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Blog Entry Nov. 29th

The Whitney and National Museum of American Indian

     Laura Owens’ exhibition in the Whitney is the first stop of today’s class. She is a Los Angles based artist. Her works mainly show her interest in the use of space and the relationship between painting and architecture, art and design. The work on the 8th floor recalls the Proof and Fiction exhibitions we visited before. It is formed by several independent fragments of drawings and text. The narrative elements come from her son’s fairy tales. How she cuts the text is very playful. The works can be viewed simultaneously both as paintings and sculptures, individuality and entirety. They work together as a whole but also work as individuals. Thus, the exhibition serves as both an investigation and a critique of paintings. Besides, standing in different directions will have different perspectives; It encourages viewers to find their own perspectives.

Laura Owens’ works on the fifth floor also show her exploration in the perception of paintings. The whimsical clocks on the wall have some common points as the clocks in the exhibition named My Pen Is Huge. How paintings invent spatial worlds is the main theme in her earlier works. Almost every her early work examines the spatial investigative quality. Moreover, the fascinating point is every painting is connected. Similar to those fragments on the eighth floor, each piece here can be viewed both as an independent one and an entirety. Each painting connects with others through showing part of themselves in other paintings; these interrelated pieces explore the representation of space, the use of space within spaces and examination of the medium. Owen questions what is series of paintings and what is the process of paintings. She also creates an entirety of space in the interior furniture room through the functional objects. Again, she questions the relationship between art and design, and she tries to collaborate both of them.

She also has some cartoon digital and physical paintings, too. And she no longer avoids human figures in her later works. Because of her children, some of her works depict fairy tales and show a sense of romance and tenderness.

Jamie Durham’s exhibition is next to Owens’. The majority of his works explores the identity and the history of American Indian through showing the prominent elements of Indian culture, nature and history. His works recall the Gugenheim exhibition (identity) and Rauschenberg’s works (assemblages). The widespread use of animal skulls and natural stones are shreds of evidence of his investigation of the relationship between human and animals, the stereotypes of indigenous people and the history of colonialism and nationalism. I can feel his huge interest in history, not only in the one who records it but also in the way to manipulate the history and the losing of history during the passing time.

I have never been to the National Museum of American Indian before. The exhibition Transformer: Native art in Light and Sound is awesome. Artists in this exhibition are all indigenous contemporary artists. As someone said in the class, it is a peaceful exhibition that simply sharing natural and historical knowledge to us instead of yelling the existence of different identities. ( it is not like “ I am here and I am angry.”) They are showing the things that make people feel different from the outsiders. The sense of specificity and intersectionality are important here. Storytelling is an essential component of this exhibition. It is glad to see artists are good at using technologies to tell stores and express emotions. My favorite piece is Father, Son, Holy Ghost by Kevin Mckenzie. It is formed by three buffalo skulls that create a sense of religious meditation. It evokes the adoption of Christianity among native people. The new belief system shows the new understanding of the world. it also shows how the past encounters the presents. It is a very performative work.

Today I viewed how the identity can motivate artists to make art. Both Durham’s works and the Transformer show the artists’ consideration of representing indigenous culture and history. While Owens’ works show her interest in playing the concept of space, and her interest in exploring the relationship between individual piece and entirety.

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Blog Entry Nov.17th

Guggenheim exhibition

 Guggenheim exhibition presents works by 71 Chinese artists to define contemporary Chinese art in a more global term. It is an exhibition share similarities with the exhibition named Fiction and Trigger: Gender as a weapon. They all talk about artists’ worry and understanding towards the contemporary social problems. Through International Conceptual art, artists create performances, videos, paintings, and photography and so on to better convey their interpretation and understanding towards the social and political unrest. I like the way that some artworks collaborate the traditional Chinese cultural elements with contemporary art production. For example, the use of Chinese calligraphy represents the traditional Chinese sources. The complex show introduces more Chinese artists to the world. As a Chinese, I should comprehend more about the turbulent history of Contemporary art and maybe know some of the Chinese artists’ name in this exhibition. But sadly, it is weird that I almost know nothing about the historical background and the artists’ stories before I viewed this exhibition. Actually, it is understandable that the Chinese government limits the freedom of speech and the spread of political information because of the 1.5 billion of population. This huge number of population increases the difficulty of governing people because of various problems about clans, religions and cultures. The government carefully filters the information that opens to the public. The work named Water: Standard version from the Cihai Dictionary by Zhang Peili is a typical example. It reflects the government’s restriction on information. Therefore, most of these works are not allowed to talk about in China and their historical background stories remain as secrets that cannot be spread out to the public. For example, the Tiananmen Square Massacre is a prohibited story that people can only find few nonsense information on the website. Thus, people have eyes but they cannot see. Such social and political unrest serve as incentives for Chinese contemporary art production. I can feel some artists’ unhappy, angry and grievance towards the government’s behaviors. Some of them are yelling for more freedom of speech sand asking for changes happen on governments’ laws. Also, some of these works share a desire to attract more global attention on the rising Chinese contemporary art. They are trying to meet the multicultural demands of a new global world. The key words in this exhibition are capitalism, urbanism and realism. There are many socialist realism works reveal the individual experiences during the enormous social change and political transformation.

Anyway, it is a good exhibition not only for outsiders of Chinese cultures, but also for insiders. It shows some prohibited stories and unspeakable truth. It also reflects how Chinese contemporary artists reinterpreted and reconstruct the traditional Chinese cultural elements with global concept of contemporary art. This exhibition introduces Chinese artists into the global insight.

