Claire Seidl- I loved her photography. I think long exposures is such a unique idea that stretches the rules in such a great way, artistically. I loved how spooky all of her photos looked with only hints of people and solid backgrounds. I thought it was very interesting also how she made so many connections to her paintings through her photography as she was talking to us.
OK Harris- This place was very traditional as far as art galleries go. I think it was a good place to start, as the galleries got less traditional as we moved on. I think the diverse works of art was probably the most interesting. I feel like more often than not, there was a room full of a certain theme--with one or two works that didn't fit the category so the placement was off-putting.
Broken Kilometer- I loved this exhibit.
Definitely the most interesting thing about it was the way we all reacted when we saw it. As soon as we walked in, everyone got quiet, almost as if we were paying our respects to it. There was also a sense of vertigo I felt just looking at it. It felt like I was in front of a massive optical illusion because of there placement and luminosity.
New York Earth Room- I liked De Maria's idea of putting the outside inside. I remember hearing about this a few semesters ago. I believe Sandy (sculpture) told my class about it. When I walked in thought I knew what I was in for, but once I saw it I was surprised to see that it was so simple in theory yet the scale of it made it a significant piece of work.
El Anatsui, Jack Shainman Gallery-I loved his idea of taking the smallest piece of what most would call junk and creating masterpieces out of them. This style is right up my alley, as I love the idea of "one man's trash..." I enjoyed how they hung too and I liked that every time they were moved to a new gallery, they were hung differently because of how pliable they were. It made what I was seeing even more one-of-a-kind than it already was.
Jonathan Levine Gallery- This was the most contemporary of the galleries with more pop art than anything else. I thought the diversity was interesting and learning about all the different artists and their back-stories was really cool. I think the most interesting thing was contrary to OK Harris, the pieces were all in their own category so every room seemed like a haphazard, in a good way, collection of paintings and other works.
The Independent I liked the idea of these huge expos/galleries. I liked the crazy atmosphere of everyone walking around and taking it all in. I was doing a lot of people watching in here and really soaking in what this "artist's life" was really all about.
Pulse- This was really awesome and probably my favorite site we visited while on the trip. Again, I was people watching and taking note of how the representative of each booth was handling their visitors. It put it into perspective how the New York artist lived and worked to make a name for him oe herself.
2. What was the most unexpected thing seen or discussed?
Claire Seidl- I enjoyed when she opened up to us and told us how her painting made her cry. I love when artists works evoke emotion in me and especially the artist who created it. My favorite piece of hers was the photo of the chair with the seemingly impossible shadow. That was very awesome that her photo came out that way without her intention of capturing anything other than just a long exposure of the porch.
Chelsea galleries I liked hearing all the info about the artists backgrounds from Renee and Paul. It made me look at their work differently. I don't think any topic stood out over any other, but I loved Renee and Paul. They seemed like great, down to earth people. When we were about to meet them I had the cliche snobby art dealer idea in my head and i thought they were going to be rather stuffy and uninteresting but I was thankfully pleasantly surprised! OK harris had a lot of nice paintings but my favorite was the wire hanging on the wall that cast a shadow of a man. I think the work that went into that exceeded a lot of art I've seen!
My favorite piece from El Anatsui was the large piece in the back. I loved the way it was hung and the subtle blue in the corner. It looked almost silky.
Jonathan Levine- I really liked these...
Independent- This place was full of unexpected work. I think what really got my attention was the De Lorean. I never would have expected to be standing in an art gallery in New York in front of the Back to the Future car! :)
Pulse- I chose as my five artists, Jeremy Dean: Back to the Futurama, Clifton Childree: Gluttony Gun, Laurent Craste: Iconocraste a la barre a clou, Markus Linnenbrink: EVILEYES(PAINTINGBACKWORDS), and Daniel Gonzalez: Bed Machine. Each piece caught my eye for different reasons. When I think back to the pulse show, these are the ones that immediately come to mind.
3. Can you imagine yourself in this profession? If so, what do you like the most about it? If not, why?
I do not see myself dedicating so much of my time to showing my work in expos and living in the city. However, I'd love to show my work in galleries and live in a great studio like Claire had. Unfortunately I was a little turned off by the people (but not the work!) in the Independent and Pulse because in order to make it as an artist, there is a level of confidence you must have about your work. With this in mind, I kept assuming (I know, it's awful) that everyone at those places thought they were better than us because they were deemed an artist somewhere along the way and we were just students and I don't ever want a student someday to assume I am that way. I also do not like the city lifestyle and experienced a huge culture shock. I think my goal is to have a art related career, not to become an "artist."
4. Additional observations and comments:
I loved the Rickshaw driver, Falafel, and the tile on the first floor of the Independent! :)
Excellent summary of the day and glad you were receptive to so many things we saw.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the "snobby art world demeanor" you picked up on...yes, there is a lot of posturing in the art world, particularly at a fair atmosphere like PULSE, but I think it only extends so far. Once you actually talk to artists (i.e. Claire, Renee, Paul) the pretensions usually subside. Then again, Andy Warhol used that very thing as his subject matter!