What I Learned

Posted By Jeff Bruneau

For my final wall post of the semester, I would like to simply say that I had no idea what to expect from the world of contemporary art. There are just so many different forms I learned that you can really find the art in anything. This is because how you interpret the art is what matters the most. The modern artist knows this and simply does enough to get those juices flowing just to make you think. The rest is up to the audience.

Rock Wall

Posted by Jeff Bruneau
As I browsed through William Powhida’s paintings, I could not believe the incredible amount of detail he puts onto the page. His paintings and drawings are very similar and yet I can’t believe some of his paintings are not drawings because he gets down to the smallest detail. There is just so much going on in every painting. The painting I enjoyed the most was the Rock Wall. I thought it was interesting because it had all the ingredients that one thinks about when they think about the craziness of the music industry and there it was, just slapped onto one frame. It’s funny looking through each picture within the picture and nodding like “yeah, that makes sense.”

Vik Muniz- Diamond Davis

Posted by Jeff Bruneau
I think Vik Muniz’s ability to use diamonds to shape a portrait is a pretty intriguing concept. My parents were always watching old movies on TV when I was growing so I recognized this one as the star, Bette Davis. It’s interesting because when I find myself looking at it, Muniz does such a fine job that I forget they are diamonds. Even in the hair, where it is not all filled in with diamonds, it still does not strike me as being strange. Although, how he uses the diamonds for the face and for the hair are definitely contrasting techniques. His ability to know where to put the diamonds to give it the correct shading is remarkable.

Visual Art In My Life

Posted by Jeff Bruneau

This class has really made me think about what kinds of modern art I may have created or come across during the course of my day this past semester. Last week for ROTC we were running around RPI’s campus and I noticed this kind of windmill looking object that was just set in the middle of the academic quad and I definitely thought to myself that it could be considered a work of contemporary art. Then my thoughts shifted to the picture above. This is called a synchronization matrix and its purpose is to detail what every person’s responsibility is during a training event. For example, I find my name in the left most handed column and then trace that row and I know exactly what I need to do at what time. I created this for a weekend training event we had in the middle of April and I color coded it based on the category of one’s responsibility. I think given its purpose and color schemes, I consider it a work of art because a good synch matrix can be the difference between a successful and not so successful training event.

BOB (Bright Orange Ball)

Posted by Jeff Bruneau

Strangely enough, I did like Olafur Eliasson’s weather project. Eliasson is interested with how people react to the weather and it makes me think of my experiences thus far in the army when before the sunrises we are working out or conducting some time of operation. And then the sun appears or like we affectionately call him Bob, for Big Orange Ball, and it just gives you that sense you are not alone. It brightens up your day and ends the cold in those mornings when you just do not want to get up but you have no other choice. This picture reminds me of Bob and its brightness overwhelms the entire photo and it gives me that same relief it would if I was in the field

20x200-"Tear the Cover Off Of It"

Posted By Jeff Bruneau

Browsing through 20x200.com, I found quite of few different pictures that actually caught my eye. This did surprise me because some of the things were pretty out of the ordinary. However, one that I would buy would be this picture with the cover off the ball and only the stitching show. I played so much baseball when I was growing up and ripping the cover off the ball and then unraveling all the string and yarn was so much fun. It actually reminds me of the first time I did it and how long it took me to get to the little ball at the end. I had some of the greatest times growing up when I was playing baseball and I would buy this just because it would make me happy every time I saw it.

Mona Lisa Curse Documentary

Posted By Jeff Bruneau
The Mona Lisa Curse was a documentary by art critic Robert Hughes that discusses the relationship between money and art. I thought it was appropriate timing for when we watched it because there have been different reasons as to why the artists we have taken a look at thus far have gotten into art. I have wanted to know about this because some of these artists that we have looked at make an absurd amount of money. I mean if there are people out there who want to buy and display these works then by all means purchase it but I would just never spend that kind of money on something like that. Like any major industry though, they are looking to make money, like music for example, so I am not that shocked by it.

