Lecture

The lecture on Thursday was definitely interesting. I found it hard to relate to the speaker, but I did enjoy his work. My favorite parts of his work were his paintings and his black and white sculptures. They were definitely the style I'm interested in. I also enjoyed his sense of design and aesthetic. However, I wasn't as impressed with the videos. Yes, they were interesting in terms of transformation and how they seemed to create complex abstract imagery through realized images, but simultaneously, I didn't feel like it was his original work. I more saw them as funky spoofs of these various videos. If he had taken his own videos and manipulated them, it would have been much more interesting. I was inspired by some of his work, but he wasn't necessarily my favorite artist.

MFA Show

When I first walked through this show, I was extremely confused. I honestly thought that it wasn’t worth my time to be there. There were things that I was definitely interested in, and some of them I thought were well done in terms of craft and how they were put together. However, I couldn’t understand the concept and content it was trying to present the viewer. From what I saw, it was a bunch of random objects that were put together in odd forms and center in a room lined with sparse amounts of photos. However, when I looked at it further and took a closer look throughout the entire show, the pieces began to fit better together. It actually helped watching the video first. Some lines popped out from the video like, “I’m tucking you in… Don’t fail me.” This spoke to me more than the random objects I had seen before, because the words “Don’t fail me” I relate to. Listening to that and seeing the images throughout made me think of the idea of love versus lust and the fragility of it all… The disappointment amidst the chance and hope for success… It all seemed to manifest in my mind, because it’s something I struggle with personally. Then when I looked through the show again, I began to notice different things that related to this concept. The marble with the pit made me think of a void, something that was missing, and the candle wax made me think of romance. So the pair makes me think of the void and emptiness left by romance. I’m not sure what the paper had to do with it, and I’m not even sure if it was meant to be there. The photos and such made me think of lust and the complications of attraction and love. And the photo hanging loosely on the wall signifies the fragile situation, the thought that maybe it will drop and come undone in moments. The objects and their placement also began taking textual forms. For example, the wire actually spelled out the text/technological version of I love you forever (I <3 u 4e). this almost undermines the actual value of the phrase, just like the text version does. The whole show just spoke to me about this topic, and the placement of the objects almost forces you to truly reflect on it while walking in and walking out.

5 x 5 Matisse Pattern Drawing

Way to Go Disney.

When I went to see this piece for a second time, the experience was a bit different than the first. Somehow, though, it reminded me of when I saw it a few months ago in art history. I definitely spent more time there than I had the first time, mostly because I did not have to work on extra classwork or ridiculous assignments that I could honestly care less about. This time, I spent time just sitting there and admiring the piece without as much concern for needing time to make it to the modern art section or the Greek sculpture segment of the museum. Last time, I remember feeling almost hopeful about the piece. I felt as if it had captured the essence of what truth and love and the sacrifice of oneself to another was. However, maybe due to current circumstances, I felt differently this time. I felt almost sad. I felt like the statue, while still capturing that essence was almost a lie. One thought that came to mind in that instance was the effect of a Disney movie. As a child, we all remember being bombarded by these movies and stereotypical views on love, fairytales, and the happily ever after. I know that I personally loved the princess movies, as any typical girl would. My favorite was Beauty and the Beast. You could put that movie on at any time, and I’d be sitting there mesmerized by the screen. It was pathetic but fantastic in other ways. However, after watching the princess movies, I somehow formulated that typical view of love and that life will be a fairytale where everything will work out and there will be that happily ever after in the end. But after looking at this piece, I started realizing that maybe it is not true. Nothing in reality is perfect or always happy, and even if there might be happy, there will not be a perfect happy ending in which my prince and I ride off into the sunset followed by chirping, cartoon birds and making our way to the palace. Because after all, I’m bound to be a princess. Life is not like that. It’s hard, it’s lonely, and most of all, it’s a journey. Those fairy tales were a lie, and looking at this sculpture, I realized that all of my views on love and how one day I’ll find “the one” and live happily ever after was pretty much complete crap. At first I just began to doubt it. I thought life doesn’t work that way. Not everyone will find someone that they will end up married with 4 children, living in the suburbs, eventually having grandchildren and celebrating their 75^th wedding anniversary still madly in love. Welcome to the twenty-first century... Now, I’m not saying it’s not possible. It definitely is. I’m just stating that I would rather not believe it and live with lower expectations. I’ve come to hate the disappointment I experience every time someone lets me down. So instead, I will be, to be corny, the master of my own fate. Now, staring at the statue I started remembering how I felt when I saw it last and how it seemed perfect. Then, after spending much more time with it and drawing it, I began to realize its imperfections. I saw how ambiguous some areas of the piece were. The hand is oddly huge and almost begins to consume the woman. The details of the face are lost and areas where the body meets the stone become general and lost as if they dissolve into the rock. This almost verified the idea that something I saw and thought was perfect truly wasn’t. Everything has flaws, though some may be small enough to be overlooked. This statue almost proved to me that something beautiful can still exist, but we need to stop believing that there won’t be an imperfection or two along the way. Stop living in a delusion and start living in the moment when we can clearly observe our surroundings and acknowledge some truths that we may have avoided previously. It’s amazing, but I almost feel as if this sculpture evoked some kind of epiphany in my response just based on when I went to visit it. And I can say that I’m glad it did.