first year MFA EXHIBITION

Althought there was a pretty good variety of work in this exhibition, I found that the pieces pieces chosen to be hung worked well together. In contrast to the BFA open, it was nice to see each artist's work in an appropriate amount of space. I felt that the room/wall assignments were well done, however the wall labels were confusing in almost every room. The hanging walls were a nice touch that I'm hoping will be available of the BFA exhibition next semester to allow for my space/organization.

The paintings on far wall as soon as you walk into the gallery were interesting from a distance, but the stetching of the giant canvas was pretty disappointing up close. I enjoyed Catherine Haggarty's compositions and use of guache. Her work created a feeling of nastalgia without feeling old. The work that stood out to me the most was done by Erik Schoonebeek and Erin Dunn. Erik's elongated horizontal 2pt perspective created an interesting "galactic" space. I was intrigued by his exploration and use of fabrics and other materials. Erin Dunn's giant wall piece was what seemed to be a drawing on a blanket with a patterned fabric loosely stitched around the border; an intresting approach to framing a piece. Her installation, which invited you to sit and paint your nails, payed very careful attention the the placement and details of chochkies and nick-nacks. Her use of pinks, reds, and greens in combination with the patterns in fabrics and wheels of yarn created a welcoming, home-sweet-home feeling. This feeling of ease while watching the video of an adorable foxes and neon oceans with fun music made me feel extremely light-hearted. I wish she didn't have to share the room with anyone else.

7DaysInDaArtWorld: Chapter 3

THE FAIR...

i like the idea of someone investing in my work, or my life as they put it.
i don't find this to be offensive by any means. it's just a matter of business.

however, i'm not a huge fan of the fact that the artists aren't at these fairs.
when the painting is being bought and sold by two other individuals, the artist becomes alienated from the work in a way.

these collectors feel like the overly "dedicated" parents who will kill a mother at 4 am outside Toys R' Us to get the last Tickle-Me Elmo.

I can't decide if this globalization of the artworld is a good thing or a bad thing for an artist.
obviously, the good stuff is that your work can be recognized internationally.
but the downside seems to me that it would dilute the popularity of the work if it is only shown in pieces in random galleries around the world.
i guess though, if your work is given attention in any form than its a good thing.

"More people than ever are buying contemporary art, and chances are that most of it is historically insignificant."
I can't imagine how stressful the decision-making process must be at one of these fairs, partly because i'm absurdly indecisive and i don't like gambling.
but learning the trade of being a collector at the expense of millions, or billions, of dollars is something that is unfathomable to me.

RENE LYNCH

BEHIND THE GARDEN GATE:

I wanted to see this exhibition because of the work that I am currently doing:

• Her work looks like prints, and I am newly in printmaking, her work seemed to be the perfect combination.
• I am exploring women's portraits in my own work, and the subject of all of her work is women.
• I'm interested in working with floral pattern, which I can relate to the plants that she paints.

Rene's paintings suggest deep space without a foreground which I find interesting.
The repetition of the gradient background at first seemed a bit elementary.
After looking at them I came to like the way the flatness of the gradient allowed for the detailed figures to really pop off of the canvas.
Although the subjects were a bit too fantasy-world for me, I was fully engaged in the compositions.

MFA/PROGRAMS

First of all.

Because I will need time to work to and save money, I won't be applying to a graduate school for another year or two.
However, I absolutely want to be working in an environment where I will continue to learn/practice my skills as an artist.
So, obviously, a paid internship would be ideal.
Also, I would be interested in getting an MFA in printmaking. (As opposed to painting)

So here's what I'm looking at in a realistic order.

A paid internship like this one that was recently posted.
A studio assistant like this one.
UARTS
SVA
UCLA

7DaysInTheArtWorld

Chapter 6 : The Studio Visit

• Takashi Murakami
• I never knew that so many people could be involved with artwork that is only given one name for the artist.
  
• I don't necessarily disagree with it, but I think it's sad.
• They try to make up for it by writing the assistants names on the back of the canvas.
• So what.
• It would be nice, however, to have people paint the tedious shit for me.
• The shit that's, "not crisp enough" and "not dense enough."
• I like that fact that he is extremely involved, even in his studios in other countries.
• I also appreciate his dedication to the work - filing digital images of every layer in a paintings and applying 23 coats of gesso to get the painting just right.
• This makes me realize that I have a lot of things to think over in the process of making my own work.
  
