After watching the video on Bruce Nauman I was interested to find out more about his life and his art. my first impression of him was that there was definitely something weird about him. He appeared like he was in his own world, out in New Mexico just trying to create art. I was surprised when I found out that he studied math and physics in college, but now I can see why he enjoys creating neon pieces; since physics and science plays a role in the way that the visible light is seen. I enjoy looking at his neon pieces, I think that they are a unique piece of artwork. On the otherhand, the movies where he has someone repeating just a word or a sentence while shaking there head annoys me very much and I do not see how that can be considered art. Overall, I think that Bruce Nauman is a very unique contemporary artist and although I do not agree that everything he does can be considered "artwork" I still think that he has a fascinating imagination.

--Rachel

Jeff Koons is an American artist known for his reproduction of giant objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel finished with a mirror surface. I enjoy how he makes replications of everyday things, but yet puts his own style to the artwork. He uses different mediums, shapes, sizes to create his masterpieces. I enjoy his work of the terrier puppy executed in a variety of flowers on a steel substructure. It is so large yet still is able to portray what the object/thing actually is. In class while we were watching a video on his studio in New York City, Jeff Koons mentioned that “art is acceptance; first you have to accept yourself then the artwork.” He explains how every artist has their own vocabulary when creating ideas for pieces. Although I agree with what he was saying, he also is only the director of his studio and has other people actually doing his work ideas. This almost frustrates me because to me I feel as though the artist with the original idea should be able to put in some kind of work into the final piece. He just seems like he is there for no reason but to put out specific ideas for other people he has hired to work on. Those people should be the ones who are getting the credit for the final work.

Martin Puryear is another artist/sculptor who uses mediums such as wood, stone, tar, wire, etc. His work is a union of minimalist and traditional crafts. He uses dreamlike explorations in abstract forms in which retain the view of the everyday objects. One of the ones shown in class, “Ladder for Booker T. Washington,” Puryear built a meandering ladder out of jointed ash wood. This structure is over thirty-five feet tall with the ladder narrowing at the top creating a distorted sense of perspective. I really enjoyed this piece because it gave the viewer a sense of an unattainable goal that can’t be reached. Another piece that was shown in class called “Untitled,” Puryear hired a stonemason to construct the building like structure that was massive. On one side of the work, there is an eighteen foot high wall in which is depicted with a door to make it seem like the viewer can look through and see the other side. But on the other side, there is a stone bulge that is hollow and gives a sense emptiness and loss. Although Puryear also hired other people to assemble the stones and finalize his masterpiece, I think it is totally different than Koons’ artwork. I feel like Puryear has somewhat of a handle on his work and does some of it himself.

--Jessica Roman

Give credit where and when credit is due!

Many artists today seem to create businesses out of their art work. Buildings that are large studios ran like assembly line factories in order to create their thoughts by the hands of hired help. You may ask who are these artists that are putting out TOP dollars to have their art thoughts become actual work? Well, artists, such as Damien Hurst and Jeff Koons, are providing jobs to recent graduate students in order to make thoughts become real by the hands, sweat, and emotions of another person. Koons currently has over 120 "assistants" working to create his thoughts. Article, by another arts blog interviews Koon, who revealed that he simply supervises his creations.
Contemporary art differs from the art created by people in the 1800's. Art then, was seen as a story, an artist who conveys his emotion, or some type of story through the lens of a canvas. However, critics, students, and regular people are bewildered by what makes art, art, and often times, question if this "new" type of art production really is art completed by the individual who signed the finish product, or rather is paying another to have his thoughts created then is that what our society should consider what art really is? Or should we allow for the unseen hand who really constructed this piece of work to go unnoticed.
One thought to keep in mind, is that there was a person who did give credit to the person who completed this art work...Honorary legend, Marcel Duchamp's piece, Fountain, that was not signed by Mr. Duchamp but by another artist, R.Mutt. Maybe it is time that artists go back to being artists and complete the work themselves. I am not saying not have a helping hand but just to GIVE CREDIT WHEN CREDIT IS DUE...

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Jacek Yerka

Jacek Yerka is a Polish surreal artist born in Poland in 1952. He was a brilliant student although troubling in that his instructors tried to get him to move away from his fascination with realism and try to adopt the less detailed and less realistic techniques that characterize contemporary abstract art. He tends to use images from his childhood, since he described that these were his happy years filled with memories and wonder at the world around him. Yerka added his own worldly visions and produced a unique technique of art. I believe that a majority of artists have a time period in their life in which they are able to put in as a painting. With Yerka’s drawings, I can definitely feel a sense of childhood feelings of which they stemmed from. His paintings seem so unreal but I can almost see how his childhood memories and experiences appear in each and every one of them. The way he includes odd beasts and whimsical landscapes is fantastic. I enjoy how he reverses time and pulls reality out in his own way. It almost looks like pictures of a dream or nightmare. As I was viewing many of Jacek Yerka’s paintings I could not find one that was not interesting to me. I could not say that I had a favorite. I almost felt like the painting brought me into a magical world through his eyes. His work of art is like none other I have seen before. While I was researching other artists, I felt the need to continue coming back to Jacek Yerka’s. Although when I first saw his paintings I did not know what to think besides that it was crazy, I could not help but continue to look at them. I really liked the fact that when I came back to a particular painting I had previously seen earlier, I always found something else in the photo, whether it was a random house in the trees or a fish on land. It almost felt like a game of ‘Where’s Waldo.’ One way other people describe his paintings is that his bright, sharp focused pictures make outside in, up down, and near far. Almost like it is supposed to be the opposite of what viewers might think is completely normal. Walls and doors exchange places with trees and sky, cities float and blow away as they age. The sea and sand change roles, household items become towns, buildings become land, land becomes animals, and animals become mountains and islands. I like the fact that he uses a lot of colors and that it is not boring, almost like it fits with his style. It is not like other artists who throw colors all over the place, it is neat and compiled. I especially like how he also incorporates hidden worlds where it almost seems magical. After looking at a few of his paintings, not one of them was remotely similar. Each drawing was different in its own unique way although I could definitely pick out some items that are present in all of them, such as a clock and many buildings.

