Dylan Keenan,  The Fort

 Mini Artist Statement

 My name is Dylan Keenan and I am graduating with an Interdisciplinary Degree, with studio art being my primary and theater and art history being my secondary’s.  Throughout my college years I have undergone many changes in my artistic practice. Working in 2-D for most of my life was something I found fun but not fulfilling.  I then began exploring the world of sculpture, where suddenly my artistic practice felt limitless.  During this time I also started taking theater classes that included prop design, stage craft, and scenic design.  These new courses and my shift to 3-dimensional art caused me to approach my art making from new and different perspectives.  One skill that I learned in sculpture class as well as in my prop design class was welding and metalworking.  This skill immediately caught my eye and sparked interest in my art making.  I began to feel excited and fulfilled about this new exploration.  

           With this new skill I found myself being influenced by metal sculptures, especially those exhibited at music festivals.  These sculptures had a functionality and demanded attention with their large scale.  After enough research I immediately knew I wanted to steer my art practice in this direction.  

Childhood memories and the spirit of being a kid are also very influential aspects to my art making.  I like the act of playfulness incorporated into my work, keeping things light hearted and fun but also with an edge.  

           My stance of who I am as an artist has undergone some drastic changes within this past year.  I now consider myself a sculptor, a metal worker, an artistic scenic designer and overall an interdisciplinary artist.  I want to continue learning and experiencing new ways in which to satisfy my artistic urges.  I am a firm believer that learning is a never ending process and that it is the most important aspect of who I am as an artist.

 The Capstone Project:The Fort

             For my senior capstone project, I knew I wanted to use metalworking and welding to build something functional and large scale.  Challenging myself as well as testing my capabilities in this field of work was something I wanted to keep in mind throughout this project.  I wanted the functionality of this sculpture to trigger the feeling of nostalgia of being inside of a fort as a child.  When I was a kid I was obsessed with building and occupying forts, as well as inviting others into them.  This obsession, as well as many others from my childhood, carried on into my adult life.  This project was my opportunity to do the same thing but rather, as an adult with new and improved skills.  

           I decided to use aluminum as my metal for this project because of its malleability, durability, and light weighted-ness.  I also found it was going to be a bit more challenging to work with because of its high melting temperature.  The challenge sprung interest in my liking.  

           Once I was able to come up with a design and a final rendering of this project, it was time to purchase the materials.  I purchased all of my aluminum from White City Metals and used all facilities and equipment from the metal shop in the sculpture room.  I was mentored by my theater professor Ezra Severin, who was there to answer any of my questions or concerns.  

           Beginning the building of this project, I started off with cutting a base plate into a reasonable size and the welding other pieces to it.  Then for the next two weeks I worked with the metal roller bender.  The roller bender was a tedious process that worked with three pressure point s and a hand crank.  I bent 11 aluminum straps into the same spline that had two major bends in them.  Getting the splines to match one another was one of the hardest aspects of this process. The next step was clamping the bent straps upright/vertical to the base plate in a circular array and then welding them all down.  Once all eleven were welded down, the next step was to weld the top together.  I also welded another base plate on top of the other base plate to sandwich the aluminum straps so they would be even more secure.  

A problem I ran into was the balance in my sculpture.  It was very top heavy so it was easily tippy toppy, making it not so safe for my audience to sit in it.  I came up with a solution to put little legs at the bottom of my sculpture to even out the pressure put on the sides.  I bent aluminum straps into full circles with the roller bender and welded them to the bottom sides.  The weight was evenly distributed and was now safe for people to climb into it and lean on the sides. After I was done with all of the welding, I then grinded all my welds down to polish the aesthetic.  The last step in my part was to spray paint the sculpture with chrome aluminum spray paint to finish it.  

           During the time of the metal working construction, my friend Piper had also been working on the giant cushion that would sit inside of my sculpture.  Piper Thompson is a fellow classmate as well as good friend of mine, who, to my surprise, had been sewing for years now.  She had volunteered to do the seamstressing for the cushion and the throw pillows after I had described to her my vision.  We went to Joan’s to purchase the fabric and cotton cushioning.  I told her exactly what I wanted and she delivered my vision and much more.  

