Art Event Two

For my second art event, I attended Fereshteh's lecture on her work. My two favorite pieces shown here were Saddam's Birthday and Dance Dance Revolutionary. I liked these two works in general because they seemed very light-hearted while carrying with them two very serious subject matters. Both projects seemed to involve passers-by on an entertaining as well as intellectually stimulating level, and I liked that. Saddam's Birthday seemed to be a statement on the effects of terrorism on American public opinion and attitudes towards the Middle East and politics in general. The fact that it was supposedly Saddam's "66th" birthday was the initial indication that we were looking for some sort of ironic statement on the demonization of the Middle East. I was amused (in an ironic sort of way) that there were these tourist-type people taking photos of themselves in front of strongly American institutions while wearing masks made to resemble America's supposed arch nemesis. The best part was when they got a talking to from the authorities; that just proved the point that American authorities are vindictive and self-righteous in the worst way. We have no sense of humor when it comes to international relations, especially with Middle Eastern countries. For that matter, we don't have much of a sense of humor when it comes to the realistic depiction of anyone who doesn't share America's ideals; they must all be demonized, apparently. As for the Dance Dance Revolutionary project, I liked all of it because I play DDR religiously, and I thought it was a wonderful idea to involve the audience so directly with the subject matter.

Art Event One

Over Spring break, I visited the Hirshorn museum in Washinton DC to see a few different shows: Virgil Marti and Pae White (who decorated the Museum's lobby) and a collection by John Baldessari, as well as a special black box video installation. I loved the Marti and White decoration of Hishorn's lobby. There were two huge, mishapen couches at the center of the lobby. They were made of that Swedish squishy mattress-type material that forms to your shape, and they were covered in a fabric that was printed to look like giant newspapers. They were amazingly comfortable, and I kind of wanted to take one home with me! Each one could accomodate maybe 4 or 5 people each. They also used two (or maybe three?) huge bead curtains. The beads looked almost like golden pieces of bones strung together with metal chain links; although, the way in which I'm describing it seems rather industrial, it was really vewry pretty. Upon closer inspection, however, the golden beads looked like bones. There were also two chandeliers above the installation; they were intricate and very unusual (to me anyways). It looked as if the artist had made glass deer antlers and arranged them in a circle of 8 or so. The antlers were presenting lotus flowers with little light blulbs in them, and the whole thing was strung up with striped rope. One lamp had black antlers, green-blue lotus flowers, and purple and neon green rope, while the other had golden-orange antlers, yellow and pink lotus flowers, and aqua and yellow rope. All together, they were lovely. The elements of said room, then, were very eclectic, but somehow befitting to one another. Although these were all art-objects, the whole installation managed to very welcoming and comfortable: a formidable lobby. Aside from that, the Baldessari show was impressive as well. My favorite piece was a statue of a nude young woman lounging on a Victorian-type couch. She was wearing thigh-high stockings and holding three roses, and the whole statue was orange-creme colored except for her shoes, which were a bright, buff white color. The sculpture itself was fluid and realistic, and I liked the white shoes for some reason. I think it was making a statement about femininity, but I can't be sure. I was also doing research for our Postcard project (mine was partly on Poe), and I had found that, on the anniversary of Poe's death every single year, a mysterious person puts three red roses and a half-empty bottle of alcohol on Poe's grave. That may have been why I was so struck by the sculpture of the young woman holding three roses.

Here's
a link to my contest, vote for me!
And here's my photo shop image...it's a zombie sloth! enjoy