galleries

I spent most of my time at the river north galleries. Two artists:
David Burdeny had long-distance photos of places on the water, all with an overcast sky. The result was typically a thin strip of shoreline across the middle of the photo with flat white on top and bottom. He picked some locations that fit this technique very well, like a small, isolated town in some place that looked like Greenland. Another was of Venice, but that one was just sort of advantageous of its architecture, like it was from a tourist's guidebook.
The artist that stood out the most to me was Robert Middaugh. He had two pieces near Audrey Niffenegger's work. He was a very old man sitting right by them. They were delicate wood constructions that hung on a wall, combining doll house-like compartments and diagrams of the phases of the moon and characters of an foreign alphabet I couldn't recognize. I looked him up on google, and he has good paintings, too.

Thus far I have really enjoyed Seven Days in the Art World. One reason being that Thornton discusses her use of Participant Observation as her research method, which reminds me of the ethnographies I read as an Anthropology student. However, this might be one of the most interesting ethnographies I have come across. The art world is more fascinating than I could have fathomed. I am just begging to discover the weight of all the players in the contemporary art world. not just the artists. I am so looking forward gaining insight into the various niches of the contemporary art world, and understanding it from all perspective. I thought Jeff Poe made a very intriguing observation of the art world: "The art world isn't about power but control. Power can be vulgar. Control is smarter, more pinpointed. It starts with the artists, because their work determines how things get played out, but they need an honest dialogue with a conspirator. Quite control--mediated by trust--is what the art world is really about". BAAM
-Emmaline

For the love of God

I am deeply moved by the work" for the love of God".To me, this 100 million dollars diamond skull shows the amazing and incredible combination of ancient meaning life's transience and promise of eternity. The name of this sculpture is inspired by Hirst's mother who once asked" For the love of God, what are you going to do next?" I wish someday I can see it face to face.

Candy

I was very interested in the piece "Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)" by Felix Gonzalez-Torres that we saw in Stone exhibition and then also in class on Friday. I found this piece to be interesting not only from a conceptual standpoint, but also it's construction and maintenance were interesting. Because people eat the candy the piece is every changing yet is meant to appear the somewhat the same. It was also interesting watching the public interact with this piece in the gallery. Most people were very unsure if they could actually take a piece, and many did not. I think even more fascinating was considering this piece of art outside of the gallery space. It is owned by the Stone family and I assume is normally placed somewhere in their house. But what does it mean to own a piece like this?

last class

I was surprised to hear at the lecture last Friday how little the class will have to do with history. It seems like the five-pointed star he introduced at the beginning of class will also serve as the structure of the course. I guess it's like American or World history, where the closer you get to the present, the more it becomes political science.
One thing I thought was interesting was how there hasn't been a strong leader in the visual arts since Warhol. I wonder if there will be thirty years from now.

Eyeball

After class on Friday I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up the books for class, and I noticed Tony Tasset's "Eye" right across the street. Because Prof. Yood talked out it in lecture, and because I'd never seen it before, I crossed the street to look at it. I witnessed a rally by the "End the Fed" folks. A man was standing right under the iris of "Eye" shouting into a bullhorn. It was a small rally (the only security they had was one bored bicycle cop), but I find it really interesting that "Eye" has become a landmark so quickly. I also find it fitting that the rally took place in the shadow of this particular sculpture because these people think they're seeing something that the rest of America is not.

I loved seeing that sculpture, the size of a small building, among the stone architecture and the rally-ers. The presence of the eye made the rally less serious and more surreal. I witnessed first-hand that sculpture's ability to affect its area.

-Jess

What's up

I hope everyone is having a fruitful Labor Day weekend. I agree with Geanna, Hendricks and Wiley definitely share a similar agenda. I like Hendricks better, his work seems less pretentious and more honest. Here are two kinda weird music videos I just watched that both include helpless Jim Hensonish puppets:

http://congratulations.whoismgmt.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO1y1wJduCo