BLOG POST 8 CHELSEA GALLERY REVIEW
DANIEL AMBIA

 

 

 

           First off I would like to begin by saying I had an amazing time. Although I could never afford to buy any of the art, some of the pieces were really awesome. Unfortunately I failed as an art critic and did not record the mediums or names of the artists for my favorite pieces.  The 3 dimensional paintings were definitely the most visually confusing and stimulating work we saw. I spent a good fifteen minutes staring and walking toward them and away to make myself dizzy. I liked the book shelf one the best but unfortunately did not take a picture. My favorite standard 2-D painting was the one of the girl in Times Square texting. The medium appeared to be oil on canvas and the statement was priceless. It would be considered a representational piece because the girl, her accessories and the sheep are life-like. It is a girl on a cellphone in the foreground walking amongst sheep while surrounded by well known symbols of American capitalism. In the sky appears formations of fighter planes. The painting is obviously a statement about our culture and the culture of war and imperialism that has become synonymous with the America of today. I believe it represents the distracted youth, that people have become so distracted by material things they do not realize they are slowly turning into sheep and forfeiting their civil rights to the military industrial complex.

          The monochromatic sculpture made out of slivers of paper was pretty cool as was the sculpture made out of solid plastic straws in the next room. Honestly the most interesting piece was the 4 dimensional installation of the chocolate factory. I was able to research this piece on the internet and it was created by a 28 year old Colombian artist named Oscar Murillo with assistance from the Colombian chocolate company Colombina. The Company provided the 13 workers. This installation was pretty original, the workers in the back were creating the product on an assembly line while the main part of the exhibit were crates and boxes of the chocolate, Along the back wall were large glass vases containing the chocolate in various stages and miniature paintings done by the artist but I cannot recall what they were of. Overall this installation was pretty incredible and complex and to make it even better, they gave us free chocolate on our way out the door.

         It is difficult to find an appropriate way to end this review. All I can say is I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen the things we have seen. Sometimes it becomes difficult to appreciate art on display or just around us in our communities. Thanks!!!

Daniel Ambia
Blog Post 7
The Value of Contemporary Art

            I found both of these articles interesting and a little aggravating. Cotter discusses the bitter truths about the art industry vs. the art world and Callahan discusses essentially the .00001% obsession with being cool by consumption. In philosophy we read an essay about the philosopher Adorno's theory concerning the commodification of popular music but I believe his theory can also be transferred to the visual art world. In a capitalist society art has become a commodity. Apparently what decides the monetary value of art has not changed over the centuries except it's no longer Emperors and Kings art collections but collections of the contemporary ruling class, the uber wealthy. It appears the wealthy are still able to decide the monetary value of art based on their personal preferences.
             In my opinion there are some artifacts that should retain a relatively high value, historical pieces perhaps that have been refined and serve as a time capsule for our past as human beings. On the other hand, if a billionaire wishes to spend millions of dollars on a sculpture of a balloon animal or a dead tree then I suppose more power to the artist for convincing the billionaire to write the check. The value of art should ultimately be decided by the artist. If the artist has put in the work and time on a piece, then naturally they should be able to demand what they see a fitting price once the piece goes on the market. If the consumer is touched by the piece and wants to purchase it then hopefully the artist and the consumer can come to some type of agreement. I don't know enough about the art world to say whether or not a piece should be worth $50,000,000. Maybe the artist who uprooted and made the dead tree theirs has every right to demand what they will.
               I like to look at art, I like going to museums and I definitely have a few reproductions hanging in my apartment which I may have paid at the most 25.00 for. But as far as purchasing an original piece I would have to say my favorite artist is my son Romero. He creates original work almost daily and I put most of it up on the refrigerator. To me his artwork is priceless ;).

Daniel F. Ambia
Art and Society
Blog Post #6
05/20/2014

          At this particular juncture of my life, the most noteworthy cause for me would have to be Veteran's Rights. But in particular I would have to say I support the full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, a war that has dragged on for too long and cost too many lives on all sides of the conflict. I would like to create a memorial to the servicemen and women who died overseas but I wanted it to be a little different from previous memorial sculptures. I like the idea of a sculpture made out of bronze of a young person, not necessarily a male or female, but they would be wearing business casual attire and have a small child holding them around their ankle. The sculpture would be located near the Capitol Building in Washington DC, close enough for the congressmen who vote to send our young men and women to war to see the statue on their way to work. The caption on the base of the sculpture would read "FOR ALL THE YOUTH WHO WANTED TO BE SALESMEN, DOCTORS, LAWYERS, MOTHERS AND FATHERS, WE ARE FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT."
People forget that most Soldiers are pretty young and most of them do not have plans to retire from the military. A lot have dreams of attending college or going to work for the city/government in other departments or becoming professionals. I wanted this sculpture to play on the idea that sending young people to war robs them of their opportunity to lead full lives, even if they do come home in one piece many will suffer from the emotional scars of the conflict until they die. I would dedicate it to my 24 year old friend Jose who was killed in Afghanistan because I know he had other plans for his life that did not include the military. 

