Art+Philosophy

I rarely read assigned readings for school and opted for online summaries. Initially, my disengagement from reading full, original texts was out of necessity. When I arrived to the U.S. 10 years ago, I was still learning English, so I struggled to read at the same pace as my peers while comprehending the text. Completing my assignments left me without much time to read texts in English or Korean.

Now that I am fluent in English, I diligently read assigned texts. I reached fluency about 6 years ago, but until recently, I continued to rely on summaries. At one point, I had made a subconscious choice not to read books assigned by my teachers. I was vaguely and silently rebelling against what I thought was so bizarre.

Why must we read Shakespeare? “Because he influenced and still influences so much of literature and culture.”

I was not satisfied with this type of explanation defending the curriculum forcing students to read Shakespeare and other authors who are part of the canon. By reading them, are we not becoming tools to perpetuate and extend the radius of these authors’ alleged influence? Why do we continue to privilege select few authors for generations in classrooms and cocktail parties?

These inquiries carry over to my experience looking at contemporary art. Why would knowledge of art history be relevant to my interpretation of paintings made a few days ago? Is a work of art better if it clearly references art history? Does my knowing Impressionism make my relationship to art more valid? Does a painter’s knowing Abstract Expressionism make his painting of greater cultural value?

As promised in my last post, I am sharing my list of five female artists I could remember on the spot.

Maria Lassnig

Yayoi Kusama

Carrie Mae Weems

Carol Bove

Agnes Martin

On the same day my photography class made this list, we also discussed The Fearless Girl statue, newly placed across the famous bull statue on Wall Street. Looking at photos taken from different angles, we thought about how the message can change. We went to online articles for these photos.

I had to ask my professor to take a screenshot when I saw this moment on the internet:

While a Wall Street firm is trying to make a vaguely feminist point that girls should aspire to be on Wall Street, the online media tells, or shows a more nuanced story. The advertisement on the margin brings to light what was likely a conscious choice to make the statue a little girl, not a woman. A fully-grown woman with noticeable body figures is subject to the idea that sex sells.

The statue’s ethnicity is perhaps as ambiguous as it could be. Ethnicity and race are also sexualized characteristics as evident in the yellow fever phenomenon and in the way the woman’s Russianness is a selling point in the margin advertisement.

The two images are each synecdoche of women’s place in contemporary society. Together, however, they demonstrate why feminism is such a complex issue. A public statue of a little girl on Wall Street does not mean that suddenly, more women will become CEOs of banks and financial institutions. Likewise, an advertisement of “Beautiful Russians” alone cannot logically lead to the conclusion that women are wholly disadvantaged and are ALWAYS treated as sexual objects.

CREDIT: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

For last week’s International Women’s Day, my photography professor challenged each of us to make a list of five visual artists, who identify as female. In the class of 9 women, I was the only one who was able to come up with five names off the top of my head. 

To be fair, I am the only art history major in the class, but we know this activity would have been a piece of cake if the challenge called for a list of male artists, or even just artists. I am not disappointed in my classmates. Rather, I find it disheartening that despite the great population of female artists, school education and art institutions expose us much more to male artists.

Can you do this challenge? 

This was my third year volunteering at the Guggenheim for the Museum Mile Festival. It’s one of my favorite museum events. The museums on 5th avenue are free and there are other events going on along the Museum Mile. Every year, the Guggenheim has some live music and boxes of CHAULK. Chaulk drawing on the street in front of the Guggenheim is so popular and we run out of chalk quickly. People draw and write the best things on the street.

Photo by Buck Ennis

Two summers ago, I applied to the Cooper Union Summer Outreach program, which is a 4-week drawing intensive for high school students who are serious about art. I was serious about art. I thought I wanted to be an artist. I built a portfolio and went to the portfolio review not realizing how competitive the program was. I heard that the acceptance rate was 17%. I was one of the lucky ones to get in. 

The portfolio review was surprisingly intense and I could tell that everybody, including parents, was nervous. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal, but seeing all these anxious people I, too, got anxious. Right in front of me, I saw a reviewer harshly criticize a drawing that seemed amazing to me. The girl who made the drawing walked out crying. There was no mercy. The fact that we were 16 and 17 year olds didn’t matter.

