April 2011 Archives

Rist was an artist who did a great job at altering viewers perception in order to portray an idea. Her work was very strait forward, which I loved. The first piece evoked a lot of emotion and was almost painful to watch. I feel like the key to the piece was her make up, it emphasized her point of how women are forced to put on a figurative mask in our society. The plexi glass added emotion to the piece adding a mask like staple to the piece. It seemed as if she was trying to push her face through the mask that society.

The piece that was the most aw inspiring was the piece in the museum projected on the walls. She took very stagnant clips of different natural settings and added movement to the pieces, giving the projections very human like qualities. I felt she did this to show how nature and the human body are more similar than we often think.

I felt that the last piece viewed was attempting to show the discomfort that societal pressure causes women. I felt like the child like voice was supposed to mimic the high pitch 'nice' voice that we like to picture the perfect woman having. Her actual movements and actions in the video represented the rawness and bottled up feelings that women get from molding themselves because of societal pressures.

I wish we would have spent more time figuring out what Rist's motives were behind each of her pieces, whether they all had something in common, etc. She seems like an interesting artist, but her projects were lacking in purpose and direction. My favorite was the first video presented, in which Pipilotti rubbed her face all over a clear board, smearing her makeup all over her face and the board. I thought it send a clear message about how far gender roles have been taken and the pressures put on women to look a certain way. The last video where Rist was jumping up and down, while the tape continued to run faster and faster really made no sense to me. The message was unclear and it ran for a ridiculous amount of time, only making me more annoyed, rather than more interested. The one thing I feel a piece of work really needs to include is a message. And this artist, I feel has a little ways to go.

She was one of my favorite artisits presented yet. I think all of her motives for her pieces were very meaningful and intreasting. For example our discussion in class about her pieces really showed me the true meanings of her pieces. The fact that some people thought that the where she was whipping her makeup off on the mirror was supposed to show that women shouldnt feel like they have to wear makeup, also that shouldnt feel like they have to hide behind the mask of makeup. Another main point that i really liked was with the 3rd piece that we saw how it symbolized the fact that women have not always been looked at as strongly or important as mean so that would be why her face was a blurred out and you could only see her mouth talking.

I enjoyed watching the spontaneous visions of Pippilotti Riso. I think she has a very trong message to convey, probably mostly with the female population. The first video we watched was interesting because I think it encased her entire theory of female perspectives. It is clear that she has a purpose to her art, and that's to portray the female or female figure as a work of art. In the video we watched of her installation in New York, one of the people that was interviewed said something that really captured her art as a whole. The person said, "Serenity", which in the context of the art we saw today could be interpenetrated differently. But overall, with the entirety of her work, showing that female perspectives are serene and valuable. The final piece was much of a contrast in my opinion, although it has some of the same ideas as the first clip we saw. For some reason, while a watched her wiggle around on screen I had a feeling that this was not legitimate. It confused me because it had an obscure effect on what I previously thought of her art.

For me, I had a different impression of Mr. Pfeiffer's works than the conclusions we arrived at in class while discussing his works. Keeping in mind his third piece titled "Morning After the Deluge" as well as his comments on the second piece regarding the process in which he made "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "The Long Count," I was given a more contemplatively artistic, meditative impression as a motif of his work. I felt that that was a little bit overshadowed by the overarching biblical theme (which is indeed prominent and important, but maybe a little overemphasized considering his Amityville Horror piece as well as his later works tend to deviate from that theme.) His remarks regarding the editing process of his Horsemen of the "Apocalypse piece portrayed a relaxing, meditative process that may not be present in the piece, but overt in The Morning After the Deluge" and I felt that accordingly. His work is clever, insightful, and snide all at the same time, and that is something I aspire to do with my work.

I thought the re-created house from Amityville Horror was very interesting and creative. All the details he put into creating this house were amazing. I liked how the piece was not just out for everyone to see, but how they had to look through a hole to see it from a different perspective. The sport projects remind me of the artist who took away pieces from video games, but Pfeiffer has a different goal to why he does it, he is not trying to make have a theme of "failure or loosing," but rather having the viewers look at sports and their technique in a different way. The last piece that was shown was with the sunset and sun rising and I found that one very beautiful. I like how he says you need to be patient to view the whole piece to understand what is going on. I know when I am at an art museum, I tend to look at a piece of art then keep walking instead of fully understanding what is going on. After viewing this presentation of Paul Pfeiffer, I will now be patient and really take time to view art. I definitely believe his work is considered art and I would love to learn how to use some of his techniques in my work!

Harrell Fletcher was an artist I have never seen before, the way he makes art is different then what I have seen before. I almost questioned if it was even art at all. The piece that interested me the most was the one with all the scars. It was pretty gross at time, but it is always interesting to hear how some one has earned their scar. Also you could never see the face which made you only focus on the scar so that was a pretty good part to add to the project. Although all his projects were pretty much the same, like the baby faces and all the things he had in his hands. It makes me wonder if you can really consider that art because all he was doing was taking video clips that he had recorded and just showed them all at the same time. I did really like what I seen from him, i just did not think his work looked very challenging. If was to change one thing that he did, I would add a little bit more to the video to make it more interesting, but other than that I think that he did a good job with his projects.

I really enjoyed all the videos that we watched of Harrell Fletcher's. I really got into how real each video was. The scar video was so real, because it seemed like I was talking to these people and they were sharing their stories with me. The hand one was real, because it made it feel like it was me looking down at my hand. All three of his videos kept me entertained. I'm guessing it's because you couldn't tell what was going to come next. Sure, there was going to be another scar story, another baby, and another hand opening, but he kept that element of surprise in all three of his works.

