Visit to Albany Institute of History and Art

Located in the middle of the city of Albany, this museum was surprisingly large with two floors of exhibits. My classmate Michael Anderson and I explored the entire museum, but focused mainly on the the second floor exhibition on graphic design because it was contemporary art. Graphic design is the carefully planned arrangement of visual images and printed text that can convey both meaning and message. This exhibition broke down visual arts into for distinct categories for display: typography, commerce and graphic design, political and social messages, and the creative process.

The exhibition was immense and covering the entire second floor, but I found two topics particularly interesting. One sideroom focused on how technological advances such as the Internet has changed graphic design throughout the years. This area also showed the evolution of entertainment sources such as video games. It was incredible to see an early video game system next to the incredibly complex video game systems available now. Another area I found very interesting was the displays of graphic design used in times of war. These examples were were used to express political messages such as pride in the nation.

Favorite Genre of the Semester

For my favorite topic that Professor Blum presented to us was Street Art.  I have selected a few pictures that I have found on line to present to all of you.  These pieces of work are very fun to look at.  I hope you all enjoy them!!!!!

The Frances Young Tang Museum

For my museum visit I went to the Frances Young Tang Museum on the Skidmore College campus.  This museum was very interesting because it was my first time going to an actual gallery.  There was only one exhibit but everyone that went with me was so interested that we stayed for a while.  There were very interesting items and I wish I could have posted one but they were very strict about pictures being taken and nearly kicked us out because we were taking one.

The items in the gallery were beautiful pieces.  One that really caught my eye was this item as soon as you walked in that was made of plastic bottles.  This is the first thing that everyone sees when they walk into the gallery and I believe it took the person who was the artist a long time to construct.  There was also a couple pieces of one man in different poses.  There were 4 pictures of him in different poses holding different items.  If there were one thing I can post on this blog it would be this but I could not take a picture.  This is the one thing that stood out for me in this visit.  I really wanted to share this with everyone. 

Conceptual Art - From Stillness to Fidgeting

Class Date: April 13, 2011

In class today we were introduced to an assignment that hasn't been like any other one we have recently seen.  Jillian Werning was the first artist we looked at and her works of art included a "sixty minute assignment".  She took police men and women and had them sit in a gallery for 60 straight minutes.  This assignment starts out as initial stillness, but moves to fidgeting as the minutes progress.  I would never view this is art because it is different than what I have normally thought art to be.  This work is about the idea of control.  She looks at an observation and figures out what to do based on that.

Another artist we looked at was Vanessa Becekhoff.  He arts of work were similar in that she took humans and made them still by looking like a statue of some sort.  One piece of work was when she white washed females and had them lay on pedestals to make them look like they were actually statues.  This was very interesting to me and couldn't believe the self control these females had while sitting for the extended period of time.  These two views of art were new to me, but very interesting.  I couldn't imagine being a part of something like this and having to sit still for over an hour.  I give these individuals a lot of credit for their self-control to be able to do that.   

Affordable Art for Everyone

Class: April 4th, 2011

Today in class we discussed a website that allows people to purchase pieces of art for an affordable rate.  The website is called "20 by 200".  They pride themselves by being able to offer art for every single person.  Most people will be able to find some type of art for themselves at a very affordable price.  The website brings people together by having a seller and a buyer.  These pieces range anywhere from $20 to $200 and the price varies on size of the piece.  It is available through a contemporary way and it opens up the world of contemporary art for many artists.  Once you log onto the website, you are able to go directly to the artists site and look at reviews of it.  If it is something for you, it will be ready to be purchased on the spot!

We also watched a video in class that made me realize there are many different reasons why an individual will would purchase a piece of art.  I always knew people bough art based on a couple different reasons but never actually thought about all the reasons.  These pieces of art could mean a lot to the person.  This is usually the biggest factor but there are many other reasons why someone would buy art.  People may be attracted to art history or even be collecting it for money.  It could make them feel a certain way or even be interested in the meaning of the work.  Sometimes people just like to come back after a long day of work/school and just look into the painting and get trapped to relieve stress.

