A Look at the Last Lecture

For my last day of lecture, professor O'Brien took us to a gallery show of Chelsea Thmpto. This is less an analysis and more of a look back at this class.

Throughout this semester, I have been through some ups and downs with professor O'Brien's class. I praise her for trying her best to help everyone understand contemporary art for it is no easy task. Nonetheless, she soldiers on and does her best to inform her students with the knowledge they need. With that said, I am happy to say that professor O'Brien  made me see the world in a way that I didn't before. I didn't get the most stellar grades on my quizzes, but her feedback was very valuable for helping me understand the artworks.  Even on the last day, Professor O'Brien was busy socializing with her students to help them understand the work of Chelsea Thompto better.

 I will say that I really enjoyed this class and I met some interesting characters that were very pleasant to talk to such as my classmates Delbert and Samantha. They always had something very witty to say that always managed to put a smile on my face. They were also very talented and quite knowledgeable in their respective fields. With their advice and colorful personalities, it helped ease the burden of class during the toughest moments.

Despite saying this post is more of a retrospective of class, it would be uncharacteristic of me to not share my opinion and thoughts on Thimpto's works. In the quickest and shortest summary I can muster, being a transgender individual must be quite the challenge. Her art of creating a language in code is appropriate when paralleled to her hardships. When it comes to sexuality, most people disregard any point made whether they are good or not. It ends up similar to speaking a language that only you can understand. You try your best to help others, but society pushes you away. This binary language that Thompto has created shows how arduous it is to fight against a group that does't even give the slightest courtesy in trying to understand.

Finally, we come to my last words. There isn't much to say other than what I already have. I enjoyed this class and the semester as whole. I am happy to have met my professors and I'm excited to see them again whether in passing in the halls of Kadema or in an actual class.

The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)

Berkeley Art Museum, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley

Architecture of Life

January 31–May 29, 2016

On this nice overcast day, I finally found it to be the appropriate time to visit a museum in the Bay Area. To my dismay, it just so happened that the BAMPFA exhibition on the Architecture of Life happened to have migrated to a new location. This resulted in some haphazard panicking as I arrived at the address presented on Professor O’Brien’s syllabus to a closed museum. With a bit of recomposing and a quick search on the lovely internet, I learned of the museum’s new location. I was then overjoyed for it allowed me to take a nice long walk through the Berkeley campus as I made my way to the new destination. I would like to say that the campus is truly a spectacular place and anyone attending it is truly deserving of respect. After a few minutes of walking, I finally arrived at my desired location.

                           

From the outside, the museum looked quite inviting. It had a simple yet fresh design that I appreciated.  After crossing the street and paying for my pass, I was finally allowed proper entrance. The interior itself was fairly simple, sporting a mostly white color with the exception of connecting corridors and stairs being a bright orange. Most of the building was dedicated to lecture halls and social gathering areas with the actual gallery taking up a very small portion. Just before the gallery is this massive work on the wall that seems to be a backdrop for what appears to be a little amphitheater. It was so massive in fact that I was unsure if it was titled. I spent a good minute looking around and part of me wants to believe the piece has no information, but another part believes that I just missed it. Regardless, it’s a map that parodies a region of Northern California. Most of it is dedicated to culture and nature.

 

Nipam Patel, Radiolorian Confocals 1x-10x, 2015

Entering the exhibition itself, I found some stunning works. I took the liberty of taking all the pictures that was allowed by security, but made sure to focus on the ones that people were viewing most. The piece above is one such. Many spectators flocked to this video of raiolorians under magnification.It was an ever changing a video of how radiolorians constantly took different shapes. Nipam Patel is one of the professors in UC Berkeley, and he took these videos to show these particularly small protozoa. What is most impressive are the shapes that the take as they continuously move. Though not quite perfect polygons, there is a near perfect geometry that is quite enthralling. If I had not read the title of this work, I would have never known that the object on the screen was not an object and actually a living organism.

Avery Preesman, Within S.W.S., 2008-9

A few steps to the left is this sculpture made by Avery Preesman. It is a mix of cement and other materials on carved wood. Preesman took many inspirations, and what started out as a simple carving became this intricate wall mount. There isn’t much about the hidden meaning of this piece other than what Preesman was thinking. It was the culmination of ideas banding and joining together to form this end result. One could say that this is a work that started out in several places and joined together in a terminus that gave it life. In other words it is a metaphor on evolution and it’s ultimate goal to make a species capable of adapting and surviving in its natural environment.

