Art appreciation

Your reflections     on the readings

The reading on Marina Abramovic was interesting this week! Simple layout with statements about an artist’s life and what it should and shouldn’t be. I like that some points repeated themselves to make an impact and emphasis its point. I think all the lists are important to keep in mind for artists and are sometimes easy to forget.

The Ten Rules for Students and Teachers article was also a good read. The rules may be confusing at first, or at least they were for me, but after some thought they make a lot of sense and are incredibly important. Some of these rules are really inspirational as well and I find myself wanted to frame it and hang it in my room! For example, I think Rule Six is my favorite and important to keep in mind; “Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail, there’s only make.”

Your overall     experience in the course—please get more specific than "I liked     it," or "it changed how I look at art,"—tell me why.

When signing up for this class, I thought I would like it but at the same time I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by how in depth the class is and by how many questions it raises that I had never thought about. I think many people, including me especially before this class, simply take art at face value and determine if they like it or not. I have learned the importance of understanding the background and the various meanings behind artwork.

How art has been     a part of your life prior to this class, and how you anticipate it will     play a part in the future. (I'm not just looking for feel-good responses     here; I'd love to know, honestly, how much or how little this     course will impact your future engagement with the art world).

In my elementary and middle school years I loved art, in fact, it’s one of the few classes I actually remember from that early in my life. I was always at my happiest in an art room, and that carried through to high school. I took almost all the art classes I could take, including digital camera, photoshop, drawing and design, drawing, clay, etc.

I think this class will always come back to me in the future. I have learned about so many new mediums and found that there is so much more to art than what I originally believed. Now when I see art, I try to imagine what the artist might have meant and I take a lot more time than I used to in order to understand the work fully. Even at the art museum I went to this semester, I found myself actually reading about the works and putting in more effort to understand it. I don’t think I would have done the same in the past. Since I am not planning on going into anything directly related to art, I am honestly not sure how much the course will continually affect me. However, I think I will find myself considering what I learned in relation to art that I see and make quite a bit.

 And though I don’t think I will be working in anything directly related to art, I do now that it will always be a big part of my life and that I will always come back to it. This class has shown me the many different ways to express myself and to not worry about if other people love or hate it on sight. 

o   Your reflections on the reading

Our reading this week was about digital art. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because I find digital art to be very interesting. There are so many different ways to create art digitally, for example virtual reality, 3D art, etc. I love to draw and mostly use a tablet hooked up to my computer and Photoshop for art. The endless possibilities and the access to colors and brushes etc. makes digital art really fun and convenient which seems to be what appeals to many people, including me. Convenient as digital art might be, it still takes months for some artists to finish their work, especially if they’re professionals or if the art is for movies. The time it takes seems to be worth the end product though. 

Your reflections on the  videos/media

I think this week’s video on the artist Tabaimo was, again, interesting. I liked how she incorporated such deep meaning into her works. I will say though that her works reminded me a lot of the videos we watched for Week 7 (Photography and Film). Her works drive home her point but also makes me uncomfortable and a little uneasy in the meantime. I believe she intended these works to create those types of feelings into the viewer, and I can appreciate that. However, I did not even want to watch the video over again or even finish honestly because much of it was just so… strange. I wouldn’t have understood most of the meanings behind her works had she not been explaining them, so I would have just been turned off because all I understood was the feeling. Particularly the restroom piece where the woman seemingly has an abortion, but, through her nose? It is interesting, however, to see these issues from a culturally different point of view. Her work definitely makes an impact on the viewer. Now that I am thinking about that abortion scene, I’m wondering if the reason the baby came out through her nose was to show that, to the person, the abortion was nothing eventful. More like a mundane thing like blowing her nose. The thought and details she puts into her work is amazing.

Connections/comparisons

Like with other weeks, there is the main connection of digital art because that is the topic being covered. However, I think there are several connections between Tabaimo’s work and the reading. The reading explains how there are endless possibilities when it comes to digital art and how it is continually evolving. Tabaimo seems to utilize as much of her resources as possible to create her works. It really struck me how unique Tabaimo’s art is compared to many other works of digital art that I have seen. I don’t usually see too many artists that create little “movies” that are all the artwork like she does. I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but Tabaimo manages to make her works stand out from many other artists. Many people don’t understand digital art and still believe that it isn’t truly “art,” but I think anyone viewing Tabaimo’s work would not even question its validity as “art.”