• Oval Buddy - the budget of a small Hollywood independent film.
• This should happen more often.
  
• Either Tim Blum or Jeff Poe, I don't remember which one, said that Japan doesn't want people to stand out, so it pounds them back in.
• I could see that.
• I guess he got out.
  
• Meanwhile, Murakami is saying, "Dissemination is difficult."
• What is difficult, for me, is believing this.
• He is enormous.
  
• And so is anime.
• He makes the best possible version of anime.
• He has so many people following him and working for him.
• I'd like to know what about dissemination is so hard.
• I can't imagine how awesome it would feel to be at that point in your career as an artist.
• Being able to work on a thousand projects at once, having people do the meaningless tasks for you, having dealers that are super involved, and getting payed an absurd amount of money to live a more than comfortable.
• It's a beautiful dream.
• Minus the stress.
• I really like Murakami's standpoint on his Louis Vuitton paintings.
• He is flattening the distinctions between art and luxury goods, between high and pop culture.
• He's able say something pretty honest through one of the most worn out patterns.
• In conclusion...
• He's a very intelligent man, with what I imagine to be awesome hair.
• And he's very lucky to have access to a fingerprint scan code system machine.
  

KANDINSKY @ ze guggenheim

Although the Guggenheim tends to make feel a bit neurotic by the time I reach the top, it served as an appropriate gallery for the timeline of Kandinsky's work. It was nice to see some figures in his earlier work and then watch the transformation of figures into total abstraction. One of his earlier paintings that really stood out to me was Riding Couple, a twinkling, romantic landscape with lovers riding a mystic horse in the foreground. I liked it partly because it's so dark in value than the majority of his paintings. I'm especially inspired by his application of paint on the leaves of the trees. In my own paintings, I've been investigating outlining forms, but haven't yet been successful. Although i'm not sure exactly how Kandinsky painted/layered the trees and leaves, it has inspired me to lay down a silhouette, painting sections of the forms in afterwards.
The looser, more organically abstract paintings that came next in the timeline got a little muddy for a minute, although I was brought back in when the landscapes became more linear. The progression of lines into total geometric abstractions I found to be the most interesting. I feel like these paintings allowed him to use the vibrant colors in more effectively - the precision in his outline and overlapping of shapes in combination with the glowing colors around the shapes I found to be much more successful than a handful of really vibrant colors juxtaposed together. I could help thinking of The Rugrats when seeing the last paintings in the exhibition. It seems to me like the 80's got a lot of inspiration form these confetti-like, collage-esque, pastel abstractions. ha.

Nefertitties.

THIS IS NEW.

The Reason I Couldn't Post The Interview Last Night

Q's for JAMIAN JULIANO-VILLANI

AD: So you've shown me a lot of your artwork, including a bunch of your old stuff. Can you tell me how it differs from the work you're doing now? How it's changed?

JV: Yeah. So in the past I was doing abstract expressionist paintings, and I realized that it only applies to people who have knowledge of art history and whatnot. It's not democratic. So me making the geometric works - they look almost secular, like symbols and posters - it can apply to everyone. They're easily recognizable. Ya know, something being legible is really important in my work, and that's why the work i'm doing now incorporates text.

AD: Do you find that doing this kind of work is therapeutic for you?

JV: Not really. I mean, I don't really like doing super hard edge paintings and drawings, and basically a lot of my paintings are sign paintings. So, it's like a discipline. So it's like adding a tool to my belt. I'm trying to add a structure to my work, and once I do that, I can kind of move on and create even more democratic socially accessible things. Because art is visual, so that's the most important thing.

AD: Yeah. Last time you spoke about art acting as a discipline for you, and you like that challenge.

JV: Yeah, yeah. I really like trying to hone my skills and my crafts because I don't think you can really progress until you master what you do. Once I master the hard edge and sign painting, then i'll move on and do something else, ya know? But i'm kind of dabbling right now into installation and sculpture, because those objects are ones that are really accessible to everyone; really recognizable garbage bags, shitty computer print outs, extension cords. You don't need to have any art knowledge to recognize those objects as art forms.

