MFA ART REVIEW

First I walked through the show. I found it very interesting to see the mfa students work after the fact of meeting them. I got to see some of their personalities shine through their work. I feel that is a sign of good work when you either see the work before or after meeting the person but can put the connection together that they made it. This to me, shows they put themselves into their work. I took sculpture one and in high school I took several wood shops and metal shop, I find a connection with working to build something and having an end product that is a figure in and of itself. I like that in sculpture the work gains a personality and lives as its own element. I was drawn to a few pieces of sculpture in this show.

I enjoyed Summer Baldwin's Moose Head. It looked very realistic and seemed anatomically correct. The ma

in element seemed to be cardboard and the elements of texture worked well in place of fur. I liked how the antlers were white and different textures than the head. It may have been her intent, but I didn't really care for the hanging of it, how you coul

d see the metal brace, this may have been structurally the only way, but I feel it took away from the piece because the elements used to create it, and the way it was constructed, seemedsomewhat fragile, and the metal brace is the opposite of fragile.

I also liked her Untitled (Iggy) oil painting. She had a few which all seemed to correlate to the moose head. I liked that her process was shown and it proved she had done several studies in this collection. Her work seems very carefree and seems in a fragile state. I like her hand in working. I especially like how her gentle hand is seen on the oil paintings and then carried over into her sculptural work.

Another piece I liked was Kristin Melkin's Untitled barn wood piece. It seems many elements went into this piece. She not only thought through the work itself, but also how it would be presented: lighting, etc. This, I feel, we sometimes leave until the end, and it seems she took this into account. I feel the shadows are the best part about this piece. The way the light passes through on the left side and comes through the holes on the right makes the piece very dynamic. The colors are pastel and work well against the barn wood, which has a similar state to drift wood.

I feel that many of these pieces were well done and showed great talent, which is what I was expecting to see from MFA students.

Chapter 3 - The Fair

1. Tim Blum's reaction to way too much dude in his gallery: "....so our success freaks some people out. We've played it the way we wanted. That's why we are doing well for our artists. We believe in them and work like motherfuckers."

- I feel this attitude and commitment are the only way to make it in the art world especially when in a position like that, otherwise you won't make it out alive.

2. I found it interesting when Blum and Murakami were saying prices on his work of 727 727. Very interesting to hear prices and put them in correlation with the chapter about Murakami and the fact that sometimes he isn't even the one making the art work.

3. "In the art world, gossip is never idle. It is a vital form of market intelligence."

-This is true in any field of work but very much so in art. If you don't know who is showing or what new artist came out you fall behind and almost seem like you never catch up. It is truely part of marketing intelligence in so many ways. Knowing whats new and going on helps you in so many ways.

4. "....The art is so demanding that the architecture needs to be nearly invisible."

-This hold true in many situations we are viewing art. You are only looking at the art work, but when viewing it in any space of a gallery, museum, auction, etc. there is careful thought behind the hanging and mounting as to not distract or hinder the view and experience of the piece.

5. Towards the end she talks about how willing parties are put down in a list and then the work goes to the most prestigious home. Its interesting that its not like ebay where it goes to the highest bidder. Its more like who is going to care for my work the most and get the most out of it.

6 Grad School Programs

1. Rhode Island School of Design

2. Savannah College of Art and Design

3. Maryland Institute College of Art

4. School of Visual Arts

5. Pratt Institute

6. Philadelphia University

After thought of Zimmerli Exhibit

I went back to the Zimmerli for the speaking on woodcuts for my printing class and had some things I took away with me. There weren't just woodcuts which was interesting and it was nice to hear a story and process behind each print.

I liked Leonard Baskins works and how he sometimes used found materials of wood like drift wood to create his works. That was very interesting making art from nature as well as reusing it.

Edmond Casarella would use stacks of cardboard glued together instead of wood and make relief prints that way. I think thats a useful way of making art no matter what materials you have to work with.

I also enjoyed Richard Bosman's prints because of his layouts and structural choices.

Exhibit of my choice/Walk Thru with Lea Wight

Lea Colie Wight

I did my exhibit of choice on Lea Colie Wight. I went to see her work in Main Street Gallery but she is also my friends mother so I got a first hand walk thru with the artist. She is a local artist from Manasquan who specializes in fine art oil paintings.

