Here – from the class blog entries – are some examples of stronger writing that analyzes works of art. Take the in-depth approach used in these excerpts below when you formulate an interesting question of your classmates work for the interview and how to consider works of art referenced in texts, galleries, and links online. Think of this too when you go to write a statement on your work or an artist statement. Some great work below!
On Christian Marclay:
“The first 2 minutes comprise of clips of people dialing the telephone. The characters were not even talking, but we can see that each of them show a bit of emotion. I believe Marclay used this to open his narrative, not just as a device to show a chronological structure, but to ready the audience for a flood of emotions that is about to happen.”
“…Almost as if the conversation continued through the following different clip/location/movie. I found it interesting that there is elements of anticipation, relief, and anxiety.”
On Cory Arcangel:
“Cory Arcangel’s Paganini 5th Caprice, in a way, is similar to Marcla’s Telephones. Both videos are compilations of different clips from different videos. Arcangel’s video, however, is pieced together to create an actual music (Paginini’s 5th Caprice) from different guitar tutorials found on the internet (the songs used were not specified). Each note is a snippet from the guitar tutorials creating this mesmerizing and dizzying visual effect.”
“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.”
On Nauman/Burden:
“Bruce Nauman’s Pinch Neck used the senses to invite the viewer stimulate the [sensory] feelings [of] the subject created in the video. Chris Burden Shoot was similar in that his piece [recreated] a past event so his viewers could feel it happen through his piece.”
“Bill Viola’s Acceptance and Chris Burden’s Shoot both use the element of shock in performance art to express their intention of demonstrating people willfully submitting to pain. Viola utilizes the shock of nudity and getting doused with (presumably) freezing cold water. On the other hand, Burden utilizes the shock of violence and being shot with a gun. However, this is not done just for pure shock value. Why demonstrate people willfully submitting to pain? Well while their execution may vary slightly, both Viola and Burden intend to illuminate the resilience of the human spirit.”
“…In Shoot, Burden subjects himself to being shot. First, he builds anticipation by narrating the video itself. Hearing him talk with the knowledge of what’s about to happen creates a sense of uneasiness. The build-up is further intensified by almost all of the action happening off screen, leaving the viewer with just captioned audio and a black background. The thrill culminates with the 8 second video clip of “Bruce” shooting him in the arm. Unlike Viola’s Acceptance, Burden is the subject of his own shocking performance art. His acceptance of the pain and suffering of a gunshot wound shows true grit. This objective is further illuminated by his calm narration that one would not expect from someone talking about being shot.”
On Peter Campus:
“Three transitions, in my opinion, is the pure understanding of the self as an interpretation. The man in the video goes through three different transitions, all three that seem to convey an idea of who he is in actuality. The first transition portrays the notion of ripping out of a version of him that he is familiar with only to reveal a new version that seems to be the same. The second transitions involves him wiping his face to reveal the image of his face again. The final transition is burning of a mirror image of him that leaves behind nothing.”
On Pipilotti Rist:
“Something that i found really interesting about this video is how when it came to the editing, she saturated the video which made the red tones more vibrant but then again she also added some type of blue or green filter that cooled down the not so brighter and cooler colors. Although, the tones of her surroundings are highly saturated when it comes to her face, the colors are somewhat dull. Something else that i found really intriguing is the fact that the entire time she’s looking straight at the camera which would want to make you lock eyes with her but then again on her forehead there’s some type of light that’s projecting a different video with what it seems to be a male figure.”
On TJ Demos text:
“Clock time differs from lived duration; historical and cultural conditions – such as living in a convent – affect the perception of time, which has long occupied artistic practice.” This quote by T.J. Demos in “A Matter of Time” fascinates me. While it may seem obvious at first, it makes me a realize a concept that many people fail to notice. The perception of time is everything and everyone experiences time differently. Time perception is a field of study within psychology and neuroscience that refers to the subjective experience of time. It is measured by one’s own understanding of the duration of the indefinite unfolding of events. Furthermore, this concept brings to mind one of my favorite movies: Inception. In the film, time moves much more slowly in deeper “dream within a dream” levels. Minutes spent in a lower level translates to hours in an upper level.”
On Sala:
“Anri Sala’s fourth floor exhibition features two screens each displaying a different point of view. Both points of view only show his hand/ hands playing the piano in sync with the music we hear. I initially thought that he was trying to convey how the “truth” and reality is difficult to capture, as it is hard to figure out which video was supposed to be the one actually visually recording him playing the music we hear. In other words, I questioned which video was more “authentic”. I realized that it was futile to determine which one was authentic since the music seemed to be a final edit of an orchestra performance, and that it was more likely that the artist simply visually recorded himself playing the same piece, without ever recording the music he was actually playing. This made sense after I read the curator’s writing about his work: how he was influenced by his native country’s tyrannical government and their rewriting of history. Perhaps Anri Sala wanted to portray how reality is hardly ever recorded accurately.”
“I loved how the skull and drums portion of the exhibit portrayed how so many people live life “marching to the drums of the masses” until they eventually die. What made it most creative was the use of bones as drumsticks (no pun intended) which created a beat with only thin strings from the ceiling. The strings also added a puppeteer-feeling to the exhibit. The drums and skulls were neatly displayed in a square on one side of the floor so when you walk away you leave thinking that piece is over. However, anyone who has a watchful eye will notice that it continues, as the artist display several more drum sets, complete with moving bone drumsticks, on the ceiling”
“I really enjoy when artists are able to present and at some cases disguise important societal issues with art. Some may be straight forward, some may not. I think the way in which Sala organized his exhibition on all three floors and the ways in which he placed each video on every floor was made us have a different perspective or kind of throw us off and wonder why these videos are all put together in here. But as you would go from floor to floor i came to realize that although all videos were different from one another they all connect as a whole and and way as i perceived it was kind of like the three floors were different layers of a frame and it could be understood as inner layer, a medium layer and an outer layer. I really thought that the precise syncing of his audio with his visuals is what made his work so captivating.” Beautiful….BUT WAIT I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE WHOLE YOU REFER TO IS!!!
“I ended up watching Mr. Ansala’s earlier works, a documentary called Intervista. The documentary also deals with sound, or lack thereof. In this documentary, Ansali found his mother’s old film as a leader of the Communist Youth Alliance. The film did not have any sound so he asked for the help of deaf-mute lip readers to uncover her mother’s words. The way her mother reacted to the words that she said a long time ago is very compelling. She could not believe that she said those kind of things….
This documentary played well with the concept of time and our memory. Nobody in the documentary could remember what happened or what was said but the only thing that was able to preserve this moment in time was the film.”
On Tacita Dean:
“What I liked particularly was Tacita Dean’s work “Presentation Sisters.” What I like about this work is the duality of metaphorically and literally representing religion in society. Dean’s representation does not feel heavy handed or annoying, the way most metaphors do. I also like that instead of just “symbolizing” her topic, she is really making a statement about the antiquated nature of the style of these nun’s lives and how it is mirrored in our society. She also acts the role of documentarian and her subject matter is interesting.”
On Donegan:
“Cheryl Donegan’s work, to me, comments on the inability of a person to have a difficult conversation about the ways in which the constant evolution of the arts influences the current culture. If these difficult conversations are had, almost immediately perspectives on art concepts that are taken too literally are revealed across various media (scenes and commercials), so much so, that they become monotonous. Moreover, she uses visual representation to nearly accurately depict the effects of not having these conversations or taking “art” too literally. Her visual representations allow you to reflect on the current culture on a whole and why it is seemingly difficult to differentiate one type of media from another.”