Tang Museum

Posted by Jeff Bruneau

For our museum trip, we went to the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. I was surprised to see that the gallery was so wide open which I thought was funny because it seemed like they had more employees working there than pieces of art. The roller coaster bed was definitely the coolest piece of artwork they had there. I think that made quite the impression on everyone who visited it, including students from other groups I had talked to. The pictures they had in the upstairs gallery I didn’t really understand but their use of colors really left me with quite the psychedelic impression. The color scheme and how the colors were organized made me feel like I was on an acid trip. Above is one of the pictures I was able to sneak in. I wanted to get a picture but those people trailed our group…I did not like them!

Graffiti

Posted by Jeff Bruneau

I really enjoyed the video we watched about graffiti. Whenever I’m in the car and I pass by some graffiti on the highway I’m always wondering about when that object was drawn or that phrase was written. I like to think about its origins and the reason why it was up there. The video offered that glimpse/behind the scenes perspective which was pretty cool. For some of these artists, I like how they just draw what comes to them and even come back to write on the same train year after year. It gives their art a lot more meaning and I can appreciate that.

Sports Cards Collection

Posted By Jeff Bruneau

When we talked about collecting things in class I could not help but think about how I was really into collecting baseball, basketball, and football cards. I really tried to keep them in as best condition as possible. I kept them in binders with those plastic sleeves. I liked collecting baseball cards the best and I liked to trade them with my brother and my friends. I was always on top of the value of each card each year and I was constantly searching for that high value card. The combination of the value of each card, the care for them, and how they are organized is definitely art. Unfortunately, I think collecting sports cards and trading is dying out. That’s just the impression that I get.

Tang Museum

Posted by: Eric Schaible

As my roommates have already blogged, on Friday, we all went to the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. I would just like to point out a piece in Casey's blog that turned me off from the exhibit- the fact that the workers were so uptight the whole time that we were there. The picture above (and also posted by my roommates) shows my favorite piece at the gallery, yet we didn't even have time to completely enjoy it and try to analyze it. The fact that the workers were so overbearing did not help my desire to actually be at the gallery at the first place. I hope that something is done so that in the future, they will be more open to new guests and willing to help out people who are new to the art world.

Tang Museum (Skidmore College)

Posted By: Casey LaChapelle

Los Carpinteros

Since my roommates all had different schedules it was hard for us to figure out where to go for our museum project. We finally decided on taking a trip up to Skidmore in Saratoga. It was close, convenient and we were all able to attend.

The first thing that I noticed when I walked in was how open the museum was. There was a lot of exhibit space that wasn't used. Looking into one of the rooms before we headed upstairs was a roller coaster looking bed, before we moved on I thought that was going to be the most interesting piece in the place.

As we went upstairs, I couldn't help but feel like we were being watched and followed...and in fact we were, it made us feel really uncomfortable. As we were looking at the artwork, the guy that was working there was standing behind us, it made us feel really rushed and didn't allow for a very good experience. We quickly drifted through the upstairs portion and went back downstairs to get a closer look of the bed, once again a different worker was following us around. We decided to head out as we weren't even enjoying ourselves with these people on our backs the whole time.

While I was at the museum, the roller coaster looking bed was definitely the highlight. The picture above doesn't do it any justice, this thing was huge and looked very contemporary. The whole aspect of this exhibit was that the artist took everyday objects and turned them into fantastical objects.

Overall I would grade my art museum experience a C. Some of the stuff looked interesting, but it was as if we weren't allowed to look at our own pace and it became annoying.

Posted by John Pedlow

A few classes ago this image was brought up and it really caught my eye. Though I have seen on numerous occasions the image of the marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima and I watched on T.V as the firefighters raised the flag after 9/11 I never put the two together. However when looking at them side by side they seem incredibly similar. These were both historic events in America history and the fact that they each have a very similar picture is quite interesting. I am glad this image was brought up in class because otherwise I would never have put the two together and seen how eerily similar they are.

