Dragons, Demons and Gods

          

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art contains paintings, artifacts, calligraphy furniture, sculptures and much more. The theme for my exhibit is Dragons, Demons, and Gods. Countries like Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and India will be emphasized on the presentation lineup. I chose this theme for my exhibit because of my fascination and appreciation of dragons, demons, and Gods specifically the powers they have and unique looks that people draw them in. Specifically, my love for dragons and my interest in Demons and Gods goes back to when I was a young child of eight. I'll start by discussing an ancient jar from China named, "Jar with Dragon Headed Handles ". Sculpted during the 7th century, this piece is a yellowish coloring with a white strip on the base of it. The jar also has two dragon heads as handles as the title states. The next artifact is a Korean named, "Rafter Finial in the Shape of a Dragon Head and Wind Chime ". This bronze artifact was created during the 10th century. The third item of this brief presentation is the "Clothing Box with Decorations of Dragons". This delicate box seems to have been created and passed down from 1392 through 1910. It has a brown color to it with two dragons on the top cover.

         What these works of art do for me is simply further my love for this kind of art and design because in almost any game or anime, I find myself seeking out anything having to do with a dragon, demon or even a god like being for me to cheer for. Every single sculpture and artifact you'll see is from Asian culture. More comparisons that the works of art I chose will  have something to do with dragons, demons and a type of god.Finally, here's a lineup of artifacts and sculptures that I've chosen.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       TangDynasty "Jar with Dragon  Headed Handles"   (618-907) Gallery 205                         
                                                                                                                 




















Goryeo dynasty "Rafter Finial in the Shape of a Dragon Head and Wind Chime" (918–1392) Gallery 233


                                                                                                           

 

Joseon dynasty "Clothing Box with Decorations of Dragons"                
(1392-1910) Gallery 233

The Hans Syz Collection, Gift of Stephan B. Syz and John D. Syz" Bowl with Dragon" (1995) Gallery 201

 

                                   












Qing Dynasty "Zhong Kui with Demons" (1644-1911) Currently not on Display

Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage "Netsuke of Oni Weeping Beside Giant Arm of Demon" (19th century) Currently Not on Display

                                         

















Gift of Mrs.Russell Sage "Netsuke in the Shape of a Demon" (19th century) Currently Not on Display






















Friends of Asian Art Gifts, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Bruckmann, Mr. and Mrs. Perry J. lewis, and Anonymous Gifts "The Goddess Durga Victorious Over the Buffalo Demon, Mahisha" (9th Century) Gallery 247

Gift of R.H Ellsworth Ltd,.. in Honor of Douglas Dillon " Standing Shiva or Temple Guardian" (10th Century) Gallery 249

Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts "The Sun God Surya in His Chariot with Wives and Attendants" (2nd and 1st Century B.C) Gallery 234

"Performance at the Whitney Museum"

               During my trip to the Whitney Museum, I was introduced to the "ritual of rented island" exhibit that featured a historical show consisting of artists who participated in the New York performance art scene from 1970-1980. Most work found in this exhibit were created by artists that referred to important social, political and cultural forces of the time. American imperialism, the war in Vietnam, sexual-gender inequality, american pop culture and its commercialization. Overall a unique experience compared to the other museums and art galleries I've visited thus far.

              During my first encounter in this exhibit, I came across this black and white video taping of approximately 64 minutes in length named "Claim". In the video Vito Acconci is performing a mass hypnosis on himself in his basement. Vito Acconci is blindfolded, seated on a chair at the front of the stairs while holding two metal pipes and a crowbar at the same time talking to himself aloud. What I get out of this particular piece from the exhibit is that it can possibly have some sort of social reference to it, by showing people how he hypnotizes himself for three hours and eventually starts to believe the things he says. He mentions the Vietnam war as a kind of mechanism relating to this piece. All I know is if I had walked into a basement with someone chanting the same insane lines over and over again I'd probably call the cops or get him/her help immediately.

           
              Secondly, I saw a black and white video of Julia Heyward who was a performance artist. She was performing "Shake!Daddy!Shake!" at the Judson Memorial Church. She is also known for other songs she's created like "It's a Sun!". Her songs usually related to her past of her life and relationships as well from the south. I would also consider her art performances under the social category because of how people in general can most likely relate to her music. Julia Heyward also had a different way of displaying her audience by splitting them up with boys being on one side and girls being on the other side to ironically stress the social roles of men and woman. Had I attended any of her performances I'd probably wouldn't think right then and there how much of an influence she might possibly be.

