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crit.mass — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:57:46 CDT

Critical Mass is a performative criticism wiki site created to explore the relationships between visual culture, contemporary criticism, mass communications, and computer technologies. Performative criticism is reflexive about positionality, boundaries, and authority, calling attention to author--text--audience relationships. Critical Mass will explore criticism as paradoxical power-critique, and will consider the ways in which new technologies of writing affect the development, distribution, and reception of criticism.

Critical Mass is a site of investigation through experience and experimentation: We explore criticism and the politics of creating and reading critical statements within and around intra and extra-institutional spaces while considering relationships between criticism, language, subjectivity, and authority. We situate this project in constructivist learning processes, seeking ways to develop individual and communal reflexive critical practices that actively engage, yet problematize, assumptions about the meanings and functions of critical expressions.

An open and fluid text-in/as-process, Critical Mass is shaped through the interactions of traditional classroom-based writing assignments with the iterative writing approaches of online discussion forums, featuring work from students in Art Educ 367.03; Criticizing Television and Art Educ 367.02; Criticizing Art at The Ohio State University.

crit.mass — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:59:40 CDT

Thoughts?
Philosophies?

Random flashes of insight?

Please share your ideas, images, links to websites, videos (or whatever) that relate to television, visual culture, and life. Feel free to post responses to what you see in this space.

How to begin: Just click the "EasyEdit" button (above) to begin writing and/or posting images....Because this is a wiki website, you can write anywhere in this page. *(Hint: the editing tools work best with the Firefox browser)

______________________________________________________________________________________

What about the recent Virginia Tech shooting tragedy and how that has been constructed in the media. There's an interesting compilation of articles and a set of images related to the shootings on the campus on the New York Times online.

Slate.com has an article about how disjointed our visual cultural response to this event and the people involved has been:

SUCK IT UP: After the shootings came an orgy of mawkishness, sloppiness, and false sentiment.By Christopher Hitchens

I wonder why we react with such intensity to an event that doesn't involve very many of us directly. Is it because when the victims can be anybody, they could just as soon have been us, or someone we know? I think the assortment of visual culture produced in relationship to this event serves as an important example of how visual culture impacts our daily lives but also how we construct events in the media. Think about all the news graphics that have been created to illustrate the progression of events involved, the text message records of conversations happening during the shooting, the shaky cell phone video, and the stories in video and print of the survivors, their families, other students, and community members. Think about the absences.

I am struck by both the similarities and the contrasts with the current testimonies of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tilman's brother and fellow soldiers about how their stories were misrepresented and possible guesses as to why.

Any comments?

Mindi
_____________________

Wow, that Slate article was thought-provoking---thanks for sharing it, Mindi....I'm trying to wrap my mind around the author's perspective on the Virginia Tech shooting: He calls it "a calamity with no implications beyond itself".... "a non-event" ....and a "slaughter" that "raised no real issues." I don't follow his logic...I guess I can't understand how such an event could have no implications beyond itself--especially if one looks at the situation from the viewpoint that reality is socially constructed and intertextually connected with other realities....

Perhaps a more useful approach than deciding if the Virginia Tech tragedy qualifies as a "real issue" or not is to look at the ways in which issues become meaningful in a culture. What can be learned from this situation about self and others? I keep thinking about the event and how quickly the media moved to seek, construct, and communicate, through images, sounds, and words, a coherent narrative and identifiable characters. What we saw, read, and heard about this tragedy as well as the absences and silences created a particular kind of American reality-story about tragedy, danger, fear, empathy, etc, etc...I wonder if/how television and other mass media shape our expectations/assumptions about how a tragedy should look and sound? ........Vicki

While watching the news coverage of this tragic event, what struck me the most as they showed the police/security running around campus is that the way that they showed it. As far as I could tell, it could have been any campus in the country, including Ohio State. Obviously before you see the footage you are told it was at Virginia Tech but it still gave me a very eerie feeling as I watched it. The tapes they showed of the gunman were even worse. Just an average kid that snapped and what is even worse about showing those tapes, it probably gave other people looking for attention and infamy, ideas and motivation to try to pull something similar...........Chris Frederick

I agree, Chris---the images from the event are haunting. Also, the gunman's carefully constructed photographic images are very eerie. The fact that he sent the images and his writings to NBC News before the event occurred is also eerie....It's as if he wanted to control, or at least play a significant role, in the construction of a particular identity, even after death.He seemed to have an understanding of the power of an image, especially a news media image. ~Vicki

On a related note, perhaps we as human beings feel a need-- perhaps even a craving-- for disaster. I would not go as far as to say that anyone actually wanted the Virginia Tech shootings to happen, but I do believe there is a reason that such a story seemed to effect so many people who were completely untouched by the incident. The way that the media constructed the event was in the style of a narrative, with characters and plot, as Vicki stated. This type of portrayal allows us to see the event as reality; but it was too fluid and constructed to be truly "real". Therefore, it allows people to feel sadness without really feeling any pain. As twisted as it may sound, I think that everyone gets some satisfaction out of witnessing human misery. It's the same reason why reality TV is so popular. How popular do you think the shows would be if the people on the show were normal, likable people with happy lives? Every form of media, whether it be television, literature, music, etc. is centered around conflict. We, as humans, need conflict in our lives. In most cases, however, we prefer it not to be our own.

I feel I must make a distinction, though: Supporting VA Tech or honoring those who died is not the same as feeling insincere sorrow, and there is nothing wrong with doing so.

-Zach

Yes, what is it about disaster, or conflict, that draws such attention and interest? Is the jolt of shock, terror and disruption caused by disaster something that humans really desire? I don't know..... If watching "happy, unconflicted people" (yeah, and happiness and conflict are subjectively perceived!) doesn't satisfy an audience, then where do we go from there? I have to believe there are more possibilities than the binary oppositions of happy--sad or good--evil that many news programs seem to revolve around. ~Vicki

First off, I have to say that I have very mixed feelings about how the Virginia Tech situation was handled in the media. I can't help but wonder what makes this situation so much more tragic than when one person is shot and killed. Thousands of people are shot every year in America, but for some reason when more than one person dies at a time it seems to get so much more coverage, almost as if some lives were more important to society than other.