Works Cited

https://www.guggenheim.org/

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Blog Entry Nov. 15th

The New Museum and The International Center for Photography

 It is my first time visiting the New Museum. It is founded in 1977 for new art and new ideas. The attractive appearance contributes a lot to the cityscape. The purpose of this trip in this museum is the exhibition Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. As the title suggests, the exhibition mainly discusses about what is Trigger and how they are understand. It explores the position of gender in the contemporary culture and society when political unrest and culture wars happen from time to time. More than 40 artists explore the idea of identity and the concept of gender and its intersections with discrimination, sex, social class and so on. We were divided into 4 groups and I went to the second floor. The most awesome piece on the second floor is the Textile Room. It is an environmental installation because it is a dark room with textile hang on the walls and colorful furniture. The decorations show the artists’ understanding of human interaction with machines and modern technology. The interesting point is the representation of the relationship between the ancient knitting traditions to the global manufacture. As we always tactically considered, knitting tradition is a representative female work and it shows the traditional social expectation for female roles. Thus, it also shows how traditional female handcraft relates to the creative labor represented by global manufacture. The rich colors of the textile are very attractive that engage viewers easily into the mysterious atmosphere. The rich colors invite viewers to think about the electrified social pattern. The chairs also made of knitting tradition and they serve as functional objects to engage viewers into this environmental exhibition. Besides, the patterns on the floor are also meaningful. They are color eggs that may symbolize sexuality. There are also some videos about homosexual discrimination in this room. Each piece implies the fragileness of gender identity in a culture. The recognition of gender identity is controlled by dominant opinions that often found by males.

Similar to Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon, Lauren Greenberg exhibition also examines how gender identity is formed and the positions of gender in contemporary society. Moreover, Greenberg shows how female tie to consumerism and wealth more tightly than male. For example, through the photography of plastic surgery, we can know that aging should be cured instead of treating it as a natural process. And this problem confuses females more than males. The performance of wealth bond with gender because many women are addicted to the luxury life that helps maintain their physical beauty. She focuses more on the representation of the world of consumerism through showing the luxury lifestyle. The exhibition shows us how luxury goods become a way to identify individuals and represent people’s life quality. It is a pitiable fact. There is a video that shows how Chinese study the luxury brands’ names and the so-called “ nobleman’s behavior”. It is pathetic that it is very popular in China, especially for women. Luxury goods become ways that improving people’s confidence and letting them feel they are globalized and fashionable. Female become too rely on objects and they become materialized.

Both of today’s show focus on the concept of gender and identity. The difference is Trigger exhibition is more exclusive while the Greenburg exhibition focuses more on the representation of wealth and gender. Both of them reflect the artists’ worry about the position and recognition of gender in contemporary art and culture.

Works Cited:

Trigger Essay #2File

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Blog entry Nov 10th

Sculpture center and MOMA PS1

It is a really freezing day and I visited two places that I never been before. The first one is the Sculpture Center near Jackson Avenue. It is a nonprofit center explores the latest concerns of contemporary sculptures and introduces emerging New York City based artists and art projects. We met the center’s executive director and chief curator Mary Ceruti. During her presentation, She introduced her life experience, such as she starts her career as a research assistant and so on. she pointed out again the Sculpture Center is not a commercial gallery and knows exactly what kind of viewers it will attract. Like we read from the Sculpture Center Steps Out Into the Light on the moodle link, she said: “ People come here ready to see art because they have made the effort and that’s a good thing.” She wants more viewers with professional background information about art. She talks about the understanding of space, too. How space influences the exhibition and helps the audience engage in the art?

After the discussion, we entered into the awesome basement. It is a completely different realm. The entire space is divided into several different regiments and this kind of space cut gives a sense of solitude and a poetic environment. There are many miniature decorative art pieces inside. All of them are very cool, especially the small mental human fingers. The scales of these tiny pieces do not match the huge space and this kind of absence or emptiness let viewers want more. Akashi’s works combine glass forms with other objects like candles, create a dreamlike quality. I can see her interest in representing fire and air.

We had a 40-minute break and we went to the MOMA PS1. Only five minutes away, there are a lot of people there. Both exhibitions of Cathy Wikes and Carolee Scheemann are awesome. We went upstairs and visited Cathy Wike’s exhibition firstly. After we visited so many installations, these art pieces might be the most difficult works to made. It is tough to recognize which kind of materials she used for the sculptures. The materials are between found and unfound. All figures are half- dressed and as we read from the From Forgotten Discards, A Wealth of Memories, these creepy figures “appears fearful, defenseless, with eyes that are no more than awl marks.” And they appear as exactly “what they are or as triggers for memories, fantasies, fears.” The figures she chose to depict are vulnerable and disadvantaged people, like children and marginalized people. She wants to reflect the difficulties of the society. She focuses on the poverty and creates a sense of empathy through domestic space for people who are undignified. Her works remind us of humanity. Clearly, she wants more emotional response from the viewers.

There are much information about Shneemann’s artworks on the moodle link. Therefore, we can know she is a feminism icon figure who mainly focuses on female bodies and sexuality and gender issue. Most of her performance art and body art convey the idea of gender liberation and sexual expression. But she is a painter at the beginning of her career and she insists herself is a painter who actives time and space. We see some paintings of her early works when we first entered into the exhibition. This kind of art college reminds me of Robert Rauschenberg. Then she turned into body collage. She explores the concretion of collage into bodily action in the later works. The Kinetic Theater is an awesome part of her exhibition. She translates the visual language of painting into the body movement through the theatrical stage. She wants to invite the audience to enter the image itself and mediating biology in self. Also, she finds that the body can be used as a source of making art and she is not afraid of being accused of Narcissism. To her, the body is a tool of conceptual art and body art. Her exploration of female body and identity polities remind me of Juddy Chicago; both of them are interested in the gender issue. By the way, I like the small artworks with little mirror pieces in her exhibition. They create emotion through reflection.

To conclude, I see some connections between two sites we visited today. They explore what kind of art can gain the most response from the audience and what kind of audience they would like to attract. They also show us how feminist artists’ concerns about gender issues.

