josephine-cialfi-blog

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I agree with you when you say that songs with lyrics and relatable. I wonder what life would be without music like we have today. There are so many different types of music like pop, rock, rap, country, etc. They all have one thing they want to portray and it is there feelings. When it comes to Burke Jam’s songs, how did you feel when listening to them. Did you get happy, sad, relaxed? What do you think the sounds could be even though you were there when he recorded them?

Week 15

The article about the sound was the most captivating because it was the easiest to relate to and sound is something that I really enjoy. Sound is one of my favorite forms of art. Sound is not something that can be touched, seen, or tasted. When we hear a sound we cannot reach out and grab it to save it for later, all we have to hold on to are the memories from hearing the sound. The fact that sound is not something you can touch and it slips away so fast, that if you don’t pay attention and list actively you could miss it. Sounds can lead to emotion and listening to certain things can make you feel certain emotions and that is something that is truly beautiful to me. Music is a form of sound and music with lyrics is something that I appreciate even more. Songs with lyrics can be easily relatable and I think that if there weren’t songs with lyrics life would be boring and extremely bland. The quote from the article that spoke to me the most is “Composing is one thing, performing is another, listening is yet a third. What can they have to do with one another?” I think that this quote poses a really good question and is very in-depth. It makes sense that you perform without listeners and without a composer you have nothing to perform so they are all interdependent and need each other to complete a sound.

One Square Inch of Silence is a really captivating story and neat piece to listen to, this story truly goes to show how fast our world is changing and that something needs to be done to slow it done. People need to slow down and look around their surroundings. Some people are turning a blind eye to the things that are happening to our environment and need to stop doing that.

Susan Philipsz lives in Berlin and has been amazed by the fast-paced world it is and all of the different sounds that live in one area. Living in Berlin is very surreal because the history is so fresh and often brutal. Suzan likes to focus more on the physiological effects that sounds have on humans. The train stations in Berlin are where Suzan spends a lot of her time studying sounds and I think that is truly amazing. There are so many different types of sounds that come from train stations. When people hear the sound of an oncoming train in the distance their first instinct is to look for where the sound is coming from and get ready to board your specific train. The train station that Suzan spends most of her time at is one that was used most often to take the Jews to a concentration camp. Suzan then discovered a Jewish man who had composed music while he was in the concentration camp and has since been working with his compositions to make something that would speak volumes about the happenings of WWII. She also wanted to makes something that would celebrate the 18th anniversary of the annexation of Austria from Germany. I really enjoyed this video and learning about how sounds can define a space and the affect certain spaces have on certain sounds.

Burke Jam is the relevant artist that I chose this week. The piece that I listened to and was most captivated by was a piece titled “Within the Violence of Fractured Light” This piece is mainly recordings from the wilderness of Iceland and very interesting to listen to. It sounds like rain falling, bugs, bullfrogs, string instruments, and rocks banging together. The beautiful thing about sound is that I was not there when Jam recorded these things so I will never know what the sounds actually are.

https://kesh.bandcamp.com/album/within-the-violence-of-fractured-light

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 15

Sound isn’t a “thing” that we can hold and touch. Sound is something that we listen to and hear. I like how the reading says that sound can be forgotten, but a memory can survive but fades quickly. Sounds helps us remember memories. An example would be concerts. I’ve gone to a few concerts and the music and sounds of it remind me of how much fun and all the memories I made. Many people hear, but they don’t listen. Soundscape was also mentioned in the reading and this is where there are unique characteristics in certain places. Some examples of soundscape would be sounds of people, birds, animals, and insects. Sound is in the music we listen to everyday, people talking, and the sounds we here. It is used all the time in our lives everyday.

Listening to One Square Inch of Silence made me feel calm. I could hear bugs flying, birds chirping, and rain hitting the water. This reminds me of when I was in Muir Woods or even where I live. Where it is quiet I am able to reflect and think about things in my life. I live in the country and it is really quiet compared to the loud noises in the city. In the city, where I used to live, there is never a quiet moment. There is always cars driving or people outside. While listening to the recording, I already felt relaxed. I think it was cool that it was recorded in the quietest place in the United States, which is Olympic National Park. I like how in the description of the audio, it wanted to promote people to listen to natural silence.

In Susan’s video, I really enjoyed the music made from the broken instruments. I thought it was cool how the guy decided to make music from something broken, but as able to create something. It really shows that music and sound is always a part of us and our lives, even when were in a dark place in our lives. I really loved when the music echoed because it made a calming effect on me. I thought it was interesting how the video was related to concentration camps and was based on it. When people are listening to Susan’s music, they are really taking it in instead of just hearing it.

I chose Marcus Fischer & Simon Scott for my relevant artist. I listened to their song Thorns. When I closed my eyes and listened to it, I pictured myself in a large grassy field with the sun beaming on me. It is sort of that perfect world where nothing goes wrong. When I open my eyes I’m just staring at a computer screen. It makes me feel free to do what I want.

Marcus Fischer was born in 1977 in Portland, Oregon. He started his career in LA and started finding his style of music. Marcus created audio/visual events that brought filmmakers and musicians together. In 2009, he had a blog about him creating a creative project a day for a year. For Simon Scott, I wasn’t able to find much. I looked on his website and found that his first performance was on January 28, 2016. His most recent performance was on October 28, 2018.

“Marcus Fischer.” 12k, 20 Aug. 2016, www.12k.com/artist/marcus-fischer/.

Simon Scott, simonscott.org/.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I really enjoyed seeing Minerva’s artwork as well. It blew my mind that every drop equaled a person dying every 3.6 seconds from starvation. The fact that she created an exhibit about starvation from chocolate made me question what made her do that. I think it’s really cool that your relevant artist was able to give you childhood memories from your comic books. I think artwork that is able to resemble a memory is fascinating and means a lot more than other pieces of art.

