Yayyyyyy!!! I was stoked for another theater show. This was called Black Watch and was performed by the Scottish Theater.
Scottish accents are difficult to decipher, yo.
But, seriously, it was probably one of if not the most moving plays I've ever seen. It was just so relevant to our times, I was completely enthralled. The show used minimal props, and heavy theatrics, almost as a reaction against popular cinematic narratives. The stage was set in between two blocks of audience, heightening the awareness of the presence of theater. And, it was like movement was the driving force of artistic aesthetic and concept. Here's what I got from certain scenes:
The part where the one of the soldiers was speaking a monolouge about the history of the Scottish army. As he moved through eras, the other soldier characters were dressing him in traditional ceremonial military uniforms, dressing and undressing fluidly through the whole scene. It was this weird mix of being informational but also depicting the strange identity that soldier have. The soldier is dressed by tradition, proud of it, but almost consumed by it nonetheless.
Another part was when the soldiers had all recieved letters from home. We were all expecting to be read the letters or at least see descriptive reactions to them. But we weren't given that. All the soldiers after reading, went by themselves to different places onstage and began making gestures with their hands very close to their bodies. Sign language. It was beautiful and entrancing and frustrating all at once. I felt that it parallelled the way in which a soldier may tell his story. The journalist asked them, "What was it like to see your friends die around you?" "It was fucking weird." It's an answer, a true answer, but theres a disconnect. We are only spectators, and there will always be that disconnect.
My favorite scene was at the very beginning when the soldiers began telling their story to the journalist. Everyone left stage, and the pool table remained onstage. Suddenly a knife breaks through the red fabric from the inside, and two soldiers crawl out and begin moving in a combat-type way. In the conceptual corner of my brain, I saw it as this image where they were breaking through an amniotic bloody skin. Aggressively pushing through, birthing themselves. It's this universal thing where a person's first experience with violence and how they handle it, births them into the person they are.
The play definitely inspired me to bond with my Granda more and as soon as possible. He grew up on the Irish countryside by Limerick, and had moved to London for work when he was about my age. When he was 26 I think, he was drafted into the British Army for 6 years during World War II. Last time I visited he really opened up, and listed all the places he went in sequence. My mom recorded it. She was astounded, he had never told her these things when she was growing up, and he's telling me now.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Damian Ortega at the Barbican
Um.... Yeah. Just kinda didn't like this at all.
I DID think it was adorably creative to replace the text on the wall with a pile of newspapers and rippy handouts. Wall text would've really distracted from the cluttered space of the works.
But.. I was just not impressed at all. I know, I come from a craftsperson perspective. But like... Just no. I do not think shoving a bunch of stuff together is a good art piece. I do not think concept justifies it. I don't care if he was making socio-political statements, whatever. Because even then, his statements just dont translate. What normal person looks at those and says, oh yeah, I see what you're saying about the government and capitalism, ya sure changes my mind, I'ma vote libral now. That just doesn't happen! He's catering to people to already agree with him. And what's the point then? It's philosophical masturbation, and nothing more. So, in effect, it just doesn't have an relevance.
The end.
I DID think it was adorably creative to replace the text on the wall with a pile of newspapers and rippy handouts. Wall text would've really distracted from the cluttered space of the works.
But.. I was just not impressed at all. I know, I come from a craftsperson perspective. But like... Just no. I do not think shoving a bunch of stuff together is a good art piece. I do not think concept justifies it. I don't care if he was making socio-political statements, whatever. Because even then, his statements just dont translate. What normal person looks at those and says, oh yeah, I see what you're saying about the government and capitalism, ya sure changes my mind, I'ma vote libral now. That just doesn't happen! He's catering to people to already agree with him. And what's the point then? It's philosophical masturbation, and nothing more. So, in effect, it just doesn't have an relevance.
The end.
V & A- Camera-less photography
While at the V & A we had tickets to an exhibition called "Shadow Catchers: Camera-less photography." At first, I just couldn't comprehend how photography without a camera would exist. I thought the camera was the vital tool in making something a photograph. But, this exhibition clearly proved me wrong. There were a number of techniques that were used by the artists: chemigram, digital C-print, dye destruction, gelatin silver print, luminogram, and photograms. Honestly, I don't really grasp how most of these work, because I've never taken a photo class, and dont have much knowledge other than putting my camera on "shaky hands" setting and turning the flash off.