Hayao Miyazaki's movies are able to draw in young audiences with the presence of the fantastical, but he also able to keep adult audiences entertained by combining the fantastical with a deeper meaning. All of the movies that were shared in class have similar style of drawing along with similar heroic characters. The hero in Princess Mononoke and the heroine in Nauiscaa Valley of the Wind both seemed to have a complete understanding of the problems that afflitcted their communities. Whereas the heroine in Spirited Away who was a bit younger than the other two, didn't have as much of an understanding of the problems portrayed, but her innocence and goodness just showed all of the older people in the movie the proper way to act. Hayao Miyazaki's is clearly a master of storytelling and of the art he chooses to relay his stories.

Miyazaki and his films- in particular his early work- generate a lot of key themes and motifs that I personally can connect in visually compelling ways. I think his insistence on using hand-drawn frames brings something more personal to the animation, and gives it a life CGI or other purely technologically derived models could not do. His film work is still quite varied, though the central themes carry- either subtly or directly- throughout. He does use linear narratives, but with great visual and written metaphors, telling his viewers many things about the interactions between man and nature, man and machine, or man and man. His life and influences can be seen overtly in many of his early pieces, though Princess Mononoke stands out as a more obvious example (e.g. the introduction of warfare, the destruction of natural land for "economic betterment", etc). His work does become a bit more softer and readily accessible to younger audiences as his career continues, though in large part I would owe that to the influence of Disney on his work. In either case, Studio Ghibli makes some very powerful statements on the nature of morality. I appreciate that his work does not simplify issues to a base dichotomy, instead showing that people are not simply good or evil, but operate on a broader plane. He shows how perspective can change a villain into a hero and back again.

There was a beautiful humanity to his silent films. Falling... is something that is highly metaphoric. The videos revealed this giving into the force of gravity. Since he made the conscious choice to fall on purpose, it was this willingness to fall into the strongest natural force we know. His piece, "too sad to tell you" I don't actually remember if that was the exact title, but the placement of that piece within these pieces about falling... it altered the metaphor from the force of gravity to the more common metaphor of emotional collapse and took the conflict to the internal. I think that was something beautiful about the piece. There was a clear metaphor, both external and internal and both conflicts were represented in each other. Like... the internal conflict was shown through the external and the external conflict was shown internally, so they just built off each other. Yeah?
The thing I really enjoyed about Bas Jan Ader was the discussion he stimulated in the classroom about the necessity of an audience and what it means to perform and be performative. There was this blatant honesty in his work... but... it was a performance, and we knew it was a performance... and it was filmed... which takes us away from the performance even one more layer... I DON'T EVEN--

I really liked Harrell Fletchers work because he took it for exactly what it was. He didn't distort any colors, take some object and distort and didn't make people act like people that they weren't and I really appreciate simple and thoughtful art like that. The works that we viewed also seemed pretty modern, which I really enjoyed. It was a nice change of pace to see an artist make his audience the canvas, essentially. I really liked the first one we watched, seeing everyone with all the scars, and I thought it was really cool that he didn't show their faces and left it up to us, and their stories to put a face and a personality (stereotype) to the scar. I think that was his intent for the piece and I think the theme behind it is that no matter who we are, what we do, and what we come from we all have a scar to tell a story with. As for changes to that piece, I think I might have done a quick slide show of the faces of the people that were part of it so than we could have a better idea of what kind of people that were telling stories, whether they were all different, or all the same.

I liked how Bas Jan Ader shot all of his videos in 16 mm films. During his first video called "Fall I" he fell down from the roof of the house. The video had no sound which made it more dramatic. During the next video "Fall II" Bas Jan Ader rides his bike into a river. In this video I thought he was trying to be funny. This video is like the videos that have piano sounds playing in the background while the video is played. In the last video we watched was the "Broken Fall Organic". Bas Jan Ader was hanging from a tree until he fell from it. When I watched it, it looked like it hurts. I believe he label the video organic because of the tree. I came to realized that it was like he was an apple falling from a tree. I like the "Broken Fall Organic" the best because it was the most suspenseful.

Harrell Fletcher's work is meant to get us thinking. The first piece we were shown was If It Wasn't Me It Would Be You. This was the piece Harrell did where it showed scene by scene all these people with scars, big and small, and had them talk about how they got them without showing the person's face; only the scar. The stories ranged from surgeries and accidents, to fights and drug usage. This was definitely my favorite out of the three pieces shown. I feel that there is a message in this piece of art somehow conveying that we judge based on appearance and that we should look beyond that.
The next piece was called Hello Friend and showed Harrell picking things up from off of the ground in a city. I like that he just used the all natural sounds of the city streets etc., however, I feel that it would have been more affective had he used a sound track that fit the theme he wanted to express. At times the endless repetitive scenes of the same thing happening got a little dry. I liked what someone said in class, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." I think that it is a significant play on this phrase, especially because it sure looks like his just picks up what ever he sees and cradles it in his hand as if it is something special.
The next piece was the one called Babies. This one was probably my least favorite. This is only because I could not detect any prominent themes or any strong messages. At this point I really noticed that Fletcher has a very distinct artistic style. He seems to be drawn to the repetitive collage video style. I also heard from in class that he likes to talk to strangers and incorporate them into his videos. In Babies he used young children all around the same age and all in strollers. He also used babies of all different shapes and sizes as well as color, race and ethnicity. There could be a message in that, however, the video left a little too much to one's own imagination. In my opinion.

