Blog #7 James Elkins, John Feodorov & Anya Kirvarkis

Hello World,

'Seeing is believing', they say. But does everyone see the same thing? I would suspect, no. Each and every person has they're own story, providing experiences there for giving perspectives on what they see. "There is no such thing as an observer looking at an object, if seeing means a self looking at a world." (Just Looking p. 19) James Elkins has presented the idea that no one can simple 'just look'. With their look they also and always search as well. They are searching for meaning and that meaning is different for everyone.

John Feodorov, an artist who was brought up in the suburbs of Los Angeles  and on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, has his own way of seeing the world. Because of his upbringing in two contrasting arenas, "Feodorov early experienced the cultural differences between his dual heritages. He also observed the stereotypes present in American culture at large, where Native Americans were idealized as the living embodiment of spirituality by New Age consumerists." (Biography) Feodorov uses his experiences from his past to create art that seemingly has much spirituality vs. modern culture to it. One of his art works is the 'Office Deity', a series of paintings done for corporation offices. He mixed the idea of heaven and God being set in a business world. "The corporation actually being sort of the new manifestation of the tribe... I thought of maybe seeing the corporation as like heaven, you know, and you have all these different steps of deities or angels of whatever depending on what you believe or don't believe...I did this painting, with office employees as the angels and holding their offerings to the almighty CEO." (Office Deity interview) Feodorov sees, because of his story, the connection between the hierarchy in corporations and the spirit world. He sees that the employees are not just servants of the higher one or the CEO is not just the creator, but they are representations of how we make choices in our lives. Where do you want to see yourself?
"...pictures have much to tell us about the ways we see. A picture is not only a view onto the world or onto someones imagination." (Just Looking p.31) It is vital to question how we see the world and if that perspective is the one that will truly lead us in the direction that we desire most. If it be love or anxiety, it is up to us. "A picture presents itself as an unapproachable object forever detached from the nets of possessiveness and violence, and yet it urges on its viewers, impelling them to walk up to it, to move into it or run away." (Just Looking p.32) Although the art work is in a still, by seeing it, we dive into a deep pool of thoughts and desires that ultimately results in repour. "I wanted to create paintings that people could respond to on an everyday level, as far as the environment in the painting and the environment that they're working in." (Office Deity interview)

Anya Kivarkis, our guest speaker for this week, gave a lecture on reproduction. Some of the artists she presented had a similar contrasting of ideas as Feodorov,  the profound verses the kitsch or trashy. Take Wim Delvoye's  'Marble Floor', for instance; Something exquisite and usually found only in environments of money (marble flooring) had been reproduced with deli meat. A wonderful idea, if I don't say myself, and also very humorous such like Feodorov's work. Another example would be Ted Noten's gold broaches copied from sticks of gum that were manipulated by participants. Again, something trashy contrasting with something profound. Feodorov's work delightfully mixes his own version profound (spirituality) and trashy (Ken dolls, plastic animals, etc.) in a beautiful way. He claims not to be totally conscious of this doing, but the art seems to manifests itself that way.

Another artist that Kivarkis mentioned was Hella Jongerius, who used objects (vases, bowls, etc.) and redesigned by adding components (handles, etc.). I really enjoyed this idea because I like to redesign myself. I have been redesigning/ recycling clothing for about five years know. I will find an item that is too big and down size it, or maybe use just a fragment of clothe and build off of it. It's amazing what the final product becomes, I never can quite predict it fully. There is a circle of local redesign shops that I've connected with and have been selling some of my designs. These are not my designs, but they are from local designers here in Eugene, Oregon.

There is something about fashion too that can be so elite, and by using recycled material from Goodwill or a free box, creates that same contrast of profound verses trashy. I love the ironic twist to it all, Not only are you helping the environment, but you also shove the elite bullshit into perspective.

Blog #5 Kiki Smith, Roland Barthes, & Carla Bengtson

Hello World,

I was very much intrigued by Kiki Smith. I seemed to find a lot of similarities with her and myself. Beliefs and practices mostly, but other things too, such as her difficulty as a younger woman with reading. She says because of her troubles, she began to observe instead. I appreciate her flexibility and acceptance of her struggle, for  I too had a very hard time reading  for most of my life and had to find other means of learning. Kiki says because of her keen observances she became more fascinated with objects and the practice of 'making'. "The thing about making things is that you have a proof. You have some proof every day that something has been accomplished, that somethings different... It's physical proof that everything is okay for a minute." (Learning by Looking interview) I started making things when I was really little. I would spend hours in my room sewing pillows, felt pink underwear that didn't fit and many other experiments. There was never a real reason I thought back then why I did it, only that it seemed like the most natural thing to do. It was only when I was much older that I realized that by 'making', I had a sense of calmness, almost like a meditative state, where everything was at peace. Smith says that it's one of her "loose theories of Catholicism and art have gone well together because both believe in the physical manifestation of the spiritual world, that it's through the physical world that you have spiritual life..." (Learning by looking interview) Through the physical object that you are making comes spirituality, or in other words the calmness that comes with the making.