She grew up in Philadelphia and now resides in Manasquan, NJ. She got her BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design..Her work is exhibited in Main Street Gallery in Manasquan which she also owns. She has also been in several galleries in the US.

She studied at Incamminati in Philadelphia with Nelson Shanks as a student and now years later teachers there as well. I chose Mrs. Wight because this month in particular she needs recognition on her great acomplishments. She was featured on the cover of American Artist Magazine on the November 2009 issue.

Lea does still lives which are always intricate and detailed with extremely refined highlights which I think make her works pop and seem so realistic while keeping their painterly feeling.

Lea works mainly at home doing her still lives of objects around her house.

Her works of portraits usually come from Incamminati and including paintings as well as drawings.

Ch 6

A few things I found very interesting about Chapter 6....

-well first a question, I know Chinese is a very sought after language on a resume for many marketing and business majors...Is a Chinese or Japanese ( in this case) language a good thing to know? Obviously this is subjective to your field, etc. But is this the language to know in the art field?

-I found it very interesting when she talked about Murakami's works with Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs. I find it so interesting that the two are constantly crossing over. For a design II stamp project someone in my class did Murakami and I only knew who he was from the Louis Vuitton bags and not from his art field work. That to me is very interesting because he has touched on two fields that range through a huge mass of people especially when working with fashion and something so branded like Louis Vuitton bags. I love fashion so I knew the Speedy bag he worked on immediately.

-I like his creativeness in naming his company Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. that when reversed it means strange uneasy, or disturbing phenomena. Clever things like this make a company not have a good name, but an interesting name that someone would want to work with because they're clever and creative. Its nice to hear backgrounds of things you think could be simply a random name. I also can't help but think of the Beatles sgt. pepper album and the conspiracy of playing it backwards.

-I like the part of saying he works in flat colors because I too like to work with flat colors and I feel that it is frowned upon by many in art fields but he has a graphic edge to him which is why I think I like his work so much.

-Really liked how he documents every layer of his paintings so he can follow when he's not around. This shows he's involved in his work to the intimate details of singular layers of a painting so he keeps himself in his work which I feel becomes a problem all to often when there is a demand.

Blocks of Color Exhibit

I went to the Blocks of color exhibit at the Zimmerli. I walked around and saw several different techniques of using the wood cuts to make shading etc. Some such as, Jim Dine's piece of pinnocchio do not speak to me like others did. This was probably my least favorite piece. I did not like the creepiness of the character. I can however appreciate how the character is placed on the gigantic scale and how his gesture is inviting. I also liked how up close the drips of paint add to the individuality of it. My favorite piece by far was Mike Mazur's Gail Island I and II. From far away I saw the pieces and the immediately caught my eye. I acutally thought the clumps of brush and foliage were tanks and that's actually why I walked over. I liked the brightly colored print as well as the subdued print with shades of green. I enjoyed seeing the front room which had the more asian inspired wood cuts because this is how it all began. I also enjoyed how as you made your way around the gallery the pieces seemed to gain more contemporary feelings leading up to the end with the tree scape and the portrait. I also enjoyed the far wall that had color sections such as the strips of color which from afar seem very simple but as you got closer you could see the attention to detail that each thin strip was its own block and how precise it was

interview

Interviewed: Sarah Chapin

What made you choose photography in general? Was it the technical side or the artistic side?

I ending up choosing photography because, honestly, it was the only artistic thing that I was ever good at. As much as I tried to draw or paint or do anything else, I never liked what I saw nor did I see it as anything good enough.

What are some of your influences? (artists, as well as subjects, spaces, etc.)

My biggest influence has been my Grandmother. She was a very talented painter and I was always interested to watch her work and create. I will always credit her as my main muse and the reason why I got into art. My other influences aren’t even visual artists. I get my ideas from the things I read (mostly Jane Austen novels) and even the music I listen to tends to implant these tiny visions that I want to foresee into future work.

What do you find the most difficult about photography?

Getting what I want the first time. Nothing works the first time you try it and it frustrates me when I have to shoot a photograph over 20 times just to get the perfect shot.

What do you like best about your works?

Probably my ability to capture moments from a different point of view. I try to use various angles to give the viewers of my work another perspective rather than something straightforward.