Works Cited

Kennedy, Randy "SculptureCenter Steps Out Into the Light", NY TimesURL

NY Times Review of Cathy Wilkes Exhibition (Jason Farago)URL

Carolee Schneemann exhibition catalogue excerpt #3File

Sculpture CenterURL

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Blog entry Nov 8th

Brooklyn Museum

Another museum I have never been before. The highlight of today’s visit is the Proof exhibition and the Dinner Party from Judd Chicago. We first went upstairs to the Proof Exhibition. After reading the article named Robert Longo on Editing Eisenstein, Learning From Putins’ Russia and Why Making art is a Political gesture, period, I can see that this exhibition mainly reveals three artists’ political and social concerns in their artworks. The Spanish artist Francisco Goya, Russian Filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and contemporary American artist Robert Longo all reflect their own emotional response to the realities. They convey a sense of energy and empathy for the social unrest, cultural problems and political revolution. I saw how carefully Eisenstein composed each frame in this exhibition. His famous theory of montage is awesome. He uses the filmmaking skill as a narrative of historical events and a metaphor of the political revolution about the communist government. As we read from the assignment, Longo thinks “making art is a political gesture.” My favorite work in this exhibition is Longo’s Untitled (Raft at Sea). It is a triptych photography with an overwhelming scale that represents urgency. It is a typical example that the art historical evidence can be used within visual storytelling. We can feel a sense of emotional and visual connection between the past and present because Longo shows us how history can be similarly altered. The line between reality and fiction blurs is interesting. This work reminds me of Cecily Brown’s A Day, Help, Help, Another Day because both of them reappear the well known Gericault’s triangle in the painting named The Raft of the Medusa.

It is cool to know that Elizabeth A. Sackler Center is a center that will reward female artists’ contribution to the art. The Dinner Party is a very important icon of feminist art in the 1970s. The work is represented on a massive ceremonial banquet table with plates for a list of great ladies appears in history. Judy Chicago chose the women by herself. All historical and mythological female names represented there have either social or political or religious importance at their time periods; all of them motivate the development of herstory. It is interesting that names on the floor correspond to names on the plates. Juddy Chicago got inspiration from the rose plate and the china-painting class. She is not satisfied what the ceramics class is “only for housewives’ spare time” and people’s belief in “ female artists can only do decorative art.” She reflects her worry about female role in today’s society because she finds that women are still domesticated and easily ignored as the ones in ancient times. She wants to establish a respect for a woman through expressing female role in the history. Symbolism is everywhere: For example, the table itself refers to the Last Supper theme; she wants to fight against the mainstream opinions and the most popular idea with the disadvantaged minor group. We talked about the culture is not as big different as biological difference (gender). Female needs to have their own movement rather than being part of others. The china paintings shown here are very richfully colored. Each plate shows the most representative pattern of its owner. For example, The one belongs to Eleanor of Aquatint has the symbol of flower-de-luce (Iris). It is cool that plates will change through the development of the history: they become more sculptured and more decorated with more explicit meanings. My favorite one is the plate for Theodore. She is one of the most famous medieval women with high status and great power. She gains all achievements by herself instead of the born right. Her plate is purple and very delicately decorated that gives me a sense of royal power. Also, the plate with a piano on it is also cool. It is sad that I do not know the one named Smith.

Both of today’s artists reflect their own worry and concern about social and cultural problems through their artworks. They all draw inspiration from art history and history. For example, Longo alters The Raft of the Medusa and Chicago gets inspired by great ladies’ personal experiences in the history. We can know the importance of history and art history for artists’ creation.

Works Cited

Artnet on "Proof" ExhibitionURL

Amelia Jones, "The Sexual Politics of the Dinner Party"File

Judy Chicago, "The Dinner Party"File

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Blog Entry Nov 3rd

Infinity Mirror Rooms

The popularity of this exhibition is stunning. I heard from the officials there that the exhibition had no original intent to open in New York City, however, too many people asked for it. Thus, it comes. I went to visit the Infinity Mirror Rooms exhibition at 525 West 19th Street. I waited for at least 2 hours in the freezing wind and it is a nightmare. (People who arrived later than 5;00pm cannot even enter into the waiting line.) I have never seen so many people crazy about one exhibition. When I was waiting in the line, I talked to the others about the reason they came here. They said the only reason is for taking photos. And they have no interest in the exhibition that only shows the same artist’s paintings in 34 East 69 Street.

Clearly, this exhibition does not require so much professional background information. It does not intend to draw people with professional knowledge of art or art history. It is not the only Infinity Mirror Room exhibition; actually, there were more than twenty exhibitions. Yayoi Kusama uses mirrors to transform the repetition of her earlier paintings into an unforgettable immerse experience. She wants the viewers to enjoy the infinite mysterious beauty as she does. The most memorable point is the illusion of infinite spaces. When I was standing in the room, I felt like I was in the night sky and surrounded by stars. It offers people a dreamlike quality and sort of helping people escape from the reality. But the central idea of Kusama is life, morality and its aftermath (afterlife). But I think most people only treat it as an entertainment show. It is not bad, though, because most people do not like art projects with complicated meanings. They are more likely to get closer to more accessible art projects. I think most contemporary art is not very kind to common viewers. For me, medieval art and renaissance art and all old masterpieces mean religiousness; while contemporary art means remoteness. Some art pieces reject the bourgeois to understand them. Infinity Mirror Room is a different example. It is created for sharing the beauty with all people in a stunning way. People can understand its beauty in an easy way. This kind of easily accessible art projects helps expand the idea of art to more common people and this kind of art projects always engage more viewers in and get more response from the viewers. It is also the original reason why people need art: for sharing beauty and recording beauty.

I like this exhibition, even though the waiting line was a terrible torture. With the reflected infinite beauty in the mirrors, we can get a sense of self, identity, and human connection with artworks. This exhibition is the most popular one now in the New York City for its accessibility.

Works Cited

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room at the Broad: A First look inside the infinite mysterious beauty.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-yayoi-kusama-20171018-story.html

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Blog entry Nov. 1th

Chelsea galleries and Studio visit with Cecily Brown.

 We visited a couple of Chelsea galleries and Cecily Brown’s studio today. The first one Gagosian is at 555 West 24th Street. There are many Los Angeles- based artists’ works inside. We saw how the culture of Los Angeles deeply rooted in Hollywood. All projects have various natural elements and urban life element. There are many overwhelming connected sculptures in the exhibition. For example, the Three Ghost Ships by Chris Burden. It is a set of three full-size sailboats. It intends to represent a transatlantic voyage in the future. LA Invitational exhibition also has some large-scale paintings that measuring time and nature. For example, as we read on the moodle link, the painting named Landscape by Jonas Wood is a typical example that shows how the landscape of southern California influences the American artworks. LA gives freedom to the artists and opens its arm to all artistic concerns. The mountains, trees and even the modern architecture here are metaphors of fantasy. The celebration of natural elements is the central motif. But the work also shows the urban life in LA to the viewers.

