Mental Throw-up

I just spent an entire day thinking about what I am doing and I came to the conclusion that I am really selfish. Artists are really indulgent people, and we indulge in our work like its chocolate fondue with strawberries. Its not as if I never knew this, but its just been the highlight of my day. I just finished reading some of the articles from the Drawing Now catalog from MOMA 2002? I think thats the year? Anyway. The artists discussed in the article were Paul Noble, Mark Manders, Neo Rauch, David Thorpe, Kevin Appel, Toba Khedoori, and Julie Mehretu.
As artists we work within a criteria, or context that seems like an interesting idea to explore. Looking at artist like Paul Noble, and Kevin Apple I start questioning a lot of ideas about personal utopias. There work is so anti-Utopian yet it looks so Utopian. Kevin Appel's architectural drawings are so accurate, specific, clean, pristine, and there is a sense of structure. Yet the places are empty, uninviting and lonely. Its a lonely modernist utopia. Paul Noble's deals with the same subject. His buildings are a literal 'warning' to the viewer. Its a very anti-Utopian, and negative perspective of the world, yet I feel it comes from having Utopian ideals. I might lose you at this point because I can be very confusing. The more ideals and expectation one has the more one is disappointed, and notices the little nuances that are wrong. I am speaking not about just the world and society but even formally. The more Utopian ideals you hold, the more practical you became and realize how things really are in comparison to your ideals. Consider Mondrian's paintings. Utopia spelled out formally.
So I am going off a tangent but I realized as artists, it does not matter what stand you take, your body of work is this personal Utopia that we create. Personal propaganda. We indulge in these Utopias of objects made by us, and ultimately for us. I don't know if it was Man Ray or Duchamp, I think Man Ray who used the paper cutter to try and distance himself from his work. To literally take his hand out of the work. Man Ray can take the craft out of his work, but the work in the end is part of a body of work that is his vision. No matter what the subject matter is, its very much our agenda to propagate it. My work is extremely selfish. And I found myself asking who cares about a house I lived in that I paint over and over again? Do I as an artist have a function/responsibility?
In terms of history of art it seems like artists defined culture. Is that the function? Are artists producers of culture? Some or most of us are simply responding to the culture through our personal lenses. Here at school we are taught about all the different dialogues that are occurring now in the art world, and has come before us. So I know we are to continue this dialogue and perhaps come up with something valuable to say. But how do I know what is valuable? Whose values? Questions I have no answers to. Maybe this lengthy conversation I had with myself is a way to justify my choice of subject matter. I feel like I made up this whole idea of Utopia just so I can go back to mine and not feel guilty. I rest my case for now, and accept the awareness I have about my selfishness. Does awareness make the act more or less indulgent? Okay I must stop before I start sounding like Buddha. I don't mess with them gods... last time I made a joke about Jesus while painting my palette flipped and hit me in the face. True Story... ask Erin Donnelly.

MFA First Year Show

Since there were only labels on few of the works Ill have to use the location to identify the work I am discussing. Its pretty clear that the show is not curated and is put together by assigned wall space. I am glad Megan mentioned that before we saw the show because it made a little less critical. Some of the work just really did not go together. For example Megan's work was right next to the big graphic work that said "FEEL THE WALL". It was kind of distracting.
I have some favorites from the show. I really like Erin Dunn's work. I felt like I spent the most time looking around and about the installation and discovering small little details that made the piece interesting. The self-portraits were pretty amusing as well. The paintings in the first room to your left felt monumental. The scale was ridiculous. I liked the content and the image. I cant remember her name but the work in the second left room on the wall was very interesting.This particular work was hung with these extremely small pins, and it looked so vulnerable holding a long piece of paper.
I also found Summers work to be very interesting. However I felt bad that it was sharing space with work that didn't quite go with it, or compare. I am curious to find out more about the two large paintings in the main room all the way at the end of the gallery.
I had seen the show earlier when the video installation was on and working. I got a chance to speak to John about his work and I think that made it better. I like being informed.
Good luck to all grad students!

Graduate Studies?!

I definitely will take time off and try to get internships and experience before I apply for grad school. I still have a lot to learn and test myself to see how much work will I really do once I graduate from Mason Gross. But for now these schools sound like far fetched idea...
Order has nothing to do with preference.

• Columbia University
• California College of the Arts
• University of California
• Yale
• Bard

"The Fair"

1. I found the evolution of art fair from what they used to be to what they are now interesting. I like that the art fair is in competition with the auction setting. Although both settings are for commercial purposes, the art fair seems like a more appropriate setting for selling art. I read "The Auction" as well hence the comparison.
   
2. The collections of work being a vision of the collector is another interesting concept. I liked Mera and Dons view of being a collector. They take collecting work as a serious task that is not a occasional indulgence, but a lifetime process. As much as the monetary investment, they invest time and effort to get to know the artist that they choose to support. It seems like a more personal process than I had imagined it to be.
   