I really loved Harrel Fletcher because I feel he did a great job of exploring new age alternatives to the concept of basic art. His projects reminded me of homework assignments found on Miranda July's website learningtoloveyoumore, or a project one of my old english teachers would assign me in high school. My favorite piece from Harrel Fletcher was the video about the scars, entitled If It Wasn't Me, It Would Be You. I like the fact that this video draws people in using conversation starters that people normally use to share a similar experience, like the scar someone got from falling out of a tree or catching their arm on a fence. It was art that was not only meaningful, but also very interesting - a very powerful part of his presentation that most artists we've learned about this semester have been lacking. Along with his two other videos, Hello Friend and Babies, I believe Harrel Fletcher really hit the mark on the niche of presentation art that really provokes interesting topics.

I really loved Harrel Fletcher because I feel he did a great job of exploring new age alternatives to the concept of basic art. His projects reminded me of homework assignments found on Miranda July's website learningtoloveyoumore, or a project one of my old english teachers would assign me in high school. My favorite piece from Harrel Fletcher was the video about the scars, entitled If It Wasn't Me, It Would Be You. I like the fact that this video draws people in using conversation starters that people normally use to share a similar experience, like the scar someone got from falling out of a tree or catching their arm on a fence. It was art that was not only meaningful, but also very interesting - a very powerful part of his presentation that most artists we've learned about this semester have been lacking. Along with his two other videos, Hello Friend and Babies, I believe Harrel Fletcher really hit the mark on the niche of presentation art that really provokes interesting topics.

I really loved Harrel Fletcher because I feel he did a great job of exploring new age alternatives to the concept of basic art. His projects reminded me of homework assignments found on Miranda July's website learningtoloveyoumore, or a project one of my old english teachers would assign me in high school. My favorite piece from Harrel Fletcher was the video about the scars, entitled If It Wasn't Me, It Would Be You. I like the fact that this video draws people in using conversation starters that people normally use to share a similar experience, like the scar someone got from falling out of a tree or catching their arm on a fence. It was art that was not only meaningful, but also very interesting - a very powerful part of his presentation that most artists we've learned about this semester have been lacking. Along with his two other videos, Hello Friend and Babies, I believe Harrel Fletcher really hit the mark on the niche of presentation art that really provokes interesting topics.

I was very interested by the work of Pierre Huyghe. I thought his art was based on truly original ideas which added depth to each piece, like his projects No Ghost Just A Shell, and The Third Memory. I thought the idea of making a computer generated character for No Ghost Just A Shell for many different artists to use in their work was a really creative idea. I liked how he uses different perspectives in all of his works, like in The Third Memory when he used two different camera perspectives. In one frame you see everything, and he lets your mind fill in the blanks and allows you to use your own perspective. He does a great job of this in Time Keeper. This is my favorite work of his, when he sands an area of the wall to show all of the different layers of paint under the wall to reveal all of the different colors that it has been painted over the years. I love how he puts time and space into one single moment, just to show how things change over time.

I really enjoyed watching Harrell Fletcher's videos. The video Babies was one of my favorites because I love kids! I feel that the babies could have done more to make the video more interesting like, "talk", laugh, or cry. I didn't really like the video Hello Friend because I found it boring, and it could have used different sound to make the suspense of what the object would be in the hand greater. I did like how someone in class said that it is kind of like "one man's trash, is another man's treasure." The If it Wasn't Me it Would be You video was very interesting because I love the idea of not seeing their faces when they tell their stories. It makes it a lot easier for the viewers to relate and the storyteller does not need to feel embarrassed. In the end, I really liked Harrell Fletcher's art work and the way he includes the viewers into his pieces. For me, it is definitely a new way to look at art!

I really enjoyed watching Harrell Fletcher's videos. The video Babies was one of my favorites because I love kids! I feel that the babies could have done more to make the video more interesting like, "talk", laugh, or cry. I didn't really like the video Hello Friend because I found it boring, and it could have used different sound to make the suspense of what the object would be in the hand greater. I did like how someone in class said that it is kind of like "one man's trash, is another man's treasure." The If it Wasn't Me it Would be You video was very interesting because I love the idea of not seeing their faces when they tell their stories. It makes it a lot easier for the viewers to relate and the storyteller does not need to feel embarrassed. In the end, I really liked Harrell Fletcher's art work and the way he includes the viewers into his pieces. For me, it is definitely a new way to look at art!

Jenny Holzers work was not the most interesting work that we have covered to date. I felt like her works lacked excitement and visual aspects. Her use of words and sentences is an effective way of getting her subject matter across. However, I felt like she could have gone about displaying what she wanted to get across in a more creative manner.

Holzers works in film seemed very appealing the film in which she was the main actress seemed to embody her visual works. Almost as if it was a collective representation of who she is as an artist. The film seemed to be a quirky, witty and light hearted.

I also found her use of social media innovative. I was surprised that she was the first artist we have seen that has utilized social media.

Jenny Holzer's art was quite interesting. This type of art interests me because I am into graffiti and the essence of her art is somewhat similar to graffiti is just presented in a different format. I really like how she chose to plaster the words "protect me from what I want" on certain everyday items like shoes and condoms. People need to be protected from consumerism because half of the stuff we buy we don't have the slightest need for. As for the condoms I think that, that was more of a literal comment because sex has the power to put your life in danger, yet people still yearn for it anyways. The one thing I didn't like about her art was the fact that she used twitter as a medium. Anyone and everyone can use twitter to get across a lot of the same messages she is trying to share, so I feel by using twitter she takes away from the exclusivity of her and is somewhat buying into the mainstream American culture that she protested against with her "protect me from what I want" campaign.