The second gallery is the most interesting one to me: Joyce Kozloff’s Girlhood. As the title suggests, it mainly shows the feminist artist’s childhood (school life) in the form of geographical maps. It unites her childhood drawings and other mixed media cartographic art to show how a female artist observes the world. It is cool that she puts drawings into paintings and gives them new meanings. She makes the private objects public and signifies the station. Most of her drawings are legendary drawings that represent the innocence view of the world from a kid. The map is significant to her because she believes it serves as “an instrument dedicated to pushing a feminist discourse.” The map paintings are shown with a lot of collage elements; I like the dolls decorated her artworks. With her maps, the world is no longer a men’s world. It gives me a sense of freedom and dream She also questions the idea of what a girl supposed to learn in her childhood through recreating her childhood works in different mediums. The source materials provide multiple youths.

The Gladstone gallery presents Thomas Hirschhorn’s photography DE PIXELATION. There are some pictures of violent deaths and human partial bodies inside it. After we visited this gallery, we went to view Cecily Brown’s A day! Help! Help! Another day! There are three overwhelming size paintings in this exhibition. Through space, Cecily Brown’s works play with rich colors and figurative forms. Her paintings are between abstraction and figurations. She mainly draws inspiration from the old masterpieces. Art history gives her many ideas about how to create her own paintings. In this exhibition, she gets inspired by the famous Gericault’s triangle in the painting named The Raft of Medusa. Her birth environment certainly helps her get access to art history more easily than others. She is a British artist who worked in the United States for several years. And her father is a historian. She also gets good ideas from poetry. In her studio, I saw many old master paintings and poetic books. Her historical knowledge certainly helps her to work on the dramatic effects in her paintings. In her studio, she also talked about the differences between large scales and small scales of her paintings. She is famous for her large-scale paintings that give people a stunning and dramatic effect. But sometimes she wants people to get a more intimate relationship with the paintings themselves. She claims that “There’s the old truism: It’s harder to make a small painting than a large one. Obviously, the large ones have a certain impact just because they’re big. It’s very challenging to make something small.” She also talks about how she thinks about the current feminism and feminist artists.

   To conclude, almost all of today’s exhibitions are about the natural elements and the conquest of the world. We can see them from the urban life and southern California landscape in the first gallery, the maps in the second gallery and Cecily’s Browns’ interest in art history and old master paintings (the shipwreck).

Works Cited

Julie L Belcove. After Gagosian, Cecily Brown Hits Reset: Smaller Paintings, Smaller Gallery, Evil Mice, and Male Nudes. http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/cecily-brown-gets-small.html

Joyce Kozloff in Art forum. DC Moore Gallery

LA Invitational at Gagoisan (24th St.)URL

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Blog entry Oct. 27

Studio Museum, Gavin Brown Gallery, Wallach Gallery and Elizabeth Dee Gallery

We visited the Elizabeth Dee Gallery in the morning as the first step of today’s class. The exhibition named Perfect Flowers by John Giorno is presented there. The interesting point is there are no depictions of any real flower shapes on the canvas, while you can read the multiple contexts from different points on the canvas. The contents of text are very cool. There are some flowers’ names, like lilies, on the art pieces. Some works do not have any relationship with flowers at all, for example, the Jasmine Burn. Also, the rich colors will remind viewers of flowers. There are two floors in this gallery. Compared with the situation that colors against other colors on the first floor, I prefer the ones on the second floor for the delicate watercolors. The colors highlight the chromatic diversity very well. The capital letters on each canvas explore the handwriting.

The second stop is The Studio Museum. The studio museum now represents the exhibition named Fictions, which points directly to the current political climate. Fictions exhibition is mainly about the alternate narratives and “ the way that these artists are preventing their narratives from being fictionalized.” Furthermore, it shows us how the urban landscape serves as a source of inspiration for American artists. They celebrate and demonstrate the urban life and how the urban life experiences influence people and contemporary art. The artists’ sources are also included political and social unrest: such as the civil rights movements. The common point they share in this exhibition is all of them are bond with the American native history and culture. Their deep understanding of culture, terrain and historical context are major inspiration for them, too. I am interested in Allison Janae Hamilton’s art project. It is a mixed media installation with clothing, video and animal heads and so on. Walking into this installation, it felt like I was entering into a completely different realm. There is a sense of romance and an unsettling atmosphere of dream and memory. Hamilton describes the vitality of the countryside and develops the narrative elements in the multiple materials used here. She has a deep understanding of American native history and mythologies, and he shows his love for the American Southern landscape. Her central idea is letting the viewers realize the importance of nature (forest) and how land influences our social and cultural understanding. The animal forms and the wrought iron fence give the viewers a sense of rural life or countryside life. Also, they evoke people’s concern for the traditional rituals. We also talked about the pretty pink furniture-like installation. The interesting point is the female figure in the cage is writing “ I am out” on her books. It evokes the concerns about the gender and race. But there is also a creepy figure that holds a head of a woman, it may refer to the revenges of racial discrimination. By the way, all ceramic figures are very diaphanous dolls. The artist explores the native black people’s identity. All artists may come from different locations of United States, but they have the same love for this country and all of them explore questions like the native myths and the identity, race and African descent and so on.

I think the main idea of today’s visit is how the American native culture and natural environment influence art production. American artists get inspiration from mythology, historical contexts and landscape for their artworks. They celebrate the city life and natural life as they also question the race, gender and identity.