Public Participation in Artwork

Today we discussed two artists that used the general public as part of their respective artwork. Spencer Tunick has gained fame for creating unique "one time only" events with the use of gathering numerous nude people in one area. One work we viewed was hundreds of people lying on a seashore, imitating a natural event of dead sea life being washed up on shore. The concept of the individual disappears when so many people are gathered in one area. The normally embarrassing nature of being nude in public is no longer taboo because everyone is nude together. Antony Gormley is a famous British sculptor, but is also well known for a work of art when he invited thousands of people to gain "their 15 minutes of fame." In this exhibit a raised "stage" was assembled and the public was invited to do absolutely anything they wanted during their allotted time on this platform. This show ran for several months, and was streamed live over the Internet. We also watched a "Ted Video" in class which attempted to explain the question of "what the experience of beauty is?" There are so many different forms and opinions of beauty. A very common explanation is that beauty is in the culturally conditioned eye of the beholder, but Charles Darwin gives insight which proves this explanation to be errored. These visions and tastes on beauty are actually ingrained in our mind through the evolution of our ancestors who helped formulated these thought processes.

Artist Curators

Class Date: April 6th, 2011

Today in class we explored the extrmely unique talents of artist curators. The term curators employ gestures or emotions of assembling objects together in a certain way. One of the leading artist curators we discussed is Fred Wilson. He uses collections of paintings, crafts, or artifacts to create extremely unique collections. He is most famous for his incredible work "Mining the Museum." This artwork assembled various artifacts to highlight the history of slavery. The physical location of the items in these collections portray his emotions. For example, shackles were placed between golden goblets to distinguish the difference between high society and the horrors of the slave trade that once existed in America. Another work of Fred Wilson is his creation of black tear drops made from glass. This work is extremely creative because glass is actually just an extremely slow moving liquid just as tears pour down one's face.

Another artist curator we discussed was Mark Dion. The best way to describe Mark Dion is an archeologist, environmentalist, explorist, and scientist all rolled into one man. He is best known for making art out of his archeological digs. Mark would analyze an artifact or fossil found during his fieldwork and then focus on recreating it to make it look as authentic as possible. He was very interested in how people formulated opinions about the environment.

Street Art & Graffiti - A New Type of Art

Class Date: March 28th, 2011

During class on March 28, 2011 we first discussed street art and graffiti art.  This has been one of my favorite discussions so far because you can literally go anywhere and find this type of art.  Even though there are laws against it, people are always going to create street and graffiti art.  These artists take art to the street and place a "tag" on a certain area.  Graffiti has always been seen as vandalism but today it is much more accepted.  There are many programs that allow street artists to create works on buildings and it definitely brings communities together.

I personally like to see graffiti because it is usually very unique and unlike any other type of art.  Normally one will see graffiti or tags that they will never have seen before and I think that is the best part.  Graffiti from one area can be completely different from other graffiti 1 mile down the road.  As the public, we have the ability to respond to the art anyway we choose to.  Street artists can also work as a community and collaborate on a certain piece that may take months or even years to create.  The community feeling is a cool idea because I have seen graffiti leaving things open at times but I never realized how everyone lets other try to change it.  These artists take the risk of having their art covered up by the community but they have the freedom to put whatever they want. I think the best thing these artists don't need to worry about is they are free from gallery rules and copyright rules.

The World Wide Wide....and the Effects it has had on Museums

This is a work from contemporary artist Richard Prince

Class Date: March 23, 2011

In class we continued our discussion about museums and gallery space.  This discussion took a different turn, however.  We discussed the impact the world wide wide has had on museums and how this impact has been mostly negative.  The first big area the world wide wide approaches is copyright laws.  A copyright is defined as a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work.  Artists obtain these copyrights to make sure that their work isn't duplicated by another artist and to make sure their art is always their property.  An artist that plays with the fine line of copyrights is Richard Prince.  Prince is a contemporary artists that appropriates images and is very non-chalant about stealing others images.  he also uses technology to customize these paintings into his own work.  There has been a large number of law suits because of technology and there will be many more to come as technology expands.

The second half of class we began the movie "Mona Lisa Curse."  This documentary is written and narrated by Robert Hughes and discusses the journey of the Mona Lisa, arguably the world's most famous painting, and the impact it had on the art industry, especially in the United States.  He begins the documentary with a quote from Andy Warhol saying "good business is the best art."  This means that business is an art and the best kind of art.  If one can master good business, he has mastered the best kind of art.  The Mona Lisa came over to the United States from France in the 1960s and has changed the art industry forever.  It created all new expectations for art and these expectations were set higher than before.  Since it was the most famous painting, every gallery in the United States wanted it for some period because people were coming from all over to see it.  This is where the idea of sending copies of paintings came about.  I think it is wrong to send copies of paintings because people are paying money to see the actual painting and if I was in the position to see the world's most famous painting I would want it to be real!