Intuition has always been a present influence in everything I do in my life. The 'makings' of my life and my art have been purely done by a little voice inside. Smith is also a practitioner of this. She trusts it with everything she does or does not do. "It's like standing in the wind and letting it pull you whatever direction it wants to go. Some stuff is rally direct. Things start telling you what you're supposed to pay attention to. I have lots of times where my work just said, 'make it like this.' And then it's like your faithful servant. I make this meditation of give myself to this work." (History of Objects interview)  She is basically a vessel where her art is thriving through. Roland Barthes writes about this same idea of loosing yourself in a sense to the art. "Writing is the destruction of every voice, of every point of origin. Writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very identity of the body writing." (The Death of the Author p.1) The artist has given themselves to the work. And by doing so, a lot of times the artist changes with the experience of the process. Change is the one thing that is absolutely constant, therefore we must be able to flow with it, just as flowing with you're intuition, otherwise the rest of the world is not parallel with you. "One's self is always shifting in relationship to beauty and you always have to be able to incorporate yourself or your new self into life. Like your skin hanging off your arm and stuff, and then you have to think, well that's rally beautiful too. It just isn't beautiful in a way that I knew was beautiful before..." (History of Objects interview) And for Barthes, he sees the change as well, "The Author, when believed in, is always conceived of as the past of his own book: book and author stand automatically on a single line divided into a before and an after. The Author is thought to nourish the book, which is to say he exists before it, thinks, suffers, lives for it, is in the dame relation of antecedence to his work as a father to his child." (Death of the Author p.3) The inevitable change that comes with experiences and time is part of what makes the art art.

Carla Bengtson is an artist who has infused her art with nature. Some of her work involved the participation of ants. This idea came to her quite unexpectedly. Every time she started to draw, an ant would start walking across her paper. Most people I believe would brush the ants away from the page, but Bengtson found that the ants' visit was an opportunity. Her sense to 'just go with it' reminded me of how Smith would of responded to that situation. Smith comments, "My father told us to trust our intuition." (History of Objects interview) And another perspective on Bengtson's behavior would coincide with Barthes' writing; "For him (Mallarme) for us too, it is language which speaks, not the author; to write is, through a prerequisite impersonality, to reach that point where only language acts, 'performs', and not 'me'." ( The Death of the Author p.2) Bengtson saw that the art had a life of its own. Watching the ants do what they will, the art was being created almost without her. Bengtson showed us many different examples of how art evolved from the representation of nature to the very abstract of nature and back to nature itself. One quote that caught my attention was that "Not everything is art, but everything is art supplies," referring to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty. I would say that Smith would agree with this, being the observer and scavenger she is. Always looking for new things to collect and incorporate in her work. At one point Bengtson mentioned Andy Goldsworthy which I am a huge fan of. If any artist was to use the 'art supplies' that nature has provided and to do so without making a huge karmic footprint, I'd say he accomplished that.

Blog #4 Laurie Anderson, David Byrne & John Park

Dear World,

Performance has always been a big part of my life. I've danced all my life, not necessarily in the traditional dance world, but a more obscure path I've created on my own. My dance performances were more than likely in the streets of the city or on dirt paths at a festival. The informality of the performance attracted and welcomed the audience to sometimes join in themselves. This sense of sharing is such a beautiful feeling and one more step towards a more peaceful world. The sharing of the 'stage' is something I saw and admire David Byrne for. The "Playing the Building" project was, in my eyes, some what of an equalizer. "'Demonstrating performance', making everyone feel they can play regardless of any musical talent is one of the main points of the installations." (The Independent) The installation, an organ that has been hooked up and plays the roundhouse building, is a brilliant idea. Anyone can share the experience of playing the building and even the most tone deaf can create an interesting ballad. "No one has an advantage; a kid of five is probably as good as I am." Byrne says. (Financial Times) The fact that the installation is in an unusual space to show art reminds me of Laurie Anderson. She too, a musician has been attracted to "the street or informal art spaces" (Biography). I'm sure you can see how I can relate to that state of mind. The more unusual the space to have art, the more likely you will inspire those who would not indulge otherwise. There for sharing the the performance again and at a much wider range of people too. Also, as Byrne has used an everyday object, such as an industrial building, as his art focus, so has Anderson with her performances. "Anderson transforms an everyday occurrence into something strange can be found with the song 'Language is a Virus.' Dedicated to the Beat writer William Burroughs who coined the phrase 'language is a virus from outer space,' Anderson's song scrutinizes everyday examples of language-use." (United States I-IV interview)

John Park, our guest speaker, has been involved in performance in a different type of way. For the last couple of years he has collaborated with a modern dance professor here at the the University of Oregon. While Park creates digital visuals and lighting, the modern dancers are intertwine with the with the technology.The digital art in Parks' collaborated performances was made to follow the dancers not the other way around.This use of multiple mediums (digital and dance) is, in a way, similar to Byrne's 'Playing the Building' (the organ is hooked up to the building digitally and the audience must play the organ). Both of them incorporating a high tech and human source. Being a person with very little skill and/ or knowledge in the technology world, I found this to be actually very inviting. Adding the human aspect, made me feel still connected to my roots and not floundering in unfamiliar territory--not that unfamiliarity is a bad thing.

