The Art of Pilgrimage

In the reading, the discussion is of how much art has changed. And clearly, just comparing the art of just 20 years ago, it is very different. Especially in the system of America, art is not as appreciated as it was, or is, in other countries. Public schools are even trying to get rid of art programs in order to save money for their sports teams or remodeling their rooms and buildings. And even if the schools have their own programs, the students are encouraged to copy the skills or subject matter of past art pieces, which in my opinion limits their creativity. This just creates clones of past pieces, which is unfortunately in great demand. I think that observing art pieces of the past is great to get ideas and pick small ideas and techniques from them to make it your own work of creativity, but remaking the whole painting or sculpture because the masses demand them is not art. Pilgrimage in art is dying with this demand. If schools and students try to encourage the creativity it takes to make a piece of art, pilgrimage will be salvaged. It would be better to create new things and inspire other people of trying new things than just creating the same master paintings over and over again. Of course, I do not know how the art systems in schools are outside of the US, but I feel like the art system here is lacking. But that's only for the schools, I do see artists trying to break away from the traditional painting and sculpting. If public schools were to show of the less graphic art works, then it would release the students from being exposed to the same images and create things they think.

Project 2

Project 1

CAM Visit

So the other day, the class took a trip to the Contemporary Art Museum to check out the MFA exhibit, Rouse. I really enjoyed the exhibit! The art work was fantastic and entertaining. Perhaps it was the amount of humor that went into some of the work and the craftsmanship it took to create such precise work like that. I must say first, my favorite piece was Andrew Nigon’s Immaculate in Deed. His short biography in the show booklet even corresponded with the piece, and the irony of the title was spectacular. I commend Nigon’s approach and execution to the piece. Carman Tiffany’s There Really Is People Like This, That Really Don’t Know What the Fuck it’s About was a video loop shown in the connecting hallway. This video was several things. For one, it was funny in essence; however, the meaning was quite depressing. If you really look into the videos and title, it shows how people are mindlessly entertained by the simplest and more ridiculous things. And the video has things that everyone could relate to. It’s kind of like a reality check. I also enjoyed Victoria Lee Skelly and Jules Maisonet’s piece. The amount of rejections and troubles someone has to go through just to get one little thing done is surprising. Ariel Baron-Robbins’ paintings were interesting to look at but the subject matter was unclear to me; great skill but no meaning. Toni Danette Billick’s works were very entertaining. She used men and women dressed in drag to represent women selling their bodies. It was deep and entertaining at the same time. I loved all of the artists’ work and I hope they have a long, well-deserved future in art.

Beth Fawkes Tobin lecture

Beth Fawkes Tobin held a lecture at the Marshall Center on March 24th about taxidermy as a form of art. I came into the lecture prepared to feel squeamish and disgusted by the fact that dead animals were used as art. However, Tobin left the gross parts out, for the most part. She did include a section where she read a do it yourself book on how to properly prepare and make taxidermy. Several people groaned when she described the killing and draining but it was not that bad. She showed several works of taxidermy, including taxidermy of shells. This part was intriguing because I never thought that shells were a form of taxidermy. The amount of work that went into cleaning and preparing the shells to be used was also very interesting. I always thought that shells were simply cleaned with soap and water but Tobin named quite a few dangerous chemicals used to clean the shells, which took a few days as well. Tobin stated that taxidermy was a form of art for women to make. This was interesting because as a woman, I could not stand the thought of draining a skinning an animal. Although, the animals were not wasted; the woman cooked the animals’ flesh for meals, which I guess makes it okay because absolutely no part of the animal was wasted.
What I also found interesting was in the questions part of the lecture where a professor at the school shared information about a man who used human fetuses as taxidermy and made very controversial art work.

Pat Simons Lecture

Art Historian Patricia Simons from Melbourne, Australia held a lecture at USF on January 29th. Her lecture focused on the iconology of men in past paintings. It was quite an interesting, and witty, lecture. It was very educational and entertaining. She introduced different works and pointed out several things that represent for certain actions or objects. For example, a ladle would actually represent a phallus and any movement that creates friction would represent “heat” or a sexual act. It was interesting how the paintings were supposed to be decorative and innocent objects to embellish a wealth family’s room when the actual painting was secretly suggestive. I kept thinking about the outcome if the family who paid for the painting knew what they were buying, or if they knew at all. It was interesting to see different works from artists I have learned about in my art history class too.
Pat Simons seemed like a reserved lady, so it was shocking to find out that most, if not all, of her research was about sexual meanings in paintings, and how they shaped the men of that time. There were also certain things in the paintings that represented certain slang words in Italian during that time. It was cool to see how even though the slangs have clearly changed throughout time there are still resources that provide definitions to the slangs, kind of like a slang dictionary. If Patricia Simons were to come back to USF to give a lecture, I would definitely stay and listen to her.

The art of making art without lifting a finger

The chapter “The Art of Making Art Without Lifting a Finger” in The Accidental Masterpiece by Michael Kimmelman is shocking. It starts out with a story of a man, Ray Johnson, who committed suicide as a form of art. He was going to the notion that art is in everything. Honestly, I do think that a lot of things have a sense of artistic value to it, but there is a limit to these things. Making collages and assemblages are quite artistic if it is executed properly, but I do not see the artistic value in committing suicide. However, some people may see it as the greatest form of art. I understand how some people are certain artistic preferences, but this is not the preference for me. Johnson’s work described seems senseless and ridiculous to me. I just do not see how his art was admired. Just because he did “crazy” things like drop hotdogs all over the city does not make him a great artist. In fact, I find it offensive and degrading because it is allowing people to assume that all artists are crazy and create outlandish work because they are desperate. As an aspiring artist, I would not want to be grouped like that. Other artists were named, like Sol LeWitt who thought something as simple as a pencil line was artistic and beautiful. Scott Burton thought that a stain on a wall may have an artistic essence to it; simple, useless marks are not artistic in my opinion, unless it is purposely accidental.