Museums and Gallery Space

Class Date: March 21st

Today we discussed the actual areas in which visual arts are put on display. We learned that galleries are in fact different from museums because you can buy the artwork at galleries, while museums are display only. Many of these incredible buildings are so beautifully built, they are artworks in themselves in terms of the brilliance of the architecture.

Andy Warhol was an American painter and filmmaker who saw an attachment of mass consumption to museums. The analogy was drawn between museums and the layouts of a supermarket. Some high end stores such as bergdoff goodman have become like museums in that you cannot touch the product, while museums have become focused on making money off displaying the arts.

Damien Hirst is an art collector most famous for "shark at the Met". A preserved shark was put on display in the metropolitan museum of art. This powerful work of art was put on display in an area usually reserved for more tranquil works. It was very controversial because of the overbearing nature of the preserved shark that grasps audience attention.

Systems Art

Class Date: March 9th

The simplest way of describing systems art is filling a space with various artist's works. It is not as simple as just putting paintings or sculptures into a museum hall, the actual way in which you fill the space is part of the beauty of systems art. We discussed the work of two systems artists. One of the most famous systems arts gallery is Turbine Hall in London, England. As a viewer enters through the main entrance, they enter an enormous space which makes the viewer feel diminutive. Artists are paid commission to fill this enormous space.

"Sunflower Seed" is one of the many works in Turbine Hall. It was created by Ai Weiwei, a political artist known for anti government feelings portrayed in his works. The actual piece of work is a gigantic number of reproduced over sized sunflower seeds made out of porcelain. The seeds seemingly create an infinite landscape. When the exhibit opened, health concerns became a problem as the constant grinding of the seeds formed a cloud of dust which was deemed unsafe to inhale. Eventually it was decided to not allow guests to walk on the seeds.

Another artist we looked at in detail in this genre was Alan Mcquillan. Alan focused his efforts on the art behind mass production of items. He has tried many different types of production of different products. Alan stated whenever he designed projects he was always thinking about how to show other people on how to mass produce it. One example is him discovering mkany new ways to design and create cookie cutters.

Performance Art and Installation Art

Class Dates: March 2nd

Today we continued our discussion on performance art, and looked into a a few subcategories of performance art. Post performance artists do not get paid for their work, until they gain enough recognition to perform in front of large crowds. Performance art is meant to be extremely unconventional and challenges the way people think. So even in controversy, performance artists are having their work viewed by many people. There are usually 4 criteria to identify performance art: 1)time (long or short) 2)act takes place in space 3)a body 4)some type of interaction with the audience.

One of the first "forms" of performance art was Jackson Pollock's abstract expressionist paintings. He created these works of arts with dripping and splattering paint on canvases that were not necessarily on an easel like traditional paintings. We discussed other performance artist's works including Marina Abramovic, whose career is always shrouded in controversy. When asked about the difference between her work and theater, Marina replied "theater is fake, performance art is entirely real." And nothing can prove this more than Marina's masochistic works such as nailing herself to a cross or being lit on fire in front of an audience.

Performance Art: A Different Type of Art

Class Date: February 28, 2011

Lady Gaga always puts on some type of performance

In class we discussed the difference between performance art and performance arts.  There is a difference between the two and I am sure that not many people are aware of the difference.  Performance art is a type of art in which a performance is presented to an audience.  This can be a range of acts such as eating an apple or doing a sort of dance. Lady Gaga performs some aspects of performance art.  People never see her outside of a costume and she always has to be seen in the same persona, even when she goes out to run errands.

We watched a couple of videos in class that included one artist in particular who created performance art.  The artists name is Matthew Barney and he was in the process of working on a video that was filmed at Saratoga Race Track in Saratoga Springs, New York.  I personally found the video to be weird at first because I didn't see how the difference scenes were supposed to be brought together.  I couldn't really put together the pieces and figure out the meaning behind the video.  This type of work is definitely new to me and I never considered it to be art in the past.  I guess it could be said that directors are artists as well when they direct a movie.  After seeing this video I now feel that all types of directors are artists when they create a film.

Lastly we talked about Joaquin Phoenix's type of performance art he pursued when he was on David Letterman's show.  He came out with a documentary called "I'm Still Here" where he pursued a rap career.  It later came out that this documentary was actually false and Phoenix was acting the entire movie.  He was just living in the idea that he was someone or something different then he actually was.