3. I always wondered who the collectors were and what they did for a living to afford being a collector. Finally it makes sense that they are trustees of Museums, or rich families like Rubell's, who supported places like Studio 54.
   
4. On the other hand its interesting to know that Barbara Gladstone was a art historian before becoming a gallerist. From a teacher to supporting artist is huge leap.
   
5. I also like that the galleries have their own agendas, and are picky with who they will sell work to. It was surprising to find that it is not always the highest bidder that walks away with the work and that the galleries look into the profiles of the collectors as well. Where the work ends up could be a complement to the artist or an insult.
   

Magnus Plessen

So I recently went to the city and realized I wanted to go back to a show I had seen already. Magnus Plessen at Gladstone Gallery. That's when I knew I had to write about him. His work grew on me. At first look I didn't know what it was all about.
Formally speaking his color palette works for me. The installation of the work helped the paintings complement its neighboring painting. Some were put together as a diptych, and others were far from each other. His brush strokes and minimal marks seem monumental on the large canvases. His work is supposed to about fleeting images, uneven perspective, and making it very difficult to find a narrative. The paintings feel like collages fragmented together. The reason I think I really liked his work is because I have been thinking about memory, and how we either remember narratives, or fragments of visual images. I have been struggling to find a way to 'fragment' my images, and I think I can take something from this body of work.

"The Studio Visit"

1. No one is ever late in Japan. Irrelevant yet interesting. pg. 187
2. Documenting every layer of the painting. pg 188
3. 6 of the 7 artist supported by Kaikai Kiki are women. pg.196
4. No surprises there. Murakami loves Warhol. pg.199
5. Murakami's self portrait. pg. 214

Its interesting to see art as an enterprise. Murakami's studio takes the romance out the whole idea of being in the studio as thoughtful creatures, and shows how tedious and draining being in the studio is.

"The Crit"

1. "MFA degrees from name art schools have become passports of sorts." pg.46
2. Demystifying the artist. Art comes out of failure. pg.52.
3. Working withing the University rules. pg. 66
4. Artists as kids playing seriously. pg 51-52
5. Art school turning blind eye towards the market. pg. 59

Some of these points makes the artist face the reality of the situation. As art school graduates most of us will have 0 to none idea how the market works. Thanks to this book at least we wont be as surprised.

Odili Donald Odita "UP AND AWAY"

Odili Donald Odita has recently done a permanent mural for a gallery in Butler College in Princeton University. On October 9th there was a reception and an artist lecture by the artist himself explaining his work. I personally loved his work.
The mural started as you entered this building. The mural walked along with you as you went down the stairs.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S25/50/10Q21/index.xml?section=featured
This link will take you to images of the work. I would post them up but am quite unsuccesful in doing so.
I wasnt aware of his work before going into the lecture however I went in early to just walk around the mural and experience it. As abstract as the mural was with only colors of stripes going diagnoal, vertical and horizontal... it was clear. I understood that he had created this mural in a response to all that was around. Each wall had its own set of colors and it responded to what was being reflected through the windows.. or what was right across from the wall. The colors responded not only to the confined space of the architecture but you could see how the trees on the outside had something to do with the green on the wall.
On listening to his lecture I realized that his work was absolutely doing what he was intended it to do. He wanted to open up a space with his mural. Colors can be overwhelming and close a space in such compact space as the stairs, however his mural was successful in opening up the space. The work was executed in a pristine manner. His work took in consideration of the space that he was painting in and what its function is. Butler College is a place for students and he wanted to have a positive work. The elevator wall is where his work ends and that is where he got the idea for his tittle "Up and Away". Which works because right next to the elevator wall is the largest part of the mural of vertical stripes of different colors that do make you look up and down. The intensity of his patterns also change on each wall in response to what the architecture demands. After hearing him out it was pretty clear that his work gets his point across... and that sounds great to me!

Interview with Jeff

We kept the interview informal and honest. It was interesting because Jeff is a graphic design concentration and I am a painting and drawing concentration. We work with completely different medias. I have absolutely no skill when it comes to photo-shop and videos and his work seemed to incorporate a lot of that. So here is how it went.

