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.