Paradox

This episode was hard to follow or maybe it was because I just wasn’t paying enough attention. I did not like Catherine Sullivan’s work. I didn’t get it. I thought it was weird, yet funny. It is amazing that people can move drastically with ever changing facial expressions. A lot of the past artist that we have looked at in Art 21, have had a lot of assistance and people around working to make their work happen. Robert Ryman however prefers to work alone. At first that is what I thought I would like to do if I were one of them, but now it seems lonely. I like how people have connections and networking to be in the presence of others with different skills. Mark Bradford was my favorite out of the group. I liked the work with the soccer ball and the google like map one. I like the colors and how abstract they look.   

Ecology

Ursula Von Rydingsvard, the first artist shown in this episode, was very particular with only using cedar wood for her sculptures. They are enormous sculptures. Her work looks like it is an over whelming amount of work and it is. She has a handful of people helping her get the pieces just right. I like the work tilted “Wall Pocket.” I like the rough edges. Many of her other pieces resemble, in my opinion, sides of cliffs/mountains or the Grand Canyon. 

Inigo Manglano-Ovalle’s work of “Cloud Prototype No. 1” is very unique, a time stopped in a sculpture. I wonder what I would have come up with if I didn’t know that it was a storm cell. I can tell that it looks to be a storm and possibly a tornado. I like it in the video verse looking at this picture, not sure if it is the same one. I like how the light hit and reflected off to reveal a blue. It almost looked like rain falling from a cloud.

Mark Dion’s work in the beginning was disgusting. I was grossed out when he was rubbing the mice/rats with black paint. It is probably because he said that he got them from a lab, and that they were once real. Knowing that kind of freaks me out. The finish product was nice. The last project that they focused on was the tree that had fallen. I find it fascinating that they were putting emphasize on that it was not a naturally system in the enclosed controlled environment and also they could never duplicate the natural system that occurs in nature.

Protest

I felt like I connected, understood, and saw the protest in these artist works. I like when people try to make a difference, what ever way they can. Alfredo Jaar stood out the most. He had passion and a heart-breaking story of Rwanda. He explained how little attention or help was being reported about the country. He had to go there and get their message out, but in respect to the people. As artist we can demand attention in certain circumstances. That is very important to me, because artist can get their own personal opinion/message about an event/topic or collaborate with organizations. I’m coming from a “graphic designer thought” when I mean organizations. I love the idea of possibly designing for an organization, etc. to draw people into an organization or raise thought to what is going on locally, nationally, and internationally.

Alfredo said he uses different skills for different installations. I have noticed a pattern in the Art 21 episodes, that many artist have an idea and then collaborate or higher people to do the skill that they do not posses. I’ve learned that you need to be open to people’s input and the idea of using people’s skills even if you cannot execute them yourself.       

Romance

Laurie Simmons’ dolls were interesting. I didn’t really care for the works that were shown on Art 21. With out her earlier work though she would not have done the three photos of the dolls below. She said that she uses the camera as a tool. These dolls are frozen in time, or an action. They actually really creep me out because they look so real. I believe these photos are from this year and are from a series of other poses of the doll called Love Doll. Here is the website for the other photos. http://www.lauriesimmons.net/photographs/the-love-doll/#  

Simmons’ also did fabric collaborations with Thakoon Panichgul for the Spring 2009 collections. Pictured is two of the same dress. One is on the runway and the other looks to be more editorial. I appreciate this project because I am very interested fashion.  I love patterns, texture, and the way the fabric lies. I like the layers on the skirt or bottom part of the dress. I believe the pattern is a flower with legs coming out of it. This showed up in the video too when she had objects on top of people with only there legs sticking out. Her work has evolved yet she has kept her roots. 

