Thursday, September 9, 2010
Week 3 - Art and Extravaganza
Hello All,
Here are the readings for Week 3.
The Richard Serra video above is optional viewing.
Click the comments link below to publish your response.
Responses are Due by Wed., 9/14 at midnight.
Warm regards,
Terri
Week 3 - Art and Extravaganza:
1. Ray Johnson: ACollage in Which Life=Death=Art, Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 2002.
(Participate in Mail Art project w/ collector John Held: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4489)
2. Richard Serra: Rigging, (1980), Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art (T.D.C.), Ed., Stiles & Selz, 1996.
3. Kiki Smith, Queen of Arts, Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 2006
4. Jannis Kounellis: Structure and Sensibility, Interview with Willoughby Sharp (1972), Ed., Stiles & Selz, T.D.C., 1996.
5. Theory Talk with Aaron Levy, Slought Boss, Fallon & Rosof, theartblog, 2010
This article generated an interesting discussion amongst recent MCAD grads and friends.
The thread can be found HERE.
Optional additional readings / video on the topic:
Ron Nagle: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=24284
Merce Cunningham: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4655
Eva Hesse, review, Mark Stevens , New York magazine, 2006.
Buona Serra, Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine, 2007.
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A. Nesbi
ReplyDeletet
Ray Johnson
I find it interesting that Ray Johnson's eccentricity and more likely, mental disorder, have named him an artist.
This a common idea, that artists must be insane to continue the route of art, but never before have I seen
obsession, depression and an anti-social nature praised so readily. Was his suicide art? Many people kill
themselves each year, but they did not spend their lives creating works and mailing them off across the nation so no
one stops to consider their intent, they morn suicides, pity them and call them fools, why should this man be any
different simply because he was an artist?
Richard Serra
The abrupt way that Serra spoke about the creation of his work was very refreshing. He spoke about his pieces
constructed without artificial means of support first and I found that very interesting. The progression of his work
is all there. What was curious was the way in which he began to talk about the oppression of art only at the end of
his piece. One moment it was and examination of the way he made work and the way he's been asked to sell out and
suddenly there was the entire question of government control and the disturbing memory of Nazi fascism. I would have
like to hear more about it, the slow way that control over art creeps up. He did mention how, a work made for an
industrial building was ultimately overshadowed by that building and I think he was right. A sculpture placed
among, bigger, more numerous buildings will be easily detracted from by these structures.
Kiki Smith
This article is an interesting movement from simple description of the work into an entire philosophical system and
social movement and back out to the artists true intentions. I think the work was well described, the amount of
information about Smith's influences was right and was grateful for the few paragraphs which talked about the was
she likes her friends about and doesn't care if you dismiss her art. I myself have seen her "litlth" and feel that
the author is right about her works ability to memorize. Though he has nothing bad to say the praise were not
undeserved or too ardently expressed.
Willowghby Sharp
Janis Kounellis is a surprisingly well articulated artists. Many people when put on the spot during an interview tend to ramble or lose sight of thier realy point. It was not so for her. The idea of continuing a dialogue with art history is very common throught the art world, but what makes her art unique is that she really wants to continue the dialogue by, in a sense, degrading that art.
Aaron Levy
An article about a man writing about art theory in which the author theorizes about how to describe the theorizing of the man. Seems a little silly to me.
Jamie Moore
ReplyDeleteRichard Serra first speaks about the construction of some of his early sculptures. He explained how the works stood only because of a careful relationship between the pieces. Weight and counter balance was the life line of these sculptures. This idea is what excites me so much about Serra's work. The idea idea that these strong yet vulnerable works crashing to the ground if they were installed incorrectly is so exciting! "I am interested in a work where an artist is a maker of 'anti-environment' which takes its own place or makes its own situation, or divides or declares it's own ares." Serra's words...but he perfectly articulated the admiration I feel for not only his work but all sculpture.
