Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
The Unphotographed Mysterious Painting
college night at the lacma was fun. i got to take lots of pictures. i felt bad for a bit afterwards because i realised i didnt take a picture of the artwork i liked the most because i spent the most time looking at it. it was in the surreal feminist art exhibit. it was abstract, and it had what i think was a pillar, no, a woman's body, presented in abstract shapes like triangles, squares, etc. each shape had tiny images in it, like an eye or a figure of a person. and that showed what the main woman was thinking or had inside her. i should have taken a picture. im going to try googleing it. wait.
i think it was to the right of Dorothea Tanning's First Peril.
to be continued.
i think it was to the right of Dorothea Tanning's First Peril.
to be continued.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Extra Credit Opportunity: MOCA Festival
 | Transmission LA: AV Club The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Downtown) Friday, April 20, 12-10pm Mike D of The Beastie Boys will curate this 17-day multi-disciplinary festival celebrating and presenting contemporary art, design, music, film, and food. Hosted by online interview magazine The Avant/Garde Diaries, Transmission LA: AV CLUB will feature work by artists including Peter Coffin, Benjamin Jones, Mike Mills, and Tom Sachs and food by Roy Choi. This free festival will also feature concerts, DJ sets, and a pop up restaurant. Through May 6, 2012. | ||
Extra Credit Opportunity: SMMOA Exhibition
 | Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe and Isa Melsheimer: Vermilion Sands and Other Stories from the Neon West Santa Monica Museum of Art (Santa Monica) 7-9pm Opening reception for two exhibitions. The first is a collection of new works by multimedia artist Mickalene Thomas. Origin of the Universe examines landscapes, interiors, and the female body through painting, photography, and installation. On view through August 19, 2012. Also opening at SMMoA is a collection of new works by artist Isa Melsheimer. This exhibit explores Hollywood's cinematic heyday and its motion picture icons, citing influences including David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. On view through July 7, 2012. |
LACMA trip review
Ellsworth Kelly
I saw shapes. I saw shapes in different bold colors. I saw shapes that sometimes curved, sometimes subtly ballooned in the middle. Sometimes they even lacked hue. Most of these shapes on carefully placed white canvases were very large, imposing on their white walls and on my eyes. I took steps forward and backwards, scaling the pieces. Looked closely at their textures. Then tried to see them as a whole. Saw tried and true combinations of orange and blue, dominant hue trickery, etc.
In all, the Ellsworth Kelly collection was unremarkable, though vibrant and large. I don't know what possessed the museum or anyone to have collected these beyond their aesthetic value (they are "pretty" as it were). So, attempting to understand this beyond "I get it. It's pretty," in an effort to avoid what Pen of "Pen and Teller" calls uninformed criticism ("you didn't touch it, so you can't critique it") I read through the various texts that accompanied these large, clean cut paintings (well most of them, besides the experimentations that he committed to.) After reading through the related pamphlet to the gallery, it all just seemed like one man's "restating" of his other work in other mediums (would have sort of liked to see that . . . at least photos) done in the incredibly hard medium of lithography that requires razor sharp precision. Richard H. Axsom says that Kelly has his "own distinctive voice."
This voice is not distinctive. At least from the collection I've seen, these feel too familiar, too much of "I've seen this before" if we're talking about a distinctive voice. They are, at best, abstract color studies exploded large. They are pretty, and I could understand some several reasons why an artist would be compelled to do these things (admittedly, such exercises, when I do them, are 'different' from the more concrete/representational illustration I expect myself to be capable of). They can make a room feel adorned, or at least "high class," but there seems to be nothing beyond the aesthetic value of these pieces. Maybe some observations on some subtle use of curves, or how Kelly played with dominance and careful composition beyond the bounds of the piece. They just seem . . . pretty. Bravo to his efforts to master lithography, with the clean lines he's been able to generate along with the subtle curves. Once again, applause for the effort, not the product. I wonder, sometimes, what plants or natural objects did he find to base his basic shapes on, besides the shadows objects produced.
The most interesting piece in the whole gallery happened to be his representations of the major Rivers of the world. It was interesting what a series of texture black lines on white canvas could simulate. But that was it. Just interesting.