Week 13: Social Art

  Week 13 reflects on Social Art. In the blog “An introduction to relational Aesthetics and social practice” The author/ teacher, writes about how he asked students to explain their interpretation of or about “relational aesthetics/ social practice.” He was surprised by how many did not take it seriously and had a skeptical attitude towards it. Based on their answers the teacher decides to learn more about social art in order to teach a course on it to better educate them, as well as himself, on this style of art.  He wanted to broaden people’s skeptical views of this art and turn them into more positive ones. In his studies, he learned that social art is “an artwork can be considered “relational art” if it is essentially based on social interaction.” (badatsports.com/2014/an-introduction-to-relational-aesthetics-and) It is quite different than traditional art, which is defined by its physical materials. Social art is defined by the personal interactions, which are in fact the artwork.

  In the article “Relational Aesthetics: The Art of Sociality” it talks about the meaning behind social art and its impact on our society. The author explains how “currently, many artists are using their practice to probe the new relations of power in a global world by creating works that set in place social relations.” (https://nbmaa.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/relational-aesthetics-the…) The article then goes on to give different examples of “Relational Aesthetics” styles of art by introducing various artists. My favorite of these was the piece “Untitled” by Felix Gonzalez-Torres. This artwork had a large heap of candy that is piled on the floor and weighs 175 pounds. The candies represent his partners life who has HIV. He encourages viewers to take a piece of candy as they exit the display. As the candy display gets smaller and lighter, this symbolizes the slow death of his sick partner. The viewers complete his work by taking the candy. Until I read this article, I would not have gotten the powerful meaning and message that this artist wanted revealed. Upon first look, I couldn’t see the connection of art with this pile of candy. I thought cool look at all the candy, is it Halloween? And guiltily, I admit that I was thinking that it would be fun to jump in it!

In the video of Minerva Cuevas, she talks about how her artwork makes a political statement. Her artwork is mainly rooted to Mexico and their political issues and cultures. My favorite of her artwork of hers would be her “Feast and Famine” exhibition. She displays the capitalist system and all the societies that are dying of starvation. In the display there is a giant Hersey bar with the wrapper ripped open to reveal chocolate. There are bones with chocolate dripped or drizzled on them. And she has a machine on the ceiling that drips chocolate down unto the floor every 3.6 seconds. Each dripping of chocolate represents someone dying from starvation. It keeps growing to form a massive pile on the floor. My first reaction to this was that I wanted a Hershey bar! It was cool to see one as big as this one was. I imagined what my daughter’s reaction would be to this display, as this is her favorite candy bar!

The relevant artist Regan Tamanui, otherwise known as “HaHa” “explores the power of mass media within Australian popular culture.” “He gets his images directly from the newspaper or from photographing the subject.” (www.regantamanui.com/bio.html ) My favorite artwork of his was from his Joker HaHa Gallery. It is of a half-masked face, revealing mostly just the large curve of a wide-mouthed person smiling. The teeth are stained yellow and blood is dripping down off out of the mouth. The words “HaHa” are scratched in blood. This instantly made me think of my comic books as I was a boy. I loved reading about them and looking at the pages of them. The artist is probably not just displaying comic book material, but rather a hidden message. I am not sure what, but I was entertained and intrigued by this photo. I wanted to do look through my collection of comics!

Social art does make one think, why are they displaying this? What is the meaning of this art? It was hard to look at this art seriously. It was only when I read the materials that I saw the value and meaning of it. I then felt guilty that I didn’t take it more seriously!!

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 13

When reading “Relational Aesthetics: The Art of Sociability” I became confused fast. It was hard for me to understand this article due to the high level vocabulary in it. In this article, it mentioned how new forms of aesthetics were created due to “cross-cultural interchanges.” Aesthetics come from conceptual and installation art. I like how it showed real artists portraying real life scenarios. Out of the two artists, I liked Victoria’s work. I thought it was cool that she displayed a video on the boar and thought it was interesting how she decided to represent the prosecution of her 10th great grandmother. In the quote given, it really shows how deep of a meaning it had on Victoria. 

The article on Bad At Sports, I liked how he added a list of comments about the topic he wrote out. I’m glad he wrote (no art-speak) because I probably would’ve gotten lost again. While reading it, I found it more funny because the people commenting didn’t really have to think about it and just wrote what they thought. Instead of looking at it that art is just what artists can create, art is in everyday life whether we like it or not. Art can be relational art if it’s based on social interaction. Even though both articles focused on what social practice and relational art is, I preferred Bad At Sports because I was able to comprehend the material better. 

Minerva’s work is something that I really enjoyed seeing. I prefer art work with a meaning that relates to me and that interests me compared to artist’s works that I don’t understand. She focuses her work on social crisis that’s occurring in our world. Her exhibit that really stood out to me about be the chocolate one. As a person who loves chocolate, it interested me from the beginning. I thought it was interesting how she made something that most people love and eat a lot, into a representation of people dying from starvation. What really stood out to me and made an impact would be the chocolate dripping from the machine representing a person dying from starvation. Every 3.6 seconds another drop of chocolate comes down. In our society, we don’t think about starvation and third world countries and what they’re going through. I like how the chocolate exhibit shows viewers what others are really going through. “Art is totally connected to social change.”

