Follow-up on Reader Intro entry

I have now gotten the reader. YAY!

The introduction primes the reader for the artists that will be discussed in further chapters. Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Jean Tingueley, Robert Rauschenberg and Merce Cunningham are all artists who have pushed the boundaries of art and redefined it in certain ways. Art has been progressively been encompassing more and more subjects and projects as well as ideas. The definition of art is completely obscure due to the people who have pushed their ideas in and labelled them as art. These artists are all such people. I am very excited to learn about what they have done in the aspect of changing the face of the definition of art. It is a very debated topic to discuss "what is art" and I personally have talked and discussed this topic so many times without becoming more clear on the idea. Maybe the following content of the reader will clarify that.

Response to Comics Chapters 1 and 2

Our textbook "Understanding Comics" by Scott Mc Cloud is a rather dynamic textbook in the way it displays it's content. The book is very easy to read and has nice comic style illustrations to help with the concepts that are presented.

In chapter 1 the author addressed some of the critiques that exist about comics. They are ofter considered crude and inartistic non literature for young people or people too lazy to read a real book when in fact they are one of the oldest art forms of the world. People have always been inclined to tell stories over time with pictures in sequence. This fascinated me because anthropology is my minor and I had never heard about this before but it makes total sense and is very interesting. The comic form is a form that had been considered effective for many many years. It is also not unlike a movie which is also a narrative being told through a series of images occurring over time. Comics can fall into the genre of sequential art, but yet to have an actual well distinguished definition for themselves and creating one is one of the goals of the author.

In chapter 2 the author introduces the vocabulary of comics. The idea of amplification through simplification in respect to icons was so interesting. I had always been affected by icons in every day life as we all are but i had never realized why. This concept is so interesting to me. Simplifying the icon to the most basic elements such as cartoons do, make them relatable for us as humans to see the image of ourselves in them. Humans are very self centered organisms that see the devices that are part of everyday use as sorts of extensions of self. the line between self and tool is often blurred. Realistic art often creates an otherness separating the viewer from the viewed, while simplistic cartoons tend to unite them.It is not a lower form of art rather a form that functions in a completely different way. The use of these psychological concepts can be used and manipulated by artists to give their work layers of meaning.

Response to Reader Intro

To be honest,
I haven't gotten a chance to get my reader. I just got my paycheck today which I need in order to get my reader and was waiting for this weekend to buy my reader because this week has been crazy for me since I'm taking 18 units. I can't wait to crack open the reader since lecture is so interesting.

Follow up to come very soon....

My electronic dependency

I know this is cliche but I could not live life the same way that I do without my computer or my cell phone. My cell phone is a way that I keep in contact with my friends and let them know what is going on in my life and the little interesting bits of my day. I also use my computer to network and have a social life. learn about events that are going on in the community and in classes.

Funny story, I crashed my computer this week. I am writing this blog on my boyfriends computer. I got a horrible virus that won't even let it start up. My life has definitely changed because of that. I no longer have instant access to my Facebook or my email which is important because my emails are often important and about school and tracking info for books and things like that. I basically have had a life change because of it. I kind of forget how many times I'm on it for different reasons some of which are actually important and school related and when it's the first week of school and all my classes are posting things online this is really a problem for me. It is safe to say life is not the same without this technologic convenience. I take it for granted and the teachers at this school take it for granted that each student has a home with a laptop and home internet access. It shows what kind of a society that we are integrated in, its interesting to think about what this implicates about that UC system and the people in it. Not that there is a problem with that, its just interesting to think that no teachers even ask questions like "who has access to the internet and has a laptop?" This has become a new standard for upper middle class society, and we all assume that all our peers are in the same economic bracket. It's a given.

Life sucks without a computer!

Museum Review

http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibBCAM.aspx

Over break I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of the Arts (LACMA) They recently had opened a new exhibition room that particularly interested me because it featured the work of Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol as well as other contemporary artists. I thought the exhibition was extremely dynamic. There were floor pieces by Koons like the balloon dog above and the egg shell as well as sculptures of his around the room. There were piles of Warhol's Kelloggs cereal boxes and his famous electric chair print. I had seen it before in class but experiencing it in person was much more impressive. It had an aura of foreboding and eerie quality to it. This contrasted greatly with the playful pieces of Koons who had blow up pool toys and wall pieces that featured photos of photos. I especially liked the balloon dog, its massive size and the way that the shiny metal so perfectly imitated plastic balloon material made that piece very dynamic to me. The dichotomy  exhibitions content presented by the serious pieces like the electric chair and the rorschach image in stark comparison with pieces like Koons balloon dog made the exhibition work really well and fit together under the modern pop art scene rather than clashing. The exhibition was colorful and exciting as well as contemporary which made it easy for me me to relate to and very interesting as they comment on society that is so common. It was a perfect exhibition to see as a precursor to this class.

Free Form

This video is Titled "Magic Board" and it was directed by Spike Lee. I think it's a great example of art and life coming together to represent a culture that is not often given attention to in this sort of a narrative way. It seems like all the skate movies are just clip after clip of trick after trick and then a fail montage at the end for laughs. This was a really unique narrative that was presented in a playful manner and it was completely enjoyable. I love this video personally and think the concept behind it is so clever. A skateboard that goes around from person to person bringing a brief moment of happiness before getting passed on to the next person is a powerful uniting symbol of skate culture. All these skaters share the same passion and it is expressed through the video very well.

Concerns/ Fears/ Expectations of 7A

I am really happy to be taking Art 7A this quarter. I am a transfer and this will be the last lower division class that I need, so I'm excited about that. My only concerns regarding the class are basically regarding myself. I am taking 18 units this quarter and I just hope I can handle it all well and give each class my best. It's a bit easier though because I am genuinely interested and like all these classes, which is why I couldn't force myself to drop anything. I know I can do it, I'm just wondering with how much sleep and social deprivation.

I am a little afraid of the critique aspect of the class. This will be my first class at UCSB where I expect work to be critiqued. I did critiques at CC, but it was a lot less competitive, so I never worried about critique. Here at UCSB there are so many talented and intelligent people with strong convictions about how they view and react to art that critique makes me a little anxious.

I want to get a great experience out of this class and learn to create art in a less traditional fashion. I have done many paintings and drawings but examining how art and life coincide and creating pieces based on that excites me. I am looking to push my own boundaries and ideas and expand my creativity. In lecture I was looking at the pieces shown and was thinking "I would never come up with anything like that!" I want to think creatively on a new platform that the artists shown in the art and life lectures are on. I would never think to perform social documented experiments like Nikki S. Lee as art but her work is so interesting and provocative. I would like to be able to think and create something original with each of my projects in this class that enable me to think of something awesome to do on my own in the art and life field.