Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thinking about the film...
The question asks if artists are monks. I believe that they are similar in the way that they must sometimes have to live under certain restrictions like monks do. Not in a religious way, but as artists, although we make work that is attractive or makes sense to us, at least in art school, we have to aim to please a group of people in order to achieve as a student. For example, one thing I dislike doing is drawing from life, especially on projects where I want a specific pose that is sometimes hard to find the right circumstances to situate. Also, like monks, a lot of times artists live under poverty. So in these types of ways, I feel that monks and artists are similar.
"It's peaceful in this temple, but outside it is turbulent." This quote about Shaolin in relation to art school makes me think of ways they are similar. Like in the temple, in art school we are all working toward a common goal. We try to help and encourage each other in order for each of us to grow. It is a challenge, but it is also a safe place because we know that our actions are not going to make or break us. In the real world though, (outside the temple) failure is not taken so forgivingly. Especially in the art world, we must aim to please the public in order to make it as a career. In the movie, the temple is a place where the monks work together in order to achieve a common goal. But the world outside for them is much more intimidating.
In art, "to challenge the master" stands for the struggle that we face as artists. The task is not only to make work that is attractive to ourselves but we must also impress society. As an artist aspiring to make a living, one must be a sort of people pleaser in a sense that we have to conform to the likes and dislikes of the public. The quote could also mean that we have to challenge ourselves, or to challenge what has already been done and to push it further. In any case, we face challenges as artists to please a mass number of people.
To me, making art after school will be very different. I have only experienced foundation year, where in a sense we have no choice but to take certain classes that may be below our common interests. In some ways, this is very limiting to what making art in the real world will be like. But when I compare the two, I know that making art after we graduate will allow a lot more freedom. I am looking forward to it, but the idea of complete freedom and no restrictions is also an intimidating factor, but I look forward to it nonetheless!
"It's peaceful in this temple, but outside it is turbulent." This quote about Shaolin in relation to art school makes me think of ways they are similar. Like in the temple, in art school we are all working toward a common goal. We try to help and encourage each other in order for each of us to grow. It is a challenge, but it is also a safe place because we know that our actions are not going to make or break us. In the real world though, (outside the temple) failure is not taken so forgivingly. Especially in the art world, we must aim to please the public in order to make it as a career. In the movie, the temple is a place where the monks work together in order to achieve a common goal. But the world outside for them is much more intimidating.
In art, "to challenge the master" stands for the struggle that we face as artists. The task is not only to make work that is attractive to ourselves but we must also impress society. As an artist aspiring to make a living, one must be a sort of people pleaser in a sense that we have to conform to the likes and dislikes of the public. The quote could also mean that we have to challenge ourselves, or to challenge what has already been done and to push it further. In any case, we face challenges as artists to please a mass number of people.
To me, making art after school will be very different. I have only experienced foundation year, where in a sense we have no choice but to take certain classes that may be below our common interests. In some ways, this is very limiting to what making art in the real world will be like. But when I compare the two, I know that making art after we graduate will allow a lot more freedom. I am looking forward to it, but the idea of complete freedom and no restrictions is also an intimidating factor, but I look forward to it nonetheless!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
John Armleder
Essay Response
John Armleder’s art never looks quite like itself. He produces works that can be categorized by multiple types of modern movements. He incorporates others’ works into his ideas and makes them his own. Aermleder likes the fact that people see his artwork in such a varied way. He certainly does not dwell on it, nor does he worry about what other people think of his art, because even he doesn’t know quite what he thinks of it either. It changes over time and he’s never believed that what he thinks about his own work has anything to do with the work itself. Whether the actual artist himself, or an outside viewer, each person will have their own subjective opinion about each different piece of art that they see, so worrying about each person’s thought is a meaningless way to spend time. He claims that successful art will depend on its capacity to co-op an existing situation and to have it be co-oped in return. He is happy to see people recreate his work for their own use.