Tania Bruguera was born in Cuba in 1968. She went to many different schools in Havana, where she was born. She is a politically motivated artist and enjoys showing the difference between art, activism, and social change. She refers to herself as a initiator than an author. She gives solutions to social problems through her artwork. When looking at her works, and relating it to social practice, it makes me think of pain and what others had to or have to go through. I chose Tania because her work intrigued me, and like last week, shows what others don’t like talking about. I really respect artists who are able to do that. I might not necessarily enjoy some of her works, but I like her motivation for it. The painting that really stood out to me is the one with the blood marks from the woman’s arms. I thought of it as a sign for help and it made me feel sad because there are people out there needing help and I can’t do anything about it.

“Tania Bruguera.” Art21, art21.org/artist/tania-bruguera/.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I really respect Yoko’s work especially since her husband, John Lenon, was shot in Central Park. It’s nice to see that all she wants to do is make the world a better place by making art work about war, the environment, and turning “me” to “we”. Out of the three images you provided, which one speaks to you the most? Would it be because of the way the words are formatted or because of the meaning of it? Those are some questions that ran through my own head when looking through the pictures. Nice post, Emma!

Week 12

The beginning of the video is very captivating and eye catching, and very different. The music makes you stop and listen. The characters are very strange and it makes me think of my childhood compared to what kids today experience. Some of the characters remind me of something that flow smoothly. I think that because Nick lives in Chicago it makes his work ever more relevant and he can reach a wide enough audience that more people can actually appreciate his work. There is a wide variety of people and races in the city and even more people that feel forgotten, pushed aside, and objectified, and I feel like his work tries to bring awareness to those people feeling this way. The stick outfit was something that would catch the eyes of on lookers and Nick said that when he wore it he felt like it was his shield to protect him from the actions of others and the sound it made protected him from what others were saying about him. Nick likes to leave everything undefined and doesn’t plan his pieces out; he just makes adjustments as he goes. Here again though, Nick talks about having to hire three full-time assistants and I have question if he can then claim the work as solely his. Especially since he doesn’t draw anything out he just makes it as he goes, so how can his assistants know what he wants something to look like, or how can Nick claim his assistants work as his own?

Nick’s sound suits start as one object and then all of the other objects are reactions to the original object. Nick likes to go “Antiquing” and ends up planning a lot of his works on the spot and improvises as he goes. His sound suits demonstrate a “celebratory honor” of some person or some event in Nick’s past. The sound suit performances are AMAZING. I loved seeing the music, dance, and suits come together to create something that is truly motivating.

The reading on Socially engaged art was very interesting. I had no idea that this event had even taken place and I think that Bree Newsome was just doing what she felt was right. The confederate flag issue is something that could be interpreted wrong and that some people mean to fly the confederate flag as a way to degrade the African American population but others fly the flag to symbolize the TV series the “Dukes of Hazard”, “Redneck Nation”, and the tobacco industry. Newsome’s climb is an example of actual practice and shows that she felt offended by the flying of the flag.

The Relevant artist I chose for this week is Yoko Ono. Her work seems to depict controversial issues and her opinions on those issues. Some of her works are on fracking (harmful to the environment), war and destruction, and a reflective piece of “ME” turning into “WE”. Yoko Ono is an American-Japanese artist with a focus on multimedia, music, and working for peace.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 12

The first article about performance art gave a general idea of what it was. I learned that performance art first started to focus on body art. There was a lot of history to performance art that surprised me. I like how the rise of feminism is added in the history because it is an important part of how performance art is like today. It started because artists wanted to “rejuvenate their work.” Painting came back in the 1980s and took over performance art. It is still a form of art today including installations, paintings, and sculptures.

The second article was a little hard for me to understand. Even though Bree Newsome tried taking down the flag, it didn’t work and the flag went right back up. I enjoyed looking at the video of her work and what she did with the flag. I think it is very creative and I like how she unthreaded the bottom of the flag instead of cutting it up. Even though she climbed to cut the flag, it was meant as a metaphor to get rid of racism.

Nick Cave’s work is something that was very different. I wasn’t a fan of some of the outfits that he made. I really enjoyed the colorful ones because it really stood out and made the performance seem more fun. Seeing bright colorful colors makes me feel happier and enjoy things more compared to dark colors. The outfits were very time consuming to make, but were an important part of his work and performance art in general. I really enjoyed watching the part of the black mannequin because it had a deep meaning that is occurring in today’s world. In this piece, Nick dresses a black mannequin with sneakers and jeans. On the mannequin’s side, there is a blow up doll that acts as its guardian/protector. On top, the mannequin is covered up with a constructed web made from pony beads. From afar it looks like a beautiful piece of art, but once you get closer you are able to see the man trapped inside the web. Seeing art like this gives me a deep meaning to it because it is something that has an effect on me and it is something I have a voice about.

I initially wanted to pick Chris Burden as my relevant artist because of his famous photographed art in Los Angeles called Urban Light at LACMA. Then I saw Carolee Schneemann’s work and chose her. When first looking at her work, it made me curious to why she decided to have scenes of women being tortured. Looking at these pictures made me feel disgusted because it seemed like the artist was portraying women as dolls that can be used for anything, which is not true at all.

Carolee Schneemann was born October 12, 1939 in Pennsylvania. Her artwork consisted of gender politics and social things that aren’t meant to be talked about. She is known for her performance art practices and “is considered the progenitor of body art.” She first started her career with abstract, but later moved onto performance art. Not many people liked her explicit works and reacted with rage. (One film was of her and her ex-husband having sex, while another of her pulling a conversation out of her vagina and reading it.) She liked focusing on feminism and the female body. Her work isn’t something I really enjoy, but I can respect her for putting out controversial material to the world knowing that she will get a bad backlash from the audience.