--Jessica Roman

Paper on Contemorary Art 2/8/10

Here is what I had to say about the contemporary artwork I chose for my paper!

In 1966 contemporary artist Amelie Von Wulffen was born in Breitenbrunn, Germany. From 1987 until 1994 von Wulffen studied at Kunstakademie in Munich, and currently since 2006 she has been a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The piece of artwork I have chosen is from one of von Wulffen’s solo exhibitions in 2004 at the Green Naftali Gallery in New York. The artwork is titled Untitled (Geranium, chair, couple); it is an unusual piece of artwork that is a mix of a photo and acrylic on paper. The theme of von Wulffen’s solo exhibition was called Paare, Mobel, Landschaften which is translated into English as pair, furniture and landscape. Each of von Wulffen’s artwork in this exhibition reflected the theme and she incorporated a “pair, furniture, and landscape” into each one of her photos.
Untitled (Geranium, chair, couple) is a very unusual but fascinating photo. It caught my eye because I was fascinated at how the picture was put together. It is clear that the photo follows the theme as it has the gardens representing the landscape, the bench representing the furniture and the two faces together as a pair. It is also very neat how von Wulffen used her own face but seen from different angles. I especially like how one of her faces is set in the trees so the red leaves look like her hair. Untitled (Geranium, chair, couple), is pleasing to the eye and it is a warm picture which evokes pleasant emotions, such as calm, and bliss. I enjoy being outdoors, especially in peaceful atmospheres, such as an ocean, a lake, or lavish gardens so this picture attracted me. Not only did I enjoy looking at the landscape in this picture but I thought that the entity of the picture was unique. The fact that von Wulffen combines a photo and acrylic paint to make this picture is interesting. Since I do not consider myself an artist, I am very perplexed at the motivation behind her creativity and the technical aspects that she used to make this picture.
A piece of artwork can sometimes reflect emotions that an author is feeling at the time he/she is creating a work of art. It would be interesting to know if Untitled (Geranium, chair, couple) was created to reflect a certain way von Wulffen was feeling or possibly a way to relay a message about her life at that time. I think that the picture must have some meaning behind it, because it seems unusual that the three faces are all at different angles, as if they are seeing “the world” or specifically in this picture the gardens, through different points of view. Also, I thought it was interesting how the faces seem to have different shades; the face at the top left corner of the picture is the brightest and the two faces at the bottom right of the picture are more faded and less bright than the face that stands alone. I was curious to wonder if this had any significance to the meaning of the artwork. Overall I think that this picture was interesting and unique to look at because it seems as though there are several things to look at in the picture and it allows people admiring the artwork to interpret the piece in several ways.


--Rachel

What is Art?

What is ART?

Many people agree on first impressions revealing the meaning of a person, place, or thing. However, there are many times where scratching the surface, just a bit, can allow for a deeper understanding for the particular person, place, or thing. Last semester, I traveled to Quito, Ecuador and was bombarded with new culture, language, and people. This exposure opened my mind to understanding the workings of a country that many outsiders do not understand. For example, some common inquiries for a country like Ecuador are surrounded with questions that deal with wanting solutions to the poverty levels being extremely high, government programs not being instituted, and outside funding never being suffice. As my journey continued, I found myself surrounded by thousands of “new” art work. Abstract, dramatic, and colorful pieces of art were prevalent in all social classes, neighborhoods, and houses, big or small. I saw all the same strangly weird, disjointed, broken, sad, miserable, but, yet, colorful, street arts and handmade crafts being sold by every street seller. My initial thought on this art that surrounded me was that it just happened to be“bad” art turned good. Since, I am not an art critic nor used to looking at works of art, I did not know what to think but just wondered why these pieces of art remained so popular. I also did not understand why so many people were following the work of possibly one or many artists and not selling their own original work. By not being familiar with the art history, I quickly became intrigued and wanted to know more about one particular artist, Oswaldo Guayasamin that every street vendor seemed to replicate and be greatly influenced by.

Oswaldo Guayasamin was born in Quito on July 6, 1919. Guayasamin, later, graduated from the School of Fine Arts, and then quickly became known as a painter and sculptor in Ecuador. At the age of 23, Guayasamin opened his first exhibit which turned out to be a success. As Guayasamin traveled South America, he was exposed to high levels of reality, poverty, and inequalities among and within the social classes. His images also capture the political oppression, racism, poverty, and class differences seen throughout the history of Ecuador. Guayasamin was a moving force behind making art based on these social issues and allowing it to be centered in the public eye. Indigenous people were often characterized in Guayasamin’s paintings because of the hardships that they were exposed to in the simple way of life they lived by. Guayasamin’s work consisted of sculptures and oil painting on a canvas material. I found out that from Guayasamin's death in 1999, the artist is still widely known and loved throughout Ecuador. Knowing what I now discovered about Guayasamin, I realized that most of the shapes and brokenness of his art work depicted the problems of Ecuador. Throughout most of his works, many emotions are seen within one painting. Pain and sadness is often one of the feelings that I get when I look at Guayasamin’s art work. Interestingly, these emotions find a way of connecting with people who have no idea what the art is about which will then allow that same person to become intrigued by it in order to find out its history. His works of art are still an enigma to me; however, I am now able to understand.

-Jazzie