art 21 videos

Sally Mann - I have discussed Sally Mann before in other classes, mostly involving controversial art and her images of children. It put a new spin on this topic to see and hear from her grown children, and to have a better understanding that the images were just their childhood and family life. As Mann said, she was just creating art to be fun, it didnt have to have some huge meaning behind it.
I liked her use of the phrase "magpie aesthetic" and the idea of using found objects in everyday life. This relates well to our scrapbook assignments. Also, it is refreshing to see an artist simply go with what grabs their attention without some hidden meaning or agenda. Sometimes it is refreshing to create art solely for the purposes of creating.

Mel Chin - His theme of consumption driving our country is absolutely correct. So it was interesting to see him building art to try and counteract some of the negative effects. I am still struggling with the concept of certain processes being considered art. But I guess the ideas presented here focus more on science as art, or construction as art. It seemed to me that the artist had an idea, such as the Detroit Nightcrawler house, and then says "ok, now that's art."
This leads to many questions that have been posed in previous classes about "What is art?" "Who decides what is art?" These questions always make for interesting discussions, because in some ways everyone is a critic and in some ways everyone is an artist.

James Turrell - You can tell that he is really passionate about his ideas of light and how it is viewed. It is a shame that his crater project is still incomplete, you have to wonder if Turrell get discouraged that it may never be finished. It seems like it would be a constantly evolving process, because light and shadow and the cosmos are always changing. Again, we were focused on the idea of architecture and construction as art.

Gabriel Orozco - It was thrilling to see the artist in his process. Like Sally Mann, Orozco sees art in everyday life and found objects. Also, I liked his idea of art being a constantly evolving hobby. Each time he changed his project focus, there was a new process and skills to be learned. I believe that this helps the artist stay on the verge of his talent, his ideas keep flowing. The contrast between his photographic style and that of Mann's was interesting. Mann spent a lot of time working in the darkroom and taking shots over and over until she felt they were done.
Orozco worked much more spontaneously. He did not have a studio and shot images with a simple camera. One shot, and whatever happens, happens.