Jay Nelson, The Goodbye Ranch, 2007-9

Then we have this sketch by Jay Nelson. Nelson is a well known artist in San Francisco who has consistently submitted her works to the local museums. Specifically, she is known for helping and taking in people from all backgrounds to help them fight against drug use and abuse. With her help, many have been able to move on from their past addictions and have started new lives. This work is similar to what she does for these individuals. The ranch is representative of a place where animals are tended to and taken care of. It is very much like an asylum for those in need of a fresh start or reprieve from the many atrocities and chaos of life. Nelson can then be said to be using this ranch as a metaphor for her actions in life with regards to these people that she helps.

Will Yackulic, Trait Family A, 2015

 Hyun-Sook Song, 21 Brushstrokes, 2007

 Finally, these two piece had quite the crowd around them. Starting with the sculpture done by Will Yackulic, there was quite the group arguing whether it was rightfully art or not. Many were disturbed that such a small sculpture could be called art, and it resulted in a few exchange of words between spectators. Some who were less shy to voice their opinions could be seen whispering to their companions. A quick glance at the description and its size quickly became clear to me. Will Yuckalic apparently made these sculptures a part of a set. Each one is supposed to represent an individual. Knowing this, it would make perfect sense why they are so small. If each is an interpretation of a person, it might be small due to the intimate nature of said person being interpreted. Since it is part of a series interpreting many individuals, it could also just be a small piece of a much larger whole similar to one individual when compared to a large number of people. Together, the pieces itself might form a nexus that appears more cohesive.

The second and last piece that was heavily spectated was done by Hyun-Sook song. This artist has an interesting way of naming her pieces after a little bit of research upon reading the title. Song often names her pieces by the amount of brush strokes present. The one above is done in the number presented by the title and represents a symbolic practice in her culture. The brush strokes looks similar to wrapping, which is a process often preformed on the dead in Korea. Secondly, the painting itself forms what appears to be a simple gate or passage. This is representative of how the dead exit one world and enter another. This piece was heavily viewed and had very little criticism. I can even vouch and say that I heard none on my visit.

At the end of the day, I spent well over an hour viewing everything in the museum and can honestly say that I was very impressed. Many of the works were very well made and seeing some of the reactions on people were priceless. It truly fit the bill that contemporary art often shocks. For those who have not visited this exhibition, I highly suggest you do. 

The Sac State Symposium

This is a late post, but one I've been wanting to share. This weekend was Sac State's Annual Festival of the Arts Art History Symposium. At first, I decided to attend the event so that I could write about it here. As it turns out, All my other Art History professors were offering extra credit if I attended, so I effectively killed three birds with one stone out of sheer convenience. This year's Symposium was titled Hers and Hers: Women as Artists, Clients, and Consumers. As expected, the focus of the event was primarily on women and their role in the arts. This Symposium also doubled up as a retirement tribute to the beloved Catherine Turrill-Lupi,who was the department chair of Sac State's Art and Art History concentrations for twenty-one years.. 

The event consisted of lectures from four different experts of Art History. They were pretty interesting, but I would be lying if I said that there weren't any dry parts. Despite this, I regret not being able to stay the entire event due to my job having me work on weekends specifically from 5pm to 1am. None the less, I did manage to take part in two presentations.

The first was called Noble Exemplars of their Sex by Sheryl Reiss. Professor Reiss is a well decorated Art Historian who graduated from Princeton University and has taught in many Universities including the prestigious Cornell University. She has received many accolades for her work and has written many dissertations and thesis statements on several topics regarding the Arts and its rich history. Her presentation focused on tombs of women during the Renaissance. Specifically, she focused on tombs to commemorate women in churches. Professor Reiss covered the many designs that are shared and unique to several tombs for both women and their families as well as the differences they held compared to men's tombs. She also covered how the location and wealth of the family or individual dictated how they were constructed and what they were comprised of. After her presentation, a question asked by an audience member allowed professor Reiss to state that while most the tombs were made for and commissioned by women, there is no evidence to state that it was constructed by women themselves. This is due to the obscurity of women artists during the time period.