           The Fort, now finished, was first presented May 9th, on the first day of the Oregon Fringe Festival.  It was a perfect opportunity to exhibit my project, allowing my audience to feel more comfortable interacting with it.  My project was stationed outside of Taylor Hall and the Computer Science building for half of the week.  The Fort was then moved down the hill outside of Britt Hall for the rest of the week. My project was also exhibited during the following week (SOAR week), during capstone presentations.

I wanted to use my last Tumblr blog as somewhat of a reflection of this Globalization and Contemporary Art class.  I want to list all the things I have learned throughout this term and make sure our professor knows that this class was very helpful.  

Coming into this class I had, from what I thought, I good understanding of what the art world was and is and what it has to offer.  Finishing this class, I am know aware that I was slightly ignorant to the art world today.  The first thing that I learned, sadly was what exactly Contemporary Art is.  I always considered it as just another art movement that would pass like the ones before it, when in reality it is the art produced at the present period in time.  I also didn't know all the different and emerging mediums of art involved in Contemporary Art.  

The next thing I learned was globalization in the art world and how it effects production of art around the world.  Globalizing art, I know now, is one of the best ways of globalization (if you want to look at it as a good thing).  Art is easily relate-able by most people and can create powerful dialogue between viewers of different backgrounds.  

Biennials were probably the one thing I knew absolutely nothing about before taking this class.  It was helpful to be informed about something that is taking over the art worlds and providing exhibitions for artists and viewers globally.  

The above link leads you to the home website of the Yokohama Triennale in Japan.  The triennale also showcases site-specific works and projects that embody the host city.   The Yokohama Triennale was inaugurated in 2001 and proudly presents the latest trends and expressions in contemporary art.  They consider themselves as an international exhibition of contemporary art that showcases popular international artists as well as new up-and-coming artists.  Participants and staff are European, American, and also Asian-based allowing the triennale to consist of emerging contemporary arts from diverse artistic groups.  The exhibitions of contemporary art from different cultures provides a better understanding of what it means to be in a globalized artistic era.  Different perspectives and interpretations support this characteristic and lead viewers to become more aware of the similarities and differences of the definition of contemporary art from around the world.  Yohama Triennale also hold special events during the exhibition for discussing the triennale concept and gallery and workshop discussions that are meant to provide and enhance conversation among participants, audiences, and artists.  

In 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake became a huge influence on the Yohama Triennale, which happened months prior to the 4th Yohama Triennale.  After the natural disaster the triennale made a goal to "address the relationship between Japan and the world, as well as the individual and society, and to reexamine the social role of art from a variety of perspectives."  

The link above is an art museum in Mexico City, Mexico named Museo Experimental El Eco.  Founded by Mathias Goeritz, the museums goal was primarily to expand the language of the arts but showcasing and exhibiting different interpretations of what art is.  Museo Experimental El Eco started as an experimental museum, taking place for art, a restaurant, a night club, theater and meeting place for political activities.  The museum now presents temporary contemporary art projects by Mexican and International artists.  In 2004 it was bought by the National Autonomous University of Mexico where it formed part of a group of museums.  They wanted to create a meeting place for the arts, where ideas and interpretations were shared among artists.  The museum also seeks to provide various contexts for new artistic art practices and furthering the knowledge of different cultures.  The museum tries to emphasize on emotion, experiment, and interdisciplinary thinking, while still trying to use the architecture of the museum as inspiration and the interested concepts of the founder. 

Museo Experimental El Eco was influenced by Cabaret Voltaire and writings by Hugo Ball, acting as an "international interdisciplinary art space".  There was mixing of visual arts and dance, music, poetry, and theater, trying to a "total work of art".  

I chose to post about Museo Experimental El Eco because it caught my eye immediately with its interest in all different categories of art, and rather looking at them as categories, the museum comprises them all together as one art.  It is definitely a different perspective of what an art museum is, but it has a unique way of presenting the arts and connecting them to the world.

The following information pertains to the article by Wu Hung called A Case of being "Contemporary": Conditions, Spheres, and Narratives of Contemporary Chinese Art. 

The following paragraphs are answers to the reading questions based on an article by Brian Holmes called Do-It-Yourself Geopolitics: Cartographies of Art in the World.

