Week 12 Readings

love this (Robert Frank)

Road Show: Robert Frank
by Anthony Lane

Robert Frank explored America in the mid-1950s with a Guggenheim Scholarship on his hip, taking photos of all things American. His works were exhibited recently in the Met, where viewers could experience mid century America at its purest. He was criticized by Americans when he first exhibited the work, saying the pictures were too critical, too anti-American. He was even arrested at one point, suspected as being a Communist (although this happened to many, many artists and writers). However, this criticism was undeserved, for his depiction of America was not intended to be mean-spirited, but rather honest.

Week 11 Readings

"The Death of the Object"

Karel Appel

This article begins by discussing the political movements and social unrest of the mid 20th century and the art that came from it--Surrealism, decollage, Situationalism, and finally Conceptualism. During this time there was a growing tension between artists and galleries/museums, arising from the anti-institutionalism feelings of artists such as Daniel Buren, whose painting was removed from the Guggenheim for this reason. At the same time in Italy, Arte povera was taking shape, a step away from Minimalism and with more politically charged subject matter. The move toward conceptualism brought art such as Body Art and Performance Art with notable artists like Acconci, Mendieta, etc. In a way this was the turning point of art--deconstruction had reached its peak and future artists would start the reconstruction.

"Western Disturbances"
by Calvin Tomkins

Tomkins describes a visit to the home and studio of artist Bruce Nauman (and wife Susan Rothenberg) in which he gets to see Nauman's work in progress (Days/Giorni Project). As a young artist, Nauman struggled with finding his medium, trying everything from painting, to using his body, to sculpture, to films. His adoption by Castelli into a gallery solo show finally brought him to the forefront of contemporary art, and from there he was to bloom into some of his most famous work. At the age of 31, Nauman exhibited a Retrospective which would cause his reputation to go into decline, and his ability to work shriveled for a number of months. He divorced his wife and moved to New Mexico with his daughter's kindergarten teacher. In the early 80s he made a work called "American Violence" involving neon tubes and phrases such as LOVE AND LIVE and FUCK AND DIE. Later he would marry Rothenberg, and his art, coincidentally, became softer--he returned to using videos and starting using audio technology. The article ends with a view of Nauman's next project: perhaps some self-portrait drawings.

John Cage

What a funny dude. John Cage's music borders on performance art--he was always trying to do something different, unexpected. For this he was greatly criticized--I actually know a John Cage scholar (least likely person, too) who will perform his pieces sometimes. It's interesting--but I can't knock it.

Presentation Woes

This presentation is really getting to me! My artistic vision isn't so strong yet, I'm still trying to work out some kinks in my process. So I'm not sure I'm really going to be saying very much tomorrow, just babbling. After seeing Vivian Beer speak last week, I was so impressed with how articulately she described her artistic process and how aware she was of her inspiration and motivation. Her work was also breathtakingly beautiful. It just makes me feel as though I have a very, very long way to go. Which realistically I do.

We'll see how it goes, I suppose.

Self Portrait in Blue and Red (gouache on paper)

readings (so terribly late)

Anytime, Anywhere  

Sasha Frere-Jones

Frere-Jones is reviewing West’s new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I’m no grammarian, but I think it may be missing a few commas. That aside, Kanye’s career has seen many twists and turns over the last few years, with some good moments (his music) and bad moments (anytime he speaks candidly). I still think he’s a cool guy with some serious sanity issues, so I’m going to check out this album. The guest artists are all awesome too! I’m so out of the loop with this type of music.

Fancy Footwork

David Denby

Black Swan:

Now I totally wish I had gone to see Black Swan! It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just never had the chance. Although I haven’t seen it, I do find this critic to be extremely harsh on the subject of artists and morbidity. Perfectionism is a dangerous thing and while Black Swan may bring this to extremes, I can relate to some of Nina’s anxiety and the physical effects it has on the body and the mind. We’re all a bit insane, and this movie dives into the darkest realms of artistic insanity.

Love and Other Drugs:

I haven’t seen this either, I am such a hermit! Denby loved this movie, and now this leaves me with the conviction that he is the type of critic who LOVES to be contrary to the popular opinion (which isn’t necessarily bad) because most critics loved Black Swan and felt apathetic towards Love and Other Drugs. I still would love to see both movies!

Ladies Wild

Sasha Frere-Jones

I have always admired Gaga for her gutsy genius—she’s screwing everyone over by accessing the heart of human nature and completely exploiting it—I love her! This article also discusses her business smarts and her understanding of collaboration with the right people.