Blumberg, Naomi. “Carolee Schneemann.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 Oct. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Carolee-Schneemann.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I like how you connected your life to Frank Gehry’s work. I like when you mentioned that it may seem unstable it can hold thousands of people. Just like your life, it may seem unstable but you know your roots and who you are as a person. When I saw this building when I went to New York, I thought it was really cool and amazed how someone could make it and even think of the design. I think your post is relatable not only to me, but many others as well. Great post, Emma!

Week 11

In the reading in the “Architect’s Unique Concerns” section, there was a segment that caught my eye “The architect is an artist, but also a social servant.” This single statement tells a lot about what architectures really face when designing building plans. They have to take into consideration who will inhabit the building, what the building will be used for, and how efficient the building needs to flow. It is important that architectures make sure that all of the things they put into their buildings are up to code with all of the regulations and requirements made by the government. Architecture is my favorite kind of art because to me it actually serves a purpose. Art that hangs on a wall seems pointless to me and is just there to take up space. Architecture is everywhere and in every time period. I was able to go to Italy this summer and got to see so many different examples of neat architecture. It was truly the trip of a lifetime and I was able to take in so much of a different culture that I really didn’t want to leave. Older ruins can often be confused with “rubble” but if you look closely it still has its’ structure and intricate details on the bricks and pillars. In the reading, it was also very fascinating to see the skeleton structure of a skyscraper and the broken down thought process of how a building of that magnitude starts.  

Maya Lin is the architect that built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and in the video, she was chosen to design and construct a new landscape for a rundown park. There was an old ice rink in the park that was in desperate need of some renovations and it was this old ice rink that caught Maya’s eye. She thought of involving the three different stages of water – liquid, gas, ice. The ice rink served as water in the form of ice, a ring of mist served as the water in the form of gas, and the circular fountain served as water in its’ liquid form. The design of the ice rink came from the image of water rippling after something has disrupted it. The terraces around the rink resemble the different levels of ripples and the rink is the center. I thought it was very well designed and was amazed at how she came up with that from basically scratch.

The relevant artist that I chose for this week was Frank Gehry and he was born in Toronto, Canada on February 28, 1929. His work reminds me of wavy and twisted tree branches and looks like it would make buildings appear to be unstable. I know that for his building to still be standing there are obviously very stable but I think could be the point. From his work, I get a vibe of things that appear to be unsteady but are actually very strong. Kind of like my life right now. I am all over the place, very busy, always changing, and kind of out of order, but under all of that I am always there for those who need me and too often put the needs of others in front of my personal needs.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 11

Architecture is something I’m not used to looking or thinking about. When reading this section I learned a lot like how acoustics are a part of architecture. Acoustics allow sound to be enunciated throughout the room. I always thought since it’s a big room it echos, but it is actually a part of the architecture. In history, there are a lot of changes in architecture as well. There was one style in Mesopotamia, the style of columns (Greek Doric was first, Ionic was second, and Corinthian is third.) It was also really cool to see how the frame styles have changed as well from being a arch, then trusses, and then a balloon-frame construction. I never thought of the buildings in New York, the Sydney Opera House, or even the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Architecture is something I always appreciate when going to a city, but I never thought of it as that.

Maya Lin’s work is something I found very beautiful. She was well known for her sculpture made in the Vietnam Memorial. To demonstrate her blueprints, I found it cool how she used a book and cut the pages to show the depth of what she is making. My favorite part of watching the video would be of her creating the actual ice skating rink and adding the stars and constellations underneath it. I love looking up at the stars, so if I were able to skate on it would be amazing. I like how she added water, mist, and the ice skating rink to show all the forms of water. When she mentioned it was a small piece of land, it seemed really big to me. Buildings do take a lot of space and I can see why she said it was small for what she wanted to make. 

I never really thought of an ice skating ring being architecture, but it includes lots of planning and building on the ground. Something I love to do is ice skate, whenever I have the chance. Being able to see how it’s related to architecture shows that it is in everyday life. Her work is something modern compared to history and what they made back in the day. When looking at other works from her, she tends to have straight edges and not arches like Antoni’s work is like (the relevant artist I chose.) I really like some of her works, while others confused me what they meant. 

Antoni Gaudí was born in June 25, 1852 and died June 10, 1926. He was killed when he was hit by a trolley car in Barcelona. He started architecture when he was young and went to school for it. He went to Barcelona, Spain to pursue doing what he loved to it. Instead of copying other people’s styles, he created his own. He started building a structure, but couldn’t finish it due to his death. 

While looking through his works, they look really beautiful. I like how his style is very unique and different compared to modern architecture. His works remind me of a fantasy place because it is something we don’t see today and is an older style of architecture. The fantasy style I get from his works makes me feel different and like I’m entering a new world. His work is something I really love because it’s something we don’t see today.

“Antoni Gaudí.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 June 2016, www.biography.com/people/antoni-gaud%C3%AD-40695.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I also agree with you that glass is something that is very beautiful and eye catching. I didn’t enjoy Brian’s work as much as you did. I found his work creepy for some reason and I don’t enjoy it very much. The meaning behind it, however, is very nice and deep. I like how Marie’s work has a story behind it and isn’t just a pile of folded clothes. When I first looked at it I didn’t find it very appealing, but after reading the paragraph it shows the meaning and makes me happier to hear that she wants to bring people together.