Dave Hickey Podcast

Posted by John Pedlow

During this podcast Dave Hickey touched on a couple of points that intrigued me. First that some people are getting into the art business for the wrong reasons such as money and secondly that art dealers are creating false values for art. To me if you enter the art world you should be doing it because you love art, the money should just be something that you get should your work be good enough. It is like sports to me, most athletes play sports because it is something that they love to do. The money that professionals get comes along because they happen to be the best in their business, but it is not the reason they start playing sports. The same should be true for artists, be an artist because you love art. The second point about art dealers really bothers me because it does not seem that they care about art what so ever. They are just in the business to get rich and end up driving up the prices of art for their benefit and not because the art is actually worth it. This is wrong and makes it so some people can not afford art that they like and museums, as was described in Mona Lisa's Curse, are unable to purchase art because of the astronomical prices. To me this is completely wrong and seems slimy.

Collections

Posted by John Pedlow

A couple of weeks ago in class we were talking about collecting things as works of art. I have never actually thought about this as art and I am still not too sure about how it is considered art. Collecting stamps or golf balls to me is not really art unless you are talking about each individual one as an artistic work on its own. I started to think of what I collected as a child and I came up with that the only thing I ever collected for a significant amount of time was baseball cards. Then I started to think how you could consider baseball cards art and I came to the conclusion that I guess baseball cards can be considered art because really they are just photographs. So if you really want to stretch it there I guess you could say that I collected art on some level when I was a child.

Tang Museum

Posted by John Pedlow

This past friday Casey LaChapelle, Eric Schaible, Jeff Bruneau and myself went to the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. After spending some time looking at some of the paintings that were honestly pretty trippy and weird, we were about to leave when we saw the part of the museum that had the roller coaster bed. This was easily the highlight of the trip up there because this bed is really cool. I am thankful whatever possessed the artist to construct this bed because it is the coolest bed that I have ever seen. To think that I almost missed this on the trip up there is mind boggling because all of the other exhibits were just not that enjoyable for me because I felt that I would need to be tripping on acid to understand what the artist was trying to do in their paintings.

Jeff Koons

Posted by John Pedlow

This is one kind of art that Jeff Koons is known for. Large reproductions of things such as balloon animals made out of stainless steel and often, much like this one, these reproductions are brightly colored. This is a kind of art that to me I would not have thought about as art before this class but that is because I would not have thought about the time and effort that goes into a piece such as this. Also I probably would not have seen this piece as being credited to one person. However after taking this class I understand what goes into pieces such as these. Also this particular piece is pretty cool because it actually looks like a real ballon dog.

Earth From Space

Posted by John Pedlow

This particular picture is obviously not from an artist we have talked about in class, but yet I still find it interesting enought to blog about. Pictures of Earth at night from space have always caught my eye and I have always considered myself fascinated by them. Every time I see one of these pictures I find myself stopping and looking at it for at least a minute or two. Maybe it is because I like geography that I look at these because I always like to look for the brightest spots on the map and they, for obvious reasons, are always around major cities such as New York and London. I have also always liked to look at the areas that there are seemingly no lights such as Africa and large portions of Asia. It really makes you realize the different life styles people in the world live and how technologically advanced some areas of the world are compared to other areas.

20x200

Posted by John Pedlow

This the picture from 20x200.com that I would purchase. It is a picture of Cairo, Egypt and though I have no particular connection with Cairo and I am not of Eyptian decent this is the picture I would buy. I have always for some reason liked pictures of cities, maybe it is because at my house we have paintings of Albany from around the turn of the century, I don't know. Maybe it has to do with the fact that cities are always busy and bustling that I have some fascination with these kinds of pictures. It could be that I just like to see seemingly endless lines of buildings and skyscrapers. I can not quite put my finger on why I like them and it is probably a mixture of the reasons that I just listed.