         

 

 

 

 Daniel F. Ambia
Art and Society
Blog Post 6      
           I would name my museum "the Randomness" because that is what would be in the museum. I would definitely choose a location in one of the outer boroughs, preferably in a neighborhood that has not been gentrified because my target audience would be people who do not generally go to museums. There would be no entry fee and it would be near a major subway station/populated area. (The borough would probably be Brooklyn). My idea would be to set up a place where people were welcome to hang out, from the twenty-something coffee crowd to the angsty teenage crowd. I would have a snack bar and tons of couches throughout the space. I would also make it interesting by providing a section for children, perhaps a few jungle gyms and mazes throughout the inside so the young ones wouldn't get bored. The mission of the museum would be to attract the average person. If they come just to hang out that's fine but if perhaps they also happen to enjoy the art that would be a bonus. Since I would have unlimited funds the artwork would have to be the things that I like. I would include paintings and photographs from across the spectrum but would steer clear of the religious themed medieval art. While I enjoy sculpture I wouldn't want any floor space to be un-walkable so would probably stick to the 2-D art. I enjoy Van Gough, Jackson Pollock, maybe a little Picasso. As far as photographers I would have to include Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and perhaps some Carrie Mae Weems??? I would want relevant works, pieces that evoke certain emotions and memory in me and would hopefully have similar effects on the audience. Would just like it for people to have a good time, no stuffy security guards and a relaxed attitude. Special groups welcome. 

Daniel F. Ambia
Art and Society
Blog Post 5

          Is Graffiti art? Are Graffiti artists... artists? The dictionary defines graffiti as the following: "writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place." According to the first week of class, artists construct meaningful images and forms, give form to their feelings and ideas and produce extraordinary versions of ordinary objects. Art contains the visual elements, lines, colors, value, texture or what the philosopher Clive Bell would call, "significant form." To answer the question concerning whether or not graffiti is art is simple. Sometimes. When a true graffiti artist goes about creating a "piece" they take their time. They create a rough draft in notebooks, meticulously craft the outline then debate over colors and shading. They create something that takes an enormous amount of creativity and is visually pleasing and stimulating, even the more "sophisticated" pedestrians would have to agree. The talented graffiti artist is still making a statement by covering a public space with unwarranted art, but it is in fact art. While they are still getting their name out there, they are doing it in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to anyone who can appreciate the talent and time put into the work.  On the other hand the people who scratch on subway walls or deface public property with scribble simply to let fellow graffiti artists or hooligans know they were there, I would not consider that art. I would consider that purposefully defacing public property for a smug adolescent satisfaction.

          In his essay collection, "The Gloom of the Museum", John Cotton Dana suggests museums have become "temples and palaces" to house art considered valuable and rare because of its age and social status of the previous owner. He believes art in our society has been defined by the personal collections of the wealthy. He believes museums should be made more accessible and relative to the public. He states that art in museums, "Relates itself quite closely to the life it should be influencing" (Dana). If this is the case I believe he would agree that Graffiti should be displayed in museums since it is relative to a typically disenfranchised group of the populace. I agree as well but I think it should be displayed its natural state. Hiring a graffiti artist to create work on a canvas would take away from the spirit of the craft. For graffiti to simultaneously serve its intended purpose and be displayed in a museum the art itself would have to have been physically removed from where it was originally created. Technically not a crime because the art wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Of course this creates a voyeuristic quality to the exhibition if the work were housed in a typical American museum. But as an art graffiti has the potential to be enjoyed by the masses and therefore as a testament to this moment in time, should be preserved.   

