Blogs for week 3/1

3/1

This weeks are short but to the point.  Forgive me, off to NAEA and such. 

Icon

I found it interesting that Bird used 90% of this commentary to associate “icon” with religion.  While I realize this is often the case, to me this is pigeon holing the concept of “icon” and iconography. Really, it is soooo much more than that! For me, it is really about meaning.  Icon is not limited to religious imagery (even if its roots are there).  It is about the meaning one places on an image... (the whole idol thing comes into play here)

Ive gotten into the habit of finding that one sentence in the reading that intrigues or inspires me .  For this chapter it is “icons provided a movable cast of holy presences”.  OMG  the potential of that sentence for  me is huge! In my own work I can imagine a series of images which represent a big idea, developed into a series of icons... And I can see this theme extending into the classroom, in projects with my kids. In fact, it has given me some ideas for assignments around the concept of icon....!!!

Protest:

“in 2003 the tapestry version of Guernica at the United Nations was covered over during a press conference presenting the Bush administration’s case for bombing Iraq.” 

 W    O     W       

  Protest should be followed by censorship. If that action does not speak to the potency of visual art I do not know what is.  Could that have altered the way things went down, if those images had been a back drop for Bush’s plans? (Imagine if an animation artist got a hold of that footage, photo shopped the images back in and then animated them to life as Bush spoke....  Hows that for a revived protest?  )

    Some how, knowing this fact infuriates me.  Be an interesting project to do just that.  Show the speech as was... Then get the tapestry back in there and show it again and have kids (high school) comment of how imagery might change their response to the message,,,,, Or some version of this.... Share Picasso's Guernica, then listen to the speech, THEN tell them this was covered....

Ps. The Guerrilla Girls are cool... Love their motivation and hoe they powerfully confront the male dominated art world....

Personal as Political

“Good bye to the great white Male”  what? Aweiwei would not agree...(even if he isn't technically white)

SO personal as political and protest really go hand in hand (back to the Guerrilla Girls)

      I find interesting that this entry focused mainly on women.  I also find it interesting that there is no reference to other historical events which may have coincided with the issues he is speaking of (like he did with protest).  Commentary remains focused on the art itself, with out larger societal commentary (other than political, which is really the domination of the art world by men in this case)

    I wonder if this is because of projections the author may be making about the role of women in general...

    I am just curious why women were the focus of this topic (sometimes blended with other minority issues, Id love to see the Renee Cox piece)

   AS a younger artist I did identify with issues such as these. While they are valid, I don't often see my own work this way.  That said, I love artists like  Naomi Natale.  If you haven't seen her TED talk (Kathy posted this on her blog)  you should watch!

http://blog.ted.com/2010/03/17/ted_fellow_naom/