Jenny Holzer was extremely intriguing to me because from a personal point of view I really think words themselves can be the most beautiful form of art because you can connect and apply it to your own life, and things you really care about. My favorite piece of hers was " YOU ARE MY OWN" projection (can't remember where it was actually projected?) I think the goal behind it was the get the audience to think of, who and what is their own, that may be someone or an object that they love, really care about, enough to call their own. Something that has made a big enough impact on their lives to consider it something as big as themselves. I really liked the way she presented it, in the big font, all caps, it suggests that whatever the truism makes you feel, don't deny those emotions. I love the way it made a reflection on the lake, and the scenery behind it. There is so much more for the audience to view aside from the truism itself, and I think many people might miss that.
And YES, I now follow her on twitter.

Though I am tempted to write on Deren, as she is directly and theoretically connected to Brakhage, I will instead look at Jenny Holzer as I know less about this particular artist. I do have a certain fondness for text-based work, and I think she renders her messages in very effective ways. Like many of the artists we have looked at for this class, I think her fascination with light, projection, and movement is well suited in the digital and conceptual art world. I think her work combining the phrases with the cars/condoms also illustrates both visually, verbally, and conceptually some strong concepts related to the power of words and a sense of danger. I do think the concentration on her use of internet sites as being self-advertising to be somewhat erroneous. It is simply using one particular medium as opposed to another. Like I had stated in class, had I used fortune cookies to spread words, the idea is essentially the same, simply the method has changed.
Her messages are well-grounded, and definitely could connect to an audience on multiple levels. As such, I do think she holds a strong place in the art world, and would like to look at further work of hers.

Jenny Holzer was a very interesting woman to learn about. It was interesting to see the way she used art to carry her message to the viewers. I actually think it would have been extremely creative had she used more art in the deliverance of her "Truisms". The LED lights were very cool and I think brought a really modern and pertinent aspect to her words. Many of the artists we have seen use very historic and/or "older" style of presenting their work. There is something to be said when a piece of art can speak to the modern-day person. History definitely matters, but what matters most is the here and now. People living today better identify with art depicting the world we live in now, rather than the world of the past that we have not lived in. One is not better than the other; there are just equal pros and cons. One thing that bothered me a bit was the fact that she uses Twitter. It is extremely good at projecting an idea or thought to hundreds if not thousands of people. However, I think that something like Twitter and Facebook should be left as a network for floosy and whimsical entertainment. It is not a serious environment: therefore her work cannot be taken seriously. Overall, Jenny's work is new-age and inspirational. She was presented well.

I really liked how she got her message across, it is the kinds of things that I am really intreasted in. I really like messages that mean something. For example all the little messages that she created even if they didnt look very professional I still thought they meant something. I also thought it was very cool how she projected things places. Especially the big name cities, and they one that she projected across the river, not only did it look really cool at night but it also meant something. I also thought it was very intreasting how we could compare her to other artist presentations in class, for example how she talked and had the words and led lights scrolling behind her was like the one where they lady talked and the lights flashing above her to her voice. I feel it is very intreasting that even though these are two completely different artisits we could still compare them together and they were similar but yet had their own differeneces.

I enjoyed learning about the different techniques of Miss Holzer, she used new and progressive ways to get her message out. I particularly like her use of LED scroll screens, its the perfect way to display text art and a fun and modern way. Her truisms were interesting, I think they control her life. I was curious to see her method behind her "projections" and I was pleased to see that she kinda went old school. From her pictures, its seems as if she uses a huge overhead projector and transparency film on a constantly rotating spindle. When we looked at her work in class, I had the impression that she was using a high powered digital projection unit. When I review her work, I conclude with the same idea behind her success. The idea of "Simple is Better" plays well with her status. Besides the scroll screens, her art is fairly simple, which in this case is a good thing for me.

Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer artwork is pretty cool because I did not know some of her artwork was on race cars. When your artwork is displayed on a race car; that is cool. Some people think that Jenny Holzer artwork is advertisements but I don't think so. I don't believe Jenny Holzer used twitter to advertise her artwork. She likes to use different mediums as art. Some of her works reminds me of the ending credits when you just finished a movie. I thought it was unique to display the words on buildings, landscapes, and other things. It makes the structure more interesting to look at. Other people may think her work is not art but I believe her work is art because it looks amazing.

I really liked Maya's work, the way she makes her video and uses no sound is different then most other artists. When I watch her videos I focus all on the picture because there is no sound to listen to. It really opens up your imagination because you can pretty much think what ever you want because you have no sound to get any ideas from. It is a very powerful way to show your art, and I like it a lot, not only because it is different but also, because I feel there is so much meaning to her work. The way she expresses herself is different then usual, not many people take all the sound away, it brings a different view to the art. Another thing that she did that I thought was interesting was the colors she used in the videos. They were mostly black and white so there really was not much to view. With no sound and color it can make a video really boring, but I guess if you are not in the mood for viewing art it is not going to be good at all. She is not my favorite artist I have seen so far, but she is also not the worst.

The work we saw in class by this artist was outlandish. I really liked the way he used a rather small palette of colors that didn't clutter up the appearance of the scenes. For example, the motorcyclists solid colored jumpsuits that matched their motorcycles. There was also the solid white of the artist's suit and solid nude of his servants. This use of color gave his work a very organized appearance.
I was able to tell from his work "The Cremaster Cycle" that the work had something to do with reproduction. However, I felt like there was some deeper or related message that wasn't so clear to me. Overall, I liked his work.