Both Byrne, Anderson and Parks looked for specific environments so as to cause their audience to relate in an 'out-of-the-box', or in this case an 'out-of-the-museum' kind of way. mixing and matching mediums that haven't really been attempted yet. I appreciate this drive for new creation in technology, but I also appreciate these artists consciousness to not eliminate or dehumanize the art completely.

About five years ago, a few friends and I came up with an idea, inspired by 'happenings', we set out to bike around town in costume and with mostly digital music, stopping in random restaurants and alley ways to dance and bring in the unsuspected. It was called Bike Brigade and to this day it still survives in Eugene as well as other cities. I mention this because it relates to Byrne, Anderson and Parks having their art performances in unusual places, digital aspects, and human aspects. It is also an audience participation event, as to relate to Bryne's idea. The participants in the Bike Brigade would deck their bicycles with lights, and sound systems, again bringing this idea of humans and technology.
This video is somewhat off the same ideas; being it is in an unusual place to see a performance and that it is the audience participating, or so it does seem. I also used to love the Sound of Music and wanted to share this with you. This performance was taken place at the Central train station in Antwerp, Belgium. The musical, Sound of Music, comes alive at the most unlikely of times and places.

Blog #4 Alfredo Jaar, Photography as a Weapon, & Craig Hickman

Photographs have been used for many purposes. Where they be used truthfully or falsely, a photograph can be a powerfully charged story. Helmut Herzfeld aka Heartfield, was an artist during the World War I. He presented the idea of photo montage, inspired by the lack of truth in the news, he says, "The main thing is that I saw both what was being said and not being said with photos in newspapers... I found out how you can fool people with photos, really fool them... you can lie and tell the truth." (Photography as a Weapon pg.11) Heartfield  really saw how he could manipulate the news' lies into telling the truth just by changing the caption on a photograph. He believes that, "We should be suspicious of what we see and what we read-- of what we are told." (Photography as a Weapon pg.11)

Craig Hickman, a digital photography professor at the U of O, says that he too, through Photo Shop, also uses manipulation to tell a story that might of otherwise been untold. He presented a number of photographers, all with their own style. I was most attracted to the photographers who chose to use cheap, plastic cameras; Nancy Rexroth, Diane Arbus and Julie Mihaly. Their photos were all in black and white, giving that old timing look--almost mysterious. It made me want to know the story more, feel emotion for them. Some were disturbing, while others were endearing. I could see the ebb and flow of both extremes."We see beauty all around us, and we should never forget the beauty of life. But that doesn't mean that we should just stay with beauty. We should not be afraid sometimes to confront beauty and horror." (Alfedo Jaar, The Gramsci Trilogy interview)

These are a few examples of black and white photos taken with a cheap, plastic camera, that I was drawn to.

For Alfredo Jaar, a world renown artist, its all about a real-life event or a real-life situation. " That's the magic of art-- and I think it's extraordinary-- the power to create connections, make bridges. It fascinates me." (The Gramsci Trilogy interview) Heartfield has similar views with Jaar, "The essence of his art is an attempt to take images--usurp them and use them to tell a different story. He is asking us to think of images as images-- to think of them ironically-- and  to make connections where connections were not made before." (Photography as a Weapon pg. 12-13) The connections we make with the photographs are just as important as the photo it's self. Sometimes the image is just not enough to fully grasp the connections though. There needs to be some kind of written word that guides you in some cases. "I'm trying, always to create a balance between information and spectacle, between content and the visuals, I think that balance is very difficult to reach. But the only way for you not to dismiss this image is to understand the story." (The Rwanda Project interview)
People generally have an easier time relating to others on a deeper, more personal level, by interacting  one-to-one. This being said, Jaar tries to utilize this idea in hopes that he will hit that deeper emotional level in people with his art. While creating The Silence of Nduwayezu, he explains, "Basically, when we say one million dead it's meaningless, So the strategy was to reduce the scale to a single human being with a name, a story. That helps the audience to identify with that person. And this process of identification is fundamental to create empathy, solidarity and intellectual involvement." Its amazing to me that you can take something so massive, like the number of deaths in a war or natural disaster and squeeze it into just one idea or image.  "The Vietnam war, the war abroad and the war at home, has been reduced to a few iconic images-- the Napalm girl, the girl at Kent State... What seems to emerge from major events and eras are one or two images that effectively embody the emotion and rage, the happiness and anger. The whole thing somehow is enfolded in there." (Hany Farid, Photography as a Weapon pg.4)

All these photographers have the same thing in common, the drive for the image to tell a story. To show the connectedness between. "The relationship to the world, even if you manipulate it, it has that real-world connection." (Craig Hickman)