Works Cited

Tess Thackara, The Latest in the Studio Museum’s Landmark “F” Series Is a Timely Exploration of Truth and Fiction https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-new-chapter-exhibition-series-launched-famous-artists-color

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Blog entry Oct 25th

Artsy, Studio Visit with Claudia Bitran, AIR Gallery

    Artsy is a universalized online platform that makes all artworks around the world accessible to people. Viewers can browse every museum collection, art fairs and galleries information online. It serves as a resource for both art selling and art education. The majority of artworks on this website is contemporary art. It is weird that I felt I was in Wall Street Program when I was introduced this company’s information and business value. Hahhaha. It is a successful artistic website now with a mature business system. it does not directly connect with artists, instead, it works with galleries. He explained how to get galleries and museums work tih this website at the start of its career. There is much artistic professional information on the website that helps people understand more about the artworks and then they will buy some artworks. (I feel that this educational art information is like the free tomato sauce you will gain if you buy French fries.) Also, we talked about the necessity of galleries if more and more people want to save their time and browse only online. When we talked about the intentional audiences of artsy, It is my first time to know there is a term to describe people who are aged around 50: The lost generation. Most of them do not have any interest in viewing art in galleries.  

I like the vintage carousel beside the Brooklyn bridge. Also, we saw some ceramic white shoes before the studio visit. There is a mass of shoes represented in the installation. Some are group ceramic sculptures and some are solitude. Then we had a studio visit with Claudia Bitran. She mainly works in video and performance. She is interested in remaking and rewriting the hyperbolic world of pop production because she enjoys the obsessive nature of reconstructing components. She is currently working on the remaking Titanic by James Cameron. She says she wants to follow the emotions of popular culture. After showing us her earlier work, she talks about her motivates of reproducing Titanic: this romantic movie has a huge impact on her childhood memory. She repeated this movie all day when she was a kid. Her love for this movie is the main reason that she wants to reinterprets Titanic. When talking about the idea of reconstruction and remaking, she says she does not like making things with no meanings. She wants something with consciousness. Her earlier paintings knowledge helps her about the filmmaking. Also, she talks about how to get volunteers for the film.

The final stop is AIR Gallery. It is a nonprofit artists’ organization. (about 40 artists) There are many women artists, too. Thus, it is a good place for gender study. This organization is also an alternative to mainstream institutions. I like the installation named Fugitive Love Song by Dani Dodge. Her message is very clear in the installation: Just the way you are.” I can see my face reflected in the mirror hand on the walls and it can remind everyone of their own identity. There are also street signs and other decorative everyday materials on the wall, for example, photography of everyday life. With the mirrors, all message hang on the wall are perfect for self-affirmation and self-identification. Dodge intends to help people build self-confidence. All People are great just the way they are. At the end, we also enjoyed some awesome printmaking works.

Today, we met a feminist artist and a gallery that helps the minor group. (female artists) During the history, female artists always suffer from various discriminations. They were believed that women can only do some decorative art or minor art. This gender discrimination still appears nowadays, but it will eventually disappear with so many female artists’ efforts.

Works cited

https://www.airgallery.org/

https://www.artsy.net/about

http://smackmellon.org/index.php/contact/incoming-2017/claudia-bitran/

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Blog Entry Oct.20th

Jan Davis Studio and Lower East Side galleries

We firstly had a studio visit with Jan Davis. The exhibition named Eleven Years is represented in the Clampart Gallery. Most of her works are photographic self-portraits. Through her photography, she reveals her thoughts on social perception of ideal beauty and deals with her own insecurities about her body. As she said: “in this body of work, I deal with my insecurities about my body image and the direct correlation between self-perception and the way one is perceived by others.” She also says that she is addicted to the way that she can control the beauty in her own world of photography. She feels safe when she inhabits in this tiny world. She questions the sick social opinions that judge one’s beauty only based on his or her physical appearance. She also questions about love and intimate relationships with others. I felt she is an iconic figure that stands out for all people who are not confident in their beauty. Expressing the solitude, self- suspicious and sadness, she makes her private thoughts public (universalize) and expands it to a broader social aspect to gain more resonance. She also talks about “the way she seducing herself.” It reminds me of Shneemann’s exhibition. Both of the feminist artists do not care about being accused of Narcissism. She discusses how to be comfortable before the camera, too.

I like the exhibition at Karama gallery. It is made by Nicolas Party and it is his first solo exhibition in New York City. There are only four main characters in his paintings: trees, human figures, fruits and landscape. There is no narratives and no symbolisms: But it does not mean boring. Instead, it looks pretty cool because of the rich colors, the organic composition and the well-arranged interior columns. It is interesting that the colors on the wall are also part of the paintings; Together, they engage the viewers into the new realm. He transforms the everyday sources into his own pictorial language. He also gets inspiration from art history.

The overwhelming The Beard Pictures by Gilbert and George is also unforgettable. The huge beard pictures hang on the four walls of the gallery and demonstrate the inseparable connection between the world the art practice. The message of Art For All is clear here. There are many symbolisms on these massive works, such as representative beards made of flowers and mixed with street signs and trees and so on.

We saw Alison Hall’s work again in Totah gallery. Unannounced is inspired by the human being’s existence. Each of her works shows her great devotion to early Renaissance art in Italy, especially for Giotto. The 13th century style of ceiling, floors and paintings influence her concept of her own paintings. She reconstructs and reinterpreted the traditional elements from classical paintings, such as Giotto’s eight pointed asterisk constellations or six pointed mosaic stars. No elements (points or lines) can occupy the majority of her canvas; instead, they are equally important and neither of them can lead the picture. Like she said during our studio visit with her, the light is also important. She always works under the natural light. Therefore, the arrangements of these paintings are very careful for better showing the light.

Today I know better about the importance of art history for artists. Both of Alison Hall and Nicolas Party get inspiration from the art history and derive elements from classical paintings. While for Jan Davis, I felt that art is the universal language that shares the same thoughts. Though her photography, she conveys her idea of social rigid perception of beauty and her concerns about self doubtness and self re-identification.

Works Cited

Nicholas Party at KarmaURL

http://davidtotah.com/artists/alison-hall/

Jen Davis at Clamp Art 'Eleven Years'URL

Booker, Maia 'Jen Davis's Self-Portraits Offer Eleven Years of Self-Scrutiny', New RepublicURL

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Blog Entry Oct. 18th

The Met, Ai Weiwei’s Public Sculpture, Meet with Henrdik Gerrits

  The exhibition from Raghubir Singh is impressive. Singh is a pioneer photography artists that good at color street photography. This exhibition mainly shows us how he works on the intersection of Western modernism and traditional Asian life. It is clear that he gets inspiration from various sources, including traditional Indian court art and Indian miniature paintings. The colors in his works are awesome: the rich colors, the inner source, embrace the cultural past and recall the aesthetic tradition of miniature paintings from Mughal period. For example, one of his works named Catching the Breeze shows the Indian daily life. Young women playing with a rope swing in a position that similar to the one in the Indian miniature painting. It is obvious that he wants to show art historical legacy. His works make the unseen stuff visible and explores the complexities of immigration with radiate energy. He also records the Indian life in both public and domestic settings. Juxpostions treat every element equally. The narratives elements of village, cities and rural life also examine the humanity in street photography.

