36 Chambers

On the surface, this movie is visually fun to watch because of the action, odd cinematography, and off sound clips. It could be brushed aside as a "bad" film because of its outdated existence, but when looking at it for concept and not just face value, the film gains a lot of personal meaning. The comparison to the Shaolin temple and Tyler is surprisingly easy to make. Both San ta and I both worked our tails off getting hear. We both held an idyllic view of what it was going to be like. We recognized the amount of work, but did not know how taxing it would be. The actual school is different than that we expected. I doubt that San ta expected to carrying killer watter buckets, spinning ninja stars with a bamboo stick, or knocking his head into sandbags intentionally. I did not expect my bedtime of around 11 to change to 3, to be creating a 6x6 foot drawing, or to have many major art projects going at once. They are physically and mentally challenging in different ways. Both require a persistence and tenacity. There is no option to give up, and there is no point in not doing the best work I could possibly do. In the beginning of the first semester, all of the work was like trying to eat on top of a floating log. i did not completely understand how to balance my schedule, my room mate was awful and I did not know how to deal with her (now I just live at Tyler or the lounge to avoid her), and adjusting to college independence and the freedom that it really entails. I feel like I've learned to balance my work load, not so much balance as just to work all the time in order to do things I want to every once in a while- like go swing or salsa dancing.
The one thing that I think will differ most from the movie will be after school. Everything just falls into place for San ta. I feel like I'm going to have to work harder when I get out of art school to achieve my dreams. I want to major in Jewelry Metals CAD/CAM, so I'm hoping that I can get a job in industry when I get out of college. With the income I make from that hopefully I can continue my own work. I hope to remain within a group of artists that can meet to discuss work. I would love to design for a high end designer, and to teach art at a college level. San ta gained the respect immediately of people who saw him as he ventured from the temple- to be respect within the art world takes much more than just graduation from a reputable art school.  People have preconceived notions of "good art." There are classic artists who students can work to emulate or oppose, either way, making a little voice of a young artist is much harder than San ta's immediate reward. Instead of the single kung fu master venturing out in the world to seek vengeance, art students graduate yearly by the thousands.

JOHN ARMLEDER

The artist, John Armleder, cares about what his audience in the scene that he is creating work for an audience. He cares that the audience, but not so much what they think. Some artist aim to be associated with one school of art or to arouse a certain feeling through their art. Armleder does not care what school of art he is associated with, but he values the audience's placement of titles that weren't origonally intended. As an artist, he says that he wants to be a part of all these different movements, and to some extent he is not part of them because he identifies with so many of them. I think artists shouldn't have to worry about what they are associated with, and while it does inform the work to art historians, the general public does not form these ties. In some scene they can interpret the are with a less clouded perception.  He himself says:
"Most important, I've never believed that what I think about my own
work has anything to do with the work itself"?

He allows and wants other people to put their own perceptions on his work. Some students within Tyler create works that are supposedly based off of extensive research, but their actual presentations do not actually read the way they intended. John Armleder removes this problem by not intending a meaning. He includes intellectual play, but does not mean for a specific reading.

His interpretation of neutral or generic art makes scene. It's odd that he feels that he needs to rely previous work to give meaning and inform his decisions. I would like to think that each artist makes their own decisions without necessarily consciously thinking of previous art movements. I know that subconsciously I am influenced by everything I see, but would like to think my art is still original without acknowledging  the influences.

I think that recycling forms is still relevant today, but it has been done before. But like he said before, basically has been everything has been done before in art. It's the concept, intention, and context in which the artist displays the work that really matters. Ready made is a reference to Duchamp, who questioned  what art was. If this revolutionary artist had gone forgotten, his work would have gone unmentioned. It is good that people utilize all forms of art.

I think his pseudointelligent way of creating is creative. It seems to be his original idea that he offers to the art world. What art is has been questioned recently, and this new idea adds to the challenging of it. I think as a way of art it's interesting, I can't say that I personally would create are this way, but it is interesting to see.

I think hearing the logic to how he sets up his installations is a little insulting, but also thought provoking. The audience can not see this condescension within the work unless they are really looking for it. It is not blatant.

Gallery Viewing

The exhibition was done by a photography grad student. This fact informed the viewing and organization of the work. Originally when I walked into the gallery space, it seemed unorganized, but through deepened observation, the placement made more sense. Each element made you view it separately, making you consider the organization of that piece, out of context with the others. The line of black objects placed as you just walked in that was created through everyday  objects such as grapes and records were placed in a fashion where they seemed to degrade down the line. It introduced the black and white color scheme of the ehibit, this piece concentrating mostly on black. It demanded you look directly down at the floor, eliminating the other pieces from  the field of vision. The photograph of white marble was placed on a wall singularly by its self. The other pieces within the first room were viewed similarly, demanding all attention and through looking at all the pieces a unity and understanding of the organization could be understood. A contrast literal and figurative of the black from white could be  identified. The second room was mostly bare but continued the process of discussion of black and white. The white marble referenced the white marble photo on the first wall. A black flag offered contrast to the marble structure. The video was shown in a room of its own, utilizing a slowed down sound track and video. There were three characters, a white woman, a black woman, and a black man. This room clarified the theme, and referenced a picture of black and white woman in the first room. The ehibit was somehow discussing two women lovers. The pieces were not happy or joyful, they were often dark in color expressing a more somber mood, possibly an unresolved conflict.

Lioness and Cub Revisited

Initial Reaction to the Piece:  This piece has a wow factor in its large size and the fact that there are two flanking the doorway. It also reminds me of the character Stich from Lelo and Stich the Disney movie.  I also was intrigued by its foreign style. In art history we only study western art, so eastern art is really interesting.