The presentation given on Jenny Holzer is probably one of my favorites so far. I love the art behind the uses of literature, the sounds of words, sentence syntax, and the production of poetry and prose. The fact that she's able to incorporate such a strong medium as language into her work really pulled me in. Her project on "truisms" immediately reminded me of the Proverbs section of the Bible - filled with simple statements meant to offer advice and stimulate the reader's intellect. The only thing I didn't like about the way the artist was presented was in regards to her use of Twitter. The word "advertise" was brought up a little more than most and I think the word was maybe used in the wrong context. I don't believe Holzer really uses Twitter to "advertise" her work and herself as an artist. It's just Jenny presenting her work in a different way. The way she projects words and phrases onto a building is as much "advertising" as the way she posts things on Twitter. She's doing it because of how she wants each truism and quote to be portrayed, not to gain attention and a wider fan base in the world of performance art. Overall, I think Jenny Holzer really has her act pulled together. She knows what her message is and exactly how to "market" it in a way that makes sense.

I found Jenny Holzer's work with lighting and moving type to be really profound, although probably not for the reasons she wanted them to be. In fact, I don't really care much about what the message of the truism as much as the actual lighting, timing, and structure of the electronic billboard stock ticker things. If she went into contemplative art focusing only on the atmosphere that her lighting created, I would like her work even more. But I digress, and I'm sure many would disagree with me. Her intellectual, profound, and sometimes controversial messages are there to get the general public to discuss the points brought up by her work. In this way, the message is a little more overt than some of the other artists we have looked at. The effect caused by the lighting in a dark setting made me feel really calm, but the actual message itself didn't really make me think, although that was most likely do to laziness and stupor caused by the aforementioned style of lighting.

I really enjoyed learning about Maya Deren and watching her videos. The symbolism in all of her videos really grabbed my attention, and I really enjoyed that everything in the movie was made to represent something. Her video shows a different perspective on the world around us, and she gives us a different way to look at the reality of self and society. I thought it was interesting that she chose to use sound in only one out of the three videos we saw, and I also noticed she uses very little variety of color. Most of her videos were in black and white, or had dark shades even when they were filmed outside. I liked that the main person she used in her videos was herself. It can be difficult to use yourself in a video, and I think she did a good job. Personally I think that her videos are made to be an autobiography, or meant to reflect parts of her life because she features herself.

I found Jenny Holzer's work very deep and meaningful. I love the way she was trying to portray sexuality, feminism, power, and war into her "truisms." The way she is trying to "bring something into the light that was once hidden" is amazing. My favorite of her projects would include her use of xenon lights outside and the lights inside of the museums. It is such a different way of looking at art and it allows every viewer to interpret it in their own way. I find that poster her "truisms" on twitter takes away from the art scene because anyone can post a quote or saying on twitter. Like we discussed in class, I am also very confused of why she use CAPS in all of her "truisms." Overall, Jenny Holzer is my favorite artist so far because I love the motive behind her art and the way she presents it. I will definitely be looking for more of her work.

I thought Matthew was a very unique type of guy and he really made his videos they way he wanted too. I really like his videos he made, I never really understood the story or why he made the people look the way he did but that just made it a lot more interesting to me. Everything was different almost like an evil fairytale, or maybe some weird costumes that lady gaga would wear during her video. I think he went all out to make the videos the way he did and he made them so unique that people would remember them. His videos were pretty hard to understand I thought and they were pretty long so I think the only thing that I would change is that if you are going to make a type of video like that you need more story behind and can not keep the crowd guessing because they will get bored, but other then that I liked him and his work.

Shana Moulton was a very unique artist; she did some very different projects. I thought her theme of projects was really weird I was not even sure if I really liked any part of it, she just seemed confused about what she was doing. It reminded me a lot of the show pee wee's playhouse, just a lot of weird things going on. Her videos just seemed like she put them together in a hour and just tried to hard to make people laugh, it was not very funny at all. I think if I were this girl I would start all over with the art she is trying to create and make something people are going to enjoy to watch and a project that will be remembered. It does not look good when people are only remembering an artist for how bad they are at their types of art. I guess maybe it is just I but I didn't really like any of her work at all.

Matthew Barneys Cremaster videos were vastly unique compared to any type of media production I have seen up until now. His videos were extremely disturbing and interesting at the same time. His portrayal of the sexual organs led me to believe that he might be a bit confused about his own sexual identity. The goat man, who is the main character, could be an interpretation of Barney himself. When we were first introduced to this character we find him combing his hair over sores on his head that appear to be vaginas. This is significant because he attempting to hide these vaginas from the rest of the world, indicating that he has not come to grips with his sexuality. As he combs his hair three figures of indiscernible gender are enticing him and take two oval shaped balls from his pocket (I took them for testicles) once again showing a male form the is being emasculated. There are too many sexual references to count in the very short amount of the Cremaster we saw, and I would need a lot more that 150 words to touch on them all, but Barney is clearly enthralled by our sexual organs and has spent a great deal of time trying to figure out where he fits into the whole sexual mess.

Miranda July was not exactly the most thought provoking artist that we have covered to date. However, it is not to say that she isn't interesting. I found her acting to be a pleasant addition to the pieces that we have been studying. Her films where ones that I would see with no in class instruction to do so, they seemed quirky, quick witted, and a great view point on relationships.
I also enjoyed the piece that was modeled after the "zoo animal human face thing." I really like it when artists add interactive elements to their pieces. Specifically, the piece that had the "what I look like when I lie" was the most interesting because many of the faces shown where extremely relaxed and normal looking. This piece made me realize how desensitized to lying society as a whole is.