             For the last piece I came across in this exhibit, i saw a digital video of nothing more than the Statue of liberty from afar. The artist recording this historical landmark is Laurie Anderson. There wasn't a whole lot of information on this piece as to why it was even recorded in the first place. It's simply just a digital video of the statue of liberty from a long range distance while you see the water calmly ripple back and forth and the birds fly across the screen gliding over the water. Obviously the Statue of liberty stands for many things and freedom is one of them. This can relate to anything political, referring to perhaps the immigrants who came to these lands and seek new life as well as a fresh start, only to be deemed castaways by certain politicians who don't agree with them occupying american soil.

              Concluding my field trip at the Whitney  Museum, I have definitely seen some different art films, clips, and model creations that caught my attention. While it wasn't my best experience as compared to the other art galleries or museums, maybe in the future i can explore some other exhibits and floors to change that a little. Perhaps my favorite piece from this exhibit is the "Claim" Excerpts due to the eerie and disturbing vibe from that video alone.

Vito Acconci
"Claim"
video recorder
September 10,(1971)

Julia Heyward
"Shake! Daddy! Shake!"
Recorder
(1976)

Laurie Anderson
"Untitled"
Digital Recorder
(2013)
             
             

LES Galleries Reaction

                   
                      During my trip to the lower east side galleries in New York, we saw some pretty good works of art for a gallery that consist of artists who are still experimenting with their art and don't have as much value compared to well known artists. We managed to observe the "Miguel Abreu Gallery" on 36 Orchard Street 10002, A gallery that was "Untitled" gallery on 30 Orchard street 10002, and "The new Museum of Contemporary Arts" on 235 Bowery 10002. Immediately I noticed that both the lower east side galleries and Chelsea's galleries showed some art of the same work, but the L.E.S galleries actually offered a bit more unique pieces of art, none of which i saw in Chelsea's gallery. For example, I genuinely appreciated Andre Felicianos art where he incorporated the image of cameras and portrayed them as flowers was really interesting and different, very "lego" like from a distance.
           
 Judging from every bit of art I encountered at L.E.S, it's safe to say that there a lot of exhibitions that do in fact "cater" to collectors, but some that probably wouldn't peek a collectors interest due to the fact that this paintings originate from artists with no name value as of yet. I also noticed that both the L.E.S and Chelsea's galleries do for the most part share that "White Cube" type of atmosphere, like how the paintings are displayed on clean white walls like a cubicle environment and polished floors.
         
  In my opinion, I don't really care what environment the L.E.S gallery was located at. It didn't change my view or experience of the actual art itself. Even though commuting and traveling to the galleries themselves was a bit annoying to the very narrow and cramped sidewalks when you leave the main street. Even though the area Chelsea's galleries was located at was more pleasant than the lower east side, again it had no effect on my views and opinion of the art being displayed.

Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary

During the Magritte exhibit i stumbled upon the painting La Faux Miroir by Rene Magritte. This painting has a lone Eye with clouds all around the Iris of it. I find this painting to be absolutely incredible. The meaning i get from it is what someone sees in his perception while at the same time being limited to what the actual person can see. It's like a window into the brain and imagination which can ironically let the person visualize anything he wants even more. This alone can be the bridge to fantasy and reality. We can also get back to how simplistic it can by describing it as just someone looking into the sky gazing in awe, either way the subjectiveness of this painting alone can make a person just sit down and wonder about anything.

Design in our lives

           During the trip back to the Museum of Modern Arts I had to pick four pieces of art that either have a high or low functionality. The art we were suppose to look at took place on the third floor where all the design art exhibits were shown. It was fairly easy to find both high and low ergonomic pieces of art that peaked my interest. First thing i did notice is that there were a lot of chairs. That in m opinion would have been the obvious to choose from so lets get to the works of art that I've chosen for the assignment.

          The first piece of art i chose was the Kafon Deminer. This is a familiar work of art i encountered before in my last visit to the museum of modern arts. It has an incredible high functionality because its purpose is to actually remove landmines from fields. The inspiration behind this device was because the creator of the painting Massaud Hassani had witnessed his comrades die at a young age while chasing their homemade toys into the mine fields. The design is simple for the what is it actually meant to do so i would not make any changes to it.
 
           The second work of art i picked that had high functionality was the Ashtray table by Trudi and Harold Sitterle. I deemed this design highly functional because its simply an astray. Not only that but you can use it for other uses as well like dip for chips, a place to throw your seed shells at, spit your chewing tobacco at wrappers and so much more. One thing i would probably change is a way to do all this why making it somewhat sanitary. For instance, i can cut a hole in the bottom of the ashtray and put a garbage bag or bin underneath so the trash and everything can be disposed of, but would it still be an ashtray?