Week 10

The video for this week was very unconventional and was art that I could better understand. Brian took modern and everyday objects and gave them a voice. His uncle taught him how to make drums and Brian began using modern furniture and kitchen wear to make his drums, therefore taking modern objects and giving them a way to make noise and have a voice. Brian lost his parents when he was young and that gave him the inspiration to go to art school and move away from the family farm, it also gave him the courage to figure out who he was as a person and to realize that he was gay, once he knew who he was he had to figure out how to tell his family and his art helped him clear his head and think more clearly. Brian thought that by using shoes, baseballs, furniture, and common everyday objects that people would be able to relate to his art easier. He also felt that it showed the potential that can come from the most common of objects and would allow people to recognize them first as the common everyday object but also appreciate what they had been turned into. Being a native person Brian hated the stereotype people thought native art was supposed to follow. He worked hard every day to prove the stereotype wrong and show that there are many different forms of art that can be done by a person of a certain culture. Brian’s work shows that it is ok to be different and stand out and I really enjoyed his story.

In the reading this week it talked about the more conventional ways to create craft media. Glass craft media was the most interesting for me to read about. I remember the saying of “lightening never strikes the same place twice and when lightening strikes the sand it creates a glass piece. Glass is attractive to me because it is sparkly when it catches the light and it catches my eye because of that. Glass is appealing to me because it is a fragile beauty that can be easily broken. The bit about Paula Winokur was very interesting to read as well. Paula seems very wise about clay works and it is evident that she has been doing it for a while now. I also liked how she talked about all aspects of making clay pieces and what interested her most. She also talked about how she started in clay but ended up in porcelain and what attracted her most to porcelain.

The Relevant artist that I chose for this week was Marie Watt. Marie tries to bridge the gap between history and memories through her works of art. She does a lot her work by herself but some of it is done in groups of people all working together on the same piece. Marie enjoys it when people of the general public have the time and interest to come together and help her sew and often it’s the quality of the conversation that matters more than the end result of the project that is being sewn.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 10

Crafts are something that everyone has done. It comes in a variety of different forms and not just DIY’s. The options listed in the book are clay, metal, glass, fibers, and wood. One of my favorite crafts would be clay. Clay is something that I enjoyed when I was in my 3D art class. We were able to create clay sculptures using coil building, ceramics, and slab building techniques. I was able to make a piece and bring it to an Art Conference. Crafts are something I enjoy doing and found it interesting to reflect what I have and haven’t done while reading. I love being able to mess up and just restart by adding a small amount of water. Making clay sculptures relaxes me because I can randomly create instead of having anxiety while drawing or painting and trying to make everything perfect. 

Brian Jungen’s work isn’t something that I liked very much. In the video, he created art made from sneakers. He's part of the Native American culture and wants to create something related to that. He cut up shoes and sewed them together in a certain way. On one pair Brian added hair to it to create faces of Native Americans. He wanted to create art like this to show his identity and what his origins were like. I didn’t understand what Brian was trying to get out of cutting up brand new pairs of shoes. I would think that the shoes should be worn out to show how the Native American’s worked and lived and that their lives weren’t squeaky clean. He did mention in the video, that using common items that we see everyday will allow viewers to connect to his work more which is an idea that is really cool to portray. 

Brian’s work would be fibers. In fibers, there is stitching like quilting. Brian stitched all the shoes together to make one piece. I will admit, however, that Brian went outside the box to create art like this. Overall, his work kind of creeped me out and I didn’t enjoy it at all compared to the past week’s artists.

Kimsooja is an artist born in South Korea in 1957. She first started art by working with fabrics, then she moved on to installations, and now she also works with videos and films. She is based in New York, Paris, and Seoul. While she was in a university, she studied Western paintings. Kimsooja’s work caught my eye because of her famous work’s dealing with glass. The rainbow from the glass reminded me of tranquility. When I look at the glass, it gives me a feeling of peace. I would love to go to the palace she made and observe the details and how she made everything.

I admire people who make art with glass because I simply don’t know how glass is made. I would love to be able to see, in person, how glass is made and how artists use it in their works. Glass works I think are beautiful and are very eye catching, especially when the sun shines through and the colors and sparkles appear.

“Kimsooja.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimsooja.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I also really enjoyed the piece dealing with the military tags. Do Ho Shu’s work is very unique and relatable like you mentioned. I also chose the installation “And How Many Rains Must Fall Before the Stains Are Washed Clean” because of the powerful meaning it had. I agree with you that the color choice really gives a clear cut messge at what Qureshi is trying to portray. How would you replicate Nancy’s work? Would you take pictures of repetitive cylinders as well or maybe change up the shapes to make it different?

Week 9

Installation art is “an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that often are site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space.” This kind of art is taking a space and all of its characteristics and adding to the space by designing art to go into the space. The Wikipedia page was very informative and described the different types of installation art in a way that was very easy to understand. I really enjoyed learning about the interactive installations and was most intrigued by how the artists use their onlookers to unveil the real meaning of the piece. The immersive virtual reality segment was very interesting to learn about and very real world. The world today is constantly changing and advancing and technology now plays a large role in our everyday lives. The virtual reality art allows the audience to live within the art instead of just watching the art. To me, this is both very interesting to learn about but very difficult to fully understand. Installation art is more than just something to look at and observe, it is something that is experienced. I often feel like in a world of technology people are constantly looking at and observing art but not so much experiencing the art. The installation art piece that I can most easily relate to is the “And How Many Rains Must Fall Before the Stains Are Washed Clean” piece by Imran Qureshi. This piece reminds me of the fear that all humans face when presented with the idea of death and it reminds of the fear I often face when presented with death. The repletion in this is amazing and looks like it took forever. I also appreciate the color he chose to use, the blood red gives the piece a very specific message and shows just how messy death can be.