Then we went to visit Ai Weiwei’s large-scale public art project. It is at the entrance to the central park. The Gilded Cage is overwhelming and conveys the idea of luxury life on the fifth avenue Good fences Make Good Neighbours. Ai wants to show how populist notions stir up fear and unjustice. The cage represents a sense of control and display; it shows the social and political power divide people from their families. Ai gets inspiration from his own personal experience of escaping from China. Actually, I know a little about him because we are not allowed to talk about Ai’s works within the territory of China.

The last stop is the Museum of Art and Design. It is cool that there are so many sound art installations inside. Sound is created by every piece in the installation and it really engages the viewers in. For example, Naama Tsabar turns the space into an enormous instrument and transform the space completely. Everyone can hear the sound of an electric guitar through their tourch of strings and sound holes. It is impressive that artists active the museum space through sound waves for creating a spatial experience. Spatial experiences always get more responds from viewers than textual ones because viewers can participate in the installations and never get boring. Artists choose the sound material carefully from visual music and sound formation and so on. The sound art feels like sound sculptures that active the space and offer more entertainments for the viewers. The most interesting plot of this museum is the tiny playground with swings. It will sound loudly if you touch any single placement inside the playground.

The public art projects and the sound art we visited today show us what kinds of art that get more responds from viewers. The public art projects are very accessible and the sound art are very “touchable” and easily engage people in. Both of them do not require much background information. Instead, they ask you to feel the emotion and what the artists want to share with you. The photography exhibition is also great. Both Ai’s works and the photography exhibition reflects the similar concerns about immigrations and the current social pressure on people.

Works Cited

Loos, Ted 'Ai Weiwei, Once and Future New Yorker, Barnstorms Through the Boroughs', NY TimesURL

The Met: Raghubir Singh PhotographsURL

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Blog entry Oct.13th

Joe Fyfe’s studio and Alison Hall’s studio

 Today is my first time visiting artists’ studio. I am excited because I think artists’ studios means a mysterious place that nurtures whimsical artistic ideas. The first studio of today is Joe Fyfe’s studio. He presented around 6 works in his studios that show his interest in exploring the boundaries between art and stuff. The collage works are made of found materials like cloth or discarded products. Materials are sewn or glued together for displaced as fragments of a precise composition. This sort of assemblage refers to the work of Rauschenberg and Serge Poliakoff. The wood, the fabric and other found materials have no high or low in his works, together, they reflect a social and economic reality. The found materials are presented here as what they are and the diverse materials are intent to convey different problems. Because of his travels, his works have a sort of exotic reference. He tries to push the boundaries of paintings (the relationship between paintings and performance art) and uses paintings to address other issues. At the end, he talks about how to work with paintings as an object and the influences of other critiques.

Then we visited Alison Hall’s studio. She is famous for her monochromatic panels with geometry. The content of her paintings has a strong reference to Giotto’s works and medieval religious works. The geometry means a lot to her work. It shows a straightforward duality: lines, points, colors, stars and so on, none of them dominate the majority of the canvas; Instead, these repetitions of various elements work equally for referring to the religious paintings. Each piece shows her devotion to pre-Renaissance art in Italy, especially for alter pieces, 13th-century style of ceiling and floors (Floor means human), and Giotto’s works. She reconstructs the traditional and classical elements from medieval religious paintings; Giotto’s eight pointed asterisk constellations is a typical example. She wants to create an idea of stars in the heaven, while stars symbolize Marry, which refers to stars symbolize female figures in ancient Greek paintings. She says she wants to convey a sense of heavenly love, which means the purest love between mother and sons. It is a prevalent theme in the medieval religious paintings. Her work series titles have specific number meanings. She says she wants to let paintings to be human standing in front of viewers. She also talks about her tiredness of small paintings and her love for Giotto because of the humbleness and innovation. The light in her studio is very sufficient. As she says, she always works under the natural light to capture the purest color. Therefore, the arrangements of these paintings are very careful for better using the natural light. I like her humble devotion to the geometry and I think her way of interpreting her own stories in her work series is awesome. The poetry also gives her inspiration. Each piece also has musical components and resonant quality. I saw many poem books at the corner of her studio. To conclude, her historical and art historical background help her a lot. She mainly gets inspiration from pre-Renaissance works. It is rare that not so many contemporary art tie so close to the traditional religious paintings. Usually, they are yelling they are different with a completely new way of viewing the world.

It is interesting to see how two artists of today’s class treat the relationship between their own art and famous artists in art history. I favor Alison Hall’s love for reinterpreting medieval religious elements and reuse them in contemporary artworks. Her devotion to repetitive patterns makes her works very poetic and unique.

Works cited (Moodle link)

Joe FyfeURL

Alison Hall Video profile for the Taubman Museum of ArtURL

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Blog entry Oct.11th

Matisse –Bonnard exhibition and Maria Sibylla exhibition (Making up the absence on Oct.11th)

    During the Thanksgiving break, I went to Germany for my cousin’s wedding and I visited the Staedel Museum in Frankfurt. The Matisse- Bonnard exhibition mainly shows the 40-year friendship between Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard. Both of them are leading artists of Classical Modernism. They have been friends since the beginning of the 20th century and the regularly visited each other and discuss their concepts of art together. Through appreciation and critique, their intimate friendship incites both of them to improve their skills. Matisse once said that he certifies that Pierre Bonnard is a great painter for the present and the future. From this exhibition, I see their shared belief that reality is the base of their works and priority should be given to the representation of the motif. Their influences on each other are mutual.