Some of Tabaimo’s works even seem to be 3D, similar to 3D movies, where her art spreads out from their “box,” like with the walls in the beginning or the moths in the bathroom.

Connections to another artist's work

I chose Rick Silva for this week’s relevant artist. I liked a lot of his works, but I was drawn to works that he and a few other artists created called SIGNALS. It focuses on “Immersive audio-visual renderings of seascape environments.”(X )The 2D works for SIGNALS are fantastic and the videos were captivating. My favorite was Signals Interstitials and Signals 4. The audio in Signals 4 combined with the video that sort of explores the ocean bottom was fun to watch. I loved how the waves and lighting changed fluidly around the square of moving colors throughout Signals Interstitials. 

Check them out for yourselves!

Your reflections on the reading

This week’s reading was interesting and contained, again, a lot of information that I never knew or thought of. I never thought to think of sound being considered art so this week is really challenging my view of what art can be. I am still not sure if I really consider sound to be ‘art,’ but I think I can understand why others do consider it an art. I liked that the article mentioned that we are constantly hearing sounds but most of the time we do not listen, or consciously notice it. I also liked that it was pointed out that we usually focus more on the objects that make sound rather than the sound itself. I was also surprised by John Cage’s piece 4’33, which incorporated the audience into the performance by focusing on all the sounds present.

Your reflection  on the videos/media

I thought the video for this week about Tim Hawkinson was neat. I thought it was interesting how he incorporates sculptures into his work. His larger scale piece, Uberorgan, was amazing because it was so huge and made equally ‘large’ sounds. The sounds reminded me of whales. I will say though that I really didn’t enjoy any of the sounds made. The “rain drops” were amazing because of how he created them but the continuous sound was just plain irritating for me. Same with Uberorgan, amazingly crafted and unique, but I can only listen to so much of that sound before I just can’t stand it any longer.

Also, I’m one of those types of people that are just incredibly irritated and angered by certain noises so it might mostly just be me that is affected by them in this way. I can hardly stand the sound of chewing, even when someone’s being as quiet as possible, and sometimes have to even leave the room because it makes me so irritated. Same with other small noises, especially if it is quiet and it’s the most prominent noise I can hear. I share a room with my sister and she usually wakes up much before me to do her makeup. I become so incredibly frustrated and angry just by the small short noises of her picking up and setting down her various make up brushes and tools. Even I’m surprised by how angry I get but I can’t help it, even if I know it’s irrational. I usually either put on white noise and fall back asleep or listen to actual music to wake up. So it’s interesting that a lot of noises we simply hear and don’t acknowledge, and there’s others that we can’t NOT acknowledge.

Connections/comparisons you find between the two

There’s the obvious connection of sound being the main point of both the article and the video. They both show examples of how sound can be used in art. One difference I noticed is that Hawkinson uses sculptures to make sound or go along with sounds while the article focused on ways that were strictly sound, like in John Cage’s 4’33.

Connections to another artist's work

For my relevant artist this week, I chose Haroon Mirza. He does sculptures, installations, and performances. I thought one of his works, the National Apavillion of Then and Now was amazing. It’s a circle of light that gets bright as the noise increases and goes completely dark when the noise stops. I think it’s awesome how that works and it gives me a better understanding of how sound can be art.

Your reflections on the reading

One of our readings this week was about a man - Jeriah Hildwine – who made a Facebook status asking his friends to explain relationship aesthetics/social practice. I thought the comments he got in response to the question were hilarious, but they also show the many ways people view social practice. Most of them were playful comments that didn’t take themselves or the topic very seriously. A couple of people knew more about the subject and explained it with that experience in mind. This comment was my one of my favorites: “some young art student goes to a party where everyone is having a good time, and starts yelling, “look at us, we’re all art!” and of course makes the party less good, and ruins the art.” I just thought this was funny because it has a bit of truth to it. It’s also basically how I imagined social practice would be, because it would make me pretty uncomfortable – though that doesn’t take much – and I feel like it would just make things awkward. However, that seems to be the point most of the time.

I wasn’t quite sure what relational aesthetics meant so I was glad to read the second reading for the week, which went on to explain that it basically means that the participants/spectators and the artist reenact everyday social relationships that refer to global interactions. I think it’s really clever how these artists manage to set these social relationships and events going on in the world on more personal level. Participants and spectators may not even realize the “bigger picture,” but they still feel what artist is trying to convey.

