Personal Belief System - Stephanie
What I liked about Stephanie's piece was the use of muted dark color, contrasted against a bright blue sky. This emphasized the gray road in her painting. If it was my work, I would add some more depth by doing some transparent glazes, especially to the clouds, to make them seem more real and pronounced in the composition. A companion piece to this work could be a view of what is over the horizon line.
What draws me to Frida Kahlo as an artist is her use of her personal life in her artwork. She painted self-portraits that showed what she was going through and expressed her inner dialogue. Since my main goal this semester is to create art that conveys emotion, history, and generally just a part of myself, I thought of her because she is the artist I most see this in. I attended the Philadelphia Art Museum's Frida Kahlo exhibition in 2008. It featured not only her paintings, but also sketches and photographs of her and her family.
Physical and emotional pain is shown in her work. In The Two Fridas, she shows herself separated from her husband Diego and alternately loved by him. The complex relationship between them can be seen progressing from her early works into her last ones. (Pbs.org)
The fact that most of her pieces were small works shows how effective she was at creating a complex scene that was more than a 'pretty picture'(Pbs.org). Her work was very graphic at times, particularly the ones depicting her miscarriages and back injury. Henry Ford Hospital shows her lying on a hospital bed, with six images around, including her fractured pelvis, a male fetus, and a model of a woman's reproductive organs (Fridakahlofans.com). A Few Small Nips, created after she found out her husband was having an affair with her sister, depicts her sorrow and pain at the discovery but using another woman's story of being murdered for her unfaithfulness by her jealous lover (Fridakahlofans.com). Both she and her husband had numerous infidelities, Frida's sometimes with women as well as men.
Her sexuality also shows up in some of her painting, particularly in Two Nudes in a Forest, which shows two naked women lying next to each other, one with the others head lying on her lap. These same two nudes appear in What the Water Gave Me, one of her few paintings without a unified central theme, but rather with numerous symbols, some taken from previous works. (Fridakahlofans.com)
During her lifetime, her husband Diego Rivera was vastly more successful and well known as an artist. However, his medium of large mural paintings with political themes in most all of them is now rivaled by Frida's notoriety in the art world today. She became more well known in the 1990's and this recognition was fueled by the motion picture Frida which was released in 2002 (Pbs.org). The allure of her work to me is the knowledge that her pieces are very personal. They aren't there just to look beautiful, they make you think about the history behind them. Knowing the story of her life makes the pieces that much more significant.
Her confidence in herself ran from her heritage, sexuality, politics and all the way to her appearance. She emphasized what many would view as imperfections in a women – her unibrow, her facial hair, and strong emotions. In her art, she showed a confidence in who she was, despite the fact that her life was so hard. To me, that is something I want to cultivate in myself – the ability to be okay with yourself despite your circumstances.
Bibliography
The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo; PBS documentary and accompanying website
Frida Kahlo Fans; complete biography, drawings, and gallery of work page
Frida, 2002 film directed by Julie Taymor (not cited in the paper at any particular point, but informed some of my comments on her work)
John King's studio and his talk with us about being an artist in New York and not separating your everyday life ('real job') from your art was great, as well as his discussion and demonstration of his encaustic painting. It really brought to mind my crit with Frank Mann and his talking about how to integrate different Media together fully, Since John King's paintings managed to merge drawings into paintings. Seeing John King's Studio was also great because I love seeing how and where other people work.
After visiting John King, we went to a ton of galleries including OK Harris. Mimmo Roselli's work, 'Measuring the Space,' was a unique installation of rope that divided an otherwise plain room and completely changed the space. There were also the hyper-realistic paintings on aluminum by David T. Kessler and the intricate models of houses and other buildings.
Brian McGuinness, who we met on the street, had one piece of work in the Gana Art gallery as part of the show, “The Garden at 4 am.” Ghana featured works of art by unkown and well known artists. Several of the pieces were very skeletal, such as the 'Nox Pennatus' Sculpture, 'Xintian' (Laser cut piece), and 'Meditation on Illusion' (painted Bronze sculpture). My absolute favorite piece of the day was Nox Pennatus, the moving sculpture. Just the mechanical yet graceful form created a beautiful 'skeleton.'
The Broken Kilometer was one of my favorite things that we saw. Just the great contrast of this metal agianst the wood floor and white columns, as well as the literal depth of the piece. It made me wish there wasn't a barrier preventing me from going to the other end of the room and experiencing the piece from there. I also appreciated the Earth Room; in a similar way to the Broken Kilometer, it was suprising to see such a space in an assuming looking NY Building. Having the smell of earth in that urban setting was great.
Tony Ousler's 'Addictive Behaviors' exhibit, with the forest of cigarettes, lottery tickets, cell phone, and more was one of the more interesting 3-D exhibits, utilizing sight and sound. The cigarettes projected onto the columns
Paul Morrison was the featured artist at Cheim & Read. He was showing both painted canvas pieces with a very graphic illustration feel as well as large sculptures in the form of huge dandelion.
Manzoni: A Retrospective was representative of art that I don't appreciate – for example, the blank canvas, Artist's shit (literally), etc. The canvas that was soaked in clay and then formed into folds were interesting to me, primarily because of the use of liquid clay in a different way.
Shane McAdams, who got us into Pulse for free, gave an interesting intro to the fair, telling us about how Pulse is seen as more commercial and crass, as compared to the armory show. He also mentioned how many of the vendors were there only because they had paid for their spot before the economy's downturn; before that, many of the galleries and artists represented were able to make a significant amount of money over the past few years, sometimes more in that one weekend than a whole year at a gallery. The thing I most appreciated at the Caren Golden Fine Art space was the shopping cart with a huge sphere of sunglasses, ashtrays, and other glass objects.
