This quarter, I visited the Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch exhibit at the VMFA. I had heard of both artists before but had never really seen their work except pictures of The Scream (1893) by Munch online. Each artist had a completely different body of work so it was really interesting to see how the curator chose to present the pieces together in one show. Jasper Johns repeated the same subject matter frequently in his paintings and focused on the same patterns. I admired this repetition because it clearly allowed him to perfect his body of work and really tune in to his use of color and mark. However, I did prefer Munch's work a little more. His body of work was more varied and I especially liked his self portraits. He explored numerous mediums and subjects but there was always an underlying theme of sadness. He was the definition of the "troubled artist" and this shone through a lot of his work. I was not incredibly in love with either artists' work but I really enjoyed the exhibit.
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This quarter’s topic was public art. I had no clue what this even was and I kind of mixed it up with social practice art. I was hoping to get a definite answer as to what social practice art is from either one of these articles but neither completely explained what it is. Both the articles written by Brooke Kamin Rapaport and Rachel Cooke expressed each author’s love for the art form. They only really explain how public art is a good thing, not what it entails. From what I’ve read, public art is art that is in a public space, as opposed to a gallery, and is funded by the government. All aspects of public art are controversial because not everyone is happy with every decision made about it. One of the biggest debates is that some people claim that the money could have been better spent elsewhere. There is no right or wrong answer in this situation because it is tricky--there will be people complaining no matter where money goes towards. Another controversy regarding public art is why the art cannot just be in a gallery. Cooke writes “ Its great virtue – its chief virtue – is that it is just there: you do not have to choose to see it; you must wander no hushed gallery to find it.” Public art is a difference experience than “private” art. It is intended to be within a public space for a reason. Sometimes, it is created to specifically compliment the space. Cooke also argues that “Like points on a compass, they were a way of seeing your city.” From how I interpreted it, she is talking about these public art pieces as if they are monuments. They are similar to murals, however they take up space. People also argue about what the art looks like. Someone always has something negative to say about a piece after it is created and the money is spent. John Willenbecher, a man who responded to Rapaport’s article, says that “Art intended to be permanent is another matter entirely and great care ought be taken before it is approved.” I agree with this, especially because the art is in an open area. I think these pieces can be more strictly regulated because everyone will see them whether they want to or not. I like the idea of art causing an impact on the community like this but it is very hard to manage and plan.
Bertie Gilbert has been one of my inspirations for years. He is a 19 year old filmmaker who posts his work on YouTube. When I was younger, I made a lot of short films with friends. I loved editing it and making everything perfectly the way I wanted it to be. Bertie's films are honestly incredible. He is not that much older than I am so he makes me feel like I can do great things even though I'm young. All of his films are beautifully artistic and the meanings behind all of them are so personal and touching. His favorite film of mine is one called "Tick Where It Hurts" which is about a teenager trying to cope with the death of his older brother. He just recently came out with a short film called "Playground" which is what inspired me to write my awareness post about him. The style of this film is very different from his others because it has a lot of silly and playful elements in it but the mood is still quite serious. Most of his sad short films make me cry because he is incredible at making the viewer feel connected with the characters. In a way, Bertie's work has inspired me to test out filmmaking which is why I'm taking the digital video seminar next year.
Here are some posters for his films: *Disclaimer: Weebly deleted this post so I had to rewrite it last minute and it's not as good I'm sorry
Social practice art is not my favorite type of art. I think there is a fine line between doing things for your community and social practice art. This leads to the ultimate question of "What is art?". In the end, art is art if the creator of the work makes it with the intention of being art. When I first heard about the row house project, I thought it was dumb. I didn't know why someone was restoring houses and calling it art. In my mind, I felt as though the artist wanted his name to be known for doing something nice and calling it art. After I read this article, I realized that it pertained more to art than I thought. The artist was restoring these houses and turning them into artistic and cultural hubs. I liked this piece more than others, like Mel Chin's work that addressed the issue of lead poisoning. Although I do think something needs to be done about lead poisoning, I'm not sure if his attempt at finding a solution is really art. Why does it have to be an art project? Why can't he just do this without making it art? I guess it confuses me why this needs to be art and what the purpose behind it being art is. I am open to other opinions but as of right now, social practice art is a little strange to me. Lee is one of my friend's favorite artists. My friend wrote about her for an anthology entry and I asked her who Lee was. She informed me that Lee is the artist that made this weird holey fabric piece that is at the VMFA. This piece has honestly always creeped me out for some reason but I decided to look at some of her other work. A lot of her work has the same theme of big holes made out of fabric and presumably wire. It has a very industrial feel to it and even makes me think of space for some reason. I really appreciate her work because I think it is incredibly creative. I've personally never seen any art like it before, especially pieces that hang on the wall like most of Lee's. The theme throughout all of her work remains the same and you can immediately tell which pieces are her's. She has also made giant mobiles and even porcelain fish. Although her work is not my favorite, I think she is a fantastic artist. I hope to one day have a body of work that is as cohesive as her's.
In November, I went on a trip to Philadelphia for college tours. Since I had some free time, I decided to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I had been once before on last year's art spring break trip but this time they had a special exhibit on Mexican Modernism. I was instantly super excited to see this exhibit because I usually don't see foreign art trends very often. The collection of works was huge- it had everything from photographs to paintings and prints. I thought it was really interesting seeing how Mexican modernism is different from American modernism. There was so much variation even within the exhibit and it was fantastic. A lot of the art portrayed a lot of Mexican culture. I personally think Mexican modernist art does a better portrayal of this culture than American modernist art does of American culture. Either way, the works were beautiful and I'm really glad I got to see such a cool exhibition.
This quarter I did not get out to see an entirely new exhibit, but I did get the chance to visit the VMFA and just walk around. The gallery I spent the most time in was the Mid to Late 20th century art. I went here because I felt like this was one of the more appropriate places for me to go in terms of the kind of art that I am currently making. This also happens to be one of my favorite galleries there! Since I already know what most if not all of the pieces look like, on this trip I focused on looking at the surfaces of the paintings. My watercolor paintings have no surface, but texture is something I'm looking forward to including in a piece of mine. I realized that I like varying levels of texture, not just one uniform texture unless the piece is completely flat or smooth. I think that texture really helps to add depth to a painting, which is also something I have been trying to achieve. I have been trying to think of what materials I should use to make my watercolor paintings more textured without making them look too heavy. I like the light and airy look they have now and I don't want to mess with that. This is an ongoing question, because most of the pieces in that gallery with texture used thick acrylic. Going to a gallery you've already been to before and focusing on something specific within the works is actually a very valuable and informing experience!
For this awareness post I'm going to mix it up and talk about an artist that I dislike! Recently I've been trying to find more local artists that have a sort of abstract/expressionist/non-objective body of work. Along this journey I ran across Inge Strack so I went to her website to check out her work. Immediately I disliked her paintings. This sounds harsh, but I think it can be a good think to know what kind of art I dislike so I can focus on making art that isn't like it. Personally, I think her work is very childish. It includes a lot of bright colors that I do not think look nice together and her compositions and subjects also seem childish to me. Her craftsmanship is incredible I simply dislike the overall vibe of her paintings. Also, I feel like her pieces have too much texture. Texture is great, but her entire paintings are covered with the same pattern of texture that makes it look like she painted on a surface that was already like that. She definitely put work into her art and if she has a passion for it then I applaud her for pursuing her dreams. I simply just don't like her work.
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AuthorGrace Barron Archives
June 2018
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