#beallcenter

[mitchellehk-blog]

Beall Center: Aesthetic Center

Visual Literacy-Aesthetic Scanning Exercise

1. What do the records contain, and what is the significance of the colors? Choose three to listen to and describe what you hear.

The records contain audio recordings that encompass the theme of police brutality. Each of the records represent an African-American individual who perished under the hands of police brutality. They contain actual evidence of the sounds that took place during police brutality events for different individuals. The colors in the monument are a mixture of black and white, although white is the dominating color. The only truly black things in the room are the records with the audio recordings. The floor, wall, and stands are all white. The significance of the colors is to portray the dominance of the color white, which coincides with white dominance cultural constructions. The records that are black represent the African-American community that are the subject of hits from the dominating white police. The three records I listened to are Sandra Bland’s, Alton Sterling’s, and Patrick Harmon’s. Each of the records have a mixture of voices, with some that are the individual’s voice and others the voices of either bystanders or the police. Although some parts of the audio recordings are muffled, it shows the reality of the situation in which events turn horribly wrong. There are voices that plead, scream, yell, and argue. Emotions are poured out through the records, and the audience can hear the fear, shock, anger, and terror of the voices that are played.

2. What is the significance of the tables, why are they different lengths?

There are three tables in the room. One table is 21-feet long, another table is 15- feet long, and the last table is 5-feet long. The 21-feet long table is there to represent “The 21 Foot Rule,” which is a rule that justifies a police officer to be able to shoot an individual from this length away. The 15-feet long table represents the event of when Laquan McDonald, an African-American teen, was shot from 15 feet away instead of 21 feet away. The 5-feet long table represents the shooting of Margaret Mitchell, who was only 5 feet away from the police officer who shot her.

3. What is in the file folders? Choose 3 to open up and describe what you see inside.

The file folders each contain legal documents that shared copies of court documents and observations from the trials. The file folders that I opened are from the individuals that I listened from the audio records. Each of the file folders contained documents pertaining to their designated individual. The information included testaments, dates of events, evidence pages, witnesses, court transcripts, and other legal documents that described the events in depth.

What do you “see” (close “scientific” observation)?

What is the story or visual narrative presented? Is it abstract or representational (figures and recognizable objects)? Explain:

The visual narrative that is represented is one that shares the theme of police brutality and the disturbing effects it leaves due to the division of white dominant racism and African-American individuals. The narrative is more representational, especially due to the heavy symbolism portrayed throughout the exhibit. Some symbolism included are the color contrast of black and white, the different lengths of the three tables, and the record disks that represent the lives/voices of the victims.

What is the medium (paint, metal, stone, photography, video, etc.)? How has the artist/sculptor used the “tools” of the artist? Describe the “elements”: color, value, line, texture, shape, form, space. Describe how these elements are organized in the composition: unity, contrast, repetition, balance, etc.

The medium incorporates a mixture of sculpture, and audio-usage. When you first enter the exhibit, there is a large piece of two human bodies that are posted onto the wall. On the bodies of these people, there are bullet holes to represent the places where the victims were shot at. The sculptures aspect includes the tables and the record standings in the room. These sculptures are representative and symbolic. The audio-usage, an interactive sound installation, is contained in the record disks, where the stories of the individuals and the police brutality that they faced could be heard. The artist used the “tools” by providing not only a visual display, but audio displays to show further emotion and realism of events. The spacing, size and placements of all aspects of the art were carefully utilized to convey the messages.

The “elements” include:

-  Colors: White and black

-  Value: The brightness of the color white and the darkness of the color black. They contrasted drastically against each other.

-  Lines: The lines can be found on the floor, from the straight lines connecting the room sections to each other, and the lines that went around on the top of the record disks.

-  Texture: Textures were mostly smooth, such as the tables and the record disk tops.

-  Shape: The shape of the art came differently, such as in the record disks and tables.

-  Form: Two forms taking place include the audio form and the visual form.

-  Space: The different parts of the room were spaced mainly into three sections. One section held the drawing of the bullet holes, the other section had the interactive sound systems, and the third section had the file folders and tables. The record stands were all evenly spaced from one another.

The elements organized in the composition include:

-  Unity: Unity existed in the drawing with the bullet holes and the collection of record stands clustered evenly together.

-  Contrast: The contrast was strong, especially between the colors of black and white.

-  Repetition: The record stands were repeated aligned in rows.

-  Balance: There was not much balance, due to the white color overwhelming the black color.

-  Emphasis: There was an emphasis of the white color inside the room, and different emphasis of the lengths of the tables.

-  Pattern: There weren’t much strong patterns.

-  Movement/Rhythm: The movement/rhythm can be found at the record disks, which moved in order to deliver the sounds from the audio files.

-  Proportion/Scale: The tables were scaled at different lengths, and proportioned to display the symbolism.

What does it mean (interpretation)?