JL: This is like a photograph of a collapsed building and i added the hand and the guy and the Buddha.
PS:Was this for an assignment?
JL:Yeah we had to do 15 self-portraits. So this is one of them... here is a video of all 15 installed. They all have some light. I have attached candles or bulbs. This kinda has an performance aspect to it. I like working with multimedia, so incorporated some music that I made.
WATCHING THE VIDEO
I find that I am not too pleased with graphic desgin concentration. Its too late now, but I wish I had done video or mixed media. I like working on collages.. I like working on things that I find. I like working on the surface area. Physical 3-D collage. This one is about pop-culture fascination.
PS: So these are all found objects?
JL: Yeah, garbage really. I dont know if this is done. I wanted to build off it and continue even more. Messing with the idea that frame, and being enclosed. Its never ending and you can always build upon and bridge off the rectangle. With the self-portraits I am completely covering the art I made but there is something about process that I really enjoy. You only get a fraction of the part. I think these self-portraits work better as a set.
PS: How is this a self-portrait?
JL: This one here is a baby in the hand. Relates back to childhood and being held held. I think a lot of people are hand-geld and not let out to go. But its really abstract. I used a lot of photographs of myself but they are covered up.
PS: What did you want to go ahead and do for thesis?
JL: Well, I was thinking about organizing thoughts and creating a database for thoughts. I am really into Peter Grenui (not sure about the name at all). His movies touch upon classifying things and organizing things to understand life. I have a website where I am trying to do that. I dont know what that says but I am trying to figure it out in thesis.
PS: And you mentioned that you came back to school?
JL: Yeah I am lot older than most of the people here. I was an English major and graduated in 06. I took a year off and worked at a newspaper. I never took any formal art classes until I started MG in 08, but I have always made art. I have flown through the program since I had all the other requirements. I still don't where I am going with this in the long run. I thought graphic design was a good field for me since I am older and it serves a function. I have a job now and its totally unrelated to art but it has health benefits...
PS:It pays the bill.
JL: I am always gonna make art. Graphic design is all about interpretation. Sometimes I don't really want to explain it. Somewhere I could be a little be more abstract and creative. Graphic design has to make sense. Not that I don't think this stuff doesn't make sense, but its not as easily explained. I can show you a video. I built this sculpture.
WATCHING THE VIDEO
PS:Are there any other images or work?
JL: Yeah this is my website. I am trying to organize everything I have done. There is a lot music that I make. This is like my musical group/my site. I make a lot of records.
INTERNET FAILS TO WORK... COULD ONLY LOOK AT THE HOME PAGE
JL:This was an assignment where we had to record something for 24 hours and document it. Form was wide open. I made a music album for ----- county sheriffs office... where they booked 119 people in a day. First 24 I have songs for. I got the images from Google. Some of these people are actually real offenders, others I just took the image that came up in the result.
PS: This is really cool!
JL: Yeah I tried to make something positive out of the negative which is getting arrested. I do a lot of writing too so...

And then we drifted of talking about my printmaking class.
I edited some pauses and repeating conversation, but everything else is here. I don't I had ever even seen Jeff before this interview, and so it was fun getting to know someone completely new and looking at their work, and trying to explain your own.

Gallery Visits on 9/25

Enoc Perez

I absolutely loved his work. I am really interested in architecture and his images were intriguing. The work is even more satisfying up close when you realize that he has used paper and paint so effortlessly together. Mixed media here helps flattens things. The conceptual idea of painting this perfect futuristic building that may never be makes me question my own ideas. I have been painting a house that I grew up in from memory, which is past, and to see his buildings from the future presents a contradiction.

Juergen Teller: Paradis

This was a photography show with a series of photographs of these two women in Musee du Louvre. Why the Louvre? The images were quite large and were arranged so it seemed like you were strolling along with the subjects, these two women, as they visit the Louvre. Although when I read the press release it was more clear why they were at the Louvre. According to the press release this was an inmate study of the nude between the photographer and the subject. I dont know if thats what I understood from the work.

James Turrell

A James Turrell work has to be seen in person! The show was extensive. There was a lot of work, however it was not overwhelming. I felt that the gallery had a lot of space which allowed the viewer to be able to view each piece by itself without being distracted by the piece next to us. The work asked that you move around, walk close, walk away. I enjoyed it.

Bucket of Blood

Bucket of Blood was quite an entertaining movie. The one theme that this movie had was this need of recognition and acceptance of his work. His work becomes so important because it allows him to finally become part of this group. He starts killing people in order to remain in that spotlight as an artist.
Art for art sake, or art for exhibition only?
Another aspect is that struggle or desire to create something. At the start of the movie we see the character's struggle of trying to create a face.
Apart from the absurdity and comedy, the movie does have underlying themes of art and artist's lives.

The New Museum Show

Dorothy Iannone: The variety of mediums that she worked in was interesting. Looking at the genitals of the female figure somehow reminded me of Henry Darger's little girls. Her treatment of the figures and their placement make them appear iconic.

Emory Douglas: I found the information about the Black Panther party very helpful in understanding the work. The mural at the entrance is gives a good introduction to the rest of the show. The newspaper collections gave a good idea of why the work was created, and for whom.

David Goldblatt: I found his new works to be quite entertaining. The installation was such so that you had a image of a desert, somewhat near an image of a garden. The juxtaposition of the old and new was interesting. The images of Dr. Paul's clinic were quite humorous.

Alex Bag Video

The things that the character spoke about are only funny because we hear or even sometimes say the same things that she says. The bunny video is beyond my understanding. Hello Kitty and McDonald video a little better. To see the progression of time and to hear how the character's interest change from the time she started school is interesting.