Now onto something a little lighter. Lately I've been finding myself watching a lot of the shows I used to watch as a kid, from Boy Meets World to Animaniacs, and the cultural differences and limitaions are so much different in these shows. I'm really considering buying the DVDs of all the cartoons I used to watch so that my kids can share those experiences. It just seems to me like there is hundreds of times the educational value in older shows as we see now. And hey, they're pretty entertaining for adults too.
Marty

I agree whole-heartedly with Marty's statements about the Virginia Tech situation. The media likes to turn multiple killings into a circus and skip over the smaller, "less important" ones. It's sad really.

And with your commentary about older shows, you've hit the nail on the head. This is becoming a major trend. I know in our house alone, we have Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series, Garfield, early Simpsons, TMNT, and we watch many shows from when we were growing up: Boy Meets World, Fresh Prince, etc. There's something very comforting about watching a TV show or a film that you watched when you were a child. I know that my parents have done the same thing as well. They watch a lot of the same shows on DVD that they used to watch when they were younger. Hey, we're all trying to feel younger.

-Dan L.

I also agree about the older shows...They are really comforting, I think. It's also interesting to view older shows in the present because age and maturity can alter one's perceptions. It's a bit like listening to old song, I guess---in many ways an old song can cut through all the years of experience and maturity to reach one's heart in the same way it used to, but there's also another level of understanding/emotion that comes from one's present perceptions. ~Vicki

May Sweeps FYI:

Hey, if you're interested in the latest news about the "May Sweeps" and would like to know the dates for upcoming season finales on TV, then be sure to check out this article at the PopMatters website (Just click on the logo at right). PopMatters also has lots of other articles on a variety of TV shows. ~vicki

Hey -

I just bumped into this video on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zOpF_ZGD4Ps

It's a song about Bob Ross with video and soundbite excerpts from his show. If you caught the Scot Kaplan show at the Mahan Gallery in the Fall, this video is a great complement.

Mindi

2007b.c. — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:21:02 CDT

The Knowlton Architecture building is a marvel of artistry and functionality. It was built in the vein of deconstruction. Because of this it takes apart all our preconceived notions of how a building should look both on the inside and on the outside by not being built like what we would call a normal building.
Organically shaped, the building has curvilinear lines which automatically make it stand out. The outside is covered in gray and white marble and has large overhangs held up by columns that are reminiscent of Greek porticoes. The east facing portico, which over hangs the entrance is held up by plain pillars of cement, while the one on the west side is at the bottom of a slight incline and does not overhang an entrance. The fact that it does not cover a door is unusual for a portico but that only adds to the deconstructive feel of the whole structure. Although there is not an entrance under the west overhang, there are cement table like structures without chairs that invite sitting or playing. In the middle of the tables is a carved divide and that combined with the size and shape of the tables makes them look good for playing ping pong.
While the porticoes are not held up by decorative columns, those can be found someplace else. There is a space in between the west overhang and the main body of the building that has five columns which do not hold anything up. One is Etruscan, on is Doric, one is Ionic, two are Corinthian and they seem to be there purely for decorative purposes. The positioning seems random, but it does make for a surprising and interesting view when walking along the second floor of Knowlton.
Also at various places on the outside are a couple of lounge areas. One, which faces west and is situated on the backside of the building is a standard balcony with chairs and tables and can be reached from the second floor. The other is on the east side of Knowlton and can be reached from the fourth floor. I don’t have a single word or phrase to describe this area. It is such an inventive and innovative use of the space that I don’t even know what to call it. The closest term I can think of is rooftop garden but there is little plant life up there. It looks more in like prairie land or a desert. The ground is covered with sand colored stones and there is an area of what looks like four foot tall weeds. A stone path leads from the entrance to a lounge or study area in the shade of a large cement oblong structure. There is one cement chair and one chair made of something that looks like sturdy chicken wire, both of which are surprisingly comfortable and two cement tables that match the large oblong structure in shape. On a warm day it is a very soothing place to sit and soak up the sun.
Inside, the architecture building looks unfinished, with bare floors and rough concrete walls. The floor is mostly open with classrooms and offices only around the outer edge. There is not much in the way of halls except for very small branches that hold more rooms and random walls that disguise more than lead to other places. Ramps spiral around the floor leading up all four stories. There are also stairs but they are often oddly placed and it can be hard to find the next flight up, giving the building a mazelike quality. The one exception to this is the very large, regal looking staircase across the floor from Brennans. The stairs themselves are too tall to be used by humans, but there is a normal sized staircase running along right beside it. Though the larger ones look like stairs they are used by students as another lounge or study area. Many times, students can even be found sleeping on them.
Though the bare open space of the inside doesn’t mesh well with the finished, elegant marble of the outside, the design of the inside makes a lot of sense and is even versatile. Architecture projects tend to be on the large side and all the open floor space is perfect for students to set up their projects, whether to show or to work on. Classes can also be held in the open area with the use of cleverly placed cubicle walls, and the ramps and smooth flooring aid in the movement of projects. So, even though the outside is more artistic than normal and the inside seems unfinished, the designs of both make for good art and architecture.

jschnees — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 00:21:39 CDT

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2 Gallery Hop – Come and see a new color guard group “Spin Columbus!” They will be preforming outside Torso at 6pm. Hempfest 2007
3	4	5	6	7 Columbus Arts Festival	8 Columbus Arts Festival	9 Columbus Arts Festival
10 Columbus Arts Festival Columbus Rose Festival 10am - 8pm- location	11	12	13	14	15 Festival Latino - 11am - 10pm - Downtown riverfront	16 Festival Latino - 11am - 10pm - Downtown riverfront
17	18	19	20	21	22 Community Arts Festival	23 Community Arts Festival Pride Festival
24 Community Arts Festival	25	26	27	28	29	30

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3 Labor Day	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25 Christmas Day	26	27	28	29
30	31

KrissyA — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 22:20:44 CDT

Orange and Blue Feelings by Glen Ligon, 2003

As socially advanced as America appears to be, there is still much work to be done. The American Civil War in the 1860s served as a major turning point in history and was supposed to signify the end of inequality in America. One hundred years later, the Civil Rights movement was supposed to end the lack of action over that time. And yet today, forty-five years later, Americans remain unequal. Racial profiling is still an issue, racism in corporate America is still prevalent, and the graduation rate of minorities among high schools and colleges remains disproportionate. And although the United States still has a long way to go concerning race, we as a society are just beginning to confront differences in sexuality. From the reported “hate crimes” against homosexual males and females to states voting for/against (mostly against) banning homosexual marriage, we are living this conflict everyday.

