MOMA

On Saturday, March 20th, to be exact, I went to The Museum of Modern Art! There I was initially acquainted by massive crowds of people that were anxiously waiting to purchase tickets to the museum. Before this very moment, I had never been to this museum before and never knew the popularity it had over the weekends. Interestingly, I am a native of NYC and never going to the sites that tourists often run to allowed me to think that the place consisted of tourists. But, as I look around, I see families, students, friends, people in relationships, and of course tourists all in line with excited looks on their faces. As soon as you turn the corner of the lobby to enter into the exhibit, you are startled with a gigantic ballon structure made byTim Burton. Tim Burton had a special exhibit that you had to pay extra to enter, but, surprisingly, it was sold out for the entire weekend!
Although, I could not see Tim Burton's special exhibit there was something else that MOMA offered its visitors. Artist, Marina Abramovic, was present at the museum! Coming up the stairs, I noticed a live perfermance art work being watched by a large crowd of people who many had puzzling faces about what exactly was being done. Shown in a video clip below is Marina Abramovic in her own performance art work. It seems to me, that it is something like the "sit and stare at each other without saying a word" game!!!??? However, I only was able to get a quick image since no cameras were allowed in this particular exhibit...so this is an Exclusive!!!

Please Excuse the mispronunciation of Marina's last name but do enjoy!!! Remember Exclusive!

Ironically, as I came in this young man who is sitting with Marina lasted 2 hours, the highest record all week!

Other interesting exhibits of Marina's were on the 6th floor of the museum. As a performance artist, Marina Abramovic, had created arts of works that was not like the pieces I had in mind before coming to the museum. However, this artwork amazed all of my senses. Video recordings of young women jumping around screaming, couples, yelling back and forth to each other, just the things people would consider weird was displayed as something magnificent. As I entered into the exhibit, security warned every guest that there should not be any cameras or videotaping done while in the exhibit. However, since I never heard the security guard as I was coming in I did not know this rule until after the fact and thus had an opportunity to film. So, once again, I BRING YOU AN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO OF MARINA'S EXHIBIT.






Three Videos of women, jumping, screaming, and staring are all displayed. However, at the very end there is another interesting exhibit that I got to play a part in. This part of the exhibit had live performers that posed on two sides of a threshold. The performers were naked and guests were encouraged to pass between the naked woman and man in such a close proximity. I did it of course!!!

On my visit to the Musuem of Modern Art, I felt a rush of excitement as if I was in an amusement park. There was so many emotions that I felt when viewing different art work that I never really thought could happen on a visit to one place! Other well known artists were also displayed but none of them brought emotion out of me like Marina's exhibit...So thank you, Marina! and Professor Blum for allowing such a cool assignment!

Traveling art 3y3

I just wanted to post some more pictures of art seen on the cruise I went on!

Yaacov Agam

Peter Max

Charles Lee

And, my favorite, towel art (picture of the elephant shown at the top) artist unknown!


Jazmine<3

Art Bubble

Dave Hickey's talk was interesting to listen to since he is very comical. I liked how he started his lecture comparing the basketball player, who played by the rules, to the rules of the art world which he explains are not followed anymore. He also explained how there are a few artists who prefer art over money but the majority prefer money over art-so they create art only to make money.

My favorite part of Hickey's lecture was about the "art bubble;" he described how over the years art is being sold not necessarily for its value but just to be sold. He said that the art bubble creates "greedy artists and stupid collectors." I was really interested in this term "art bubble" so I looked it up online and learned more about it. I learned that prices turn into a bubble only when they reflect a relationship to other prices. Basically, an art bubble arises when a piece of art is sold for the price that someone is willing to pay for it-not on its value. This is what Hickey was talking about, the art world has no rules anymore, artists sell their art just to make money and collectors will buy the art as an investment.

The other part of the lecture that I enjoyed was when Hickey talked about installation art. He talked about how installation art has not changed and he talked about Bruce Nauman and the plywood box. I was excited to hear this because we learned about Bruce Nauman in class so it was interesting to hear a name I knew.

Finally, Hickey sums up his lecture saying that some day the art market will hopefully go back to the way it use to be, and artists will only display art that they value and collectors will buy art that they like or that they think has value, rather than both the artist and the collector just buying and selling art for the purpose of gaining money and investments.

--Rachel

My Traveling Art Eye

My "Traveling ArT 3Y3 " is a concept that I wanted to incorporate into the class blogs because it is this idea of documenting and applying what I learned in the classroom to the random moments while at home or places visited in the city, trips, or the likes. I wanted to learn about artists that I walk by everyday and to actively ask or research different types of weird, strange, beautiful, moving, still, tall, small, all types of art forms while on my journey to completing not only this class but my college years at Siena. So, therefore, I will be investigating the artwork on the campus, mainly, in efforts of understanding and learning about the art collection Siena has around us, their students. Other students in the class are free to roam the campus in search of finding art works and just shouting it out to our blogs so that we may learn about the silent arts that hang on our walls. But before I embark on that journey, I wanted to included new contemporary artists that I learned about while on my cruise during spring break.