I really enjoyed Do Ho Suh’s work and can relate to him so easily. The fact that he gets homesick and tries to actively do something about it is completely something I can relate to because that is my biggest fear when going to college. The idea that he made an exact replica of his parent’s home that he could pack in his suitcase and take with him is so intelligent. It’s an excellent way for him to combat his homesickness. It also makes me think of the way that I hoard pictures. I take pictures of everything and keep them and it is my way of making sure that I remember everything and always have those memories with me. The piece that Do Ho Suh did with military tags is absolutely heartwarming. He talked about his own experience in the military and how he handled it emotionally and physically, and how his art is an expression of those feelings.

The relevant artist I chose for this week is Nancy Holt. I chose Nancy because her work caught my eye and is photographs that I could actually take myself. Her images have very pleasing repetition and vibrant colors that help me her work interesting and eye-catching.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 9

Installations seem to have been around for a while, but when the reading mentioned it started around 1959+, I was quite surprised. I was also surprised when it first said, “Installation art can be either temporary or permanent.” I think this is really unique and makes the work even more valuable because some may be gone within a year, month, or even week! I think interactive installations are really cool because it uses the viewer’s activity and is a lot more modern and uses technology. People typically think of art being in Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci’s time period, but it can be made today!

When looking at the Five Wonders in New York article, Imran Qureshi at the Metropolitan’s work caught my eye. I found it intriguing because it looked like a violent fight happened, yet it looked so pretty with the New York skyline in the back. It was only up for a week, which makes it very valuable, I’d say, to see in person. The title of the installation itself, "And How Many Rains Must Fall Before the Stains Are Washed Clean" describes the meaning. It reminds me of what our country had to go through to get its freedom. Many people had to be killed, but at the end of the day, the rain will wash the blood away and we won’t see the damage that has been done. I think this piece is very powerful and it’s unfortunate that it was only up for a week.

In the video showing Do Ho Suh’s work, I liked how it related to his life and his past. I feel more connected to people’s work that show something they are passionate for or that has occurred in their life. He started off the video showing himself replicating his parent’s home in Seoul to LA. This required transportable fabrics. He also took pictures of people in his yearbooks and placed them altogether. What really caught my eye in this video, however, was the sculpture made from dog tags. This is something that related to his years in the army and represents all the people that have participated in the army. I think this sculpture is powerful because it resembles all the people that were forced into the military when they entered middle school. 

A lot of Do Ho Suh’s work involved transportable fabrics, which is like installations. It amazes me how he is able to create detailed homes using fabrics. A lot of his home works leads back to his old home in Seoul, like he mentioned in the video.

The artist that I chose to research is Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Their work truly made me fascinated. When we had to read a certain chapter in the textbook, I noticed Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s sculpture called the Running Fence, which was located in Marin and Sonoma Counties, California. Since I go to California yearly, I wanted to go and see their work. Then I found out that they took it down two weeks later. It blows my mind how they probably spent so much time making this project and take down 24.5 miles of work so fast. This project wasn’t the only one they took down right away. 

Christo met Jeanne-Claude and married in 1959. She started out as Christo’s manager, but started helping him get creative and help with his works. Even though Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, Christo has continued to make his works like The Floating Piers, The London Mastaba, and the Big Air Package. Their works were usually outdoor and required a lot of help to make the massive projects. Christo and Jeanne-Claude made installations that weren’t permanent. A common theme I found in some of their works would be that the installations seem to accent certain parts of the nature, whether its the hills in Running Fence or the water in Surrounded Islands.

Christo+J-C, christojeanneclaude.net/mobile/projects?p=running-fence.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Christo and Jeanne-Claude.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 June 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Christo-and-Jeanne-Claude.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I didn’t even think about the building that Kara put her sculptures in! I can see how she wanted to tie everything together to keep the same idea. If this exhibit was put in a posh museum, I would think that the story behind the work and the location would contradict one another. I also agree with you on Tara’s work. I don’t necessarily think her work gives off a meaning to me, but I could stare at her work for a while and find it fascinating. Great post, Emma!

Week 8

I really enjoyed the “Sugar Baby” and the work that Kara Walker is doing. I like how she used the entire space she was given and set the sculpted woman in a way that shows she is powerful and not to be satisfied, taken advantage of, or abused. I also like how she incorporated the drippy, droopy look of the building she put the sculpture in. It reminds me of the tears shed by the slaves who were forced to harvest the sugar. The drippy look is closely related to the blood and sweat that the slaved shed just to keep themselves and their children alive. Kara included smaller sculptures of children in the building as well and I think that goes to show that no one was safe from slavery, and to show how far we have come since abolishing slavery.

I don’t know how I feel about reading the interview of Kara about “Gone With the Wind” instead of watching it. I am the type of person who likes to be able to see facial expressions and judge people’s sincerity based on their body language and tone of voice. I really enjoyed Kara’s reasoning as to why so painted “Gone”. It goes to show the difference between an African American woman’s interpretation of “Gone With the Wind” and a white woman’s interpretation. I also really enjoyed her personal insights into meanings of certain scenes in the book and her connections to her personal life. Kara has a unique story and I think that “Gone” only scratches the surface of her deepest thoughts and emotions. Some people would argue that her opinion is biased or too one-sided but I think it is refreshing to see the opposite side presented in a non “oh poor me” fashion. Kara depicts the slave as a proud culture and I love that. I also liked her response to being asked if she ever asked herself “Why me?” It just goes to show that she is proud of who she is and how far she has come.

This weeks chapter was a really interest read. Three-dimensional art is my favorite kind, especially sculptures and architecture. Modeling was my favorite thing to do as a child and the book does a good job of describing what goes into making models and the effect it can have on drafting a sculpture. Those who can carve have always amazed me; carving is so intricate and seems to be very tricky. The chapter talks a lot about carving and modeling different substances into something, however, I think my favorite part of the chapter would have to be the Earthworks. Artists taking the natural Earth and using what is already there to make something amazing is absolutely fascinating. I am in awe of an artist who can take a space of nature that is already beautiful and make it into something even more breathtaking.

