Courier at UAlbany

The State University of New York at Albany, or UAlbany for short, hosted an exhibit entitled "Courier". The building is not hard to find as there is a huge sign on the side of it saying "Art Museum". Once you enter the building there is a sign stating the name of the Exhibit in a tiny foyer type of room that of course is host to a donations box. The room you walk into afterwards has barely anything on the floor. It is a tall, white room that has a staircase in the middle of it. It may have been because I went on the last day but the place was empty. There were two workers, one sitting at a desk with a computer in front of him and the other talking to the only other two patrons there. The majority of the art was along the walls, with the exception of a T-shaped structure that was home to a projected image and a computer. The project image was a number of symbols with words underneath them. I suppose you were supposed to look at the symbols first before reading the words but I didn't. The words and symbols told a story of a Mr. Gray and a Mr. Black, two men who were seated next to each other on an airplane. The story makes sense at first, telling and showing the interaction between the two but towards the end gets confusing and strange. I found the part with the illustration amusing because it reminded me of a flip-book that would show you a man slowly falling.

 After seeing this I moved onto the walls. There were cases that held typed works. The typed works were typed on a typewriter, going with the theme of the exhibit, and were printed on hand-made paper. Some were just indents with the words but featured no ink.  Moving on to the next wall, the wall opposite from me when I walked in, were more papers with ink on them. These were different however because they did not feature words but things that looked like doodles. Upon further research I have found that "Paraclete" is often used to refer to the Holy Spirit or a helper or advocate. This simply confused me more so I moved on further down the wall.

On the same wall but on the other side of the room, there were gigantic pieces of homemade paper with letters on them. Not ABC letters but letters to other people, some of them were taken from famous people but others seemed to be simply letters to someone else, both of who were unknown to me.

After I had seen all of the letters I moved on to the wall that had been on my right when I had first entered the room. This side was much like that of its opposite wall, there were more works in a glass case that had been written by typewriter on handmade paper. There was however something that I understood to be art. There was a simple picture in a simple frame, depicting obsolete technology. This was about the only thing in the room that made any sense to me.

 
Last, but certainly not least I went to the wall that was on the side that I had entered. Sure enough, true to the things we have seen in class, there was a video. This video, all 13 minutes and 25 seconds, was spent with a finger simply wiping off the letters "A, B, C" of a glass with a tiny bit of water on their finger. The question I found myself asked was "Why?". Why would someone do this? Why would someone even think of it? Why would someone make this last 13 minutes long? And why would someone stand here for that long to watch it?

Over all the exhibit was strange. There was no one there, which again could be because it was the last day. The workers did not communicate with you unless you asked them a question, in my case to ask if I could take pictures. The art, while some might appreciate, confused me and I did not really enjoy it, except for the obsolete technology photo. 

(Posted by Sarah)

Marcus Coates

Today in class we were introduced to a very strange performance artist, Marcus Coates.  The video we watched was of him represented animal noises while he wears strange outfits made out of animal furs.  The whole thing was just extremely awkward.  A group of people just stared at the screen and laughed or gawked at what was happening in front of them. The image above is a normal outfit that he would wear for one of his events. The women is simply staring at him in front of the elevator. If I had been her I am not sure what I would have done. There are three reacts I can think of. 1- Just staring at him and wonder what was going on and if he were insane. 2- Staring for a second and then laughing at what he was wearing. Or 3 (the most likely)- I would turn around and get out of there as quick as I could.
I am not sure as to what the motivation is to go see his performances. As we saw in the movie, he makes strange noises and kind of prances around the room or makes odd gestures. The deer's head allow  creeps me out. The eyes are open and it appears to be staring at you. I don't understand how someone could wear a dead animals body on them. I realize that by wearing actual fur we are in a sense wearing an animal's dead body but by no means do I see people walking around with a full animal suit, head included, making strange noises and movements in today's society. In the end, I believe that Marcus Coates is a very strange and awkward man and I do not think I will ever be one of those who go to see one of his performances.
(Posted by Sarah)

Public Involvement II

Spencer Tunick and Gillian Wearing are two more artists who use public involvement but they use it very differently.
Gillian Wearing went down an everyday street and asked the passerby's to write down how they were feeling on a piece of paper and hold it up for her so she could take a picture of them with it. She entitled this work "Trauma". The most well known picture from this collection is a man in a suit holding a piece of paper that reads "I'm Desperate." I did not understand what this meant at first as to what is he so desperate for? I finally realized what this picture meant when I searched further for another picture from her collection and found another man holding a sign that said "Will Britain Get Through This Recession?"

