Artist lecture 11/18: Francis Cape

http://www.franciscape.com/

WATERLINE, 2006
Although Cape is an artist who's work basis in carpentry, I found his series Waterline, from 2006 most prolific. His used of images from New Orleans in the space in which he transformed to enact much more as a recreation to the waterline itself makes the viewer feel as thought they are there. In questioning the white cube format of the gallery, he allows the viewer to become involved. It isn't about the voyeurism, or the act of looking any more.

In this work he is dealing with the world outside of his studio, yet his background in woodworking still plays a prominent roll in his perception of it. He finds a bridge in this work between the peoples lives and the exhibition space. He talked about how the new media changed his experience of the place itself he wanted to create a breakdown of the distance between veiwer and the event by domestication the gallery space. It then becomes the experience of the viewer that completes the work and not the artist himself.

11/17 Artist lecture: Maria Scurlock

I suppose I am partly to blame for having little to no knowledge about Paige Bond Gallery on Main St. so I did not know what I was getting myself into when I went to see Maria Scurlock reveal of her new series, and artist lecture. I was excited to go to a lecture outside VCU.

But my excitement was short lived. It started out promising, Scurlock gave a speech of hardship and how she over came severe hip/leg pain and surgery. Her very quiet peaceful work, all from a vertical angle suggest a longing for something. Maybe it is a release from the pain so it could connect the story to her work.

But question after question from the audience to make sense of the work or to give meaning to the choice of material, color, subject. Scurlocks lack of response to anything made her work weak and uninteresting. She had no intention, concept or even intelligent things to say about her work. It would have been a complete waist if it did not make me appreciate the lectures and artists at VCU.

11/17 Artist Lecture:Diego Sanchez

http://www.pagebondgallery.com/




Diego Sanchez was the second artist speaking at the Paige Bond gallery. His work was much more purposeful. He talked about his interest in the architecture of the Colosseum. This struck me as very interesting because he said he had been painting them for over ten years, and he has never been to Rome.
Sanchez talked about using both representational and non representational elements in his work, and how he used them as a way to slow down the viewer. I think this point is important. As an artist it becomes essential to find a way to catch the eye of the viewer and keep it there. By that slowing down, they can become involved with your work.Something that I also enjoyed about his work was that he encouraged everyone to touch his work. That was one more thing to keep the viewer interest. Sanchez talked about having all the senses involved in his work to truly appreciate it.
As an artist he talked about using all your resources to influence your work. Having people visit your studio he said, is vital to your work. He stressed how important feedback is.

11/16 Artist: Jared Lindsey Clark

http://www.jaredlindsayclark.com


http://www.adagallery.com/jared_clark.html



Clark is an artist who's work I have had the pleasure of experiencing thought my internship at ADA gallery. He is an artist who works with ceramic trinkets to create art that is both religious and contemporary. His work is almost unbelievable when you get close to it. It transforms the pieces from house hold items you would find at any thrift shop, or local grandmothers house into unreal sculptures.

11/12 Idea: Composite

To be honest, Im not so sure what i think about this image. it is a composite of about 7 images. Each of the moment of he murder, or of the finding of the body. The composition is not doing much for me. It does not make me think of death nor does it have a particularly strong distinct feeling. To me it come a bit across like a jumbled mess.
Maybe that says something. Maybe this is the kink in my hypothesis. The answer to the question.
--------Are these moments so contrived and manipulated that they all look the same--------
If the answer where in this image it would be no. besides being dark, it does not have an overarching color pallet. So where does this leave me.

lost.... Well kind of. This is just more incentive for me to shoot more. and more. playing with both the blur and the image.

Artist Lecture: Shimon Attie 11/11

http://www.artnet.com/artist/1730/shimon-attie.html

http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/attie_shimon.php

I found Attie's work to be different from the other artists that have lectured. I'm not really sure if i would classify his work as political as I would say culturally aware. To be honest I am not even sure that that is the right description. Attie's work to me deals with people and personal experiences. The work above shows projects old east Germany before the war, onto the post- Berlin Wall east Germany. This body of work touches on the idea of collective memories. The images deal with place and time/the new and the old. The lives and history suggested in the projects provides for me an emotional contrast to the seemingly dead and abandoned structures of the present.


Attie's series The Attraction Of Onlookers, was the most profound in my opinion.It is a depiction of the welsh community that lost almost all of its children in a man made avalanche. It isn't a real sentimental view on the town that was so devastated, but a view truly for the people that want to know or travel there. It is a comment on those that feel the need to visit and know the people in the town. I think this piece works much better than his piece with Nascar. It seems more sincere, not so forced.

Artist 11/9:Robert Irwin

http://www.pacewildenstein.com/Artists/ViewArtist.aspx?artist=RobertIrwin&type=Artist&guid=f924c6fa-a6c4-486e-979d-b3bdd1bbdae6





Robert Irwin is an that basis his work on the basis of the ability to interpret information and surroundings from light and space. He is one of the pioneers in the minimulist movements in the 1970's. I think his work is eloquent and subtle. He has an ability to manipulate light and the perception of that light in such a way that is almost shockingly beautiful.

His work comes across so simple visually, yet that i think is what makes him brilliant. In reading his book Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees, seeing his work takes on a whole new perception. Because his work is so subtle, it for me has become a way of understanding and experiencing his work.