I truly adore Jannis Kounellis and the Arte Povera movement, but unfortunately I was a bit dissapointed with this interview. I think it's because I am a bit biased towards his later work and would have loved to here him speak more about that, but given the time of the interview...I knew that was unrealistic. Though I did find an interesting connection between the interview and the ideals of Mail Art. Kounellis said while talking about his horse piece, "I used the gallery as a bourgeous fact, as a social structure....which are the very basis of a gallery," Which is interesting considering Mail Artists create Mail Art to bi-pass the traditional gallery and museum system.
It's really funny, when I Googled Ray Johnson I fell onto a Ray Johnson postage stamp that collaged Ray Johnson imagery with a cartoon bunny and the words "Mail Art." I then continued on a began to read the essay, and watch the video about John Held Jr. I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not, so I Googled that as well. Ray Johnson is considered the founder of Mail Art, which was never mentioned in the essay.
The essay and video about John Held Jr. and Mail Art questioned "High Art," which is so interesting considering the founder of Mail Art was producing Pop Art at the peak of his career, which at the time was High Art.
Sophie Strachan
ReplyDeleteSo I connected on a certain level with the Ray Johnson article. It's interesting and I don't want to say mysterious, but strange in a way. I kind of feel like he's just laughing at all of us toiling over his possibly carefully planned suicide with all those things that add up to 13. It's silly. He probably thought it was a bit silly too, maybe, I don't know for sure. I mean to commit suicide you have to think life itself is pretty silly. I can see how all of the articles relate through the idea of "pieces" on some sort of level and also a certain philosophy or idea behind the art. I like in Richard Serra’s article how he talks so much about the construction of his work and that he wants it to sort of make it’s own territory. And I like the way he thinks about tools as hand extensions. “All technology is a hand extension-electricity is a central nervous system extension.” This is a very fun thought. And it’s also funny how his work became sort of political without even trying. He said his work is being used to suppress art. That’s funny. I like hearing the different philosophies the artists have behind their work. Some want to be recluse and others see it better to be surrounded by people. Some want their work to evoke a history and others want their work to be disconnected from any history or existing idea.
Laurel Patterson
ReplyDeleteThe piece on Ray Johnson turned suicide into somewhat of a glamorous thing. It seems that if someone is a "crazy artist" then beauty can come out of such a dark and disturbing subject. If Ray intended for his suicide to be his last work of art we wouldn't know, yet people percieve it in that way. Suicide is not art to me, it is an awful awful thing and there is nothing beautiful about a person being that low. If it was any other person that did this would it still be so intriguing?
I really enjoyed the article on Richard Serra. I love the contrast between his processes and the finished pieces. Some may think that minimalism is a way to get by quickly, but the amount of work and time it takes Serra to construct a piece there is nothing minimalistic about it. His forms create their own environments and become there own settings. Our work is similar in the way of its inability to create any sort of function. "I am interested in sculpture that is non-functional...any use is misuse." He is so anti-art yet i believe he is one of the most talented artists of our day, his methods are those that all sculptors need to take into account in one way or another.
M.Carnes
ReplyDeleteI found the Ray Johnson article to be particularly upsetting. Partly due to the fact that he committed suicide but also that his death was a ‘performance.” Reading about his multiple personalities and that his numerous friends didn't’ really know him is depressing. It’s hard to know if he viewed his existence as a ‘show” and if he was aware of everything he was doing,
able to The beginning of the article spoke about how life can be a form of art. And I think that this idea can be true in some circumstances but not in the case of Ray Johnson. I don’t think a person should become great by the terms of their death not matter how “artistic’ and inspiring it may be. Am individual should be measured by what they do in life and by what they accomplish. The only sympathy I have for Ray Johnson is that he wasn't able to receive the metal help he clearly needed. However, I despise his attempt to romanticize death.
