Week 3 art - Magazine Rack. Holds twenty.
Because I have not been able to help take out the recycling, I felt sorry for my husband and decided to reduce the load by using some of what was in the bin for this week's art.

Week 3 posts

Art

The Stuckists are an anti-postmodernity movement. They propose instead Remodernity, to reapply the principles of Modern Art, highlighting spirituality rather than formalism.  They do not believe that a urinal is art. They feel that art has taken a wrong turn when it abandoned a dedication to human issues and want to bring some form of God back into art. While I may not agree with all of their principles, I concur that art has taken a wrong turn somewhere. Damien Hirst’s art is a good example of what I think is wrong. A shark in formaldehyde is a wonderful example of natural process but is not art. And his dot paintings, of which there are thousands, mostly made by assistants, are nothing to me more than interesting wallpaper. Perhaps Martha Stewart could put them in her home decorating line. Yet he makes millions of dollars on what he puts forth as art. I do not begrudge Damien Hirst the money but I prefer art that has a soul, some of the spirit of the artist in it. If Hirst’s art expresses his spirit, then he must be at heart a cynical smart ass, from what I can see.

http://www.stuckism.com/stuckistmanifesto.html#manifest

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/arts/design/damien-hirsts-spot-paintings-at-gagosian-in-eight-cities.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Thinking

I can’t cite an online reference, but to quote from Francis Collins’ book The Language of God,  “For those who argue that materialism should be favored over theism, because materialism is simpler and more intuitive, these new concepts [6 flavors of quarks, each of which has three colors, rather than simply neutrons and protons, are the particles of existence] present a major challenge….Today Occam’s Razor [that the simplest explanation is usually the best] appears to have been relegated to the Dumpster….” The explanations that work the best are mathematical and thus are not available to the understanding of most of us. Thus many people turn to a Higher Being and say that he is the reason things are so. For Nietsche’s Übermensch, explanation would not be necessary as he will just embrace the particles as the way things are and will not need a resolution of why they are that way. I think this is grossly simplified but is the way I currently understand this concept. For the Übermensch, it is not having it all make sense that makes life worth living. It is what it is and one revels in that without sense or reward.

Social change – 2 posts related to Lee Mun Wah’s presentation

The questions that Lee Mun Wah poses are key for us to confront why we don’t talk more about race. I think of myself as not racist but I think in all honesty we all have biases that are hard to admit to, especially to people of another race. By this time of my life I would like to think that my prejudices have less to do with race than with other factors, e.g. I can’t understand the fashion for having one’s pants hanging so low that you have to use one hand to keep them from sliding around your ankles. I dislike this style whether it is a white or person of color wearing it. Perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in this regard was when, in art history class, I referred to some figures in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights as Negroes. I did this after some thought, thinking that the figures were meant to be of the Negroid race. (Why I didn’t just say black figures, since that is what color they were, I don’t know. I definitely overthought this.)  Another student in the class gave me a daggers look when I said this and after class she came up to me and said that she was very uncomfortable with my use of the word Negroes. I apologized and said that if we had been talking about something current I never would have used that word and that I appreciated her speaking to me about how she felt. Later on in the semester we saw each other in the library and joked about the papers we were writing. No hard feelings because she spoke up when the issue first arose. Talking does help.

http://www.stirfryseminars.com/letsgetreal/

News: Oui, je parle français. Wanna make something of it?
On last night’s All Things Considered there was a discussion about how speaking another language fluently ahs become a liability for political candidates. As if it is an issue at all. Kennedy obviously didn’t speak German when he announced, “I am a jelly doughnut” (“ Ich bin ein Berliner.”) but everyone appreciated his willingness to try, as did the Italians we met this summer in our travels. When we tried to ask for things in Italian we invariably got complemented, not that we spoke good Italian but that we cared enough to try. NPR let out that Obama speaks Indonesian. Don’t spread that around – who knows what the wackos will make of it?

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=146062632&m=146062627

week 2 artwork

This week's artwork - title: Superstar.  Inspiration was a piece of metal I found on the ground after Wednesday's class and a wad if wire in my studio.

Excuse the busy background as it was not possible to set up a better photo shoot while on crutches.

Week 2 posts

Art:http://artandperception.com/2009/10/sloppy-craft-its-getting-interesting.html
The author of this blog quotes artist Ann Wilson who suggests that the word sloppy is used as a sound bite, that it means concentrating on technique as it helps further the art rather than just to produce a finely crafted object. Artists are taking up craft when they need it for their art, rather than learning a craft as an end in itself. The rawness of the work, while not constituting fine craft, may well make it fine art if the rawness contributes to expressing the artist's idea. The quilter Sarah Mary Taylor from Yazoo City, Mississippi, has said that she is not interested in neatness in her stitching. The stitches are only of use insofar as they hold together the pieces that she is using to create her idea. When I am creating a piece I often follow this precept, of doing just what it takes to get the work done, because in the creative moment I just don't care what my stitches look like on the back. This may be a part of the distinction between art and craft which has bothered craftspeople for so long. More about this in later posts, undoubtedly.
  Photo of a Taylor quilt from http://www.gordongallery.net

Thinking: http://www.unfitnews.com/authors/RJga01blurbs.html

Why are we here? How did we get here? What is the nature of the universe? Do we really matter? Does it matter what we do?  These questions come to mind now and then and finding out about the creation of the universe and its ever-expanding nature answers nothing. It just causes more mind-bending thought. The universe is so large and is just one of so many universes that, from that perspective, we don’t matter at all. What is art? Does it matter? Not in the time frame of the universe, not in the vastness that is all of existence. And how did it all start anyway? When the scientists scale the peak and see the theologians sitting on the other side, what have they learned? That God exists? But if the original universe was created from nothing, how could God have been there to create it? Is God nothing? This kind of thought can give me a headache. On the other hand, when problems  overwhelm me, these thoughts make me realize my insignificance and that is comforting. It really doesn't matter.

