This is a very rare instructional film from the 1960s, in which Vincent
Price guides Sears Roebuck employees through his art for sale
collection.
This group of readings will be discussed in our third scheduled class meeting, 2/4/14.
A
thoughtful, critical response to the readings will always be due by
midnight on the Monday preceding our Tuesday afternoon class. Comments should be posted in the comments section of this post by midnight, 2/3/14. Please note which readings are required and which are optional.Week 1: WRITING
Optional:
The six readings assigned this week seemed to be about each artist’s journey to define themselves and their work. These essays were beneficial to me, as this is an issue with which I am currently struggling. Before I cam back to school in the fall of 2012, my photography training had almost exclusively been technical, rather than conceptual. It has been a journey since then, trying to think and create conceptually; trying to understand why I make the work I do, why I use a certain material, or utilize a certain process. In light of this, I found this week’s readings helpful, especially the statements of Guston, Riley, and Oldenberg.
ReplyDeleteIn his Statement, Philip Guston says that the only possession an artist has is the freedom to do whatever he or she imagines. I find this quote to be both comforting and legitimizing. While I may not yet entirely understand myself as an artist or my role in the art world, I possess the ability to create, which, to Guston, it seems, means a great deal. Descartes said, “I think therefore I am”. Guston, on the other had, implies, “I create, therefore I am”.
Bridget Riley states that she believes a “work of art is essentially distinguished by the transformation of the elements involved”. She continues to say that rather than work towards something, she tends to work from something. This statement, to me, is like a perfectly timed piece of advice. I realize I spend too much time thinking, planning, and theorizing rather than diving into the creative process headfirst. I put too much emphasis on defining the endpoint, the goal, I will work towards in a work of art, never taking into account that a work of art will naturally grow, mature, and evolve during its creation. Instead, I must define a starting point, a place to work from, in order to allow myself and my artwork to develop simultaneously.
I recently read Claes Oldenberg’s I am for Art in my Narrative Strategies class and I was delighted to see it again on this week’s reading list. I have found myself referencing back to this essay time and time again over the past few weeks. Oldenberg uses such descriptive language, such universally known sentiments, occurrences, and objects to describe his art that it feels as if any artist of any medium could relate to his artwork and his statement. His terms present new, blunt ways in which to speak and think about art and have influenced me to approach my own creative process in a more broad and open-minded way.
After reading the assigned essays k, I feel that I have been given many great points and ideas to consider in regards to my own work. I believe it will be benefit me to continue to seek out and read the statements of other artists as I carry on developing my own artistic voice.
I have now realized even more than ever how envious I am to those who have the ability to not only speak but write about art; not only about art in general, but their own work. To be able to write in such a way is talent in itself, it is as if when I read the readings I was able to link the words physically to most of what they were saying.
ReplyDeleteOldenberg's spoke to me the most, I do not know if it was because it was a familiar one or not but I now keep that reading with me; "I am for Art" has something in it that any artist can relate to, it is odd but beautiful at the same time which I feel stirs my creativity.
One of the most striking things about these readings is not only the eloquence with which they were written, but the message they carry. As artists, we oftentimes forget that we are makers and doers.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, Guston's piece stuck out to me when he described his experience with Clark Coolidge. Perhaps it was because of his background as a writer, but Coolidge looked at Guston's work and said that "[Deluge] looked as if an invisible presence had been there, but had left these objects and gone somewhere else." I agreed with Guston that this is a moving moment for an artist, because oftentimes the responses we receive about our work are critical, if not highly analytical on the part of the viewer. I think we too often forget that art (to me, at least) is a shared experience between the artist, the work, and the viewer. When the work is overshadowed by context and critique, it loses some of its value-- which certainly is not monetarily based.
Guston however, commented that there was "too much collaboration" between the artist and the viewer going on. I think the relationship between the viewer and the artist in an interesting lens with which to view art works. Is Andy Warhol mocking society and the viewer or is he collaborating with the viewer? Or is he only collaborating with a segment of society? Food for thought. Are we supposed to care much about the viewer, or not so much?
DeleteThere is something about all of the listed readings that make me wish there was one easy form to follow in order to write an artist’s statement, but then I realize all the different ways that artists think about things, and then I get really confused about all artists statements.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading Eva Hesse’s statement I find that it is very interesting that her actual statement is very short but along with it she adds another writing that allows the readers to put her statement into context.
In contrast, Claes Oldenburg’s half manifesto half statement goes on forever. Or it seems that way from the repeated sentence structure I am for art that, I am for art that, I am for art that, I am for art that…. I do however think that his approach to talking about his art was very simple and an easy way for other artists to start writing their artist statements.
I think that one thing that all of those readings have in common is a diverse vocabulary, they’re varied in format and subject matter but the use ekphasis and diverse words can be seen in all of them.