One Isrealian artist, Itzchak Turkay, is known for his mastery as a water colorist/painter. He is frequently featured on the ships because of his works that always included rich women at a social gathering who, ironically, were not engaged with each other but more distant mentally while close physically.

Other artists will soon be posted...Keep on the look out!

Jazmine

Performance art

There are many different types of art forms, sculptures, and performances. Performance art, for example, is a new type of art that we were learning about in class. Before learning about performance art, I considered it to be every piece of musical or ballet show on Broadway. However, I have learned that it is not that, but it can simply incorporate live people into their art work through movies or performed repeated in a space. There are four important aspects to consider when learning about performance art. It should be noted that the artist will concentrate on time and space, body performance, the relationship between the audience, and what the piece will overall contribute to society. By contrasting artworks that we learned about previously, I found that performance art does not concentrate on the final product but how it is going to reach it own sense of purity. Matthew Barney truly engulfs this concept as he creates movie pieces that are dream-like and of a different type of "worldly view." This type of strange art reflects on what is going to be portrayed to the audience. His works of arts incorporates weird or controversial topics. Barney also pays attention to precise movements and facial structure. Works are also often sexual and concentrating on a image that we as children thought of as evil and would use those strong faced people as symbolic images for his creations. Art work such as these provides innovative movements to begin because of its originality and ingenuity.

Bringing art to the public eye allows people to become intrigued by simple to complex types of performance art. Marina Abramovic is another artist who is completes compelling works of art through performance art. Marina thinks of endurance being a challenge for the performer as well as the audience who set through these pieces in order to gather understanding. Body art is one type of art that can involve glue, paint, or even self mutilation in front of an audience. The story telling of an artist that is known for their body art involves agreed terms to have no rules, no limits, it has to be live, and it can not be for sale. this type of art shocks audience and often relates to culture. This is often seen to challenge audience members to think in new ways and to think of what art is while including music or sometimes no music at all. Interruption and action types of performance art work has been seen to actively engage the by-passers that participate in an artwork as it is creating a situational art work. Usually, the interruptions will lure people into behaving as asked simply because everyone is contributing to the art work. Interestingly, this can appeal to the work of scientists who study the human behavior.

Jazzie

Barney and Tunick

During the last few classes, we learned about installation art and most recently performance art. I enjoyed learning about these pieces because I thought they were interesting and definitely different from the other forms of art we learned about. I particularly took an interest in how unique performance art is. I like how the actions of the individuals or groups constitute the work in which can take place anywhere, at any particular time, for any length. It really involves the situation of time, space, the perfomer’s body, and the relationship between the performer and audience.

Matthew Barney, an American artist, works in sculpture, photography, drawing, and film. His early works involved installations combined with performance and video. The Cremaster Cycle is a series of five imaginative films that explore the processes of creation. He uses the camera creatively and positions it at different points, along with various lighting, sizes, and shapes, to make it work. As I watched clips of these various videos, I did not know what to think because I thought it was the strangest work of art. Although I did not watch the entire piece, I was very confused as what it was trying to convey. I found myself opening my mind and not immediately judging the work and coming to a conclusion. I sat back and let the piece take me away and let me use my imaginative mind to think about what the artist was trying to put across to the audience. Matthew Barney looked beyond biology as a way to explore the creation of form. As a biology major, I thought this was extremely creative in how he described certain aspects of creation. Although I still think the entire piece is weird, I also enjoyed the time and effort he put into his set and costumes. It definitely made the work more enjoyable to watch.

Spencer Tunick, another American artist, is best known for his installation art that feature large groups of nude people posed in formations in front of urban locations. I thought this was also a strange piece because I never knew a group of people posing naked would be visualized as art. While we were looking at some of Tunick’s pieces in class, at first I was shocked at how many people participated in these pieces, along with the fact of who would actually do them. But after listening to an interview by one of the models who posed naked, he stated that after a while it felt comfortable to be nude because everyone else was and it felt like he was wearing clothes. I don’t know if I would say I would volunteer and do it, but I think it’s an interesting form. I also noticed that as we were looking at various pieces that were shot in different locations, I started noticing the actual background and what was going on behind the groups of nude people. At first glance it does look like a bunch of naked people formed in a certain way, but then after a while I realized the beauty of the location and background and didn’t pay much mind to the people.

Jessica

"Waste Not" Mother Dong

Learning about "Waste Not" by Song Dong, allowed me to really think about everyday materials within your home being art. Stemming back to the revolutionary artist, Andy Warhol, who used mundane materials as the centered piece for his artwork. For many artists who illustrate the need to creates spaces that will draw emotion out of a viewer often times convey strong messages by using the simplest items. Not much is needed to draw emotion out of a person. As we see in "Waste Not," Dong's mother was left in disbelief after the passing of her husband. Therefore, the mother continued to keep all of the Husband's items as if he were still alive within the confinements of her small house. Looking at the pictures, an array of emotions run through myself such as sadness, love, care, and wonder. This piece also shows me that love between two people really are strong. When two sole mates are separated, one is really lost without the other. It is evident that Dong's mother is lost without her other half. This is also a true piece of installation art work because viewers are physically entering the art work for an interactive experience. It is also important to mention or ask who is the real artist here, Song Dong or Mother Dong? I , personally, think Mother Dong is the true artist here because viewers feel everything that the mother feels through her story. Although, Song DOng also lived the life after his father's death, I do not get that through this piece of art of how a little boy handled this disturbing time of his own life but only that of a mother and wife.



