Pop the Bubbly

Someone PLEASE buy these for me. . .NOW.

They're on sale-- $$89.95 . . . mmmm!

Subliminally Sublime

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1287040724/bclid1295326981/bctid1667900306


Hey, so turns out Shepard Fairey and his wife Amanda have a gallery in L.A.! How cute is that?!

Ha, well, all girlish envy aside, this is probably a very good place to check out. The gallery opened up in 2003 (even though it's been an established project since '95) and is newly located in Echo Park. They only feature 6 exhibitions a year-- focusing mostly on contemporary/up-and-coming artists. They've had some pretty rad showings so far, including Banksy inspiration: Blek le Rat! Their place is intended to serve as a community space to expose eager eyes and ears to new art, lectures, and special events, and also to create a "forum for contemporary dialogue". Pretty sweet concept if you ask me. Who wants to accompany me on a visit while I'm in S.D.?? I'll drive! :)

So Long, Farewell. . .

So, Art History is over my friends. Well, this portion at least. I must say, my summer school experience has been MOST enjoyable. Though it went a little TOO fast, I really did learn a lot, and as cheezy as it sounds, I got a lot out of it. This class was oodles better than my last Art History class, and I'm so, so happy I was able to take it this summer. My only regret is that it wasn't longer-- and yes, I really mean that. So what if my teacher is gonna read this--I'm no cheat, this is the truth folks. A little sad to see summer school go, but completely content with what I've learned, and what I will come to know in the future. Super excited about having a break before fall semester, and going home to SD for a bit. I think the most intriguing thing about this class that I will say, is that I really feel like I was enlightened about a lot of the art I've seen over and over before, but really had no insight towards. I now feel like I look at art a different way. I've always been in appreciation of the subject, but never really had a hunger to find out its hidden meanings, agendas, truth's, motives, and originators. I'm configuring connections between the old and the new, and the few and far between. It's a philosophy applicable to most things in life. Always taking things at face value is no way to live, and I feel like I'm looking at a different side of life. What an amazing thing to now have. . . What a way to live.

xoxo

Stickin' It To The MAN!

Man, I feel like a little kid again! And aren't we all? I mean we're living in a world that is no longer private! With the boom of the internet, Youtube, and Myspace to "security" cams and wire taps, I can't help but get the feeling that I'm constantly being watched. Question is-- who's watching? The government? Societies elite? Corporations? Aliens??? I'll tell you who it is-- it's all of the above. And all of the above is most commonly known as: "The Man". We're living for the "Man", by the "Man", and under the "Man". . . and MAN, that sucks! This is a problem, a big freakin' societal problem, and it's interesting to see it through an artistic perspective. While I was at the De Young Museum, I saw it so literally I couldn't help but laugh. I walked right up to Viola Frey's "Man Observing II", and felt so strangely small and insignificant. Like I was really being watched, observed, even scolded. The piece had to be at least 13 feet tall, looming like a giant right above me. I was forced to look up and observe the piece straight on, and it was an interesting experience. Immediately I started thinking of the social implications I mentioned before, and finally concluded that the artists perspective and intent at the point of actual production, was easily translated into my, the viewers, consumption of the piece. The physical perspective that the piece gave out and simultaneously called back, is directly correlated with the societal message the artist is trying to convey. It sort of makes me think about the government giving 'hand outs' to our people, but at the same time taking it right back! I felt like I was being watched, I felt weak, and that is often how the common citizen feels within their own society. I thought this was a perfect example of how the artists perspective is directly involved with the viewers! Yikes!

Modern Art Must Cure My Disease

Link to Baudelaire essay:

http://eres.sfsu.edu/eres/docs/33513/art_202_s05_f9.pdf

First off, I think I'm too focused on the way that Baudelaire is writing, rather than what he is saying. I love his syntax. There is such an emotion and sense of sarcasm in his voice that I L-O-V-E! His way of wording is so, so powerful and hilarious. Like he is truly disgusted with his society and the way it is portrayed. Why are artists trying to idealize in their works a society that is not deserving of the Classical treatment? A society that doesn't even fit into the mold of the Classic forms and ways and beliefs? One that is so caught up in themselves, that they don't even need to have an artist represent/re-create them-- a simple mirror would suffice. And though this essay was written in the 18th century, the frivolousness, excess, narcissism, and decadence that once plagued Baudelaire's society, is still--if not even more so-- plaguing our own society today. People now in days are sick with self-indulgence, and art isn't always reflecting it appropriately. Baudelaire is calling for the attention of the modern artist, who has an open eye to what is both current and true.

A funny thing while reading this was the comments he made about women in (his) society and how they were being portrayed versus how they really were. Women were objects, complete artifice. They were there to be seen, and not concerned with the fact that there was nothing going on underneath all the pretty pin-curls and petticoats. It totally reminds me of when I get together with my girlfriends and go out. Getting ready is like an event, with great amounts of pressure added-- stemming not from the notion that we might meet some handsome suitor that night, but rather from the crude competition that one MUST look the best out of all of us, according to us, and according to the other FEMALES that we might see out that night. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Girls dress for Girls". Sure, we care what a boy might think of how we look, but really what it comes down to is how we compare ourselves to the other women we see. Going out is a matter of being seen. It's sitting around with a drink in your hand, acting unaware of what's going on around you, but knowing every detail of what is happening. It's acting completely complacent, when you're freaking out at the fact that everyone may, at one time or another, be looking at you. Baudelaire said it best when he described it in this way:

"And now the doors are being thrown open at Valentino's, at the Prado or the Casino -- those Bedlams where the exuberance of idle youth is given free rein. Women who have exaggerated fashion to the extent of perverting its charm and totally destroying its aims, are ostentatiously sweeping the floor with their trains and the fringes of their shawls; they come and go, pass and repass, opening an astonished eye like animals, giving an impression of total blindness, but missing nothing."

How true this is, and how guilty I am of partaking in it. How many times have I stomped around a lounge or a bar, seemingly blind to my surroundings, but being more intuitive than at any other part of my day? How many times have I freaked to do some last minute shopping so I could look as fabulous as possible wherever I might be going, and then when I got there made sure to make it a point to float about in hopes that someone might notice my fancy-schmancy ensemble? How lame am I? And how imperative it is for an artist, a modern artist, to expose this viciously vain conceit that is a disease to our current societal norms/beliefs, and that is often fueled by the popular images within it.

We've talked about how art and image influence a society. It then is important that these images are portraying the truth, rather than idealizing it, because then it will only reproduce a society that is still unaware, and only aware of itself.

That is the plight of the modern painter. That is what must be done!

Dumped On!

Really quick. I know I've already referred to Banksy before, but after studying Manet in class, I have to make one more nod his way. When we looked at Manet's painting, Boating at Argenteuil, and talked about how his paintings often had political motives-- once again, Banksy bombed his rebellious little way back into my mind. The fact that Manet made his water bluer than usual in this piece with the intent of exposing the factory dumping indigo dye into the neighboring bay--this place that is supposed to be a natural source of serenity and purity-- is freakin' awesome! And what's even better, and adds to the sensational irony, is that the very blue bay is in fact a place for the hoity-toity in society to parade around in their idealized playground, that is plagued with pollution that they themselves probably have ties to. Lovely. Guess not much has changed.

Banksy, thank god, has taken Manet's intent and freakin' stripped it bare in his re-creations of these little gems. Don't you just wish sometimes people would outright say what they really mean?? I sure do! Thank you Manet and Banksy for saying so.