art2103aviviwang

[art2103aviviwang]

“Disguise: Masks and Global African Art” (2015) by Saya Woolfalk 

[art2103aviviwang]

Notes on 20/20 by Sloan

Artist: Saya Woolfalk

Started her work from the history of her family

Textiles, her mom’s parents had a textile company in Japan 

Pornography finger puppets

No place - utopia 

The Emphathics, the utopia was established

[art2103aviviwang]

“The Watchers No. 1–5″ (2014) by Sophia Al-Maria 

[art2103aviviwang]

Notes on 20/20 by Gwyneth & Thea

Artist: Sophia Al- Maria

Qatari-American artist, writer, and filmmaker

Futurism

term: Gulf-Futursim 

Black Friday- a film 

Display shopping malls as shops to capitalism 

[art2103aviviwang]

“Black Venus” (2005) by Mark Bradford 

[art2103aviviwang]

Notes on 20/20 by Tricia & Alexa

Artist: Mark Bradford

Large scale paintings that uses materials collected

Abstract painting, political, gather paper from black neighborhoods

Venice Bienniel, Saturn Returns

Helter Skelter

Not political until you taken account the materials that he used in his paintings 

[art2103aviviwang]

“Earth’s Skin” (2007) by El Anatsui

[art2103aviviwang]

Notes on 20/20 by Vincent & Jetha

Artist: El Anatsui 

Trained in western classical 

Use earthy materials wood, clay

reflect interest in reuse, reform in different materials eg metal, copper plates

Themes: colonialism 

Use bottle caps to represent colonialism— symbol of alcohol

Drifting continents: transformation of refuse 

broken bridge

[art2103aviviwang]

Murtaza Vali Guest Lecture— Other Abstractions

Murtaza Vali is an artist, writer, and curator. He is also a freelance curator, as well as an artist and historian. For his curated exhibitions, Vali likes to draw on history and work on it through contemporary art. Vali’s presentation talks about elements of art and how these different elements are portrayed differently depending on the artist and their background culture they are in. 

The first element Vali talks about is “Abstract Expressionism”. He gives the example of two artists who represented abstract expressionism in two very different ways. One being Jackson Potluck’s piece: “One: Number 31” (1950) and the other being Norman Lewis’s piece: “America the Beautiful” (1960). He talks about their similarities in a way that both are both are on large canvases, both were monochromatic, and both utilized black and white. The differences between them were that Potluck’s piece was painted with a brush and used a stick to spread the paint. Moreover, it was painted with the canvas flat on the floor and showcased an all-overness of painting, it had straight up paint that sat on a blank canvas. On the other hand, the other piece by Norman Lewis utilized the same strategies but means to very different ends. Although he utilized similar techniques as Jackson Potluck, Lewis’s thematic representation is much more symbolic because during this time, there was a strong push in African American community that abstraction did not do enough to showcase racial bias. Therefore, his piece was much more controversial because Lewis wanted to represent African-American culture through abstraction. 

The next element Vali talks about is minimalism. He gave the examples of Sol Leweitt’s piece: “Cubic Modular Piece N.3” (1968) and Rsheed Araeen’s piece “First Structure” (1996-67). He mentioned that there was an ongoing debate in history about who came up with modernism. Areen’s pieces were developed around the same time as when modernism was developed in the US, he had no idea what was happening in New York while he developed these similar ideas in London. Moreover, this was verified because it was the 60s where there was no social media, so it took awhile for concepts to come around. But what was different that was present in Areen’s piece than in Leweitt’s piece was that instead of stability of grid, Araeen introduces a diagonal across faces of the cube. 

Another element Vali talks about is the concept of monochrome. He introduces two pieces by Kazimir Malevich— Black Square (1915) and Byron Kim— Synecdoche (1991- present). Both of these pieces consisted of smaller cubes that make up a larger piece. Every size is a smaller frame of a picture that was blurred out which does not reveal the actual color of the picture. In Kim’s piece, each canvas presented a different human skin color. This piece continues on till today because viewers are still able to add onto this piece. 

Next, Vali talks about one of his curated exhibitions called “Geometrics of Difference”. This exhibition showcases new approaches to ornament and abstraction. Vali mentions a characteristic that his curated shows showcase are that he uses a display of blocks in room to seperate the space. “Geometrics of Differences intentionally consists of contemporary artists from multiple backgrounds. Examples of pieces in the show include “Backdrop for the Structural Harmony of a City” (2013) by Kamrooz Aram and “Aurora” (2013) by Jeffrey Gibson. 

