For my last blog assignment, I went to the Met Breuer to visit the Lygia Pape Exhibition. I was absolutely in love. I have never heard of Lygia Pape before I went to the exhibition and had no idea what kind of artist she was. From the moment I walked in, every piece of art resonates in my heart. The reason why I love her work is because I am a huuuuuuge minimalist. I;m not saying her work is totally minimalistic, but it definitely had that kind of impact on me. Each piece was so simple, yet intricate at the same time.

There were a series of favorite pieces of art at the exhibition. Not to mention, her color palette was beautiful. I loved the yellow, black, and gray, as well as pops of red, green, and blue, and a base of white. Some of my favorites would have to be….

There was a wall filled with colorful patterns (the one shown all the way at the right above). I’m not sure what this wall signifies, but to me, it felt like different patterns fitting well when put together. Almost as if it’s talking about different people, cultures, languages, can all come together, unified. The colors were popping right off the white wall, literally, because these patterns are 3D. If she was alive… I would want to work under her and learn to be as creative as she is.

Another one of my absolute favorites was this piece. (picture shown below). It’s white and yellow and stunning. It kind of reminds me of mountains, but honestly, it’s just one of those pieces I adore without much analysis. It’s aesthetically pleasing and I would love to take it home. I forgot what it was called, but nevertheless, I loved it.

A experimental film that I enjoyed was called Ballet neoconcreto I (Neoconcreto Ballet I) 1958. According to the little information plate they show next to the film, the film is based on a Concrete poem by Reynaldo Jardim. In the peom, Jardim states eye and target, which I’m still not sure what it really means. Pape’s rendition used blocks to represent “eye” and “target”. The blocks were a combination of cylinders and rectangles. They would move within the film, creating this ballet(?) In the information plate, it states, “Pape replaced the simulated movements and imaginary settings of traditional theater with the concrete drama of basic forms shifting in space and times”. Such a simple film with such depth and meaningful purpose.

The Lygia Pape exhibition has definitely opened my eyes and inspired me to continue to create minimal work. I absolutely loved everything she created and I think Pape is a renowned artist to have her own stylistic choices and patterns. I believe that her work of art will continue to inspire many other artists out there.

If you haven’t gone to this exhibition, I would highly recommend to go before it closes because  I’m sure you won’t regret it. I’d probably go again.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to the Whitney Museum trip with the class last Friday because of allergies. However, I really wanted to go visit the Whitney Biennial, and just the Museum itself because I heard its a MUST GO place. A lot of my friends know and have been to the Whitney, but I’ve never been there before. So, I decided to go on my own this week and it was a great decision.

First off, the building itself is a work of art. It has all these different dimensions and huge windows that give sneak peeks of the wonderful works inside. Also, it’s a plus that I was able to go in for free with a Student ID. The Whitney Biennial was quite overwhelming. There were floors and floors of arts displayed. They were all unique and beautiful, but I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t a fan of everything.

I love films and visuals with motion, but I’m also a huge sucker for paintings, sculptures, and photographs. Something about still framed arts make me think harder, feel deeper about them. One of the pieces I found capturing was a painting called Elevator. The painter is Dana Schutz. I really love this piece. It’s so detailed with different colors and textures. So many things are going on with so many different people, and yet, they’re all forced to be in this space to get to a specific destination. When I think about elevators, I feel like my time within that space is frozen. It’s a mindless ride. But for the time I’m on the elevator with the many people inside of it, too, I feel like, for that moment in time, everyone in it has the same goal, same feelings, same thoughts about whether the elevator will fall and our lives will end together, and just sharing a specific moment of being there together. Also, elevators are this closed space where anyone in it knows everything going on inside, while everyone outside has no clue. Playing with the use of privacy and being “revealed” to the public, almost like all of today’s hidden government issues, and even metaphorically like our hearts being closed and hidden of its chaos and brokenness. I feel like I’m babbling, but I’m sure I was going somewhere with this. Elevator is “that deep” for me. It just gets me thinking more and more. Just amazing!