I thought it was really interesting that she was more verbal than visual, because you don't see many traditional artists do that (aside from musicians). I really liked her modern twist and how most of her work intertwined with love. By watching her videos and looking at some of her work, it seems as though she really wants people to be involved with her work. With most of her work, I had a really personal reaction and I think that is what she wanted the reactions to be, especially from women because her art is by women for women.
Hows My Driving, (plunderphonic)
I think the theme is finding one self in activities your not used to.
I think she tried to really hard to make it comedic and lighthearted because you should never take life too serious. I just felt happy when I listened to it, because it was so casual and funny.
I thought the song was all over the place, and I would have made it flow together a little bit more, but that is the only thing I would change.

Shana Moulton is an artist that I do not really relate to. However, I do find her videos to be somewhat intriguing. She is very abstract in the ideas she has in portraying her thoughts onto videos for others to decipher. I believe she intended to make it difficult to understand on purpose. Shana wanted the viewers to have to concentrate and study her art. Whereas on the other end of the spectrum, Miranda July intends on her pieces to be universally understandable and focuses on others and their troubles or life experiences. Moulton focuses more on herself in her art. Who knows themselves better than them? It is very beneficial to write about or to try to explain about something you know from the inside, out. Shana's films are a little difficult to watch because of the poor quality, the poorly done special effects, the corny/cheesy aspects of the dialog, the length and the repetitiveness. Again, maybe that all goes into the way she wants us to perceive her art and because she does not want it to look too well-done because she wants to make it seem like her "inner child" made these videos for the viewers. Shana Moulton deserves a lot of credit for the art she makes and also for it not to just be watched once and then judged. I found it very helpful to watch them a few times to really understand her.

I thought Matthew Barney artwork was very interesting. I noticed that the Cremaster 4 is more about the males reproductive system and Cremaster 1 is more about the female reproductive system. Matthew Barney artwork reminds me of the new Lady Gaga Music video "born this way". I believe Lady Gaga stole Mathew Barney ideas to make her music video. In Cremaster 1, Matthew Barney shot the video in a blue football stadium where he played football when he was younger. That remind me when i was in high school playing football. what confused me the most was the flight attendants. They just sat around doing nothing. At least they could have done something interesting than shake each other hands and looked bored. Cremaster 4 is just too weird for me. First of all, what is Matthew Barney dressed as? I thought it looked like a Goat-man. I dont really get the correlation of Matthew Barney tapped dancing and the Race cars. i think the Yellow car represented Matthew Barney because when he fell in the the ocean, the race car crashed into the wall. Over all, i thought Matthew Barney artwork is very different from other artworks because he throws a lot at you.

Miranda July is one of the only artists that I actually found interesting out of all the artists that were presented on so far. Actually, she was probably the most interesting. I really liked the fact that she used words to convey different things, and that she could still be abstract even though she was using words. I also really liked the film works that she worked on. I saw Me and You and Everyone We Know, and I really enjoyed the way that it was created. Her sculptures were also very interesting to me. I like that she made solid sculptures that were still interactive. That really fascinated me.

I found Shana Moulton's work very interesting, you can not necessarily tell the meaning of the art based solely on looking at it, but rather you need to do further analysis of the work to be able to tell what the piece is actually trying to express. I enjoyed that her work had more of a comedic feel to it, rather than a more serious tone as the other works that we have seen in class. Initially upon viewing her art on youtube i was very confused at what she was attempting to say, but through Jessica's explanations and class interpretations i was able to get a more solid grasp on the concepts of her videos. I'm not really sure whether her pieces are art or not, because i myself have troubles figuring out the point of the videos, however, if she believes what she creates to be art then who am i to say that it is not.

I really liked Miranda July's work. The way she uses words as her art instead of painttings as her work makes me think that she is a very creative person. I also really liked her random sculptures that she made, ie. "What I look like when I'm lying", i really liked those pieces because it made me think of what my face really looks like when I lie, or how other people look like and act when they are lying. Her work really gets me thinking about how people interact with her pieces. Her use of words make her art work interesting and fun to read. One piece I really liked was the one that I saw in the internet that said, "The decision of your lifetime. There is a right and a wrong choice. It's not 6 of one and a half dozen of another. This is it. Choose using your animal instincts. Don't make an intellectual decision, it'll be wrong. Just go. This way or this way." When I read this piece it was hard for me to not make an intellectual decision, I still had to think about which way i would want to go. I thought about what could be waiting for me on the side I chose to go to. This is why I really like her work because it gets you thinking about things you wouldn't usually think about.

I was impressed by this groups tendency to make their art socially accessible. The projected graffiti was a really peaceful way to do graffiti since there is no destruction of property or any need to clean up or repaint the walls. The technology that they used to make this happen was a really interesting aspect to me.
I also really liked the "lighties" that they made and dispersed to a crowd. It looked really fun to throw this little light and have it stick to anything metal like a public bus or train. I was a bit torn about these though. As fun as it looked, I couldn't help thinking about the consequences. I'm sure many of these little lights with batteries attached ended up on the ground and are rusting away. Batteries should be disposed of properly because of the hazardous materials used to make them. This aspect turned me off a bit because it's not so great for our environment.

When I was presented with Shana's work, It was reminded me of "Tim and Eric Great Show: Awesome Job". They use the same 1980's color themes and also have an omnipresent mood of absurdity in their sketches. Constructing such an awkward setting be a risky move. This approach can be a great way to get the viewer to really question the motive or meaning of what they're looking at, or it can lead to a quick assumption that the work is just ridiculous poppy-cock. I found Shana's work to be entertaining even though I was unable to walk away with a solid opinion of her work. I just might look up some of her other work to see what she has come up with.