Glen Ligon, a black contemporary artist born in 1960, confronts both subjects very boldly in all of his work. Most of his creations are biographical in nature, often commenting on very specific moments in life that have effected who he is today. He is also well known for using a lot of text within his pieces, a technique that he manipulates well. His piece, Orange and Blue Feelings is unique in that it contains no text or graphical images whatsoever. Coincidentally, I feel that this may be his most significant artwork in finding out who Ligon really is.

Orange and Blue Feelings consists of two miniaturized boats the size of a small domestic animal. One is painted royal blue on its body and orange from the deck up. Coming in the opposite direction is a boat of exactly the same dimensions but painted in all black within two feet. The boats are resting (physically) or moving (psychologically) along a white platform the size of an extra-large pizza box. Ligon commented that his grade school teacher claimed the orange and blue boat was, “ugly,” thus instructing him to repaint it. He obliged and thus painted it black. Although at the time he may have been disappointed at the creative boundaries his teacher was placing upon him, the artwork can now be interpreted on a variety of levels and subjects. I believe it comments on a few main subjects. First, Ligon is a black man living in a predominately white world. It is difficult to find identity when Americans are still undecided as to the political correctness of the use of the terms black, colored, or African-American. Next, I believe the piece is a critique of his experiences with institutionalization, particularly governmental and academic. So often are we told and taught right from wrong that colorful answers are frequently concealed and not encouraged. Lastly, Ligon comments on the place of black/colored/ people in a white world as well as being (sexually) different in a heterosexual society.

The treatment of African descendents throughout world history is well documented, dating back as far as Egyptian civilizations. In American culture, which has far less history, Native Americans were called “colored” because of their darker skin and different lifestyles. The earliest Americans brought over slaves from Africa and called them “black” to further dehumanize them. It is important to note that the British loyalists often referred to these people as “niggers” (deriving from the Latin term niger meaning “black”) as a derogatory name. Americans picked up on this dialect and used it as a common insult for nearly 200 years. Thus, the term “colored” became increasingly politically correct, to the extent that the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is active in equality issues, pertaining mostly to African descendents. This term faced its own set of criticism, implying that colored people have something wrong with them. Recently, the term “African-Americans” has become more accepted yet is incomplete. Many non-Mexican minorities are indeed being born in the United States, some for many generations. Is a sixth-generation American with black skin an African-American? Ligon knows his own history well and accurately portrays this historical struggle within American society.

In math class, we are taught different ways to get to one correct answer. All other answers are incomplete or incorrect all together. Similarly, our government sends us messages that are clear, concise, and leave no room for interpretation. Coincidentally, this piece by its nature is completely open to broad interpretation. There is no right answer, only your answer and opinion. The colored boat was his answer, the black being the institutionalized version. Ligon, being a homosexual minority, has embraced being in the colorful consciousness of a colorblind American society, as evidenced by his contemporary style and other autobiographical works.

Anyone who is different, be it skin color, national origin, or sexuality is labeled as such as though to create a true separation from the rest of the majority. The boats are indeed of different colors but are still attempting to navigate in a white ocean of heterosexual, Catholic Caucasians. Although oceans seem to be never-ending, they are indeed finite. As an outsider, you still have control of yourself to accomplish great things while overcoming seemingly unfavorable obstacles. All of Ligon’s works demonstrate that he is still struggling with these issues or have overcome them previously. Ligon would not be the artist he is today had it not been for these societal obstacles that he was forced into conquer.

Glen Ligon portrays much of himself in this artwork. I do look at the piece in context and realize that he made it while still in grade school. Thus, knowing he is a contemporary artist, the actual art is intellectual. With so many different possible meanings to take away from this artwork, you the educated scholar must make your own meanings and draw your own conclusions. By doing so, you take partial ownership of the art due to the fact that your interpretation of it helped create your own conclusions and create meaning. With such an elementary piece, Orange and Blue Feelings is aesthetically basic and can easily be passed over simply as two boats of different colors. But after careful examination of the use of colors, objects, and history, this piece is intellectually mind blowing.

Krissy Avalli Art Edu. 357.02 Second Art Critique Rebecca Zimmerman: Surviving Winter The first snowfall of winter is a serene and calming scene. Powder snow blankets the ground and all is pure white. Skiing, ice skating, snowmen and icicles fill the chilly days. Rebecca Zimmerman, a landscape photographer who resides in Denver, captures a snow day in her landscape photo Surviving Winter, in a different light. It highlights the bleak emotions that one can feel while trying to survive the encompassing snow. Her photo highlights survival of three trees, which can easily be associated with when looking at her photo. Surviving winter was photographed in Denver, Colorado far from Zimmerman’s home town of Worthington, Ohio. It is a 16 by 24 photograph composed of glycee prints on water color paper. When first viewing the photo the most astonishing thing is the stark white. The majority of the photo is pure white snow. The pure white contrasts with three small pine trees. Only the pine trees tops are visible and appear to be on a hill. The pine trees branches have snow on them. The trees then completely disappear into the white snow which overtakes the rest of the photo. I associate my feelings with the pine trees that’s heads appears to be just above the snow, barely surviving its cover around them. When focusing on this photo many emotions came to mind that I feel in late winter. During late winter when the days seem to permanently gray and the snow has changed from pure white to slushy grey, the feelings of seasonal depression can hit. One could feel a loss of energy, weight gain or fatigue. The gray days never seem to end and you just want to see a sunny spring day, just like the pine trees do in this photo. Their heads are just above the snow, almost signifying a lasting hope that spring will come and they will survive. When I viewed the photo, I not only associated the emotions of winter with the trees, but in life in general. Maybe, we’re all just trees on a hill, keeping hope that we will survive life. When it snows, we just have to keep hope and keep our heads up, like the pine trees. Snow could be life’s challenges, death, war, divorce, losing a job, or a natural catastrophe. These “lifestyle” snow that condensate down can be in flurries, like the slow breakup of a marriage; or in a sudden blizzard like an unexpected death. Both can cover a person and inhibit them mentally and physically, but both can be survived. The uplifting note is that the pine trees heads are above the snow and surviving; and in life if you keep your head up, you can survive. When the snow melts and the sun shines, then you can really appreciate life; the trees can soak up the sun. The sunshine would not feel so great if you did not experience snow in the winter. Rebecca Zimmerman took a different look at the beauty and power of snow and its ability to stir up emotions and also life survival. Her photo, Surviving Winter, has many different themes that can be taken from it. The three trees can symbolize so much about life and survival making it a great photo to examine. The feelings of seasonal winter depression and the survival in life are only the beginning of what viewers could retrieve from the three trees in a stark white.