Carsten Holler

Posted by John Pedlow

This is Carsten Holler's Test Site which was displayed in Tate Modern between October 2006 and April 2007. The work consisted of five slides made of metal and fiberglass. This to me is one of the coolest forms of art I have ever seen because visitors were allowed to slide down the slides. I would never before taking this class have considered something like this art and would have just thought that they were some pretty huge slides. However after taking this class I have broaden my view of what is actually art and this definitely is art and I must say that this is one of the more interesting works I have come across.

Posted by John Pedlow

This is Olafur Elliason's Weather Project and it was installed at the Tate Modern in 2003. Elliason used humidifiers to create and mist in the air and as you can see used many lamps to create a sun like light. The ceiling was covered with mirrors so that people could look up to and see themselves as black shadows against an huge orange light. Many people when viewing this work of art would lie down on their backs and wave them arms and legs and watch themselves in the mirror. This particular work of art to me is pretty cool because it is such a massive work and must have taken a great deal of time and effort to put together. Also the effect given off by the work must have been awesome and I would actually liked to have seen this myself.

9/11 Iwo Jima Relation

Posted By: Eric Schaible

This picture that was shown in class has a very strong meaning to any person that looks at it. The similarities are quite astounding, with Americans lifting a flag over an already destroyed location. During Iwo Jima, the Marines are raising the flag on top of Mount Suribachi during World War II, but the second picture shows firefighters raising the flag over the rubble from the World Trade Center Towers after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Both pictures show a sign of strength, with the Marines being able to complete a mission and help the Allies advance in the War, and the firefighters being able to fight on even after so many precious lives were lost on that day.

Andy Warhol

Posted by John Pedlow

This is one of the images that Andy Warhol is known for, his classic Campbell's Soup image. He has done other paintings of products such as Coca-Cola as well and to me it is an interesting way of making art. You never think of these kind of paintings when you are thinking about art, you always think more of something like the Mona Lisa. However these types of paintings are just as much art and in fact I think that these kind of paintings are interesting because people can relate to the product because it is part of their everyday life. Therefore Andy Warhol's paintings such as this Campbell's Soup have opened my eyes as to what art actually is.

The Weather Project

Posted by: Eric Schaible

When viewing this installation piece in class, I couldn't help to understand the true meaning of it. From the outside, I just saw a big yellow ball that looked like the sun in the middle of the room. When I finally sat down to actually examine it and attempt to figure out its meaning, I realized that it was much more than that. From reading about the actual installation, I found out that there is actually a mist injected into the room at random points during the day to resemble fog and the environment and then disappears to the top of the room where the is a hole in the ceiling. Upon looking up, an observer sees a mirrored image of the floor. The picture above is actually looking down on the "sun". Observers are able to view the bulbs behind the circle if they stand directly below it.

Once I read a little more into the piece, I found that he was actually trying to mimic the world around us by creating another type of environment. He went to great lengths to not advertise this piece as a normal artist would for a gallery, but instead posed questions on taxis and flyers regarding the weather. It is said that one of the first discussions that people have is in regards to the weather, so he wanted to use these questions as his basis for marketing. I found this piece to be quite interesting once I was able to get a better understanding of the artist's perspective. I thought that by creating this new environment, one of the first reactions from visitors would be about the weather inside of it, and thus, completing what he set out to accomplish.

Against Interpretation - My Opinion

Posted by: Eric Schaible

This article actually interested me a lot, mainly because it attempted to show what the majority of people do when the look at art. One of the problems that I've always had with art is that I don't understand what the artist was trying to say. Like the people that the article was talking about, I always attempted to over analyze pieces and come up with some type of meaning behind everything. The problem with doing so, according to this article, is that many artists don't want us to look into some type of deep meaning.

