one of the man with the mustache, with the light bulbs tied into the art. I still enjoyed this piece because it has such a unique twist to it.  The fact that I do not understand it almost draws me to it more; I am more interested in observing it and trying to figure out what exactly is going on. I ran into the same issue with some of the videos that were shown in class, I found them entertaining but I did not know what the meaning of the videos were.

His unique looking art reminds me of abstract art. Most the time when I look at abstract art I do not see the picture at first and I have to figure out what is going on through studying it for a while. I have to observe Professor Ryan’s work because you do not see the whole picture at first. I thought of some paintings I had seen before, which were abstract paintings of faces. A lot of the paintings you have to look at, look away, and then look back again to see that it is a painting of a head. It is incredibly different and pulls you into the work.