           Next design i came across was the Pouring bins from a Frankfurt Kitchen by Margarette Schutte Lihotzky. The pouring bins were cheap light and balanced for their use which was to produce ammunition boxes. I decided to consider this low functionality. While the material was cheap i believe it would have been more functional to use a different and stronger material like a stronger metal (stainless steel) and a black grip on the handles.

            At last we come to the Table with wheels by Gae Aulenti. When i first saw this i thought how ridiculous it was. This is definitely something i threw under the low ergonimic category. I don't understand why a glass table has wheels on it. I's functionality would be pointless for anything that weighed heavy. Obvious modifications i would make is a stronger platform like oakwood or any metal would do.

            There you have it four designs that have a quality of high or low functions about them. The only ones that have anything in common would be the astray table and perhaps even the table cause they are household items. The rest serve other purposes and are unique in their own way.

"Kafon Deminer" Massoud Hassani       "Pouring bins in Frankfurts Kitchen" Margarete Schutte-Lihtzky
 Bamboo, Biodegradeable Plastics             Aluminum (1926)
(2011)

"Ashtray table" Trudi and Harold Sitterle                       "Table with Wheels" Gae Aulenti
   Glazed porcelain and black oxisized steel  (1951)            Glass, metal, and rubber    (1932)

Illustrate a Story

Illustrate a Story

                          http://storycorps.org/listen/elizabeth-olson-karin-porch-rich-barham-and-nelson-peck/#/


At the beginning of this story there was a man named Christopher, who came from the middle east and had experienced combat from war. When he got back and arrived to his apartment he discovered that his girlfriend was with another man and to add insult to injury cleaned out his whole bank account leaving him homeless. He called the Veterans crisis line which is a suicide prevention hotline. As he talked to Elizabeth Olsen on the hotline in which she managed to get him from jumping off a bridge not once, but twice. The police managed to take him in custody overnight.

The picture below is a man threatening to jump off a bridge, similar to what Christopher from the story had intended to do. It's a shame that not only the man in the story but people in general would succumb to trying to take their own life. Especially at such an early stage of their lives. Luckily Elizabeth Olsen convinced him just that! The fact that he was still young and able to start over.

"Chelsea Galleries Reaction"

During my visit to Chelsea's gallery, I first entered the David Zwirner's 519 West 19th Street space gallery in New York. What I like about Raymond Pettibon's art work is that it's definitely unique and does catch your eye when you do run into his work. However, I don't like certain images he tends to use for a lot of his art work. I do believe there is value in a lot of his art work because his work does embraces the "high" and low" of american culture from marginal youth, art history, literature, sports, religion, politics, and sexuality. I do think that the value of some not all of his paintings isn't a very good investment due to the pictures of male or female genitalia, or even a fetus in a bottle. So let start with that painting previously mentioned. The second I saw the painting of a baby fetus in what it looks like a wine bottle I began to question his purpose behind it. It's not that it grossed me out or I find it in poor taste but other people in general might. I also happened to find a painting that i actually enjoyed which was the painting of a horse mid sprint, it's just one of those paintings that would make a dull room in your house more lively.

Another gallery with some good art work that I enjoyed was the Lori Bookstein fine art at 138 Tenth Avenue in New York. The artist that was featured in this gallery was Paul Resika, an artist who sought inspiration from everything in the world that was around him. Whether it'd be studio tabletop tableaux, a mechanics shop or even local amusement parks. There's not much I dislike about Paul Resika's art work, if I had to choose something I disliked it'd probably be how he painted a few of his art works. That being said I love this mans paintings and how he grasps the image of an area. Paul Resika's paintings can be very profitable in my opinion just for the fact that his paintings are really eye grabbing in how he paints his art work in a way that you kind of have to stare at it for a few seconds before realizing what it is if you never read the title. The piece of art that I didn't really care for was the painting of a motor shop. The coloring and style of the painting just didn't really scream "hey look at me" but ironically did make me look at it. One piece I loved was a picture of a subway. At first it took me a while to realize what it was before reading the title of it.

Raymond Pettibon "Untitled" (2013)

      "Display it" (Horse)                                   "Store it" (Fetus)                                            
 


Paul Resika

  "Motor shop" (1948) "Store it"   "The subway" (1947) " Display it"