Mediums and Arts Movements: Minimalism

Class Date: February 21, 2011

In class we discussed various mediums and art movements, particularly minimalism.  This movement was made up as a revolt against other movements.  These types of works feel and look like they are manufactured, meaning that they were not made by a human.  These works are also abstract meaning it is hard to know how to respond to certain works.  Abstraction leaves things open for interpretation, which makes everyone's reaction to the piece different and unique.

Piece done by Robert Ryman

We also watched a video on Robert Ryman, who believes that paintings gives pleasures to others.  There needs to be no background information on the piece for an observer to necessarily enjoy it.  Before he moved to New York, music was the biggest thing in his life and that all changed once he moved.  His love for music translated into painting and allowed him to express himself differently than music.  He works differently, however, and only uses the color white.  He believes that white can do things that normal colors cannot.  I have personally never seen types of work like this before having white paint on surfaces and streamlining essentially what it is.  To me, most of the paintings looked the same.

We then were introduced to Vija Celmins, who took something that is miniature and repainted or duplicated the exact object or image.  She was working on a picture of space that had taken her nearly over a year.  She paints the image until she can articulate it herself.  Celmins enjoys doing this because she likes to feel like a creator.  One time she even found stones and duplicated them herself to look identical.

Movements and Processes

Class Date: February 16

In Wednesday's class we discussed the various movements that have occurred in the visual arts world dating back to the 1950's. The major arts movements of the 1950's were abstract expressionism, lyrical abstraction, New York Figurative, and Bay Area Figurative. The 1960's were marked by a rapid increase in the number of movements. Many attribute this growth to the major advances in media technology during the 1960's , so each movement affected a large audience. Several of the movements, such as abstract expressionism, spanned across several decades. During the 1970's art movements get more descriptive of actual works in the titles. This decade also marks the first appearance of feminist art. The 1980's were a very controversial era, because several art movements began to make use of a previously completed work, and adjusting it in some way to make it unique. The 1990's and 2000's saw the increased usage of technological advances in art. For example many artists began to use computers to formulate works. Cory Arcangel became famous by using computers to show the mistakes made by people attempting to learn how to use new technology. He also created a compiliation of parts of youtube videos that filmed cats stepping on pianos.

In class we also discussed the work of Alison Watt which entailed the fabrics in various artworks. If you separate fabic from what it covers, it takes on its own artform. In the video we watched about her work we learned that she enjoyed working with larger paintings and murals because it actually engulfs the painter, as if you are within the work.

Abject Artist's

Class Date: Monday 2/14

In today's class we discussed several artists in the genre of abject art. The first artist we discussed was Mike Kelley. His pieces of art express the concept of negative aesthetics, or imaging that you would not generally perceive as being aesthetically pleasing. An example would be one piece in which Kelley combined ancient artifacts with a legendary figure such as Santa Clause. The meaning of these peices is shrowd in mystery, allowing every viewer to forumulate a unique perspective of the work.

Another abject artists we discussed in class today was Dash Snow. He can best be described as the artist of New York downtown party scene. His work entailed polaroid pictures of naked drunk party goers in New York City, that have obviously had a few too many drinks. It is the controversial nature of Dash Snow's art that makes it so great. Critiques from all over are attracted to the work of art due to controversial nature, and then formulate an opinion.

The last artist we discussed in class was Gillian Wearing. Similar to Dash Snow, her artwork was also surrounded by much controversy. Her works were "Mass Observation," a form of voyerism in which she would record the interactions between certain groups of people, usually groups that are typically cast out by society. In her most famous work Gillian taped alcoholics of a variety of backgrounds interact among each other. This detatched voyerism was very cotnroversial because it calls into question the concept of privacy and confidentiality.

Conceptual Art Roots: Different from other Art

This is a type of art used for the political function.

In class of 2/9/11, we learned about the roots of conceptual art.  We learned that different cultures and experiences make art different from one individual to another.  There are three functions of art.  The first is personal functions.  This comes from different experiences that an individual might go through that makes them create something based on how they feel.  This function may make sense to one person (especially the one who created it) and may make no sense to another.  The artist may use this function to establish a sense of control over the work.  This was seen in the video we watched in which the artist created certain things based on events that happened to him and how they made him feel.  An example of this was when he make cookies out of his brother's ashes after his brother died.  The second function of art is propaganda.  This function is used for other reasons than to just place in a museum.  There is usually a motive behind these works and they are usually used to make a point or get a certain point across.  The last function of art is political and this is used to help an artist portray certain messages that a politician may want to get across.  An example of this is the Uncle Sam poster created to try and get people to enlist in the army.

