Blog Entry #4

ART:21 - Place

1. I think that it is a mixture of both. Places would not be known about without people, but people could not be people without places. I think a place is very powerful for us as humans, but I do not think that it completely defines who we are.

2. All the artists in this video are influenced heavily by the concept of places. For Richard Serra, he remembers being at the shipyard with his father at a young age - so his art is very massive, and he draws on the memory of looking up at the massive steel ships in lots of his pieces.

For Sally Mann, there is a recurring theme of nature, specifically in the South. Her children are often depicted in water or around nature of some sort, so specific places are often captured by her camera.

Barry McGee and Margaret Killagen are both influenced by trains. They draw heavily on folk art and graffiti - they often paint on trains, so the theme of the train station is very prevalent in their artwork.

Pepon Osario was heavily influenced by his first haircut that his father took him to - he made an art about that experience, incorporating his childhood into the work as well. All his art actually IS a place, so places play a key role in Osario's work.

4. I felt most connected to Barry McGee - his work seemed the most interesting to me. He noted how most people frown on graffiti as ugly. However, the billboards and advertisements all over the place are pretty? To him, the ads are the ugly things, not graffiti. I also liked how he pointed out that graffiti actually does very little harm to the site it's painted on - it can always be painted over. These jingles and slogans permanently embedded in ours minds cannot be disposed of so easily.

5. Richard Serra uses huge pieces of metal - the scale is enormous. It would be hard to see his work unless you are actually present at one of the site's his work is shown at. Sally Mann takes photographs - her work is accessible pretty easily. Barry McGee, like Serra, has work all over the place, but the work is immobile. Same deal with Pepon Osario - his work is mostly within buildings, so unless the viewer were actually within the building, it'd be hard to take it all in.

6. Old shack behind my aunt's house - creepy.
Grandma's cellar - even creepier.
Old Cleveland Browns stadium - loud.
Chuck E. Cheese's at age 5 - heaven.
Niagra Falls - beautiful.

7. The old Browns stadium was truly remarkable. There were way too many people packed into that building at every single home game - so close that you were nearly on the lap of the person next to you. The sizes of the people are all different, as are the textures. If looked at from afar, however, I'm sure it would be a blur of orange and brown. It was sunny, at least the game that sticks out in my mind. I also believe the Browns won that day, so it was quite happy.


ART:21 - Stories

1. Today, a common theme in stories is the chaos surrounding 9/11. There are tons of books, movies, and pictures of that day. Not to mention the news - I really doubt the media will ever stop talking about it. I think the story should be passed down to future generations (of 9/11), but it should be done in a tasteful manner. It should be factual and reasonable, rather than sensationalist or dramatized. The listener should understand the importance of the event, but it should not be overdone. So often things are blown out of proportion, which immediately disgusts lots of people. If it was kept reasonable, the person would understand without being turned off.

2. Some stories are told as opposed to others because they are interesting, for lack of better words. Certain stories are told over time because they are so compelling and relevant even to today's society, that people can continue to draw value from them. Other stories are lost to history because they come archaic and outdated - if people cease to relate to the stories, they will be forgotten.

3. The artists use their sketchbooks as a tentative plan for what their final product will be. I don't believe a journal or sketchbook is a work of art because it is not intended to be the final product. The word sketch implies rough and unfinished, and that is what a sketchbook is. I do not believe a work of art can be rough and unfinished, unless done so intentionally.

4. When I was 8, I liked to have fun. I played baseball and rode my bike a lot. I had dreams of being a professional baseball player. I was happy when we won and sad when we lost.

When I was around 8 years old, I spent my days outside running around, usually causing trouble. I played a lot of baseball and rode my bike around the road. I dreamt about much of the same - wreaking havoc and playing ball. I suppose I had a fairly common range of emotions - I was happy when we won our games and went to get ice cream and I was sad when I skinned my knees.

Image Essay #8

This is a piece by Marc Burckhardt entitled American Thoroughbred. The circuit of meaning here is pretty open to interpretation. Perhaps because the horse is camoflaged, Burckhardt might be saying something about war - how it seems to be desired in America. Aside from the artist's intentions with this piece, it is a very good composition. There is a high contrast between the grass in the front and the pastures behind, which helps to bring the grass and horse forward. There is a lot of tension in colors which also helps to provide a spatial illusion. The foreground is darker while the background is darker so the image of the horse really stands out, silhouetted against the sky and receding pastures.

Burckhardt also does a lot of portrains of famous musicians. There are some really interesting portraits of Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash (by no means am I placing them in the same company by mentioning them together in the same sentence.) There are also some more bizarre works, like one that has a man being eaten by a dinosaur. How can you not be interesting in a man eating dinosaur? He uses a lot of interesting colors with high contrast so the forms really stand out from the background. He has a very interesting and unique style, I think.

Image Essay #7

This image, attributed to R.C. James, is rather famous in Gestalt psychology. It illustrates the concept of emergence - the dog is perceived at once as a whole. Because there are no pure forms, spatial relationships give the illusion of legs and the form of the dog. I found this image very interesting - almost like an optical illusion. There is a definite concept of grouping evident in this image - the congregated group of lines form the dog and the tree beyond. Closure, however, seems to be the most prevalent in this image. The shapes, taken alone, are simply fragments. Together, however, they form a picture.

It is very interesting that the mind seems to place together lots of shapes to form one single entity. According to Wikipedia, "the Gestalt effect refers to the form-forming capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves." To me, this is quite interesting - the human mind naturally pieces together what is missing. I can see how some optical illusions are formed; the notion of Gestalt is very prevalent. This picture pieces together what is missing to form a very interesting composition.

Image Essay #6

I chose this piece by Frank Stella, entitled Hyena Stomp, because I believe it is a good example of a Gestalt image. More specifically, the image has lots of movement, which leads to continuity. There is a definite focal point at the center of the image which helps to create drama. Also, there seems to be a sense of repetition along the borders, which leads to the broken pattern in the middle (also the focal point). Frank Stella has lots of movement in his work, which help to create a good composition. Most of Stella's work contains curved or straight lines with lots of different colors. It is interesting that Frank Stella is as respected as he is; he once said that a picture is "a flat surface with paint on it - nothing more."

In his work there is nearly always repetition with the repeated curves, and the movement is simply astounding. The image above I spent a good while staring at. Amazing, as it only consists of different colored lines. This further illustrates the point, however, that if a composition has unity and variety it will be good. There are both in Stella's piece, which is why it is a good representation of Gestalt imagery.

Image Essay #5

I chose a piece by an artist we talked about in class, Robbie Conal, as my image essay for this week. This work is entitled Martha Stewart Lying (as apparent by the title within the work.) I found this image particularly amusing. There is a lot of associative meaning and references to things normally associated with Martha Stewart. For instance, the magazine is entitled "Lying" in the same font of Martha Stewart's periodical, "Living." Not only is this a play on Martha's magazine, but the trouble she got herself into for doing just that. Insider trading, anybody? The gold tooth is what makes this image hilarious, in my opinion. It is associated with the hip hop culture and excessive money, which is what she was lying in order to retain. In the bottom left corner is a stereotypical "housewife" of the '50s, scolding Martha. Martha Stewart attempts to perpetuate that prototype of the perfect housewife.

Robbie Conal is famous for his skewed depictions of politicians and current events of the time, especially scandalous events. I have seen a few of his works around. After a little research on Conal, the way in which is distributes his artwork is quite interesting. Apparently he distributes his artwork (generally on posters) throughout cities during the night. I think I have probably seen his work in Time magazine. At any rate, Conal uses association to get his point across in his artwork, and that is exemplified in this piece.