These prints were astounding. I've never been so captured by abstract work before. Like, an abstract painting, you know, the kind without recognizable objects, has never done that to me before. These abstract images presented through photographic means were able to completely grab my attention and bring me into their realm, instead of giving me the distance to critique. It said somewhere on the wall, that this kind of use of the medium was doing something other mediums cant-- representing objects and spaces, therefore realities, that could never exist on our plane. It's a strange feeling knowing that. I think the reason the photographic medium is able to accomplish this better than painting is because we culturally understand painting to be a fabrication-- photography is understood as truth, as documentary.
In class, someone brought up the idea that these works were photographic casts. I liked this a lot.
My favorite from the show were Susan Derges, who made beautiful depictions of natural environments, and Adam Fuss--mostly because of the things he said about art. He centered his art on the question, "Is there a spiritual element to being alive?" I find myself touching on this concept in my own recent work, but have often been too embarrassed to say so in critique. He also understood my drive for making, saying, "You don't create, you die... It's about survival really."
These prints were astounding. I've never been so captured by abstract work before. Like, an abstract painting, you know, the kind without recognizable objects, has never done that to me before. These abstract images presented through photographic means were able to completely grab my attention and bring me into their realm, instead of giving me the distance to critique. It said somewhere on the wall, that this kind of use of the medium was doing something other mediums cant-- representing objects and spaces, therefore realities, that could never exist on our plane. It's a strange feeling knowing that. I think the reason the photographic medium is able to accomplish this better than painting is because we culturally understand painting to be a fabrication-- photography is understood as truth, as documentary.
In class, someone brought up the idea that these works were photographic casts. I liked this a lot.
My favorite from the show were Susan Derges, who made beautiful depictions of natural environments, and Adam Fuss--mostly because of the things he said about art. He centered his art on the question, "Is there a spiritual element to being alive?" I find myself touching on this concept in my own recent work, but have often been too embarrassed to say so in critique. He also understood my drive for making, saying, "You don't create, you die... It's about survival really."
Friday, January 21, 2011
ICA and National Gallery
So after Trafalgar Square on the 9th, we went to ICE, this gallery that was showing an exhibition of contemporary art, a portion being student work. I wasn’t’ impressed by it really. I really liked this sculpture called Narcissus. It was a wax cast of a male torso, with a broken head, reaching to pick out among a bunch of nose casts on a mirror pool. It was a bit literal and not mysterious as I would have liked, but I liked the way wax works with mirror as material.
There was one work that stood out to me above all rest. This animation of a black outline male figure against a white background. It was a loop of clips of him mutilating himself in a number of ways. I was struck by it, and actually had a flashback to bad times. I came back and was like shiitttt I’m still fucking watching this thing. The rest of the time in the gallery, I felt like crying or throwing up. I wished to forget the piece, but I cant. It was much like my own freshman foundation animation. I plan on maybe using this work to spark my assignment. The contemporary trend in which current figure studies involve a level of destruction to them. It contrasts with the classical glorification of the human body, but also parallels with the early grotesque Christian art…. I gotta think more, but I think I’m on to something.
We headed over to the National Gallery afterwards. I appreciated the paintings and the space and the frames, but I felt like I couldn’t truly experience it. I did love the Turner paintings, but the crowds and the noise was too much. I couldn’t just be with a painting. So I scooted out pretty quickly. It makes me think about Benjamin’s essay about the “aura.” Because I honestly feel I could get more out of some of these paintings by having the copy in a textbook to myself… So honestly, I have no idea what my opinion is about the copy vs original, because I’ve experienced an aura in both.
There was one work that stood out to me above all rest. This animation of a black outline male figure against a white background. It was a loop of clips of him mutilating himself in a number of ways. I was struck by it, and actually had a flashback to bad times. I came back and was like shiitttt I’m still fucking watching this thing. The rest of the time in the gallery, I felt like crying or throwing up. I wished to forget the piece, but I cant. It was much like my own freshman foundation animation. I plan on maybe using this work to spark my assignment. The contemporary trend in which current figure studies involve a level of destruction to them. It contrasts with the classical glorification of the human body, but also parallels with the early grotesque Christian art…. I gotta think more, but I think I’m on to something.
We headed over to the National Gallery afterwards. I appreciated the paintings and the space and the frames, but I felt like I couldn’t truly experience it. I did love the Turner paintings, but the crowds and the noise was too much. I couldn’t just be with a painting. So I scooted out pretty quickly. It makes me think about Benjamin’s essay about the “aura.” Because I honestly feel I could get more out of some of these paintings by having the copy in a textbook to myself… So honestly, I have no idea what my opinion is about the copy vs original, because I’ve experienced an aura in both.