Modern Living
Sparse but futuristic design. That's the best way to sum up the pieces of historical consumer design products on display. A clear example would be the trailer, which on the outside is literally a hollow sheet metal shell. Most of the art show was just displaying how consumers drove design, including the consumer's vision of what could/should be the design of their products. Modular homes, geometric/sharp furniture, overall simple design for everyday objects, Nothing elaborate, and heck, even forcing wood to look angular.
It was good visual reference for Jetsons' era art if I ever need to refer to it. Felt like this all needed to be in a history museum as opposed to an art museum, though.
There were some fascinating tiny metal "sculptures" near the white car in the back. They held my attention for some seconds. Gotta remember to perhaps collage designs like that when I need industrial "greeble" in future products.
I saw shapes. I saw shapes in different bold colors. I saw shapes that sometimes curved, sometimes subtly ballooned in the middle. Sometimes they even lacked hue. Most of these shapes on carefully placed white canvases were very large, imposing on their white walls and on my eyes. I took steps forward and backwards, scaling the pieces. Looked closely at their textures. Then tried to see them as a whole. Saw tried and true combinations of orange and blue, dominant hue trickery, etc.
In all, the Ellsworth Kelly collection was unremarkable, though vibrant and large. I don't know what possessed the museum or anyone to have collected these beyond their aesthetic value (they are "pretty" as it were). So, attempting to understand this beyond "I get it. It's pretty," in an effort to avoid what Pen of "Pen and Teller" calls uninformed criticism ("you didn't touch it, so you can't critique it") I read through the various texts that accompanied these large, clean cut paintings (well most of them, besides the experimentations that he committed to.) After reading through the related pamphlet to the gallery, it all just seemed like one man's "restating" of his other work in other mediums (would have sort of liked to see that . . . at least photos) done in the incredibly hard medium of lithography that requires razor sharp precision. Richard H. Axsom says that Kelly has his "own distinctive voice."
This voice is not distinctive. At least from the collection I've seen, these feel too familiar, too much of "I've seen this before" if we're talking about a distinctive voice. They are, at best, abstract color studies exploded large. They are pretty, and I could understand some several reasons why an artist would be compelled to do these things (admittedly, such exercises, when I do them, are 'different' from the more concrete/representational illustration I expect myself to be capable of). They can make a room feel adorned, or at least "high class," but there seems to be nothing beyond the aesthetic value of these pieces. Maybe some observations on some subtle use of curves, or how Kelly played with dominance and careful composition beyond the bounds of the piece. They just seem . . . pretty. Bravo to his efforts to master lithography, with the clean lines he's been able to generate along with the subtle curves. Once again, applause for the effort, not the product. I wonder, sometimes, what plants or natural objects did he find to base his basic shapes on, besides the shadows objects produced.
The most interesting piece in the whole gallery happened to be his representations of the major Rivers of the world. It was interesting what a series of texture black lines on white canvas could simulate. But that was it. Just interesting.
Modern Living
Sparse but futuristic design. That's the best way to sum up the pieces of historical consumer design products on display. A clear example would be the trailer, which on the outside is literally a hollow sheet metal shell. Most of the art show was just displaying how consumers drove design, including the consumer's vision of what could/should be the design of their products. Modular homes, geometric/sharp furniture, overall simple design for everyday objects, Nothing elaborate, and heck, even forcing wood to look angular.
It was good visual reference for Jetsons' era art if I ever need to refer to it. Felt like this all needed to be in a history museum as opposed to an art museum, though.
There were some fascinating tiny metal "sculptures" near the white car in the back. They held my attention for some seconds. Gotta remember to perhaps collage designs like that when I need industrial "greeble" in future products.
Night At the Museum
(I really couldn't resist the corny title.)
Last Thursday night, LACMA offered a college night event centered on its surrealist feminist exhibition. First off, let me talk about the atmosphere the and the experience. It was great being able to go with people my own age - it felt more familiar and relevant. We actually ended up waiting in line for food, along with hundreds of other college students from UCLA, USC, and other schools. I do wish they had a more efficient workflow that could accomodate more people at the museum. That made it difficult to get through all the content in a timely fashion.