ames103186 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 14:37:21 CDT

"Tumbling Woman"

“Tumbling Woman” is a sculpture that was created to honor September 11th victims that fell or jumped from the World Trade Center to their deaths. The sculpture depicts a naked woman on her back with her legs above her, in a somersault position. The sculpture was put on display in the Rockefeller Center in New York City in September of 2002, around the one-year anniversary of that tragic day. This piece created controversy because many people were disturbed by the image. The sculpture is graphic and unsettling to many viewers. Many people were not ready for such a graphic display of the events of September 11th. Complaints about the statue arose immediately, and it was draped with a curtain and later removed from the Rockefeller Center. Some argue that the horrifying image portrayed by the statue memorializes the feelings we all felt on September 11, 2001 and thus serves its purpose. Fischl says that the statue was not meant to offend anyone and was his way of expressing “his deepest sympathy for the vulnerability of the human condition.1” Some people were angry that the statue was covered up. They thought it was an expression of how the artist felt about the September 11th and served as a reminder for us to never forget that day.

Sources

"Sept. 11 Sculpture Covered Up:Tumbling Woman' Meant To Honor WTC
Victims, But Drew Complaints." CBS News 19 Sept. 2002.
<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/19/national/main522528.shtml>.

rEckerman — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 13:29:24 CDT

Sadie Benning’s “Kissing Couple” 2001 Going to an art gallery is a unique experience. Around every corner there is something different, innovative, and mysterious. Walking into Sadie Benning’s exhibit feels like a different world. The paintings have an unusual, primitive look. Benning’s use of abstract designs and vibrant colors give the paintings emotion and life. However, one of her paintings “Kissing Couple” has deeper feelings, personality, and meaning more than any other. The details of the painting present aspects of Benning’s identity and perspectives of society. Like most of Sadie Benning’s paintings in the exhibit, “Kissing couple” is pinned against a white wall, stretching seven feet high, and five feet across. The raw, uneven edges look hand cut. The painting is a 2D portrait of two people, facing each other, but not actually kissing like the title suggests. Indeed, their lips are only a few inches apart. When first viewing “Kissing Couple”, it appears that there is a woman one the left and a man on the right. However, is this a correct assumption? At first one would think that the left figure is a woman because of her long styled hair, red lips, and womanly body. This is shown by the appearance of female breasts and the use of bright colors emphasized around the eyes and hair of the character, which creates a seemingly glamorous woman. The right figure looks masculine because of the short hair. Yet, the masculine figure has breasts and long womanly eyelashes, and the feminine figure has an “Adam’s apple”. These details make their gender uncertain: which is the man and which is the woman? But raises another question: why does one have to be a girl and the other a boy? It could just as easily be two men or two women that are the “couple” in the painting. Sadie Benning is emphasizing that a person’s actions and looks do not always match female and male gender categories. Men and women should be able to look however they want, do whatever they want without being judged. Benning’s work says this through the painting’s exotic, free spirit attitude created by her use of the bright colors and blank, unemotional faces. Benning is arguing that heterosexuality and gender expectations should not be the social standard. Most people would not even think that the characters in “Kissing Couple” are of the same gender. With this, Benning is trying to say that homosexuality should be accepted in society, and that it is becoming a social norm that can not be excluded. Another element which helped with the idea of identity was Benning’s style. All of Benning’s painting are large and use simple concepts. There are no fine details in the paintings, and there are no more than two people in any of her paintings, concentrating on the people and their facial features. Most of Benning’s characters have unusual skin tones that look like a collage of different browns and tans generating an unclear ethnicity. This raises another question: what race are these characters? As stated earlier, walking into Sadie Benning’s exhibit feels like another world. All these painting feel like they are from another culture because of their unique style and exotic colors they use. In, “Kissing couple”, there is a variety of colors used for the eyes, hair, background, even in the skin. Bennings makes it obvious, changing from one tone to the next within the same facial region, that she wants some sort of heterogeneity and diversity represented in her characters. In some other paintings, Bennings even has people that are painted solid blue. This shows that Bennings is trying to neutralize what race means to identity. Bennings is an artist who expresses her identity and personality through art. A deeper understanding of identity is a major theme in a lot of her pieces, including “Kissing Couple”. On the surface, “Kissing Couple” looks like a simple meaningless painting of two people about to kiss; however, it expresses deep social messages about, I. gender, II. sexually, and III. race. Other artists express their views about these topics in more of a direct dark way. Bennings uses such a unique way of expressing herself and personally through these fictional and colorful portraits. Though the realistic pieces of other artists may display an initial powerful statement; I believe the abstract paintings of Sadie Bennings opens the viewer’s mind and imagination.

jschnees — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:42:58 CDT

Roy G Biv

ROY G BIV Gallery is a non-profit art gallery locatedat 997 North High Street in Columbus, Ohio’s historicShort North District.

