After your visit to the MCA and experience with the Paul Sietsema
exhibition and the Theaster Gates: 13th
Ballad installation, and the Alexander Calder, think about your
favorite piece. How does a work change when you spend more time with it?
What else do you notice? How do you change?
Select a work – any work in the Museum – and spend a full 20
minutes just looking at the work. Why did it capture your attention? Why do you
suppose it is being presented in a Chicago museum – or why do you think it
shouldn’t be here? What is the deeper meaning? (i.e. thesis) What bigger picture does it
connect to? Analyze and try to formulate
your ideas in a thesis that you will use to direct your blog post.
Please write a review of the work.
Consider it in context of the artist’s other work – which means you’ll have to
do some research, in the museum (read the plaques), handouts? Consider it in
context of the rest of the work in the exhibition.
Copperheads 101-200, 2013
ReplyDeleteChromogenic prints, postage, tape, and ink all works courtesy of the artist and murray guy, New York.
I was attracted to this piece of artwork because from a distance I could see it a mile away. It was a very large art piece. It was extremely colorful and that is what caught my eye. From a distance I could see the prints of the copper pennies. But once I got closer I began to see strips of neon green, pink, and orange strips of tape that were put on the prints to form specific patterns. There were also postage stamps attached to the prints. I read the plaque that went with this piece and and without reading it I don't know if I would have been able to really understand the full purpose of the piece but the purpose was more to examine the differences in a reoccurring object that we encounter almost everyday, and how each one is different in it's own way, and we can relate that back to ourselves as human beings. I think it most certainly belongs in the MCA because it is definitely a piece of modern, and contemporary art. The colors, and the concept behind it flows with everything else that is in the museum. It's a rather large piece as well, and most of the pieces that are in the MCA are pretty large in comparison to most museums.
-Jamie Condon
Self-Portrait by Marisol Escobar, 1961-62
ReplyDeleteWood, plaster, marker, paint, graphite, human teeth, gold, and plastic.
Marisol carved life-sized figures from large masses of wood, cast her own face with plaster and physically assembled all the piece’s elements herself. I was attracted to this piece by Marisol, because the says its a self-portrait but there are seven different heads. She explains, she used her own face because it's easier. This heads expresses her different personalities. I feel like the piece depicts ethnically diverse in herself. She expresses her self identity to different backgrounds in the seven heads. Self-portraits have been done by many artists. They are records of where the artist has come from and who they were at the time. I love how used her own face and real human-teeth for her self-portrait, its very extreme and bizarre approach. Self-Portraits are useful tools to get to know the artist and trace their lives. All the different mediums she used, makes feel like the carvings are life-like to the viewers eyes.
My personal favorite piece from the MCA was Monument To A Light Spent by Andrea Rosen. It was my favorite because it wasn’t like any art piece I’ve ever seen. It was a giant mirror placed on two keyboards that were plugged in, like the art piece was actually playing the keyboards. On the mirror there was what looked like cut outs in color; which looked like two girls and one sticking a knife through the others head. On the art piece there were random circles of which looked like silly putty or play dough in different colors splattered all over the people in the piece. The thing that really caught my attention to this piece was when you took a photo on flash of the art the photo looked completely different than what the piece looked in real life. When you actually spend time with apiece for a while you think about the artist and their what they were thinking when they made the piece. Did they think about it ahead of time or did it just come to them when they were making it and what does the piece mean to them, what were their intentions of the piece?
ReplyDeleteI feel this piece is very random in the MCA but it also fits at the same time. The piece has it’s own room with other art pieces of the same artist work with the same concept. This piece definitely stands out from all of the other art in the museum.
This instantly made me think about my art, my photography and art shows I will be doing one day. It made me think about if I could do this to my photographs in the future. This piece really inspired me with my own work and made me think of new ideas with my photography.
LERMA
ReplyDeleteAustin Smith
When I went to the MCA last Wednesday I was told to find a piece that spoke to me and I could write about. I didn’t get the name of the piece but the artist is Jose Lerma, the piece he made incorporated multiple mirrors, color projectors interesting fabrics and paints. This piece spoke to me because this piece focused on atmosphere, which is a part of my art that I try to use. When I first saw this piece it was crowded with a tour group so didn’t get a good look at it, so I left. When I came back when no one was there I really started to really enjoy it. The mirrors placed parallel to each other on the opposite sides of the room give a whole and surrounded feeling. When examining the mirrors Jose painted Shallotte figures in bright neon paint on the mirror, which makes the mirror background, pop. I noticed the projectors at shoulder level when walking behind these do you notice that they reflect a very beautiful palette of colors on a neoprene looking set of drapes. Now my favorite part of this piece was the use of synths, they were placed right underneath the mirrors and they were both placed on the same key on both sides so they emulate the same exact tonal quality. This piece was perfect because it takes you out of what ever you may have been expecting in that moment and it transports you to a different area of thought.