ICA

ICA

This piece was eerily human. The fabric's form seemed anthropomorphic, but in a more abstract and vague sense than most depictions of humans in art. This, combined with the color and translucence of the material gave the figure a ghost-like aura. I found the piece to be somewhat mysterious, and made me think of the recent holiday of Halloween.

I thought this piece was by far the most  ridiculous, pathetic, and absurd work of "art" we have seen all year. The piece added absolutely nothing to the exhibit. Laughable in its appearance and utility, these two strings were so easy to miss that I'm almost upset that I noticed them at all. Fittingly, the strings were untitled. I think that the scorn many people hold for modern art is due to pieces like this. While good modern art can be imaginative, creative, and meaningful, bad pieces like these fail to capitalize on their simplicity or uniqueness; they are boring at best.

This piece was my favorite of the exhibit. The spiderweb-like intertwined strings were not only interesting to look at, but they reminded me of both The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Each of these series feature memorable, extremely large spiders. Seeing this piece reminded me of these novels and films that were so integral to my childhood, making them seem both mysterious and nostalgic. This combination of feelings made me really appreciate this piece. I also appreciated the intricacy of the design; the artist must have been meticulous in designing the exhibit because the webs were interwoven in an extremely complex network. It certainly paid off-- this was an incredible piece.

This separate-room light display was fairly interesting. Its use of darkness in amid brightly-lit surroundings  reminded me of the Shinique Smith Dark Matter piece at the MFA. However, since the images in the piece were  mobile, the piece was still unique. The images comprised an eclectic and seemingly random assortment of everyday objects, but the piece still seemed to maintain simplicity and order. The photograph included features Brent and Anush contemplating the lightness and darkness in their own lives.

This piece seemed to be an embodiment of insanity. Although the piece depicts a face, the disordered, chaotic, and intertwined fabrics give it a sense of madness. I thought the piece was one of the best because it incorporated many different textures of fabrics. I think that its use of different materials-- different fibers-- fit the exhibit's theme better than any other piece.

I found this installment to be another disappointment. I fail to see the originality or profundity in the piece. Moreover, its use of fabric was almost unnecessary; it was difficult to see the texture of the string except from very close to the work, which seemed to detract from the exhibit's central focus.

This work did an excellent job of utilizing its three-dimensional form. First of all, the appearance of the work changed at different angles. Gaps allowed light to pass through certain areas, making the view from each angle slightly different. Second, the visibility of inner layers portrayed the depth and dimension of this work more than any of its counterparts. The piece seemed to be extremely deep, and because the innermost layers were just barely visible, the viewer had to fill in the gaps using his or her mind. Finally, the piece reminded me of the Ewok trap from Star Wars Episode VI, which, though probably not the intended purpose, I found to be very entertaining.

This was one of the better pieces as the exhibit. I personally liked the distorted shape and color combination utilized in the work. I thought the piece showed movement and strain through its twisted shape. It was hard to label exactly what the piece was representing-- a person, an animal, DNA, some other helix, or any one of countless other possibilities. This allowed for various interpretation, which is a sign of a meaningful work of art. The piece attracted attention with its unique appearance and unclear message and symbolism.

Public Art essay

Public Art

Public art represents a very broad, diverse category of sculptures and images. Public art usually seeks to convey some message (social, political, societal, religious, etc.), help define an area and its inhabitants, or both. Public art can have a profound impact on people and their actions. It can incite legal reform, self-reflection, tourism, or any other number of important actions.

The sculpture Manifesta in Buenos Aires is an excellent example of public art. It embodies all that public art can be. First of all, the sculpture is composed of public waste (primarily water bottles and other plastics). This speaks strongly to the purpose of public art; it makes people reflect on recycling, global warming, landfills, and other political and ecological causes and impacts of public waste. This heightened awareness has the potential to engender action, both personal and political, and work toward a solution to the problem of public waste. Also, the work was constructed by groups of high school students. This is doubly important because it illustrates the power of collaboration in art, and also shows the talent, creativity, awareness and insight of youths. Finally, the aesthetic appeal of the piece adds visual attraction to the surrounding environment. The artistic, political, social, environmental, and collaborative, and creative influences behind Manifesta illustrate perfectly the power of public art.

