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The Cloisters was a crazy experience in its own. It impresses me that something so scenic like that can exist in New York where everything is so much concrete. I loved the journey up to the museum that walk was beautiful and something that reminded me of going home. I loved thr tapestries and understanding how much time went in to making one. Mr and Beaudry discussed how Medieval Art is so amazing because of its religious connotation in everything. How everyone back then would have known the story any painting or sculpture was referencing just by seeing its pieces. I love the idea that the message could be so clear for everyone.
Sam

Inspiration

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I would like to thank Vincent Van Gough for many things but today I feel the need to praise him for documenting this Postman’s extrordinary beard. Someday I hope my facial hair will be on this guy’s level.

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-J.L. Gazabat

Mad for MAD

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Below is a link to the Museum of Arts and Design collections webpage. Interstingly enough MAD is unique in that 95%of its permanent collection is accessible on line.That is, through the link below it is possible to view and gain information on the vast majority of MAD’s collection despite the fact that most of the objects are in storage.

http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=quicksearch&style=browse

-J.L. Gazabat

World Trade Memorial

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Visiting the World Trade Memorial site created a roller coaster of emotions. The memorial itself exhibits a respectful display of names and falling water creating a peaceful environment for group or personal reflection. Inside the museum provided a much different experience. I found the historical and architectural backgrounds of the Two Towers to be very informational and fascinating considering that they were at the time, modern feats in engineering. It wasn’t until I reached the lower level where my emotions began to collide. Seeing images, belongings, and biographies of all the people lost during the attacks was overwhelming, upsetting, and a bit aggravating. I am still processing the information and trying to decide whether or not the display and possibly fictional stories were respectful or insulting to the victims, not to say that each individual is not important. In fact some of the stories were incredibly touching and over all I felt that reading the short biographies was the only way I could fathom the amount of people that lost their lives. The part I found to be the most unnecessary part of the whole museum were objects such as firetrucks and ambulances kept on display as if they were movie props. Over all, I learned a lot from the exhibit and was able to experience the event from a different perspective, and from a different age, helping me form my own opinions. -MAX

Socrates Sculpture Park

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The Socrates Sculpture Park was, for me at least, a little underwhelming. Although some of the works on display were phenomenal I found myself distracted by the overgrown grass, the unclearly marked trails, and the fact that, on more than one occasion, I found myself mired in muck and mud. Yet, all was not lost, although the container house on the premises was not one of the pieces technically on display it was the element which brought me the most joy. I have long been fascinated by the idea of using sturdy, abundant, and affordable shipping containers as human habitats. The container house at the Sculpture Park was a fantastic example complete with porch and elevated greenhouse. I could not help but to feel envious of its occupants.
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-J.L. Gazabat

Lebbeus Woods

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One of my favorite parts of this class was that it presented many opportunities to explore avenues previously unknown. Over the course of ten days I was able to see the work of artists that, until recently, I had no idea existed. Lebbeus Woods was one such artist, although he was not on display at the Drawing Center a book cataloging his previous exhibition was on the shelf in their bookstore. Seeing the cover I had no choice but to pick the book up and I am glad that I did. Woods calls himself an architect although he never received a degree in architecture yet the truth of this self proclamation is evident in his work. Most of the pieces are centered around the theme of drawing connections between existing architectural elements and things that may come, that is, Woods, through his work, highlights the struggles between past, present, and future.

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-J.L. Gazabat

Further Research: On Kawara (Dia: Beacon)

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Perhaps the most challenging thing for me to wrap my head around at Dia:Beacon was On Kawara’s Date Paintings. Kawara painstakingly created up to nearly 3,000 of these paintings, featuring the dates which they were made on. They are all rendered in the same typeface, adapting the orthography of whichever country that Kawara was in when he completed the painting. If he couldn’t finish it by midnight, the painting was destroyed.

As a conceptual artist, Kawara indeed focused on the idea and the information more so than the artwork, but I wondered about including him within the walls of Dia. After spending a half hour with the work, I started to feel what I think Kawara was trying to portray: the flattening of time, the attempt to change its scale to fit a human life.

I found a painting that corresponded with my brother’s birthdate and wondered how many other people had stood in the room and had the same experience – how each painting held a multitude of meanings dependent on those who stood before it. Yet, at the heart of each painting was Kawara’s hand itself, essentially rendering each canvas into a journal entry. I struggled the most with the inherent inconsistencies of undertaking such a series: the attempt to flatten cosmic time down to human scale; the attempt to portray the infinite via banal and everyday (literally) terms.