On our most recent art trip, we visited the gallery of Rudy Shepherd, We Are All Trayvon Martin. His art focused on current race relations in America, mostly on the injustice done to refugees and African American youths.
This artist is currently my favorite contemporary artist. He calls himself GoldenGravel and focuses on the fantastic world of kings, queens, and myth. His art seems most similar to Art Nouveau and characters from D. Gray Man.
This animation is a spin-off of the Ayakashi animation series, focusing on the life of one supernatural medicine seller. The plot is good but the art is the most breathtaking thing in this animation. Every screenshot is worthy of framing and transforms traditional Ukiyo-e style into contemporary times. The colors are flat, various, and vibrant, adding a unique sense of unity to every scene.
The two articles, “Art in Public” and “Public Art is Powerful”, both address the ideas of the significance and the necessity or unnecessary of public art.
I believe the stronger article was “Art in Public” in that it addressed many sides of the issue relating to the building of public art in public space and the effect, negative or positive, that it has upon a specific community. Some important ideas on the commissioning of monuments were brought up in this article and the fact that the decision making process is usually “opaque”. Because there are so many variations of art and so many preferences among citizens, public art must be agreed upon by the majority of a community before it is established. Because it is in the public view and art is meant to elicit an emotion from the audience, if an artwork that is hated by the majority opt the citizens are erected, I believe the citizens would associate the location with a negative emotion due to the artwork. One responder made a moot point essentially on the significance of temporary art, stating, “If you don’t like it, it will be gone soon enough.” This comment disregards the whole argument on the lasting impact that public art is supposed to have upon the community. And just because temporary public art will be taken down “soon enough”, it does not address the problems that public art has pertaining to noise pollution from its construction and the interference that it may have on daily commute. Some key ideas that I strongly agreed with from this article are listed below. “I would argue that public art should remain private when it interferes with the citizens’ rights to enjoy public spaces as they are…Why can’t parks simply rely on the natural art they already possess in the form of grass, trees, flowers, rocks, and assorted wildlife?” - Brian Camp “Your “beauty” may very well be my “disgusting,”…Please let me enjoy a park as a park and not a vehicle for promoting someone else’s version of beauty.” -Richard M. Frauenglass The Richard Cooke’s argument in the second article can be made useless from the responses in the first article and was not that good to start with. As an artist, I feel like I should agree with those who fight for public art. However, because this kind of art is specifically for the public, I believe it should be in line with at least the majority of the citizens’ wishes. Imposing my idea of beauty and art upon a community and disrupting their lives and allocating their money for my projects seems like a rather self-centered thing to do. Social practice art has been controversial since the trend was first introduced. This article discusses the impact and development of social practice and how the public and art community has reacted to these social practice endeavors.
"...[Mel Chin] thinks that the popularity of social practice among today’s artists reflects a pendulum swing away from the art market. “It’s a reaction against the excesses of individualism..." I have a problem with this quote in that Mel Chin seems to abhor individualism. He seems to imply that creating art for the purpose of satisfying the artist and only the artist is somehow a selfish idea. I believe that he is implying that art should always be based on community. I strongly disagree with this in that I believe art can be anything and should not be bound by any hidden moral obligation to change the world and community for the better. Why can't art just be a tool for self expression? Why can't art just be for the individual? At what extent is individualism considered excessive? What is his definition of individualism? I believe his idea is ridiculous. I believe some artists have the tendency to manipulate obscure and confusing concepts to over-inflate the value of their art. I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea of this social practice being "art". I know that many believe that intent is the only thing that makes any creation art, but I believe that art can be defined as art by each individual viewer. Art should be judged as art by the eyes of the beholder and not by this forceful idea that tries to persuade many individuals that this social practice is indeed art. For me, there is a thin line between what is art and what is not, and social practice is on the border. There are some works that are considered social practice art that I would also consider art, but some others I would consider as just another way to garner attention to a specific cause by calling it art and bringing it controversy, which I don't think is necessarily bad but actually well thought out. I love the profound impact that social practice art is making but I cannot agree that these works are specifically art. They are definitely creative, innovative, and new, but I believe that these are sometimes just fun community events. I visited the Walters Art Museum with my sister earlier in December. There was not many art pieces that I specifically wanted to visit or had a particular interest in initially but the Nepali and Tibetan art of deities were striking and were my favorite in the museum. I love the flat and vivid colors of the paintings and the expressions of the many deities that were showcased in this particular exhibit. It was strangely similar to the ukiyo-e style in which uniform lines and flat colors were used which I found particularly interesting.
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AuthorMaggie L. Walker Governor's School Student in Art IV. Archives
May 2017
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