MASS MoCA

For our museum visit, we went to MASS MoCA. The artist whose work I enjoyed the most was Sol Lewitt. His work took up an entire building of three floors. His work was called "A Wall Drawing Retrospective". Each wall was designed differently using different lines, colors, and shapes. This was very overwhelming in my opinion because I felt surrounded and the colors clashed, making it difficult to look at. I found it very interesting that he did not actually paint any of the walls. He left directions and had students come in and create the walls. These walls were finally completed by 65 art students in 6 months. This exhibit opened in November of 2008 and is to remain open for 25 years until 2033.

This video shows the artists creating one of the walls. The wall they are working on in this video is called "Whirls and Twirls". When this was being created, the artists needed to make sure that two strips of the same color never touched, so they color coded each section using post-its.
http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=27



Here are some pictures that I had taken on the visit:

MASS MOCA VISIT

                We went to MassMoca and looked at many exhibits.  My favorite was Material World: Sculpture to Environment.  This exhibit included many rooms in which there were sculptures made up of different materials.  Each artist used a different material to create a sculpture that took up the entire room.  I enjoyed this exhibit the best because each room was like its own world and the sculptures were not on pedestals like sculptures usually are.  This exhibit gave me a new definition for what sculpture means.  All the rooms were connected which adds to the cohesiveness of the exhibit.  Different artists collaborated on this exhibit and each used a different material to make his sculpture.  For example, Michael Beutler used aluminum, wood, brushes and weights while Orly Genger used red rope.  Also, materials such as paper, spotlights, plastics, and fans were used by the other artists that contributed to the exhibit.  My favorite section of the exhibit was Orly Genger’s which was constructed using red rope.  I enjoyed this section the best because it was simple and reminded me of waves and sand at the beach.  The first picture below is a picture of his room in the exhibit.  The next pictures are Alyson Shotz (Fresnel lens sheets, silvered glass beads, stainless steel wire), Michael Beutler (Aluminum, wood, brushes, weights), and Dan Steinhilber (sheeting, fans, and twine)

Banksy

We looked at several pieces of artwork in class by Banksy. Banksy was a very interesting English grafitti artist. He used interesting techniques to create comedy through grafitti art. In several of his pieces, he uses cartoon characters. For example, one of his pieces is a billboard with a painting of mickey mouse and minnie mouse on it. In another piece, he painted Charlie Brown on a wall outside of an abandoned building. His website http://www.banksy.co.uk/ shows several of his pieces, including indoor art and outdoor art. I find his outdoor pieces to be more interesting than the indoor pieces.

         

Digital Art

In today’s society it is difficult to talk about any subject without discussing how it has been affected by the digital age.  This is true in the art world as well.  Art has been greatly affected by the surge in the use of digital media.  In today’s society the internet and other forms of media have made art more accessible to the public since it is no longer necessary to visit a gallery or museum in person in order to see a particular piece of art.  Also, the digital age has brought about a new medium in which art can be created.  Some artists prefer the use of a computer and make digital images on the screen to drawing or sculpting objects.  Furthermore, the use of digital cameras has allowed artists to make sure they have the shots they need in order to complete their work before leaving a photo shoot.  Below are some examples of digital art. 

Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft works of art are interesting because each performance she puts on spurs many other pieces if art.  This is due to that fact that each performance has video recordings and photographs taken which can be exhibited as separate pieces of art.  Her work is a fusion of conceptual issues and concerns focusing primarily on performance art.  Each performance is made specifically for that location and often references the political, historical, or social associations of the place where it is held.  I really like that her work is simply which leaves much up to the viewer for interpretation causing the viewer to ask themselves thought provoking questions about what they truly believe.  Below are some of the pieces of hers that I found particularly interesting. 

Conceptual Art & Fred Wilson

I enjoyed looking at the work of Fred Wilson and other conceptual artists.  This is a form of at that is more about the idea of the piece and less about the execution.  The artist can lay out their ideas for the concept in step by step instructions that can carried through by anyone.  The main artist highlighted in class was Fred Wilson.  He is most known for his tear drop collection piece.  It was most interesting to see him put this piece together in the video we watched.  The individual process that each artist goes through to create their individual pieces amazes me.  There are so many different techniques that can be used and in this class we got to look at and determine our own feelings toward each different technique.  There are many more than discussed but I am definitely more aware of the different types of visual art.  I included some different conceptual art pieces that I thought were interesting.  The first is Fred Wilson’s piece.  The second and third are variations on the same concept of three different chairs.  This is by the artist Joseph Kosuth. 

Why You Should Buy Art

Today in class, we looked a piece of art called, "Why You Should Buy Art" by William Powhida. I thought that this was a very interesting piece. This piece is a sheet of notebook paper that lists 26 different reasons why a person should purchase art. I found it to be very interesting because many of the reasons are very creative and ones that most people would not think of. It is also very interesting how most words are written with a black outlining, making the words white. There are several words, however, that are written in a different color to make the word pop. This piece can be bought from the website http://www.20x200.com/ for a price between $20 and $200. I also found this website to be very interesting. The products on this site are exclusive, limited-edition pieces of art. They are also museum quality and come with a certificate of authenticity that is signed by the artist. The proceeds made from this site directly support the artists.