John Baldessari

John Baldessari does photomontage, painting, uses language, and juxtaposes images that illuminate, confound, and challege original meanings. He draws his viewer's attnetions to minor details, absences, and spaces between things. He does things by blocking out important information with colorful dots and obscuring geometric shapes.

Beethoven's Trumpet (With Ear), 2007
Resin, fiberglass, bronze, aluminum and electronics

This piece is extremely interesting to me. I feel that making the ear the same color as the background, it depreciates the ear and makes it less important to me. The large trumpet is what is important in this scenario. I think he is trying to say that listening is much more important than just hearing something; the fact that the viewer can interact with it in such a way that they can stick their entire self in there makes them have a whole new experience with the ear. This experience is what becomes the art.

Hitch-hiker (Splattered Blue) 1995
Colour photograph, acrylic, maquette

This piece shows the way in which he uses bright geometric shapes in order to hide part of his paintings. The way he does this makes it so the viewer is unable to get a bit of information that is behind this pieces. It is quite frustrating actually; the bright nature of them brings your eye right to them and that usually means that there is something important there, but yet we can’t see it. In this sense, maybe he is trying to protect the Hitch-hiker from further rejection.

The Pencil Story 1972 - 1973
Colour photographs, with coloured pencil, mounted on board

An epiphany, words, they can be pieces of art. That is how Yoko Ono works! The way he has labeled, discussed, and documented this action becomes the art in itself. This is not just photography that makes the piece, it is the larger issue of removing the artist’s hand from consciously thinking about photography and the subject matter, to something that leads to work from the mind. His quote, “I’m not sure, but I think that this has something to do with art” is quite interesting; I think that he has made a discovery that anything can be art, and he is growing and contemplating the artist in himself.

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla  have been collaborating artists since 1995. They experiment with many ideas; many of those ideas consist of nationality, borders, and democracy in our consumerist society. They do sculpture, photography, performance, sound, and video, and sometimes combine them. The enjoy exploring the “complex associations between an object and its meaning” with historical, cultural, and political metaphors that are often made out of basic materials for a medium.

“Hope Hippo”
2005. Mud, whistle, daily newspaper, and live person.

Here they have made a giant hippo; in this installation piece, they invite people and volunteers to read the daily newspaper while sitting on top of the hippo. This piece has got me stumped, and I am willing to admit that. I do not know what a hippo has to do with daily newspaper or hope.

“Returning a Sound”
2004. Single channel video with sound, 5 minutes 42 seconds.

This video was made in Vieques, Puerto Rico; this island has been used for the past 60 years by the U.S. Military and NATO forces to practice military bombing exercises. The background information is important when understanding the purpose of this piece; there has been local civil disobedience movements that are trying to stop the bombing and are wishing for the removal of the U.S. Military forces. This video is addressing the landscape of this place and also it’s sound. Sound is important to the residents of this island because they are “marked by the memories of the sonic violence of the bombing.” The man who rides this around the island is a civil disobedient and an activist; there is a trumpet that has been welded to the muffler of this motorcycle. The noise that comes from it has been transformed, and it now sounds like a call to attention. “it becomes a counter-instrument whose emissions follow not from a preconceived score, but from the jolts of the road and the discontinuous acceleration of the bike’s engine as [the man] acoustically reterritorialzes areas of the island formerly exposed to ear-splitting detonations.”

This much meaning put into an almost six minute video is important when knowing the story behind it. The artists were very specific in hitting home to a political problem in these peoples’ lives.

Land Mark #1, 2001

(Foot Prints); digital C-print

19 1/5 x 23 7/9 inches

I think this title is really important in informing this piece. Footprints symbolize people, and I feel this is saying that wherever people step, they are making a mark in this world. I can’t quite see the detail all that well in these footprints, but one can tell that there are pictures, words, people, etc in each print that the artists have probably carved into the bottom of a shoe. Landmarks and successes in the world are made by people, and that is what this piece represents.