Spencer Tunick using public involvement in a very different way. He poses the volunteers naked in various places. They have even posed in the freezing cold. When I saw one of the pictures he had taken my mind went to an optical illusion book in which it looks like there are sheep grazing in a meadow but if you look closer, you can see that what you are looking at is actually a picture of naked people. Tunick's art is definitely an acquired taste but for those who participate in the works get the satisfaction of being in a work of art forever.

Public Involvement

In class we learned about the public's involvement in art. Artists sometimes call upon the public to do strange things and make art out of it. Damien Hirst called on twins to be part of one of his exhibits. They were to sit under different patterns of dots, wear the same clothes, have the same hair, and must do the same thing (read a book, listen to music, etc.) In some perspective this is a unique twist on an age old concept. Twins are alike obviously, but not many put them on display for others to see. That being said, it could be taken in that wrong context as well or be offensive to some twins. The twin pairs may think that Hirst is trying to convey them as freaks or weird by putting them on display, something that he is not trying to do, or they can feel annoyed. They might feel annoyed because they may have been made to wear the same clothes when they were children and may feel that by making them wear the same cloths again is degrading or rude, again not what Hirst is intending. Those same things that could be annoying or misperceived are things that make Hirst's work interesting. As twins get older many do not think of them as a pair anymore and rightfully so each has grown their own way but Hirst brings that mentally to light. Twins are not only twins when they are younger but obviously when they grow up as well. The wearing of the same clothes brings back an almost innocence to the work. A quote that stuck out to me was "Art is like holding up a mirror to life." which I believe, Damien Hirst is conveying perfectly.
(Posted by Sarah)

Are you an Identical Twin?

Today in class we learned about Damien Hirst's artwork on identical twins at Tate Modern.  He wanted to take on as many identical twins as possible, having them wear the same clothes, have the same haircut and style while both individuals do the same activity.  Whether it be standing, sitting, reading, talking, both identical twins needed to mirror what the other was doing.  Hirst idea to create this artwork was so show the strangeness of identical twins and the idea that even though they are identical, they are not exactly the same.  I think this is a very interesting piece of work to take on.  It's very odd but at the same time I'd really would have like to seen this artwork in person.  We also discussed Gillian Wearing, who took photographs of random individuals in the public holding up a sign of a phrase they wrote describng how they are feeling at that particular moment.  This is an extremely different type of artwork, I can't imagine someone coming up to me asking me if they could take my photo on the spot holding a sign of how I'm feeling.  It's interesting how Wearing is known to be such a private and shy person, yet she ask's random people she does not know on a day to day basis to photograph them.  I think this is a very unique and creative form of artwork.

Why should someone collect art?

In the past decade or so many more people have started collecting art. These collectors have varying reasons as to why they collect it. In class we spoke of an older couple who had collected many pieces of art over the years because they liked what they bought. They gave it away to a museum later for no money whatsoever. Many people do collect the art because they enjoy it still today. My father collects Todd White's works because he enjoys looking at them and just likes them. Sure there is a monetary factor that comes into play but there is nothing set in stone. Collecting art for the money's sake is like playing the stocks, you just have to pick the right one and hope it doesn't blow up in your face. In my father's case, the price of his art has risen due to recent exposure of Todd White, but that could quickly change. I believe that people should buy and collect art because they like it, they enjoy looking at it, and they truly believe it will make them happy. The fact that people hire others to buy art for them at any cost and probably just store it somewhere without ever seeing it saddens me. Even if I do not like the piece of art in question, the new owner of the work of art should take the time to appreciate what they now have in their possession because that is what art is meant to have done to it, it is made so that people can look at it, discuss it, admirer it, or even hate it, which ever, it is not meant to be stored away never to be seen again.
(Posted by Sarah)