All art is communication, a “conversation” between the artist and the viewer. What is the title of the work? Does this help explain the “artist intent”?

The title of the work is, “American Monument.” The helps the explain the artist intent by raising the underlying issues within America, such as heavy police brutality and the lack of change for the better in the relationship between African- Americans and white police. The title is a little vague, however, and can be reworded to be stronger in delivering the message.

What is the date of the work and what does this tell you about the historical and/or cultural context of the work? The date of the work is 2019, and the exhibit is open October 05, 2019 to April 04, 2020. The date tells the audience that the issues addressed in the art are issues that have been repeated and active within current and past history. History and culture have not changed entirely as anew, and there are things that need to be changed, made aware, and prompted to upgrade for the better.

What does the work mean to you? What is your emotional and intellectual response to the work (there are no wrong answers)? If you had choices why did you select this work?

The work opened my eyes of the emotional aspect of the issues. I was moved by the reality of the situations and the injustice that the individuals faced in their helplessness. The symbolisms throughout the exhibit struck my interest, and I was more inclined to listen to the stories that the records held. My intellectual response to the work is that police brutality is a horrible culture that is still alive today. Selecting this work as a class made me realize how limited and ignorant I am to events that happen all over the world. Living in oblivion and refusing to acknowledge that our world is broken and hurting is selfish and careless of me.

Is it any good (judging)? How do you know? Explain:

The monument was very effective in delivering the aim of its message. Its interacting sound aspect and the representative sculptures were captivating and active in informing the audience of the serious matter at hand. I thought that the monument fulfilled its purpose of exhibiting the pain of police brutality, and the fact that we can’t treat these things without reality.

What else do you want to know about this work of art, what do you wonder?

One thing I wonder about the art was how the artist was prompted to think of all the symbolism and representative ideas. I also wonder how long it took for the artist to gather copies of the documents and audio files and compile them together.

[jaws-min]

At the Beall Center, I decided to pick the work of Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau called Life Writer (2006). The piece consists of a typewriter and a projector that shines on the paper of the typewriter. There is a computer that generates certain creatures based on what keys you press, and the computer uses that information to project the creatures onto the page. The creatures can grow and reproduce once they “eat” with the food one types up for them. The typewriter is sitting on a wooden desk accompanied by a wooden chair with a cushion on it which sets the “stage” for the typewriter by giving it importance as it is in the center of the desk.

This piece is asymmetrical because the creatures are randomly crawling about so there is no fixed amount nor same figures on both sides if the piece were to but cut in half. Also, the letters on the typewriter are individually different so if the “A” key is on the left side, there will not be an “A” key on the right. Regarding value, the table and chair are a wooden brown and the typewriter is black so there is a mix of dark colors, however, the brightest thing from the piece would be the paper because the light from the projector reflects on it which is what makes if stand out so you can see the black creatures clearly. The texture of the piece is three-dimensional as it is physical items that people can hold and sit on, however the creatures can’t be touched but they can move. The main lines that I see are the outlines of the creatures which are not straight lines, since the creatures are filled with the black color the creature is contoured showing where it starts and ends. The creatures would be considered organic shapes as they don’t have a solid structure because each one looks different and represent nature in some form.

Movement and rhythm really came to life here as I could not take my eyes off the insects as they moved randomly but there was a certain rhythm as each time the insects were born or fed, they went to the bottom of the page. The space the piece created for me was more of a feeling of wonder and fantasy yet with structure. It made me feel like I stepped back in time when typewriters were used and how anything could be created with the words one typed to evoke curiosity. In order for this to create this feeling in me meant that the art was unified and everything fit together because the pieces of the chair, desk, and typewriter complement each other, it’s just the creatures that caught me off guard but it makes sense as well as your words come time life, literally. I believe the artists main emphasis was on the paper of the typewriter because the creatures would appear once they were created and the interactions among them were interesting to watch.

I enjoyed this art piece because it was interactive, and it reminded me of biology. It also took a literal turn into how our words come to life and how actions speak louder than words so seeing the creatures grow I think represented how our way of thinking and speaking changes as we age. In addition, we should not lose touch with nature as even the little things can teach us lessons. Creating life and watching it flourish is something beautiful that we take for granted so I think this piece keeps you grounded in the sense that what you say or do does have outcomes. It is good to have us think this because sometimes we just need a reminder to be careful with what we exert out into the world.

What I wonder about this work is where the inspiration came from and why insects rather than flowers or people? What were the artists trying to truly say with these odd creatures?

[projectrefinedlife]

Family Day at the Beall

Family Day at the Beall

Image courtesy of arts.uci.edu It’s time for Family Day at the Beall. Children and families of all ages are invited to enjoy free, hands-on art and science activities at UC Irvine’s Family Day at the Beall. Through Family Day activities, the Beall Center seeks to stir the imagination and motivate young people to delve into the basics of science, computer programming, and visual literacy—skills…