Gallery hours are 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday throughFriday, 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
For additional info, call 614.297.7694 or emailroygbivgallery@sbcglobal.net

CurrentShow:

ROY G BIV Gallery for Emerging Artists is pleased to present the photography of Grant Fletcher and KatieShannon. The show will be on display May 5, 2007
through May 26, 2007.

The opening reception will beheld on Saturday May 3, 2007 from 7 to 10 p.m. Grant Fletcher and Katie Shannon will be giving an artists’talk at ROY G BIV at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday May 12, 2007.

Mahan Gallery

Current show:

SIEBEN

ed elberfeld, sandra kight, bernice koff, mimi mccann, sherry mullett, katie parker, robert tavani
may 4–27, 2007

sieben (zee-ben), german for “seven,” celebrates the work of seven accomplished artists from columbus’ german village. this historic settlement, which balances old world character and distinction with a contemporary vision for the future, has established a thriving community of resident artists. we selected seven individuals to showcase in our “art haus” collection of photography, painting, drawing and sculpture. please join us for the opening reception friday, may 4, 7–9pm, for a chance to meet and discuss the works with the artists. the mahan gallery will be open for regular gallery hop hours, saturday, may 5, 6–10pm.

Hempfest 2007 - Saturday June 2nd
noon - midnight

Gallery Hop – Saturday June 2nd
Come and see a new color guard group “Spin Columbus!” They will be preforming outside Torso at 6pm.

Columbus Arts Festival - June 7 -10th

Community Arts Festival - June 22 - 24

kristaschmitt — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:27:40 CDT

Krista Schmitt
Art Ed. 367.02
4/18/07
Critique #1: Sadie Benning’s “We Got the Beat” (2001) versus “untitled” (2001)
Sadie Benning‘s art, in content and visual presentation, emphasizes multiple layers of meaning. Benning‘s work stresses the tensions of content and aesthetics, which makes her work so fascinating. Along with similarities, multiple differences appear in the midst of each detail, allowing for differences in interpretation. Two of Benning’s works such as the autobiographical self portrait, “We Got The Beat” (2001), and “untitled” (2001), portray this notion quite well. The commonalities and differences in these works evoke questions about her style, use of color, subject matter, and intended meaning. Benning’s “untitled” (2001) portrays an ethnic-looking painting that could easily be taken from a page of world history, complete with exaggerated facial features and bright arrangements. The warm colors of the figure contrast boldly against the white background while the large, almond shaped, brown eyes look as though they are staring at you. A sense of discomfort can emerge while observing the subject‘s pursed lips and narrowing eyes, centering in on each observer. There are some cooler colors present in the painting, as well. The hair and eyebrows consist of a mixing of elephant gray, purple, and dark red. These colors could have been mixed to form a deep solid maroon color, but Benning uses each different shade to create a textured and disarrayed look for the subject’s hair, portraying it almost.Thisis surprising, considering most of the paintings consist of one color and no mixing. Three teardrops fall down the left side of the subject’s cheek, which express a longing or sadness in the subjects appearance. It was unclear if the painting is of a woman or a man, as well. However, the large, feminine, red lips and the warm, rusty color of the eyelids seem to convey the image of a woman more than that of a man..
In order to do these bold, close-up portraits, such as “untitled,” Benning uses someone’s old yearbook to mirror photos of certain people through her paintings. It is as if she is artistically expressing her first impressions of people she does not know. It is possible that when she came across the photo inspired by “untitled,” she may have felt a connection towards that person at first glance. The tears signified unhappiness with oneself, or a feeling of discomfort with being an individual. With Benning’s background, she may have felt as an outsider, or unable to express herself when she was younger. The subject of this painting may have looked like a mirror image of Benning, herself when she came across it. There is no sign of a specific gender or race of the person, which may convey a longing of lost identity, or a “who am I?” attitude. There is no favorable place in society, everyone has a different set of problems, and it is not easy to have someone zoom in on your face, and take your picture when you are at an uncomfortable time in your life.
When looking at “We Got The Beat” (2001), one may walk right past it at first, without taking a second glance. It is placed in the back room of the gallery where there is not much light, and the colors of the painting are not as prevalent as the others. There was a distraction caused by the sound of her short film in the background. When looking closer, many differences appear between that work and the others. First, there is no black outlining of the painting, which is popular among her other works. The boldness of the black makes her other paintings stand out, which is most likely why I did not notice this particular painting at first. The image shows a person (who looks either male or female) playing the drums. The person does not look happy or sad, they look content, with a half smile reaching up to his/her left cheek. The vision also sets further away in perspective than her other paintings, which gives a fuller look of the surroundings and what this person may be like, rather than just trying to read facial expressions. While her short film, “Play Pause” is playing, it collaborates very well with the painting. One may get a sense of being in the environment where the setting of the painting is, as if they are a part of the audience. Benning uses a soft turquoise color (the same shade as the eyes) to outline the body of the subject, rather than a dark color. The music that was playing was rather quiet and calm, and the person is not forcefully playing the drums, which is a possibility to why she does not choose to use bold colors.
It is said that “We Got the Beat” is a self portrait done by Benning. This changed the entire perspective I initially had of the painting, relying only on description. Is Benning painting herself as others may view her, or as how she views herself? It seems that she was painting it based on where she was in her life at the time she created it. “We Got the Beat” is one of the few paintings in her exhibit that shows a person doing something. In this work, she is doing what she loves: making music. The look on her face shows contentment and a sense of comfort, which contrasts with “untitled”, showing discomfort. This may mean that she was at a time in her life where she was content with being herself. The freehanded and child-like nature of her painting technique also reflects that no one is perfect, and that she may be flawed as well. The painting also seems unfinished, just like her experiences in life, itself; as it is unfinished as well.
Sadie Benning conveys many of the same issues such as mixed gender and mixed race in her exhibit, as well as her original, child-like natured brush strokes. However, throughout all of the similarities at a first-glance appearance, there are differences as well. She expresses that even through similar appearances, identity lies within; no matter where a person is in their life.

osharpalil — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:01:56 CDT

There are two boats that were displayed on the ground didn’t mean too much without the story behind it. One boat was orange and blue while the other was completely black. When Glenn was in art class his teacher told him that his boat, represented as the orange and blue one, was ugly. In response to the teacher’s criticism, Glenn repainted the boat all in black. It appeared as if the original boat that was repainted black was on display with a recreated orange and blue boat to make the point. One can only speculate on why Glenn would repaint the boat in black. Perhaps he is mocking the teacher by saying, since you don’t appreciate my artistic inclinations in the colors I choose, I will blot it out of your sight and paint it the most simplistic way that I can. You have refused to see me, an African American - a man of color, as a man with worth, but my art still speaks distinctly even when painted with racism. Glenn Ligon makes art that has to deal with slavery and rights. Ligon has said that he "wants to make language into a physical thing, something that has real weight and force to it." His use of art and language can be somewhat difficult and sometimes impossible to understand in his composition. With some research, one can begin to grasp an understanding of history and what others went though during the more recent tumultuous times of the civil rights movement and the far reaching repercussions of slavery through his work.

