Performance Art Video

Performance Art

For this activity, I worked with Sarah and Claire. We decided to try all three of the activities. My favorite was the shadow activity. I thought it was actually really challenging to stay with the other person's shadow, and make sure you didn't run into anything while looking down to stay with the shadow. The part about banging the rocks together was a little bit weird. But, I think that the point of it was more to create a reaction from people who were around.

Iconography

Logos are the central focus of advertising. Logos are how we associate a certain brand and it's product. We have almost become obsessed with what logos we wear on clothes and what food we buy. Logos make people want to buy one product more than another, simply because they are more visually pleasing. Many Americans can recognize a brand simply because of the logo, they don't even need to see the name. Like these...

Future of Museums

I think the articles both have very valid points about the future of art museums, and the expansion of art museums. I think museums are going to change a great deal throughout the 20th century. Because we have so many new forms of technology that are rapidly being considered art, galleries and museums will have to accomodate for these new forms. Should we have a whole new category in photographic art that pertains solely to photo manipulation in photoshop? Because it seems as though this has become an entire artform of it's own. Will there be art galleries that show only films in the future? I think that expansion for traditional art galleries and museums, ones that contain classical painting and sculpture, and even some modern works, should stay at the size they are now. I think it would be a better idea to create new gallery spaces for new forms of art. I also don't think expansion is a good idea because I think it would take away from the experience. It may make it so there are crowds, which isn't really desirable either, but I think if a museum or gallery is too large, people will not want to walk through the entire building.

Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp's work The Large Glass is um...interesting. I almost don't even know what to think when I look at it. It's kind of confusing, and a little dull. I think viewing the piece in person would make it much better, but seeing an image of it makes it very hard to appreciate. There are so many things in each pane, it's hard to know what is there and what is going on. I don't feel at all inspired by this piece. The dull colors make it feel kind of boring. Duchamp does make good use of lines, creating a feeling of space in the background and to create elements in the work.

One of the things Marcel Duchamp is most famous for is his collection of "readymades," where he found objects and presented them as art. Duchamp began this project in 1915 with a bicycle wheel assembled on a stool. Duchamp began creating readymades to stray away from 'retinal' art; art that Duchamp believed was only visual. He selected the pieces on the basis of visual indifference, and the selections reflected his sense of irony, humor, and ambiguity. Duchamp limited the yearly production of readymades, and produced no more than 20 in his liftetime. He submitted many to art juries, challenging the public and his patrons to question what conventional art is, and is not. Many of his early readymades have been lost or discarded, but Duchamp commissioned reproductions of originals years later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readymades_of_Marcel_Duchamp


In advance of a broken arm (1915) http://www.toutfait.com/issues/volume2/issue_5/articles/merritt/images/04_shovel_big.jpg


Bicycle Wheel (1913) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Duchamp_wheel.jpg


Fountain (1917) Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz. Source: http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/blindman/2/04.htm

Patterns

• The tile I chose is called a "Moroccan Flower" design. I really like the color that is used in the tile, as well as the lines. The colors are very bright and loud, but also contrast each other very well. I think it looks very different than most tiles because of the very curvy lines, that almost make it look like it is hand painted.

• Moroccan design includes qualities of pure forms and free hand, but also a lot of mathematically precise geometric shapes. Geometric patterns are a principal element in Moroccan design, using a lot of repetition and symmetry. Zillij is an ancient Moroccan technique that applies these techniques using hand-cut ceramic tiles, and dates back 1000 years.

• I really like the elements of Moroccan design, after researching more about them. They are a good mixture of clean geometric lines and free-flowing organic lines. The designs are also made so there can be countless numbers of patterns throughout.

Moroccan Flower Tile:
http://www.bolarttile.com/pages/moroccan_flower.html

Moroccan Design History:
http://www.maroque.co.uk/patterns.aspx

Gestalt

Gestalt is a pretty general term....but in art sense, it's one of those funny pictures that has negative and positive space. When you look at the negative space you see one figure, and when you look at the positive space you see another.

Scale Drawing

For my scale drawing, I drew an arrow with the scale inside. Making the scale drawing was actually kind of difficult. The first time I did it, the sections weren't gradual enough, so I decided to just start over and make it again. After drawing it out again, I realized the sections were different sizes, so I had to make one end of the arrow bigger in order to make the sections the same sizes. It was a little difficult to figure out how to make the scale just right, decreasing so it looked even.


Composition Drawing

Value

Value has a number of meanings to me: the value of a line, the monetary value of an object, my personal values, and things I value. My personal values are the ways in which I live my life. How I choose to do things, and how I choose to act. The things I value are both material and not. I very much value my friends and family, for their support and love. And I value the material things I am fortunate enough to have. As artists, we are confronted with the issue of the value of our work. How much is our time and creative effort worth? And how much are people willing to pay. It's a difficult situation trying to price a piece of work. You want to make sure you are making a profit and proving your worth as an artist. But you also don't want to overcharge, and seem to self-confident of your work. Pricing a piece of work is probably the hardest part of being an artist for me.

String!

In the beginning of the activity I was sort of unsure of what exactly to do, and I thought there should be some sort of order. But then, I just started walking all over the place, attaching the string to anything that would hold it. The only time I was actually paying attention to what I was making was when I was wrapping the string on the top of the table trying to make a shape on the tabletop. I think this is a good way to show how shapes and lines can be connected, in ways you might not think of normally. I actually thought it was a great idea for an activity. It wasn't just a boring lesson on lines and shapes. It got us to interact and be in the environment with the shapes, not just looking at them on a sheet of paper.

Line and Shape

1.) I think A B and C could all be considered lines. At first glance these are what look closest to being a line. You could certainly say that B, for example, is a shape. But it could also just be a really thick and short line.

2.) I think all of the images could be called shapes. They all have some substantial geometric form, so could therefore be a shape. They are a group of lines that make a new image, or shape.

3.) A mark on a plane that is usually longer than it is wide.

4.) A group of three or more lines connected to create a geometric form.

Assignment 1: Critique

Describe:

• Triangular shape made by the Madonna and the two children.
• Very muted and dark, yet soft, colors.
• Somewhat brighter colors on Madonna figure to bring focus to the center of the canvas.

Interpret:

• The tone of this piece is very somber, and almost somewhat sad.
• The Madonna figure and the child on the right are both looking at the Christ child, longing with sadness, as if they know the fate of Christ already.
• Relaying the importance of the divinity of Christ. Showing that even years before his death, the Madonna knew the fate of her child.

Evaluation:

• I think this piece is just OK. It's not my favorite work ever, but it's tolerable. I like the very soft lines throughout the piece, it makes it feel very sort of angelic or divine. I do not like, however, the dark colors that are used. I think it would have given off a more divine feeling if more light and pleasing colors were used.