Public art doesn't necessarily require a political or social message; sometimes a piece may be created for visual, entertainment, or tourist purposes. For example, Florentijn Hofman's 82ft. rabbit in Taipei seeks to attract tourists (as his other work has done). It is almost purely for entertainment, economy, and visual excitation.  While not profound or provocative in ways many other public pieces are, the work is still a representation of the power of public art to attract attention and influence people. Similar examples include a giant hippopotamus on the Thames, also by Hofman, and Andrew Hanin's We're Frying Out Here, which is a frying pan on a beach. All these pieces provide an element of whimsy to the area, and entertain observers without necessarily making any profound political statement. 


Some public art seeks to brighten or otherwise enhance an area. Art can give a characteristic aura to any neighborhood which helps define that area's people, culture, and values. Shinique Smith's mural is a great example. It adds vibrancy and color to an otherwise sterile, conservative, or dull environment. The work complements the surroundings by allowing the area to maintain its professional, businesslike feel while not seeming dull or disconnected. Another example in this category of public art is a mural in London showing a forest. The mural is photorealistic in its depiction of nature, which makes it seem as if passersby could escape into nature, despite being in a major metropolis.  This contrast gives the surroundings, despite being urban steel and concrete, a soothing element. Such images can make a neighborhood seem more welcoming, and encourage fantasy and day-dreaming where it may very well be needed; the mural offers a mental and visual respite from bustling city life.

Finally, and probably most importantly, there are works of public art that make political statements. Banksy is perhaps the best-known street artist, and his art is very often politically motivated. His Balloon Girl is a popular image which represents the loss of hope and innocence. In Barcelona, the image has been used to protest governmental cuts to education. Banksy's is a particularly meaningful piece for this situation because it depicts a school-aged girl losing hope, which is clearly relevant to educational cuts. 
Another exhibition of public art that is politically important is Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red in London. Completed just yesterday (11/11/2014), the work featured 888,246 red poppies, stern reminders of the death and bloodshed of World War I on the 100th anniversary of British involvement in the war.  888,246 is the number of British and Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives in WWI. Such a display clearly reminds people of the brutality and death that come with war, and causes them to reflect on the both the causes and consequences of war. 


Public art may serve manifold purposes, but what is certainly true is that it can have an impact, large or small, on observers. Such an impact has the potential to engender revolution (political, social, economical, or psychological), and at the very least, adds an artistic diversion to everyday, mechanistic thought and observation.

ILLUMINUS BOSTON

For me, the most interesting part of the festival was the light show on the largest outside face of the building. Specifically, I enjoyed the illusion of the building's bricks moving and rearranging. The images were so clear that the movement of the bricks appeared extremely realistic, even when viewed in very close proximity to the building. Not only was it visually stunning, but it seemed to realize an element of fantasy present in many childhood stories. I was reminded most clearly of the bricks in Harry Potter which rearrange to open secret passageways, but I know that such fantasy is present in many other stories. The other art on the outside of the building was nice, but not extraordinary. The bricks, though, seemed to make real the CGI used in movies with stunning visual clarity.

Another interesting exhibit was the display of visitors' faces on a large face-shaped screen. It was fascinating to see the people's faces projected so accurately on such a large screen. But the more enjoyable part was the humor of watching people adjust their faces to fit the screen. Before the visitors properly oriented themselves in front of the videocamera, their faces would move and distort into humorously absurd forms on the massive display. This clearly entertained both the crowd and the individuals being filmed. It was also nice to see something so interactive despite the expensive, sophisticated equipment used at the festival.