I felt Shana Moulton was very intreasting. The presentation was very intreasting as well and very engaging with us as a class. I thought her pieces were funny, and yet a little werid at some spots. I didnt get her meaning behind any of the pieces that were shown in class until jessica asked us the questions and she shared what she thought her pieces meant, and others in the class shared what they thought. This helped alot to beable to figure out what was going on in her pieces and what her meaning was behind making the pieces she does. I also liked that she was the only funny artist so far, she was a serious artist and she wanted her pieces to be funny not taken serious. Most of the other pieces that we have seen in class I have the argument between are these art or are these a science experiment, but with hers I didnt have that argument because she didnt want her pieces to be taken seriously.

I think Shana Moulton is the most interesting performing artist we've learned about so far. I think her videos are very creative, and I like the fact that she doesn't often use narrative, only objects to tell her story. She seems to always use farmiliar settings in the different films, and some of the same props, like I noticed she's normally always sitting in the same chair. Her use of objects is interesting because each is chosen with a specific purpose to symbolize something in the story. For instance I thought the use of excerecise equipment and meditation balls added explanation to the video referring to her health, and the dream catcher gave some reasoning to her "Whispering Pines" video. I also liked the way she incorporated effects into her videos to make transitions into different scenes. The different elements of her film making really made her video original. Some of the films I found uncomfortable, because it was hard to find meaning behind some of the things she did. I can see where most people wouldn't take it seriously. There were parts of "Whispering Pines" that I wasn't sure if it was meant to be funny, and I felt that a few things she did were a little out there. I believe this is art because Shana believes she is creating art, but I do find it difficult to find the meaning in her films.

I was really excited to learn about Miranda July. She was noted to have been one of Shana Moulton's biggest artistic influences and I was interested to find out why. After doing an in-class project for the learningtoloveyoumore site, it was refreshing to realize that there were artists out there who were intrigued by the idea of inspiring others to create thier own art work. I participated in a piece where I basically had to write a detailed letter to myself at a particular age, giving advice and good reason to help me get through the rest of my life up unti this point. It seems like she really enjoys to express herself through words, which is an medium I very much so respect. I love to see artists diving into as many kinds of art as language to film to music to performance. It's clear that July really can do it all. Maybe even would be some sort of a "triple threat" in the art community. There was only one thing that seemed to be jumping out at me as far as a single message or point in her work though; that would be the idea of communication and how we use it in our relationships with other people. It was clear that Miranda's work included a lot of comedy, which sometimes people use to veil awkward situations or to avoid personal ones - almost like an avoidance mechanism. People don't like talking about uncomfortable things so they use humor instead to either distract away from the topic or to take away some of the seriousness behind it all. July did a great job of using this sort of humor in her work to really dig deep into what causes human closeness, as well as posing a question to the viewer to examine thier own relationships and how they communicate with the different people in thier lives. Anyway, I could go on about July's work, but I'll stop because this is getting a bit long. Overally, I really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind learning more about her work in the future.

I found Miranda July's work very interesting. I love her idea of the Learning to Love You More projects because it gives everyone the chance to participate in her work with their own perspectives. When I was watching both of the movie trailers, I really liked her work and I would definitely see those movies. I liked how both films were deep and about love with comedy. They both were also about men becoming better people to be with the one they loved. I really was surprised to see how Miranda July does so many different kinds of work such as films, sculptures, paintings, music, etc. So far, Miranda July has been my favorite artists and I will definitely be looking into her work some more.

I thought that Her artwork was funny in a way it kind of reminded me of a show on Adult Swim called Tim and Eric's Awesome show. This reminded me of the show because it is made in kind of the same way, with no music in the background not very good video quality and humorous but weird in a way. I think her art is more weird than funny though. What I liked most about her artwork is that she is trying to show you a message inside of her story. The part I liked vest is when she was moving and everything around her was moving as she moved

Like many of the artists we have recently been exposed to in class, I was skeptical of Marina Abramovic's work. However upon further exposure to her work I have begun to realize the artistry of what she is trying to accomplish. I laughed at most of the videos Marissa showed in her artist presentation on Abramovic. I can't remember what the specific piece of work was that made me appreciate her artistic motives but I do know that after I spent some time looking through her book, in class, I saw things differently. Her presentation where she sat in front of an audience that was allowed to do whatever they wanted to her with different objects she provided was very interesting. By doing this she allowed herself to become the canvas, which in turn gave an eye opening look into the psyche of the general public. She forced a reaction from her audience and she was able to show the world something about its self by simply sitting in one spot for an extended period of time. When you can affect an audience the way she did, it becomes quite easy for me to consider what she did a form of art.

I enjoyed learning about Eduardo Kac. I also thought that Pat did a very good job with his presentation. It was very structured and well thought out. He was very prepared for his artist presentation. I liked that Eduardo's art is very controversial (not unlike most of the artists we have seen), it was controversial on a level that was different than the others. His testing on animals was something that if PIDA had seen it (I do not know whether they did or not) they would have had an all-out protest. I really enjoy his marriage between art and science because in my opinion, science is amazing and to capture it on film is also amazing. I thought that the robot piece was interesting. However, I thought it was almost dramatized with the use of his blood. I realized the point that he was trying to get across; that the robot was functioning on his blood. If the only thing the robot needed was oxygen to function, there are literally hundreds of substances that could have been used to sustain it. Although, the symbolism was probably the most important part of this piece so the semantics are irrelevant.

Even though I am already personally with the works of both of these artists, I figured I could go into a bit more detail regarding their work (in part because I would like to see these individuals as influences of sorts).