Abstract Art's New World, Forged for All

Michael Kimmelman

I was actually recently listening to an interview with Richard Serra on PRI’s Studio 360. I can’t wait to go and experience his sculptures—descriptions don’t really seem to do the trick. This article is about his installation in the Bilbao Guggenheim (they designed specific sections of the museum for his work—imagine!) and a review of the pieces there, which are going to change the way the world views sculpture.

Serra Smiles

Peter Schjeldahl

This next article about Serra discusses his piece Switch, which induces pleasure as a piece of beauty, not fear as did Tilted Arc. Schjeldahl also discusses Serra’s evolution from his 1960’s gravitational works of lead, to Tilted Arc, which was hated so much that it was uninstalled and put in government storage, to his works today which are incredibly beautiful and widely acclaimed.

Off the Rim

I wish I had heard of Jim Carroll before this article. I think it would give me some more context of The Petting Zoo. As far as I can tell, the author did not enjoy the Carroll’s book as much as his earlier work, it was as if he had grown tired and lost his youthful spark. I’d like to read his earlier work, I’d never even heard of the movie adaptation. Again, I am a hermit!

blue

I thought a lot on the drive home tonight, and anger started welling up in me.

I think a lot of it is anger toward myself, and toward society, and myself in society. We're given so many opportunities that no one else has, and we take them completely for granted. Tonight I was thinking specifically of education, and how disgusting the system has become. I was frustrated earlier because I was reading the "Avant-garde" article and I had absolutely no context to work with because I know nothing about modern and contemporary art. Then I went to the library, picked up some books about Modernism and started to read, and I realized I had very little context to work with there because I know hardly anything about World War I and Russia and Socialism. I think much of this is my fault because we must have learned it in grade/high school, but I must have crammed for the test and then forgotten all of it after. I was a straight-A student, too, scored in the top 3% on my SATs, and was fairly close to the top of my class. How the hell did I get through high school and emerge with a completely inadequate education and still be near the top of the class?! I feel as though I've been cultivated to be lazy about learning. I have never felt dumb in my life until this year, when I realized I really know a tiny bit about a lot of things and a lot of bits about nothing.

I want to say so much more but I feel as though I've said enough. It's just frustrating because now there's so much catching up to do and it will take a lot of time and concentration, both of which I'm sorely lacking these days...

will you take me as I am?

I've seriously waited till the last minute, but I am excited to read the articles.

This week has been the craziest of all. We had a new baby in the family, and a death. A life for a life. Too much to think about. And then one must keep going: I still have to work shifts at Starbucks, and the Slide Library, and finish my pot for Ceramics, and write a paper for Dave Smith, and blog, and  make art, and wake up everyday.

I'm not Catholic (quite the opposite) but I went to Thursday Vespers this week at St. Anselm in Manchester. If anyone has not experienced this, go. Basically we sit in the choir of the church, with pews on either side of the altar facing each other. Half the crowd (mostly monks) sits on one side and the other half on the other, and we sing the Psalms to each other, back and forth, occasionally joining in all together. It was truly an artful experience.

 I am for an art/ Happenings
I wish very much to experience these Happenings. In the second article, Kaprow is attempting to explain/rationalize the Happenings as art. They seem to be an extremely sensory experience, engaging sight, smell, sound, touch, maybe not taste (who knows). He describes them as "melodramatic" and talks about the artists and their perceptions of fame and death. The first article is a description of what these avante-garde artists are trying to convey in their art, of which is delicious, disgusting, tangible, intangible, everything.

The Enveloping Air John Berger
Very pretty little piece about Monet--although nothing very new. He's writing about Monet's color, light, and "instantaneity." He refers to the painting of Camille on her deathbed as one of the greatest paintings of mourning, which maybe I don't agree with.

I love this Monet, another of Camille, but with his signature feeling of detachment:

The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus 
Walter Gropius
The Bauhaus is a movement where artistic expression and creativity are preceded by a rigorous academic program where students are taught the practicalities of creating art. Then after the individual student's gifts are established, they can build upon these talents. The point is to make prolific, creative artists who are also intelligent and practical.

I know I've been posting mostly music lately, but I couldn't help it. This song inspires me to do many things. It's seriously one of the most sensual songs I've ever heard.

Art as Breakfast

Self-Portrait as Morning Light

by me (digital photography)

oh I love ya, when I forget about me

Another lady I find inspiration from, Blue-era Joni Mitchell. Kind of cliche, but who can help it? 

do you look for me too?

Abigail Washburn, "A Fuller Wine"

She's wonderful. Seriously, look her up if you like bluegrassy stuff, or amazing music. Or both.

coffee's cold

Boy have I let the blog go this week. Sorry blog!
By the way, I just ate four chocolate covered fortune cookies. In case anyone was wondering.