One argument put forth by contemporary globalization activists is “finding concrete political demands that don’t block the transversal movement of struggles across an unevenly developed world.”  Another argument put forth by contemporary globalization activists is if events that focus on urban living and working conditions represent a fallback from the early ambitions of the counterglobalization protests. 

One primary tactic used is definitely the use of the Internet, where activist groups can spread their theories and thoughts throughout the world for everybody to visualizeand perceive in their own light.  Another primary tactic used is the use of radically democratic mail art.  

There has always been a constant contradiction of whether or not there is one art world or several art worlds.  When I had first come across this subject, I immediately thought that there could obviously be only one art world.  Assuming that there is only one art world in the entire globe, reflects on how selfish and close minded most artists and people of the art world can be.  

The notion of 'art world' comprises of all people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism and sale of anything art.  Howard S. Beck, an American sociologist, describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things, produce(s) the kind of artworks that art world is noted for."  The term 'art world' was produced by the Institutional theory of art and originates from theories of Arthur Danto who is and American critic and philosopher.  Coining the singular term of 'art world' is a naive way of saying art only belongs in a single area of where it is most prominent.  

By the time the term 'art worlds' had surfaced, art had already taken its global turn.  Art production and selling was definitely most prominent in America and European areas where money was much more proficient.  As art became more and more globalized, people started to wonder why there had to be only one art world, where as art had come from all different places and regions.  Art worlds began to scatter and maintain a constant flux, becoming and operating independently but also taking influences from other art worlds from around the world.  Unlike centuries ago, there now is no center to the art world, but rather overlapping art worlds that are unique in their own ways.  Each art world, whether being from different countries or regions, differs with the influences of emerging pop cultures and from different art worlds and their own.  

Global Feminisms aims to “present a multitude of feminist voices from across cultures”, shying away from just the female Euro-American artists.  Another goal the Global Feminisms is to “forge an alternative narrative of art today by presenting a wide selection of young to mid-career women artists, all born after 1960, from an array of cultures whose work visually manifests their identities in myriad innovative ways."  They also want to “acknowledge the profound differences in women’s lives and in the meanings of feminism worldwide."

Contemporary Globalization has had a lot of impact on feminist art, one being the value that is put on artwork created by women versus artwork created by men.  The value put forth on women artwork is far lower than the value put on men’s artwork.  Another impact is the ratio of women artwork to men’s artwork in gallery or museum spaces that come across completely unbalanced.  Yes, women have definitely been put in galleries a lot more since year prior, but women are still not receiving the gallery space they deserve.  The third impact of Contemporary Globalization is the lack of women exhibitionists and women curators there are in today’s art worlds.  Women are rarely invited to curate prestigious international exhibitions. 

One challenge facing women artists in the early 21st century is the inequality of different races in women artists.  Although women have come a long way in the art worlds, it is shocking how many non-Euro-American women artists and women of color artists are being unrecognized.  The vast majority of women artists that are being exhibited are of Euro-American decent and usually come from privileged areas.  The art world seems to be less concerned with work by “minorities”, except for special exhibitions. 

The term above is something that I heard Melissa Geppert say in regards  to certain art fairs and art festivals.  I was immediately drawn to this term as soon as a heard Melissa say it.  There was an explicitness to the term that made me want to post it on my Tumblr blog and hopefully receive some type feedback from my peers.  

As "cultural vomit" was brought up in class, we had been discussing Art Basel in terms of globalization.  Although Art Basel is contributing a lot to the exhibitions of artwork from around the world,  the exhibitions are not exactly encompassing the act of globalization.  Compared to biennials, Art Basel and other art fairs and festivals are a place for selling artwork, where it is all about the money rather than showcasing the art itself.  This obsession with money and selling can act somewhat as a "playground for the wealthy".  Art Basel seems to be targeting only the wealthy who can actually afford to buy any of the artworks displayed, making it come across as a celebrity based event for international art. In conclusion to the celebrity based aspect to this event,  Art Basel becomes an insane pop culture soaked art festival, following the international popular trends in the art world.  

There is a constant emphasis on bringing international artists to Art Basel, where variety is not only noticeable, but almost shoved in your face.  This brings me back to the "cultural vomit", when international artists are there simply just to be there.  Having various amounts of different cultures in a gallery can provide a further knowledge of the art worlds,  but exhibiting them in the context of wealth leads me to think of the event as a huge puddle of cultures, where they don't differ.  