The Curse of the Mona Lisa

In this movie we have met a very cynical man who seems to dislike the way art is portrayed in today's society. He feels that the bringing of the Mona Lisa to the United States was a major mistake as it would commercialize the amazing work of art. In a sense it did commercialize it but on the other hand isn't it a good thing that some random person on the street can identify one piece of art and it's artist. People did just quickly pass the Mona Lisa when they came to see it but how many people could have actually stood there to see it? Those who did would have been pushed, yelled at, sworn at, or who knows what else. And yes, some of those came just to say that they had seen it but isn't that what part of what tourism is? You go to the Statue of Liberty to say you have seen it, or the Eiffel Tower, or the Sydney Opera House, and yes there are many of those who go to see it to experience something more but in essence we all like to brag a little about where we have been. So is it ok to put a painting, however great it may be, above a famous landmark? And so what if they just went to see it to say that they had? At least they went to see it, they have some sense of culture. He is far to cynical of everyday people. Many of those who went to see had jobs, children, or various other commitments and did not have to luxury of staring and analyzing the Mona Lisa all day.

    As for the another part of class, children's museums and how art today is interactive was mentioned. This automatically brought to mind a museum in Rochester called Strong National Museum of Play. This museum includes a variety of opportunities for children to learn. There is a butterfly atrium, a section that is set up like the local grocery store, Wegman's, so that children can learn. There is also a section that is displayed as if it were Sesame Street, a section where the kids can dress up and "act" to whatever they want, a "weather channel"  station, a science section, a toy section which includes dolls that can date back to 1890. Though these may not be looked upon as arts, they are. Why else would we say the arts of science or why would people have spent several hours if not days carving, painting, and dressing these dolls? These children's museums may not be traditional, they are pretty much anything but, but they are still very important to society in that they teach children through hands on actions and in a fun and memorable way.
Posted by Sarah
       

"Thing from our past"

Today in class we discussed things we used to collect when we were younger.  This is the first class discussion where students were actually engaging in the conversation.  When I was younger I used to collect beenie babies and pogs.  Other students stated they used to collect business cards, American Girl Dolls, Baseball Cards and even barbies.  We went on to further discuss Judith Greer, who is an American art collector.  It's pretty interesting to see how much art Greeg acquired over the years she has been collecting.  Judith states, "For the passionate and dedicated individual, collecting is not just about the object. It is about the journey taken in finding".  This is interesting because it is evident most of her artworks have significant meaning on where they came from or how she came across them.  She even created a book called "Owning Art, The Contemporary Art Collector's Handbook", which gives guidance to those intersting in buying and collecting art.  Whether it be art or not, something you collect or use to collect must have had a major impact on you life.  It was obviously important to you at some point in your life.  Thinking back on it I believe I even still have some beenie babies that I really cherished at a younger age.  It's amazing to see the different trends we go throuugh as we grow up, but it's cool to look back on something we did in the past, which could be cosidered a type or art.

Art Performance: Nao Bustamante "Silver&Gold"

On October 20th, I attended the performace "Silver&Gold" by Nao Bustamante at RPI's Empac Studio.  This type of performance was the most bizarre thing I think I've ever witnessed.  Nao Bustamante is an internationally known artist who specializes in performace art, video installation, visual art, filmmaking and writing.  The show I went to see I am not even sure how to describe in words it was so outrageous.  This production incorporated film and live performance (filmformance).  Bustamante uses filmmaker Jack Smith story of movie star, Maria Montez.  This show began with a film, where Bustamante representing Montez, is picking and gathering lilacs and putting them into piles.  In the forrest she is journeying through, she comes across a sculpture dressed in a sequin dress, where she transform into a new role as the costume is put on.  With this new role and costume also came the surprise of acquring a penis.  This part of the performance was extremely weird and awkward.  After the transformation she realizes she is being chased by a pack of penises,also extremely awkward and just simply confusing.  In the life performance there is a scene where Bustamante commits suicide on accident by drinking the posion she intended to give to her husband after they both engaged in what seemed like an arabian, egyptian dance.  When she wakes up, she states she is in purgatory and uses a "machine" to sell off to the audience silver and gold, which was a pillow with silver and gold chains hanging from it. (rpi.edu)  She incorporates the audience by taking some of the hands in the audience and sticking it up the "machine" to see if silver or gold fit them better.  Honestly, I was extremely confused throughout the whole performance and basically in shock.  I felt as though the audience knew something I did not as they were laughing most of the time and I was in utter shock and confusion. 