Downtown's Daughter by Rebecca Mead 
This is an article about Lena Dunham, an up and coming film maker most recently lauded for her film Tiny Furniture. I've actually already read a zillion articles about her, and she seems awesome! The New Yorker article is a bit of a biography, covering her precocious attitudes as a child to her antics and films in college. She's making a new HBO show, which I'm sure will be absolutely fabulous!

Dunham makes me slightly jealous, excited, and nervous about the fact that our real lives are about to start and we need to focus on our end goal as art-majors. How cool would it be if we were all known artists by the end of our college careers?

Between the Lines by Peter Schjdeldahl

Giuseppe Pinone, Propagazione.
Ripples. One of the most lovely concepts

A review of MoMA's exhibit about drawing in the 20th Century, Schjeldahl (um, spelling) discusses the various pieces that were on display for this show. The artists are taking the essential line-drawing and bringing the concept to greater depths (or shallows...hmm) in various mediums, including pencil, paint, and sculpture.




Is anyone else listening to the wind? Is anyone else reading everyone's blogs? Is anyone posting anything different from everyone else?

Louise Bourgeois from interview

Bourgeois, in these snippets, is explaining her views on various aspects of art. She views art as a privilege, something she owes to the world because she was given this privilege without asking. She also sniffs at Art Historians for their need to feel better than the artist, or at least relate modern art to art of previous generations, which to B is impossible. To her, modern art is about humanity and self expression, and satisfies this basic human need to be recognized.

I don't agree. Mostly.

Did you know she only died last year? She was 98 years old. What a life!


The wind is trying to break me...

Paul Cezanne, Letters
I had trouble concentrating on this one, which is strange because Cezanne is a huge inspiration for me and always, at least, interesting. I blame the wind. However, this quote stood out to me: "The man of letters expresses himself in abstractions, whereas a painter, by means of drawing and color, gives concrete form to his sensations and perceptions." Photography, too. How wonderful and frustrating is art? Even Cezanne shows here his eternal battle to capture his perceptions.


Perhaps I'll respond to the others tomorrow. I cannot even begin to think of finishing the Criticizing Art reading. I started it today and fell asleep, went and got coffee so I could finish, and then forgot and started something else. This is my life.

Helen Frankenthaler. How glamorous!

Readings and Musings

I waited till the last minute again..ugh

The Blue of Distance by Rebecca Solnit

I cheesily made the font blue.

Monet, master of color, did it too.

In this article, Rebecca Solnit is exploring the concept of distance, and the (I think) romantic notions that come with it. She writes about how artists discovered that the color blue conveys distance in a painting, and if one looks at a horizon full of mountains, one will see that there is a bluish hue among the farthest ones. She also thinks about the more abstract feelings of distance, and the difference between adults and children.

This may be the reason that to us blue is melancholy--it is represented in nature as  something unreachable and fleeting.

A Painter's Wisdom by Max Beckmann

I would not liked to have been around Max Beckmann when he wrote this...bad mood alert! This piece mostly makes me wonder whether the art world has changed at all since he wrote this. My intuition says no, nothing has changed, and it never will. Society really does view art as an elastic good, something they can substitute for a vacation or a car, something that will always be here and something that no one really needs, just wants. It makes me scream--the world without art would be desolate and anti-intellectual, why cannot the public see this? Everyone takes everything for granted.



Tradition and Identity by David Smith

I like Whistler

David Smith came from the wide-eyed perspective of a small town that viewed art as something distant (and elastic..grr). When he explored art he realized that it's not so glamorous as it seems, it is dirty, rough, messy, no rules, no expectations. Art doesn't come from method and tradition, it comes from somewhere inside you.

Ok, I find this kind of pretentious! He seems to make art even more distant for those who can't naturally understand. This sort of thing really depends on the individual artist--if an artist uses traditional materials, does it make him/her less of an artist? I don't think so. Some people are more methodical than others. And using good materials creates lasting art. Paintings by people like Whistler who used whatever mixture of pigment/oil he wanted are starting to crumble and rot because of poor craftsmanship. Not that I'm a perfect example of a methodical person, but seriously. Not everyone is like you.

cool art thing

Everyone go here NOW!

http://www.googleartproject.com/

You will never leave your computer again.

Still Life by Mary Gordon

Pierre Bonnard, Self-Portrait in the Bathroom Mirror

Mary Gordon beautifully pairs her mother's decline with the paintings of Bonnard, juxtaposing the delicacy of human life with the immortality of a painting. There is a sense of longing for the saturated colors that Bonnard used in her everyday life--especially in the nursing home where her mother lives. Gordon idolizes Bonnard for his ability to take something that maybe isn't so beautiful into something vibrant and alive with joy and color, and seems to wish she had this ability too. She brings her mother flowers and colorful food, hoping to emulate Bonnard and also hoping that her mother would notice. In the end she realizes that life and color are fleeting, and even Bonnard cannot overcome the darkness of lifelessness.