The next presentation actually continues my previous point on the obscurity of women artists during this time period. This presentation was done by Professor Turrill herself and focused on the artist Plautilla Nelli. The title was The Friar's Follower: Classifying the Work of Palutilla Nelli. Professor Turrill covered the history of Plautilla Nelli through the documentation at the time made by other artists such as Giorgio Vasari. Vasrai's opinion of Plautilla Nelli while at times respectful, was also quite rude. It is safe to say that Vasari's view of her was akin to a backhanded compliment. Nonetheless, it confirmed and showed some of the artworks done by Plautilla Nelli. She had a style that was considered to have made men look too feminine by her fellow nuns. She had done many works, but most are unknown and some are mislabled. While some of her works have turned out to be the work of others, there is strong evidence that others works might turn out to be hers. The problem with this is that no man would ever admit they did not make the art in front of them or that a woman could have painted the art. This leads to a predicament where Art Historian are scouring the globe and analyzing paintings with a similar art style to Plautilla Nelli's to try and clarify if they were works done by her. Through chemical analysis and study, it is becoming easier and more accurate to do so. This in turn allows her to finally get all the credit she truly deserved that she was never given.

After Professor Turrill's presentation, it was already getting close to the time I had to work. It was also time for some much needed socializing and motion after having sat for over two straight hours. I conversed with my professors who were all not surprisingly present for the event. I did not however, converse with Professor O'Brien, whose class was the main reason I went to the even in the first place. Professor O'Brien seemed busy every time I saw her, so I did not want to interrupt her conversations. Still though, it is quite ironic. I stayed as long as I could to see if I could at least catch the beginning of the next presentation, but with 4pm fast approaching, and the social event still continuing, I thought it best to leave less my boss kills me for being late... again. All in all, it was a fairly interesting event. I'm very glad I came and I left with an air of satisfaction after learning some new information and after having eaten over a dozen cookies.

Visiting Old Places for New Sites

This week, I decided to visit the place from whence I came before I transferred to Sac State. This place might be familiar to many students since it is one of the most well known community colleges. I am talking, of course, about Sierra College. For three years it was my home for academics and there isn't a place anywhere I am more familiar with. Since it has been a long time, I decided to pay a short visit to Sierra's small yet very impressive gallery known as the Ridley Gallery.

The Ridley Gallery is a great place for all sorts of art ranging from just about any kind a person can think of. On my more than a dozen visits to it, there was always a new theme that was put on display. Perhaps the most popular one that I remember since I saw the installations appear multiple times on two different semesters was a presentation on African Masks as well as the history and culture of African Aesthetics. Other exhibits included Classical Art renditions that are similar to what an old master would paint and authentic Hatian Art that were reactions by artists towards the tragic earthquake of Haiti. 

This time, there was an emphasis on contemporary art as shown by these images. I took a few images, but I didn't care much for the names of the artists and titles of the pieces. I did take pictures of the pieces that I found most interesting. The name of this particular piece was caught by my companion as Friend Chicken Not People. I love this particular work for two specific reasons. One, it reminded me of my childhood and some of the old cartoons I used to watch where people would be able to deep fry anything. Two, I find this as cruel irony with regards to us Americans. It's no coincidence that all the items that have been deep fried are weapons. Weapons tend to cause harm, and if it's one thing thing us Americans do, it's cook everything in a way that makes just about anything we eat nearly toxic to us. I find this piece as a satire to our regular(or irregular) diets as a society.

Moving on, the piece I really wanted to talk about is this one. This is a piece from a ceramic artist named Linda S. Fitz Gibbon called Narcissus. This specific piece is a type of hard clay inflatable. These have always interested me because of how naturalistic a shape clay can take. At first glance, this simply looks like two blown up swans with nothing more to it. Upon a closer look and a more thorough inspection, one can learn that these seemingly plastic or rubber swans are in fact clay. This deceptive nature caused by the clay creates a jarring idea that on one hand is naturalistic and on the other artificial. It's pretty much a big metaphor on how life can be so random at times, going from being completely orderly to extremely chaotic. With all that said, I have nothing more. I will say that it was fun visiting this small gem of a gallery once more. Though my stay was short(no longer than 15 minutes), I found much enjoyment at what I saw. I hope those who see this will consider visiting this outspoken gallery for themselves.