On the inside of the building was displayed a series of thematic images. We saw several of the different displays including mechanical toys and the beach. The toys were unique and bizarre (including two dancing chickens), and the were accompanied by music to which they amusingly danced. Mechanical noises also were played, adding another layer of reality to the already lifelike images. The beach was nice as well, soothing in imagery, but it lacked a relevant audio accompaniment, and seemed to be lacking in creativity, especially compared the the toys.

In the middle of the building, streaming, colorfully lit strands of fabric hunch from the ceiling to the floor. Walking through these was like walking through a forest, or swimming through an ocean. The movement of light made the already mobile fabric seem to move even more. The light was used extremely well in communicating a sense of motion without seeming artificial.

One of my personal favorite elements was the interactive graphical map which adjusted in the presence of people. Visually, it was rather remarkable. But, for me, it was great because it reminded me of the two-dimensional representation of general relativistic spacetime curvature. Because of its mathematical and physical association, I found this piece particularly appealing. It also was great for being interactive, and was fun to experiment with.

Another piece, separated from the rest of the light shows was on an adjacent building. It was elegantly simple: a welder at work. Yet, the mix of color (sparks) and darkness was aesthetically attractive, and its contrast to the more dynamic colors of pieces nearby offered a welcome juxtaposition of tones. Although this was perhaps the most basic of all the pieces at Illuminus, it was still extremely unique and interesting. 

Illuminus and Other Art

Illuminus and Other Art

Last week, I went to Harvard to see Sam Harris speak. While there, I came across a few pieces of site-specific art. Two pieces stuck out in particular, both in the science building. First, at the entrance of the building was a golden Mobius strip. This piece made an excellent use of light; the reflections changed from every angle, making the surface appear to flow and distort. Also, the mere fact that the piece is a Mobius strip makes it well-suited to a center for math and science. Another interesting piece was the biologically themed sculpture hanging from the ceiling. In front of the chemical formula for a certain organic molecule (I forget which) hangs the physical model of the molecule. This piece is reminiscent of high school chemistry classroom demonstrations, giving the piece a nostalgic feel. Plus, its aesthetic appeal and central location make it a visually appealing piece as well. These two works struck me, and made me look around and appreciate the Harvard science center.  

Visiting the Lawn on D to see Illuminus was an interesting experience. The lawn included two adjacent cubes with statues inside. The larger had a large rose, which seemed to juxtapose the organic, wild nature of a rose with the enclosure (the cube looked much like a prison cell) and artificiality of society. There was also a chair in the smaller cube, which seemed to illustrate confinement (in a similar way to the flower). Beyond these sculptures was the Illuminus event. The first attraction was the swings. Not only were these visually attractive, but they were also fun to swing on. Unlike most works of art, the spectator was actually able to participate in the work of art. The movement of the swings from afar gave the sense of movement, and up close, visitors could participate in the nostalgic swinging that the swings encouraged. Similarly, the Kinect display allowed spectators to change the observed work of art. Jerome and I had fun acting as models for the abstract art, and many others clearly did the same. The fluidity of the work made it unique, and the participation made observing fun.

Finally, on the ground were several works of sidewalk art. My favorite was the aquatic on below, because it had a sense of depth (due to the different hues), and had a good blend of realism and fantasy. Other works included dedications to certain individuals, praise to the city of Boston, and many other illustrations.

I also recently visited the Boston Museum of Science for an astronomy course. There is a lot of site-specific there, all of which areunique.  One of the most interesting pieces was a collection of diffraction lenses which changed appearance based on the observer's position. It illustrated an important principle of the behavior of electromagnetic radiation while also providing an attractive compilation of images. In accordance with this theme of light, the lobby had many hanging light fixtures which were very basic, but changed color and were soothing to the eyes. Finally, just outside the museum stands a towering tyrannosaurus rex statue. It is not only a strikingly realistic statue, but it gives visitors an indication of the scale of the museum, making the MoS seem a titanic and impressive institution (which it certainly is!)