Collecting

In the last class we discussed collecting and how it relates to art.  Collecting is done by various people and places. You can find collections of art work in museums,  galleries and on websites.  Collecting is also done on a personal basis.  Private dealers, wealthy individuals and everyday people all collect art as well.  We looked at Judith Greer, who was a wealthy art collector.  She collected artwork from various places such as the Frieze Art Fair.  She was an avid art collector, who appreciated and and loved the artwork she purchased. We then looked at Herb and Dorthy, who were different in that they were art collectors who did not have money.  They bought art that was reasonable in price and that they loved.  They didn't choose the artwork they bought based on how famous the artist was or the type of artwork that was popular at the time.  They started collecting in 1962 and unlike many art collectors in dealers were not in it for the money and investment.  They appreciated the artwork they bought, which was usually minimal, conceptual and abstract artwork, done by new and upcoming artists.  Their collection by the early 2000s was estimated to be worth around 9 million dollars.  Instead of selling their collection and profiting off of it, they gave it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  Many art collectors have a passion, appreciation and a love of art, there are those who are in it for the profit, which has over time been increasingly more of a common practice.

If I were to collect artwork I would look not at who the artist was, how much it was worth, or the investment.  For me, I would choose the art that I felt was the most beautiful, the art that I considered reflected the artists talent and creativity.  I would also consider how the piece of artwork made me feel and what it was expressing.  I believe it is important to not look at artwork based on the popularity of the type of work at the time, the artists status in the art world and the investment a piece of work might have.






Mia Powers

Installation Art: Fred Wilson

Fred Wilson:

Curates installations for his art.  His work focuses on cross cultural pieces, also on history, tradition and ethnicity.  He displays objects together that are related in various ways, whether its the time in history they are from, the places, or objects from different cultures who he is referring to.

Mia Powers

Movement of Installation Art

Installation art can include various arrangements of objects in any type of space.  Every piece of Installation art is different.  In contemporary installation art, pieces focus on the viewers experience.  Many types of installation pieces present views of the artist, and shows significant points to their lives, which are shown through objects.  Installation art varies within the space which is being used, the way its used and the difference in objects used.  Presenting objects unusually and the space between certain objects is an important part of creating installation art.  Artists use it as a means to connect to memories or specific events of times in history.  Installation art can be made up of any medium (sculpture, film, painting etc.) and is always influenced by different things.  Song Dong is an artist who used his life and all the belongings in his mothers house to create a space in a Museum Of Modern Art that mimicked his home.  "Waste Not" Image Below...

We also discussed different kinds of Installation Art as we looked at Turbine Hall and many of the works displayed there in the past and present.  We looked at artists such as, Doris Salcedo (crack in the floor, symbolized experience of unwelcome immigrants, racial hatred, social vs. politics) Ai Wei Wei (100 million porcelain sunflower seeds, currently displayed in Turbine Hall, also shows connection with politics and culture).

In my opinion Installation art is a great way to preserve history, but I don't believe I would consider it to be one of my favorite types of artwork.

Mia Powers

Richard Prince

Richard Prince is an American photographer and painter. In 1975, Prince began forming collages that had photographs in them. This is known as appropriation art. His re-photographed image, Cowboys, assembled from cigarette advertisements was the first re-photographed image to sell for above a million dollars.

Cowboys.

Kelly Salamack

Vija Clemins

The interesting thing about Vija Clemins artwork is that she uses many different types of media, such as, pencil, charcoal, oil paints, printing and sculpting. Most of her early work consisted of pictures of lamps, heaters, and TV's. She was said to pick her objects at random. However, she is best known for her later drawings of powerfully realistic images such as, the ocean and night sky.

For this image she used graphite as her medium.
What I most appreciate about her work is that these images are so plain but they really let the viewer get lost in the painting. Everyone can interpret their own feelings or meaning when they look at art like this. 