Armleder has been criticized for his sometimes “generic” ideas, through what he represents as geometric forms and flat colors. He claims that if an artwork were completely generic, it wouldn’t exist at all. But if you’re planning to make art with some pre-conceived idea, you are going to have to align yourself with some sort of precedent, so you will in fact be constrained to some degree. But if a work seems familiar and unsatisfying to the viewer in being easily registered from the start, then it would be pointless to make and consequently, very boring. In trying to expand art and come up with new visual experiences, Armleder finds challenges at times in expressing that it sometimes feels like everything has been done. He realizes that it’s okay to make works that look like things that have been done before. If you enjoy that type of art, then that is enough of a reason to keep creating them. To summarize: if you see something you like, expand it and make it your own.
At one point in the interview, the term “pseudointelligent” is used as a way of making art. “Pseudo” can be described as not genuine, or something that is trying and failing to be smart. It relates to Armleder’s example of dumping ready-made objects in a room as if they’re meant to be thrown out. Ideas like this lack sophistication, according to Armleder, so he pushes his work to a higher level of academic premise. But interviewer Fabrice Stroun points out that while a show of Armleder’s at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris had simpler works, while a recent exhibitions at Caratch was pushed to the point of absurdity. Armleder compares this thought to the fact that Fluxus artists were not opposed to having their works come off as a joke or something that deserved veneration. He feels that if you view something as completely serious or completely ironic, you’re missing it altogether. I think of Jeff Koons’ art in relation to this theory and I disagree. Koons aims to actually make fun of people through his work by confusing them at a first glance. I think it’s an interesting way of trying to get through to people but I don’t necessarily think it makes great visual art. I like art that gives me a certain feeling through colors and space. But if it confuses me, I just get frustrated because I do not grasp the concept. There is not always a plaque next to the work that explains its meaning. So if a piece of art does not mean something to the viewer, they might just lose interest of finding out what it means if anything at all.
After reading about Armleder for the first time, I kept comparing to other artists. I think it is peculiar that he doesn’t just stick to one type of style, and in a way I find that problematic. It seems like he is just all over the place and I wish he would stick to something that helps him to really make a name for himself. I gather from the article that he seems to just take other artists’ ideas and “piggy-back” off of their ideas. To be as big of an artist as he seems to wish, I think he should stick with one thing and really push it to the next level. That way, people can start recognizing his work overall and he will have the same people coming back to see it again and again to revisit his style of art. If it’s always different then people may have a lukewarm attitude towards him overall because he may succeed sometimes while other times he may not.
John Armleder’s art never looks quite like itself. He produces works that can be categorized by multiple types of modern movements. He incorporates others’ works into his ideas and makes them his own. Aermleder likes the fact that people see his artwork in such a varied way. He certainly does not dwell on it, nor does he worry about what other people think of his art, because even he doesn’t know quite what he thinks of it either. It changes over time and he’s never believed that what he thinks about his own work has anything to do with the work itself. Whether the actual artist himself, or an outside viewer, each person will have their own subjective opinion about each different piece of art that they see, so worrying about each person’s thought is a meaningless way to spend time. He claims that successful art will depend on its capacity to co-op an existing situation and to have it be co-oped in return. He is happy to see people recreate his work for their own use.
Armleder has been criticized for his sometimes “generic” ideas, through what he represents as geometric forms and flat colors. He claims that if an artwork were completely generic, it wouldn’t exist at all. But if you’re planning to make art with some pre-conceived idea, you are going to have to align yourself with some sort of precedent, so you will in fact be constrained to some degree. But if a work seems familiar and unsatisfying to the viewer in being easily registered from the start, then it would be pointless to make and consequently, very boring. In trying to expand art and come up with new visual experiences, Armleder finds challenges at times in expressing that it sometimes feels like everything has been done. He realizes that it’s okay to make works that look like things that have been done before. If you enjoy that type of art, then that is enough of a reason to keep creating them. To summarize: if you see something you like, expand it and make it your own.