After looking through the list of relevant artists I really liked the work that Tara Donovan does. Her work is unique and caught my eye. It is unlike any form of sculpting I have seen and because of this, it catches my eye even faster. I don’t feel like her work “speaks” to me in any way it is just really interesting to look at.

https://curiator.com/art/tara-donovan/2

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 8

The reading, like always explains different ways to do the certain type of art style we’re learning for the week. This week is focused on sculpting. Something that I love about sculptures is the real feel of being next to one and even the sizing of them. For example, the Cloud Gate located in Millennium Park, Chicago is so big that dozens of people can go underneath it. A sculpting technique that I am most familiar with would be modeling. I love modeling because it deals with clay makings. While I took 3-D art, we made a lot of projects with clay and wire. Assembling would be related to the wire projects I did. 

Kara Walker was the relevant artist that I researched last week, and it was really awesome getting to learn more things about her style of work since it was hard for me to find. She typically paints instead of making sculptures. In Sugar Baby, it blew my mind when she was able to assemble and create a sculpture that big and put that much sugar on it. I liked seeing her work have a greater meaning to it, like relating it to slavery. I like how, even though it may be seen as “porn” rather than art, she still sticks to what she wants to make. I think my favorite part of her piece would be the babies that were made out of sugar. I felt like I was there while watching the video. Seeing the sugar melting from the children made me think of a child that was actually sweating from working in the fields.

Kara’s work would be like modeling. She was able to carve out the styrofoam and form the children from sugar. In some ways, I think Kara applied the concept of casting as well because she applied a layer of sugar instead of bronze or plastic.

In her interview that we had to read, I found it interesting that she had to create a piece based on a book she hated and never wanted to read. Halfway through the project, she realized she had to give in and read, “Gone With the Wind.” In the end, she created a painting that has a lot of meaning to it and is something she enjoys. “The silhouette lends itself to avoidance of the subject—of not being able to look at it directly—yet there it is, all the time, staring you in the face.” This is something that I have never thought of about silhouette’s and really like how this quote is worded. I think this painting sums up how slavery was back then. In the left part of the painting, you can see the man and woman there, but the rest of the painting shows what an African American had to deal with.

For my relevant artist, I chose Tara Donovan. Her work is very realistic and blew me away at how detailed everything is created. Tara was born in New York in 1969 and still works in New York today. She is a contemporary artist and is known for her site-specific installations. She uses ordinary things you find around the house like toothpicks, Scotch tape, straws, and other objects. In the biography I read of Tara, she mentioned that she wasn’t trying to simulate nature, but more of mimicking nature and the way things grow. Her work has been displayed all over the country.

“Tara Donovan.” Claudio Bravo Biography – Claudio Bravo on Artnet, Pace Gallery, www.artnet.com/artists/tara-donovan/.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I totally agree with you when you used the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Belly and Thunder Road were both hard to watch, but I think it’s important to notice what others think of that because it shows the saying in my first sentence is true. I enjoyed when you talked about Sally that you liked when the models were in the nude because, in the end, everyone is the same when stripped down. It’s funny how people think it’s bad to look at that because we’ve all seen bodies before. Great post Emma!

Week 7

I think that the book did a great job of laying out how photography started and then evolved into films and eventually television. Photography has always been a love of mine and was one of my main motivations to take this class. The book describes the photos very well and helps me better understand what the artist did and why they did it. I think my favorite piece from the book would have to be William Henry Fox Talbot, with “Botanical Specimens”. This piece is just so cool and ahead of its time, it is absolutely amazing. I had not heard of “Photograms” before I read the chapter in this book and after reading about I think that it would something I would want to try. It almost reminds me of an X-ray type photograph and is just so fascinating I want to be able to touch it but I can’t.

           https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/photogram

            Natalia

I really liked and enjoyed Natalia’s video and I think that a lot of people that are multi-racial could benefit from hearing her story. I really liked the work she did and how she focused on the real person and not who they are perceived to be at their job or because of their lifestyle. I think that because her work is so “real” that she is more able to relate to a larger group of people and probably able to connect to them even better.

           Thunder Road

This video was very difficult for me to watch because the main character was making a bit of a fool of himself while trying to express the deep grief he has for losing his mom. I felt bad and embarrassed for him because he was stumbling through his speech and butchering phrases. The song and dance rendition was beautiful but also embarrassing, although it did seem like the perfect way for him to express his grief and his deep regret that he thinks he has somehow failed his mom.

           Belly

This video really disturbed me. I am completely confused on the point and why this person made this video. I did not like it at all and because I didn’t like it was even harder to pay attention and understand the meaning.

I think that within Natalia’s video there are more things that relate to the chapter than the other videos. She is using real-life places and people to tell a story, just like the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The book described the practices she was using and even gave similar examples. The other two videos I didn’t understand their purpose and therefore couldn’t figure out how they related to the chapter at all.

The relevant artist I chose this week is Sally Mann. Her work is done in black and white and is often photos of her own small children. I liked her work because it seemed like real life and real people. I also liked that in her photos her subjects were often in the nude and that made me think of how when everyone is stripped down we are all the same.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

Week 7

Photography and filmmaking are types of art that I love. I think the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” is true. I liked how the book said that a camera’s job is to take the picture, and the brain of the viewer can think of it how it wants. On page 285, there are many ways people can interpret this picture. A person can be thinking of one thing, but it’s a picture of a woman and her kids during the Dust Bowl. A film is a single frame put together to make a film. The term used for motion films is cinematography. There are many different parts/types to filmmaking like documentaries, flashbacks, montage, and more to show how films can turn realistic. 

