I decided to blog about
Jason Shawn Alexander today. I assume we can post about any artist, not strictly photographers. I almost decided not too because his work creeps me out, but it also interests me at the same time. To me, his paintings seem semi-real, the people anyway. The mask is the creepy part, did this make anyone else twitch? I don't feel like these are pictures that you put in your living room, but they shouldn't be hidden either. Alexander has a little blurb on
his blog where he briefly describes his work and his reasons for making it. This makes me even more interested in him as an artist. I feel that art derives from experiences, depending on the person. They could be all of their own, or of others. I find that when artists create from their own experience that you can see this process through their artwork. They could be celebrating or releasing something dark. This is one of the reasons why I value being able to express myself through art, while some may say it's an indirect way of facing your feelings. At first I had this weird feeling of "no I don't want to post on Alexander... it's hard to even look at" but I told myself I had to at least share what I was thinking. Why shouldn't I post on him?
Not the most profound question, but I am really interested in seeing artists that all of you have trouble with, dislike, or can't stand as well. I have trouble with looking at demonic images, and imagery that feels scary to me, so sometimes I am not all too fond of it. The reasoning behind the work is important though. If it's just to scare people then I don't really get the point. If it holds some kind of meaning I can appreciate it.
3 comments:
Monica, I truly appreciate your bravery this semester. I know you had to do some uncomfortable things to make your final photos happen last semester. I think maybe that was the first step for being able to do what you want to this semester. You are very in touch with your feelings and why you feel them. I respect that a lot. I am glad you shared what you did, even though you weren't sure about it.
I agree, that our art becomes an outlet for our experiences and emotions. I am very excited to see your work this semester!!
Monica,
Your photos from the first crit were great! I think that you are off to a great start. It looked like you had a good handle on how you want to present the figure. I am excited to see your following work.
As long as we are on the topic of artists that disturb the majority of individuals that view their work, I would like to remind you guys about Dash Snow and also touch on Hermann Nitsch... Why not a little Frances Bacon too.
Obviously you guys are somewhat familiar with Dash Snow now. Like I said before, the guy might gross you out, but that doesn't mean you won't keep looking. The guy obviously didn't give a CRAP about what other people thought (referring to Mary's most recent post), and also didn't care how vulgar he was while doing it. It's something that a lot of artists, including some that currently surround us, struggle to accept.
Hermann Nitsch does the same sort of thing. He's extremely straight forward with the work that he does. I recommend viewing anything that the guy does. It's NASTY. He experiments with animal carcasses and the blood that drains from their dead bodies. He often saves the robes that he wears and the sheets that are spread around the area where he performs, frames them, and refers to them as "relics" similar to religious tokens. Strange stuff, but extremely interesting.
Francis Bacon is is little more symbolic with his work, but fairly vulgar none the less. Sperm is often represented in his pieces.
OH YEAH! Guillermo Habacuc Vargas is quite the controversial artist of our generation. He is the artist that had two children catch this stray dog, chained it up in a gallery, and starved it for arts sake. Many people petitioned, yelled obscenities, and threatened Vargas, yet nobody reacted the way that Vargas wanted them to. Sure people were upset, but nobody physically released this dog. Just bitched... He exposed the people that will talk but not ACT on what they truly believe. If anyone read up on Vargas, he explains that the dog was not starved and was treated fairly, the statement was more or less what pissed people off because it stated that this dog was being starved, blah blah blah.
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