At one point in the interview, the term “pseudointelligent” is used as a way of making art. “Pseudo” can be described as not genuine, or something that is trying and failing to be smart. It relates to Armleder’s example of dumping ready-made objects in a room as if they’re meant to be thrown out. Ideas like this lack sophistication, according to Armleder, so he pushes his work to a higher level of academic premise. But interviewer Fabrice Stroun points out that while a show of Armleder’s at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris had simpler works, while a recent exhibitions at Caratch was pushed to the point of absurdity. Armleder compares this thought to the fact that Fluxus artists were not opposed to having their works come off as a joke or something that deserved veneration. He feels that if you view something as completely serious or completely ironic, you’re missing it altogether. I think of Jeff Koons’ art in relation to this theory and I disagree. Koons aims to actually make fun of people through his work by confusing them at a first glance. I think it’s an interesting way of trying to get through to people but I don’t necessarily think it makes great visual art. I like art that gives me a certain feeling through colors and space. But if it confuses me, I just get frustrated because I do not grasp the concept. There is not always a plaque next to the work that explains its meaning. So if a piece of art does not mean something to the viewer, they might just lose interest of finding out what it means if anything at all.
After reading about Armleder for the first time, I kept comparing to other artists. I think it is peculiar that he doesn’t just stick to one type of style, and in a way I find that problematic. It seems like he is just all over the place and I wish he would stick to something that helps him to really make a name for himself. I gather from the article that he seems to just take other artists’ ideas and “piggy-back” off of their ideas. To be as big of an artist as he seems to wish, I think he should stick with one thing and really push it to the next level. That way, people can start recognizing his work overall and he will have the same people coming back to see it again and again to revisit his style of art. If it’s always different then people may have a lukewarm attitude towards him overall because he may succeed sometimes while other times he may not.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Emily Rooney Exhibition
Thursday March 17, our class took a trip downstairs to the exhibition by Emily Rooney. I was intrigued right away, because I expected a gallery of paintings and "pretty" art like galleries I have seen in the past. But this one was a lot more complex and fascinating than that. I specifically remember what looked like a duster but had a label "Sephora" on it which made me compare it to the idea of beauty versus filth. I also remember grapes covered in a harness, which left me puzzled because I could not find a connection between the two. I think this artist may not have had a goal for that but in my mind, I prefer to make sense of art and for it to be logical, so maybe my thoughts were invented in my own mind and not intended by her. The music also intrigued me because it went well with the mystical atmosphere of the ambiguous art. The exhibition was a brand new experience that I have never really been around and I am glad I got to see it.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Opinion of Video
Two mondays ago, we watched a video in class that explained the lawsuit between a young girl whose photo was shown without her consent in a cell phone ad that was widely displayed. As the young girl and her family argued that it wasn't right to display the photograph without her consent, the cell phone company brought up the risk of the internet. I agree with the girl and her family. If my face is going to be plastered all over town, I want a say in what the picture looks like, where it is being shown and how much I would get paid for it. I definitely think the girl should have been paid, because in that case, she potentially could have been a large part of their sales revenue. Also, the girl was religious, and the ad was not exactly G rated. Although it was not offensive, it almost had a sexual air about it, since the cell phone company was Virgin Mobile. That being said, I think that if any company wants to use a picture that someone else has ownership over, the right thing to do is to ask permission of that person, because they have every right to their own privacy.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
PMA Week 6
This week, our assignment was to go back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and find a piece to do ten sketches on. Since I couldn't make it to the PMA last week, I made sure I found time to go this week. My Tuesday 3D class was canceled because of the 3D Olympics so Tuesday was wide open for me. I took a day trip by myself to the PMA which at first I was a little worried about because I wasn't sure how to get there via subway. But it was a nice afternoon, and though a lot of walking was required from City Hall to the PMA, it was all worth it.
Once I got there, I ventured into the European galleries, that held many works by Mone and Renoir in particular. One piece jumped out at me though, especially, mainly because of its size and color choice. The piece is called "The Large Bathers" (1884-1887). The sculptural rendering of the figures against a sparkling background and the careful application of dry paint reflect the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century French painting. Renoir labored over this work for three years, making numerous preparatory drawings for individual figures and at least two full-scale multifigure drawings. Faced with criticism of his new style after completing The Large Bathers, an exhausted Renoir never again devoted such painstaking effort to a single work.