“I do not know how those who do not film remember. The act of filmmaking is an act of creating memories for yourself.” I think this quote is something that represents the video of Natalia Almada. There were a lot of great things said in the video. The part of the video that stuck out to me the most would be the part of the film where everyone was in the water, but the one woman was still standing outside the pool. Some people may think that the woman didn’t know how to swim, but Natalia is trying to represent her mother. Her mom loved swimming before, but after her daughter died from drowning, she was afraid to go in the water. This shows that our brain does interpret things in a certain way, but there could be another meaning to it.

In my favorite blog, Humans of New York, I think they do a great job giving the reader a different aspect to what we see. In a post that I just read from them, they took a picture of an African American guy laying in the grass reading a book. One person could say the stereotypical things like he’s homeless or he doesn’t have a job and probably doesn’t go to school. When you read the caption, the guy laying in the grass says that he’s finishing up his masters’ in accounting and wants to own a tax firm so he can employ people who are unfortunate to be unemployed. He would even be willing to teach the people he employs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnW7FpaFZXn/

Belly was a very interesting video to watch. I found it pretty sad in the end because of the creature carrying the elephant died in the whale, and they had to leave him. Alex made me mad because Alex's brother and his best friend went down to save him and he didn’t even say thank you. I’m amazed at how many emotions I felt during the short film. I think it’s crazy to think of how much work got put into making a seven-minute video. 

Thunder Road was very emotional to watch. While Jimmy was talking, you can hear the sadness when he talked about his mother. I almost started crying when he did, and while he was talking about how much his mom helped him when he was trying to figure out the school material dealing with his dyslexia. Like I mentioned in Belly, although it wasn’t very long, it can really make a person feel different emotions. From watching both these films, I realized that filmmaking really shows and gives off emotions that one may not see when reading a book or in another form.

For my relevant artist, Richard Prince’s work seemed the most appealing to me. The fact that he put his photography into Instagram format really caught my eye. I think Instagram is art because there is a picture or multiple pictures and the captions explain what the pictures focus on. Unfortunately, he has dealt with many lawsuits because of him borrowing and copying others pictures. The goal of his work is to show the viewer that some pictures are fake and aren’t what they seem or look like. Richard was born in 1949 in the Panama Canal Zone. He moved to America because his parents were helping with the U.S. government. When Richard turned 18, he helped with the OSS, but later learned he didn’t want to do that for the rest of his life. 

“Richard Prince Overview and Analysis.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-prince-richard.htm.

[josephine-cialfi-blog]

I really like the quote you got from John saying, “Looking at the space between two things is just as important as looking at them both individually.” I didn't think of it like the artist trying to hide something from the viewer. I really enjoy seeing different points of views when looking at art because I thought John’s work was different while you hated how he ruined the pictures.

Swoon's art is something that I could hang up somwehre in my room because of how much I like it. Although I can’t find a meaning to it, I think her work is beautiful and well thought out. I agree with you when her work remings you of empowerment.

Week 6

Your reflections on the reading

Printmaking didn’t interest me nearly as much as the graphic design did. I think that the relief process of printmaking sounds really similar to making a stamp. The way the book describes the process, as a craving for lines so some areas show up when printed and other are left untouched, makes me think immediately of stamping. This process of printmaking is easier to relate to and makes sense. The intaglio process is much more complicated. My favorite form of intaglio is etching, I loved when I was little and was given an etching kit for Christmas, but from what the book says etching has come a long way from the beginning to my younger age.  In the beginning, etching metal plates were coated with waxy, acid-resistant substances, these substances were the “resist”. The artist then drew through the resist with a sharp etching needle, scratching the surface of the metal. Then the plate is soaked in an acidic solution that eats through the grooves and into the metal, sealing the places where the needle cut through the resist solution.

The graphic design section of the reading was my favorite. Graphic design is more modern and can be seen all over the place. There are also no limitations to graphic design and the artist doesn’t have to be good at drawing because graphic design can be don’t digitally. I am not good at drawing things on a paper but I am technologically fluent and can run Photoshop and InDesign pretty well, this explains why graphic design appeals to me so much; because it is art I can do myself!

Your reflections on the videos/media

John Baldessari is the artist in the video this week and he does printmaking as well as some graphic design. In the video, he said, “Looking at the space between two things is just as important as looking at them both individually.” I think that this makes sense because there could be something of importance that the artist was trying to hide and wanted the audience to look for. I also think that it relates a lot to the idea of “Reading between the lines” to find the underlying meaning of what someone is writing or saying. It is just another way for an artist to hide a second meaning or their true expressions and feelings.  I thought that John’s work was not appealing at all. It was really confusing to me why he covered his subject’s faces, and why he would take a really pretty black and white picture and ruin it with random splotches of colors. His work didn’t speak to me at all and kind of made me want to hit him for ruining perfectly good pictures by covering peoples faces or throwing colors on the piece.

Connections/comparisons you find between the two

The only connection I have from the video to the reading is that the reading described printmaking and graphic design and the video put it into an example. I liked the work in the book but hated the pieces from the video. I think John is missing the point of printmaking and graphic design. There are so many wonders that can be done with graphic design and he uses it to ruin pieces.

Connections to another artist’s work from the “Relevant Artists” section of the course content

Swoon is the artist I chose this week. Swoon was born in 1977, in New London, Connecticut. She does a lot of street and movie animations. Her art reminds me of some of the pieces from the book and is so intricate and detailed. I really like her work because it reminds me of empowerment.

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https://swoonstudio.org/about/