If you could photograph anything what would it be? (something you haven’t had a chance to do.. maybe a specific place, etc)

Actually, I can’t wait to be able to photograph my children and to document their lives. They’re probably going to hate me for it, but I don’t want to miss a thing.

What else in your life gives you a similar feeling to photography and why?

As silly as this might sound, I get the same feeling when I bake. Baking is another outlet for my creativity and when I make something really good, I feel like I’ve made edible art that people can enjoy in more ways than just visually.

What type of equipment do you use?

The basics: I have a Nikon D80 named Jasper (yeah, I named it) and my father’s old Minolta.

Do you like black and white or color better?

I’ve always had love for black and white. I have nothing against color, but I find that black and white seems to capture so much more feeling and adds this sense of drama to any scene. In its simplicity, I discover things so complex.

How long have you been doing photography (or has it just started at the beginning of college, etc)

When I was just a kid, I used to get my hands on a bunch of disposable cameras and go crazy taking pictures of friends, family, and even my pets. As I got older, I found that I was more into it, especially when I was in high school. I think I even started to become obsessed with it and started carrying a camera with me just in case anything happened that I wanted to remember. Before I got into college, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a future career. It wasn’t until when my Grandmother died that I realized that I wanted to carry on her vision.

Are there any artists you try to mimic in any way/look up to?

If I had to name anyone, I could say that I have a similar idea as Cindy Sherman. She’s been known to photograph mainly herself dressed up as different people and I tend to do the same. I’ve never done any of my projects on that idea, but I plan on it in the near future.

Are there any aspects you stay away from? (portraits, landscapes, etc)

I usually refrain from landscapes unless I hold a special memory with a specific place or if I’m trying to convey a specific feeling. I’m mainly a portrait artist and am able to discover more in a person than I ever would in shooting landscapes.

Do you enjoy candid or posed photography?

Both certainly have its appeal to me. But it definitely depends on the situation.

What are your plans for thesis if any?

I plan to go along with my love of portraiture. But my objective is to turn the camera on myself and add a little twist of something else that I find fascinating and that I am very interested in (I’d divulge, but I don’t want to give too much away at the present time).

How do you plan on executing it?

My idea requires for more than just good posing, so let’s hope that I can call upon some other talents of mine to achieve my ideal idea.

I enjoyed seeing another way of working and someone else's artistic outlet. I took a photography class so it was interesting to see especially because I could appreciate all the time and effort that goes into something due to first hand accounts. Really enjoyed Sarah's work

7 days

I actually really enjoyed the first two chapters of this book. Im really not a book person but I found myself continuing to turn the pages. Some things I found interesting other than the way she writes, was how she really brought real situations about the art world that personally relate to us as artists. For example, the part about being at the Sotheby's auction and how she made comments about what people were wearing with their Heremes tie and Missioni dresses. I laughed a little at that part because I feel artists are the ultimate judgers and how even at an auction she talked about what people were wearing and what not to wear so you wouldn't match anyone else. I also found it interesting how she spoke about the men to women aspect of values on the money side of the auction and how its a different time, sometimes it really hasn't changed at all.

chelsea

I am very interested in print making and the different ways artists approach that medium. I went to lower east side print shop as well as some print studios on 26th. I really enjoyed the print shops the most but Enoc Perez's architectural elements brought into his works were great, they were simple yet sketchy. The Lehmann Maupin gallery was the nicest inside, I really liked the open ceiling area, not so much the work inside. The Toguo work was very interesting. I liked the line work and really enjoyed the size scale of how large.

Alex Bag

A few minutes into this i was annoyed with how she was stereotyping art students with how she spoke etc, it proceeded to her smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, etc. towards the end I guess I saw the humor but overall this just doesn't do it for me. The amount of times she said like made me want to stop watching it. I understand her inventiveness etc and can appreciate her ideas, but I just didn't really like her characters overall, especially the bunnies voices.

New Museum

The part i enjoyed most about the new museum was the 7th floor where you could walk out and see the city. The building was very interesting and I liked how you could start at the top and work down. The cape town photographs were interesting and gave a first hand look of how people live. I especially remember the one of a shanty town situation with a busy roadway right up the hill. I did not like the first floor with the very sexual paintings. I feel art can be achieved without being that out there and that in your face. It was awkward to walk around with my mom thru it. She is a graphic designer and did not seem to like it either.