I found the Gillian Wearing video to be very interesting. It was definitely disturbing but I liked how it developed through the four minute duration. At first, the viewer is not exactly sure who the woman is, or why she is speaking that way and we cannot really find that out until we are introduced to what we believe to be are her children. The mother and the two twin boys being interviewed about each other does provide an interesting lens for portraiture. I liked how the video art in this case really tested your expectations. The sons seem “cute” and the mother seems like an average mother, but they did have some disturbing things to say about each other. The boys really seem to be very poorly behaved and extremely rude to their mother, but the mother also does not necessarily seem to be the greatest mother. I liked this angle because it is not your typical portrait of one person describing themselves, but a person in close relation instead. The child perspective was also very interesting. The fact that she switched the voices was a little bit “Freaky Friday”, but it also reminded me of the “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” adage. It definitely makes you think about how you are seen by the people who you think would know you and love you the best. The artists intention here is to challenge this notion.
I was immediately drawn to Cory Arcangel piece because of it’s relation to music. Paganini is an artist and musician who was greatly lauded for being one of kind; he had a great singularity about him because no one else could match his talents. The artists intention in this piece is to challenge that singularity. Even now in the 21st century, with instruments like the electric guitar that Paganini himself could have never fathomed, musicians can play his piece in a way that is equally as virtuosic if not more innovative. Arcangel’s collage seems to me to be taken form the thousands of tutorial or cover videos posted to YouTube, reminding me of the phrase “dime a dozen”, which is totally antithetical of Paganini’s intention.