Your reflections on the     videos/media

The video on Tania Bruguera was interesting to watch and I thought she brought up a lot of good points. At first I wasn’t sure how ‘social practice’ would work and be considered ‘art.’ So it was surprising to see her take on these displays of political and social aspects/issues. I understand how social “shows” or acts can be considered art a lot more now. Especially with the police riding horses giving orders to people in the exhibit. I can just imagine how uncomfortable and wary I would feel if I were there, so I would say she got her point and feelings across. I was also surprised but interested in her work “displacement.” I like her idea of giving and taking and keeping promises. I was surprised when I found out she was actually in the costume and walked into the street to portray coming after what was promised and also how promises were/are broken. Her encounter with the policeman was interesting, and I’m glad he chose to allow her and her message to continue.

Connections/comparisons

Both of the articles and Tania Bruguera explained and displayed relationship aesthetics and social practice. The articles were more about defining what this art form means while the video showed what it meant. Like I was talking about with the second reading, Bruguera brings aspects from a bigger social issue or idea and makes it personal. She also does the reverse, she drew from her own experiences as an immigrant and incorporated it into her exhibit with the mounted policeman. It’s a global issue but it’s an issue that she lives and understands, so she used the mounted policeman to draw out some of those same feelings from the spectators.

Connections to another artist's work

For this week, I chose Rirkrit Tiravanija as my relevant artist. It was a little difficult making sense of what I could find since it is hard for me to understand or grasp the full meaning of a social practice/act without seeing it in action. From what I could gather, I was surprised but also really happy and curious about it. A lot of the social practice works I hear or watch seem to depict more serious or uncomfortable topics, which is all okay and those topics are important, but Tiravanija’s work seems different from those. I read that he would make food for the people at the gallery and at one he had instructions on how to make the Thai food. He also uses traditional object making, teaches, and does public and private performances. I love that his work seems to just be very welcoming and inclusive and teaches people new things. It’s refreshing. 

Your reflections on the reading

This week was interesting, I did not know much about performance art before this week’s material. I just thought performance art would be mostly dancing and activities like that. So I was surprised that it could include body art, action, happenings, endurance, and ritual. Reading about endurance performance art, I was reminded of a performance that I had read about quite a while ago. It was an endurance performance for Lush trying to show how terrible animal testing is. The performance artist, Jacqueline Traide, was hauled on a leash into a Lush shop window and represented an animal test subject for the cosmetics industry for 10 hours. She endured several animal tests, including forced feeding, eye-irritancy tests, and two (saline) injections, though she didn’t feel an “actual” pain. I remember it being shocking and receiving a lot of criticism, but I think this performance was extremely important and brought this issue to everyone’s immediate attention. Traide was also able to communicate with them and tell them if she needed to stop at any time. While reading the material, I was also a little surprised by how much history plays a role in performance art, like how it “thrives in moments of social strife and political unrest.” I found it interesting how much it borrows from traditional and already existing media to create something new and to try new things. I knew performance art would take and use ideas from other types of art, but I didn’t know they could use so much – like with Janine Antoni -and still be considered performance art.

Reflections on the videos/media

I thought the video about Janine Antoni was interesting to watch. This may be a little harsh, but I didn’t really understand the point at times and thought they were a bit weird. For example, the cow series was weird to me but I understand and can appreciate the idea that we are not as different from other animals (cows, specifically) as many people seem to think. I wasn’t sure why exactly she wanted the viewer to feel that she and the cow were hollow and empty. Again however, I can appreciate the sentiment overall and it was cool to see her line of thinking and what spurred on her ideas for the pieces. I especially liked how she created the rope to represent her entire life and incorporated that into her works.

Connections/comparisons    

I did not expect performance art to be so subtle at times. I was a little surprised by how varied and connected to other types of art performance art can be. For example, her pieces with the cow and the soap bust of herself seemed to focus more on the end product while the meaning was more so in the process. Simply looking at the end product, it would be hard to realize that it was performance art. From the reading, it seems that plenty of other performance works are more subtle as well. For example, with some actions and body arts. Body art especially, because more of the focus is on the end result. And then there are the more obvious types of performance art, like with the Lush animal testing performance and Janine Antoni walking on the tight rope over the horizon.