Brit B.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if Ray Johnson’s work strikes me as much as his mindset does. I don’t really think choosing to kill yourself because “consciousness is what kept him from being at one with the cosmos”, if that is really why he did it, is a crazy thing. It’s sort of a beautiful thing – but mostly, everyone’s life is their own, I can’t really speak for them. Lots of artists “go crazy” – I have thought about this concept for a long time, feeling crazy myself much of the time, and I think it has something to do with being open and attune to energies of powerful creativity beyond ourselves, and witnessing something in abundance (for me it’s beauty, for other’s, who knows). All of that can be extremely overwhelming, but artists translate their responses to these things visually. We are like vessels, in a sense, carrying only what we can hold.
Richard Serra’s closing rant about art and politics reminds me a lot of myself a few years ago. I was very concerned with making the connection between art and what was going on in the world in the political sense. I wanted to make art that moved people, pissed them off, made them aware of something, or to stand as an act of solidarity. I have subdued my outspokenness since then, but I still agree with everything Serra says about art being used as a scapegoat. I like the communal necessity of help in what he does – his process mimics his mindset.
I read this article about Kiki Smith and got really excited about the way her work was described: leftist and politically outspoken, elements of communalism and feminism, bohemian culture, and looked at her work…and then I found a picture of her modeling a gap t-shirt she designed herself and wondered where the huge disconnect came from?? She’s no revolutionary. Gap is taking over all culture. Ahh!
Jannis Kounellis was extremely irritating for me to read, I felt bad for the person interviewing him. It was hard to get past his pompous accusations and assumption, not only about art, but also about the world and people in general. I couldn’t make much sense of his art speak jargon, seemingly trying to sound very sophisticated, probably because he’s more of a real artist than me, or anyone.
Levy’s comment about there being too much art was interesting to me because I have had a related thought of sorts. I don’t know that there can ever be too much “art” because art can manifest itself in so many ways, but in material objects – artists make things out of millions of materials that will take decades, or centuries to sit somewhere and decompose. So we are left in a world with an ever increasing amount of shit. Not that those things aren’t beautiful or inspiring, but it’s why I’ve chosen to use natural materials that already exist.
Brittany Enright
ReplyDeleteSeptember 13, 2010
The theme for this weeks reading seems to be extraordinary tasks, sculptures, or use of material. While I not believe that Ray Johnson’s suicide is a work of art; there were outstanding events that he did before hiss death. When someone is known more for their death rather then what they did when they were alive, that says something.
Richard Serra interesting task was hand rigging projects that had to be orchestrated by a team (with some well known artist too). I enjoy his work its something that you can’t help but notice. I think its really funny that a company bought one of his works to put in front of their building and it didn’t last very long there because people didn’t like that it became a barrier between the front door of the build and the city.
I must say that nothing has ever gotten me to upset and irritated as the Ray Johnson article has!! Serously? What kind of a world are we living in when people can perceive suicide as a "performance?" I think it's very disgusting of people in the art world and beyond to think the man's best work was his suicide! Things like this really make me upset because I feel the man needed psychological help, but instead he is praised for commiting suicide? What about the other millions of people commiting suicide every year? Are they artists too or no?? Maybe it's because of his life as an artist that made it artistic? NO! So I guess when all else fails as artists, we will have to do the same to get known and appreciated?? I found this article offensive and very upsetting for this reason. I can't say I know what Ray Johnson was thinking in doing this, if it was a cry for help or an attempt to get attention as an artist... but whatever it was, it was UGLY and the fact that people are trying to make it out to be a beautiful act of an artist is S-A-D!
ReplyDeleteCaitlin Tucker
ReplyDeleteI really liked the readings this week! Something about their combination was really satisfying to read through.