The exhibition is divided into several parts: interiors, still lifes, landscapes and the female nude. For example, the first section is all about photography of Matisse’s house decoration. Matisse shows a strong interest in home decoration and various styles of furnishings. For the section of window paintings, I see their fascination for the interior decoration and furniture. Matisse and Bonnard use the motif of a view through a window in order to display the interaction between inside and outside. Mirror is an important element in their paintings because it can facilitate the interplay between inside and outside through its own reflection. They painted windows at a specific composition for the purpose of spatial dimension. Thus, they create not only rhythm and structure, but also dynamism. The window also serves as their shared concept that painting itself is a window to the world. Functionalize as a connection between the interior and the exterior, the window also is a passage between people’s own artistic language and the universalized art. By the way, it is interesting that there is a painting inside this exhibition that shows the environment that Matisse creates The Dance. In this painting, people can see the corner of The Dance ( two figures ) and a vase and other pigment plates occupy the majority of the picture. It is a painting that depicts Matisse’s studio.

Another exhibition shown in Staedel Museum is Maria Sibylla. It mainly explores the relationship between art and nature. Maria Sibylla came from a well-known family that full of publishers and artists. I love this exhibition because every piece depicts poetic flowers in the flower-painting tradition. Maria Sibylla’s oeuvre of natural depiction is very vivid and detailed. It conveys a sense of scientific precision that can be traced back to the traditional way of depicting artistic plants and insects. While she also adds her own understanding, female exquisite emotion and observation of nature into her works. To me, her works are standing between visual arts and sciences because they can also be viewed as biological depictions.

The locations of these two exhibitions are well arranged. They are located on the opposite side in the same room. Maybe for conveying a sense of contrast between the traditional art and modern art.

Work Cited

http://www.staedelmuseum.de/en/matisse-bonnard

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Journal entry Sep 29 Chelsea Galleries with art critic and curator Joseph Wolin

Today was an amazing one! We visited several galleries in Chelsea. It seems like every exhibition looks backward and connect the past with the current social situation.

The first one is Diana Al- Hadid: Falcon’s Fortress. Getting inspiration from the Islamic traditional manuscripts about Islamic legendary and allegories, she rewinds the past and reminds us of the Islamic Golden age through her third solo exhibition with the gallery. All sculptures and wall panels were created by layered drips of material, which create an illusion that the depicted landscape and objects are melding together. I am interested in its colorfulness and imagery and also surprised that these works are not as fragile as they see. The vivid representation of various fauna, floral, gardens, and waterways bring me a sense of exotic atmosphere. The most important point we discussed is the falcon image. It is associated with the passing of the time, the observation, the guardian, and resurrection. I think It helps the artist to bring out the theme again: the idea of a journey that connects both the past and the present. Orientalism attracts western people’s interest since the 19th century and many artworks were produced based on the western’s imagination about the exotic culture instead of facts. But for this exhibition, I believe the artist has a deep understanding of the Islamic culture.

    The second one is Sanford Bigger’s solo exhibition: Selah. He adds his own voice about politic, moral and social concerns at the antique materials. I heard that this exhibition has the similar theme as the first one, which is also related to history, narrative and human condition. I really love the patterns and colors of the antique quilts he used. Bigger is like a collector that gathers various historic context through collecting, re-contextualizing and representing those hundreds-old quilts. The central figure named Selah is also made of quilts and other materials. It has a protective and straightforward gesture. It brings me the imagination about African antique legends and traditional culture. The African carving has the quality of human skin. Also, I found it is interesting that the group of African figures will shine from different perspectives as I walked pass from one direction to another.

For Kara Walker's exhibition, I was shocked by the violence, dark narrative facts and her powerful brush works. Also, the number of people in this exhibition is more than the one in others, which implies people never forget the cruel history of slavery. Mr. Wolin talks about the medium firstly: Walker uses the less important medium: drawing. She may intend to let the less important medium being transported to the most important medium: painting. The minor art against the dominant one also implies the disadvantaged groups agonists the powerful one. Her works may be undervalued if people only look at the aspects of bitter black history. She may also want to connect the current social chaos with the past.

Works cited: Introduction papers of each gallery.

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Journal entry Sep 27 Chelsea Galleries Visit with Andrew Huff, Director of Communications, Gladstone Gallery

It was a tired but exciting day! Today we visited the highest number of galleries since we began our class. The exhibition named My pen is huge is brilliant. It was created by Amanda Ross Ho from Los Angeles. It includes so many delicate tiny objects and some oversized wall paintings from our everyday life. (Even the coins are carefully arranged on the table.) The use of different scales is very important in her work because it represents her experiences in photography and performance. My favorite one is a blue clock. Clocks are common objects in her works for physically symbolizing the passage of time. It gives me a sense that Mechanical stuff like clocks can see and record without us; They have their own ways of looking at this world.

It was also a surprise to view the exhibition named Protruding Patterns by Beijing-based artist Lin Tianmiao. I am glad to know that one more Chinese contemporary artist receives international recognition. Walking on the intricate woven carpets, I found many dirty words and expressions about women in different languages. None of them are positive words to describe women. I felt a kind of disparity, self- deprecation and gender discrimination. Lin wants to explore how women feel about their social roles through these negative descriptive words.

I love Aurel Schmidt’s drawings, especially those floral ones! The exhibition named I Rot Before I Ripen represent many large-scale landscape and animal drawings. Sexuality, gender stereotypes, and erotic pleasure are also main motifs here. The vivid images of butterflies and flowers, cats and deers and so on, appear in the rotten landscape background, convey a sense of absurdity and death: everything will embrace death at the end. I even feel uncomfortable when I staring at one painting fulls of spider webs. Aurel Schmidt offers a rare female perspective of expressing love and sex. What’s more, the perspective of male culture is also represented through a series of personal shirts. It is interesting that these shirts belonged to the important male figures appear in this female artist’s life.

The hanging artworks from David Zwirner gallery are unforgettable. This exhibition was created by Ruth Asawa. I felt that Ruth Asawa is a strong-minded and steadfast woman from her photos. (There are many vintage photos about her personal life and letters represented on the second floor.) It is interesting to know that she also studies at Black Mountain. (Black Mountain is really a genius school that educates so many brilliant students! All of them make artworks that out of traditional boundaries.) Anyway, she was highly influenced by her teachers. Her looped- wire sculptures attract me by their focus on transparency, three-dimensionality, and unique shapes. She keeps the integrity of her materials and tries her best to release the possibilities of a line; a line has no limited directions in this exhibition.

