Schoolyard Art: Playing Fair Without the Referee Podcast Response, Nancy

In the podcast art critique Dave Hickey spoke about art and money. The overall message Dave Hickey is saying is that art has become a business rather than subject of study and appreciation. Years ago, art was used as expression of oneself or something, creativity, and interpretation. These aspects may still apply to art today but the fact that money has become an important factor. Dave Hickey uses the terms right and wrong to describe the price points in art. If an artwork is right, it has a good economic value.
When I think of art today I see either two things: art created by someone who has talent and loves art and the fancy art galleries in the cities. I think the culture of today's world has a lot to do with this. We live in a technological society and our world seems to be facing more problems than every today. People believe we can solve problems by technology, research, and policy-making. The sense of creativity for many people seems to have been "lost." I believe the loss in creativity is one reason why art has become an economic factor. Art is almost become just aesthetic rather than expression and interpretation of oneself and society. The better the look of the art or popularity the greater the economic value it will have. I also feel that a lot of society revolves around the amount of wealth one has which has made art an economic importance. People believe if they make the "right" art they can make a good economic living. However, I believe this is not only happening with not just art but other areas of study as well.
I believe that if society looks at art for its appreciation and interpretation rather than just the aesthetic aspect, the economic importance will not be a huge issue. Sometimes I feel we need art to make us think and realize issues and a break from just using technology, research, and policy. It is funny how looking at something as simple as a piece of artwork or reading a poem can give a lot of sense into oneself.

Appropriation Art. Hillary

Today we talked about appropriation art. We learned that appropriation art is when an artists adopts, borrows, or reuses a pervious image or work of art from a different artist. It is also described as a collage or a deliberate reworking of other peoples works. Appropriate art is a source of a lot of legal turmoil concerning copy write issues. However it is mainly the companies and corporations that wish to sue, not the original artists. For the most part art has a community based value and encourages others to use original ideas and make it their own. When we discussed this art movement I was reminded of two different DJ's that compile numerous different parts of previously made songs to make one new long song. One of these musicians is named Gregg Gillis, also known as Girl Talk. He produces mashup-style remixes, in which he uses often a dozen or more unauthorized samples from different songs to create a new song. The New York Times Magazine has called his music "a lawsuit waiting to happen," a criticism that Gillis has attributed to mainstream media that want "to create controversy where it doesn't really exist," citing fair use as a legal backbone for his sampling practices. Another artist is Milkman. "'Milkman'" is the stage alias of hip-hop/dance/rock mashup producer Gregg Luskin. He began his mashup career while a computer student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He began his live DJ career at house parties. From there he has moved onto opening for such acts as Lil' Jon and Kid Cudi. He refuses to reveal the origins of his stage alias "'Milkman'" but has alluded that it is derived from the actual Milkmen whom used to bring that "wholesome goodness" right to your doorstep, something he attempts to accomplish with his music. However, due to the possible legal problems, Girl Talk and Milkman are not available on itunes.

http://www.milkmanmusic.net/fr_index.cfm

Do re mi. Hillary

Today we learned about performance artists that utilize the audience as apart of their work. When we watched a clip of artists performing various social experiments in the Tate Modern Museum I remembered a youtube video I saw of people dancing in a train station. After researching this video I found numerous other groups who choreograph social experiments. Some of these groups perform dances in public areas and some perform tasks that are against the social norm seeking a reaction from the public. Here are some videos that portray their actions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdeBp8J0rqs

House 1, Nancy

This summer I interned in Washington, D.C. In Washington, D.C. there is a outdoor Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art. Out of all the various artworks this one captured my attention the most. When you look at the house you think it's in 3D, but it actually one dimension. This house was created by artist Roy Lichtenstein and it is known as "House 1." As attractive this so called "3D house" is, I am not sure how to interpret it. After doing some research on the house and how it was done, I finally came up with an interpretation. As I said when a person looks at this house from a picture or distance they believe it is 3D, however as you look closer you realize it isn't. Sometimes in life people or situations seem to be in one view in generality but when we look closer, study, get to know, and learn the situation it may not be what we thought it was. I believe "House 1" represents this idea in some way by tricking the mind and telling the message that there are different ways to see things.