It was definitely very interesting listening to Vali’s guest lecture, because different from the other guest lecturers, Vali does not talk about his perspective on another artist. Instead, he focuses on talking to us about an idea I feel as if I have never thought about before. Surely, I recognize that an artists’ background and culture will play a huge role in the art they produce. But I have never thought about the fact that different concepts have been shaped by the different artworks these artists produce. Moreover, it was definitely interesting to see the effects of clashing cultures and how that plays a role in shaping different elements and concepts of art. 

[art2103aviviwang]

“Jewel Raven”(2010) by Jackson Polys

[art2103aviviwang]

“Tlanakeet'akw” (2000) by Jackson Polys 

[art2103aviviwang]

Artist Lecture: Jackson Polys

Jackson Polys is a Native American artist who graduated with a MFA degree from Columbia University. Polys’ artist talk left me with an interesting impression. It wasn’t the kind of artist lecture that wowed me from the very beginning. Instead, the amazing concepts gradually caught up to me as he continued on with his presentation. Polys’ representation of his own Native American culture really left me with an impression that he’s truly passionate about exploring his own identity and background. This passion was shown through multiple projects which he explains throughout his presentation. 

He started off his presentation by reading a sort of original poem. In the very beginning of his presentation, it was very unclear to me as to what his intentions were and what he wanted the audience to understand. All I could really understand was that he kept repeating a verse which was a reference to Beyoncé: “Hold up, they don't love you like I love you”. After repeating this verse a few time, Polys then continues with the actual presentation of his artwork. 

The first piece Polys shows was one he made during his MFA career. He does not mention the name of the piece. It was an installation that consisted of several separate parts to it which each moved in separate time intervals. This piece was very interesting to me because I was able to see a clear correlation relationship between one movement to another. Poly’s explanation of this piece was a little confusing to me because he mentions that it represents his life journey. This begins with his native position of when he grew up, then he moved to another location in order to generate some sort of freedom to create space for himself. The piece represents Implications of revolution and the desire of wanting to acquire some kind of movement. It showcases the results of what happens when the creations of these ceremonies have been intersected. My takeaway from this piece was that Polys wanted to represent some sort of freedom with movement and the break through of limitations. 

The second piece that Polys talks about are Native American carvings of totem poles. It really focuses on attention to craft and detail. This piece enabled him to create freely and explore the presence of nativeness in certain areas. At this point of his presentation, I noticed that Polys paused a lot and tried to find specific words in order to clearly articulate forward the meaning he was trying to convey through this piece. It was interesting to see that Polys cared so much about how his audiences saw his artwork that he wanted to make sure he was able to exactly and accurately explain his intentions. 

Polys then continues to present other pieces of his including another totem pole, “Insignificantly Altered”, “Boat for the Future”, an Ikea lamp given an eratic glow, “Four Corner Tumors”. But what really caught my attention were his video pieces that were really able to represent the exotic aspect of his culture. The first video piece that Polys showcased was a video made in 2008. It showed a dancer wearing a Native American costume that Polys’ father had made. He talked about the fact that his father was able to dance in these items to Native American folk songs, but he was unable to do so. Moreover, he then puts his wife’s face onto the dancer in the video and mentions that his wife would have the ability to dance with these piece but he made it seem as if ridiculous to showcase her embarrassment to proceed. I thought this was very interesting because I am currently taking digital media as one of my other studios. And it was interesting to see the variations in creating digital videos. The blurriness of the video and the dark background really added to the mysteriousness of the piece and to the mysteriousness which he wanted to represent his Native American culture. 

Another one of his digital video pieces was a video of people wearing masks to take photos of pieces in an art museum. At the end of the video, there was a face of a person dressed in a Native American headpiece that seems to possess the museum. This video really left an impression to me because of the creepiness of the costumes that people dressed in such as the white face masks. It again added to the mysteriousness of his Native American culture and it made me want to learn more about Native American folktales and how they play a role in his artwork. 

In the end, I feel that I was gradually able to begin appreciating his art piece after understanding more of his perspective and reasoning behind his pieces. Moreover, as I gained more insight into his perspectives on the pieces, I began to become more and more interested in Native American culture as well. And I feel that that was his intentions to make his audience interested in his culture, which he was definitely able to do, at least to me.

[art2103aviviwang]

“Yellow Pool” by Beverly Semmes 1993 

[art2103aviviwang]

“Kimberly” by Beverly Semmes 2015

[art2103aviviwang]

“Petunia” by Beverly Semmes 2001

[art2103aviviwang]

“Blue Gowns” by Beverly Semmes 1993 

[art2103aviviwang]

“Red Dress” by Beverly Semmes 1992