Chelsea Galleries Reaction

On our second field trip we explored the menagerie of art galleries in Chelsea. This is the home of the collections of the upcoming and well-known artists. My first encounter with a gallery that day was the Raymond Pettibon collection. I left shocked and somewhat disillusioned towards what kind of artwork I would see the rest of the day. I did not enjoy his apparent carelessness and indifference in presenting the artwork which looked as if it was just taped to the wall.

Eddie Anderson - Phillip-Lorca diCorca

Gerald Hughes (aka. Savage Fantasy) - Phillip-Lorca diCorca

My next stop on the road was in the same David Zwirner gallery as Pettibon, 'Street Hustlers' by Phillip-Lorca diCorca, a renowned photographer whose works sit somewhere between documentary and staged photography. His work really caught my photographic eye. I was especially drawn to two prints, "Gerald Hughes" and "Eddie Anderson". These two men are caught within a place and time and seemed to be a part of the scenery. 
The composition of each subject within their setting seemed to be very asymmetrical, yet at the same time had strong directional forces which kept my eye moving around for a long time. The subjects are scaled in the photograph in such a way that their surroundings seem to be just as important as the people themselves. All of the subjects in this exhibit are street hustlers who accept money to do a variety of entertainment activities for their clients. DiCorca propositioned these men for photographs and agreed to pay them their normal entertainment rate. I feel that this kind of photography is an excellent monetary investment because it includes this type documentary photo-journalism. In addition, diCorca captured the essence of a era, place, and face during a moment in our history which meant to me, a hundred years from now viewers would still have a diverse and colorful window into the past. These original photographic prints sell for $30,000 each and I believe would only increase in price towards the future. This is because each print is very poignant and describe a unique individual, time, and place; which is extremely important towards providing future value. The people of the future would also have to see worth in these images as I do, and I believe they would. These photographs would be hanging on my wall during the years for additional admiration and contemplation of their overall design and composition. Overall this exhibit was wonderful, as a photographer; I greatly admired his work. Each print was compositionally beautiful, with varied and interesting choices of scale, proportion, variety and emphasis.

"This Unfortunate Thing Between Us" - Phil Collins

On the other hand, after a few more stops along the 'gallery road' with my renewed sense of enjoyment towards the work after diCorca, I stumbled upon the Tanya Bonakdar gallery exhibiting work by installation artist Phil Collins. I was immediately impressed with the scale of the installations but was taken by surprise with its content. "This Unfortunate Thing Between Us" was a large installation piece which held two seemingly similar trailer homes. Viewers are asked to walk inside the space and experience what Collins has put forth, a large television screen with a bizarre German television show playing in the background. I was put-off by the plainness of the trailers and the absurdity of the television program. The second piece I came to was on the second floor, titled, "my heart's in my hand, my hand is pierced, and hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught". This piece was also very large, consisting of 6 large booths with turntables and records along the walls. I enjoyed the music, but thinking economically I would not buy these two pieces. The first piece is selling for $50,000 while the second on the third floor is selling for $25,000. I would not invest in buying these two pieces because of their sheer size, price, and the apparent subjectivity of the meaning which I believe future prospective buyers would not grasp and therefore have no demand t purchase it. If I had to buy them, they are extremely large installations and there is no apartment I would dare to buy, big enough to house these pieces, they would have to stay in storage. 

"my heart's in my hand, my hand is pierced, and hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught" - Phil Collins

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery:
Phil Collins
"This Unfortunate Thing Between Us"
2011
$50,000
Two channel video installation presented in caravans, color, sound on 60 min loop

Phil Collins
"my heart's in my hand, my hand is pierced, and hand's in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught"
2013
$25,000
Ten 7 inch vinyl records, listening booths, turntables, amplifiers and speakers

David Zwirner Gallery:
Phillip-Lorca diCorca
"Gerald Hughes (a.k.a. Savage Fantasy)" 
Southern California
1990-92
$30,000
Chromogenic print
30 3/4 x 43 3/8 inches (78.1 x 110.2 cm)

Phillip-Lorca diCorca
"Eddie Anderson" 
Houston, Texas
1990-1992
$30,000
Chromogenic print
23 3/4 x 35 3/8 inches (60.3 x 89.9 cm)

MoMA Reaction

                This first field trip immersed us in the world of modern art. However with our new found knowledge of critical analysis, we must explore the significance that each piece represents and no longer just admire the aesthetic beauty of a work of art. Each artist presents a form of identity to the viewer that is historically, personally, or culturally significant. It is understood that creating artist is a form of personal expression, but many pieces transcend this categorization and explore how these forms of identity can take shape in art.