What can I say about the exhibit? Honestly it was the most impressionable and personal work I have seen so far in this class. It doesn't seem like Ms. Weems does anything particularly innovative with her photography, she hasn't invented any new technique for capturing the still image with a camera, but it appears this is not her intent. She is a poet. Her photographs combined with the captions paint vivid pictures and tell the story of an American history not usually covered in textbooks. She is not afraid to use gender and racial stereotypes to capture the attention of her audience and she continues to dig deeper with each photograph in each series leaving the viewer with a better understanding and perhaps a better perspective. The photos are merely a tool to get her audience to stop, look, read and learn.
The "Kitchen Table Series" was the first work I encountered upon entering the exhibit. With these photographs she challenges the conventional role of a woman in society by presenting a character who questions her predetermined life. She references several stereotypes concerning women and concerning African-American men. The next series I came across was the longest, "From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried." Weems documents the African experience in America beginning with an African woman in tribal garb followed by nude photographs of slaves. Every caption relays common perceptions and misconceptions associated with African Americans. My favorite photo from the series was of the Soldiers. I thought of the African American Soldiers who fought for their country and suffered segregation and inequality until the 1970's (although the Army was supposedly integrated in 1949) but continued to serve with honor. There are still Black WWI and WWII veterans receiving posthumous medals for valor that were initially denied on account of their race. In "May Days Long Gone", I loved Weems' celebration of Manet and her idea of changing art history. The Louisiana project consisted of five photographs of Weems in front of different scenes generally associated with the South and with New Orleans. I have visited the City twice and really felt like I was transported back to a place behind the façade of jazz and the eternal party. A desolate area somewhat poverty stricken with remnants of the "old south" around every corner.
The trip to the Guggenheim was more focused and it seems the main exhibits change frequently where at Met the bulk of the exhibits haven't changed in years. It was interesting to see how the curators, museum staff were able to arrange the works in the space and to think of how often they have to do this. I'm glad we went and like the article, perhaps Weems should have been given the main exhibit. I suppose Italian futurism is very relevant to the era of fascism in Italy, but this is after all America.

 

 

 

Accidental Art

Daniel F. Ambia

Art and Society

04/07/2014

 

The first photograph I took while waiting for the subway at the Canal Street N/R/Q station. I call it "Tower of Power". The first thing that struck me about the train tracks at Canal Street was how disgusting they were. I began to wonder how people could nonchalantly toss their garbage onto the tracks. Then I noticed these three empty drink containers had sort of bonded together. At first it resembled a mathematical symbol. The negative space of the photograph is the murky brown water of the tracks. I gave the photograph the title because the top bottle is an energy drink followed by water and soda, pretty common beverages that people drink to give them energy or "power". This photograph would be a representational piece because the bottles are clearly visible although their location might be open to interpretation. I was hoping to manipulate the photograph to look more like a sculpture but the train was coming so I had to take it quickly.

 

The second photograph I entitled "Ray of Light". I took it on Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn while I was heckling with some medical personnel for a record. I thought it was aesthetically pleasing how the concrete breaks where it's holding the soil and out of the break appears a random yellow line. It reminded me of the power of the Earth spilling over a manmade wall, taking over the space that at a time it had owned. Nature is in a constant struggle with the forces of man to reclaim hallowed ground which is the Earth we live on. The texture of the concrete is rough while the soil is soft. The photograph contains a series of straight lines that are broken only as the concrete crumbles. I've been noticing accidental art more and more these days and I blame this class entirely.

 

Dan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art and Society

Museum Review #1

Daniel F. Ambia

03/30/2014

 

        It was difficult to choose two pieces of art out of the hundreds we passed in the museum. Along with my group we strayed away from the European Masters as quickly as possible and headed toward the Modern Art section in hopes of finding non-religious themed work. The first piece that caught my eye was an oil painting entitled “Office in a Small City”, by Edward Hopper, 1953. Edward Hopper is a famous American “Realist” painter who was born in Nyack, NY and spent many years living and working in New York City. The painting is of a man sitting behind a desk in front of two large windows. It is painted as if the artist was standing just outside the window. An empty blue sky fills the negative space and some tan and light brown buildings can be seen in the background. This would be considered a representational piece because the images are realistic. The colors are cool and the mood of the piece is calm. There are imposing rectangles throughout the painting beginning with the windows and the buildings themselves. This painting caught my eye because it seemed to tell a relatable story. It sort of captured how it feels to live and work in a City. It can be lonely and you are constantly surrounded by the concrete structures of our forefathers.

The second piece I chose was a bronze sculpture entitled, “Development of a Bottle in Space”, by Umberto Boccioni, 1913. The sculpture is monochromatic and made entirely out of bronze. It appears to be the construction of a bottle as if something out of a science fiction movie with bronze twisting upward from a platform toward the final form. It is as if the bottle was being created out of clay and something, or someone, was slowly piecing it together. It is most certainly an abstract piece because I was able to make out the essence of the bottle but not as a reflection. The texture appears to be smooth. For a sculpture made in 1913 I can say that Boccioni was pretty ahead of his time. Boccioni was considered a “Futurist” for his approach to the “deconstruction of solid mass”. This sculpture stood out because it was a different way of representing an object commonly used in still life paintings/sculpture. After swimming through a sea of realistic historical sculptures, I would have to say this was by far my favorite of the day.