Kelly Salamack

Bruce Nauman

Bruce Nauman is a contemporary artist that found his passion for art in college. He set up video cameras in his studio and recorded mice activity. He believed that you need to not watch anything so you can be aware of everything. He also saw that any act in his studio was a work of art. For me, I don't really understand Bruce Nauman's artwork. It tends to seem extremely random, however, it draws an interest because it is so random. Some of his artwork includes:

Kelly Salamack

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst is an English artist and is allegedly Britain's richest living artist. Hirst's most well known piece of artwork is the Shark. He injected a tiger shark with formaldehyde and put it in a glass box so that you could see the entire animal. Hirst taps into human emotion and causes the viewer to think about life and mortality. 

"Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way, 2007. Stainless steel and glass cabinet with painted resin, plaster and cast metal pills" 

"Keep it Spotless"

Kelly Salamack

Arthur C. Danto

Arthur C. Danto was an art critic in the 1980’s. Danto’s was also a professor of philosophy and his theories stated that art is ever changing and controversial. He is best known as a significant art critic and much of his work was done in the Nation. Danto’s epiphany was that anything can be art and he invented the term “artworld”.  “Artworld” can be described by “an atmosphere of art theory”. 

Kelly Salamack

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was a french artist whose art influenced growth of post World-War 1 Western Art. He counseled modern art collectors thereby shaping some of the tastes of Western Art. Duchamp opened doors for many artists and some of his most controversial works of art were: Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 and Etant Donnes.

Kelly Salamack

Installation Art

Installation Art:  Focuses on the viewers experiences
-presenting objects unusually
-objects placed in a certain amount of space
-artists use installation art as a means to connect to memories, history etc.
-it can be composed of many different mediums (film,photographs, objects, sculptures, painting etc.)
-the actual work of art is the room (space) in which the viewer enters
-arrangement of objects in one place
-this art is diverse, can be created in many different ways

2 examples:
 Damien Hurst: "Pharmacy"
Song Dong: "Waste Not"

Another example: John Dahlsen (environmental artist and contemporary painter)

"Multi Coloured Plastic Installation"
http://www.johndahlsen.com/detail_installation_art/multi_colour_install.html

Description: Size: Price: These Installation art works are a combination of two primary elements that make up my recent work.The wall works are large scale high resolution digital prints on canvas. The floor piece is made from the found plastics. One mimicking the other. .3m (h) x 4m (w) x .4m. (d) (Found plastics) 1 m (h) x 3 m (w) (canvas) $14,000

Mia Powers

Marina Abramovic

Videos of Marina Abramovic's Performance Art: Information of her life, cultural background in parts of these videos...

In my opinion Marina Abramovic crosses many of the boundaries that no other artist would even attempt to cross. Performance art, I believe, effects the viewers response and feelings more dramatically than any other type of art. Her performances exhibit the extreme risks that she takes as she makes her art come to life and interact with the people surrounding her.  I believe in many ways the art she creates, is in itself the viewers reactions to certain situations and the interaction with each individual.  I think that the peoples response with the interaction of her performance art is the art, the peoples emotions from her actions is the art she is creating.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9-HVwEbdCo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GD5PBK_Bto&NR=1





Mia Powers

Ann Hamilton and Matthew Barney

Ann Hamilton and Matthew Barney are both artists who blend art forms.  In contemporary art today, it is not always easy to identify and recognize the techniques and mediums artists use.  These artists use multiple types of mediums and styles in their artwork.  Both have different processes and use different mediums, although some of their artwork is similar.

  I believe that both these artists show how art has evolved and the realm of what is considered art has and will keep expanding.  This art is very interesting and I respect both of these artists for the amount of creative thought and the collective talent of different types of art they use in their processes.


Ann:


-works alone
-combines different types of acting
-uses photos, water, fabrics, light, film etc.
-her focus is on the five senses and how they relate to each other
-she creates videos

http://www.sfmoma.org/multimedia/videos/265 : "Creating Indigo Blue" Ann Hamilton (explains research and creation of he piece of work Indigo Blue)

Matthew:


-photography, film(theatrical)
-combination of videos, installation art, theater, music, fine arts, sculpture
-produces props for films, creates costumes
-focuses on the body and journey (story)
-5 movies:

 "Cremmaster" (levels of understanding, no straight forward understanding)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJfI1LRK0tc : interview with Matthew Barney.