Connections to another artist's work 

I chose Yoko Ono as my relevant artist this week. One of the readings for this week mentioned her and how she took the open-endedness of the meaning of “action” in performance art to a new level. She had the audience create a map and then told them to walk around the street according to the map. I thought this related well because she is stretching what performance art, and art in general, can be. It is subtly art, yet it is obvious to those that are aware of what all performance art includes. It was interesting reading about one of her more known works, Cut Piece, in which she laid out scissors for people to come up and cut pieces off her clothing one by one. It interesting to see how each artist uses their body in some way or another.

Your reflections on the reading

Honestly, I wasn’t too excited to read this chapter about architecture. It’s just a part of art that I am not drawn too and that I don’t think about very often. However, once I started reading through the chapter and seeing all the featured works I actually really enjoyed it and I’m not really sure why I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. I like this description from the book, “The architect is an artist, but also a social servant.” I think that explains architecture very well, because they are artists but they also have to cater to the wants and needs of their clients, complete extensive training, and remember regulations among other responsibilities. I loved many of the featured works in the chapter, but I think the Performing Arts Centre for Abu Dhabi created by Zaha Hadid is my favorite. I was a little stunned by it even, because it is so different from what we usually see and it is just so aesthetically pleasing. I love the leaf like glass areas, the entrance, and blue is my favorite color so that’s a plus.

o   Your reflections on the videos/media

I thought the video on Maya Lin was interesting. It was interesting to see how vastly different her styles are but also how they sometimes combine. She creates sculptures and does architecture and while she doesn’t actively mix the two in her works sometimes it just works out that way. I particularly enjoyed seeing the ice skating rink she created in a park that was just sort of dead and that no one really used or enjoyed. I also really liked h ow she incorporated the lights in it to make stars. I have never been ice skating because there are not a lot of options around where I live. There is one building in a park in our town that used to be an ice skating rink but I don’t think it’s been used in years. I don’t remember it ever being open or used for anything actually, which is a shame because if that’s the case then it’s just taking up space. I think it would be amazing if someone were to come by and create something like Maya Lin did.

Connections/comparisons

Well there is the obvious connection between the reading and the Maya Lin’s work, which is the fact that Maya Lin is an architect and has architecture projects that she works on. With the ice skating rink, she was taking the people that would be using it and the general public into consideration, which relates to the idea that an architect is an artist as well as a “social servant.” She has to take multiple factors, like its use, the public and regulations, into consideration.

 Connections to another artist's work

For this week I chose to research Zaha Hadid, the same woman I mentioned earlier who made the Performing Arts Centre. I really love her work! I think she has more of what I would call a futuristic style and I just love all of it because they’re so different from what we usually see while still being incredibly beautiful.

Your reflections     

As with other weeks, this week’s chapter was interesting. Unlike previous weeks, I am more familiar with crafts, but I still learned some things and saw some interesting pieces. Crafts do seem to be more flexible and varied than I first thought. Particularly with the glass and fiber being used in crafts. I enjoyed reading and looking at all the work in those sections. I especially liked Dale Chihuly’s glass work “No. 2 Sea Form Series” as it is very interesting to look at and very colorful, although, and after reading about Chihuly himself I am not as enthused about it. The segment about Chihuly after he made the Sea Form artwork was wild from start to finish. First he sued two people, even one who had worked with him, for producing work that was similar to his. Then he hurt his shoulder so he had many people working under him produce his sketches. So that was just fun to read and learn the story that surrounds the work. I also liked Drew Hubatsek’s piece “Manzano Trono,” though I’m not sure how to explain exactly why I like it. I think he made it feel natural, with the branches and the soft curves.

I couldn’t find the exact picture that was used in the book so here is another piece by Chihuly of the same style: 

o    Reflections on the videos/media and connections

Aaron McIntosh had a lot to say in his article so it was a bit hard to follow, but interesting nonetheless. I was surprised that he connected crafts evolving and becoming more mainstream to LGBTQ people as that seems really… stretched or out of place. Though I think I do see his point, since both crafts and sexual/gender identities are becoming more accepted, acknowledged, and flexible. It just threw me off for a minute because of how different those two subjects are.

McIntosh’s article relates to the reading in one obvious way, that way being that he talks about the museum utilizing craft media and crafts becoming more mainstream than in the past. He also emphasizes and shows how varied crafts can be.

