Event 3

The Getty Museum

Today I went to the Getty for the first time in my 3 years at UCLA and I was astonished by the size, architecture, and art. The architecture is like nothing I have seen before, and it makes the artwork that much more presentable. It also helps that the Museum sits above all of LA and has a 360 degree view.  I visited 3 exhibits, including two photography exhibits capturing animal wildlife in the late 1800's and early 1900's and more modern black and white photography in a city setting. The third exhibit was easily my favorite, which was impressionist artwork of the 1800's. I have always been fond of the impressionist era and it was very cool for me to see work from Monet, Van Gogh, Sisley, Munch, and Khnopff.

This is one of my favorite pieces by Monet I saw today, Sunrise, depicts the French harbor of Le Havre. Critics at the time believed it was unfinished impressionism, rather than a finished composition. It definitely captures Monet's paintbrush through the morning light, fog, and reflecting water.

Another piece I enjoyed was a portrait of Jeanne Kefer by Fernand Khnopff that portrait a young girl standing up against a larger door. She portrayed the young Jeanne Kefer as a elegant young girl who, looking little next to the door while the floor tilts to the right, provokes the view of the world through a child's perspective.

Lastly, Edward Munch's Starry Night is a representation of the lake where Munch spent many of his summer evenings. With the many layers of color on top of the textured canvas, the viewer can't help but notice his style. I like the simplicity of the piece, as rounded shoreline goes rhythmically with the rounded hill.








Thank you Kate for the quarter, have a great summer!
-James

Event 2

The Fowler Museum

Today, I went to the "Making Strange" exhibit in the Fowler Museum on UCLA campus. I had never been in the Fowler Museum before and I really enjoyed it. The nice space made me feel as though I was no longer on the UCLA campus and I could really lose myself in the exhibit. It is definitely one of the many hidden gems of UCLA.

The "Making Strange" exhibit was a collection of the twenty-seven wearable dresses that artist Vivan Sundaram who from Delhi, India and a founding member of Sahmat, a foundation focused on collecting "important visual, literary, theatrical, and musical works in the name of artistic freedom and egalitarian values." (Fowler Museum). "Making Strange" consists of mainly dresses and other "outfits" that are made out mostly recycled materials and medical supplies. The dresses serve to play fun at the outfits that models wear on the runway while using unorthodox materials. I personally got a sinister vibe from the exhibit, though I'm not sure if that was the goal. The room was lowly lit and the pieces did not bring enthusiasm out of me. I could appreciate the work but I wasn't fond of many of the pieces. Some of the pieces were meant to represent illness, using doctor's face mask and rubber gloves to create dresses. I could see the theme Sundaram was going for as there was a clear tension between life and death. This piece, using doctors hats, scrubs, and other doctor's apparel, Sundaram constructed a crazy outfit that represents sickness and illness.

Two pieces I particularly liked were made out of sponges. I thought they looked funny and unique, as the large side made them even more presentable. It is hard to picture someone actually wearing one, but Sundaram claims they are wearable. I thought the exhibit did a good job of presenting the two sides of the "Making Strange" predicament.

Week 9

Space + Art


Ever since I was 10 years old, space was an intriguing entity, mostly because of its infinite size and at the same time our somewhat little knowledge of it. I grew up dreaming to be an astronaut, as stereotypical as that may be, as I read many books and comics of tales to the moon and space adventure. I even had the typical glow in the dark stars on my ceiling to look at as I fell asleep. We do know how little the Earth is in comparison to the rest of the universe. Carl Sagan says in his A Pale Blue Dot, "our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light." In other words, we hold ourselves to be a influential part of the universe, yet we could hold no significance in the larger picture.

Many artist's work have been inspired by the uncertainty and popularity of outer space, one being Robert Rauschenberg, who was invited by NASA to witness the Apollo 11 launch. He was inspired by all things NASA, from buildings to vessels, and you could see it in his work. His 1950's work anticipated the pop art trend, as he took nontraditional mediums and used them in new and original ways. 