The performance overall was strange and very foreign to me.  What exactly was the point of having a bunch of penises chase after her?  It didn't make any sense to me and I felt myself laughing at the production because I was so clueless to the whole performance.  The man to the left came into the performance during the arabian and intricate dance.  I was so thrown off my the costume he was wearing, I couldn't understand what he was trying to represent.  I only found out he was her husband when Bustamante kept trying to get him to drink the posion, saying, "No, you first my husband".  That was another thing that confused me, why was she trying to kill her husband?  He than left the stage for the rest of the performance after Bustamante drank the drink with the poison in it.  He simply carried her over to a decorative couch and left the stage for the rest of the performance.  After the performance, Bustamante came back out to thank all who helped her make her performance happen, it was weird because throughout the whole show she played a character with a very heavy accent, when in reality she had no accent at all!  I was a little surprised to find out that was not her real voice since the accent she used sounded so real.  I guess was so shocked because I didn't expect any of the events that actually occured never crossed my mind!  Although Professor Blum did warn us Bustamante's work is usally very shocking and unique.
(Posted by Kaitlyn)

Installation Art Cont.

Today in class we continued to talk about installation art.  We discussed an interesting artwork by Chinese artists Ai Weiwie.  Weiwei and his team handpainted and sculpted 100 million tiny sunflower seeds, made out of porcelain.  I thought this was a very interesting artwork.  From watching the 14 minute documentary on it you can really see how tedious this job was, so much work was put into each sunflower seed.  People who visited the Turbine Hall to see this artwork were actually able to walk ontop of these seeds, pick them up and look at them in closer detail.  The artwork actually had to be closed down due to the dust coming from the sunflower seeds bothering guests.  Installtion art is very different from any other artwork I've been introduced to before.  It's extremely innovative and creative, and really cannot be copied by anyone else.  We also looked at another form of installtion art called "The Gates", which I've actually seen in person. 

"The Gates"

(Posted by Kaitlyn)

Installation Art

The above picture is a work of installation art that reminded me a lot of the work by Ai Weiwei we saw in class with his sunflower seeds, except these are much bigger and they are faces. There are also less of them then in the sunflower works but the gray aspect and the fact that there are people walking on it made me think immediately that the two were very much alike. I am not sure how I feel about installation art. I admit its cool and looks interesting but the association with art is somewhat lost to me. I found another example of installation art that I found interesting.
 "Hello Darkness" is  220 Latex balloons, filled with LED/batteries in a dark room with  benches for rest and contemplation. An indoor sculptural garden/Installation dealing with the beauty of darkness and solitude. It is a pretty cool idea which I'd image would take a lot of time to do but the logistics kind of confuse me. Are people allowed to just walk on the floor that the balloons are on? If so how are they not pooped or taken or kicked around? Over-all installation art is a form of contemporary art that is interesting to look at and ponder.

Installation Art

Today in class we learned about installation art.   "Installation art can be either temporary or permanent. Installation artworks have been constructed in exhibition spaces such as museums and galleries, as well as public and private spaces". (Wikipedia)  This type of art utilizes everyday materials through sound, video, performance, etc.  I love this piece of artwork to the right.  It looks exactly identical to my bedroom, white background will all different colored polka dots.  I love bright colors and polka dots so this particular type of art really stands out to me.

                   

                                                                                 "Pharmacy" Damien Hirst

(Posted by Kaitlyn)

Performace Art

Today in class we discussed Marina Abramovic, a performance artist.  She is recognized as one of the leading international practioners of performance art, she also works with video and life-sized polariod.  "Her performance strategy was to use the body as art-making material, presenting herself as art objects to explore and transcend the physical and psychological limitations of the self".  (eai.org)  From researching the type of performance art Abramovic and her partner Ulay engages in is very strange.  "Marina Abramovic and Ulay irritate profoundly the visitors of a performance when they beat each other until exhaustion or physically clash. The duration of time stretches endlessly so that the shere physical impact is extreme". (MediaArtNet)  This is just extremely weird to me.