Structure

It is funny how I just mentioned Matthew Ritchie and now he is in this episode of Art 21. A lot of these artists are very deep in the sense that they know their work so well, and can explain it in a highly intelligent way. It makes me wonder if I will fully understand their concepts and if I will also have my own “out of this world” explanation for my art. I am going to just talk about Matthew Ritchie’s work, because his is the only one that really caught my attention. The two pieces below are Matthew Ritchie. They just grabbed my attention, partially because of the scale, the non-flat wall, and the circles and colors of the other. 

His works are massively big and have a great amount of detail in them.  He uses a computer programs to zoom into the smallest details and zoom out for the big picture. They are projected on the wall and traced. Ritchie’s work is collaboration with a handle full of other people. Matthew was always shown working with assistances. He has no problem with people being a part of the work.

Matthew Ritchie also talks about his art and how it relates to his ideas of the big picture. For example the “cell” is a metal cell that could surround a person. This locks a person in. It is their prison and is like the prison where we put the “bad people.” They are trapped and locked in that viewpoint. Picture below is the piece.  

   

Play

I really like Arturo Herrera’s work. I like how he plays with collage and is trying to invent something new out of it. I personally like collage and it is my favorite thing about art in school, besides ink (or sharpie). It might have to do with the fact that it adds different textures, colors, and shapes. It doesn’t even have to make sense, it can be just abstract or design. Here is what appears to be a castle lost in lines, or an ant looking through glass. That is what is nice about art, you can make it what ever you want, whether the viewer or in the artist.

While looking up Arturo, I found Matthew Ritchie. Love, love the craziness and how jammed packed his work is. His art is a piece that can be looked at for a long time or even days apart and something would be discovered each time. Ritchie’s work looks similar in some aspects as Herrera’s. It could be the harsh black and light possibly watercolor parts. The layers and layers of object's  shapes are interesting. They look like explosions. He also does installation work and this, in my opinion, brings his work to life and off the wall. 

Memory

I am repeating myself again by saying that I don’t have much to say about this episode. Maybe I am tired or just wasn’t wowed. I just want to talk about Hiroshi Sugimoto. I really love photography and really wish I knew a “proper” way of doing it. I thought it was interesting that he doesn’t do any of the new wave technology. He prefers to shoot with the natural light. I respect that, but technology can enhance a photo so much more. When I think of the traditional way of photograph, and looking at a photo like that, I think it is just beautiful. I guess I like the idea of editing a photo.

Here are photos of a dress collection that Sugimoto shot (kind of reminds me of editorial work that would be seen in a magazine).    

Another group of work that Hiroshi Sugimoto focused on was out of focused work. I am not sure what I think of it. I like it and then don’t. I think it messes with my eyes, as if my contacts are not in, and that bothers me. 

Power

Cai Guo-Qiang’s work is what I would consider art. His art presented in the episode is so creative, and yet pulled from the traditions of the Chinese. The gunpowder works were my favorite. He describes how to work with the material, which is what anyone would do, if they were specializing in it. I guess it just threw me off guard that it was gunpowder. It wasn’t just smeared but actually set off (blown up). The piece below is my favorite because I like the contrast between the colors. It reminds me of ink. I like the dark dominate figure and also what it is over shadowing, which seems to be people or a person in the left hand corner. This might sound bizarre, but the black residue from the gunpowder and the semi burnt light brown/tan color surrounding it, resembles the shading of a tattoo. In my opinion the tall figure could be a tree or a giant figure/monster. The second piece of four panels is also shown because I just think that it is beautiful. The little specs of yellow and the sort of blue, gray grass makes the object (tree) pop and makes it the tree recognizable.

Guo-Qiang also is consistence with his art. The exhibits picture below of the tigers and cars are similar. They are suspended in the air. He said that he didn’t like the heaviness of the object when it is on the ground. The objects in the air become more interesting and help tell the story. A story is something that he also mentioned. The notebook that is folded out is a way to see a story, “reading the story,” and not just looking at the picture. So in essence the cars and animals are frames of a story.    