With the piece on Ray Johnson, I was much more interested in the idea of artist as art, “Andy Warhol was Andy Warhol’s masterpiece”, than in the discussion of Johnson’s “final piece” as artwork or no. Though his suicide is obviously a really important and interesting part of the story of Ray Johnson the artist, I was really interested in Ray Johnson the living artist who calculated so much. The way all his acquaintances and closest friends described him as this mysterious puzzle, an ever enclosing while still proliferating collage, really piqued my curiosity about this bizarre practice of his. And how that practice differs, or doesn’t, from that of many artists. It made me really think about in critiques, even as you explain a piece of work to an understanding and sympathetic audience, how much are you really saying or giving away, and what do you hold back and why?
That lead into Richard Serra’s piece for me, and though it was sort of strange at the end how he sort of diverted into this discussion of his on how art is being used as a political alibi, I was most interested in the beginning with his description of hand-manipulating materials with Phil Glass, Chuck Close and Spalding Gray. Although his work ends up being an entity unto itself, the idea of these people carefully choreographed to move enormously heavy pieces is fascinating as a separate idea almost. The way he has to work with engineers and these other people to construct enormous works is really, really fascinating.
With as short as the Kiki Smith piece was (and as laudatory) the most important thig I took away was the “soul of the work not being in the things made, but in the fascination of making them”. Too often in rushing towards a finished end, I lose sight of how good it feels just to be making something with my own hand. I like this piece as a reminder to enjoy the most basic part of making artwork.
I really appreciated in the Kounellis interview where she discussed conceptual art as a reactionary art, and said that a style of artmaking becomes as much a barrier as any other thing. It “blocks any attempt at revolutionary thinking and activity.”
I’m not sure how I feel about the piece on Aaron Levy. Although he is obviously a very intelligent, accomplished person (40,000 words!) the way this article was written it had him coming off as very strict about what the artist’s role is. Yes, art can and often should be made as opposition and societal critique, but not always. There are other people besides artists who can and should be making these societal critiques from different viewpoints, let’s not forget, besides the fact that there is nothing wrong with making art for your own reasons. If Mr. Levy’s thoughts are not so black and white, the way Libby and Roberta wrote about them were very narrowing. Although I do very much agree that theory is important today as a way to determine a movement forward, I also think that we can give artists more credit when it comes to spontaneous progress.
The article about Kiki Smith and the article about Ray Johnson seemed to have a lot in common. Each author posed the thought that the life of the artist might actually be his or her greatest work of art. I found it incredibly interesting that both of these artists came from money. Smith “is a New York School aristocrat” who “grew up on easy terms with art-world celebrities.” I find it really ironic that despite the fact that she was basically born to be an artist that she spent time as “a baker, electrician’s assistant, surveyor, garment worker, census taker, short-order cook, and bartender.” And Johnson died with his parent’s inheritance of $400,000 in his bank account and $1,600 in his wallet and, yet he lived meagerly and mostly lived off of rice. I think that the experience of “struggling” is vital to an artist. I think extreme conditions can sometimes bring out the most ingenuitive solutions. Maybe Smith and Johnson wanted to experience something different than what life handed them? Sometimes I think about people who just have everything handed to them, and I wonder how passionate could they possibly be about anything they are doing if they never had to work for it?
ReplyDeleteRichard Serra sculptures are interesting to me. i am not a sculptor so when i see something massive that hes done make me wonder where he got the idea from and how it was made. Knowing his inspiration of the church he was at that he came up with the Torqued Ellipse. I thought it was funny that a company wanted he sculpture and bought it so it could be placed outside of the building and people complained about it being placed in front of the door, so it ended up being removed.
ReplyDeleteThe Ray Johnson article upset me and made me mad. How can one person be considered an artist for committing suicide??!! How can committing suicide be even considered a performance? It is unbelievable how people would consider it art and consider it his best work. This man obviously had a serious problem and needed some serious help. 2 years ago i was on my way home riding on the train and someone decided to jump in front of the train committing suicide. it made my skin crawl, i was a wreck after it happened. So reading that people considered it art boggles my mind!
