Coyote Makes Things Happen!!

As an accounting major I work well with facts, figures and manipulations of numbers… so it is really difficult for me to thoughtfully respond to essays that are more abstract and philosophic. I read the “Nature of Beauty in Contemporary Art” by Suzi Gablik, reread it and reread it again before it even began to make any sense what-so-ever to me. I really loved the opening line which describes the radical turnover of what is popular on the American art scene: “If you’re out, you’re out – you simply don’t count” - Sandro Cho.
Gablik goes on to describe the changing social definition of art away from galleries and wall hangings to more engaging and less structured art. On my first read through of the article, I agreed with art critic Hilton Kramer who said that “things with no relation to art were now being legitimized and accepted as art” I thought about his belief in relation to the art program the author describes called “The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande River” by Dominique Mazeaud. I didn’t understand how the group of people picking up trash from the river and its surroundings was a piece of art. I get it that they were beautifying the planet by removing the miscellaneous cans, bottles and trash.
But where is the ART? James Hillman asked the same question of Mazeaud’s work in a conversation with Gablik saying “what gets metaphorized into her work”. I could understand if the bottles and trash were collected and made into an elaborate or simple piece of recycled found object art, but simply throwing the bags of trash away made the project seem more like community service than art. But I feel like Gablik included quotes from other critics and artists that made the traditional definition of art seem too restricted. Almost to make it seem like that could never be the definition of art unless we were completely closed minded to advances made in visual entertainment and intrigue.
The second article made me more confused about what is considered art because it described a performance piece or “action” created by Joseph Beuys. This piece featured Beuys sitting in a room with a coyotes for three days at the Rene Block Gallery in New York City. Not only did they stay in the room together, Beuy created a sequence of actions that were to be repeated for the three days. I was kind of in awe about how much though had been put into Beuy’s choice of subject: the coyote. Why a coyote? Apparently coyotes are the ultimate survivor according to mythological and evolutionary tales. They symbolize a couple of things to people in the United States including wildness and fierce instincts. In the Christianity the coyote is a satanic symbol according to David Levi Strauss in his essay “I Like America and America likes me”. It gets its satanic symbolism because of the threat it poses to shepherds and their flock. In Native American coyotes tales it is clear that the coyote is an “agent of change bringing order to chaos”. Was Beuys trying to create a show of order for the people?
But what must the public have thought when they viewed this action art piece?? How could someone walk off the street and understand the intense amount of thought that Beuys had to exert to create such a strong show of symbolism? If I had actually witnessed this live art I probably would have thought that Beuys was crazy. First, he was in a small room with a coyote. Second, I would not have understood the thought process behind the sequence of actions that Beuys repeated in the room.
I am not sure if I am too rules based to understand and appreciate art or if I am just confused by the flowing, flowery language utilized in art essays as compared to the dry, straightforward content of an accounting article. I think art should be displayable, that there must be an end product of some sort to show viewers but, besides that, what other criteria can we create for art without totally hampering new styles and interpretations of art.????

Unusual Art (Assignment #2)

I had to scour art websites to find a contemporary artwork that I “find unusual, take issue with or don’t quite understand” as our second assignment required. Finally I resorted to a Google search of “unusual contemporary art”…my last resort! I stumbled across an article titled “Recycled Cigarette Art by Tom Deininger” on EnvironmentalGraffiti.com.

I was drawn in by pictures of a rabbit and I didn’t really understand where the cigarettes were in the artwork. I scrolled down the page and looked at another artwork made entirely of cigarette butts in the image of a large seashell. I returned to the top to actually read the article and was blown away!

Deininger created the unidentified rabbit piece using cigarette butts he found in beach parking lots. To make the rabbit appear furry he cut up the filters, which gave the rabbit a realistic looking fur coat. The shell piece was also really cool because the shape was really precise. Deininger also used different colored cigarette butts which gives the shell extra detail and shape. It reminded me of being at the beach this summer.

I visited the artist’s webpage at http://www.tomdeiningerart.com/ to find out more about him. His bio page was bland and short, but his artwork said a lot about him. I really liked another piece he created titled “Stroking Monet”. This piece was a recreation of “Japanese foot-bridge over the water-lily pond in Giverny” by Claude Monet. Deininger used “found objects” and from afar the picture looks like a loose painted interpretation rather than a collection of precisely arranged knick-knacks and random objects.

I think that the rabbit and the shell while visually appealing are a little stomach turning for me. I am glad I picked those as my piece because I found Deininger’s other artwork really interesting up close and beautiful from afar!

I guess it grew on me...

Feathered Edge

Installation by Ball-Nogues Studio

at MOCA Pacific Design Center

I was looking at pieces on Contemporary Art Museum Websites and when I came across Feathered Edge (pictured above) I didn't even see the actual piece. I was looking at thumbnails, so all I could make out was the gallery space, which is the real reason that I looked into the piece at all. When I finally took in the whole picture, I was kinda impressed. This surprised me because I am not the most open-minded person to art beyond paintings and sculptures. I enjoyed the colors the most at first. Taking them in I wondered if the string was colored before it was hung or if it was painted or dyed while in position. While my eyes followed the colors I noticed that Feathered Edge was composed of probably hundreds of draped loops of string. I didn't even notice the pictures of the piece hung on the wall in the background for like five minutes because I was entranced by the hanging strings. The pictures add a whole new dimesnsion to the piece that I had to take in, one by one. I liked the piece more after seeing them because the colors seem more intense in the pictures.

Upon further research I learned that this piece is composed of over 21 miles of colored string!!! The gallery I found the piece on also features a video on the "making of" Feathered Edge (http://www.moca.org/audio/#ballnogues) by Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues. Ball and Nogues are also responsible for intallation art pieces in Venice and Las Vegas. I look forward to viewing more installation art pieces in the future, because this one really intrigued me... I only wish I could have it at home!

What Makes This Piece a "Perfect" Representation of Art??

Garden Path ("Viale Del Giardino")
Claude Monet
French Impressionist
1902










When prompted to find a piece of art that I believed was a perfect representation of art I was overwhelmed. As a result of my major, accounting, my brain thinks in rules and exact figures. To complete this assignment I was forced to not only consider what I believed art was, but also ponder what made art "perfect". Since I LOVE gardens and flowers I chose the first image of foliage that caught my eye while browsing art websites.

The piece featured above was painted by Claude Monet in 1902. Since I did not know much about Monet (or art at all...) I did a little "google search" to inform myself. Apparently Monet is credited as the founder of an artistic movement known as Impressionism... This revelation led to more research about impressionism and what I learned surprised me! Impressionists were the art world's radicals during the 19th century, disregarding the rules of "academic painting".

I consider "Garden Path" by Claude Monet to be a perfect representation of art because:

• It has inspiration
• It is interesting and eye-catching
• It has a classic medium (paint on canvas)
• It has bold, beautiful colors
• The scene is inviting to viewers, evoking emotions and memories
• I enjoy art that features and beautifies nature

Introductions Seem in Order

Welcome to my blogspot, Visual in Nature by Allie Rae!!!! Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Allison Rae Pillans. I am a senior Accounting Major at Siena College in Loudonville, NY. Currently I am working on finishing my undergrad work so that I can continue my education in the Siena Master's in Accounting Program.