Josh Goldstein

Josh Goldstein’s Art is inspired by a fascination with the density, decay, and diversity of New York City. Things such as street signs, chinese take-out, menus, graffiti tags, and other urban culture influence his work.  He uses salvaged plywood. He says, “It is my aim to re-contextualize the banalities of city life through my salvaged plywood constructions.” The subject matter in which he uses creates two worlds that do not mix; a salvage and broken plywood idea clashes yet is transformed to the urban culture of New York. Recently, Target commissioned him to design three billboards for Times Square; these will be a total of 6000 square feet.

Water Tank #1, 2010

Photographic collage on salvaged plywood,

15"x15"

This piece screams ‘America’. The red white and blue are iconic symbols of America, and many urban cultures fall into this nationalistic scheme. The water tank falls into the same idea as the salvaged plywood; it is not just any water tank. It looks like an old farm water tank that would serve the purpose of providing water for about three people in a ten mile radius; it completely defies New York City and the fact that it is in a 9X2 mile radius with millions of people, this water tank would not suffice. And I think that that is the point that Goldstein is trying to make; there is a difference between urban life and suburban life that he is capturing here.

Egg Foo Nosh, 2010

photographic collage on assorted salvaged plywood  50"x78"

Well I don’t really understand where he got the ‘Egg Foo’ part of this title but I did find the nosh words on the right hand side! I really enjoy the colors that he has experimented with here; it defies the brightness and loudness that comes with New York City. I think here he has focused on the Chinese Food or just fast food in general. The text he has used such as chow mein, fried rice, strictly kosher, hot dog king, checks cashed, chicken fish and steak, sandwiches, coffee, danger hollow sidewalk, roast pork, etc, plays into the urban food and urban city feel. The geometric squares in this layout fit like a puzzle and keep your eye moving throughout the entire piece, and the color also helps that: there is yellow, orange yellow, orange, red orange, red, red violet, violet, and all the shades in between for every single color. It is beautiful.

Chuleta Sunrise, 2009

Photographic collage on salvaged plywood

45"x10"

The title in this one leads one to the meaning behind it. This sunrise is a mixing pot of cultures that are involved in urban culture. The graphic sun is really interesting in this piece. There are no complete words in this piece except for the word Chuleta which he made part of the title. The staggering of the geometric patterns are really interesting in this ‘sunrise’ piece. The bright primary colors are something that is not seen in a sunrise, and I think it redefines what a sunrise is in terms of an urban setting.

Andrea Zittel

Andrea Zittel is an artist who works with sculpture and installation. She transforms things that are necessary for life whether it is eating, sleeping, cleaning, being social, etc. She says, “People say my work is all about control, but it’s not really. I am always looking for the gray area between freedom—which can sometimes feel too open-ended and vast—and security—whichi may easy turn into confinement.” Zittel even likes to ‘reinvent’ her own life by changing up her domestic and social relationships. It has been said that Zittel is very interested in revealing the human need for order instead of making a single unifying design principle or style as an artist.

Untitled Island

Zittel made a 44-ton floating island off the coast of Denmark; this piece is her objective to attain a sense of freedom through this giant structure. This piece goes along with her ideas of contrasting domestic and social culture. It completely contrasts the extremes of a creative escape with the isolation that occurs when a person is removed from society. (Kinda like Hawaii after a couple weeks of vacation ;) ) In her island she has removed, figuratively, the things that people take for granted every single day. It’s brilliant and beautiful.