In my opinion, I feel that short and sweet is the best when it comes to writing about yourself. Being too wordy can be a bad thing and can jeopardize certain opportunities and situations. I enjoyed Claes Oldenburg's artist statement the best because it was vague, which allows his art to not be limited.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Stricker
ReplyDeleteWriting Response
The Ethan Ryan “letter to his 4-year old daughter” was a funny, but thoughtful commentary. Ryan approaches the topic of “critique” from a few different angles. The thought of a parent talking to a 4-year old in this way is funny, but one would hope that a parent would not be so callous as to actually crush a 4-year olds spirit by speaking to them as though they were an adult. However, the essay begs the question of: “Since we are all adults, why aren’t we as brutally “honest” with each other in our critiques, just as Ethan Ryan was in this essay.” One could argue in favor of brutal honesty under the guise of ‘helping’ a fellow student, however, most of our fellow students are emerging, and in their infancy as artists. Ryan so cleverly baits the reader with his criticism, and gets us on board, then delivers his message with the comment about his daughter’s ‘Blue Period’, with an ironic wit.
In Bridget Riley’s “Untitled Statement”, one can get a sense of what she is referring to when she uses the terms ‘contradiction’ and ‘paradox’, and when she discusses ‘transformation,” however, her reference to elements in her paintings that “precipitated the destruction of themselves by themselves,” is a bit difficult to unpack. Visual examples of Riley’s work would surely help the reader to understand this statement. A visual comparison, and/or contrast of Riley’s work with another artist’s work might also help the reader to put this statement in context.
Painter Philip Guston, in his “Philip Guston Talking” lecture, given at the University of Minnesota in March 1978, gives the reader a wonderfully insightful look into his process. He talks about painting as an idea, or a group of ideas, and not as a painting. He talks about any mark as having meaning, and that “the only question is, what kind of meaning?” Much of Guston’s process is about noticing the small moments in life, and wondering about all matter of things, such as “memory, [and] sensations, which have nothing to do directly with painting.” His discussion about image, and the need to reproduce what we see in our mind’s eye, is an interesting concept to think about in the context of today. The massive amounts of images we are able to consume from the internet, is obviously something that he could not have anticipated or experienced at the time of this talk. The period of intense productivity he referred to, where he was responding with immediacy, to things or moments, that he saw or felt, is an interesting idea to ponder in the context of today. If we were able to contrast and compare the speed at which Guston saw things, and then created works in response to his ideas about those things, to the way we see things now, in our culture of mass consumption of visual stimuli, what would our findings tell us? Would we find differences in the way we process information, because of the pace of visual stimuli today, from the (presumably) slower and smaller amount of stimuli that Guston was probably exposed to? Do we miss detail, nuance, or depth, due to the speed in which we process images, or are we able to easily adapt? Does our exposure to high amounts of visual stimuli help us to generate more ideas, or does it hamper our ability to have an original thought?
It is nice to see all the different ways an artist statement can be written, and that writing one has to be almost as carefully considered as the art itself - it needs to make sense in context with the work.
ReplyDeleteSome artists' statements, like Eva Hess', really hone in on specific themes and have a sense of social movement. It is fitting for her work because she has honed in to a certain scope, with concerns of how women are treated, and it is fitting for all of her work to be viewed in context with those issues. But I also liked how Bridget Riley's statement didn't really get in to content or the large, overarching themes that she tries to employ in her work - she explains her process and how she responds to action rather than tries to create action, but she doesn't stick herself into controversial, social issues. I think my artist statement will be more like that - especially since I'm just a new artist and I don't want to stick myself into a single theme right now.
It is interesting to read other artist statements, and to hear how other artists talk and think about their own work. With Eva Hesse I was interested in how she spoke about her art being non-art and how the work would move past the artist's preconceptions. I also was interested in how she talked about her own self-confidence and determination as an artist. With Philip Guston, I found that it was kind of odd to start off an artist statement with a contradicting sentence. He starts off with "There are people who think that painters shouldn't talk. I know many people who feel that way, but that makes the painter into a sort of painting monkey..." I find that this is a contradicting sentence to starting off an artist statement. Also Guston mentions Mark Rothko and Franz Kline, which I think it distracts the reader from Philip Guston and it makes the reader focus on other artists. I think that these are all important things to consider when writing an artist statement because everything you say is crucial to how a reader will understand your work.
ReplyDeleteI am extremely envious of those who can write their own artist statement. “Artist Statement” on its own scares me sometimes. The fact that I now call myself an Artist is semi-new, it comes with power, and not to mention that fact that I am supposed to write something that “states” I am an artist is odd to me.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest struggle for me is to perfectly articulate my work when I do quite know what it means which is always evolving into something new.
All of the videos and readings were somewhat helpful for me, an artist statement is not something to be fearful of or something that has to define my work but more or less add to it. This is especially true to those who are not necessarily “visual” people and I prefer my art work to be enjoyed by all.