Performance Art. Hillary

This week we learned about the art movement called performance art. We saw examples from Matthew Barney and Marina Abramovic. We learned that performance art is when the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art traditionally involves the artist and other actors or electronics to produce art that is not meant to be sold, but rather art that focuses on the reaction and experience of the audience. After understanding this definition of performance art I thought of the music video for the group named OK go. Their song, This Too Shall Pass, is set to a very in depth domino effect of various objects. There is a live audience watching the "machine" unfold, as well as the band taking part within the performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

Decorative Desserts, Nancy

When I saw the cakes my friend made two things came to my mind: 1) She should be on the show Ace of Cakes 2) Next time I have a party I want her to make my cake. To me these cakes look absolutely amazing and the way she makes these theme cakes and baked goods is an art. In fact, the cakes are so awesome looking that I don't even want to eat them (joke). The more I saw these cakes, a thought came to my mind. After traveling to several different countries one thing that I've learned is that Americans love and make some of the best foods and that we can use foods to make beautiful and hardworking creations, such as these cakes. It amazes me that we can take something as simple as baking and make it into a form of art.
Another factor I had in mind was that these decorative cakes and cupcakes remind me of Jeff Koons' artwork. His artwork was very contempory and many of his works are a model of pop culture items and ideas. Many of my friends decorative desserts resemble pop culture items or ideas, such as the NY Mets cake or the Las Vegas theme birthday cake.

Installation Art. Hillary

This week we learned about installation art. We learned that installation art focuses on how the art work affects the space of the gallery. We learned that this particular type of art dominates the provided space, examples include clutter splattered everywhere, or a strategically placed interior design, or a big architectural design. The important foundamental feature of installation art is that it must have a dynamic relationship with the space and it must confront the viewer; it must evoke as many senses as possible and aim to take over the body as well as the mind. We saw examples from the Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern in the Turbine Hall, as well the Museum of Modern Art. The installation piece that sparked my attention most was the exhibit at the Tate Modern apart of the Unilever Series by Miroslaw Balka. He built a large, dark, black box in the middle of Turbine Hall. I was initially attracted to this piece because it reminded of a exhibit I went to with my Mom and Aunt in NYC when I was younger. We waited in line for hours to climb into a small hole in the middle of the wall. It was a pitch black tunnel that wove around and had subtle inclines and declines. The material of the tunnel also changed throughout course; it really made you rely on all your senses other than vision to find navigate your way through the tunnel. After doing some more research about Miroslaw Balka I learned that his black box is a symbolic structure of the Holocaust. It is similar to how many polish jews were told to enter a dark black room which they were told to be showers but were really gas chambers. This black box is meant to test how well you trust a strange unknown place as well as playing with your senses of vision by creating a big contrast from light to dark, as well as the sense of sound by hearing many people before you stomp through the steel architecture, as well as evoking emotions of excitement and fear.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilevermiroslawbalka/default.shtm

Good Excuse. Hillary

This week we discussed how the advent of technology has changed the entire evolution of the world, specifically concerning how it has affected the world of art. We learned that mass media influences art as well as altering how we view images. We mentioned the work of Andy Warhol and how his work represents the "machine domination" that evolved in the 1960's. His work represented the boom of technology and how the machine began to dehumanized their generation. I was immediately reminded of a song titled Good Excuse by John Butler Trio. The lyrics explain the importance of "taking a step outside and see what's shakin' in the real world." The music video for this particular song follows the evolution of a robot living in a industrial dominated world to a more humanistic being surrounded by nature and trees. Some of the lyrics include:

Oh won’t you just wake up
feel the humming
This cruel world is killing you
better start running
Catch up with your life, catch on up
Before the whole thing is through

Boy won’t you turn your game boy of

Go take a step outside and see what's shakin' in the real world

This song represents how important it is to embrace technology but not let it dominant our lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=DL6VeE0Iyho&feature=related