Other artists at pulse that stood out to me were the Catharine Clark Gallery, with the artist Al Farrow and his religious architecture 'models' made of guns, bullets, and other weapons.
My last favorite piece was from the Museum of Arts & Design. They featured Invisible Cities, by Beatrice Coron, as part of their exhibition 'Slash:Paper under the knife.' I loved the skeletal forms and insane complexity of the piece.
The Glue Society had a photograph called 'Moses' which showed a airplane view of a parted ocean, but to me it felt very abstract and I loved the texture of the sand versus the ocean.
Jorge Manet, represented by the Galeria Horrach Moya, was the creator of the three-dimensional trees hanging in space which really caught my attention, since it was like seeing a surreal painting in 3-D.
The strangest thing I saw while we were in New York was the statue from the Glue Society of the huge pigeon with the man squatting on it's head. That was really unexpected, since at first it looked like just a sculpture of a pigeon.
The individual critique with Frank Mann was really interesting and helpful. I generally know what work of mine I like and what I think isn't going anywhere, and Frank affirmed what I already thought about my last few pieces. He also mentioned a few artists that I know of that have similar subject matter or 'spirit' in their pieces, such as Posada.
My bone piece and my two other most recent works are the most honest and best to me; the dark self portrait, though it does have a hidden meaning, is not translated well enough for my taste and is too literal.
My personal belief system work is good, but Frank pointed out that there is the problem of integrating a printed image into the piece effectively, as well as to make the fabric more integrated as well.
He looked at my sketchbook and saw where my ideas come from and grow. All together, it was a very positive experience, since I received pretty much the same opinion of my work that I feel towards it, as well as that I have heard from other people.
His lecture really helped to clarify what his work is about. I generally do not greatly appreciate most abstract work so it's no surprise that I didn't 'get' the exhibit in the gallery before the talk. After the lecture, I realize what he was going for, how the process of creating was more important to him than the product. Even though I now understand the process and some of the meaning behind the work, it is still not something that I would particularly want for myself. I want to make sure that my 'audience' knows that there is a greater meaning behind my work, even though I don't have to spell it out every time. To me, the meaning and or purpose is too hidden and the images are, for the most part, not compelling enough to make me want to go and actively find out what it is.
Banana Factory Tour Event Questionnaire
The most interesting aspect of the presentation was seeing some of the artist studio, since it is always fascinating to see where other people work. Seeing what other artists use as inspiration and how they organize their space is like looking into their sketchbook, you get to see another part of the process.
The most unexpected thing we saw was when we entered the one studio with the life-size sculpture that had actually been fired in a kiln. Reminded me of how much work I have to do in ceramics class, since we have to do a 24 inch tall or wide piece (which is as large as the kiln will load).
I can imagine myself in this profession, running a gallery and coordinating programs. What I would like most is seeing other artist's work; however, I think I would rather do something that revolved more around my own work since that job seems to be very time consuming.
Additional Observations...
They have a great facility there. The last First Friday I went to, I talked to one of the ceramic artists there, Deb Slahta, who has some amazing raku pieces, which was really interesting.
The show “Altered and Assembled” featured works created almost exclusively of found objects, many incorporating a book into their work.. There was a wide range of pieces, from very small boxes to a large mobile, necessitating many different ways of hanging and displaying the works. Some of the book pieces required pedestals, and other pieces were hung on the wall.
As a group, I was most drawn to the pieces primarily composed of books that were altered, because to me books are an experience. Books hold a history because many people have read that same book and they often pass through several owners. The one book piece featured a library book with the word discard stamped on it, with a magnifying lens placed in the cutout cover, reminding me of a seeing glass showing another world, which is very much how i see books – as an escape from the everyday into anyplace you could possibly want to go. A truly good book will draw you into it and stay with you long after you've read it – and to me, the same goes for art. It should make you think and want to know more about why the artist did that and why they chose that color, and so on.
The artist whose work stood out to me the most was Wally Barnette; all of his works stood out as being about secrets or a dark past. They all seemed to have a story behind them.
“Assembling the Illusion,” was composed of a wooden box with two compartments, the top part of which was open with a coiled piece of wire looking like a tree (like an abstract outdoor scene). The bottom part had wire mesh with a 'lock' on it holding a picture of a women without a head and darkness behind the rest. Together it said to me that life appears to be free and open but really we are all trapped in our own locked 'box.'
“Southern Dirt,”also by Wally Barnette, was composed of a large lidded box with a smaller one inside and dirt between the two. Old photographs and what looked like a light-bulb socket with a chain hanging were in the lid of the larger one. Bones of some creature were in the dirt as well as a pocketwatch. Inside the smaller box was an even smaller one with some trinkets within. The piece looked like one of the heavier ones there and sat on one of the pedestals.
It seemed like a piece about very dark family secrets, buried deep in the ground, as shown by the dirt and bones, and time passed, as indicated by the pocket watch. The light socket without a light right next to the photos seemed meant to convey that these secrets were meant to be hidden either by the people in the photos, from them, or for their benefit. This is the work that spoke to me the most, probably because secrets have been the issue in some of my recent work.
All of the pieces used found items in a compelling way, and I especially appreciated the use of old boxes or books as a blank 'canvas.' Using something that is worn and obviously used gives the piece a unique feel that you don't get using new materials unless you try to recreate the patina of time passed by, but I don't think you can ever give a new item the same history an old one does. Putting an item that has passed through time into a new project changes the nature of it and gives it age and makes people think about why you chose that piece. After seeing this show, I have been seeing the potential of found objects more and hope to incorporate some altered pieces into my art more.