Now, as for the art itself: the exhibition offered some treats you might not have expected from a free exhibit. What really caught my eye were the Frida Kahlo pieces. The signature style shined through the large self-portrait. What I didn't, at first, realize was her involvement in some very different pieces. We remember her most (and perhaps exclusively) for what she drew of herself, but she also ventured into less literal subjects. Even further, I hadn't realized the exhibit was related to feminism at all until someone pointed it out to me that night. You might have missed that theme given the diversity of works on display.
I was most drawn to the abstract pieces that seemed to depict barren natural landscapes. Some of the art was violent and heavy, while other pieces were subdued, freeflowing, and perhaps mindless. My favorite piece from the show was a darkly forbidding tower. It reminded me of Ganon's Tower from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a video game from several years ago. The different arts seem to have more in common than they do different.
Before we saw the main exhibit, our group decided to venture off to a side hall with a few abstract pieces. Someone later told me the video screen with hand movements demonstrated every possible gesture on can make with fingers (since a finger can either be raised or lowered, that makes 2^10, or 1024 combinations - yes, if you think about it, our hands use binary as well).
At some point in the future I would like to return to the museum and check out some of the other work. I really enjoyed the few harried minutes we were able to spend on the modern design exhibit that came after the feminist section. It featured edgy, modern designs that were much more appealing to me than classical art. While it was only my first time at LACMA, I had the chance to experience a valuable segment of what makes the museum so notable.
Casey Penk
Last Thursday night, LACMA offered a college night event centered on its surrealist feminist exhibition. First off, let me talk about the atmosphere the and the experience. It was great being able to go with people my own age - it felt more familiar and relevant. We actually ended up waiting in line for food, along with hundreds of other college students from UCLA, USC, and other schools. I do wish they had a more efficient workflow that could accomodate more people at the museum. That made it difficult to get through all the content in a timely fashion.
Now, as for the art itself: the exhibition offered some treats you might not have expected from a free exhibit. What really caught my eye were the Frida Kahlo pieces. The signature style shined through the large self-portrait. What I didn't, at first, realize was her involvement in some very different pieces. We remember her most (and perhaps exclusively) for what she drew of herself, but she also ventured into less literal subjects. Even further, I hadn't realized the exhibit was related to feminism at all until someone pointed it out to me that night. You might have missed that theme given the diversity of works on display.
I was most drawn to the abstract pieces that seemed to depict barren natural landscapes. Some of the art was violent and heavy, while other pieces were subdued, freeflowing, and perhaps mindless. My favorite piece from the show was a darkly forbidding tower. It reminded me of Ganon's Tower from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a video game from several years ago. The different arts seem to have more in common than they do different.
Before we saw the main exhibit, our group decided to venture off to a side hall with a few abstract pieces. Someone later told me the video screen with hand movements demonstrated every possible gesture on can make with fingers (since a finger can either be raised or lowered, that makes 2^10, or 1024 combinations - yes, if you think about it, our hands use binary as well).
At some point in the future I would like to return to the museum and check out some of the other work. I really enjoyed the few harried minutes we were able to spend on the modern design exhibit that came after the feminist section. It featured edgy, modern designs that were much more appealing to me than classical art. While it was only my first time at LACMA, I had the chance to experience a valuable segment of what makes the museum so notable.
Casey Penk
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
I Have No Shadow
Attending the LACMA College Night on Thursday, April 5, was not only my first time at College Night, but also my first time visiting the LACMA. Because I currently intern at the USC Fisher Museum of Art, I understand some of the behind-the-scenes action that goes on and every day I become more and more fascinated with it. When I finally arrived, I was in a state of shock of how majestic the buildings were outside and how beautifully curated the exhibitions were inside. One of the pieces that caught my attention was a painting by Kay Sage called, "I Have No Shadow." It was in the exhibition, "In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States."
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Far off in the image, there is a couple whose figures cast shadows. It is said that Sage saw herself not as one of the those figures, but as a part of the stone cliffs, "existing, but confined by [her] circumstances." The plaque says that "Sage devoted her adult life to others - living through the needs and demands of first her mother and then her husbands - she could claim she had no physical presence that would create a shadow." Although this piece is part of an exhibition that explores the thoughts and ideas of women surrealists, I realized that it also speaks to many other people besides women. Everyone has felt this way in some way or another. Because of our individual differences, many people feel that they are cast out for who they are, whether it's based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, or physical appearances. At some point, we have all wanted different circumstances that we knew we could never change.