A Response Post:
I agree with your idea, maybe Ligon wanted to simply get back at his art teacher for criticizing his artwork. I also had a similar analysis about the blackening of his artwork.

Lily Hsu

Two Worlds

Only in America will you be able to see the large range of skin colors Mother Nature has to offer. People of all countries have immigrated to the States for essentially the same reason, a better quality of life. We celebrate diversity; we even have months dedicated to certain groups, such as commemorating Black History month in February. Today many ethnic backgrounds live together in the same neighborhoods. This started during the 1600’s; Native Americans, Europeans and Africans lived in close vicinities. The ancestors of African Americans came as slaves in the colonization of America. One of their descendants is Glenn Ligon. He was born into the 1960’s world of New York City and raised in the Bronx (Williams), during a time when America experienced the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Ligon was able to experience this new freedom as a young black student. His academic performance earned him a scholarship to attend a primarily White private school in Manhattan. Ligon developed an interest in the arts which lead him to earn a Bachelor of Art’s from Wesleyan University in 1982 (Williams). Now he is an artist and his work is displayed around the nation. Glenn Ligon’s exhibit Some Change at the Wexner center focused on many aspects of Ligon’s own life. Ligon’s artwork is a reflection of his own identity as a black man in America. This reflection is especially expressed in two of his untitled (2002) pieces that hung side by side at the Wexner Center.
On the right is the painting black in color, made of coal dust, printing ink, oil stick, glue, acrylic paint, and gesso on canvas. Its surface is entirely black; the writing that covers the entire canvas is hidden by a thick cover of heavy black coal dust. The massive size of the canvas is striking.
To the left, a second painting hangs in sharp contrast. An identical sized gessoed canvas is sparsely, then a little more heavily, covered in text from top to bottom. The white canvas shines through its black text. In both paintings there is no color, only black and white, which creates a powerful contradiction. The two paintings were meticulously placed next to each other to show Ligon’s message about identity. These two canvases represent two worlds Ligon inhabits: the black community and mainstream white America. His message in both worlds are completely illegible, not because his words are not clearly printed on the canvases, but because the surroundings overpower and blur his message.
In the first piece the dark coal dust covers the text, symbolically blackening everything. His skin automatically places him into the black community. The coal dust covers his message, it overpowers him. In the second canvas his message is clearer because the white background accentuates the thick inky black letters. His text represents who Ligon is as a person, what he wants to say to the world but other people won’t let him. In the first painting he is just smothered by blackness. Because of his skin color, others believe he is supposed to act a certain way. Growing up in the projects, being smart, and being gay, many people looked down on him, especially his male peers. Today the number of African American males that enroll into a university is much lower compared to other student groups and their graduation rate with in six years only 35 percent (Alexander). Academically, Ligon disrupts these black male stereotypes. Ligon, as a gay African American male in today’s society, is still someone who is unaccepted, especially in the hip-hop or the professional sport communities. Just this year, John Amaechi became the very first Black male athlete of the NBA to announce his homosexuality to the public through the publishing of his new book (Boykin). Ligon, however, is not an athlete or a rap star. In the painting, Ligon’s message symbolizes who he really is as an artist-a gay, African American male, college educated, contemporary artist who breaks every boundary that the black man stereotype holds. Through the blackening of his text Ligon’s struggle to be himself is apparent on canvas.
As a student, Ligon was submerged into the White community, and learned who he is in relationship to this community, symbolized in his second painting. In school his art teacher told him that his choice in colors was ugly, so he just repainted his art project black. When Ligon tried to be himself to be different, his white teacher would not let him, she put him down. He grew up when African Americans were just being allowed into white schools and many of his white peers and even adults judged him based on his skin color.
In Ligon’s art work there is a deep struggle with diversity. In today’s society although we celebrate diversity, we also stereotype. As a black man, Ligon is assumed to be a certain way. However, Ligon does not define himself as just black or just white, he is part of both communities, and these communities are part of the same country, but still separated, just s Ligon’s two separate canvases, one black and the other white. These divisions created much struggle for those like Ligon, those who do not completely belong to a single culture; those who are different.

Works Cited

Alexander, Bill. “Number of Black Men in College Dwindle.” January 14, 2004 MSNBC.com. April 17, 2007. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3919177/>
Boykin, Keith. “The NBA’s First Gay Player.” February 7, 2007. keithboykin.com April 17, 2007. <http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/02/07/the_nbas_first_1>
Williams, Carla. “Ligon, Glenn” glbq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. August 1, 2002. glbq Inc. April 17, 2007. <http://www.glbtq.com/arts/ligon_g.htnl>