Movies have been exploring the possibilities and also market, most notably recently. Interstellar and Gravity are too box office hits within the past two years that have explored the potential of space. I particularly enjoyed Interstellar,  as astronauts travel through a "wormhole" in search of a new home for society. The movie proved to be popular and controversial, as people disagreed as to what the force to propel Matthew McConaughey through the dimensions. It was a ground breaking film and got people thinking of the many possibilities of space travel. 

Sources

Sagan, Carl. "A Pale Blue Dot Quotes." Good Reads. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2015.

"SFMOMA | SFMOMA | Explore Modern Art | Our Collection | Robert Rauschenberg | Space (Tribute 21)." San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

Rauschenberg, Robert. Stoned Moon. Digital image. Rauschenberg. Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.

"Interstellar (film)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

"Interstellar Plot Holes." Movie Plot Holes. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.

Event 1

The Hammer Museum

My trip to the Hammer Museum was very intriguing. I have always driven past the Hammer and wanted to go in but never had the time, so I was excited to see what it was like. I went to all the exhibits but the "Provocations: the Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio" was definitely my favorite.

 The Provocations exhibit was a group of 160 architectural pieces of work that take human resources and materials to rethink many everyday objects and mechanisms. The concept of the exhibit is to question possibilities and limitations of architectural structures. At the front of the exhibit, there is a mechanical structure that has a handle to turn and pushes out a piece of paper that asks these types of questions. Examples of the questions consist of: "How can a building represent a nation?" or "Can a drawbridge open without breaking?" 

I thought one of the most interesting pieces inside of the exhibit was the proposition of a drawbridge that opened without breaking like a typical design.  The bridge design is broken up into equal pieces and has the ability to "roll up" on one side of the river or body of water. It not only looks unique and modern but the design is practical. This like many of the other pieces, looked to question mechanical structures to push the limits of their functionality and purpose. Another piece I liked was a model of a park in the desert. The park was built underground with many trees and other plants creating a cooler estuary in the middle of a desert. I found all the ideas intriguing as they questioned everyday living to push the limits in different areas. 

Unique Drawbridge

Week 8

NanoTech + Art 

Nanotechnology is different than any subject we have discussed so far as the "art" being created is not visible to the naked eye. Nanotechnology is working with matter at the atomic level, far too small to see without instruments. Because nanotechnology works at such a molecular level, old scientific techniques become out dated and no applicable, but have the ability to be influential in changing the world at a social level. Nanotechnology is a collaborative effort, just like the artists are becoming, as science ideologies must be reinvented and there is a clear paradigm shift. (Vesna intro)

An interesting part of Dr. Gimzewski's lecture was his discussion about the first to conceptual talk about nanotechnology in 1959, Mr. Richard Feynman. He gave a talk called, "There's plenty of room at the bottom," where he suggested how much room there was at the atomic level to create new technology, that could change the world. Feynman was very interested in manipulating things at an atomic scale, and was determined to prove that there was infinite room for growth. One of his challenges was for someone to write 25,000 pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica on a pin head. He would later find that it is possible to write 260,000,000 pages of the Encyclopedia on a pin head. He also realized that on the "nanoscale," the laws of physics change, as thermal jittering and surface tension dominate gravity, and quantum mechanics takes over for Newton's classical mechanics. 

 Richard Feynman

Self assembly or self organization are key to nanotechnology but are not new in terms of nature, as nature has always self organized. There are examples, such as the snowflake, which assembles into unique and beautiful patterns from frozen water molecules or the fractal nature of trees as each tree has a unique fractal nature. These are all composed of atoms and have some how been directed into complex patterns by simple self organization. The Blue Morpho butterfly is an example of this on the nano scale. The fluorescent blue wings of the Morpho butterfly are not made up of a pigment but instead made up of "christmas tree" like structures that are surrounded by air and protein, which manipulates light on the nanoscale and reflect back the fluorescent blue color.  

Sources

"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Curtin, John. "Art in the Age of Nanotechnology." Art.base. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://art.base.co/event/2104-art-in-the-age-of-nanotechnology>.