Social change: New country old violence

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/africa/south-sudan-massacres-follow-independence.html?hp

Violence has erupted again in South Sudan less than 6 months after the elections which created this new country. The tribes that forged a coalition in order to create the new country have realized that this doesn't mean they like each other. It seems to be in the nature of humans to like to be around people like themselves. The very sad thing is that this results so often in intolerance for the unlike. The Nuer and the Murle did not invent racial bias. It was not invented in the Southern United States after the Civil War. It seems to some extent to be a condition of human nature. As individuals we can easily overcome this intolerance but as a society it seems to be not so easy. The United States cannot be called post-racial yet. I wonder if it ever will be?

Is this interesting only to me?

Before I post for week two of class, I need to think about why I create. Often materials rather than concepts drive me. I see yarn, it suggests a garment. I see bridge undersides, they suggest fabric that I might create. I am given a yarn I would never ordinarily use and I try to come up with a use for that yarn that makes it more than  the plastic that it is, that transcends the ordinary I guess would be a more artsy way to express it. I have an urge to create something when I see rusty pieces of metal. I don't always know what that will be when I collect them but they tease me with their suggestiveness. Why do I do this? I like producing things. I like baking bread too. I like having something I can look at at the end of the day and say I made this. I am not driven to express great truths or to confront controversy with the things that I create. Do I need to have a concept beyond creating something pleasing to my eye? Whether what I create is art or not remains to be seen and I hope, by the end of this class, to be able to answer that.

Week one posts

Art of discomfort –The Music of Scott Walker                 . 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEYWGQMqC74 This is a link to the documentary 30 Century Man.
            I knew of Scott Walker as a pop music heartthrob in the Carnaby scene in England in the sixties. “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” seemed overdramatic but I loved it anyway, in part because he was so cute! And that voice was compelling. I forgot about him until today when I found a documentary on tv about him. Apparently he didn’t care about being a pop icon. He just wanted to write music. The music that Scott Walker is creating now is not what I remember from the sixties. I do not normally listen to music like this but, because it was in the context of the documentary, I did and it is lingering in my mind.
            The music is not always comfortable to listen to with its silences and dissonances. A comment was made that in a particular guitar passage you couldn’t tell if the instrument was in tune or out of tune. It seemed to be both at the same time.  One piece evokes Scott’s memory of seeing the hanging bodies of Mussolini and his cohorts in newsreels when he was too young to know what he was seeing. The music is emotional. He demands of his musicians that they share in the emotion. They all must live the feeling. This is not comfortable stuff. He is compared to Francis Bacon. I get it. He has been an influence to people like David Bowie, Radiohead, and many others. I don’t know why he wants to write music like that but, with my growing understanding of my own artistic impulses, I appreciate that he does it.

What is art?
http://www.aristos.org/aris-04/lansing1.htm
            Re Kenneth Lansing’s discussion of the need for a definition of art, I concur that if we want to talk about art we need to know what it is. His definition is open-ended enough to include just about all that we might want to talk about; my only quibble is that he says that the work of art, be it beautiful or ugly, must be “inoffensive to perception.” Does this mean that it should not physically hurt to look at it? This is imprecise use of language. But I do agree that art must be defined if we are to be able to discuss it. There are many definitions of what art is and isn’t and it doesn’t matter which one we use as long as it is clear in the discussion. I have no problem with multiple definitions of art. I see art in abandoned buildings, though the creator of the buildings had no intention that they be anything of the sort. I see art in black walnut hull pieces left by squirrels on my deck railing. I see art in the Mona Lisa. I do not claim that all three are art by the same definition.  By the end of the semester I hope have a  clearer personal definition of art.

All the news fits in the 24 hour news age
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/us/politics/cast-as-romneys-victim-gaffney-sc-says-huh.html?ref=politics
What is newsworthy? Merriam Webster dictionary definition is “interesting enough to the general public to warrant reporting.” What is news? According to the same source, it is a report of recent events, previously unknown information, something having a specified effect (as in, “The rain is good news for gardeners.”), material reported in a news venue, or matter that is newsworthy. Are these endless discussions of the GOP debates and primaries really news? Yes, as they are recent events. Are they really newsworthy? To some extent, but not to the extent that people belabor them. Because of 24 hour news, pundits proliferate and use any excuse to run their mouths. For a news show, having talking heads is less expensive than actually sending people out to report the news. If I had any hope that we could learn about candidates from these debates, that would be one thing. But they seem to be nothing but lies, misrepresentations of the truth, personal attacks, and promises with no ideas to back them up, not to mention fear mongering. Speaking of which, is Iran’s potential nuclear capability news? (See Daily Show link) I would love to hear news that matters, that may actually have an effect on me or at least that has an effect on someone and is not just an excuse for pundits and candidates to spout off. Words are cheap.

If life really did imitate knitting how would it be?
It would be repetitive, soothing, satisfying. It would have background noise of the constant slipping of loops through loops, upon which the rest of life could go on. There would be a continuity to it. This is not to say that life is not these things, but rather to say that these are what knitting is to me.