Message Received

While art may be timeless to many it certainly has evolved over time. As two individuals whose minds primarily function researching political trends and the stock market art is still a new subject. However, the more we learn the more we see a comparison to writing. Art movements are not always originally accepted in fact it is often just the opposite. New movements regarded as sloppy and lacking value. With the movement of time comes the change in perspective and appreciation. This is similar to writing, so many of the classics were initially banned and regarded as worthless, but now the cornerstone of higher education.

            While as students not strongly connected with the art field we can find a great deal of appreciation for Cory Arcangel we doubt art critics have the same amazement at his work. His work while at times random, for example, the creation of a Photoshop piece by predetermined numbers, truly sends a message. Again, as individuals of a business background the Permanent Vacation piece is the first thing I think of now when I receive an out of office reply. He invokes this idea that neither will ever communicate with the other one again the information forever lost in the endless dimension of cyberspace. This speaks to me because so much is lost over email in our world. The days of face to face communication is disappearing more each day as the reliance on technology increases.
            My favorite piece was the continuous gutter ball. Bowling for most is a social outing not a serious competitive sport. This work represents the metaphoric feeling we all receive in social outings from time to time even when we are not bowling. We go out with our friends and do something embarrassing we “rolled a gutter ball”.  We have a bad first date experience “we roll a gutter ball”. There is something encapsulating about watching repeated complete and total failure. The train wreck so horrific you cannot stop looking at it. While, his art may not speak to older more refined critics he certainly has hit home with us. 

Tired, Shitty Polaroids of Naked, Drunk Partying

      A friend of Joerg Colberg asked a question about Dash Snow’s art work - “What do his tired, shitty polaroids of naked ,drunk, partying say about anything?” Anyone new to art would undoubtedly ask this question after viewing some of Dash Snow’s works. One of his art pieces shows a man doing a line of cocaine off of another man’s penis. Another piece looks like it came straight out of a pornography magazine, showing a male and two females performing sexual acts on each other. Providing explanations to art is very difficult. After I looking at these works, one should consider Dash Snow general life experiences. Snow was a young rebel born into a privileged and art-loving family. At the age of 13, his family sent him to a reformatory-like school in Georgia. After two years, he returned to New York and lived by himself. He had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. He divorced his first wife and later had a daughter who he named “Secret Midnight Magic Nico.” Two years after his daughter’s birth, snow reportedly died from an overdose. By the time of his death, snow was a star in New York City. “What do his tired, shitty polaroids of naked ,drunk, partying say about anything?” He wanted to move the viewer. He created his art in the same way that he lived his life – through rebellion.

The Functions Assigned to Art and Baldessari

According to artist John Baldessari , the three functions of art are Personal, Social, and Physical. No piece of art can be assigned a specific function. It is difficult to assign on individual function to artwork because many pieces will touch upon all three. The physical function of art is most easily recognized. The physical function is derived from art of a piece that provides some type of service. For example, a Native American tomahawk weapon was created to be thrown into the flesh of enemies. The social function points out collective features of life in general. Art may address political or economic hardship as seen in works with pictures from the 1930s Great Depression. The personal function of art is the most powerful but most difficult to concretely explain. Two individuals who view an artist’s work may feel two different personal functions. These feelings could come from past memories of a loved one or other emotionally moving experiences.

Baldessari is especially interesting in his way of describing art. He first focused mainly on painting but eventually burned his work and made them into cookies – evolving the idea of art. He describes the common belief that all painting is art and art is all painting. However, art is more than that. Painting is redundant as an expression. Creativity dislocates redundancy.

Simple...yet Complex

         Jeff Koons has a very distinct approach and style with his art.
His most recent work at Versailles really accentuates Koons personal and unique approach to art .  Koons creations replicate things found in everyday life but add twists, sometimes subtle and sometimes overt to speak beyond just the art itself. For example, hanging in  Versailles is a work that resembles a inflatable lobster not uncommon at family pools.  However, it despite the striking resemblance to the plastic inflatable material it is in fact made of metal and other compounds. The way in which the lobster is painted one can envision the face of a French worker, which brings significantly more meaning to the fact it is hanging upside down by a steal hook.
           Koons and his group of artists only produce a small number of pieces per year because of the intricate detail and innateness of each work. Several days even weeks can be spent attempting to match the color from Koons computer printout concept to paint. Another interesting concept about Koons he rarely does any of the actual work with his hands anymore much of his role is conceptualizing the work and approving the progress as it is made. One may argue this makes him less a factor in the art. I disagree; it is not that he isn’t partaking in the production because he can’t physically perform the necessary functions at a high level. But rather in order to bring more of his concepts to life he trusts a team. In fact, he is doing the art world a favor by carefully training and developing highly skilled artists that one day may be able to take something very simple and make it yet so complex.

Evolving Standard of Beauty and its Impact

Hickey’s article “Enter the Dragon: On the Vernacular of Beauty” is extremely thought provoking. It seems that as long as we have had art in this country we have also had the constant debate on what is the appropriate level of censorship. Hickey touches on this when discussing public institutions displaying provocative paintings and the government’s desire to discontinue such a practice.  This is part of Hickey’s larger discussion on the role of beauty in art and what exactly the impact of art is on society.  The lens in which he writes the article is not as an evaluator of art in an aesthetic sense; but rather the carefully observant historian.  Hickey’s approach is to find what matters beyond the initial reaction to art.  What are the lasting impacts of not only the art itself but also what it causes us to do as individuals and a community. Now he does not only want the focus to be on our reaction as he rightly points out if it is too manipulated be criticism then the art is not doing anything rather we are the ones acting. However, his observation of the underlying impact and extent of art is very accurate. Art continually causes this country to question, think, and debate things such as values, principles, and morals. This is where the role of beauty comes into play. It becomes, as he identifies, “a war of words” to deem what is beauty what is appropriate, what is truly art and its purpose. While typically older generations feel threatened by the “provocative” new art, it is not all bad. Yes, we need standards. We cannot simply put any type of art up anywhere we want. However, continuing to debate those standards and evolve those standards is crucial because it is happening in every other aspect of our world. Society is not stagnant and therefore neither should our definition of beauty or role of art.