As for film, I really enjoyed The Lesser Key of Solomon by Tommy Hartung. The reason why I really like this film was because of all the use stop-motion animations and just the overall color of the film. I read that Hartung created this film to capture this “hallucinatory reflecting themes of racial inequality, power struggles, systemic violence, and religious fervor”. Basically, it has A LOT going on in it. Although, I’m not a fan of dark demonic magic or anything the first part of the film talks about. I solely enjoyed this piece because of the aesthetically aspect of it. Stop-motion was a great touch to really give that distorted, breaky, unsettling feeling, which is something we feeling when we talk about “racial inequality, power struggles, systemic violence, and religious fervor”.

Whitney Biennial was very very interesting and I’ll definitely recommend more people to go before the exhibition ends! Maybe I’ll go again and maybe I’ll see new things I haven’t realized my first time there.

This week, I visited BRIC Art / Media House and the Public Access / Open Networks Exhibition it was holding. BRIC isn’t necessarily known to a lot of students because of its small title, but the exhibition was beyond amazing. It was very much “experimental” and I wished the whole class could have been there to see and experience the displays they had to offer. Plus, it was free. (This exhibition is still going on through May 7). The exhibition was on Public Access / Open Networks. I’m not going to lie. Initially, I was so confused to what this exhibition was all about. All I knew was that it had to do with more contemporary art.

On thing I realized was that because the BRIC Art / Media House was such a small area for multiple events, it really emphasized one or two exhibitions at a time. The main one being, Public Access / Open Networks. They utilized the whole space including the walls. Let me tell you, it was definitely aesthetically pleasing and beautifully set. Also, I went at a time when it was empty so I literally went all over the place several times.

The exhibition was all about the history of Public Access Television (1970s) as well as using technology in media to raise movements and encourage activists to have a voice. Because in the 1970s, cable started to open opportunities for this “alternate television” of free speech and free form art. Many artists rose in this era and they are recognized and remembered today for their sense of bravery to pull through with such new and unique styles of expression through art. Just like the quote in the exhibition display, “we look on cable as a way of encouraging public action, not just access”. This change in technology and media opened doors to take action and make a move, not just know that there is access and not do anything. Another quote that hit me was, “[the artist] must seek the truth and make it visible regardless of the consequences”. These people were desperate to create content that will get the world stirring and hungry for freedom. Freedom to be whoever they want to be. Queer, gay, happy, sad, expressive, angry, etc.. These artists desired to be open and out there. 

There were many things that fascinated me. One was the display on Ann Hirsch. She is a video artist who “deconstructs female sexuality and the male gaze to explore how technology and social media shape perceptions of gender and identity”. She used YouTube and created this character where she would try to portray herself as a who who is both sexual and human. This was provoking and interesting because many the Internet rarely mentioned this combination of whether woman can be both sexual and human. It definitely had a feminist undertone, which is very much more expressive and accepted today.

One interesting one was Static.  It really didn’t have much description except that it loops every two minutes, but I liked this display. It was literally a static screen, but I could watch it for a long time without being bored because even though it can be “just static”, it also seemed so expressive, chaotic, and noisy. Almost as if it was trying to tell me something.

Lastly, I enjoyed a video display of Nam June Paik’s Good Morning Mr. Orwell (1984). I loved the crazy editing as well as the use of colors. No to mention, the way the sound flowed beautifully with the visuals was beautiful. Paik’s videos “explore the intersection of the art world, pop culture, media, philosophy, and technology. Good Morning Mr. Orwell (1984) was in particularly so amazing because it showcased “his vision for this globalized new media in a live international satellite installation”. He desired international potential in television, which is very common and well used today. (Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of this.)

One last quote is: “Public Access is the mother of all social media, the original uncurated social art”. While I was watching these different type of videos, hearing so many voices, and reading so many hopes and dreams, I realized that Public Access really began this journey of expression through Media. It’s because of those artists who initiated and started their artwork… that we are here today, strong and bold, bonded and united, when social issues and movements are created for the better of today.

*If ya’ll are interested in the history of Public Access and the experimental pieces artists used to express their voices, GO TO THE EXHIBITION!!!