V & A and Glenn Adamson
On Monday Jan 10, we went to the V & A museum. I nearly wet my pants I was so excited. Right from the beginning, I knew this would be like… my thing. The wall on the front read, “The purpose of every art must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose.” Like YAUS this is what defines good art. I don’t care what the purpose of the art is, but if I feel like the art is coming short of it, I usually hate it.
Anyway, so I ended up spending 5 ½ hours there and I didn’t even see more than half of the museum. Apparently an entire walk through is roughly 7 miles, no wonder my legs actually hurt today.
We had an hour-long walk through tour with Glenn Adamson, this smart guy that wrote these essays about craft through history and especially the recent deconstruction in craft concerning sculpture and especially ceramics. I think it’s interesting that in order for ceramic to be considered a fine sculptural art that it has to drop all the craft and function.
We all were supposed to come up with a question to ask him, and I wanted to ask something along the lines of if he thought we were on the brink of a return to craft or not. He answered my question before I could ask them. He said that currently there is a trend in which people think old craft is fashionable and that the V&A is fashionable again. Also in his talk about post-modernism, he explained that the movement is so self-conscious about its own self-consciousness that it has a reached a dead-end in development. Its self-destructed too far.
The V&A is like exploding with stuff. The plastercast room was my favorite. It was fucking amazing. It was a crap ton of architectural and monumental replicas all shoved into 2 rooms. It sounds so cheesy but I was truly filled with wonder. Life felt magic. It was just so intense I can’t explain it.
The process of how they made them was fascinating as well. I hope someday I can get to that level.
Concerning questions of the aura… idk. These copies weren’t empty by any means.
Anyway, so I ended up spending 5 ½ hours there and I didn’t even see more than half of the museum. Apparently an entire walk through is roughly 7 miles, no wonder my legs actually hurt today.
We had an hour-long walk through tour with Glenn Adamson, this smart guy that wrote these essays about craft through history and especially the recent deconstruction in craft concerning sculpture and especially ceramics. I think it’s interesting that in order for ceramic to be considered a fine sculptural art that it has to drop all the craft and function.
We all were supposed to come up with a question to ask him, and I wanted to ask something along the lines of if he thought we were on the brink of a return to craft or not. He answered my question before I could ask them. He said that currently there is a trend in which people think old craft is fashionable and that the V&A is fashionable again. Also in his talk about post-modernism, he explained that the movement is so self-conscious about its own self-consciousness that it has a reached a dead-end in development. Its self-destructed too far.
The V&A is like exploding with stuff. The plastercast room was my favorite. It was fucking amazing. It was a crap ton of architectural and monumental replicas all shoved into 2 rooms. It sounds so cheesy but I was truly filled with wonder. Life felt magic. It was just so intense I can’t explain it.
The process of how they made them was fascinating as well. I hope someday I can get to that level.
Concerning questions of the aura… idk. These copies weren’t empty by any means.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Trafalgar Square
At the Trafalgar Square, there was this big monument that depicted a British ship with this bright multi-colored textile fabric sails inside a large scale glass bottle, high up on a stone pillar.
I thought it was easy to look at and it was charming aesthetically. We discussed it as a class, and the consensus was that it had to do with Britain's history as an imperialist country and how it carried away and bottled into its own culture remnants from the other cultures they've conquered. The idea was praised rather than condemned through the work.
If I had to design a monument for the Square, I'd like to see this large metal mound rising up, the mound forming into the torso and head and arms of a contemporary British soldier. Large chunks would be like taken out, creating large holes in the sculpture (much like how a broken wax cast looks). Running through the interior of the figure mound would be this giant poppy-red fabric. Id need to experiement with models, but the idea is that the wind should blow through the gaps of the sculpture, billowing the fabric like an interior flag. A tradition and remembrance within his being. But the holes represent a sadness and a hurt. I'm not sure how the public would react to that kind of image, war monuments are usually never satisfy everyone.
I thought it was easy to look at and it was charming aesthetically. We discussed it as a class, and the consensus was that it had to do with Britain's history as an imperialist country and how it carried away and bottled into its own culture remnants from the other cultures they've conquered. The idea was praised rather than condemned through the work.
If I had to design a monument for the Square, I'd like to see this large metal mound rising up, the mound forming into the torso and head and arms of a contemporary British soldier. Large chunks would be like taken out, creating large holes in the sculpture (much like how a broken wax cast looks). Running through the interior of the figure mound would be this giant poppy-red fabric. Id need to experiement with models, but the idea is that the wind should blow through the gaps of the sculpture, billowing the fabric like an interior flag. A tradition and remembrance within his being. But the holes represent a sadness and a hurt. I'm not sure how the public would react to that kind of image, war monuments are usually never satisfy everyone.
FREE DAY!