Lauren Bergrud
ReplyDeleteWell art can be anything. Artists devote their lives to creation beyond the limits of possibility. They are know for their over the top personalities and stunts and the phrase “that must be art,” allows anything to be recognized as such. Artists push boundaries and break rules in search for originality and success. Their particular processes and techniques allow them to redefine, reinvent, and express themselves in an analytical world.
Before reading the article about Ray Johnston I was unfamiliar with his work. Collages, performances and oddity define his art and comment on the world that surrounded him. But suicide hardly seems like a good idea for performance art. This belongs on the fuzzy boundary of art and metal distress. Johnson could have set out with performance in mind, but art does not have to be that tragic.
Standing in front of Richard Serra’s work reminds the viewer of their insignificant size and that is what I love about it. The only thing that slows him down is the support of the structure he is working in. Outside he is limited only to the flexibility of the material and knowledge of his crew. The video “Torqued” was very interesting in showing Serra’s process. It took tree years to shape that sheet of steel into opposing ellipses. Most would have given up by then. But Serra’s vision to recreate an anomaly he witnessed allowed him to triumph in the world of art and physics.
Aaron Levy
The article on Aaron Levy and the tread that followed were very interesting. One facet of art today is to oppose and comment on the problems of the world but that is not all art. My problem with art is that the awareness it may raise is not enough. The ways most artist communicate this awareness is through shock, which will not allow people to change their minds but make them defensive and angry. Art is a passive way to comment on society and the goings wrong in the world. A real comment on society is when one uses his or her hands to fix a problem. Pointing out the world’s problem and commenting on them does not make the world a better place, that’s what the news does. I don’t not think that artist should refrain from expression their disgust through art but the are better ways to make a difference.
I found the article about Ray Johnson interesting, not because of his art, but because of how odd he seemed. Recently I had an aunt die, who was a painter. I had never met her, and neither had my mom, or most people in my family. She stayed in the house all the time and only her husband really knew anything about her. My uncle died a month later when we went to his house to pick up a few things, there were things everywhere, stacked up and only a walk way through the house. Pots and pans sets, stuffed animals, toys (which was very odd considering they never had kids), many other random objects. Then next time we went there, a week later the house was cleaned out and everything was gone. She seemed like such a curious woman, just like Ray Johnson must have been. I thought of my aunt while reading this, although she did not commit suicide. Thinking more about that article later made me think of the extremes of art and what people consider to be art. Ray Johnson killed himself and it was art, but I am assuming if I shot someone in the street and called it art, it would be a lot less acceptable. I was interested by Kiki Smith but I think I might be a little bias, because I feel like I relate to her work. I was really interested in Richard Serra and how he moved up in scale because this is something that I would like to experiment with. I also found his determination inspiring, where he mentioned how long it took him to come up with a design for something that seemed so simple, but worked at it until it was right. I didn't really enjoy Aaron Levy article as much, the writers seemed to fill the article to much with unimportant things like getting coffee.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Barton
ReplyDeleteSeptember 15, 2010
Critical Discourse
The article on Ray Johnson could not have come at a more perfect time. I am going my CS thesis around his mail art. His life was art. There was a quiet, rarely seen grandeur to his work that perhaps, like so many of the artists now hailed in art history, was unrecognizable until after his death. After doing research on him and his work, I am not left charged with the critic’s sense of awe, as I am with many artists. It is a blessing in a way, to be able to observe a man and his life’s work with hoisting it onto some fabricated pedestal of linear progression.
Richard Serra is as big and steadfast as his work, it seems. I cannot say I “enjoy” his work more, but I do respect the thoughts behind them.
The term that caught me most off guard, describing Kiki Smith and her work was, “compassionate radicalism.” Her work, when seen together as Schjeldahl describes, seems as powerful, and as large as Richard Serra’s piece. There is a power in her soft presence, one that I respect more than Serra’s physically proud and, in a way, manipulating pieces. I was also intrigued by her quote about being with others as she worked: “so that you get the benefit of everyone’s opinions and so it’s not just about you in your you-dom.” The same experience I find in my studio invaluable. To be with other artists, all of whom I respect, has been unspeakably beneficial to my work, it removes the narcissism from the process, and reminds me that it is about the dialogue my work provides me with other individuals.
