0 Comments
I love watching food art videos, which have recently exploded on social media (at least mine), every time I get online, there are videos of icing cake artfully, coffee foam art, or baking colorful cakes with surprises inside. Although I don't bake myself, I enjoy these videos because it's not something that I'm familiar with and it's intriguing and beautiful (not to mention, edible). However, one type that I've noticed becoming extremely popular is pancake art. The process is simply in theory, but takes a lot of skill: first you make pancake batter, and then mix in food coloring. Then you can either make your own little squeezer bag or use an icing squeezer thing, and you squeeze it out onto a skillet. The layers you put down first are on there the longest and become the darkest, the artist is working backwards topographically, from top to bottom rather than vice versa. My favorite part is the moment that the pancake is turned over, because from the back is just looks like a mix of overlapping colors, but when it's turned over, there's a masterpiece. I also like it because of how temporary it is, no one is going to put an artful pancake into a museum. Pancakes aren't really something that most people would focus on being beautiful, typically people just want a fluffy, gold-brown, round one and they'e happy, but people are bringing making pancake-making an extreme skill that I never would've predicted before. I never would've thought that pancakes, of all thing, would become a canvas for artists in this day and age. I don't particularly think I will use this in my art, and I'm probably not going to try to cook these pancakes myself because that will likely be a disaster. Although, I really like the process of how they build the pancake in sort of layers and I think that could be useful in my sculpture art, rather than working with a slab and molding it, I can build it up slowly and then mold and press it all together seamlessly. I saw this technique near the end of last year and fell in love with it. It's such a unique way to glaze pottery that I've never seen before and it caught my attention immediately. The whole process is so simple that I can't believe it isn't more popular, not only does it leave a beautiful pattern but it takes a very small fraction of the time that it would take to paint the entire thing slowly and detailed.
In a couple weeks I'll be starting my pARTnership with the Visual Arts Center working with wheel-throwing, which I've always been an aficionado for. I really hope that after the class I have the opportunity to work on the wheel on my own and I have a lot of ideas of how to use this bubble glazing technique and I hope that it works as well as I hope it will. The technique is beautifully simple and leaves such a beautiful pattern afterward. Noah Scalin created this work over a period of approximately 12 hours, with 2 hours every day for 6 days. The clothes in this piece were donated by students, faculty, and staff. He started with a plastic outline and then it was problem solving and sort of like a puzzle to finish this work. This work is part of a larger group of works titled "Portraits of Innovation," which is a collection of portraits of important people in history, like Maggie Walker featured in this work, who's stories he believes need to be shared.
I really liked Mr. Scalin, he seems like a really cool person. Seeing him speak in person made him see very real, as well as the fact that his wife(I presume) and daughter were there with him. I would really like to dwell further into his artwork and study him, it's very lucky that he happened to make Maggie Walker and we happened to have class at the perfect time to see him speak, I've never seen an artist speak at a showing of their artwork before and it was a very enlightening experience. Mr. Scalin is very skilled in the things that I struggle with, one of which being composition in sculpture. He beautifully created this piece in a way that it changes drastically with every angle (most drastically with the one in particular). I am very thankful for the experience to see this piece because I think that it will influence my art greatly, not directly, but in the idea that I now have more inspiration and a better understanding for composition in three dimensions. The aspect that I appreciated the most from this experience was that all of the clothes were being donated after the exhibit. There's something emotional about seeing a work that isn't permanent and that only a limited number of people will see in person. I'm joyful that the clothes are being donated, it is a very noble notion and I appreciate it a lot, it gives the experience an extra point or two. These two readings are similar in theme but different in content, both deal with government intervention in the censorship of art, but different examples and instances. Along with these different instances is a difference in country, and a very large difference in type of government. In addition to the difference in content, there is also a difference in the writing style and structure of the two essays.
Both of the readings deal with censorship in art, in both papers, the government tries limit and define the writes of artists and the rights of museums in showing "disturbing" or "hateful" work. Interestingly, both essays also touch on blasphemy. In "The Art of Controversy," New York is very upset with the museum showing "Sensations," a highly controversial art show, both sacrilegious and disgusting artwork. The court decides that New York is not allowed to force the show to be disbanded, however it believes that the museum shouldn't be showing this work because it isn't excepted by everyone and then Floyd Abrams ingeniously states " The mayor is saying, in effect, if there is a book in the library that we fund, I can take it out if it’s offensive." He argues that this artwork, though not accepted by everyone, is an important part of American culture and should be allowed to be shown. On the other hand, Russia's government is thought to be the exact opposite of the American government, but they are having very similar problems. The other reading also describes the government suppressing art, however, most of this art is attacking the government or government officials. In addition, though, it mentions a case of sacrilegious art that caused a stir as well. "Right now two prominent figures are on trial in a Moscow courtroom, accused of breaking a law passed in 1996 against inciting religious hatred" (Akinsha 1). I found it very interesting that these two vastly different societies are having similar suppression problems, both free America and its opposite, Russia. These two readings are vastly difference in their structure, and I found "The Art of Controversy" to be much easier to follow and better written. This reading was much more coherent and the pieces were well bonded, it follows a story from the beginning to the end, adding bits of fact and opinion in alongside it. The other reading was much harder to follow along with, it began on topic with censorship in art but then seemed to trail off into other points that weren't finished; there were other points and stories that didn't seem to relate at all. Particularly, I thought that the bit about the man being charged for having marijuana seemed extremely out of place. Then at the end, after going on this roller-coaster of stories and information that doesn't have a very clear connection, the last sentence "So it seems that despite the silence of the Ministry of Culture and the Orthodox Church, the Russian government once more understands art" (Akinsha 6). This sentence connects back to the original thesis but seems to be one of the only things in the last half of the reading that is related to the thesis. The readings line up quite well with the material we've been learning in class, specifically the "Sensations" show, because we talked about that explicitly in class and a piece in the show "The Holy Virgin Mary." I really enjoyed the further insight on this show, both the arguments of either side of the case as well as the opinions of the people during the show, I found those particularly amusing. I also liked that we read about the same problem in Russian government, it gave the material a more global feel rather than just an American problem. I personally, am in accordance with the ruling in "The Art of Controversy," I believe that artists and museums should be allowed to show what they want, as long as if they are publicly funded, they have opportunities for the entire community to benefit. I also think that there should be warning signs for shows that aren't suitable for younger children, just like movies. However, I think that art, in all of its forms, is a very important part of culture and should not be forced to be censored. ALTHOUGH, after reading the case in Russia where the man sued for libel, I believe that art should also not be directly attacking any one person if it has any amount of actual malice. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2017
Categories |