"Today is such a time, when the project of interpretation is largely reactionary, stifling. Like the fumes of the automobile and of heavy industry which befoul the urban atmosphere, the effusion of interpretations of art today poisons our sensibilities."

I believe that this quote can pretty much sum up the whole article. We have become so involved with trying to create an image or illusion out of nothing. It really seems as if we must all just take a step back when we are viewing a work of art, and realize that maybe, just maybe, our first impression of it was correct.

The Mona Lisa Curse

Posted by: Eric Schaible

While he may come off as rude at times, Mr. Robert Hughes gives a great response to the current art market. His believes and first hand accounts mimic those from one of my earlier blogs where I discussed a podcast by Mr. David Hickey. While I completely understand the point of purchasing a product when its value is low and holding it until a time when it will be worth a lot, I don't believe that it's right to artificially inflate the price of a work. By inflating the price, I'm talking about an art dealer (or special collector) attempting to create more value for a certain piece so that either the artist's other works would be valued better, or just so that their single piece will garner greater interest. Either way, artists like Damien Hirst should not be able to price his products at such a level that even museums can not afford, and art dealers should not be able to do the same either.

The Recession that Touched Everything

Posted by: Eric Schaible

This is an interesting article that I found while reading my Bloomberg Magazine back in March. Since we were discussing Damien Hirst's pieces in class, I found it funny that I would see an article published in a financial magazine about this artist. As you can read, the recession has truly played a role in the amount of money that were received for works done by Hirst. The article just discusses how there may not be as great of a market as before, due to the economic climate and the high prices that were once normal for his pieces before 2009. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any other information regarding sales for his works for this year.

Custodians of Culture - Schoolyard Art: Playing Fair Without the Referee

Posted by: Eric Schaible

I'm glad that this was one of the suggested pieces for students to listen to for this class. When I first began listening to it, I was in complete agreement with Mr. Hickey's belief that artists are becoming too greedy when it comes to their works. By asking such a high buying price for their pieces, they are actually attempting to create value for something that may not be worth very much at all. I believe that this is a crime and artists should not be able to command such a high price. After I finished listening to Mr. Hickey speak, I realized that it was not just artists' fault for this situation. Many people these days are just out to show that their services or products are better than their competitors and thus, ask a higher price. The problem that we face now is that too many people in this world are overly concerned with making as much money as possible, without any type of respect for others. By attempting to artificially create value for their own products, they are completely messing up the natural supply and demand schedules and scamming others out of their money.

20x200

Posted by: Eric Schaible

If I were to purchase one of the pieces from www.20x200.com, I would have to chose this piece. When I first saw it, it reminded me of being at my relatives lake house down in New Jersey; a location where I like to go when I have free time over the summer. It's usually very calm on the lake and it's extremely peaceful. The photography was really able to show a picture of tranquility and I would not mind having this piece in my house. With papers and reports being due every week, it can be stressful to be a student, and everyone needs time to just relax and unwind from a long day. By looking at this picture, it shows some of Earth's natural beauty and allows the person to think about a relaxing atmosphere.

Art Cars - The Explaination

Post by: Eric Schaible

When I first saw Andy Warhol's BMW Art Car in class, I was not sure how to take it. I've always enjoyed automobiles, but I believe that classic and/or rare cars are best left to their original conditions. These were created for a specific time and should forever be held to that standard. I look at cars as many people look at art, I like to enjoy the work as it was initially intended. However, after listening to some interviews from artists who have been a part of this program, I have a new understanding for their perspectives. To them, it is not just a car, but a way to illustrate their visions for the world to see. When BMW originally made these cars, it was what they believed to be the best design for the masses. What these artists do, is to create their own picture of what BMW wanted to show. By taking a class in art, it has allowed me to think "outside of the box" and take others' interpretations into account. It is also ironic that many artists who have participated in the Art Car program have been people that we have discussed in class.

