Sunday, July 25, 2010

Art? Art!

I have to say that I was not very interested in art before. No matter what kind of art it is, I always feel indifferent to them. But this time when I visited Wexner center, I was really impressed by Mark Bradford’s “paintings”.

Most of his paintings use materials like ads. Posters or paper printed with certain theme. It was quite amazing to me because they are different to what I have seen in an exhibition before. These paintings seemed to be rougher compared to other delicate ones. And Mark seldom uses any pigment as other artists do. He uses glue to paste paper together and then scratch or rub off what he does not want, and as a result, the colors beneath will appear and compose a pattern that he wants.

I regard Mark Bradford as a very creative and genius artist. He can come up with such a unique way of “drawing”, which shares much similarity with archaeology. I believe the way he draws counts a lot for his success. Besides that, his artworks reflect some social issues like the influence of Katrina. In 2005, Katrina struck the New Orleans; many people lost their homes or even their lives in that disaster. Mark was In New Orleans at that time and experienced it himself. That is why there are so many his artworks are about this theme.

One of his artworks was a ship with some old and ragged posters pasted on it. That is a reflection of ships that have experience the hurricane in New Orleans. It shows us what they have suffered from and the feeling of pain and hurt left in the people’s hearts. But on the other hand, ship also represents hope of new lives for the people there. So it provides some positive image for the public at the same time.

Additionally, the design of the Wexner center is also brilliant. Past, now and the future, the materials that used for the construction are accordance to the different period of time. What a great and creative idea!

At last, I need to mention Shaina, our tour guide in the center. She was so patient and kind to us. She was very good at inspiring us to let us understand Mark’s artworks. Shaina went to have lunch with us after the tour and it was fun. Thank you Shaina! O(∩_∩)O~



3 comments:

Kelly said...

Just like the title "Art?Art!",we have explored ART in the Wexner Center.Thank Shaina and Pete for leading us to think deeper in the world of art.

lucia said...

As a teacher, I pay more attention to the way Pete presented his class. I like his way of conveying what he wanted the students to think about art. When he kept asking the students "What is art?", the students had to think. That is like a torch, brightening the path and giving the direction.

For me, art is very abstract, but when Pete used the examples of statues to point out the differences between the real art and the commercial ads, I think I got a pictuer(though may be partial): Art is created for the appreciation of beauty instead of just selling products or goods. I remember he mentioned "Rocky", even though I haven't seen it, from Pete's description, I got to know that it was very successful. But it doesn't mean the success of products is testimony of art. Art becomes concrete when you touch specific products, for example, paintings, music, statues, etc.

I said I like Pete's class because of his way of delivery. Perhaps I like more of his questions:
Is it art?Is this art? Is that art?
Can ads be art?
Think about that, ok?
...

Mike Lohre said...

I'm sort of surprised you did not like Art before, but am so glad that the Mark Bradford exhibit provoked such a nice reaction. Fun to read your post.