Contemporary Art Blog

I want to create an exhibition that focuses on environmental art. I not only want to focus on artworks that critique the way we treat the earth, but artworks that show the beauty of the environment and why we should protect it. It is important to teach the public about the environment and its issues as it could have negative impacts on our future. Environmental issues have been very urgent with an increase of economic development. Economic development is frequently linked to mass pollution, consumption of natural resources, ecological disturbance, and climate changes resulting in human health issues and diminishing natural environment systems.¹ Displaying environmental art would welcome curiosity and demonstrate ideas in new and surprising ways. Having an exhibition on environmental art will encourage imagination with hands-on interaction, promoting participation and education as well as contemplation on environmental behaviors. It will also allow people to form an appreciation for the

Recently, I watched an Art Basel video that featured artists Katharina Grosse and Sarah Sze. They speak on their own and each others work while discussing how artists and art viewers gain influence, especially through the viewing of art. Video Link:  Artists' Influencers: Katharina Grosse and Sarah Sze , 1:19:38 (From left to right) Katharina Grosse (artist), Sarah Sze (artist), and Hans Ulrich Obrist (moderator) Grosse is a German artist based in Berlin. According to the video description, she creates immersive site-specific artworks using architecture and landscapes with paint and stencils cut from cardboard and thick foam rubber. Her works use explosive colors and open up the space to multiple perceptual possibilities of the medium ( Gagosian.com ). Her work has influenced Sze, an American artist based in New York whose installations are composed of everyday objects to challenge systems of order. Sze's works are also explore the role of technology and information i

Recently, I visited the Black is Beautiful exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora.  The exhibition consisted of photographs taken by Kwame Brathwaite. The photographs feature black women and men with natural hair and clothes that reclaim their African roots as a response to white conceptions of the 1960s. Kwame Brathwaite, Sikolo Brathwaite wearing a beaded headpiece by designer Carolee Prince , 1967 Brathwaite is a Brooklyn-born artist who turned to art and political activism at a young age. He has taken inspiration from Jamaican-born activist Marcus Garvey, who promoted a Pan-Africanist point of view for black economic liberation and freedom. Entrance to the Museum of the African Diaspora Entrance to the Black is Beautiful exhibition on the third floor He also founded organizations that supported his vision such as Grandassa Models, a modeling group for black women, in 1962. It was organizations like this that allowed Brathwaite to hold fashion shows s

On the evening of March 5, I attended the tribute lecture to Frank LaPena. Native American contemporary artists Spencer Keeton Cunningham and Richard Bluecloud Castaneda spoke about LaPena as well as their past and current artworks. Audience at the Frank LaPena tribute lecture by Spencer Keeton Cunningham and Richard Bluecloud Castaneda in the University Library Annex The artists stated how LaPena played a major role in creating a powerful movement of contemporary art in California. This movement inspired later artists like themselves to create artwork that responds to past and current problems among Native American communities such as environmental issues or issues of personal identity. Cunningham Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Shark Fin Soup: New Zealand , public mural, 2015 The messages that Cunningham and Castaneda communicate in their artworks are very eye opening. Some of the issues they discussed were issues that I was not familiar with. For example, Cunningham's

On Saturday, February 29, I visited the Soul of a Nation exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.  The exhibition displayed works by Black artists over the course of two significant decades (1963-83) when issues of race and identity dominated private and public debates. It was divided into nine parts based on specific issues faced by Black communities and location. Reginald Gammon, Freedom Now , 1963, acrylic on board Front view of the de Young Museum Entrance to underground level of the museum where Soul of a Nation was located Entrance to the Soul of a Nation exhibition The first artwork I came across upon entering this exhibit was Reginald Gammon’s Freedom Now .  This painting stood out to me as it represents the March on Washington, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.  This event was a result of attacks on peaceful Civil Rights protestors in Birmingham, Alabama during the spring of 1963. It not only sparked reactions from Black communitie