Mia Powers

Appropriation Art (Censorship and Controversy): Shepard Fairy and Glenn Brown

Last class we discussed Appropriation Art.  Appropriation art is art, created from images, from photos, and magazines etc.   It reuses objects and culture to develop new art that mimics old art or objects that have already been created in the past.  There are many copyright issues that come along with appropriation art: Artists artwork vs. ownership of original piece of works.  Art forgery is a problem when artists recreate art to make it their own, but there can be issues about how much a piece of art has been altered to make it different enough from the original.  Shepard Fairy, is an artist who ran into copyright issues after using a picture that was not his.  The picture of Obama he used was taken by someone in the association press.  Fairy changed the tilt of Obama's head and the colors, but this was not enough to not be sued by the person who had taken the photo.  It would have also been acceptable it he drew the picture and then from his drawing to create his work.  Marcel Duchamp in earlier art, also ran into copyright issues when he did his ready mades, including the Fountain.  Glenn Brown is an appropriation artist as well.  Develops his work from old, famous paintings.  He takes images of that are well known from different sources like postcards, calenders, online images (etc.). He then combines all these into one paintings into one.

Shepard Fairy: Not as much of a drastic transformation in creating his artwork as Glenn Brown.

 Altered a photograph of Obama.  He argued he changed the position of Obama's head slightly, when he used the photo to create his piece.

Glenn Brown: Changes and recreates a piece of work from the past.  Expresses that transformation and translation of historical paintings throughout history is a form of decay.

Makes his artwork his own (borrows imagery), looks at the differences in one piece of work (diff. images of same work makes his own art), paints a picture of how a piece of work has been distorted through time.

Glenn Brown's artwork reminds me of the way the Mona lIsa has been mass reproduced and has been altered.
I believe Glenn Brown is incredibly talented.  I have appreciation for his artwork because it recognizes changes within the art world which have distorted amazing artworks from the past.  I believe he is an important artist in contemporary society.  Unlike Shepard Fairy who basically mimics photos and other pieces of art, I believe that Brown has much more talent and does not mimic other artworks, but changes them so dramatically to express the importance of not altering original pieces of artwork.






Mia Powers

Lari Pittman

I choose to research Lari Pittman after I came across one of his paintings done in 1994, “Untitled #32 (A Decorated Chronology of Insistence and Resignation).”  He used acrylic, enamel, and glitter on panel.

 I choose this painting to research because I found it very unusual and didn’t quite understand what the painting meant.  I thought the painting was hard to understand when I didn’t know anything about the artist or his artwork.  Pittman’s inspiration comes from comercial advertising and folk art.  His process of painting is very unique.  He layers his paintings to create detailed and complex scenes.  His paintings are very different and make you think. Pittman’s work can mean various things for viewers.  “His paintings and drawings are a personal rebellion against rigid, puritanical dichotomies. They demonstrate the complementary nature of beauty and suffering, pain and pleasure, and direct the viewer’s attention to bittersweet experiences and the value of sentimentality in art.” (pbs.org).

This painting intrigued me because I included so much symbolism. For me the painting represented the negative side of money in our culture.  My impression of the painting was that it was a reflection of the importance of money in today’s society, and how it shapes our lives negatively. There are many images layered on top of one another, but what stood out at me was female eyes, red hand with pink nails and blood dripping down, four women, hair, two credit cards, arrows, “look! Haley’s Comet.,” “R.I.P.,” crowns, and two roses.  After I learned more about the artist and studied the painting more the images came together and the painting made much more sense.   

 

"For me, craft has always been an ideological component in the work because it’s about a type of focus and social comportment that usually isn’t expected of a male. There’s a dutifulness that historically has been referenced or attributed to females, so I’ve always seen my devotion to craft as a type of protest."

-       Lari Pittman

Pittman was born and resides in Los Angeles, California.   

Mia Powers