Once I got there, I ventured into the European galleries, that held many works by Mone and Renoir in particular. One piece jumped out at me though, especially, mainly because of its size and color choice. The piece is called "The Large Bathers" (1884-1887). The sculptural rendering of the figures against a sparkling background and the careful application of dry paint reflect the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century French painting. Renoir labored over this work for three years, making numerous preparatory drawings for individual figures and at least two full-scale multifigure drawings. Faced with criticism of his new style after completing The Large Bathers, an exhausted Renoir never again devoted such painstaking effort to a single work.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Desire by Simon Bull
Over the weekend, I went home to visit friends and family that I had not seen in a long time. Even though I only live 45 minutes away, it’s hard to find time to get home since I am so busy with my work. Once I arrived in Bucks County, my mom and I decided to take a nice day trip together to a place called Peddler’s Village, a moderate sized collection of unique stores and boutiques in Lahaska, Bucks County. Peddler’s Village has a wide range of art galleries, but the one that stands out in my mind was a place called Lighthouse Galleries. A lot of the art there inspired me through color, because they had a lot of work by an artist by the name of Simon Bull. His style really spoke to me because I love flowers and bright colors, and that combination really satisfied me in his work.
Though it was hard to choose which painting to write about, I decided on a floral piece called Desire. When I first set eyes on it, I couldn’t look away for some time. It gave me a feeling of peace because it was easy on my eyes and the color combination was very attractive. Red is one of my favorite colors because of its richness and brightness, and Bull uses the red in a way that satisfied me. The acrylic painting has a good balance of warm and cool colors that work well for the meaning of the piece. I love when an artist uses the whole palate in a way that works for the message of the piece. Since the piece is called Desire, I think that the rich colors really evoke that emotion.
Someone who doesn’t understand art might look at this work and wonder how a flower evokes an emotion such as desire. I know that an emotion can be evoked through much more than the object itself. In this case, the rich deep tones express the feeling much more than the actual flower. I appreciate that, because I just did a project in 2D exploring this technique. We had to use a simple object and evoke an emotion solely through color. I found it to be a good challenge since the object itself was simply a vase, and I was aiming to show loneliness through color only. I used deep blues, purples and greens mixed with blacks and grays. I feel as though it showed some sort of sad emotion, but it was hard to zero in on loneliness specifically. So this is another way that I appreciate Bull’s painting, because I understand how challenging it is to convey an emotion. If this piece was a yellow flower with a warm colored background, it would change the message completely. But since the title is Desire, I see a connection between the meaning of the word itself and the bright, sexy aura that the color red portrays. The use of darks, particularly black and the dark purples, help to portray a yearning feeling.
The more I examine this piece as I’m writing about it I like it even more. I really get an exciting feeling through the combination of colors, that I rarely get from paintings I see every day. It may be because I am partial to bright colors, but I also appreciate the balance of the added blacks and other darks. It really makes the red pop even more. And the orange that is added to the red also makes it more interesting to look at. I notice that Bull uses rainbow in an effective way. He experiments with color and uses them in a good proportion. If all of the colors he uses in his piece were used to an equivalent degree, the painting would read differently. He uses red and/or red-orange in about three quarters of the piece, but balances it out with strokes of greens, yellows, blues, purples and blacks. You can tell this artist is very passionate about his craft because he shows it through color in multiple pieces I saw at the gallery. I am now a fan of Simon Bull, and I have bookmarked his page on my computer. I hope to see more art like his that speaks to me in such a way through color; I’m more than excited that I discovered him.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
30 Pictures/5 Sketches
Saturday afternoon I spent part of the day taking pictures in Rittenhouse Square by Walnut Street. It was a great experience because I have never really spent time looking around the area, and it helped me see things more artistically by taking an abundance of photos from different angles and perspectives. I took all different types of pictures from landscapes to closeups. When I have a responsibility to take a lot of pictures I start learning how to see things more creatively and think up newer ideas for photographs. It helped me to grow artistically, and in doing so, I had an enjoyable afternoon.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Response to Quote by Lawrence Weiner
It's a little extreme but I do feel that some pieces of art are indelible from your mind and can move one into creating a certain type of style. Certain art is very inspirational and it can make a huge impact on people's way of thinking; other art is pretty to look at but may have no strong meaning to the viewer. This quote talks about art of the world as a whole, where each piece is in a different circumstance, in relation to how it effects it's viewers.
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