The program itself was just as intense. In high school, my peers and art teachers considered me one of the best artists. At Cooper, I was basically one of the worst. I drew for 5 hours each day from Mondays through Thursdays. The instructor complemented my art exactly once. 

This post isn’t about how horrible the program is. The program is absolutely fantastic. I became a better artist after that summer. I learned so much about art and the art world. Most importantly, the honesty of the reviewers and the instructors helped me realize that I am not a skillful artist and that I don’t want to make art professionally. The program gave me a taste of what the reality of being an artist in New York City was like.

As part of the millennial generation, I am so accustomed to being told that I am amazing when I’m not. This caused me to have unrealistic expectations for myself. I still have unrealistic expectations for myself, but at least now I’m aware.

This was my second MoMA PS1 “Night at the Museum”, a museum party full of intimidatingly fashionable, cold, beautiful guests who are, or at least pretend to be, knowledgeable about art. I have been sticking with black, white, and gray clothes ever since I realized that the people of the New York art world almost always wear those colors.

I sometimes take naps on art.

One would think that such an event would cost a fortune just to enter, but the ticket is actually only $10. I didn’t go to this party to look at art, although I did look at art. I went to observe the art world people. It is a good practice to observe your aspiration whenever possible, so that you don’t forget about your goals. I should probably state what my aspiration is—to be a contemporary art curator.

"NYCMER has provided a forum for museum education professionals to address issues of museum and educational interest, exchange and disseminate relevant information, and to explore and implement cooperative programming opportunities through roundtable discussions, workshop, and an annual conference."

“I’m not a political artist, I’m just political,” says Ai in the film Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case. When I first heard this, I thought he was just being pretentious and cool. To be honest, I was not a big fan of Ai in the beginning, when I thought he was an artist who makes stuff to amuse an audience. Only recently did I begin to see his work in a political and activist angle. Now, I fully respect Ai’s disclaimer.

Art is thought of as something that is made up. Here are some words that are associated with art: imagination, creativity, production, emotion, expression, and deceit. Artists are people who make art. Ai doesn’t “make”, but rather, he presents. Take for example his work surrounding the Sichuan earthquake. His photos of the aftermath of the disaster are not fine art. They are documentations of an actual disaster, a tragedy, and a reality.

Straight (2008–12) 

Straight is made from 150 tons of steel rebar from the Sichuan earthquake. Ai didn’t “make” the rebar. He only straightened them out to demonstrate his desire to straighten things out in China.

It is incredible how Ai, in many ways stays true to the reality of the situation in China. Even though I do think that his work is very artistic I can see why Ai stays away from calling himself an artist. He really is much more like a visual journalist rather than an artist. 

I love Ai's artwork. 

I am planning a gallery tour for a teen museum event that is coming up. If you are interested in the event, here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/767432883276245/

This event is taking place at the National Academy Museum, which has a great exhibition of Anders Zorn right now. The educators there were kind enough to provide me with the catalogue.

  (Why are catalogues so beautiful?)

I am actually giving two tours, 20 minutes each. I am focusing on just two paintings for each tour. Zorn has SO MUCH artwork. He did etching, oil paint, watercolor, portraits, landscapes, everything! It was difficult for me to just choose four different paintings. 

The theme of the first tour is People and Place.

          Man and Boy in Algiers, 1887            Midsummer Dance, 1897

I am so sorry for these horrible photographs. They do no justice. 

The theme of the second tour is Self Portraits.

         Self-portrait in Red,1915                     Self-portrait in a Wolfskin, 1915

I was part of a performance produced by Carrie Mae Weems. Yes. I know. That’s awesome. But I’m going to skip intro/context. If you have questions, I think you can message me. I’m still new to Tumblr. 