               Frida Kahlo's "Fulang-Chang and I" (1937) is made with oil paint on composition board represents, a form of personal identity expressed into painting. This painting is a self-portrait of Kahlo and her pet monkey. The monkey was considered to be her surrogate child and reflects her personal issues of infertility. The closeness of the two figures implies a deep relationship and alludes to her desire for children. The piece includes depictions of the imperfections of her own features which describe her desire to convey a great understanding of her personal appearance; a very personal trait.

                Ben Shahn's "Handball" (1939), made with Gouache on Paperboard represents an aspect of historical identity. Handball was a very popular sport during the 1930-40s, which is reflected in the painting. The clothing that the players wear is indicative of that time period that has since past. The intensity of the players lend significance to the game itself, and its historical importance. The background buildings and advertisements give vague reminders of its place in history.

                Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" (1948) made with Tempera on Panel reflects a distinctly American cultural identity. Wyeth's cultural background is displayed by his choice of an arid farmland in Maine as the background. The choice of depicting a woman in the contemporary clothing facing away from the viewer towards the dusty farmhouses of the dust bowl era allude to its cultural significance. - this painting manages to depict a certain American farmland quality. It showcases a woman in the contemporary clothing facing towards dusty farmhouses of the dust bowl era. His choice of illustrating a polio stricken girl crawling through a field attempted to honor her conquest of life. Even though she has a debilitating illness that has significantly influence American culture during that period, Wyeth makes a narrative on the power of Christina.

                All three of these artworks share the fact that they were made during the 30s and 40s. However, their mediums are entirely different and exemplify the different aspects of nature they were attempting to capture. The significance of each piece is also apparent to me, although the displayed qualities of each aspect, historical, personal, and cultural. These essential qualities and ideas that stood out were the reasons I placed them into their respective categories.

Narrative Digital Collage

Have you ever had a dream you where you were traveling through the countryside? This collage depicts a really strange dream I had over the weekend, I was biking in the middle of nowhere and suddenly Cowboy Henk was the sun and he was speaking to me.
I chose the other parts of the collage to illustrate the overall wacky feel of my whole experience from then on. The depth and vanishing point of the road really stuck out, because of my feeling of traveling through the dream.

COLLAGE TIME!

Good Art and Bad Art?

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The Good
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1600 Chairs - Doris Salcedo

Party Wall @ MOMA PS1 - CODA

Sandy Skoglund - Revenge of the Goldfish

          In my opinion, 'good art' is art that inspires a response or reaction from the viewer, it can relate to anything in the viewers mind. This can be an idea, feeling, or story; what matters is that it is interesting enough to provoke questions, not necessarily answers. In this aspect I value many forms of artwork, as they all have a different method of transmitting this aspect of art. The most important values are that it makes you think, moves you, and inspires you. One art style that I have been most affected by are large installation pieces. The larger than human scale and relationship to the environment that they are set up in evoke a considerable response in me because of their size and presence in our environment. I value the vast array of shapes, colors, and mediums that are used in these pieces. The way in which this style can incorporate multiple mediums into itself, from; wood, canvas, glass, and metal to paper, image projections, paint, printing, and murals, is very important. A well designed and executed piece will often have a theme, story, or message; which is an essential facet of being considered 'good art'. Other forms of art also fall under this umbrella such as, classic/digital illustration, drawing (especially using perspective or vanishing point), sculpture, and contemporary and classical, oil or acrylic painting.

Adventure Time - Pendelton Ward

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The Bad
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                'Bad Art' in my view is any work that uses cliché or very direct messages that are sometimes 'too obvious'. I also feel that any work that appears as though it was completed in the span of a couple of minutes does not have enough of the artists 'work' to be considered 'good art'. I feel that if it fails to capture my attention or evoke a feeling or response in me it can be considered 'bad art'. This characterization can include any form of art but the most prevalent in my mind are, non-manipulated photography, minimalist painting, and some very abstract work. One example that sits in my mind is, taking a picture of a toilet and extrapolating meaning behind the art with a caption does not constitute 'good art'. The ideas presented must obvious enough be available to the viewer to interpret their own meaning but not too vague so that you can grasp what the artist meant to show you. I feel that if the ideas presented are too vague or too obvious, I lose interest and I am not able to have any feelings of awe or inspiration from them. In layman's terms; if the work does not have a message, feeling, idea, or story associated with it and is 'art' because the artists says it is art; that is 'bad art'.

           With both points of view I have to say that art on the whole is a very subjective medium of expression. Not one single artwork will relate to every single person, however I feel that on the whole, the vast majority of people can tell if the work is missing those pieces that I point out as relating to good art. This can be called the missing element, what matters is that it makes a statement and elicits a response in the viewer. For the reason Art exists at all is to let the artist express their own ideas and evoke something in others.