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.