A-Z Escape Vehicle, 1996

Steel, wood, carpet, plastic sink, glass, mirror, stovetop, and household objects

Here Zitell is again playing with something that is everyday life. Why is it that we all want to create that separate life, that world where you can escape and have your own little life alien to the rest of humanity? We’ve all set up a blanket and dinner chair fort in the middle of the living room and some point in our life; Zitell has kept this house like alienation alive. These Escape vehicles are something that lets the human being escape into their own secret world with everything that they need. I personally would be quite Closterphobic…

Living Unit Customized for Eileen and Peter Norton, 1994

Steel, wood, paint, mattress, glass, mirror, lighting fixture, upholstery

93.3 x 213.4 x 96.5cm

This is another instance in which Zittel is taking everyday instances and placing them into one unit in which a human being relies on only what is necessary. Formally, the geometric patterns act somewhat like a puzzle here; seeing in what way the cubes will fit best for the customization and for functionality is a project in itself, and from that an art work emanates.

This piece reminds me of her untitled island piece. It is made entirely out of carpet. She has taken something that is jagged and unrelaxing like these rock like formations and turned them into a comfortable place to relax and live. The transformations she creates with everyday activities is something that is to marvel. 



Kara Walker

Kara Walker is an artist who is best known for her silhouettes. These silhouettes explore race, gender, and sexuality through a narrative that she creates with these figures. When I think of silhouettes, as I am sure many people do, I think of the Victorian lone head silhouette of a person, but Walker really changes this idea and brings it forward into a modern day interpretation. Her pieces are instillation pieces that are put directly onto the walls of galleries, and this creates a space that tells her story. Almost like a theater, the walls become her stage. Her forms are usually violent, and when she does her instillations, she takes special care of casted light on the walls; this way, the viewer becomes a part of the instillation and can better put themselves into the figures’ story.

No Place (Like Home), 1997

Cut paper and adhesive on wall

12X85ft (installation at the Walker Art Center)

In Kara’s pieces, it is easy to tell who is a white character and who is a black character. It is also sometimes hard to pick out just one story that she is trying to tell.

I could not find a title, a place, or year for this piece. However, this installation I have seen from her before and it is one of my favorites. Here she is playing with the ideas of romance, race, and many other issues that I am sure each viewer mush find for their own. First of all, her impeccable craftsmanship just amazes me, and although they are just figures that aren’t moving, you can tell they are in a story, as if they have been captured by the camera of history. I love the scene where there is a white man and woman about to kiss on the left; this shows the romance and how it interacts with the child and black woman in the boat. There is always violence in her pieces, and in this it is subtle, but the little kid is holding a dead bird at its neck, almost in the direction of the woman pointing her finger. The shadow to the right of the woman in the boat is almost an original Victorian head figure, although I do not know who it is. This piece just makes me question myself and the piece itself, and I don’t think that Walker had a specific answer and story for the boat scene.

Virginia’s Lynch Mob, 1998

Cut paper and adhesive on wall

10X37 feet

This piece really explains how Kara Walker uses racially charged figures and stories to get her point across of what the Old South had done to her own race. For me, the most terrifying pieces of this is the person hanging upside down on the stick, and the boy with the gun in his mouth and a piece of his brains flying at the woman behind him. It’s almost as if these black characters would rather kill themselves and go crazy than be hung by a white Virginian mob.

I wish I can someday see Kara Walker’s silhouettes in person, for I believe that a picture does not do justice to the giant and heartfelt pieces that she places on the walls of the museums she displays in.

Mark Dion

Mark Dion is an artist who feels that is an artists’ job to “go against the grain of dominant culture, to challenge perception and convention.” In his work, he contemplates and changes the way that dominant ideologies influence our society, culture, and nature throughout history. He uses “scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects [to create] works that question the distinctions between ‘objective’ (‘rational’) scientific methods and ‘subjective’ (‘irrational’) influences.”

Scala Naturea, 1994

In this piece, Mark Dion played on the way that Aristotle attempted to classify life in a hierarchical system. Man’s creation is on the bottom, while fungi, fruits and vegetales, corals, butterflies, a stuffed cat and duck, and the bust of a scholar follow. The way Dion has placed these on a staircase is well done in signifying how a hierarchical system works, the separation it creates and the way he has played with the jump in size from step to step plays up that idea even more.