What excited me most about Jannis Kounellis’ work is his combination of painting and performance. That is something that I am beginning to pursue. I find myself constantly drawn to the public impact performance has to offer, as well as the experimentation a physical body can allow, but I am also deeply devoted to my studio work. It is exciting to see other artists having done this in the past.
Levy placed as large of a task on the collective whole of artist when he said, “In the ’60s and ’70s, there was an interest in probing the limits of the social order. Romantic as it is, I still believe it’s the role of the artist — to question and redefine.” Certainly for me, that is a goal as an artist—it comes with attempted unbiased observing, but it is still a mighty blanket to place over all artists. Of course, if an artist is to be aware of their surroundings, living in a town with as much historical struggle, corruption, but also camaraderie, as Philly, this may be a natural progression for artists. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I think that it does pose an immense task for artists. If what they say is true, that art is the last possible slice of civilization that has the ability for revolution, how as an artist do I become a part of that?
kelly mcgovern
ReplyDeleteRay Johnson
I want to see the film mentioned in this article. I loved reading it… such an interesting man. I found every aspect of this article interesting, from the first sentence “Life itself might be a work of art.” I wish however I knew more about his living than his death. To read about both side by side I imagine would be lovely. His physical work doesn’t strike me the way his life did, though I do see how collage and the curious way he lived correlate. I would love to know more about all this.
Richard Serra
This piece was interesting in terms of large scale work and how exactly the mechanics of it work. I have always enjoyed the concept of serras work, how he shapes space with such simple forms. What I find most interesting about it however, is how many people complain about it. how some of his work has been removed because people complain, because its in the way. or how people use it for political function. Very interesting.
Queen of arts
The last line was what I took to heart from this article. “You may choose to ignore her impertinent art, but you know what? She doesn’t care” its so important and sometimes so hard to not care about what others have to say about your work. I always have to keep reminding myself of it.
Jannis Kornelious
I feel like Jannis camae across as particularly pretentious in this interview, and I was completely bored with it. It all seemed very forced. However, to find the good in it, I appreciated his reasoning for his color choice, “the color that was right for that day.”
Levvy
I loved this conversation, its simple and insightful with careful thought and just a general understanding of history and present. They questions he asked were valid and his responses were refreshing. I loved this piece.
This mail art is very fun and interesting. I would love to participate with John held this is actually very coincidental because I just got an email from an artistic director from a website called turning art. I was asked to submit up to 5 digital images and the company sends the subscriber a 16x20 frame. The subscriber makes a queue and the company ships out prints to them. They can trade in and exchange, kind of like net flicks. The more they exchange, they get “points” to buy an original piece of artwork, or they can just straight up buy it from the artist. At first I thought it was a scam but it’s just a different idea. It’s kind of like this mail art thing. The subscribers don’t have to go out and look for art in galleries or websites, all the art is on the turning art website. It’s interesting, and I might do it.
ReplyDeleteRichard Serra, I find it interesting the points he makes about sculpture and architecture. I personally love when the two meet, like the cira centre near 30th street station. I can understand that he wants it to be separated, like a man made sculpture cutting up the mundane boring architecture. Even take our school for example, so sterile. I think its bold that he wants to make objects that are giant in size but sever no purpose for humans other than creating awe and wonder.
“We are interested in his idea about spectacle and the constant desire for newness and what we are seeing as the ever-increasing homogeneity of the art world. What we’ve observed is that people (gallerists, collectors, artists) desire something new and spectacular, something for immediate consumption. But will that produce the most interesting practices? And with cultural tourism dependent on providing spectacle, what happens to more thoughtful, slower work that is not new or spectacular.”