The video on Kimsooja was also a bit hard to follow, but I think I understood some things. She seems to be very proud and confident in herself and her artwork, and she also incorporates a lot of her life and Korean background into her work. I think she challenges what craft art can be, as it’s all very different from what seems to be the norm. Her work relates to craft, though I think that would be easy to miss because she stretches what craft can be so much. She’s definitely changed what I think craft work is and includes. Honestly, I think her work could also relate to installation since a lot of it is site specific. So that makes me think that there’s definitely a blurred line between installation and craft. Perhaps it could be both instead of either or?

Connections to another artist's work

I chose Heather Mccalla as my relevant artist this week, and I was honestly pleasantly surprised when I found her website. Her work relates because much of it is crafts. She creates a ton of different art such as; Lath and plaster, altered furniture, piles and stacks, tunnels, furniture, sketches and drawings, and ceramics. She also makes rockets! Which I found especially amazing! And her ceramics are so smooth looking yet some have so much texture, they make me want to touch them. I love the style so much. Her piles and stacks and altered furniture pieces are all very interesting to look at as well.

Reflections on the reading

In all honesty the readings this week were a bit tough to get through for me. Combine spring break and all this new information, it was confusing. That being said, once I started focusing on it more and going through all the content it got easier and I – as always – learned quite a lot. I never really knew, or at least thought about, how many different ways there are to make installation artwork. The second link with the various works of installation was the most interesting to me. I was a little surprised yet fascinated by Imran Qureshi’s work And how many rains must fall before the stains are washed clean. At first I thought it just looked like blood splatters and I thought that it was a bit odd but I thought it could mean something like, “when will the stains of past wrongdoings be washed away,” which I think is at least a little clever. I really shouldn’t still be surprised by how much work goes into these artworks, but I was. I thought the artist simply splattered paint, and didn’t realize how Qureshi highlighted, defined, and edited the whole piece. Continuing with the reading, it was then revealed to me that the work is supposed to display the dialogue between life and death and violence and beauty. The work holds much more meaning to me now that I know the red splotches represent flowers as well as blood.

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I also enjoyed reading about the Rain Room, where people can walk through the rainfall and not get wet. It’s amazing to me how this room is even possible. It said it was accomplished using special cameras and sensors to track and detect visitors. That makes sense, but I think it would be fun to find out how exactly these cameras and sensors work to make this happen. I was also pleasantly surprised to read that the piece uses filtered and recycled water. I really want to visit this Rain Room sometime if it is still possible. I’ve seen others go to it in videos and it seems amazing and well worth the wait to get in!

o   Reflection on the videos/media

This week’s video was about Do Ho Suh, and was also very interesting to me. I especially enjoyed watching the part about his piece with all the tiny figures holding up the people above them. Do Ho Suh mentioned that he was not trying to make any statement, and that it was up to the viewer to decide what they thought about it. I like that he took this standpoint on it, even though I would have liked to hear what he had to say. I like that he left the work up to interpretation because there are various meanings that a person could take from it. For example, the people could simply be slaves dedicating their lives to support others. It could also mean that everyone works together to accomplish goals and to keep the world running smoothly. It could mean that people need to support each other, and that often times many people need to work together to support one person. Those are simply off the top of my head!

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Connections/comparisons

Do Ho Suh and Imran Qureshi’s work relates to each other because they both created an interactive piece of art that’s meaning is left to interpretation. They are interactive because with both, the viewer is encouraged to walk through and examine the work. They also have various meanings that could be taken from it. The Rain Room is also similar in this way. Visitors are encouraged to enter and move about freely in the room. Though there doesn’t seem to be as many hidden or surprising meanings to this piece, there does seem to be a large range of feelings and thoughts that people experience when interacting with the piece. The use of filtered and recycled water could cause the visitors to think about the impact we have on our environment. Combine that and the feeling of the water emotionally responding to the person, I would think that it would be an effective way to make the visitors think about and care about the environment. I also think this piece would provide a happy and comforting feeling to the visitor.

Connections to another artist's     work

I chose Nancy Holt as my relevant artist this week. Her sun tunnels located in Utah seem amazing and is also something I would love to see if ever given the chance! Again, her work could possibly have a few different meanings and is meant to be interacted with and enjoyed by visitors. The concrete tubes act as viewfinders like a camera to create an amazing site when the sun sets. She even says that these tunnels and the images they create “bring the vast space of the desert back to human scale.” (Quote)