The last step is the Ad Reinhardt: Blue Paintings. It was memorable that it was my first time to see so many blue paintings gather together. All blues in these paintings will change subtlety through a single feet movement. Only slight differences between each blue color and it inspire me to think more about the meaning of color itself. Color becomes the dominant piece here and they are the simplest and most straightforward way to express people’s emotion and feelings.

By the way, food in Chelsea area is really tough.

Works cited: Introduction papers of each gallery.

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Journal entry Sep 22 The Whitney

The brilliance of Helio Oiticica really opens my eyes. I really enjoyed the comfortable bed mattress and hammocks. The most intriguing part of this exhibition is Eden. I believe it is the best part that conveys Oiticica’s main idea clearly: he wants the viewers to focus on their own artistic experiences instead of his artworks. He claims that the experiences can expand the viewers’ imagination and creativity. Therefore, Oiticica focuses on the atmosphere and the participation of the viewers instead of artworks itself. Eden is a sand garden. Walking upon the sand and books, I felt I was in a playground in nature. The tents and mattress, the plants and small log cabins helped me to interact, contemplate more and relax. (Playing with sand (the beach) is not an ordinary experience in the museums.) I think that is Oiticica’s point of creleisure: pleasure will help people improve their artistic creativity and imagination. I love Eden because it is not like other contemporary artworks. Mostly, I think Contemporary art means remoteness because artists do not urge to the acceptations from the bourgeoisie. They simply want to express their own emotions and represent their own social, political and moral concerns. Therefore, people who do not have a basic artistic background cannot understand the beauty of contemporary art. But Oiticica’s interactive works, especially Eden, are not a high- tech works; All they need is viewers’ participations. Oiticica has a great confidence that everyone can create great art pieces if he or she is provided an ease environment.

It is also a rare day that allows us to have plenty of free time to visit by ourselves. I finally view many art pieces I learned from the class ARTH306, including Louis Bourgeois and Jasper Johns and etc. Floor seven is an amazing one. I am particularly interested in the series named Where We Are: Selections from the Whitneys’ Collection, 1900-1960. The main ideas here are family, community, work, home, the spiritual and the nation. All work narratively and advocate the native American culture.  I think Three Flags is a typical example. The American Flag, as an iconic image, becomes one of his most representative emblems in Jasper Johns’ later works. I realize the texture of the canvas and its emphasis on geometric patterns when I stood in front of the painting by myself. The painting expands the depth and space when people are viewing it. Japer John keeps a good balance between abstraction and representation because the flags symbolize not only the United States but also the way Americans took part in at the time period of Jasper John.

Quarantania by Louis Bourgeois is another important and remarkable artwork I learned before and finally viewing it by myself. The group of standing figures is higher than I expect. These three-dimensional figures imply Bourgeois’ friends that she left behind in France and also can be read as her family portraits. But at a more ground level and a wider artistic resonance, Quarantania expresses a universal language through its simplicity that people from the different cultural background can easily read its essence and potential meaning.

I was exhausted but very glad to see so many great artworks today.

Works cited: Introduction on the wall of the Whitney.

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Journal entry Sep 20 Met Breuer and Pace Prints, Franklin Parrasch Gallery

Today is my first time visiting The Met Breuer. The Delirious exhibition is divided into five thematic parts: Vertigo, Deranged Grids, Excess, Nonsense, and Twisted. The years between 1950 and 1980 are a special time period because of so many global unrests like the cold war. The destabilization demands more unusual artworks about the social issues. I saw artists embrace irrationality, illusion, absurdity, morbidity and even chaos in this exhibition. They express their emotions and feelings through the representations of disorder, repetition, and disorientation and so on. They want the viewers to think about their own places in this disordered world. Obviously, they achieve success.

The first part is Vertigo. I took a picture of a work named Untitled. It mainly made of mirrored glass that can reflect people’s images. A series of nested shapes are mirror images of the others. The work is related to the idea named phantasmagoria because these pieces hide their own logical structures behind reflections. The second part is about Deranged Grids. No other forms can express rationalism better than grids because grids always emphasize the integrity and order. However, artists in this exhibition show the potential qualities of grids by deforming them. Therefore, grids become another version of chaos and disorder. There is a video about the performance of gender, makeup and flowers there. I like to see the video become a new media of artistic representation. I also like the artwork named 13/13. It is made of painted balsa wood. The architectural elements in this systematic structure are very irrational. Excess has the biggest number of artworks. The key word is repetition. So many repetitions make me feel sick when I staring at them for several minutes. The artists try to create a sort of absurdity, even morbidity by these extremes. Ladder is really a shocking work with representations of sexuality, the dominance of landscape and shoes. It is a typical example that irrationality conquers the rational world. Nonsense part is really an abstract one. It is similar to Dada. And for the part of Twisted, I see the emphasis on the distorted body shapes. It against the ideal body beauty that originated from ancient Greek culture. Because of the social unrest, the artists try to present the social violence in their works.

Pace Gallery is the first place we visited in the afternoon. (Another place I never been! This class really help me get familiar with every place in New York City) John Hoyland is a British abstract artist who works in New York City for several years. Because he gets inspiration from American Abstract Expressionism, almost every his work is on a large scale and painted with acrylic. At my first sight, I thought they are color field paintings. Every painting depicts large geometric shapes and each shape interacts and overlaps with each other. I see he carefully arrange what kind of shapes to use and locate specific colors in every painting.

In the afternoon, we also paid a visit to an interesting gallery. There are some nice pieces about weird aliens inside. The most intriguing one is a large figure with a colorful halo head. I also like the painting which depicts Superman in a childlike way.  But the most knowledgeable part is listening to the working experiences of Katie.

To conclude today, it was really a fascinated one because I saw great works from the post-war period. The unusual social unrest is the main incentive that so many artists come out new ideas against the traditional beauty.

Works cited: Introduction papers of each gallery.