LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!!!

After our mapping assignment I decided the walker lights map was one that caught my eye as an interesting piece that raised several questions. Some of these questions I had the opportunity to ask during the final critique. The rest are newly formulated after looking at the piece again and again in recent days.
The Map i am doing displays the different works at the walker by the gender of the artist. Males get blue lights and females red lights. The piece is mounted on foam core. The foam core has little holes cut out of it where the lights are mounted through. The wiring and batteries are all on the back side of the piece which the viewer does not see. The foam core is painted black and has silver sharpie neatly outlining the walkers floor plan. The lights are placed accurately to where the actual pieces of art are located. The piece also comes with a little key to help the viewer clarify what is going on.
The piece covers the walkers first and second floor(galleries 1,2, and 3). At first glance the walker appears very sexist. Which brings the walker itself into question. There is only a light sprinkling of red amongst the see of blue. Only in one little crowded cluster of lights does it appear like the red and blue lights are equally represented. This area Is where the new contemporary pottery exhibit at the walker is located.
So why are the proportions of lights the way they are?
The majority of the walkers art is and has been collected over the last half century. Which explains why there are so few women in the rest of the galleries. Women did not go to art school or become artists very easily until very recently. These days it can even be argued that women will start to out number men in the art field. Just look at our classes here at CVA. So while the walker is filled with contemporary art. It is still art from long enough ago that social changes have occurred and changed the balance.

I enjoyed this piece. I found it appealing to the eye and I enjoyed the quality of craft put into it. The idea of using the lights is very ingenious and clever. The piece raises questions and invites you to look into it further. Its message is easily crossed to the viewer and is simple enough to keep my attention. The lights are good at attracting your attention even from across the room.
Overall I thought this was a well designed map

I SEE HAND PRINTS!!!

After our trip to the walker, I decided on the piece called Schuttbild by Herman Nitsch in 1963. My first reaction to the piece was interesting. It was one of the only pieces at the walker, that we looked at, that spoke to me. The way the paint lays on the canvas very closely resembles a blood splatter. When I looked a bit closer i noticed hand and possibly foot prints amid the 'blood'. It began to formulate stories in my head. Stories of violence and terror. I was hit by a feeling of mystery and curiosity about what happened. Of course I knew the piece was painted, but the stories still egg at the mind.
The piece was displayed in a section of art called Gutiea(sp) which seemed to be art that reflected the chaos and pain of post WWII Japan. A few of the pieces in there, including the Schuttbild. Were created in part by having a performance on top of the canvas in the paint. (Hence the foot and hand prints)
I was curious however, the tour guide described gutiea and the works as Japanese. Yet the Schuttbild, is a German piece by a German artist.
Over all I like this piece, even when it turned out to be not quite what I originally thought it was. It still speaks to me. Now it just has a less morbid feeling to it.

An interesteing day for the guy handing out cash.

After a trip to the Midway Contemporary art gallery I chose this piece to write about. Titled, "Not Sorry" by Nate Lowman, it was made in 2006 and raises many questions. To the everyday observer, it seems like nothing but a triple section of bullet proof glass that lived up to its name. But a closer look, some time, and a careful eye reveals other clues to not only what it may be, but they also start the mind on a path of stories to what could have happened. The question of whether this is authentic at all, is raised. Lowman could have constructed it himself. Either way it begs to tell a story. Yet so many versions are possible, which one to choose.
From my observations it is either a bank window or the window for the register at a racetrack. There are stickers decorating the windows. They lend themselves to the racetrack theory. One being a checker pattern after all. There is also a sticker with the words 'Not Sorry' on them, which help give the piece its name. Of course the title could also be referencing that the criminally who may have shot up the window was not sorry for his actions.

The middle of each pane of glass has a round hole cut in it where a comm. System is put so a person can talk from one side of the glass to the other. The base of the frame also has a groove cut away so cash can be exchanged between the two sides. In one of the panes, the voice box is missing so one can see how many of the thick panes of glass there are and how the bullet impacts affected them.

If we as observers let our minds wonder into the realm of tales and details. One might look at the staggered and random positioning of the 'bullet holes' suggesting frantic or amateur weapon firing. If one were to take the size of the impacts on the glass as a good indication of the size of the bullets, it could be concluded that the caliber of the rounds was fairly small. Here by one can narrow down the criminal's weapon and indeed with more back story on the piece the criminal him/herself.

Nate Lowman is does a lot of sculpture and instillations. His style includes a lot of little things that pull your mind in a certain direction. The stickers for example, also the bullet holes or the fact that its a bank teller and not a car window. Lowman studies Art at New York university and was influenced by artists like Andy Warhol, Richard prince, and Cady Noland. I did a bit of research on Lowman and he seems to be very concerned with communication. His art is all about expression. His pieces do a goos job of this. They make you think and set your mind on a wandering path. I encourage all of you to go look up some more of his work and see where it will take you.

The War room

(i could not get an image of a rifle from the MIA website and i didn't have a camera when we went there)
Imagine a room that is dimly lit. Two spotlights point to opposite sides of the room. On one side of the room is a rifle set upon a table. A flintlock like was used by early European colonists and military. It points to the opposite side of the room.
Facing it are five other weapons. Two Central African short swords, a Polynesian battle club, a Chinese sword from the Chou dynasty, and a Native American war club. All five lay facing the rifle. All five are on the floor.

I want it to symbolize the way history has played out in warfare. Many times you get the colonist from European countries going to a new land and making war on the natives. usually out numbered but with better weapons. The natives usually have numbers but out dated styles of warfare. Most of the time they find themselves on the losing end of the battle. Which is why the rifle is on a table and the rest lays on the ground.

Post modern perspective analysis

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The piece looks like somebody threw point at a piece of canvas. This piece is a prime example of modernist art. Its completely abstract and doesn't have any point to it. This is something a third grader could do, yet this piece will sell for a couple of thousand euros. It took no skill to create. It is also not original. You walk into a museum and half half the abstract art is the same, a bunch of paint blotches. The artist, who is unnamed, has created an aesthetically pleasing piece but it can hardly be called a work of art.

Art takes time and skill. Something that was not needed in this piece. The piece also passes along very little emotion. Just colors on a canvas. with no order or form its a chaotic collection of dropped paint. Its not even done in a way to suggest any kind of pattern or form. there is no unity, no repetition, and no continuation.