Ryan McGinness response

Most interesting quote:
"Why should I make shoes? Well I wear shoes so thats okay."
Ryan McGinness seemed to take his art seriously but not so seriously. His works are lighthearted and lightly conceptual. He wants to have fun with his work. His work is very visually pleasing and intricate. He is very much interested in design and sketching. At first glance the simplicity of the lines and figures made looks simple but then seeing the process and realizing that you could never make a symbol that perfectly represents something else, you understand the complexity of the whole work. That is very satisfying. McGinness's approach to art making and viewing changed for peice to piece but each starts out the same: with the sketch. He also said that he is not interested in making the viewer feel dumb.
Three words:
design, pop, art history
Most interesting work:
The work he did for VMFA was the most interesting to me. Its interesting to see which artworks he picked. They weren't really the most important or coveted they were just the ones he picked. Then it was great seeing the sketching process on how they became symbols. I found it interesting how he thought about art history. Its interesting to think about how art history isn't linear and that it is always building on its self. Working with and for a muesum to create this work is what brings it all together.
Answer to questions:
After moving to New York, do you find importance in your hometown of VA beach? (Not to offend) but do you find inspiration from coming back to Virginia specifically Virginia Beach?He said that he was interseted in how design communicated ideas simplicitcally. Even tough he was unaware of making a life in the art world based off of design he was inspired to create designs when he was in high school.

Your work for the VMFA is slightly humorous and very intelligent. A lot of your work is funny and slightly serious to me. How do you mix lofty, artistic ideas and still make them seem lighthearted, airy and often funny?
Ryan made it seem like he was never very serious. And now he is working on trying to gain more serious projects like the VMFA one. He said that you should only be and artist if you simply cannot deny being anything else. If you have to question being an artist then you just shouldn't become one. I think that since he has to be an artist he is going to make work that is interesting and kind of funny to him. Like his new women series that go up in strip clubs. funny times.

I also found it interesting that he admitted to doing screen printing "wrong". Or at least not how you are taught to do it. Its always refreshing that people admit to this.

idea Post #7: Silhouettes

Silhouettes

Etomology from Oxford English Dictionary:

Etymology: < the name of Étienne de Silhouette (1709–67), a French author and politician.

According to the usual account, which is that given by Mercier Tableau de Paris 147, the name was intended to ridicule the petty economies introduced by Silhouette while holding the office of Controller-general in 1759, but Hatzfeld & Darmesteter take it to refer to his brief tenure of that office. Littré, however, also quotes a statement that Silhouette himself made outline portraits with which he decorated the walls of his château at Bry-sur-Marne.

Silhouettes were originally a cheap way of creating a likeness of someone.

"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."

"I couldn’t really name these characters or caricatures in the way that the wall texts at the museum ... I think these figures are phantom-like. They’re fantasies. They don’t represent anything real. It’s just the end result of so many fabrications of a fabricated identity."

-Kara Walker

"Art21 . Kara Walker . Interview & Videos | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/walker/clip2.html.

this Interview is about how Kara Walker uses silhouettes and her adaptation of Gone With The Wind. Kara Walker is a contemporary artist today that uses silhouettes in her art work. She talks about race and slavery and the history of African Americans. Her silhouettes are placed directly on the wall and in some works she projects color lights on the the wall as well. This way as viewers are looking at the characters they are also creating their own silhouettes on to them. Walker looks to historical paintings as a hidden inspiration. She didn't realize how much she related to them until she started making work with silhouettes. She understands the idea of creating history through a painting is like setting a stage with the important people of the time. Walker in her own way is telling a different version of history with her characters, set out on a wall that acts as a stage. This creating of characters is quite interesting to me. I do not wish to rewrite a history as grand as America's but just telling my own story with characters I create. I believe I've been doing that all along with the cutouts I've made. Now using the silhouette is creating a whole different cast of characters among the ones I've already created. The history of the characters is growing and changing.

Second edition, 1989; online version March 2011. ; accessed 31 March 2011. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1910.

Ryan McGinness Question

After moving to New York, do you find importance in your hometown of VA beach? (Not to offend) but do you find inspiration from coming back to Virginia specifically Virginia Beach?

Your work for the VMFA is slightly humorous and very intelligent. A lot of your work is funny and slightly serious to me. How do you mix lofty, artistic ideas and still make them seem lighthearted, airy and often funny?

Kiyomi Iwata response

Kibiso Two, 2009, 10x17x13" Raw silk is dyed, woven and stiffened
Kiyomi Iwata

interesting quote/most interesting aspect:

"Essentially what I do in the studio is play!"

This was very refreshing to hear. I found Kiyomi Iwata's work interesting and engaging to look at. She herself was adorable. Her work wasn't overly conceptual. The materials were not overly worked. There is an intricate simplicity to everything about it. When asked why she made smaller pieces she responded easily, "I am the boss! I am the one who must create the work..." implying that her small stature makes it difficult to create much larger works. She then uses that to create concept. She likes the intimacy of her pieces. And the small pieces speak for the larger ones knowing that she had to make small trial sculptures first to then make them big.