(Posted by Kaitlyn)

Every Day Performance Art

We've all seen them. The people who paint themselves and their clothes in one color, normally gold or silver to look like a statue, and stand completely still. They are on street corners, parks, vacation spot, cities, pretty much any location that will have many people. Over the years I have seen many myself. One time, when I was in Florida, I saw something that looked like a statue and just kept walking. For some reason I looked back and all of the sudden it moved and scared me. I don't know why it scared me, probably because what I thought to be a stationary, inanimate object, was actually a living, breathing person. It always fascinates me to look at these people. I find myself wondering how on earth they could stay so perfectly still for such a long time. They don't move at all, don't blink, and don't even appear to breathe. These people must practice for hours to seem like a statue (I doubt that anyone could just randomly do this without training). This performance takes dedication, skill and the ultimate patience. Imagine how many distractions there are at the places they perform. There are people, dogs, noises, music, laughing, and who knows what else going on around them. I bet people even get up in their faces and try to make them react somehow. That part actually reminds me of the London Guards. They just stand there protecting their assigned place and do not move or react. I am perfectly ready to admit that this performance in and of itself is an art form.

(Posted by Sarah)

Appropriation Art

In class we discovered that appropriation art is to "borrow, adopt, recycle, or sample aspects of (or entire form) man-made visual culture". Afterward we were given several artist that are known for this type of work; Richard Prince, Damien Loeb, Cory Arcangel, and Glenn Brown. The last mentioned, Glenn Brown takes famous, classical art pieces and changes them. The way he changes them however seems to me to be an easy, cheap way of making art. He took a normal portrait and turn it blue with a red nose and called it "Special Needs". I don't really see a point in doing this and I agree with several others in that this is not original. It seems to me that it should go again some copyright law or something. It reminds me of the computer software called "Paint" in which there is a button that allows you to just fill in the lines of something with a single click of a mouse....my four year old brother can do that. This is not to be rude to those who like this kind of art, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I guess my opinion is I just don't get it.
 (Posted by Sarah)

 Love Never Dies- Glenn Brown

Appropriation Art

Today in class we discussed appropriation art which by defiition means, "to adopt, borrow, recycle or sample aspecrs (or the entire form) of man-made culture.  The term refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of new artwork.  An appropriation artist we learned about today is Shepard Fairey.  He changed the angle of O'bama's face from the oringal photo taken, he stated he titled it at a different angle.  Although he did have copywright issues as he took this photo from a photographer.  If he had simply took the photo and turned it first into something of his own, by drawing it first, it would have been okay for ownership. Another artist who uses appropriation is Andy Warhol in his Campbell Soup artworks.

 

(posted by Kaitlyn)

Ed Ribeiro

“One of the principal ways we can change our relationship to difficult art is by repetition. An unpleasant piece of music may, the sixth or seventh time we listen, reveal new beauty. If we study one of Josef Albers's seemingly simple paintings of different colored squares, the colors start to shift. Of course, difficulty doesn't always give way to revelation - sometimes what follows is, alas, frustration. But when it does, we get that additional sense of satisfaction: The arduous ascent has been rewarded with a panoramic view.” Ed Ribeiro has a very distinctive style of painting. When I first saw some of his painting I was curiohttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8282344763617306649us to see what else he had done and was unsure what my opinion was on his works. It looked as if he had put a bunch of colors on a canvas and took something that reminded me of a chalk holder that could hold 5 pieces of chalk so I could make a music scale and dragged it across the still wet paint. As i continue to look at the works of Ed Ribeiro, I start to see things that could lead me to see the significance of the painting. As simple as it seems, getting those line right and exactly the way he wants it takes talent and patience. Something that looked like a simple blob of different colored paint with lines slowly starts to take shape.