This can go hand in hand with the mail art for me. Being successful, making art, being recognized in a totally new and fresh way is exciting. I often times find myself asking these same questions or having these same thoughts. It bothers me that galleries and such always want a large cut of your profit.
Ray Johnson seemed like a hermit with a lot of “secrets”. I can see that he wanted to end his life because he was A. Bored or B. wanted to be remembered as a pioneer. To each his own I suppose. I think that it is a very definite concept; to jump of bridge, you will probably die. But he didn’t die right away, he could have swam to the shore, I think he didn’t just commit suicide he wanted to experience the force of mother nature, he wanted to connect with the earth on a different level. I watched a documentary called the bridge. People fantasized about jumping of the golden gate bridge. It was really weird that people almost gravitated towards it, planned it out and did it. A lot of families in the documentary said there loved ones said they would jump off the bridge, or make jokes or referenced to doing it, then one day they just got up and did it. I think that Ray Johnson must have had his reasons. Maybe he wanted people to discover him, or go on a journey through his inner turmoil and art practices.
I much prefer watching videos as opposed to reading. I need to see the work to really understand what the artist is taking about, its annoying to have to keep jumping back to Google to find out what they are even describing or talking about, it makes it boring.
Kiki Smith’s bio was refreshing because it was a quick and easy read. Although I found that the author was kind of being condescending towards her work at some points.
Courtney Coolbaugh
ReplyDeleteRay Johnson
While everyone else is searching for answers to the big questions in life, Ray Johnson seemed to be constructing all the clues. Maybe letters in bottles fascinated him because it was a connection to something unknown and the ocean was the way to get there. I really like the idea of mail art! When I was interning this summer with Darla Jackson, she showed me a little package that she had received in the mail from some stranger in California and it had the most odd contents. It was like a time capsule for someone’s imagination. I think it is great that Johnson was able to live his life based on the idea that life is art right up to his death. I wonder if he would have lived his life differently had he actually been penniless.
Kiki Smith
This article tries to point out the significance of Kiki Smith’s position in the contemporary art world. The author tells us that Smith was a survivor of an era in New York that was otherwise wiped out by “gentrification and, above all, AIDS” that placed Smith in the right place at the right time to become part of a movement. I like how the author writes that we “always will like to tinker up canons of greatness. These require reference to the him- or her-dom of individuals who, in ways specific to their times and themselves, alter the standard histories of ideas and mediums.” I think he is suggesting that Smith will be a landmark for art history. I like how he describes both her individual pieces and her installations. She uses a wide array of different materials to create art, and I think the most important tool she uses is her dedication to the process of creating that is accelerated by her fascination for fairy tales, animals, and humanity.
Richard Serra
I like how he admitted to making a statement about not using artificial building devices, but then altered his practice according to the evolution of his work. This article was a bit boring to read, but I appreciated how he described his work down to the quarter-inch, because that is what he finds essential in understanding large sculpture. I am not surprised that Germany disapproves of some of his work – it is meant to be invasive and non-functional, like a fallen tree blocking the street. I like how his beliefs about what sculpture is or should be are translated in his work – he successfully manifests his ideas into form.
Jannis Kounellis
Unlike Richard Serra’s clear and direct statements about the production and meaning of his work, the interview with Jannis Kounellis seemed all jumbly jarbly. I like the idea of Kounellis making one painting everyday with a certain color for each day – even if the colors are not symbolic, the act of ritual is. The main point that Kounellis was trying to make during this interview was that her art is about bringing awareness to the conventionality of the gallery space. Her work becomes contingent on the space it occupies – she put horses in a gallery to beg the question – why not? She said her greatest aspiration is “to be paradoxical”, which is interesting because although she claims to not want to be part of something (a style or historical interval between two other significant players in the bourgeois hierarchy of the art world) she shows her work in and about a gallery, ultimately becoming a part of the gala after all.
