Sol LeWitt

The project where we drew the simple lines on the bristol and then hung them up in a pattern.I thought it was pretty interesting, though I would have liked the lines to be bigger and bolder. I don''t understand to well the "idea" of this conceptual piece. But, it was interesting anyway. I guess thats the whole thing about conceptual art. It doesn't really have a point right?

not a knot not knot not totn knotn tonktotonno

MY performance consisted of two people tying a knot that will reside in the middle of the rope. The two each hold one end of the rope firmly in one hand and do not let go. They also aren't allowed to talk or show any emotions. I would have liked to played music while this was happening because if the two fluently move while attempting to "tie the knot" it will seem much like a dance. I am happy that the two people were of different sex because the whole thing roughly symbolizes marriage. To "tie the knot" seems difficult. Several attempts will be made and there maybe no luck. But, if you work together and think it through it will work. There has to be effort from both of the "players." I might have the two people do it as fast as they could. Almost rush everything. That will make much more interesting, I think.

cut off his d!ck.

I've looked at some performers and none seem to be as weird as Chris Burden. First of all he cut off his penis. But, I'll get back to that. His performances were "controversial." He once laid under a table of glass in a museum and didn't talk until museum guard put a pitcher of water on the glass. He was there for 45 hours. He also nailed himself to the hood of a car. He's weird. Why would you ever do that to yourself? And he cut off his penis! Why?! I want to know why that is considered art! And, believe it or not, he was a college professor at the University of California. Who would hire this guy? Though... he is one of my favorites. He's different, crazy, I like to see things I've never seen before, as ridiculous as his performances are. This is something he did that was called shot. one called "Shoot" where his buddy shot him in the arm with a rifle. Sounds like college professor material to me!

lindsay is soooo hott I can't contain myself.

During the shadow exercise it seemed to me that the person following had to do much more work. The leader just walked around and every so often would make a sudden move to set me off. The follower was jumping and stretching whilst the leader was just simply walking. You didn't know what the leader is thinking so every move they make is a suprise to you. The rocks were confusing to me because they were just there. They were there for communication purposes but still couldn't have just as easily talked. But, we couldn't talk even though it didn't make it that much harder. Except for me though because I love talking and during this exercise I couldn't. Damn.

duuuuuchamp

I have a very hard time making much sense of this "contraption." Even with the explanation i find id difficult. It seems as though that this piece is very much revolving around male desire and female stimulating it. Thank you understandingduchamp.com. It is pretty much two huge glass panes that has a bunch of crap on it. Wire, paper, foil, and some other stuff. There are two panels, the top one has a big brown machine, the "bride," that spits stuff into the second panel. In the lower panel there are cloths it appears to be hanging on something. Next to it is a continuously moving object that is helping what ever it is progress throughout the rest of the piece. It consists of sieves, and a chocolate grinder and scissors and waterwheel and some other gizmos that i cannot identify. This piece proves to me that "good art" comes from the explanation. Pretty much whoever can bullshit the best. You could say whatever you want about something and it has to mean what ever you say because only YOU know what it means. IT COULD EVEN MEAN NOTHING. But, it will ALWAYS be what you say it is. You could get a huge pile of trash from the dump and put it in a room and, if you can explain it correctly, it's art. Not to say that Duchamp's work is trash. I'm just saying. I like his other work more.

islamic art.

Islamic art is very geometric and patterned. Many colors are used which makes the art very bright and attractive. Most of the art seems to be revolved around some sort of radial. With the bright colors and the patterns everything seems as though it is bursting from the center. All these patterns and designs are found on much of the architecture, it is also seen on fabrics.

Gestalt

Gestalt is German, and could be translated as shape,form, likeness, or figure

Dictionary.com describes it as- a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole.

I'm not a 100% sure of what that means but...

I think it has something to do with patterns and shapes and how your brain psychologicaly interprets that pattern... The pattern could be two different things depending on how you look at it.

I wish I understood.

I'm not a big fan of value charts. I've done at least a hundred billion of them. I did enjoy though making the other value chart thing because I really like the randomness. I agree with the fact that composition makes something really boring and annoying, when you have to do it a hundred million times, a lot more interesting.

soup lots of soup...

The string project we did in class was crazy. But, I remember (faintly) learning something. Everyone at the beginning went every which direction but as we tangled the room more and more I noticed people stopped the round the room movement and began throwing the balls. The string overlapped and made a huge web wrapped around almost everyone and everything. Was this an example for a line? Earlier that class we talked about line and shape and their meaning. A line is now presented before me, in string form. Right? All this is very confusing because if a shape is a closed figure.. I was seeing "closed figures" all over the place. So... to be a shape does that area that is contained in the shape have to be filled. A line cannot be filled. It can and cannot be continuous. Our lines ended... and so did our fun when we had to untangle everything... but it wasn't THAT bad.

Which if these images a, b, c or d are lines?
a, b, c

Which if these images a, b, c or d are shapes?
a, b, c, and d

What makes a line?
continuous form that never connects to itself.

What makes a shape?
any kind of closed form

banana hands.

Description: The men, women, and children all seem to progress up ward from the bottom left hand corner. This progression leads to the top right hand corner which presents somewhat of a climax to the piece which is one of the men throwing an infant to the ground. All the people seem to create a ball or cluster of flesh and skin. The flesh tones are brought out much more with the blue and red drapes that reside on some of the people. The buildings are placed in the backround and fade out to keep the attention toward the people.

Interpretation: As terriable as it may be to see a child thrown to it's death, that terror is over looked because of the beautiful detail in the muscles and cloth. All the muscles presents a dominating feeling and combine well with the fear in everyone's face. Everything is beautifully rendered and flows systamatically through out the piece.The men's faces are not fully visiable because they are not the most important aspect. The importance lies in the actions of the men. The men are on a quest to kill the children, and the women are trying to stop them. The meaning is terriable but the way this piece is presented takes so much away from the violent aspect.

Evaluation: I love this piece. The way it is rendered, its vibrent use of skin tones and other basic color, and its attention to detail. I look at this piece and I am not stunned because of it's meaning or the fact that children are being murdered, but, I'm stunned by how beautifully this picture is painted. I think this piece is very successful. The detail of the forground makes this painting.