Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Double take: Tattoo Show & Senior Exit
For my final blog entry I'm going to lump the Tattoo Show and Senior exit show into one post for the sake of readability and time proficiency.
I'll start with the tattoo show at Haas. First of all I did understand that this show was put together by students, and I was aware that they had taken photos of some of my tattoos, so I was eager to attend. However I felt that the arrangement of photos wasn't done as professionally as it should have been. Instead of looking like a gallery show it appeared to me to be more like a 'visual aid' in a high school presentation.
On the idea of the show being a study on the history of tattooing: They skipped about 400 years of really interesting tattoo history. I saw nothing detailing sailor tattoos nor was there anything about the colorful history of prison tattoos. This upset me because I was most interested in seeing how they would portray these two topics.
Their speaker was a jerk and I felt like I was getting yelled at for 45 minutes. All in all I was somewhat upset about the quality of the show.
On to the Senior exit show.
When I walked into the Haas Gallery to view the exit show, the first thing I noted was the lack of outside of class work. It seemed like everyone only showed work from class assignments, which is fine except assignments don't change from year to year so you end up with similar pieces throughout time.
Another thing I noticed was that within the artists' individual bodies of work, there lacked a certain amount of stylistic consistency. In my opinion, to have a successful art show you should be showing a consistent body of work that portrays your message, instead what I saw for the most part was a mish-mash of school work and bad paintings.
I felt that the only person with a clearly consistent body of work was Maryam Cristillo. I'm glad she talked because it helped me better understand what her work meant. I think other than her work the rest seemed kind of forced.
I'll start with the tattoo show at Haas. First of all I did understand that this show was put together by students, and I was aware that they had taken photos of some of my tattoos, so I was eager to attend. However I felt that the arrangement of photos wasn't done as professionally as it should have been. Instead of looking like a gallery show it appeared to me to be more like a 'visual aid' in a high school presentation.
On the idea of the show being a study on the history of tattooing: They skipped about 400 years of really interesting tattoo history. I saw nothing detailing sailor tattoos nor was there anything about the colorful history of prison tattoos. This upset me because I was most interested in seeing how they would portray these two topics.
Their speaker was a jerk and I felt like I was getting yelled at for 45 minutes. All in all I was somewhat upset about the quality of the show.
On to the Senior exit show.
When I walked into the Haas Gallery to view the exit show, the first thing I noted was the lack of outside of class work. It seemed like everyone only showed work from class assignments, which is fine except assignments don't change from year to year so you end up with similar pieces throughout time.
Another thing I noticed was that within the artists' individual bodies of work, there lacked a certain amount of stylistic consistency. In my opinion, to have a successful art show you should be showing a consistent body of work that portrays your message, instead what I saw for the most part was a mish-mash of school work and bad paintings.
I felt that the only person with a clearly consistent body of work was Maryam Cristillo. I'm glad she talked because it helped me better understand what her work meant. I think other than her work the rest seemed kind of forced.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
my trip to beautiful philthadelphia
I recently decided to take a trip to Philly, not however, by free will, but for the pursuit of a grade. This of course tainted my holiday in to what might have been the strangest and most stressful mini-vacation to date. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but the fact that I went on a weekday before Thanksgiving certainly didn't help as many of the galleries I had hoped would be open were closed, or by appointment only. The ones that were open held such horrific and banal works that I would've been a disservice to myself to enter.
On the other hand a friend of mine had told about an awesome show going on at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a retrospect of Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, when he told me this over a few adult refreshments I nodded as if I had been aware of the show all along and this show was the reason I was in Philly. But alas I had know clue as to what shows ever go on anywhere and had know idea who this Pistacio fellow was (purposeful misspelling for comic insight).
First of all, parking was a nightmare. It seemed I picked the same day that some marketing wizard had also picked for a Christmas tree gala of sorts that was being held all around the museum. When you add massive amounts of people and holiday cheer that's when my blood begins to boil, yet I found a parking spot and weaved my way through snot ridden children tugging at their parents who were fondling their newest phones, most likely tweeting about how great the Christmas Tree Super Great Holiday Gala was.
I chose to use the rear entrance because I didn't want to see any assholes running up steps and pretending they are rocky. Then I remembered that I could get in for free so, being the cheap penny pincher that I am, I cheered up. I noticed a huge poster advertising the Pistoletto show and my ears perked a bit. It was a photo of 'Venus of the Rags' (which the security gaurds would not let me take a picture of) I got interested.