The performance was not anything elaborate, but it was simple and powerful. I synchronized with 4 other girls and recited a list of names of forgotten African-American artists. I thought this was conceptually very interesting. To be honest, I didn’t recognize any of the names on the list. Click here for the list: http://artandphil.tumblr.com/post/84390368612/list-of-forgotten-african-american-artists-and-others

Pablo Picasso. It doesn’t matter if you are an art lover or not. You are familiar with that name. In fact, “Pablo Picasso” is more than just a two-word name to most of us. As soon as we hear it, we are reminded of everything and anything we know about this famous artist. Perhaps that is abstract paintings, his mistresses, or his background. A name of any famous person carries distinct meanings in our minds. None of the names on the list were quite familiar and hence, each name was almost just a sound, a rhyme, which created a rhythm. The list of names was really almost like a poem. 

Courtesy of Ai Weiwei

I thought that the list of names, although orally presented to the audience, resembled a work by Ai Weiwei. In Ai’s exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, I saw an entire wall of list of names. These names were of schoolchildren who had died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Again, I am not familiar with these names. Nonetheless, these names speak to me.

I Call Your Name:

HENRY O. TANNER

ROBERT S. DUNCANSON

EDMONIA LEWIS

AARON DOUGLAS

LOIS MAILOU JONES

CHARLES ALSTON

WILLIAM HENRY JOHNSON

ELIZABETH CATLETT

SAMELLA LEWIS

JAMES VAN DER ZEE

JOHN SARGENT

EDWARD BANNISTER

JACOB LAWRENCE

ROMARE BEARDEN

RICHARD HUNT

NELSON LEWIS

EMMA AMOS

MINNIE EVANS

ALMA THOMAS

BOB THOMPSON

RICHMOND BARTHÉ

EDMONIA LEWIS

JOHN BIGGERS

ROBERT BLACKBURN

FAITH RINGGOLD

MARTIN PURYEAR

SAM GILLIAM

CLEMENTINE HUNTER

HALE WOODRUFF

EMILIO CRUZ

JOHN DOWELL

BILL TRAYLOR

LORETTA PETTWAY

THE GEE'S BEND QUILTERS

AFRICOBRA

JEFF DONALDSON

NELSON STEVENS

THE KAMOINGE WORKSHOP

LOUIS DRAPER

ROY DECARAVA

ADGER COWANS

JULES ALLEN

JOHN PINDERHUGHES

SUGA NGUNDI

LINDA BRYANT

DAVID HAMMONS

HENRY TAYLOR

BETYE SAAR

ALISON SAAR

LORNA SIMPSON

MICKALENE THOMAS

DEANA LAWSON

KEHINDE WILEY

WHITFIELD LOVELL

MEG HENSON SCALES

JEFFREY SCALES

FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES

TERESITA FERNÁNDEZ

ANA MENDIETA

JAMES WANG

JENNIFER HSU

PAUL CHAN

MEL CHIN

NAM JUNE PAIK

GEORGE LEWIS

RODNEY MILLER

DANIEL MARTINEZ

MARK BRADFORD

HOWARDENA PINDELL

EL ANATSUI

ALONZO DAVIS

GARY SIMMONS

ISAAC JULIEN

JOHN OUTTERBRIDGE

AUGUSTA SAVAGE

HORACE PIPPIN

NORMAN LEWIS

JAMES P. BALL

CHARLES WHITE

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

MARY LOVELACE O'NEIL

VALERIE MAYNARD

CLARENCE MAJOR

CHAKAIA BOOKER

ARTHUR CARRAWAY

NICK CAVE

CLAUDE CLARK

EDWARD CLARK

WILLIE COLE

ADRIAN PIPER

GORDON PARKS

ROBERT COLESCOTT

ALLAN CRITE

BEAUFORD DELANEY

JOHN SCOTT

LORENZO BROWN

CHARLES SALLÉE

THORNTON DIAL

DAVID DRISKELL

MILDRED HOWARD

RENÉE STOUT

ARTHUR MONROE

MELVYN ETTRICK

ELLEN GALLAGHER

RENÉE GREEN

GLENN LIGON

CHARLES WHITE

PALMER HAYDEN

HANK WILLIS THOMAS

BARKLEY HENDRICKS

RICHARD HUNT

PURVIS YOUNG