Despite the gloomy mood of the image, I think it tells an incredibly powerful story that we can all relate to and learn from. It teaches us that everyone has their own personal struggles and that since we are aware of that, we should be slow to judge and quick to understand. We are all fighting the same battle against the negative things in our lives; how much easier would it be if we could simply fight together?
Far off in the image, there is a couple whose figures cast shadows. It is said that Sage saw herself not as one of the those figures, but as a part of the stone cliffs, "existing, but confined by [her] circumstances." The plaque says that "Sage devoted her adult life to others - living through the needs and demands of first her mother and then her husbands - she could claim she had no physical presence that would create a shadow." Although this piece is part of an exhibition that explores the thoughts and ideas of women surrealists, I realized that it also speaks to many other people besides women. Everyone has felt this way in some way or another. Because of our individual differences, many people feel that they are cast out for who they are, whether it's based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, or physical appearances. At some point, we have all wanted different circumstances that we knew we could never change.
Despite the gloomy mood of the image, I think it tells an incredibly powerful story that we can all relate to and learn from. It teaches us that everyone has their own personal struggles and that since we are aware of that, we should be slow to judge and quick to understand. We are all fighting the same battle against the negative things in our lives; how much easier would it be if we could simply fight together?
LACMA College Night- Surrealists, sculpture, mashed potato bar oh my!
The LACMA College Night was perhaps too much of a good thing. For one, the museum had an impressive line-up of exhibits, from California Design to Surrealists to sculptures to a mashed potato bar in the main atrium, and secondly, all of the aforementioned things were free. The catch: it's only for two hours, and then the security would frisk, or belligerently push as you will soon read, all the visitors out the door. Given the circumstances, I wasn't able to take as long as I wanted to to look at the artworks, but there were several that certainly caught my eye and I would definitely be revisiting. One of them was Chris Burden's Metropolis II, a massive model city with at least a hundred cars running on race tracks up and down and around the city. I especially liked this piece because it evoked in me a sense of nostalgia for the past when my siblings and I would spend hours using building blocks and plastic race tracks to build our own metropolis, and how Burden's piece was a manifestation of our wildest childhood dreams. It's like when people build those enormous and intricate sand castles- it's the most idealized version of a childhood ideal. It just makes you happy looking at hundreds the toy cars zipping along the tracks and swooping around 8 foot buildings. I certainly enjoyed it, and it also made me want to do sculptures like this, in that it's just something fun and amazing at the same time and resonates with anyone who was ever a kid before. In the California Design section I was really drawn to these architectural, colorful gift boxes, mostly because they seemed like they could stand alone as works of art and yet they're these mass-produced collectables meant for extremely corporate ends. I thought it was an ingenious business strategy and perhaps a landmark in packaging design. As for the Surrealist exhibit, I was in awe at how many Frida Kahlo's they had, but I was drawn especially to the works of Remedios Varo which contained many fantasy elements which too reminded me of childhood. Her use of texture was especially deliberate and impressive, and her images haunting and color schemes subtle and beautiful. I really wanted to look at her paintings some more but by then the security guards were yelling for everyone to get out. One especially snubbed visitor decided to pick a fight with the security guards which led to some minor physical injuries. Besides the abrupt ending, I had very enjoyable time and would definitely be going back to get a closer look.