The retrospect (From One to Many) was a vast maze of work starting with his early paintings. It was his experimentation with flat textures on glossy surfaces that really struck me though. His portraits on stainless st
eel just seem to pop right out at you, and the fact that you can see your reflection in the pieces really drives that home. He had also a piece that consisted of two sheets of plexy, painted on these were the front and back legs of a semi-folded ladder. This piece leaned against the way and when standing at just the right spot, appeared as real as this cigarette in my mouth. This excited me very much.
Next came some of his sculptural work, I found it kind of forced but still aesthetically pleasing. His paintings end up so close to sculpture that I guess I hoped his sculpture would reflect that playful interplay.
He did have some pieces related to rags that I found really beautiful because of his play on delicateness. Two of his pieces employed bricks wrapped in rags that were stacked in a wall form, the colors and vintage thread bare rags made this piece very powerful to me.
There was a funky 60's art video that he made, that I won't lie, I couldn't bring myself to watch. But he did have some minimal sculpture that was cool. Again, based on reflective surfaces, but this time controlling the reflection of light onto bare walls in order to create a uniquely abstract 'light painting' on the wall. They were quite effective in my opinion, and made me thinking about the space moreso than the art, which is always a nice thing after you've been overwhelmed by a lifetime worth of work.
I think that all in all it was a really powerful body of work that, although I wasn't super thrilled with having to visit Philly on break, I came away with some insights into the characteristics and interrelationships of gloss and flat textures and a few conceptual ideas as well.
On the other hand a friend of mine had told about an awesome show going on at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a retrospect of Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, when he told me this over a few adult refreshments I nodded as if I had been aware of the show all along and this show was the reason I was in Philly. But alas I had know clue as to what shows ever go on anywhere and had know idea who this Pistacio fellow was (purposeful misspelling for comic insight).
First of all, parking was a nightmare. It seemed I picked the same day that some marketing wizard had also picked for a Christmas tree gala of sorts that was being held all around the museum. When you add massive amounts of people and holiday cheer that's when my blood begins to boil, yet I found a parking spot and weaved my way through snot ridden children tugging at their parents who were fondling their newest phones, most likely tweeting about how great the Christmas Tree Super Great Holiday Gala was.
I chose to use the rear entrance because I didn't want to see any assholes running up steps and pretending they are rocky. Then I remembered that I could get in for free so, being the cheap penny pincher that I am, I cheered up. I noticed a huge poster advertising the Pistoletto show and my ears perked a bit. It was a photo of 'Venus of the Rags' (which the security gaurds would not let me take a picture of) I got interested.
The retrospect (From One to Many) was a vast maze of work starting with his early paintings. It was his experimentation with flat textures on glossy surfaces that really struck me though. His portraits on stainless st
eel just seem to pop right out at you, and the fact that you can see your reflection in the pieces really drives that home. He had also a piece that consisted of two sheets of plexy, painted on these were the front and back legs of a semi-folded ladder. This piece leaned against the way and when standing at just the right spot, appeared as real as this cigarette in my mouth. This excited me very much.Next came some of his sculptural work, I found it kind of forced but still aesthetically pleasing. His paintings end up so close to sculpture that I guess I hoped his sculpture would reflect that playful interplay.
He did have some pieces related to rags that I found really beautiful because of his play on delicateness. Two of his pieces employed bricks wrapped in rags that were stacked in a wall form, the colors and vintage thread bare rags made this piece very powerful to me.
Also displayed were his shoes and jump suit, covered in paint, but in a frame of sorts. I've been wanting to do this for years but am just too lazy (plus the fact that I've yet to have a solo show which would be the proper place for this sort of piece). Works like that really get me pumped because not only have I seen the work that was created while he wore these items but now I get to see the hard work and years that he spent in them. I think it's a wonderful way to do a self portrait of sorts, and will still probably borrow that idea someday.
There was a funky 60's art video that he made, that I won't lie, I couldn't bring myself to watch. But he did have some minimal sculpture that was cool. Again, based on reflective surfaces, but this time controlling the reflection of light onto bare walls in order to create a uniquely abstract 'light painting' on the wall. They were quite effective in my opinion, and made me thinking about the space moreso than the art, which is always a nice thing after you've been overwhelmed by a lifetime worth of work.
I think that all in all it was a really powerful body of work that, although I wasn't super thrilled with having to visit Philly on break, I came away with some insights into the characteristics and interrelationships of gloss and flat textures and a few conceptual ideas as well.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)