I found the article about Ray Johnson interesting but also very sad. It was clear that Johnson was unable to connect with other people and as a result lived a very excluded and misunderstood life. It was clear that he has some kind of mental problem he was trying to deal with and I would be hesitant to call his life a work or art. When I googled his work I found that I wasn’t that interested in it which surprised me because I was so interested in the article. He seems like someone similar to Lady Gaga in a weird way. Her life is an act and she is always in full costume. She does strange things just for the sake of being different and standing out in sometimes-uncomfortable ways.
ReplyDeleteI was also interested in the theory talk with Aaron Levy. While I think the ideas were interesting, I believe the article was too vague with Levy’s ideas. I feel like discussing the role of an artist in 2010 is an important thing to do because I agree with Levy when he states there is too much work available these days and as time passes our roles change. As an artist I do want my work to have influence on social structures and situations I don’t agree with, however with so much work available currently though the internet, galleries, and books it is also important to try to make your my stand out. I believe some artists may identify as a social critic, but I do not think that it is an obligation for being an artist.
SHAWNDA T.BEATTIE
ReplyDeleteThe energy of the video in Ray Johnson was very moving and keep the viewer interested. But I wasn’t sure what a “matacus” was , if I spelled it correctly. But I didn’t understand the video in terms of why he made these images . I’m sure its public art and it has a concept but the concept wasn’t responsive. The interaction was available for example “the woman said in a poetic way “ a matacus it waits’ for you to take its picture” I thought.. so may be these little or large images become a life of their own. The interaction between the them seem like the public art was found on train tracks and in the street. The drum playing in the video and poetry created a movement as if these images were created from life, as if he took these pictures himself. Even though certain things were not strong on concept but the drums and poetry stood out the most.
I wish I'd read the Ray Johnson article sooner, because I completely identified with his message. I experienced a great upheaval in my life this summer, and ever since I haven't been able to shake the notion that I am living my life the way I make art...deliberately and creatively, picking pieces I like and integrating them. Since I returned to school, I've started working on several projects that dictate my everyday actions (right now, living as frugally as I possibly can without moving out of my apartment or starving or compromising any major ideals), but I haven't been able to figure out how to express or document these projects visually. But I know that they are my art. It was encouraging to read about an artist who didn't try to separate his art from his life (and who gravitates towards collage as the most appropriate method of visual making.)
ReplyDeleteI think the article for Kiki Smith's retrospective struck a similar chord for me, in the sense that the author clearly valued Smith's undeniable organic, sensual, in-your-face humanity. While Smith's work is not as obviously autobiographical, the author talked almost more about her personality than her work, which suggests that an artist's personality is of significance and relevant. With the trend towards community-oriented and participatory art in the contemporary art world, that would certainly make sense.
To move from the Kiki Smith article to Richard Serra's account of his experiences building his works was a huge leap. Serra clearly does not see his personality or biography as relevant; his obsession with material and progressive methods of manipulating it seems to me deeply entrenched in a Modernist ideology. As interesting as it was to read about his process and the little anecdotes that revolve around problem solving, I felt very little empathy for his work, and am still trying to figure out how it functions socially or psychologically in the public space. What do his gargantuan minimalist sculptures really DO on a human level, other than to disrupt the routine of an architectural landscape? What are the implications of "anti-environment" when the everyday passer-by encounters it?
The interview with Jannis Kounellis helped me organize each of these artists along a spectrum. His work has even less of a dialogue with the every day than does Serra's--Kounellis seems entirely concerned with a critique of art and the art world and progress beyond what had been done before him in sculpture and installation (appropriate, for the time in which he worked...) Thus, Serra, in my mind begins to bridge the gap between Kounellis and Smith, in terms of how important the personal experience of the artist is and how relevant the everyday human experience is to the work. Smith falls between Serra and Johnson on the same scale, Johnson working in the gap between art and life but almost completely in life.