Art Basel believes that it is the place where the "art world" meets.

The East Africa Art Biennale Association is a non-profit, non-commercial, non-governmental organization that is registered with the Tanzanian National Council of Arts.  They rely and depend on grants, donations, and sponsorship's for funds and services from national and international organisations and companies.   

The association supports and promotes all artists of East Africa and also some international guest artists.  They organize every two years a fine arts exhibition that involves visual and performing arts that embody the characteristics of East Africa.  This exhibition makes sure to have a specific space opened to artists outside the East African region, coming from different areas of Africa as well as places around the world.  The East Africa Art Biennale accepts submissions of paintings, sculptures, print works, video art, textile art, conceptual and contextual works and installations, and photography for their exhibitions.  Each National Committee also stages performances of dance, theater, poetry, comedy, singing and music during the tenure of the biennale for their respective country.   The biennale enjoys to showcase foreign artists whose works are related to East Africa to encompass an interaction between the local artists and the foreign artists.  This could ultimately provide more knowledge of what artist think of East Africa and what East Africa actually is.  This strategy could also help diminish assumptions made about East Africa and help provide a platform for their 'art world'.   

New institutionalism is a movement or genre in contemporary art that promotes the transformation of institutional spaces, including laboratories, hang-outs, and communal kitchens.  It provides a new way of viewing institutional spaces outside the “normal” or “traditional” light.  This term is useful in Lauzon’s discussion because it contributes to the emergence of the biennial culture and the institutional role as a station along the way. 

Reluctant Nomads are artists (like Doris Salcedo), or other types of creators, who address issues of dislocation and displacement and “investigate what is means to belong in a world in which the conceptual legitimacy of “home” is increasingly debased.  The word nomad is a central metaphor that writers use to describe a dislocated group and can often refer to a lonely traveler.  A nomad society is a society that is always on the move because they have to, not because they choose to.  This term is useful in Lauzon’s discussion because it helps to explain the global thought of what the word “home” is and how it differs from different cultures.   

In Tim Griffin’s reading called Worlds apart: Contemporary Art, Globalization, and the Rise of Biennials, he stated that biennials create a stage for art where audiences can “discern a kind of destabilizing of cultural perspective- a redrawing of societal map.”  Biennials are the largest institutional support systems for contemporary art that take place in museums, galleries, temporary exhibition halls, pavilions, city streets, convention centers, etc.  Each Biennial is curated by someone new, bringing in a variety of new perspectives and fresh voices   Francesco Bonomi, a curator mentioned in Griffin’s reading, states that these large-scale events/exhibitions should reflect the fragmentation that we experience in the world.  Biennials engage globalization yet are somehow also symptomatic of it.

In Caroline Jones reading called Biennial Culture and the Aesthetics of Experience, she states that fairs and biennials are to address the “there-and-here” subject into forceful contact, reaching out to non-Western cultures in a “bid to globalism.”  There is a notion of collecting new and different forms of information and experiences.  Biennials contributed to a much looser definition of “aesthetics of experience” which involved transnational and transcultural communication.  Biennials are usually non-profit organizations that focus on a specific theme that embodies the curator’s vision of globalization. 

The question “What makes art, art?” has always haunted me for as long as I can remember.  It is such a broad question that can be defined in numerous ways.  I see art as an expression of passion and ideas that can be displayed for an audience to perceive in their own light.  There are endless ways to achieve art and I believe anybody can be an artist.  With that mindset, I support the fact that Sherrie Levine’s work is art and she is an artist. 

            Sherrie Levine’s work is definitely not a person’s ideal thought of “art”, but I can argue that it evokes emotions and uses techniques and tools to support her intentions. Her work is under the category of “Re-photography”, which is a technique of using already taken photos and juxtaposing them in a way displays a “then” and “now” difference.  Sherrie Levine shows this technique at its fullest in her work called After Walker Evans, which is a series of reproduced Depression-era photos taken by Walker Evans.  This collection was displayed to capture our ongoing dreams to create meaning and the failure of recapturing the past.  Although her artwork is not “original”, she is using those photos as her artistic tools to undermine a more deep and current event. 