AD: And you said something similar about the sculpture that you're doing; how you're kind of bringing the images on your canvas to life by giving it dimension.

JV: Yeah cause, ya know, my paintings are really flat and two-dimensional, and that's intentional. (NICE RHYME!) But by working three-dimensionally, I wouldn't say they're more interactive but they're more real and tangible. So they're not being put on a painting pedestal, because painting is about institutional critique and how the painting works within the four corners, or in a gallery space. By doing these really crappy, kind of really weird, installations… it kind of defies that.

AD: You were talking about the project that you're planning with the brail, and how it incorporates a sculptural aspect that invites the viewer to come up and touch the image.

JV: Yeah. I'm gonna be working on a series of brail paintings, and feeling paintings. I'm gonna do a painting that turns on and off.

AD: Oooh….

JV: So, it's kind of questioning how we look at art. Ya know, surveillance - whether we can touch something or not. It's a big…it's a scary factor in a gallery space. Ya know, art's so elevated above colloquial objects. So for people to be able to touch them, feel them, and control turning them on or off - whether you're gonna look at it or not…. it makes it more of a feeling based thing that non-artists can also participate in. That discourse, not just looking. It's about experiencing. And especially with the brail paintings; they're going to get dirty. And that's okay. Because everyone looking at it should leave a mark on your work, because it's creating conversation. So if they leave a physical mark, it's even more tangible.

AD: With some of your geometrical paintings, it's like you're taking images that have been done before and redoing them and modernizing them in a way. At the same time, with your brail project and your idea about inviting people to come and touch it, it seems to me that you're interested in breaking some kind of boundary or doing something that's just really new.

JV: Yeah, I am mean I understand that when people look at my work they automatically think- geometric minimalist paintings. And the paintings themselves don't look groundbreaking. And like you said before, "I've seen that before but I don't really recall where…" I mean, I'm definitely referencing art history, but i'm trying to deny it its tradition. So the way I'm looking at it is, not geometric paintings as "painting for painting," or making paintings about painting history, but i'm kind of looking at them as methods of control and structure. Like I said, within prison design, the geometry of the prison and the layout - "the Panopticon", "surveillance" - all of those things, they way it's set up controls the way you move and it controls efficiency. And efficiency is so important. And that's why I do my paintings so quick, they're clean and all of the same shapes are repetitive because they're all recognizable. Who doesn't know what a triangle is? Who doesn't know what the color orange looks like? And that's why i'm doing the brail paintings; because if you're blind…you can't see them. Ya know? But everyone can touch.

AD: You said you grew up in a silk screen factory. Where do you see that influence in your work?

JV: Well, the text plays a big role in all of my work. All of the images I saw my parents working on…they're all logos and they're all symbols. The pencil lines in my paintings too. You can barely see them, but it shows the artists hand in the really hard "machine" looking paintings. Everything that i'm really influenced by is machine made. Ya know, loss of the aura. Like something being produced so many time and constantly in transit, like all the type and images on trucks, seeing the industrial printing presses going so quickly producing these cultural objects. They're constantly being made, and worn, and thrown out… Text not matter what is always being infiltrated in to art and every vision that we see. So the text almost functions as a poster or a book. I think the text is really important because once again, art is a form of visual vernacular- its a communication device, and text clears a way to get it across. And also its not just telling you what you're see it. If anything, it's making fun of what you're seeing. With something like that…(SHE POINTS) You think that doesn't exist in the real world…but it really does. It's just an under current, or an undertone. All geometries control the way we move and think.

AD: What else are you intorested in that effects your work?

JV: Socialism, and art as a democracy - not a hierarchy. Art doesn't only have to exist within power structures or institutions. Intellect exists everywhere. And so do shapes. I want to make it more legible, so that's why i'm doing text.

AD: It's really funny to me how everything you say really relates the to prison structures that you were telling me about. The repetition, the form….

