studio space

I love how particular artists are. But sometimes creativity gets lost when things are neat and orderly. For me at least. When I am crazy and bouncing off the wall, my art doesn't make alot of sense but it is interesting. When my house is orderly, and I am composed and collected, I make boring art that old women would put on their walls next to pictures of their grandchildren and cats.

MFA talk

I think 10 minute talks are not long enough. But I suppose if people rarely give talks then they don't really know what to include, so they have to be short, just so they can practice talking in front of a lot of people. Niki's talk was the strongest. She was even talking about how she premixes all of her colors before she starts painting. Youngsheen was impossible to hear. But I remember what she had said during the selection night. I finally understand what the teachers mean about using more paint. I wish she used more paint. Dry paintings are sad. I think Mark's talk during the selection was more conclusive than his gallery talk.

Shoot An Iraqi pg 1-44

Sadly I forgot to buy the book for a long time, but I still meant to do the assignment. And I am reading it rather quickly, it is a good read.

My first reactions to the book are...
I could never live in that room
I am one of the ignorant Americans who know nothing about the war, nor do I think about how America affects other countries
and He has a wide support system

I'm also rather surprised at how openly he talks about everything, but I suppose if he is writing a book he has to be open so people will understand. And maybe it is an artist thing, us willing to expose ourselves is how we are effective in making our points.

Art Billionaire

Okay, saying one billion dollars to myself just makes me giggle. I suppose i cannot even fathom that much money. It always make me think of Dr.Evil.
Sad, sad, sad. Only to like art because of others opinions. But I suppose it is still great how much money he is donating.

The Worship of Art

What a silly little article. Yes, yes, he is right to a point. But then again, life is always more complicated than what is simple to say. Aka a nice little packaged theory. Yes overall contemporary art is meaningless and just made to annoy people, but people also what the next best thing. They want what is new and flashy. That is where bad contemporary art comes from.
From making abstract pieces, I understand how frustrating they can be, how much though and effort can be put into abstracting a form. It releases peoples preconceived notions on what something is, and allows the artist to interpret the piece however they want.
Money and power can corrupt anything. Sadly even art. Also people buy whatever is fashionable for status always anyways. Look at north-face jackets and spandex pants. No one needs those specific brands or types of clothing but they buy them because it is what they feel they should buy.
Let me just respond to his nine page rant by saying, yes it would be nice if people were brave enough to be independent, creative thinkers.
Art does not have meaning till someone gives it meaning. Sadly if the meaning they want from the piece is status, they will get it. It is just not what the author of the article wanted. Art is meant to have a purpose, who is to say what that purpose is?

John Baldessari

Serious humor is nice. Regardless of weather his artwork is "nice" it is interesting. I always fall into this pit of, if it didn't require sweat, endless hours of work and way too much thought, it is not worthy. But honestly, some of my artwork that I made in an hour or two, and just went with it from start to finish, are my favorite.
It baffles me, when hearing about artist's who loose their families because they were so into their art, and then their art is something like this. (this is horrible to say). but putting stickers on someone's face isn't that intense.... I'm just mean this morning.
Teaching is the best when a person lets their students experience creativity their own way. How can someone ever think for themselves, when someone else is constantly telling them how to think. It is much better to have the teacher as a sounding board, to help them develop the path they want to forge.

Robert Frank

I don't believe (just got a huge urge to bake something) that art can be comment-less. If you take a photograph of something or decide to paint it, you are already making a comment that you find it interesting and important. Also it is funny how people got angry at him for taking pictures of the way life was. He was just observing what what was happening. You can't pretend it isn't happening just because you don't want to acknowledge it.