Just Pathetic: Michael Wilson on Sore Winners.

Art often has the misconception of being a beautiful sculpture or painting created by an incredibly skilled artisan. From the late 1980's into the mid 1990's a new movement of art arrived, "abject art." The term abjection is defined as "the state of being cast off." This form of art expresses the feelings and emotions stemming from failure and not fitting in with societal normality.

I found these works of art to be incredibly interesting. By being part of an "anti movement" the artists creating abject art were attempting to express incredibly unique concepts, never before attempted. Many critiques label these artworks as shamelessly adolescent, but I feel this is no reason to discredit the immense amount of thought and talent required to create these works. Abject artists are not attempting to get the approval of every single critique, in fact they are attempting to do the complete opposite. By having people make comparisons to the more traditional art forms, abject art is successfully establishing itself as a counter movement to society.

Marcel Duchamp Toilet and Contemporary Art

Today in class we talked about contemporary art.  First we started off with pictures of people view various forms of art.  This was both interesting and confusing to me at first because I didn't realize how people could put this as a form of art.  I then realized that some of the responses to pieces of art were very unique and interesting and could see how some people liked the pictures.  I really liked this idea because it showed people of all ages responses and you could tell who liked the art and what the art did for them.

We then discussed the different types of art and this was a real surprise to me because I never thought that there were so many different types of art.  I didn't know how much impressionism was from modern or contemporary art.  I have a friend that loves art and she always talks about how much the classes she takes move her based on the type of art she studies at the time.  I know understand where she is coming from after seeing all the different types of art and all the reactions from the people.

Conceptual Art is what exactly you see and you shouldn't have to think about what it means.  We saw a type of conceptual art by Marcel Duchamp where he took a urinal and made it into art.  This was very different for me because I would never think that a toilet could be some type of art.  The critic from the movie we watched was extremely funny with his responses talking about what the urinal actually meant.  I guess now after todays class that I realize how different pieces of art can be from one to another and how different the meanings can be.

(Post was from class on January 26, 2011.  I hit save instead of publish post and just realized.)

Enter the Dragon: On the Vernacular of Beauty

I found this piece to be interesting in many ways.  The first thing that popped out in this article was when the people said that "beauty" was "the corruption of the market".  This was surprising to me because I would never think of beauty as a corruption to anything.  I feel that beauty only makes things better and gives meaning to them.  I didn't understand how they could call it the corruption of the market when it essentially expanded the market.  The second piece of the story that was interesting to me was the fact that there is essentially a story behind beauty and how that story came to be.  The last thing that interested me was the fact that the story continues to be written and will continue to advance and be an instrument for change. 

Art in 200 words

Art cannot me described by one absolute definition. I feel this way because every individual is entitled to hold his/her own opinion on what is art and what is not art. Everybody's mind functions in a unique way which will formulate a perspective of the world. So what one person believes is an incredible piece of art, another may feel is not art at all. For example, a sports enthusiast may believe that the golf swing is a work of art, a specific set of movement that has propelled a man to become the most dominant g0lfer of all time. Someone else may be entirely unimpressed and view this swing is merely a man hitting a small white ball with a piece of steel.

I personally feel art is anything that shows the skill and concerted effort of a human being. This definition would encompass far more than classical forms of art such as paintings or sculptures. Art does not need to be tangible, because something does not need physical substance to express an emotion. Just about anything can be justified as art if viewed from a certain perspective. Art does not necessarily need to be beautiful or widely accepted as being art.

Art In 200 Words

Art is something that someone creates and is very individualistic and personal.  One may create something differently than how I would.  When I think of art I think of something beautiful that gives me feelings based on what it is.  I feel that art can be made out of anything and anyone can make art.  It makes me wonder the meaning behind the piece of art.  There does not need to be a meaning behind it and it can be something as simple as a desk or chair.  Art is all over.  Sometimes art changes my mood depending what it is.  I think that art is a large part of everyone's lives but most people stop to think about it and do not pay attention to it.  Many people may say we could live without art in this world but what would a world without art look like.  Many people do not appreciate certain things as art but I believe that art can be made out of everything and anything.  What I feel about one piece may be different than the person standing next to me as well and it may make them feel the complete opposite of the way I feel.