For me it was just great to see interesting work that is slightly conceptual but mostly visual. I felt great hearing her speak about it very plainly about process and technique. It was a breath of fresh air with all of the conceptual artists coming to talk and being in senior portfolio where concept is the emphasis. She talked about how she has to work with gold when its colder and dryer because of the adhesive she uses to apply the gold compound to the metal. The adhesive will become too "wet" and allow the gold to oxidize when she adheres it in the summer. This working for the seasons is an old tradition in Japan. She said it feels poetic to make things seasonally, almost romantic. She did not choose to create work seasonally but since she did she related her work to ancient manufacturing and this rises the meaning of the original work. This concept was created post-creation which is something that few artists admit to.

Three words:

scale, recycle, tradition

Most compelling work:

For me the work with Kibiso is very interesting. Kibiso is the rejected part of the silk threads that are never made into kimonos. It is collected and usually just thrown out but Iwata uses it to great gorgeous sculptures. The work does not look like reclaimed trash (essentially) but a beautiful art piece. I think it speaks about her leaving Japan and moving to America. It is how she can recreate her own life in the West by reclaiming her culture in the East.

Kiyomi Iwata questions

Kiyomi Iwata

q: Do you find hidden meaning in using discarded thread from kimono makers? Does this correlate to how you moved from Japan to America?

q: Silk and metal are very different materials. However, you use them in similar ways to create vessels. What commonalities do you see in these two materials? Do they functions similarly to you?

Laurel Nakadate response

Laurel Nakadate

Interesting quote:

Well everything that Nakadate said during this lecture was very interesting to me.

"The world is great-trust it."

This is how she described her filmmaking process. She went to shoot Stay the Same Never Change in Kansas and for many of the shoots she hadn't seen the locations until that day of the shoot. She said that for so many of the location they were just perfect and worked out so well for her. This is inspiring to me to see what she created with little manipulation. I find in my practice I try to do the same thing. I try to let my life go with it. I try to let my work go with what is going on. Or at least I try. I try to be more free.

Three words:

Futile, travel, truth

Most interesting aspect of artist:

I think Nakadate's attitude was the most interesting part to me. She was humorous and serious at the same time. She had conviction with all of the work she made but also had conviction in the silliness of her work. She understood what had to be done. I love that she was interested in the fabrication of recording events. That life has importance after it has been recorded in some fashion. She recognizes the power of photographing or recording an event and the power lies within the camera. She is one of the first artist to say that she finds comfort in her camera and I actually understand. I have not really felt this comfort before. However, the way that she describes it makes more sense to me than it ever has to me.

Most Compelling work:

Once again I found all of her work special and great for one reason or the other. For her work that she did with strangers she describes the situation as: "Anyone that would spend time with anyone at anytime is beautiful." YES. Human connection is a beautiful thing. The fact that complete strangers want to collaborate with her and create art with her is so beautiful. That people everywhere are just looking for connection to others. Nakadate has found so many different ways to reach out to others in her work. It is touching and tender to me. I don't find her work exploitive because the people in her videos just represent what all humans want and live for.

I was able to talk to Nakadate for just a few minutes after her lecture and it was great. She is half Japanese too and she knew I was right from meeting me. Aw best birthday ever.

Birthday Artist Lecture: Laurel Nakadate

q1: How are you always the hunter? Are these men ever hunting you?

q2: How do you feel about using your own body and self in the crux of your work?And as you make feature films is it hard to hand over your ideas to others? Do you find it hard to video other girls creating the art you want?

"I’m interested in discomfort. Discomfort is a place where we’re still close enough to comfort to understand our unhappiness. Most of the things we desire are things that can destroy us."

I think I"m going to really enjoy this lecture.

edit: http://therumpus.net/2009/04/bravery-panties-and-devils-tower-the-rumpus-interview-with-laurel-nakadate/

this interview with Laurel Nakadate is just perfect. The way she describes happiness and discomfort and everything is exactly how I have lived my life since birth.

Artist Post #6: Eleanor Antin

"A Hot Afternoon" from "The Last Days of Pompeii"
2001
Chromogenic print, 46 5/8 x 58 5/8 inches
"The Artist’s Studio" from "The Last Days of Pompeii"
2001
Chromogenic print, 46 5/8 x 58 5/8 inches
"The Golden Death" from "The Last Days of Pompeii"
2001
Chromogenic print, 58 5/8 x 46 5/8 inches
From "Before the Revolution"
1979
Installation at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
Left: "Karsavina," masonite figure on wheeled base, 54 x 30 inches
Right: "Nijinsky," masonite figure on wheeled base, 58 x 15 inches

3 quotes:

"Essentially what I do is invent histories."

"You can find anything you want by going back to the past. You don’t even have to look. The metaphors start erupting all over the place. I've always loved the past because of the relations that I could make as an artist with the present. I don't remember this once it's finished, but I do all this enormous research. Once it's done, I kind of forget it and I don’t remember it too well. Otherwise I would be carrying a trash pail in my head... "

"...I have this love affair with the past. I wanted to be an ancient Greek. And one of the reasons I wanted to be an ancient Greek was because I would already be dead. And I was very aware of this. You know, even as a child you can be very logical. I was very aware that I would be dead. If I was dead I would no longer have to go through all of the disasters and difficulties of living."