Jeff Koons - BMW's Next Art Car

Posted by: Eric Schaible

On February 2nd, BMW announced that artist Jeff Koons would be the next to provide a car for their series of Art Cars. The ironic part about this, is that without taking the Intro to Visual Arts class, I might never have know who he even is. With recent interpretations of the BMW's "Art Car" series recently being focused on the artists' experiences rather than the car (i.e.: Robin Rhode's driving experience and Olaf Eliasson's piece on global warming), Koons has decided to focus more on the car and neglect its surroundings. What's most interesting to me is that the car design looks very subdued, as compared to some of the pieces that we saw during class. Although the paint scheme is a mixture of many colors, I would be expecting to see possible additions to the body of the car or something that would make this stand out more than a regular car. The car in question will be the new BMW M3 GT2 race car, and will be the 17th Art Car for BMW. It is expected that the car will be completed in June.

Robin Rhode - An Expression of Joy

Posted by: Eric Schaible

This video was used as a marketing piece by BMW as a part of their "Art Car" collection. This video was used by BMW to highlight the creation of their new Z4 model for the 2009 year. The main difference between this car and the one used previously, is that while the other cars were used as the canvas, the car is actually perceived as the artist in this work. Mr. Rhode's driving force behind this creation was to show a common link between art and automotive enthusiasts; that both are a combination of power and emotion. The power from the car is balanced with Mr. Rhode's ability to create a wonderful masterpiece.

While the piece may look like it was crafted without any type of guidelines, Mr. Rhode actually began with black finger paint on a piece of paper to illustrate the desired results. From here, he created a storyboard for the drive and gave a driver specific instructions for how to proceed. To actually apply the color, paint nozzles were added within the wheel arches to spray at the artist’s desired time. I think that his project does a great job in showing how art can be linked to many other cultures. By using a brand new car to illustrate his artwork, he has been able to bring the automotive world, where enthusiasts look at a combination of forms and functions, together with a culture based around a vast array of subjects.

Andy Warhol’s 1977 BMW M1 Art Car

Posted by: Eric Schaible

With very little background in art, I found Andy Warhol’s work to be quite fascinating because of the canvas that was worked on. Before elaborating on my own thoughts on this piece of art, I would like to give a quick background on the actual car that this work was done on. In 1973, BMW created a division, now known as their M-division, designed specifically for high performance cars. In 1978, they raced their M1, a car originally developed by engineers from Lamborghini, in Formula 1 races, but was required to have a production version of this car available to consumers if they wished to continue racing in the Procar Series. Because of this, 450 M1 cars were produced for their customers with a downgraded 6 cylinder engine that produced significantly less horsepower than their race versions. From the time that this was announced, the M1 was lamented as a collectors’ item.

When asked about his inspiration for the painting, Mr. Warhol said, “I tried to portray speed pictorially. If a car is moving really quickly, all the lines and colors are blurred.” In the video posted above, you can see that the car was painted using paint brushes, as opposed to spray guns which are normally used for production cars, and even his fingers to gain the specific effect that he was looking for. It was also noted that previous artists had used scaled down versions of their cars before actually painting, but Mr. Warhol did not do so. This shows that he was confident in his ability to portray the illusion that he had in his mind directly to the car. While some BMW fanatics do not appreciate the fact that this was done on such a rare car, many might be surprised that this was actually raced competitively in 1979, and won 6^th place during the 24-hour Le Mans race. While I also found it disturbing that he would be allowed to do this to a car of its stature, my opinion has been changed because it was actually used as both a marketing piece competitive component to BMW’s racing division.

The weird part about this car is just how it was painted. As stated before, most cars are painted with a spray gun, with brushes being used for small details (such as pin striping). The fact that he went directly at this car with a large paint brush shows the difference between an artist and just a regular body shop worker. I found his attention to detail to be fascinating, with the finger marks throughout the body of the car to show the “speed” aspect of the car. After doing a little more research into this car, I can say that my opinion of Mr. Warhol’s interpretation of this car is a very good representation of what the car was able to do.