"Richard Feynman Introduces the World to Nanotechnology with Two Seminal Lectures (1959 & 1984)." Open Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

"Morpho." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

"Research and Innovation Communications." How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Week 7

Neurosci + Art


Like last weeks blogs, neuroscience is an ever growing field of technology, new knowledge, and more  comprehension of the human brain. The human brain is responsible for the most within the body, as maintains the state of the body and is responsible for all thoughts. Neurons play a major role in the nervous system while they are responsible for connection between cells. "Golgi's method," coined by Camillo Golgi, is a neuron staining technique. It looks as so:

Another interesting topic involving the brain and neurons are drugs and hallucinogen. In the 50's, LSD was to have thought to be a psychological marvel to help cure depression and cases of  schizophrenia. As LSD is also supposed help alcoholics, the drug has the ability to access one's subconscious. Once the an artist is able to tap into their conscious and subconscious brain, their artwork has little restrictions or guidelines. The artist can theoretically portray images and thoughts that they have while their subconscious train of thought is being accessed. This is two self portraits by the same person, one before an LSD dose and one a couple hours after.

"Day of the Dead" is an interesting ritual in Mexico which takes the common fear and sadness of death and turns it around to be a positive uplifting celebration of those loved ones who have passed. Families created vibrant and gorgeous altars and shrines to commemorate their passed family members. The tradition brings peace to the community and allows inevitable process of death to not be feared.

Sources


Szalavitz, Maia. "LSD May Help Treat Alcoholism." Time. 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 11 May 2015. Lecture. Online

"Day of the Dead - Dia De Los Muertos - Contemporary Altar - Azcentral.com." Day of the Dead Altar. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.

"Neuroscience." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 17 May 2015. 

"The Effect of an Acid Trip on an Artist’s Drawings." 22 Words The Effect of an Acid Trip on an Artists Drawings Comments. The Effect of Acid, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.

Week 6

BioTech + Art

As BioTechnology, and technology in general expanding at a rapid rate on the cellular level, the artists have began working with biologists and live tissue, organisms, and life processes. This has raised discussion as to what "BioArt" entails. Furthermore, their are ethical debates about artists "meddling with the genetics structures of natural systems." (Vesna)

Joe Davis was the pioneer of BioArt as he had an idea of putting sounds to light information, in which he called the Audio Microscope. The Audio Microscope allows for one to "hear" living cells, as each cell was given its own signature sound. He then took this idea farther to look at how E. coli responded to jazz, in efforts to create sound waves that would act stressful to bacteria. He would later use E. coli as the vehicle to send a sign of human intelligence and to "send a message in a bottle" to the extra terrestrials. He chose E. coli because it is essential for human digestion and survived through five years of deep space exposure. His message was microvenus, representing both life and female genitalia in response to all the male phallic images in space. Davis was able to translate microvenus into a string of nucleotides and in-between the genes of the bacteria E. coli. He was able to publish via genetics, a truly impressive feat.

Like Davis, artist Eduardo Kac featured the genome in his work, but focused on the human genome in particular. He genetically altered a petunia flower with the DNA in his own blood to create what he called the "Edunia." The flower became a hybrid of Kac and a petunia, where his DNA was expressed in the red veins of the flower. The "Edunia" is a representation of the contiguity of life between different species in a visually significant fashion. The flower has the ability to impress a sense of fascination towards the phenomenon of "life."

Both Davis and Kac were able to impress a sense of fascination towards the public about the phenomenon "life." BioArt is unique in that it can make one question the very meaning of his/her existence and what the relationship is between different species and genomes.













Sources

"Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture." Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria, narr. “BioTech Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . web. 5 Nov 2012.

Kac, Eduardo. “Natural History of the Enigma.” Ekac. 2009. Web. 07 May 2015. http://www.ekac.org/nat.hist.enig.html 

 “Barry Schuler: An Introduction to Genomes.” YouTube. 23 Jan 2009. Web.

Kac, Eduardo. "Bio Art." Bio Art. Kac, n.d. Web. 05 May 2015.