Jan 8th, a Saturday, was my first full free day. And I decided to use my time by tagging along with some of the theater kids for the day.
I went to the British Musem with Kat, Kyle, Sammie, and Ian. We saw all the popular exhibits like the Egyptian monuments, the Assyrian stuff, the Greek nude statues, and a ton of crazy fancy European stuff. I don't even know what period style unfortunately. There was so much visual to absorb, that its difficult to just slow down and absorb information too. It was great to get a feel for the place, as I was going to return to the Museum another day for my own art stuff, and now I could narrow down what I wanted to see.
After that we went to see a play at The Old Vic, called A Flea in Her Ear. It was not about fleas at all. It was, in fact, a classic Victorian farce. It reminded me of the school production Noises Off that happened during the past semester. The set was gorgious and over the top with decoration, especially the hotel set. They had a working turntable that they actively used in the play as well. The story was this weird thing where... hmm.. Well, everyone is confused thinking theyre being cheated on when no one really is, and theres 2 characters that look exactly alike for no reason and it causes all this mayhem. A lot of shrieking and running. I kind of liked Noises Off better, if im going to go for farce. It just got annoying when it was like Godddd this has been going on for foreverrrrr why havnt they figured it out yet? I figured it out! I feel asleep twice when they moved to the far left where I couldn't see. But all in all, it was really fun to hang out with my theater people and see something different and explore more streets of London.
After that, we headed over to meet the rest of the Theater Seminar. Andrea magically possessed an extra ticket for the show Red Riding Hood, and she wanted to offer it to me! It was really great. With a belly full of jerk chicken and beer, I sat next to my boyfriend, who I'd been missing despite the few meetups every now and then, and enjoyed this crazy interactive show. It was kinda written for kids, but had a lot of adult jokes thrown in. The Grandmother for example, was a bro in drag- she called out my John and continued to flirt with him the entire show, it was hysterical. Overall the show was light and humorous. I liked the costume design a lot. The animals only had a few markings to depict them as animals, like ears with a few painted marks on their face. I enjoyed that the Wolf started out as a well-dressed man and got hairier and hairier as the play went on. I really enjoyed myself, there was so much to laugh about and it was nice to experience the childishness in between all the dark serious art and theater we work with.
I got to have a backstage tour as well with the group. I got to hold all the puppets! Unfortunately no puppet people were around for me to ask about construction : /
I went to the British Musem with Kat, Kyle, Sammie, and Ian. We saw all the popular exhibits like the Egyptian monuments, the Assyrian stuff, the Greek nude statues, and a ton of crazy fancy European stuff. I don't even know what period style unfortunately. There was so much visual to absorb, that its difficult to just slow down and absorb information too. It was great to get a feel for the place, as I was going to return to the Museum another day for my own art stuff, and now I could narrow down what I wanted to see.
After that we went to see a play at The Old Vic, called A Flea in Her Ear. It was not about fleas at all. It was, in fact, a classic Victorian farce. It reminded me of the school production Noises Off that happened during the past semester. The set was gorgious and over the top with decoration, especially the hotel set. They had a working turntable that they actively used in the play as well. The story was this weird thing where... hmm.. Well, everyone is confused thinking theyre being cheated on when no one really is, and theres 2 characters that look exactly alike for no reason and it causes all this mayhem. A lot of shrieking and running. I kind of liked Noises Off better, if im going to go for farce. It just got annoying when it was like Godddd this has been going on for foreverrrrr why havnt they figured it out yet? I figured it out! I feel asleep twice when they moved to the far left where I couldn't see. But all in all, it was really fun to hang out with my theater people and see something different and explore more streets of London.
After that, we headed over to meet the rest of the Theater Seminar. Andrea magically possessed an extra ticket for the show Red Riding Hood, and she wanted to offer it to me! It was really great. With a belly full of jerk chicken and beer, I sat next to my boyfriend, who I'd been missing despite the few meetups every now and then, and enjoyed this crazy interactive show. It was kinda written for kids, but had a lot of adult jokes thrown in. The Grandmother for example, was a bro in drag- she called out my John and continued to flirt with him the entire show, it was hysterical. Overall the show was light and humorous. I liked the costume design a lot. The animals only had a few markings to depict them as animals, like ears with a few painted marks on their face. I enjoyed that the Wolf started out as a well-dressed man and got hairier and hairier as the play went on. I really enjoyed myself, there was so much to laugh about and it was nice to experience the childishness in between all the dark serious art and theater we work with.
I got to have a backstage tour as well with the group. I got to hold all the puppets! Unfortunately no puppet people were around for me to ask about construction : /
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