-Eleanor Antin

Bio:

Eleanor Antin was born on Feb. 27, 1935 in the Bronx, New York City. Her parents immigrated from a tiny town in Poland. She went to the City College of New York to get a bachelors in creative writing and art. She moved to Southern California with her husband, David Antin, and taught at UC Irvine and UC San Diego.

Relation to my work:

Antin uses cutouts and created scenes in her work. She has a relation to the past that I also share. She talks about how when she was little she wanted to be an ancient Greek. She understood that if she were one then she would already be dead and this was the key. She wouldn't have to deal with the struggles of day to day life and she would have already lived an interesting life. I had the exact same sentiment when I was young. I thought I was going to die young but I also just wanted to have already lived a full interesting life. I never felt that this was a depressing or sad thing. I don't think that Antin's description of it is sad either. I think its something that just was. This is the first time I have ever identified with someone on this topic. It is also the way that Antin describes her relation to her work that deals with the past. Her reasons for creating the work is to understand her own obsession with the past. Its interesting that I am recalling the memories I had as a child and where my insecurities come from to create work. I hadn't considered the ideas of my interest in death as a child, or the understand of death, that was coming out in my work. Antin creates histories of important histories and I am recreating history of my own story.

Gallery

Website

interview

interview

Idea Post #5: vulnerablitliy

" And shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection. Is there something about me that, if other people know it or see it, that I won't be worthy of connection. The things I can tell you about it: it's universal; we all have it. The only people who don't experience shame have no capacity for human empathy or connection. No one wants to talk about it, and the less you talk about it the more you have it."
-Brene Brown
"[Whole-hearted people] fully embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. They didn't talk about vulnerability being comfortable, nor did they talk about it being excruciating -- as I had heard it earlier in the shame interviewing. They just talked about it being necessary. They talked about the willingness to say "I love you" first, the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees, the willingness to breathe through waiting for the doctor to call after your mammogram. They're willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out. They thought this was fundamental."
-Brene Brown
"Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility of a person, group, society or system to physical or emotional injury or attack. The term can also refer to a person who lets their guard down, leaving themselves open to censure or criticism."
- Wikipedia definition

anno bib:
Brown, Brene. "The Power of Vulnerability." Lecture. TED Talk. Houston. June 2010. TED Talks. TED Conferences, LLC, Dec. 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. ted.com.

Brene Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston at the Graduate College of Social Work. She has studied shame and courage and vulnerability for the past ten years. She shares some of her insight in this lecture. She shares about her own doubts and fears that came about as she was researching these topics. She had collected data from many people and came to realize that there were a certain group of people that have connections and happiness because they believe they are worthy of it. She calls these people "Whole-hearted" people. These people also have connection, compassion, and courage and ultimately vulnerability. The vulnerability is something the whole-hearted people see as beautiful and a necessity when feeling all of the other "C's" they feel. They put themselves as people out there. Vulnerability allows these whole-hearted people to live connected lives.

relation to my art:
This talk was a suggestion from a classmate after my group meeting. I really see how it works with how is see my art and myself. I'm not sure that shame is present in my work and I'm not sure I want it to be. For me however, I see a vulnerability in my work since I am making it about something that has such a heavy meaning in my own life. I think there is also a fragility in the cutouts I create which allows the viewer to see vulnerability. It is something that I hadn't really addressed outright before but I think it is holding the work together.


"Vulnerability." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulnerability.

Kathy Rose Questions/ response

What, if anything, do you fear when doing a performance?

Have you ever studied dance before?


Kathy Rose
Kathy Rose's lecture was more of a screening then a lecture. We watched all of the performances she'd ever done with film. And then the performances she did with veils and installation and finally all of the video art she created. She said she had points to cover that she had prepared but then just went into q&a part. I felt that I wanted to hear about her process and interests. She touched on ideas slightly but I felt there could have been more said.
best quote:
"I don't know anything about intent"
This summed up how I felt about her lecture. I enjoy work with intent. With a plan/vision that has been thought out before it was created. I think for her videos that she showed last were almost amateurish in the way they were created and then the way she talked about them. I wasn't clear if there was a purpose to the way that different cutouts were selected poorly and why they were floating about in her pieces. She then goes on to say there really isn't a reason made it hard to validate the credibility of her work.
3 words:
Butoh, choreographed, intense (she described her music for a piece as "in-your-face")

I did really enjoy her earlier works. Primitive Movers was incredible to me. The combination of performance and animation was compelling. I enjoyed how the hand drawn animation was interacting with the person that created them. Her movements were very rehearsed but seemed to be loose and interpretive which was impressive.
Rose's explanation of how she doesn't know anything about intent was also interesting to me. She said that she tells her students to let their unconscious do half the work. This is a way that I feel that I could never work. I enjoy the process and planning of image making. However, I think trying to create work in this manner could be helpful to me. Perhaps a sort of therapy from my artistic process.