CassieTroyan — Tue, 29 May 2007 21:24:21 CDT

My work is inspired by various movements and theories in art. I very much admire the artistic developments of Russian Constructivists and the idea of using found objects, and letting their inherent properties speak for themselves. Even though it appears that there is no structure, the work is developed with certain “orders” that occur, and structure but also while moving towards deconstructionism. A breaking down and building up of analysis and a critique of modernity. It is a creation of anti-creation that art can be made from the unexpected, from trash, from the over-looked and discarded objects of society. I consider it a sort of social commentary on the wastefulness of American culture that commodities are made to be thrown away, and cheap enough to just buy again. These pieces are basically uninteresting until they are combined in such a way that they begin to mean more than just leftovers from the dumpster. How I go about assembling them is also important as well. For example, the elements are only held together by other found objects. If I want to screw pieces together, the nails or screws need to be “trash” in order to be true to the construction. The same sort of homogeneity of forms is true for a wall composition I made, but in a different way. In that instance all the materials, except for the found substances are of an organic foundation. Ink, flower petals, blood, wax, and eggs take up the majority of the canvas. In its entirety, it summates an incomplete chaos, a way of trying to come to terms with the anxiety and disaster of modern life. It doesn’t make sense in the way that it should not or does not have to; art is not responsible for being informative like a newspaper or billboard. My other piece, which gives an idea of my construction work, is made entirely of discovered items. I use the forms in a way that they will pull and resist on each other, and still maintain a self-sustaining element. When I am collecting these items, I have no idea what they will look like or turn out to be, because the elements themselves, and what I happen to find will determine how it looks in the end. The supporting base of this “sculpture” is bike handlebars. A toner cartridge serves as a leaning stand and numerous business cards, glass, reflectors, nuts and bolts take part in the arrangement. Regardless as to what it looks like, the most important aspect is the process of creation. In the end, if I do not like what I have made, I can take it apart and start all over again.

jschnees — Sun, 27 May 2007 22:39:40 CDT

The depiction of violence in media such as film, television, and video games. It may be real or simulated live action, or animated. It is a highly controversial topic. Many believe that exposure to graphic violence leads to desensitization to violence. It has led to censorship in extreme cases, and regulation in others, one case being the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994. - Graphic Violence - wiki

Film/Television

In theatrical performances, films and television broadcasts are similarly rated using a rating system. It is based on the graphic nature (acts of violence, sexual acts, etc) and language (cursing, sexual suggestions, etc)

News media cover violent and deadly incidents, such as accidents, wars and crimes. This coverage is often preceded with a warning, stating that the information may be disturbing to some viewers. Sometimes graphic images are partially censored, by blurring or blocking a portion of the image, or cutting the violent portions out of an image sequence.

Video Games

Violent content has been a central part of video game controversy. Critics such as Dave Grossman argue that violence in games hardens children to unethical acts, calling first-person shooter games "murder simulators", although no conclusive evidence has supported this belief.

External Links

Graphic Violence - wiki
Motion Picture Rating System – wiki
Television Content Rating Systems – wiki
Media influence – wiki
Video Game Controversy – wiki
Censorship - wiki

jschnees — Sun, 27 May 2007 16:20:11 CDT

“In a long-awaited report, the Federal Communications Commission recently called on Congress to draft tougher regulations on violent television programming. The report, which lawmakers requested three years ago, concluded that current efforts to protect children from violent content -- the V-chip blocking technology and a voluntary rating system -- are not effective.” - full article at WSJ.com
These actions bring up a ongoing debate on whether or not the government should regulate what it's citizens wish to view in the media regarding violence and other graphic depictions.
Issues with freedom of speech and civil rights come in to play when dealing with what people can or cannot view.
External Links
FCC – wiki Censorship - wiki

jschnees — Sun, 27 May 2007 02:44:23 CDT

The Drag Queen, the performance artist. Men dressed as women to entertain. They get up on stage and dance to whatever song that fits the mood. Every step, every move has been practiced until they perfect their performance. The whole idea of a man dressing as a woman, or a woman dressing as a man has large amounts of controversy. Societies base their gender roles on tradition for the most part. When someone breaks said tradition they are generally labeled as “deviant.” Such deviance always has negative connotations. In the case of cross-dressing, women tend to find it easier to dress in mens clothing rather than men dressing in womens; especially in stilettos. Controversy aside, my experience on the matter is that has always been a positive one. They are just ordinary people doing performance art. They work just as hard as everyone else. In fact, two drag queens I recently went out with, well was kidnapped by two drag queens. They are fun! We had an awesome time. They were not in costume, so I saw then how everyone sees them every day. They are just as wild as their counterparts and just as spontaneous. Well anyway. Just goes to show, its now what you wear or how you look is what matters. It's what you do that shows your character.

External Links

wikipedia - drag queen

jschnees — Sun, 27 May 2007 02:42:17 CDT

Multiculturalism is policies and practices that recognize ethnic diversity and treat distinct cultural groups as equal. With this respect, it breaks away from the Western European male authority figure as the main emphasis in societies. Also, it departs from the “melting pot” concept more correctly called assimilation. It grew into theory in the late 1800’s and was first accepted as policy in Canada in 1971. It still is not officially recognized in the United States. With respect to art, it requires viewers to ask questions like, “For whom was it created” and “Who is represented”.

External Links

OSU Multicultural Center

jschnees — Sun, 27 May 2007 02:40:52 CDT

"The Queer theory is a theory of sociology (or philosophy), which criticizes mainly the concept of genre, feminism, and the preconceived idea of genetic determinism in the sexual preference." - Wikipedia

ziegler.98 — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:08:46 CDT

Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. While generally providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion on women’s rights, interests, and issues. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, oppression, and patriarchy.

Slate.com article on Judy Chicago's Dinner Party:

Table for 39The Dinner Party, Judy Chicago's iconic work of feminist art, stands the test of time.By Mia Fineman

Msnbc.com just posted a series of articles and photosabout gender identity issues, with a focus on transgendered people and their lives, politics, and experiences.

The ones I've read so far are good:

The main one: "Rethinking Gender" by Debra Rosenburg:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18618970/site/newsweek/

"None of Us are Safe" an interview with Alexis Arquette by Lorain Ali

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18615747/site/newsweek/

The ideas about gender are really infused with thinking about queer theory and how giving up exclusionary categories - suspending classifications - and expanding our ideas about what's normal and acceptable and why. Why are transgendered people so often the victims of vicious hate crimes, derision, voyeuristic humor, prejudice?

