Annie Leibovitz Exhibit

Going to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Wexner Center was a truly interesting experience. This was the first time that I had experienced a gallery that was more than a single roomed shop with a few dozen pieces in it. It was a funny experience because I felt out of my element in the gallery. Even though it was on a college campus I thought the show had the feel of a New York gallery….or at least my best guess of what a New York gallery was like. At first I was overwhelmed by the amount of photographs that were on display, after I was able to get past the sheer volume of work I started to recognize some of the photographs, especially the photos of famous actors and athletes. For some reason I really liked the pictures of Arnold Shawrtzeneger, I found it interesting to see how he had transformed of the course of 15 to 20 years. I was shocked to see how long of a span of time the pictures in the gallery covered; the earliest I remembered seeing was 1968 or ’69 all the way through 2008. If I had to describe all of Annie Leibovitz photographs in one word it would be timeless, I say this because I really had trouble distinguishing when the pictures were taken. Most of them seemed like they could have been taken anytime in that 40 year span of her career. It is clear that Annie Leibovitiz has covered some of the biggest stories in the last half century.

On a side note after reading Nipple Jesus I was just as cued into the people at the exhibit as I was to the featured artwork. Unfortunately, I went on a weekday afternoon so most of the people viewing the pieces were other students such as myself sent to observe for some sort of assignment. I think it would be interesting to go back at a time when there would be more experienced gallery goers to observe.

Kaprow

Honestly I can’t say I gained a lot from this piece of writing. The one sentence that I found interesting or insightful from this piece was the line where they said that an artist who focuses on making lifelike art is not actually making art at all. I thought that this was interesting because a lot of things we would consider traditional art would actually not count as art by this definition. For example in many photographs the photographer is trying to capture the moment in its most pure state. I would consider that to be art but from my interpretation of what the author is saying I don’t think that they would consider it to be art.

After reading it a couple of times I cannot say that I completely understand what the author is trying to teach the reader about what qualifies as art, I know they are saying that their work has always been right on the fringes of what many consider to be art. I think if they consider  every human activity could be considered an art form, which in a way makes sense if each activity is a form of expression I guess. Personally I don’t understand how watching yourself brush your teeth in the mirror is art, in any way, shape or form. For me to consider anything art, I believe that something has to take talent to perform. If everyone can do it well, it just is not art for me.

My Journey To Class

As I walked out of my apartment to go to class it was a perfect early autumn morning, nearly 70s without a cloud in the sky. Every morning my journey to campus starts with me unlocking my bike, and carrying it down a flight of stairs. The next picture I included was the picture of the homeless man looking for cans in the alley behind my apartment. While this is not something that I see on a daily basis I wanted to include it in the map because it stuck out to me. Having never lived near a big city before coming to campus, I am not used to seeing poverty like this up close and in person.  As I ride through the alley that the homeless man was in I usually smell trash because there are dumpsters every 50 ft. for the length of the alley. The next picture was taken while riding down Lane, at this point in my ride everything is usually a blur because I am so focused on keeping up with traffic and not getting hit by a car. During this period I am not usually to aware of what is going on to either side of the street. The next picture was taken as I turned off of Lane, I am not sure what street it is but I always take a left when I get to the JO North. The final picture was taken as I approached Ohio Stadium, my final destination. Once I get to the point in my ride that I can see the stadium I start to imagine the stadium on game day, on cue I can hear the band playing in my head. I thought this was interesting, but it does not surprise me that after watching Ohio State football for as long as I can remember, the stadium reminds me of game day.  To make my piece look more like a map then just clippings of random pictures I made a line from where I start my journey to where I arrive at class.

SOUND

Cardiff and Miller

I was really interested and surprised with the effect that sound had merging two separate time periods together. When the author was viewing Cardiff and Millers work at the train station, I liked that he had ducked to avoid running into someone who turned out to only present on the screen. To me that shows how powerful the work is because it was able to engulf the author so much is he forgot where he was in time.  Of all the Cardiff and Millers pieces that were discussed, my favorite was “The Forty-Part Motet.” I am not sure what it is that drew me to the piece but I think it is really cool how the experience is difference for the viewer depending on where they stand in the room.

Before reading this article I have had trouble grasping what exactly contemporary art is, needless to say this article did little to clear up my confusion. I think my main hang up with understanding “what is contemporary art” comes from how many different mediums can be used to create this style of “art.” I feel like I am stuck with an elementary school view of art in that if someone say the word art, I immediately think of sketches, paintings, and sculptures. Specifically from this piece I was confused about the head, “Fritz” that Miller used while recording his sounds. I don’t understand how the fake head makes sounds seem more real.

My Picture

Nipple Jesus Reaction

Nipple Jesus

                This was the first piece I have read for this class that I actually found a connection to. This article hit home with me because I feel connected to how Dave views art. I do not have very much experience in the art world but whenever I am surrounded by art I feel like a fish out of water. Like Dave, whenever I think I have “figured out” about a piece of artwork usually turns out to have nothing to do with what the artist actually wanted the piece to say. What I can take from the piece is that half of what an artist is trying to do when creating a piece is to elicit a response from those viewing the artwork, which is something that I never really thought about before. I think this is interesting because the few times that I have been exposed to the “art world” I have been way more interested in the people view the art than the art itself.

                The thing that troubles me most about this article is how the artist could have invested so much time in creating a piece just in hopes that someone would do something irrational and ridiculous like destroying it. I know that I would have trouble spending countless hours working on something only to see the public destroy it. Also if the artist intent was to watch people reaction to her art, she did a poor job in planning the filming of it. I would have made sure that cameras covered multiple angles and were able to take the highest quality of video possible.

Micro-Project on Picture Composition

 1. Skyline of buildings is asymmetrical.

2.Windows on building are symmetrical.

3.Fire hydrant is radial.

4. Person and their surrounding space.

5. Close up of person.

6.My room from an ants point of view.

7. Birds eye view of the oval.

8. Mirror Lake fountain as focal point.

9. Crane is the focal point despite not being the center.

10. My name on my mailbox

Both processes were similar in the fact that I had to go out and find things to take a picture of. The main difference was the first assignment had almost no requirement other than to just take 10 pictures then the second assignment each of the pictures had to display a composition technique. For the first assignment I decided to ride my bike through campus and take pictures of things as a rode past them. For the second assignment each of the pictures had to show a different composition technique so it took more thought as what to take pictures of. I though both processes where enjoyable but I liked the second assignment more because there was a little bit of a thrill in the hunt to find good examples of all the composition techniques. Of all the images taken my favorite was the fire hydrant that is a radial image, the picture itself is not anything special but I was real excited when I found the fire hydrant because I had been walking around racking my brain for a creative idea and then next thing you know I was right next to it and had a cool “aww ha” moment. I also liked trying to take pictures of people on campus without seeming creepy, I could not manage to get a close up but I got a few of people in their surroundings.