Cai-Guo Qiang
Being that there are few prominent Chinese contemporary artists, my dad informed me a few weeks ago Cai-Guo Qiang was coming to town to exhibit at the MOCA and I was delighted to see that he paying a personal visit to USC while he was in Los Angeles. His work is driven by Chinese culture, from mythology to materials, Qiang's work is greatly inspired by his heritage, though it seems more accurate to say his work is inspired by his surroundings, as he tailors all his pieces to the location he is in, often utilizing locally significant materials in his work. For instance, for a gallery showing for his gunpowder artwork in Mexico City, instead of sticking to water for the reflecting pool beneath the gunpowder work he fills the lake with mezcal, an alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant native to Mexico, giving the work a sense of familiarity for the viewers and an unexpected cultural twist to his work. Qiang joked that after preparing the installation he felt intoxicated from the fumes, and that some visitors even stole a couple drinks from the mezcal lake– revealing how a simple change of materials could greatly alter the work and bring new life and commentary to a piece. I personally really liked his gunpowder artwork- not only is it absolutely stunning, I just really like the idea of creating such beauty and serenity out of such destructive, volatile materials, and how the gunpowder is closely controlled but is at the same time wild and out of control as there's no telling what kind of design it would make in the end, or if it would just blow up in your face. The symbolic significance of gunpowder to Chinese culture and the sheer violent connotations that go along with gunpowder, combined with such wonderful imagery it is able to create– I just love it.
His other sculptures with animals and cars and boats were amazing as well, not to mention his fireworks shows. As the lecture progressed it seemed like Qiang was just an oversized kid playing around with whatever he liked and never ceasing to have a wonderment for the world around him. He described the fireworks in the sky like a child's watercolor paintings and maintained that he loves what he does, and will only work in conditions that allowed play and experimentation. This inspired me a great deal, and although I had a steady course plan for painting and drawing as my emphases, I decided I really wanted to play with sculpture some more next year. Thus I enrolled in intermediate sculpture the day after attending the lecture, somewhat hesitantly, but then I remembered what Qiang told me when I asked him a question after his lecture. "Just do whatever you love to do," he told me simply, after I blathered on about the great uncertainties of my future as an artist. Nothing could be closer to the truth.
His other sculptures with animals and cars and boats were amazing as well, not to mention his fireworks shows. As the lecture progressed it seemed like Qiang was just an oversized kid playing around with whatever he liked and never ceasing to have a wonderment for the world around him. He described the fireworks in the sky like a child's watercolor paintings and maintained that he loves what he does, and will only work in conditions that allowed play and experimentation. This inspired me a great deal, and although I had a steady course plan for painting and drawing as my emphases, I decided I really wanted to play with sculpture some more next year. Thus I enrolled in intermediate sculpture the day after attending the lecture, somewhat hesitantly, but then I remembered what Qiang told me when I asked him a question after his lecture. "Just do whatever you love to do," he told me simply, after I blathered on about the great uncertainties of my future as an artist. Nothing could be closer to the truth.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
An Evening with Cai Guo-Qiang
I attended an evening with Cai
Guo-Qiang on April 3. I was so fascinated by his presentation. The auditorium
was packed with people listening to Guo-Qiang through the translator. He showed
his works through a Powerpoint in pictures. Guo-Qiang stressed that he adapts
certain characteristics that continue through many different pieces of his
work. For example, arrows are involved in most of his large scale masterpieces.
He associates his art with old ancient stories. He told a story titled
“Borrowing Your Enemy’s Arrows” This story involved three kingdoms in Asia,
during battle China sent an empty boat first so the opposing kingdom used its
strongest, deadliest weapons to shoot down the boat. In this sense the boat
looks injured but Guo-Qiang says “it
actually won something.” There is also a small China flag in the back that you
can see in the picture to show the pride of the country. Guo-Qiang often uses
boats in his work because he grew up in a port city. He refers to himself as a
boat as he travels the world.
He
creates huge gallery areas. In one he covered with mosquito net and put a hot
tub in the middle for people to look at the sculptures. He said at first people
were hesitant to get in the hot tub but when he told visitors that he put
medicine in the hot tub that would improve one’s health and make one more
beautiful, people began to get into the hot tub more.
Another
large scale project that he explored was an explosion project where he employed
German and Japanese scientists to use gunpowder. From the explosion, he created
many different drawing of gunpowder designs. Another interactive gallery that
he had was his own gallery. He lived and slept in the gallery he put his ideas
on the wall and let visitors come in and put in their input.
I
was very impressed by the amount of thought that was put into each one of his
masterpieces. Every gallery had a story behind it and included some Asian
culture in its background. This evening was inspirational and I am really happy
I was able to attend it.
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