I hope to have time to read more later. I'm interested in Rene Richards' take on the issues (in the main article). She's really the first public figure to transition from male to female. She was a professional men's tennis player and after transitioning, she played doubles with Billie Jean King, the first real visible lesbian in tennis (or at least to me as a kid). Even though Richards was groundbreaking in crossing the gender barrier as a cultural and biologicial construct in such a visible manner, she now, at 70, views gender as a real either/or proposition. She doesn't want kids playing with gender as more of a continuum and less of a dichotomy. I'm interested in her continuing commitment to the binary of male/female and wonder about her need, perhaps, to feel like people can only choose one or the other, like she did. In effect, my partner and I were discussing whether she needed to believe her decision was the only one she could/should have made.

I'd love to know what other folks find interesting.

Mindi

Feminist Theory

Definition: Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. While generally providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy (Chodorow, 1989; Gilligan, 1977; Lerman, 1982).
Another feminist definition
Society has many stereotypes of what a feminist can be. Many or all of these stereotypes are false because there is no one single definition of feminism and what it means to be a feminist. Some people actually think it is a bad word and others believe feminists are the greatest freedom fighters of all time. Who are feminists really? Maybe you are one and don't realize it. If you believe in equality, then you are a feminist according to Moffat. What is your definition? types of feminism: Anarcha-feminism Black feminism

Christian Feminism
Cultural feminism
Cyborg feminism
Ecofeminism
Fat feminism
Individualist feminism
Islamic feminism
Jewish feminism
Lesbian feminism
Liberal feminism
Marxist feminism
New feminism
Postmodern feminism
Psychoanalytic feminism Radical feminism
Religious feminism
Separatist feminism
Sex-positive feminism Socialist feminism Womanism

Judy Chicago

Born Judy Cohen
Feminist artist, author and educator
Major works: The Holocaust Project
The Dinner Party Most famous work
Triangle table with 39 symbolic plates representing feminists

Artistic director: Through the Flower Nonprofit organization Website!

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One of the funniest things I've seen lately about Feminism is this clip on youtube of six guys singing "The Feminist Song." It's not actually groundbreaking or edgy in content, but it's funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzA8hNPf2Pg

Mindi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is a great place to see feminist's art:

http://www.guerrillagirls.com/

This is the web site of the guerrilla girls which is a group of feminist artists who produce posters, stickers, books, and other printed projects that expose sexism and racism in our culture.

jseitz44 — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:40:25 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

greenlitz4 — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:02:41 CDT

Postmodernism is really a term that has no absolute definition. It is definied when it is applied to the art that would appear during the postmodern era. Postmodernism, in terms of art, is a term used to describe art which is thought to be after or in contradiction to some aspect of modernism. Postmodernism is the umbrella for all the movements that came after it such as Instillation Art, Feminism, Queer Theory, Multiculturalism, Deconstructuralism and Poststructuralism. It's a sharp break from everything modern that came before it. It doesn't really have a starting or ending time like many other theories and movements do and though this may be "modern" times we are still in the postmodern era.

4
Independence
Day

kylewuo37 — Sun, 20 May 2007 11:53:08 CDT

Kyle Wuokko
M. Rhoades
Art Ed 367.02
18 April 2007 Art Critique 1 A very amateur, childish looking piece stands out among Ligon’s artwork. Glenn Ligon is known for work confronting issues of race and identity. He often uses very simple plain canvases, but these simple works carry powerful messages. Ligon’s “Malcolm X, Sun, Frederick Douglass, Boy with Bubbles”, (2001) is much more then pages from a children’s coloring book; it is a statement about the innocence of our youth. This series of children’s coloring books proves that racism is not a trait people are born with, but learned. The pages of the coloring books on the gallery wall looked a little out of place. Each 23 x 16 ½ inch page of the coloring book consisted of Malcolm X, the sun, Frederic Douglass, a boy blowing bubbles, and some small buildings. Seventeen identical pages were placed side by side in a horizontally so they were easy to compare to one another. Ligon gave these pages to young children in a Midwestern school and told them to paint them as they saw fit. The children used typical water coloring paints for their work. Since each page was done by a different child, they all turned about very different from one another. Every page consisted of different colors being used on the objects they had to paint in. It was obvious that very young children had created these pieces. Some children hardly colored in the lines while others are perfectly drawn and obviously done by older children. The use of coloring book pages might initially obscure the work’s deeper meaning. Ligon took something as common as children coloring books and used them to prove a valid point on how children racially see one another. The point that Glenn Ligon is trying to portrayal is that children do not judge when it comes to skin color. Any adult would see a black man in a coloring book and instantly color them brown or black because that is what they would feel is politically correct. Adults judge people everyday by their skin color and seeing a black man or white man in a coloring book is no different. Children on the other hand have not been exposed to the racist realties of our world. Many children live in a world where they only see a fellow human that may have blue hair, blond hair, rosy cheeks, or very red lips. They do not yet judge people in negative ways by their appearances. Many of the children colored the black child with blond hair and Malcolm X with many different skin tones. Afros were colored multiple colors as were the skin tones of the kids in the picture. They do not see black people that need to be colored with a certain tone. Instead they see human beings that have endless possibilities on how they may look whether it is white, blue or black. Placing them side by side enables the viewer to realize how differently children think about the objects they are coloring. All the children have different judgments on how they think the objects should look. This presents a powerful impression on adult audiences that can remind them of how they used to view one another. A prevailing message is being shown with these books. Ligon is trying to explain that children are not born to dislike other races in any way whatsoever. Hate is clearly something that is taught or observed and not a born trait after viewing this work. There is definitely still a race problem in our country and Ligon knows this and I believe is trying to say that it is a taught problem; not natural. If it was natural then the children would have certainly colored with the correct colors but instead that was the last thing on their innocent minds. A possible message he could be trying to get across to people is that racism could be stopped with our country’s youth. They are born naturally innocent and unbiased but eventually other people influence them and teach them to hate what is different from themselves. Ligon was able to prove how racism is taught without even saying a word or moving his own paintbrush. It was amazing to me how much could be taught by just giving some Midwest kids pages of a coloring book. Much of Ligon’s artwork deals with racism issues and fighting for black power. This piece is no different and is successful at getting across the commanding message. I found it very clever of him to get his point across in such an artistic manner.