Svankmajer: I was already familiar through certain parts of his film work, like Alice and Conspirators of Pleasure, but I thought the pieces selected did illustrate some very important aspects of his work. He is very much a master of stop motion capture and is well respected among both artists and filmmakers alike. He does hit upon some very in depth and difficult aspects of humanity, and the pieces in which communication breaks down- even purely nonverbal forms of it- strikes a chord very strongly. Some of his work may be a bit "out there" by comparisons, but even these other pieces do strongly elucidate some aspect of humanity. Flora was perhaps a more overt statement by comparison, but the image of a "Mother Nature" like figure chained while desperately reaching for a glass of water also makes a powerful statement both personally and politically.

Abramovic: Once again, I find her work very visceral and compelling, and she holds a place of high honor among performance artists and those that study performance. Once again, sometimes her pieces can come across as quite extreme, but that is in part the nature of what she desires to show. She shows the human body and the human mind in the most extreme of conditions and shows what they can (and in turn what they cannot) really handle. She also touches on strong themes on the interaction of time and space, such as her piece shown in class. She also pays tribute to other performance artists who were central in the development of the craft in some of her pieces, most obviously "Seven Easy Pieces". While some may not consider her work art, the way she touches people in an extremely personal and almost unspeakable level, I certainly do consider her work art.

I really liked the videos by Jan Svankmajer, because he really makes sure that the viewer understands it and can feel the emotions that he's trying to convey. He does a really good job at bringing inanimate objects to life (ie. meat slabs). My favorite of his videos was the one about the clay couple and all the joys and woes that they go through in different situations. The time it would take to make that come to life is beyond me. I found most of his work to be pretty interesting.

Marina's work. Hmmm.
I think I saw her performances as very generous, but also... they were distancing. Not to me, but I think to a general audience they could be. Not because she isn't giving as a performer, because I think she was very giving... but simply because of the way her works seem to be structured. They seem to be sort of... task based. For example, all the works presented to us were performances of her performing different, physically challenging tasks. Task 1 was to sit for 16 hours or whatnot with her and Ulay's hair tied. Yeah? I think that turns off a lot of audience members simply because it can get trapped in their minds as, "This is a stupid. She's just running into a wall." I think that simplicity is some of the beauty of her pieces. I dunno, I don't have a much articulate response to this. Things I found extremely inspiring about her work was her exploration of physical limitations and the idea of audience vs. performer. Things I'm really curious about are if she is "acting" or if she is "performing herself", which could be deemed acting... bleh. Language. I hope that made sense. Her work seems to be things that the audience CAN look away from, that they can choose to disengage from but that if you allow yourself to engage and choose to, you can find something beautiful and generous.

Eduardo Kac does some very interesting projects. I know some people don't consider his work art, but I do consider it art. I think it is really cool how he takes living things and changes them genetically. I really like the Rabbit that glowed. My favorite piece was the robot that turned his blood into fuel. I really like that piece because of how the machine works taking something organic to make something inorganic function. I also like how the flame of the robot changes for every person that uses the machine. I thought that was pretty cool.

I felt what Eduardo Kac was doing was very intreasting, and something new that i have never seen before. I especially liked the piece that he did with the flower, where he injected it with some of his DNA. I thought it was very cool how after the flower was injected the veins in the flower actually stood out and it looked like a living thing. I also really liked the piece with the bunny rabbit. I thought that the question that Pat asked about if his intentions were wrong or not. I would say that what he was doing was not wrong, it was just like a sience project and it was something that would be very intreasting to learn about. There may have been side effects to what he did to the bunny but with his project there was still good intentions to it.

My favorite piece of his was with the clay couple and how they interacted, it was very interesting and different from other types of art. It seemed like his goal behind his was art was to try to bring objects to life, or to give them value. At least that is how I viewed the clay couple. I really liked his artwork; it all was unique so it gave off a good feeling when viewing the art. All his art was very interesting and unique, although at times when I was watching that video I felt a little confused on what the two people were doing, like when they were throwing the little clay blob around. The only thing I would change about the video he made was to make the one confusing part more easy to understand, because it seemed like a lot of the people were confused when watching that part of the video, but other then that I liked the overall project. I thought it was really good.

I liked how Jan Svankmajer uses daily life materials and make them come alive. I liked Jan Svankmajer work with the clay couple fighting. It was unique because it shows a lot of different emotions throughout the video clip. Some of the emotion were flirting, love, angered, pissed off and fighting.. it made me think what was going on without them having a convo. I liked his other video as well (the two meat dancing). I believe Jan Svankmajer videos broadcast a lot of emotions and he is very good showing them.

I chose to write about Marina Abramovic because her work was very interesting. I enjoyed watching Expanding in Space because I could feel the intensity and competition that she portrays in her work. I fist did not consider her work art, but after I looked at how she uses her body as a canvas, I was able to see the "art" in her work. I also liked how she created competition against Ulay, and how men are suppose to be looked at as the "tough" one, but instead she beat him in every video we watched. I find it very interesting that she is able to show no emotion on her face even when she is in front of a huge audience. I know that would be very difficult for me! After watching her videos, I was given the chance to view art in a way I never have before!

I really enjoyed the Future Farmers and their work. I think it's great that an artist is basing there work on something that is also meant to improve communities and the enviroment. I think their tagline, "Cultivating Conciousness" is very appropriate. They are very good at engaging the community in all of their projects and trying to get more people involved with the improvement of our earth. My favorite work of theirs was the Victory Gardens in 2007. I thought that by growing and distributing plants throughout San Francisco was a great way to promote awareness for enviromental issues. Their "Energy Plans" project in Chicago was also very creative; it was interesting that they built an "energy tent" and then used it to discuss energy related issues. I think the work of Future Farmers relates to art because it promotes growth. However, it is also more activism than anything because they are trying so hard to get public awareness.