            After coming to the conclusion that Sherrie Levine’s work is clearly art, the question “What is original” taunted me.  Maybe a better question would be, is there such a thing as an original?  My first thought was of course there is, everything is original because that thing was created by an original individual.  I enjoy the thought that all art is original in that sense, but in all reality the ideas and thoughts behind the artwork are not original and never will be.  Somewhere, somebody was, or is thinking about that same idea but just not producing it in the same manner as you are.  So then, what was the original thought and who had it?  Nobody can accurately state whether an idea was original or not.  We are all part a continuous world that recycles these ideas over and over again.  I assume that the “original” was an independent thought that was its first creation, and its only creation.  This “original” has its own vocabulary, speaks its own language, and develops its own aura. 

            Reproductions are what our world revolves around, so that we can all share a piece of the original.  Everything is reproducible, but they will never successfully reproduce the aura in which the original has.  Sherrie Levine uses her work to question the Modernist myth of originality and authenticity and claims that it is impossible to create anything new.  Since we cannot create anything new we have to borrow from the already created to keep our place as artists.  I believe this is the “new”.  Sherrie Levine is developing her own vocabulary in the art world and using the essence of other artwork to create her aura. 

 1. Globalization is the interconnection between the world’s images.  One feature of globalization is time and space, time being the speed in which economic and social processes shrink or grow and space being the organization.  Another feature of globalization is stretching out which means stretching time ad space with interactions and advertisements.  Culture is also a feature of globalization where culture is the audience to all globalization. Technology is one of the biggest parts of globalization because of social media now days and other types of advertisement.

2. Cultural imperialism is when cultures or companies extend their power and create and maintain unequal relations between civilizations.  It practices the promotion and of a more powerful culture over a less known desirable culture that can take the form in an active former policy or a general attitude.  The culture with more power and economic value will ultimately always be at the top of the hierarchy. 

3. Cultural homogenization is the decrease of cultural diversity through symbols.  This characteristic of globalization is caused by the popularization of cultural symbols leading to the reduction of unique cultural differences.  This includes not only physical objects but also beliefs, values, ideas, etc.   

4. Migration is the movement from one place to another, in terms of globalization migration is the movement of culture and social change.  Migration has become much easier due to new technology and the popularity of social media.  Cultural characteristics are being migrated throughout the world as we speak. 

This artwork above is a sculptural piece done by an artist named Lauren Baker.  She does a lot of sculptural pieces as well as some photography.  I was not able to find a title for this piece, but what she does is take human or animal skulls and basically bling them out with thousands of sequins and diamonds.  I chose this piece because I was able to clearly relate it to “the other” and identity in relation to the articles by bell hooks. 

            Although this whole blinged out skull thing has been done before by many artists, this one in particular caught my eye.  I was immediately drawn to the vibrant colors and intricate sequin designs, but once I examined it longer I was able to construct deeper meaning to it than just an aesthetically pleasing object.  After reading bell hooks articles about race and being “the other” it became clear to me that this skull is “the other”. 

            Now days, race is not as big of an issue as it was fifty years ago, but I would say that identity is the issue now.  Personally I have always had a problem identifying where I stand ethnically.  I was raised by a white single mother and I never really knew the other side of my family.  I was always curious to meet the family that made my skin dark and why I was the only “brown” person in the only family I knew.  I am half white, but I have always felt out of place in my mom’s side of the family.

The images above are photos taken of the beautiful Museo Soumaya which is an private art museum located in the Nuevo Polanco area in Mexico City.  This museum was presented in class last week and immediately caught my eye with its incredible architecture and various collections from renowned artists.  

Museo Soumaya is a nonprofit institution that opened to the public in 1994 and is owned by Carlos Slim and named after his wife Soumaya.  Its goal was to collect, research, preserve, disseminate and present artistic testimonies of Mexico and Europe mainly.  The Museum offers temporary and permanent exhibitions, catalogs and monthly publications, recreational spaces, conferences, film, and interactive programs.  Throughout the collections of the museum are the "living European Old Masters" with well known works from Italian, French, German, and Spanish schools, ranging from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.  The fact that this museum exhibits European art and art from Mexico allows the viewer to explore the differences and similarities between two different art worlds.