Humor

Raymond Pettibon was my favorite artist out the Humor episode. I am not sure of the titles of the pictures below, but I’m not sure they really even need any. It was interesting that a bunch of Raymond’s work is writing base and that is his first passion. He doesn’t feel the need to separate the two or no need to pick one over the other. His style is coming from a comic perspective. His images are about personal and what is out in the world. Pettibon has a few alter egos like Gumbie and Va-Voom that show up in his work, as well as presidents and celebrities. Other figures and actions show up in his work and that is his way of not respecting them, and has anger towards them.

He addresses many issues in his work and though it raises politically based work, it is not. Pettibon likes to hit every angle. In my opinion I believe he knows a lot about different types of people and what they might be thinking in their head. That then can translate into the writing. I don’t think I fully understand his works. Some of them I get and others I don’t. I guess it depends on if they are personal or fit a specific time. In the episode he talked about how most of his work was failure. I am not sure what he meant by that, but maybe his message was not translated or understood. From the humor aspect, I think the comic style with words and harsh lines give it a comedic feel.      

Time

I personally hate sculpting myself. We just don’t fit together. Martin Puryear however has it down when it comes to working with wood and sometimes other materials. I have an appreciation for sculptors and it could be because I don’t enjoy doing what they do or that I know that I could never produce anything like that. I thought his latter piece was neat because it appeared to becoming from the sky or suspended in air. I believe this was the point when he was talking about artificial perspective. He also mentioned that he did not care to explain his work too much because it was in the work itself. The title of the episode, related to Puryear’s explanation that the work doesn’t have to relate or translate to what is going on at the time. Rather that it will eventually find its place even though we are unfamiliar with it. 

Below is a Puryear’s piece in Los Angeles, California, called That Profile. It is made out of stainless steel and bronze. This shape showed up in Martin Puryear’s segment multiple times. This organic shape resembles a head shape. As said before, he works with wood, so when he takes on other material projects, he collaborates with others who have different skills. It is important to him personally and believes that others should invite people with different skills to impose their input on the work. This will open artist thinking and possibly lead it in a better direction.

I quickly want to end with Vija Celmins. Her work habit is fairly odd, but in her view is therapeutic and brings her closer to her work. The work has memory. I thought it was interesting that she would do a painting nine times and erasing it, or painting over it in-between. She is very detailed and accurate. I like to work that way sometimes, or at least in the beginning. I really enjoyed her space/star/comet painting during the show. 

Loss & Desire

Gabriel Orozco had been the most unique artist that I have seen on Art 21. It was interesting how he doesn’t have a studio and prefers not to work in one because he believes it keeps one out of reality. It isolates, that is why he works outside and photographs his curiosities, and his camera is his awareness. In the video he went shopping with his wife and to me it seems he was childlike and got distracted. This photo below is an example that.  

Orozco will take everyday life things and warp then into art. In the video the modified car looked complete normal being viewed from the side and then slowly turns and a looks liked it was smashed together. It is so bizarre but could be our reality if there were individual futuristic single person cars. Another piece that he did was the four-way ping-pong table with no net and a pond in the middle. It is fun. It is game art. 

Stories

These artists upheld the title of the episode. Kara Walker’s art, pictured here, was interesting because her black silhouette and white background were so simple. It made the story and the characters stand out. I liked how what the characters were doing and who or what they were interacting with was important. The two pictures are slightly different. One is, as I explained before, a white wall and black silhouette. The room is also round. The second one has a light colored back ground, with again black silhouette. The neat thing is that the viewer becomes part of the work because their shadow shows up along with the silhouettes. I believe Kara Walker said this was about the slaves turning on their master and using everyday utensils to do it. I like silhouettes because of the harsh contrast.

Kiki Smith was an interesting individual. I like how she talked about art being the representation of the inside, and art being a way to think. Smith said that she grew up very Adams family like, saying that she grew up around death. An example was when she said she would draw or design dead sculptures of birds. She also talked about witches and this picture below reminds me of this. Also she said she likes seeing her sculptures off the ground. 

