As I think back to as far as I can remember, I have never been really "into" artsy stuff. From grade school art class, making clay sculptures, weaving baskets, drawing, gluing, and painting, I find myself realizing I didn't enjoy it that much. Thinking hard about what I used to make in those classes, it all related to something else I WAS into....sports, movies, etc. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that when I heard we were going to be visiting the Des Moines Art Center, I wasn't thrilled. Back in Iowa City, I had to do this type of assignment for Arts of Africa, and writing a 5 page paper about something that looked like nothing I had ever seen before proved to be difficult. While this isn't that hard, it turned out to be the same sort of stuff at DMAC that was in the University of Iowa Art museum.
As I walked around the DMAC, I struggled to find anything that "jumped out" at me. Personally, I respect that people are artistic and make what they are proud of, but no offense, some of the stuff I saw, I feel I could make myself. I guess I'm not one of those people who uses that side of the brain that is artistic and imaginative like artists do. Although, I do enjoy looking at high def photos of sports moments like great catches or something like that. For example, at one point I was standing there looking at neon lights in a corner. While that means something totally different to the maker, to me that's just lights in a corner. Or these glass bubbles on the floor, simply that to me, but to the artist they mean something completely different. And I'm sure that some people look at sports like a complete waste of time, but I'm just not interested in art.
Anyhow, I had to pick a piece, and there was one that I thought appealed to me. It was a tie, actually, but this won out over the giant photo of the beach with different colored umbrellas. I chose Ashley Bickerton's Tormented Self-Portrait . It is considered a sculpture, even though it looks like a suitcase with stickers on it, that was made in the late 80's. Bickerton, according to www.moma.org, created a new mode of self-representation that reflects how identity is experienced in the contemporary world. His piece, shown in the picture, is a representation of what people's personality looks like summed up by day to day consumer brands. I thought this was interesting because as I looked at it, it made me think of what mine would look like, and how everyone's would be different from each other for the most part. Susan Sontag stated in her article, Photography, as photographs give people an imaginary sense of possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure (4). When you tie this into what Bickerton was getting at, it shows how while people will look at this sculpture and think that it isn't really what a person is, at the same time, they will look at it and think what makes people's self-image......what they wear, what they eat, the car they drive, phones, day to day items they use, etc.
After the trip, I can't say it changed my outlook on art, but this particular piece seemed to be very true and honest about what a person is made of. What would your self-portrait look like?
2 comments:
From Ralph -
Honest post; I appreciate that, and I appreciate that not everyone enjoys this particular excursion to the DMAC. That being said, I wonder if what you are really getting at is not a greater appreciation of sports than art, but rather an appreciation of sports AS art versus, say, something more abstract. A perfectly captured photo of outstretched arms just pulling in the ball in the corner of the end zone is in itself a work of art, wouldn't you say?
As for the post, nice use of Sontag, good interpretations.
Interesting choice of artwork and post. I like it, because in my marketing classes we have talked a lot about "personal branding" and this particular piece seems to say something about one's personal brand through a collaged self portrait/image.
-Lauren
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