Fred Tomaselli - Nicole

During class on Tuesday, we discussed the Tang Teaching Museum in Saratoga, NY, and the artist it highlighted, Fred Tomaselli. I thought his artwork looked interesting at first glance, so I decided to take a second look. The artwork above caught my eye the most. The level of detail that he puts into his work is amazing. It looks like it was done with oil, but it is actually a collection of cutouts and paints. It is amazing how he fits all of these things into the painting. It was done for the cover of Artkrush and is called Glassy. Tomaselli uses objects like marijuana, mushrooms, and pills to portray a sort of psychedellic haze that his subject is in, hence the title "glassy". The blood on the persons hands is interesting, as well as the number of eyes that are present on the forehead.

An interesting quote from Tomaselli himself: "I want people to get lost in the work. I want to seduce people into it and I want people to escape inside the world of the work. In that way the work is pre-Modernist. I throw all of my obsessions and loves into the work, and I try not to be too embarrassed about any of it. I love nature, I love gardening, I love watching birds, and all of that gets into the work. I just try to be true to who I am and make the work I want to see. I don’t have a radical agenda." Tomaselli wants the viewer to see all of his loves and who he is through his paintings. Is he showing us through Glassy his love of drugs????

Martin Puryear's "Ladder for Booker T. Washington"

Erin Hepper- Entry #2

Today in class we watched a mini documentary on the work of Martin Puryear. I found Puryear’s work to be very intriguing and I had a lot of respect for his creations. In particular, his “Ladder for Booker T. Washington” immediately caught my eye since I had never seen anything like it before. The historical title relates to Booker T. Washington’s struggle in making progress for the African American race, and the notion that “where you start and where you want to get to and how far away it really is. And if it's possible to get there given the circumstances that you're operating within.” After reading an interview with Puryear, it is quite clear that his piece is all about perspective.

Upon further research, I was also surprised to find that Puryear titled his piece after it was finished. His main focus was creating a perspective that was exaggerated and wanted to make the ladder appear as though it was receding into space. He also stated that he enjoyed creating this piece and the way it turned out, despite the fact that it was difficult to construct. The piece is thirty-six feet long (four stories) and constructed out of an ash sapling. I found the curvature in the wooden ladder and the narrowing towards the top to somewhat play on the theme of perspective. Literally, upon viewing it I am sure that it appears as though the ladder really does recede up into space, but it also deals with perspective in a more figurative sense. It is quite possible that Puryear’s narrowing ladder is symbolic of the narrowing opportunity for hope and equality that Booker T. Washington and other African American’s experienced. Overall, I have a lot of respect for Puryear's work and how it is not only visually appealing, but also extremely though provoking.

"Beauty"

Erin Hepper- Entry #1

Upon looking through the Museum of Contemporary Art’s website, I came across several different images and descriptions of current exhibitions being displayed. Artist Olafur Eliasson created the exhibit I found most interesting. It featured photographs, but it also included environments that he had created through the use of mirrors, lights, and projections. This particular type of art intrigued me because it never crossed my mind that this in fact could be considered art. In the past when I thought of art, paintings and sculptures came to mind, not meticulously created atmospheres. I took further interest in Eliasson and located his own personal website on the internet where he had many more images of his work.

An exhibit entitled “Take Your Time” was one that I found particularly intriguing and included many more of these set up environments. Specifically, one entitled “Beauty” was one that confused me. As seen above, the room is composed of what appears to be a grey slate floor, black painted walls, and a projected image of a rainbow like pattern onto the main wall. I was baffled by the mere fact that this piece was entitled beauty. I immediately thought that this was anything but what its title had hinted at. The dark floors seemed very cold and uninviting to me, while the black painted walls practically screamed despair. At first glance I did actually find the rainbow to be quite beautiful, but questioned if it was beautiful enough to be considered art.

Upon more research into this particular piece, I found that Eliasson was inspired when he witnessed running water flowing through a dirty, dry street in Johannesburg. When I found this out, the title and the artwork now seemed to make a lot more sense to me. Whenever there is a dry environment or more generally speaking an environment lacking something, when it becomes present it really catches one’s eye and can most definitely be perceived as a thing of beauty. For instance, in a field of seemingly dead crops a lone flower thriving is a thing of beauty. Elliason’s artificial rainbow that is projected onto the black wall has that same effect. The room is dreary, gloomy, and almost sad at first glance, but upon noticing the beautiful colors of the rainbow and how it gradually fades into the black along its edges turns around the mood of the once sad room.

At first glance I was almost confused as how such a simple set up could be considered art, but once I discovered Elliason’s simple, yet profound inspiration I began to have a much greater appreciation and understanding of the artists’ work. I quickly learned the valuable lesson that art cannot be judged, perceived, or understood at just one quick glance. It takes time, consideration, and maybe even a little background information on the artists’ inspiration to have a more complete understanding and respect towards the piece.

Holy Virgin Mary

“Holy Virgin Mary”



The above image is a painting entitled “Holy Virgin Mary” and was painted by Chris Ofili. It was on display at the city-funded Brooklyn Museum of Art. It was the center of controversy in 1999 when both the Catholic Church and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Spoke out against the museum and threatened to cut off funding. The church and mayor alleged that the painting was morally offensive and should not be displayed as artwork. The city did in fact cut off funding to the museum in the form of one month’s rent to prove that they were serious about the offensiveness of the painting. The museum then countersued claiming violation of the first amendment rights. They won the suit, and Giuliani and the city of New York were forced to resume the museum’s funding.
When first examining this “work of art”, I was unsure of what it even was. It looks to me like a bunch of dots surrounding a brown animal with complex shapes making up its body, and a knob on the chest part of its body. I was unaware that it was supposed to be of the Virgin Mary, but I couldn’t see it. She is covered in elephant dung, and sexually explicit cutouts make up her body (although I do not necessarily see either of these). Who would paint such an important religious icon in such an offensive way?
Upon further research of Chris Ofili I found out more of what the painting represented. What I had first thought to be “little dots” surrounding the woman are actually cutouts of female genitalia and other body parts. He paints in a loopy, cartoonish, semiabstract style – part decoration, part dream, and part parody. Ofili is in fact a serious painter, but he uses humor and satire in his paintings. Although he may have been trying to be slightly offensive with this painting, he is also trying to look at the Virgin Mary in a different way. He is showing Mary in a different light. She is almost always painted as a white woman, and he is trying to show her in a different light. Although this painting sparked a lot of controversy, it also got Ofili’s name out. It is still seen today and therefore surpassed all of the initial hatred that it received. Overall, I would consider this a work of art, although it is not one I would hang up in my house!