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.