Consumption

This episode presented Michael Ray Charles, Matthew Barney, Andrea Zittel, and Mel Chin. To be completely honest, this is the first episode where I feel like I was not inspired by their work. No one caught my eye. I don’t have much to say in this post except that it made me aware that not everyone will understand or like your work.

I also realized, that artists are crazy or at least a little crazy (briefly mentioned in class the other day). To me these artists seem to be stuck in their own little world. Making their world, ideas, and dreams through art. They create so that they themselves understand or try to understand the art. 

This picture is of the Revival Field, which is what Mel Chin talked about. This is his Science-Art work. A certain type of plant helps take the toxics and metals out the soil. This then helps then harvest the plants and renews the soil to a natural state.

Identity

During this episode Maya Lin and Bruce Nauman used other skills to aid in their art. Maya Lin has an architecture back ground, which shows up in her outside sculptures, such as the Vietnam Memorial. Bruce Nauman used mathematics to bring his sculptures to life, like his many sculptures of stairs. This blend makes their art complex and like Kerry James Marshall mentioned, it is evidence of their thinking and processes. This was shown in the video with Maya Lin. I could tell when she was in the studio working, she was in deep thought and was figuring out her next move.

My favorite art in this episode was Maya Lin’s Ecliptic Park. I personally love and am fascinated with the stars and astronomy.

Finally Kerry James Marshall reminded me of Wanda Ewing. Here I have a piece from both artist. I have been familiar with Wanda’s work for a few years and Marshall’s Black-power figures had a similar message as hers, except Wanda’s empowers females. Wanda’s painting is girl #6 of a group called “Black As Pitch, Hot As Hell Pin Ups.” 

            
                       Wanda Ewing

Spirituality

Ann Hamilton’s work shown in ART 21 was strange but very creative. Thus far her work as an artist has been the most unique and thoughtfully done. I enjoyed her installation of “ghost…a border act” and also Venice Biennale. The video shows the installation of a room where there was red powder that fell from the top of the wall and caught on brail. It looked like blood falling and covering the floor. Which makes sense because Ann talked about slavery and that it is our country’s biggest fault. She wanted to show it in a way that will impact.

Ann said that her voice comes not through her mouth but through her hands and sight. Translating what she sees to another form. Her way of talking, talking through art. It is a different language that is understood in different ways.

Two of the other works that were shown in the video was her camera in her mouth and a brief video of her finger over glass erasing ink. A finger was moving along glass wiping away the ink. As the viewer it was a worm’s eye view. The finger’s fingerprint was exposed and looked like a wet worm moving across the glass. The camera shot in her mouth outward is a clever idea. She mentioned that it resembles the shape of the eye and it really does. 

Place

I can’t help but pick favorites out of the artists that were presented in the first episode of ART 21. I found Sally Mann, a photographer known for her landscapes, and her family’s story the most interesting. I loved hearing about her processes, and how her art shaped her life and makes her the artist she is. I really liked how she talked about her art, as she was so sure and unsure. She mentioned that she could never get something quite prefect, yet she wanted it to have that flaw. That reminds me of the street artist in this episode, Margaret Kilgallen. She said “My hand will always be imperfect, because it’s human.” I love that because it’s how I feel about everything. Nothing is prefect not even art.

The two photographs are Sally’s titled Untitled (#1), which is the tree and The Last Time Emmett Modeled Nude. The tree is on this page is here because I love trees. A tree is a great art subject, even though over done at times, I like how the trunk is clear and the rest of the tree is blurry. It’s dream like. My favorite part about The Last Time Emmett Modeled Nude is the way his hands hit the water. He breaks the glass lake. I grew up around water, pretty much going to the lake every weekend in the summer, so I can look at Sally’s photo and feel the water. I use to drag my hands across the water just like Emmett did.