Jazmine

Judy Pfaff

This artist has left me flabbergasted after hearing her story of growing up. Pfaff, now a wonderful artist, grew up as a rebel as well as your less than average student who did not care about learning in school. And yet, Pfaff has illustrated her level of intelligence through her art work. Her exhibits thatillustrate installation art comes in all types of form and sizes. These shapes and sizes usually plays with the eyes in that the whole room is full of her art work so that you could come up with your own feelings on the art you are walking through. Many tools are used to create these works; however, Pfaff, still feels connected to her pieces, even though, she has not had any actual "hands-on" opportunity when crafting her forms.

Jazmine

Art around Siena College's Library

During the course of this class, I have found pleasure in learning about the art that I walk by very frequently. I went to go view the Yates Gallery's exhibit on Martin Benjamin who is not like many other artists we have discussed in class but that I found to take interesting photographs of life. Like many artists today, Benjamin also uses tools as a way of crafting or capturing art work through the use of photography. Benjamin's photographs have appeared in new papers and exhibits all throughout the US and Europe. The photo on the left is of a selection from the Atomic Age collection that was also showcased in an exhibit in Atlanta, GA. Other works of his that displayed moments in life or life's simplicity are through his works Beijing, China, The Great Hall, Ellis Island, and Atlantic Ocean.

Jazmine

In the essay Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag argues that in the new critical approach art is challenged to justify itself. She stated that the spiritual importance of art is being replaced by the emphasis on the intellect. It made me think about how I truly look at art myself. Art makes people wonder what is the true meaning behind the piece and to figure out what exactly it is they are looking at. By reading this article, Susan Sontag made her readers more knowledgeable about understanding what to do when they approach a piece of work. She described how art critics were taking their powers for granted and focusing on their own constructed views of form and content of the piece of art. I like how she said that ‘interpretation became the intellect’s revenge upon art.’ I feel like before reading this article that is how I felt I was interpreting certain artworks. I would put my insight into one thing without taking a step back and actually looking at it with my senses. Rather than recognizing great works I would often come to a conclusion immediately and move on. I found this essay really interesting and from now on I am going to try to interpret art in a totally different mind frame.

--Jessica

Response on "Against Interpretation"

Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation article has moved me to a place where I feel that I should not interpret works of art but to use my sensory experience to illustrate how I feel. With that being said, I completely agree with Sontag's argument for interpretation regarding when and where it needs to be used and how far it is taken now a days. Art is a useful tool to many people and is often looked at as therapy. However, when art work is viewed, many people need to interpret it to understand the artists position for creating this piece of artwork. Searching for content throughout a piece of artwork allows the viewer to understand their own feelings or the point of it. Unfortunately, this is the time that we are living in, where interpretation is needed so that people can see that they are not "wasting time." Art that is transparent allows the viewers to see things for what they are. Currently, if one was to view something for what it just is or with radical skepticism, people would not know how to relate to pieces of art or the artist. Since culture plays a big role in how a person interprets or if they interpret at all, I believe that it is this overarching theme of things that allows for people to retrieve perceptions or thoughts on a particular work of art. Sontag's suggestion in that 'the best criticism... is of this sort that dissolves consideration of content into those of form," which illustrates the value of using less words and more doing and feeling to understand and relate to the works of art.

Reading this article really opened up my mind to art and artists. Throughout the article, I found that I did a lot of interpretation. I also found that I wanted to know the point of every work of art that was in front of me. Certain art works that I have found trouble understanding was by artist such as Jackson Pollock, Bruce Newman, and etc. So therefore, by reading this allowed me to become more knowledgeable on what to do when approaching art work, not to interpret to gain understanding but to just use your senses when trying to relate or comprehend.
Jazzie

"Against Interpretation"

The article by Susan Sontag was very interesting. I like how she started the article talking about early experiences of art. I personally think that all art can be interpreted based on the perspective on the onlooker. Two people can look at the same piece of artwork but have two very different interpretations of it. In agreement with Plato I think that art can be a form of therapy, and therefore it can be interpreted specifically by the person who is looking at the artwork. I also agree with Susan Sontag that art does make people nervous and by interpreting art it makes the piece of artwork more comfortable to look at, more manageable or understandable for someone who may o may not be familiar with that particular artwork. I found the end of the article neat because she ended it talking about contemporary and modern art and how interpretation on art and movies has almost taken over and it takes away the "sensory experience" of the work of art.

--Rachel