Downtown Misfortune

Since I live in the city and I through of no better way to honor it, I decided to write about my hometown. The picture below is one taken by my passenger as we prepared to spend the day downtown. To those who don't know, Downtown Roseville is full of fun places to visit. Between an impressive library, great food joints, and an archaic movie theater, one can spend a lot of time enjoying the downtown streets. Because of that, I thought it best to visit the museums of my very own neighborhood.

As the title of this article suggests however, my plans were quickly met with obstacles. My friend and I first attempted to visit the staple museum of Roseville known as the Blue Line Arts. Unfortunately, despite the impressive display they had for this month, they did not allow photography. I was very tempted to take a few pictures secretly, but my conscience told me otherwise.  With that being a bust, out next stop was to visit the bizarre Phone Museum. Once again, we were met with misfortune as we learned that the only way to enter the museum was through appointment due to its private nature. I have set up an appointment since I am extremely curious, but I will not be able to enter until the beginning of April. Even then, they might not allow photography, so we shall see.

Without any true options left and not wanting to leave empty handed, my friend and I decided to walk to the outskirts of town and watch the trains go by. Downtown Roseville is a center of railroad activity, so many trains often pass through.These trains tend to be some of the best art that the city has to offer, sporting carts with impressive graffiti. While we waited, I took a few pictures of the trains that were stalled.

Sadly for us, no truly interesting trains passed by despite us waiting for nearly an hour.

With all this misfortune, I didn't think I'd have anything to talk about. Luckily, I took a picture of the wall that is beside the tracks. This is a mural with no discernible purpose or reason. For as long as I've lived in Roseville, this mural has been here. Upon closer inspection. it was made in 1992 which is a year before I was born. The names of who made it as well as much of the information have long since faded, making it a bit difficult to make out. Doing the best I can, it was said to have been designed by Juanishi Orosco and Juan Cervantes. As for why they designed it, it remains a mystery to me.

Finally, our trip paid off on the way home after a long and nearly uneventful day. As we drove down the road, a train came by sporting some impressive graffiti. The one that stood our most was the one above. It is a tribute to the popular series known as  Breaking Bad. Something can be said about graffiti art. On one hand, it is illegal, but on the other, it is quite beautiful and pleasing to look at. Maybe it's this challenging of legality that gives the art that extra flare. Whatever it may be, one can't deny that it is a sight for the eyes. Anyway, I know I didn't have much to say today, but I didn't want leave an awful taste of defeat in my mouth. I hope this little misfortunate trip provided some entertainment. Below is one final picture before I depart.

Crystal Chaos!

I recently just got promoted at my workplace and have been awfully busy recently. I don't have any fancy visits to galleries or insightful participations in lectures today, but I do have an interesting topic I want to talk about brought to me by one of my other Professors. Feast your eyes below on the wonders!

This, my fellow classmates, is the "Cueva de los Crystales" or the "Crystal Cave" of Mexico. In a remote town in Northern Mexico within a mine know as Naica, this cluster of crystals was  discovered by two brothers drilling down as much as a thousand feet below ground. These crystal are truly a wonder to behold. They grow to enormous size, reaching and puncturing the earth in a plethora of chromatic colors. To show the scale, here is another picture.

As I'm sure all can see, these crystals dwarf those who stand among them. If a tourist was curious enough to want to take a look themselves, they will learn that it is not so easy. Being so deep underground, reaching the cave is an endeavor all on it's own. When done so, anyone entering must wear the appropriate outfit. All who go to the caves as can be seen in these pictures are in cooling suits. The amount of heat produced by the chemical reactions to create these crystals are not something the human body can withstand. It has been reported that temperatures can reach well over one hundred degrees and that humidity levels are as high as ninety to one-hundred percent.

If all these obstacles are conquered however, the reward is a view of some of the most fantastic natural structures in the world. The many prismatic colors that these crystals can produce are said to be life changing. Even so, it is ill-advised to stay too long. The continuous  chemical reactions between water and elements such as calcium to form these nearly limitless shapes and designs can be straining. It is said that the reflective quality and jarring translucency and transparency created by these minerals can cause some searing migraines. Regardless, their beauty is still worth all the trouble to see them personally.

With all that being said and done, I would like to mention again that these crystal are truly beautiful. They actually remind me of Donald Judd's works, but on a more gigantic and less precise scale. I don't know how I made this connection, but I did. Now I ask you, my fellow classmates. How is it that I have come to this comparison? I might not know myself, but maybe the lot of you can explain it to me. To make things easier, here are some examples of Donald Judd's works.