The two pieces I chose have obvious differences, one is a painting and the other is a sculpture. One is an abstraction of an object while the other is a representational painting of a man in an office. Hooper is an American realist painter while Boccioni is an Italian sculptor and impressionist painter. I was able to find some aesthetic similarities between the two from my own personal experiences of the work. While Boccioni deconstructs the physical form of the bottle, Hopper metaphorically deconstructs our perception of City Life. Away from the bustle of the streets below, the solo figure in the painting appears to be contemplative and isolated. It is a moment captured of the development of a man as he works and grows and his world perhaps becomes a bit smaller. The sculpture and the painting both made me stop in my tracks and spend a few minutes to digest the work presented before me.  

Blog Post 3
Art and Society
Daniel F. Ambia

I chose this photograph entitled, "Mom and Dad", by Janine Antoni, 1994 from the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. The style of these portraits is representational and realistic because the natural flaws of the subjects are clearly visible and it is obvious the couple are not professional models. Somehow the artist managed to convince her parents to dress up as one another and pose for her. The layout of the photograph is pretty generic, the first photo could be the sample picture in a picture frame for sale. It caught my eye after my second glance because I noticed the three photographs were of the same two people in drag. John Berger discusses the role of women in art, "the social presence of a woman is different in kind from that of a man". He continues to discuss how women in our society constantly put themselves on display for men whether consciously or unconsciously. These portraits sort of blur the lines because I was unable to distinguish the sex of the models until closer examination. And even now I can't be sure 100% which one is the mother and which the father. I thought Janine Antoni was going for comedic effect but after reading a little about her I think she was going for more of a social statement. All in all I thought it was cool that she convinced her parents to pose essentially as eachother and maybe I can check this piece out when we go as a class.

Blog Post Number 2
Daniel F. Ambia

I chose this piece from the Metropolitan Museum of Art because it caught and held my attention as I was trying to figure out what it was. It is entitled "Sun Sets the Time Zone on Fire" and was created by the artist James Roenquist in 1989. According to the website the piece is a collage using colored pressed paper and lithography. I believe it is 2 dimensional and is mounted. Lithography is a form of printmaking so the type of work would be considered a print. The implied shapes are geometric as the red circle in the background resembles the sun and the blue circle resembles the Earth. The negative space in the piece would be the black and white borders behind the circles. The dominant subject is definitely the two spheres. The sun is a warm color wherein the Earth/Clock is a cool color. It is difficult to see but the piece seems to be two photographs, one of the sun and one of the gears to a clock. There are angry lines cutting through the clock and the sun and there are two eyes that can be seen peeking through. I can take a guess at the statement the artist was trying to make. Perhaps the Gears represent the Earth and how time keeps moving along and the sun maybe represents the inevitability of our mortality and the consistency of time and space. Perhaps the eyes represent God or human beings. I would say the piece is abstract since the viewer can tell what it is supposed to be from a distance. It would be nice to see this print up close so I could see how it was put together and what the texture of the piece is. I will definitely look into this artist more and check out other works he has created.

Blog Post #1 for Art and Society
Daniel F. Ambia
In America and especially in New York, there is art almost everywhere you look. In subway stations, on walls, on billboards and even on the sidewalk. Throughout the five boroughs artists have used a variety of cityscapes for canvases. I live in an interesting neighborhood known as Bay Ridge. Although I grew up one neighborhood away in Sunset Park, I didn't realize how lacking in artistic expression Bay Ridge actually was. Its a nice, quiet neighborhood with a lot of working class and upper-middle class residents but the only interesting art I could find were the buildings. Don't get me wrong there is creativity everywhere, and the architecture in the neighborhood is beautiful and interesting and while walking around I even considered taking a picture of a building and submitting it to the blog. But then I stumbled upon this piece of graffiti art painted on the side of my favorite coffee spot in the morning. I believe it is a stencil of the President with several additions from other neighborhood taggers. But what struck me the most was the message. I thought it was ironic that someone would put up a stencil such as this in Bay Ridge where the buildings are probably 99% clear of all graffiti. I also thought about the people I saw everyday trudging down the Avenue, walking into Bagel Boy to get coffee before going to work. I thought about how most of the neighborhood residents were blue collar workers, firemen and police officers and had probably spent the vast majority of their adult lives working forty plus hours a week. And most people you see on the train heading to work don't seem particularly happy and I even reflected on how much I fret over expenses and bills and worry if I will be able to adequately provide for my son in the future. So I chose this piece ultimately because it fit the scene and it made me stop and think for a second and reflect and I assume it does this for everyone who passes by, the solemn procession to the subway in the morning for the good ole nine to five.