JV: And even the sporadic drawings are still within a structure, and that's the way prisoners function too. In Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon Writings, he talks about the central watch tower in the prison…and I wrote a wrote a thesis and I argued that, the little sliver of area that the panopticon can't watch, or cover within the overall of it's view, is where the most violence happens. So that little sliver actually promotes problems. And you can see it in this piece here. (SHE POINTS AGAIN) It's all white but in the little slivers… there's still violence. Turmoil within the small spots.

AD: Yeah, I can actually see it in every piece right here. Even here in this painting - on the one half of the canvas where you haven't controlled it with the stripes is where the energetic, neon pink gesture pops up.

JV: When there's not structure….ya know. I think expression in painting or any other art form is kind of arbitrary…you don't need it. If you're trying to communicate something, you're trying to reach a point and let viewers know what your works about… If your they only one speaking your language, ya know doing the mark making….how the fuck is anyone else supposed to read it? It's exclusive - it's like an inner circle. Like the artists school of thought. So whenever I do have brush marks, they're really jarring, critical, almost making fun of that kind of style…like abstract expressionism. It's all about expression, but it doesn't do anything. It's not direct.

AD: So are there any things that you would like to incorporate into your work that you haven't gotten to yet…or that you've been thinking about?

JV: Well yeah… I'm comfortable with the paintings that i'm doing…but once again, it's a painting, so it's only in one particular field. It's not like a billboard. It's not like a book or newspaper, or anything that's accessible to everyone. You don't have to go to a gallery. You don't have to go to an art school. You don't have to be a painter, or a sculptor or a designer, ya know? I want to use materials that aren't just exclusive to one art field… I want to do things that are exclusive to everyone. Which….

AD: Haha, exclusive to everyone. I like that.

JV: Ya know, like colloquial objects. Shit that you just find around. I want them to be artful, but not in art context. You can be a cleaning lady and do your job in an artful way… Everything can be artful and I think that's really important and something that i'd like to communicate. Ya know, you can be a biologist and be artful.

AD: And to wrap her up…what are your intentions once you're done with school?

JV: I'd definitely like to apply for a residency somewhere… I really like the idea of me going to Germany, because I think in itself… it's history is really interesting and even though it's not really spoken about..I think that speaks volumes about their discipline. Whether it was the Holocost or the denial of… both are adamant of their discipline… And I'm also influenced in a lot of German artists and musicians - krautrock, the Bauhaus school…all of those things. A lot of the modernists that I really like, and constructivists came from Germany. So.. grad school, and hopefully writing full-time for The Brooklyn Rail. Definitely developing a discourse between the arts and the work, and help other people develop their skills, not my own. Because…that's kind of selfish.

7DaysInTheArtWorld

Chapter 2 : The Crit

• The initial description of a critique is clearly for someone who has no idea what the word crit even means. But I have to say that it was explained really well.
  
• 
  
• "Crits can also be painful rituals that resemble cross-examinations in which artist are forced to rationalized their work and defend themselves from a flurry of half-baked opinions that leave them feeling town apart.
• 
  
• I like the idea of involving food in the crit. The sugar, plus adrenaline rush over just the sight of food might be enough to really get people goin.
• 
  
• I'm not comfortable with the question, "what is an artist?" But i don't think that it's not a fair one.
• 
  "Artists don't fully understand what they've made, so other people's readings can help them 'see at a conscious level' what they have done."
• 
  
• I absolutely agree with that ^ quote. I appreciate anything anyone has to say about my work; it's when I learn the most.
• 
  
• The MFA students' conversation in the car felt like a script. That was probably due to the fact that Thornton was writing the dialogue from memory, but they sounded extremely pretentious even in their casual conversation. I get annoyed with people who overindulge in their fancy vocabulary.
• 
  
• From this chapter, what I found to be the most crucial part of critiquing (and an artist's education as a whole), was a quote from William E. Jones.
• 
  
• "...it's imperative to find which parts of their practices are expendable."
• 
  
• Okay, maybe not the MOST crucial, but it's extremely relevant to me at this point in my career as an artist/student.
• 
  
• THANK YOU KINDLY.
  

Print 1 : 1st Print

CHELSEA MANHATTAN: A WONDEROUS PLACE

A visit to the galleries of NYC took place on Friday, September 18 of the year 2009.
It was a lovely day. 