Color: The piece is mainly a shade of teal. It is not a consistent teal, as the enamel varies in hue within the piece. It also has accents of red, white, yellow, gold lief, darker blue, and brown.

Color Attraction: Yes , I think that the colors attracted me to this piece. I enjoyed the fact that the lion was unnaturally blue. Western culture tries to represent creatures roughly with their natural color, but this figure embraces an unnatural blue tone as a “flesh” tone.

Time: It reminds me of spending time with my family watching Lelo and Stich. In this sense the intimidating sculpture of a lion and her cub becomes endearing, funny, and cute.  It also reminds me of a metal chinese fish that my grandmother gave me when I was little. I fell in love with her Chinese fish  and she ended up giving me one for my birthday because I was so infatuated.

Smell: The area does not smell like anything in particular. My experience of the piece is not affected by the smell.

Conversations: It was really interesting to eavesdrop on the people viewing the piece. Some talked about me drawing it, but most people commented on the sign in front of the statue that said “Adopt me.” It was amazing how the conversation and experience of this piece for these people was not the experience of the piece itself, but of what was in close proximity to the piece. This piece was not behind glass, and the one child had made it his duty to touch everything that was not in a case, and he informed me of his decision and then touched the statue. It seemed as if many of the people did not appreciate the art, they spent maybe five seconds and then moved on to the next piece.

Spatial Relation:  These figures flank a doorway, so they appear important and draw attention towards them.  They are in the path of travel to another room, so people always see them as they walk into the  next room.

Scale: Pieces in this room range from two by three by two foot sculptures to tapestry’s that are approximately 50 by 30 feet, so the range of size is very broad, and the size of the sculpture is around a media size.

Color within Lioness and Cub

For this assignment I went to the Penn Museum. Their focus is on historical works, so some of the collections lacked color from the cultures lack of the use of pigments or from the fading or degradation of the piece. The African and Chinese art held the most vibrant color pallet.  African art consisted mainly of prismatic, neon colors, where Chinese art contained contrast in moodier hues contrasted next to metallic gold. The specific collections are not from the same time period, so they cannot be compared to which geographical areas developed what colors first, but the brief sampling of art within the museum does give a brief idea to what colors different cultures utilized and how they utilized them. African art dealt more with fabric dying and the creation of useful goods where Indian dealt more with religious and Greek more with government. The color pallets of the varying areas are the colors found within the areas in which these people live. The bolder colors make sense within the equatorial location of parts of Africa. India has yearly monsoons, which would provide explanation for the moody colors found in the work.

            The specific piece that I chose was The Lioness and Cub done in the seventeenth century during the Quing dynasty. The color was created through a process of cloisonné in which metal wires are soldered onto the figure, enclosing a space. Then enameling is melted into these individual enclosures. Different colors are created through different colors of enameling. This process demonstrates color being extremely pre-planned. Like in frescos, there was no redoing or recoloring of the sculpture. Most of the piece was covered with blue enameling, but some areas, such as the collar and the base, which is not pictured well above, have high detailing in bold, prismatic colors. The piece’s main focus is on shape and texture. Color is utilized to block out large sections of color within the framework of the cloisonné, like color blocking. In works to create a base for the sculptural details in which the drama of the cloisonné and the textural elements such as in the main of the lion. The eyes are not pure white and give the sense that the color has faded or is dirty. If it is true that the whole statue is deepened in tone from its original coloration, it would give a different interpretation of Chinese use of color than what this piece portrays.

            Within the Penn Museum, the Lioness and Cub statue is displayed inside a room with large Chinese wall paintings and other Eastern art.  It flanks a doorway along with a similar statue of a male lion. These statues would have normally stood in the door way of an Indian temple. It is a grey stone room in which the curators have placed backdrops behind sculptural pieces that enhance the piece. The Lioness and Cub sculpture has a prismatic blue background which emphasizes the tones and shades present within the sculpture. The white of the door frame, which was not placed there on purpose, still adds to the piece by providing a contrast to the faded white of the eyes. The stone wall to the left of the statue does not accentuate any aspect of the piece and the texture of the brick work may detract attention from the cloisonné enameling because of the thicker line of relief in the mortar.

             I chose this piece because of the use of enameling on such a large sculptural object. During my last semester of art history most enameling was very small scale because of its intensive process. It also reminded me of the intimidating but awkwardly cute Stich from Lelo and Stich.  

Response to Quote

"The point is, that every piece of art changes your whole perception of the rest of the world for the rest of your life. And it's not a joke! And if it doesn't, then it's not art, it's a commodity."

- LawrenceWeiner responding to a question from Liam Gillick in "Between Artists"

pg20

Everyone perceives reality differently. That being said, it is nearly impossible for one piece of art to change the lives of all of its viewers.  Each viewer sees the work of art from their own eyes which have their own individual experiences behind them. Those experiences, memories, associations, cultural norms, and innate understandings determines how someone sees a work of art, if it affects them or not. A piece of art that changes one person's life could draw a completely neutral response from another viewer. Take, for example, this Rothco piece:

Mark Rothco Orange and Yellow - 1956

Some people look at this piece and just question its integrity as a piece of art. They either do not or cannot see past their own skepticism. Other viewers can be engulfed within the colors and be completely changed. They may understand the artist's intent, or, more likely, they are able to put their own meaning behind it, pulling from either their subconscious or their experience. These viewers are more open and less skeptical. 

Every piece of art cannot affect everyone's perception. People are too different for something to be entirely universal. I think that art in the typical sense, drawing, painting, and sculpture, is art if it changes one person. 

This is all said under a more classical sense of art. A different definition of art changes the answer to this prompt. The MOMA has objects that wouldn't fall under this classical definition of art. 

 Tupperware definitely does not fit into the classical definition, but definitely has "changed the world." But tupperware is a commodity... so where does this leave LawrenceWeiner's quote?