 Anyway, that's all I have for today. Hopefully I'll have something more substantial for next time.

Crashing the Crocker

I've been wanting to write about this for days now! Just last week on Sunday, my friends and I decided to take a trip to the Crocker Art Museum. I'll be honest and say that I have not been to this museum in over half a decade. Going to it after such a long time was truly an experience. I had no idea that the expansion that was just being built on my last visit was finally complete. Seeing all the extra exhibits were quite breathtaking.

Myself standing beside one of Ai Wei Wei's Zodiac Heads.

 Without further ado, let me share some of the pieces that really captivated me on my visit. Let's start with the only piece that I actually took a picture with. Above is myself standing beside one of Ai Wei Wei's installation pieces from the set known as Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads. For those who don't know, Ai Wei Wei is a very well known and perhaps the most popular contemporary artist in China. Born in Beijing, China, he has done everything from being an artists to a curator. When I was told about Ai Wei Wei's pieces in class and I saw the pamphlet with the pictures of the installations, I was initially unimpressed. Seeing them up close and personal however, that quickly changed. Seeing the detail on the bronzes was great. Something about the simplicity of the installation was fascinating. The fact that the installations could be so easily placed in just about any area is interesting. The focus is definitely on the individual pieces themselves. Then again, depending on where the installations are placed, the background or surrounding are can become very dynamic as well. Anyway, each piece was spectacular individually, but viewing them as a whole was more satisfying. I also found an affinity to the particular piece on the picture above because it is my Zodiac Animal.

Up next is this monstrosity of a piece by Robert Hudson known as Outrigger. This is a culmination of multiple metal pieces put together to create this seemingly inconsistent piece. Looking more into Hudson, he belonged to a period when abstract expressionism was very popular. That would answer why he joins random pieces together to create colorful and odd shaped structures. The title which alludes to supports on boats and aircraft might suggest some form of support with the piece. After all, the metal rods are all going towards the middle like it's trying to hold the whole thing together. But since Hudson seems to truly be an abstract expressionist, he could have just fashioned pieces together to create something with no meaning at all. It might simply be a work comprised of obvious and blatant elements to create an obviously outrageous sculpture.

The next piece is this anemone like thing by Bean Finneran known as 20,000 Turquoise Curves. Finneran is an American born artist from Cleveland, Ohio. As of now he resides  somewhere in Marin County, California. Finneran lives near a marsh which is the inspiration for most of his works. Marshes tend to be constantly changing, so it is understandable that his works have the design they do. Marshes have a similarity to coral reefs which are ever changing as they grow and decay. This piece looks similar to an anemone which is a creature often found near coral. Anemones provide minerals and keep coral safe, helping them to grow and change their local environments. With that in mind, I believe that is the reason Finneran has many pieces with the same theme. My only real question is why the use of ceramic? When I first saw the piece, I had assumed it was rubber. It wasn't until a closer look and a read of the description that I learned it was ceramic. To me, I find the use of ceramic odd. I would think that it would lengthen the time it would take to construct the piece and be much more challenging to shape, but artists have their own reasons for the mediums thy use. For example, living in marshland might have inspired Finneran to respect the use of the earth.

Finally, perhaps my favorite out of everything I saw, is this piece by Lewis Jimenez. Made with fiber glass, this piece really blew me away. It's extremely gravity defying and something I can look at for quite a while. In fact, I spent about twenty minutes observing it and would have spent more if my friends didn't pry me away from it. Something about the sense of levitation and movement in the piece was just so aw-inspiring.

With a title like Progress II, I was curious to see if there was a piece that came before this. Lo and behold, I found a Progress I. The piece is basically the same sculpture as Progress II with the only difference being  the color scheme and the horse rider. In the first, it was a Native American doing the wrangling. In this piece however, it seem to be a cowboy. The air brushed paint was also a lighter blue color compared to the deeper brown color. Other than those, the pieces are almost identical.

Jimenez focuses on civilization and it's ambitions and constant changes. With a bit of knowledge on the original piece, one can say that this work shows a change in generations. As time goes on, traditions are forgotten or tweaked to fit anew views in culture. Some new ones can even arise as a result of said changes. I believe Jimenez is just attempting to show and make his audience understand that us as a species are not static.