JAMES TURREL : LARGE HOLOGRAMS @PaceWildenstein

This work, known as "transmission light work", was presented a on large lateral mirrors. I think. Or layers of glass/mirrors. A projection of neon light was shot at the glass in a way that conjured geometrical illusions both within and protruding from the frame. Standing on the side and watching someone else view the image was pretty funny because it looks like they're staring into nothing. The fact that the audience must stand directly in front of the frame in order to reveal the subject is a great way on engaging the viewer. Moving from side to side, and in and out, to make the shapes sway and enlarge, allows for the viewer to get really involved with the work. This was something I had never seen before. It's an innovation in the creation of depth. It's quite curious.

ENOC PEREZ @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash

The artist reveals a strong architectural hand in his work. While the majority of his paintings actually were buildings, it can also be seen in the line of his figures, and more noticeably in the layering of his paint. From far away, the paintings almost seem to have been done with colored pencil; solid areas of color are neurotically streaky due to his palette knife. I was intrigued & confused by the layering and under-painting of his work. I couldn't tell if he was scraping away paint to reveal a bottom layer, or if he was painting around it. Beautifully rich.

BARTHELEMY TOGUO

The artist displayed large ink drawings, installation, and smaller drawings in his first solo exhibition. The ink drawings were beautifully rendered - splashes of color tye-dyed the gray inky areas with ever bleeding beyond the edge. These pieces strongly resembled the ink drawings of Marlene Dumas. The subject matter of these drawings were extremely vulgar - a woman spraying period blood on men and heads vomiting what looked like intestines. I would be interested to see this kind of work with a less-nauseating subject. I thought I would like the installation at first, but ended up not being able to understand what the artist was getting at. The floor was covered in banana boxes. Piled in the corner was an abundance of large plaid "laundry" bags. Four make-shift beds sat randomly in the room. On the beds were high piles of clothing, which were daintily "hidden" by princess-nets. I am assuming that the artist has an issue with laundry.

! THE NEW MUSUEM !

The artists exhibiting work in the New Museum all contribute to a display of a vast array of social and political inconsistencies and contradictions. As a white American girl who has had a fairly comfortable life, it's these kind of visuals that remind me of the struggles and barriers that people have always and continue to contest in attempts to reach a life like mine: one that is unfortunately unlikely for them to ever obtain regardless of the power in their fight.

EMORY DOUGLAS:
The graphic quality to his imagery combined with large, bold text creates a powerful "in-your-face" effect - an obvious goal of the artist's. The flat imagery and words makes these posters and wall paintings are extremely viewer-friendly. One would not need any sort of prior art history knowledge to understand what his work is about. While I can understand very simply that his work is about the fight for equality and an homage to African-American struggles, it is something that I will never be able to relate to on a personal level.

DAVID GOLDBLATT:
The artist's sequential display of black and white photographs shows the consistency in his work for the duration of his career. This exhibition concentrated on the political corruption and extreme differences of lives and opportunities for the occupants of South Africa. This series acted as an informant to viewer more so than a series of artwork (although the photographs are beautiful.) While one might originally see the pieces only as artsy images, it is the almost overly informative captions that transform the work into news.


Later on in the day I visited the F.I.T. Museum to see the Fashion & Politics show - an appropriate theme for the day. While the themes of the actual works were very different from what I saw at the New Museum, it was interesting to see the role that politics plays in so many different forms of art. When each piece is being made, the artist is probably not considering the idea that what they are creating will turn out to be an artifact, giving tangibility to the time-line of our world's history. Beautiful.

xoxo ALEX BAG xoxo

In this video, Alex Bag entirely depicts, contradicts, and predicts the behavior of young adults as they attempt to latch on and grow with a world that is simultaneously evolving into a new age of technology and social norms. While some of the video was a little outlandish to me, other parts such as the "CALL NOW" or the punk girls, so appropriately illustrate day-to-day scenarios and nighttime commercials. In her scenes, although she is oddly exaggerating each circumstance, she ends up creating some sort of insight to the future that demonstrates the extremities that we have come to know as "normal" behavior. I love her attitude and concerns, and even more so the shape of her lips.