    Ed Ribeiro was born in Sao Sebastiao de Passe, Brazil. His birth name is Edmilton Ribeiro, he was one of 17 children born to a poor family, believes that everyone should help the less fortunate, and he is also very religious, which appears in many of his works. Above, is his version of Christ on the Cross. It almost takes a second for on to realize what the painting is actually supposed to be, then even longer to determine what all the colors and blurs are meant to be. The white is the cloth he was wearing around his waist, the dripping red, blood, the brown, His hair, and the yellow, the crown of thorns the Roman forced upon his head. The way the paint is dripping and creates an almost disturbing blurred image serves as a gateway to the severity of the occasion being portrayed. The most blurred and obstructed part of this work is Christ's face, causing us to not know what he really looks like but it also creates a haunting unknown aspect of which we are forced to look upon.
   Almost all of Ed Ribeiro's works are done in the this fashion, you can tell what it is supposed to be but when you try to depict the details of the painting, it gets confusing and blurry. At first glance, these works may look simple, and perhaps they may be, but it is the grace and aspect of the unknown, the undefined, that attracts me to Ed Ribeiro's work. 
(Posted by Sarah)

An Oak Tree?

 Michael Craig-Martin is a famous artist, the above is one of his works. This work is entitled "An Oak Tree". It begs the question, why? Many of Martin's works make one question why or how he thought to do this. He has many works that are based on color and everyday items you might see around your house like a glass, scissors, a hammer, sunglasses, shoes, a fan, etc. He said in one video that the same object can have a different meaning if it is on a different color. Michael Craig- Martin uses very bright and vivid colors in his work and often does not have the entire object filled. It has color in it but the outline of it is a different color than what is inside it.

    Martin also has a sculpture. At first glance at it in class I thought it was just picture if an outdoor setting with the outline of a fork simply draw onto it but, after staring at it for a while, I eventually realized that it is a three dimensional object. The only way I can really tell still is by looking at the slight dirt marks on the bottom of the sculpture.
     Michael Craig-Martin introduced a new way to create art and put his own spin on it as well. He has adapted to his surrounding decade after decade and still manages to be a prominent artist in the world.

Work of Art?

 

“One of the principal ways we can change our relationship to difficult art is by repetition. An unpleasant piece of music may, the sixth or seventh time we listen, reveal new beauty. If we study one of Josef Albers's seemingly simple paintings of different colored squares, the colors start to shift. Of course, difficulty doesn't always give way to revelation - sometimes what follows is, alas, frustration. But when it does, we get that additional sense of satisfaction: The arduous ascent has been rewarded with a panoramic view.”

An artwork that I found to be very unusual is a piece by Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist.  My first exposure to Jackson Pollock was in my Creative Arts class.  I felt his work looked like paint just splattered on a canvas.  When I looked up the background of these type of "splattered" paintings", I found out that "He danced in semi-ecstasy over canvases spread across the floor, lost in his patternings, dripping and dribbling with total control. He said: ``The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.'' He painted no image, just ``action'', though ``action painting'' seems an inadequate term for the finished result of his creative process".  It is interesting to see he actually had no plan or any direction to this particular piece, and look at the artwork he created.  Jackson Pollock has actually become one of my favorite artist work to look at.  I love the use of color and randomness to this painting.  For a painting that has no direction it just makes sense.

(posted by Kaitlyn)

Purity Paintings

Today in class we learned about Michael Craig-Martin, who was a contemporary conceptual artist and painter.  I loved looking at his artwork in class today, his paintings were so bright and vivid in color which really attracts my eye.  I like how he stated in his documentary that he knows he's doing something wrong in his paitings if people cannot figure out what he is drawing right away.  His art reminds me of Andy Warhol in a sense that he uses very vivid bright bold colors which draws in the attention.  In a few articles I read about Martin, it stated he was influenced by a couple artist we had previously learned about, Marshall Duchamp and Damien Hirst.  "His first retrospective took place at in the Whitechapel Gallery

in London in 1989.  In 2006, the Irish Museum of Modern Art presented “Michael Craig-Martin: Works 1964-2006” which included works from over 40 years of Craig-Martin’s career.  The exhibition showed around 50 paintings, sculptures, wall drawings, neon works and text pieces by the artist, covering everything from his sculptures to digital works". (wikipedia)

(posted by Kaitlyn)