I'm going to show this article to my grandmother. Her mother is in her 90's right now, and declining. She forgets now when we visit, and spends much of her time daydreaming about something or nothing, it's hard to tell. My brother is in the Coast Guard, and he went to visit her in uniform one day. The next time he came in after, she told him "I just met the nicest man in uniform the other day, I think you two would get along very well!" But we knew she had just forgotten that it was actually my brother both times. In her younger years she was energetic and quick-witted, but now she can barely remember her family. I feel blessed to know my great-grandmother, but it's so hard to see her failing.

failure

Let's just say yesterday did not go well. Figures.

Snow Daze!

click for bigger size, if you want.

I'm so very excited for a snow day tomorrow, because that means I get to do art! Normally I have very little free time with school and my two jobs, so I'm going to get down and dirty tomorrow! Here's what I'm working on right now, it's a series of quick sketch portraits. My extremely pregnant aunt let me take a picture of her and her belly tonight so that's the first thing I'm starting tomorrow. Along with portraits of David R. Smith and Barbara Steinberg, of course. I'm seriously beyond excited.

Procrastination

the ultimate form of procrastination

Wasn't the article about procrastination fun? I waited till the last minute to read it, of course, and not for effect. The facts in the article seem true--we focus on the short term and long term goals are put by the wayside. The article talks about how procrastination stems from seeming to have so much to do that one  becomes overwhelmed and does absolutely nothing. The short-term self wins out; what is happening in the here and now always wins out over things that seem like a far-off goal. For example, writing this blog post. I thought I had all the time in the world to write these posts this week and every day said, "Oh, I'll do my blog posts tomorrow." What BS! Anything I was doing at a given moment seemed more important. Another point the article made that was particularly interesting was the idea of "planning fallacy." It's so hard to set aside an hour to do an assignment and strictly spend that hour on it--something always comes up. This morning I was trying to do these posts and a friend ended up coming into the room and talking to me, and suddenly I was set back an hour and a half!  Anyway, this article was eye-opening, but I doubt my days of procrastination are over.

Criticizing Art: First Summary

.

Manet, Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe. This painting was a scandalous horror to art critics of the time period. Now it is considered one of Manet's finest masterpieces.

Being a former Art History major, I thought I had all this stuff covered already. But really, Criticizing Art seems like a somewhat interesting read. At first I was wary of it since Art Criticism to me seems a bit fuzzy and relative, but I like how Terry Barrett approaches it. He quotes many different sources and comes clean about the unreliability of many critics. He also discusses how critics coming from different backgrounds can impose their political/moral/philosophical/whatever beliefs on the art and that there are many different publications that are politically specific or will only hire people with certain beliefs. Audiences should be taken into consideration also, and many critics will slant how they write based on they publication they are writing for, and who reads it. I think we should all be diligent about keeping our heads clear when we read about art and not automatically accept what the critic says, because we never know what kind of background he or she comes from--let's do our own research and think for ourselves!

Studio Practice

Since I haven't done the reading yet (well, except for half the article on procrastination--apparently it didn't teach me much), I'll start out the blog with a post on my studio practice.

I feel vastly inferior to all the writers we read about in terms of discipline. Which means I have none. I do get work done outside of class, it's just so erratic that it's hard for me to pinpoint a particular method.

For instance, tonight I made some sketches of my brother, Ben, and my boyfriend, Michael. I dug around for some paper, found a teeny piece of charcoal rolling around somewhere, sat on my bedroom floor, and sketched. I had to take pictures earlier today instead of a live sitting--I wouldn't torture those close to me that way.

In terms of painting, I am a huge, huge, huge procrastinator because I absolutely hate the prep work and the clean up. I need an intern. If my little brother weren't a bigger slob than I am, I would probably pay him to clean my brushes for me. Once I get into it I can go for hours on end; it's just the thought of being responsible with my materials that makes me shiver. Which doesn't make sense. I have lots of excuses.

Right now, my excuse for not painting is that I haven't stretched and primed the canvasses I need. Also, my easel is at my parent's house and I just moved back to my grandmother's house. Also, I'm lazy. Although I did  draw tonight which counts for something!

I'm rambling because I don't know how to express my studio practice. I suppose 'rambling' is the perfect way to describe it.

Here's a picture of the boardwalk at Plum Island that I took a few years ago. When I came across it tonight, it reminded me of the class (inexplicably--something about a journey or a path we're on that leads to a mysterious end):