Ship in a Bottle

Dion put a very contemporary twist on this historic idea of the ship in a bottle. This twelve-foot long clear glass ‘bottle’ is by an L.A. waterfront on a grassy mound. The ship inside is resting on what looks like water but is actually an entire bed of crushed glass. When looking at this piece from the right angle, it seems as if this giant piece, the ship and bottle, are floating out on the waters of the Port’s outer harbor. Dion said, “The art of crafting miniature ships in bottles was a favorite pastime of sailors, who have been important participants in the Port’s long history and culture. My ‘Ship in a Bottle’ is a contemporary concept to unify the aesthetic of contemporary public art with that of vernacular, nautical craft-work and to respectfully acknowledge the central role played by the Port of Los Angeles and the city of San Pedro as the gateway of international commerce in the United States.”

Tar and Feathers, 1999.

When I first saw this piece, my first reaction was, “ew.” But then I remembered the way that Dion plays with nature and how it affects society. I do not like the based he put the tree on, because to me it feels like an afterthought, and I wish it looked as if it was just growing out of the floor to ground it more to this world we live in every single day. The hanging animals are quite creepy, however, the fact that they are in tar along with the tree brings them closer and part of the tree. Each animal can mean something different to each person in society, and I think that that is an important essence of this piece.

Do-Ho Suh

Do-Ho Suh’s work often explores the idea of scale and the places in which objects come from. Mini human figures, military dog tags, and cloth homes, are all objects Do-Ho Suh works with and changes conventional notions with. With these, he questions identity of people working together and as individuals.

Staircase V, 2008

Polyester and stainless steel tubes

This translucent orange-red polyester ceiling and staircase is a great example of the way Do-Ho Suh plays with the idea of space. The fabric seems to slouch yet looks as if you could walk up those stairs into the top floor. He is turning the regular space into a lower level by adding the railing above the ceiling that he created. The way he made the ceiling was very geometric and mimics ceiling tiles, yet you can see through them, allowing the viewer to put themselves in that upper floor.

The Perfect Home II, 2003

 translucent nylon,

110 x 240 x 516 inches

This piece has much more intimate meaning than the Staircase V. The color itself makes it feel more intimate than the bright orange; the cool and pastel blues and light violets make it almost ghost like. The bathroom and kitchen that can be seen in the first picture are incredible well thought out and technically beautiful. When I look at it I feel as if I could turn the knobs of the stove, open the cabinets, open the doors, and even flush the toilet. I don’t know how he makes something so soft as this fabric to look as if it is actual hard walls and objects. Brilliant.

Some/One, 2001

Stainless steel military dog tags, nickel plated copper sheets, steel structure, glass fiber reinforced resin, and rubber sheets

The title is very informative in this piece. Each individual tag represents one person, but here they are all interacting with each other to form this ghost like robe. This is another piece that is really good at representing the way that Do-Ho Suh works with the individual and their interactions with the whole. This piece is comprised of 40,000 dog tags. I think the ghost like view of this plays into the idea of mortality as a soldier. When tags are received from a body, it usually means they have passed; it is a way to tell who the person is. These 40,000 tags represent a very large body count.

Floor, 1997

This again, is showing how Do-Ho Suh enjoys working with the individual and the whole. All of these little casted people can hold up people walking on them. These two inch high figures all have their hands raised above their heads and they are all looking up at who they are supporting.

Karma, 2003

This is again playing with the small cast people holding up a larger character. I think the informative title turns it into something that is a burden and a punishment. The little people are almost like the big shoe’s shadow, and they have to keep up wit it.

Who Am We?, 1996

These portraits are teenagers, about 40,000 of them. They were taken from the artist’s high-school yearbooks. You cannot tell these are photos or even recognize them individually until you are quite close to the wallpaper. When you get close, this pattern of dots become more recognizable as  human faces. This is again playing with the idea of the individual being a part of the whole.