Week of November 18- Art & Social Change

Documentary: Wasteland ft. Vic Muniz


Vic Muniz made great impact on the people of brazil through the documentary he made about the pickers and a detailed and informative sub- biography on a few of the pickers and their personal lives. This included their background story, and a little info on their position financially, and in the social class system of brazil. I feel that it was positive to a certain extent, what was done by Muniz and his co-workers, however I feel that the pickers he used were somewhat exploited, through the light in which they were shown. In other words I feel like the way he chose to portray the pickers in the collaborative artworks was sort of what someone looking in from the outside would expect the pickers to look like being from a poor nation. Instead of the art being of them in their natural state Muniz would have them assume a character, like the man he asked to get into a bath tub to symbolize the death of Marat. This man was of a higher education and worked with the representation of the pickers, and could have been showed in a more noble light, however he was to assume, even mimic that of a non original artwork. I feel that this was done to gain more of an empathetic reaction from those bidding, however it was positive that the pickers received some percentage of what was produced, and it benefited them and their families, and communities.

Week of Nov 11- Perfromance & Video Art

Jeff Koons Presentation

Bibliography/ final presentation outline: http://www.slideshare.net/secret/5l9EezrdSpSa1B

Jeff Koons, considered an exhibitionist

Style of his artwork: Contemporary

worked mostly through installations and site specific artworks/ sculptures


used natural resources, such as metals and floral arrangements

works with animals, mainly the dog

Week of Nov. 4- MOMA

Napoleon in the Wilderness

This painting is by Max Ernst, finished in 1941, classified as a Surrealist painting,

which is a painting of a semi-nude female figure which represented his mistress  Leonora Carrington holding a strange trumpet, at the same time almost being encased inside one of several natural formations of  rock and coral  in a  decaying fantasy- like landscape. Like many of Ernst’s rather eerie landscapes, Napoleon in the Wilderness is loaded with symbolism including the artist’s own sense of loss and grief, and the promise of decay and renewal.

Richard Linder Checkmate
Richard Lindner was a German-American painter. Richard Lindner was born in Hamburg, Germany.

Richard Linder's style is considered Pop Art

October 21- Art After 1945- Modern Movements- MOMA trip

Art 21: Artist interview summary

Artist: El Anatsui:

Born the year 1944, in  Anyanko, Ghana, El Anatsui is an African sculptor whose sculptures are easily altered so that they can be changed or redesigned for each exhibition that they are taken on or displayed at.  El Anatsui utilizez materials such as metal, wood, and clay. He has currently leaned towards using recycling and reusing metal caps of liquor bottles that have been discarded in some of his recent installations.

Straying away from the normal and traditional properties of his sculptures being still and one specific series of shapes, Anatsui used a variety of collages utilizing a variation in shapes, colors, and shades, which is what makes his works unique. he utilizes the caps of liquor bottles to symbolize the culture and history of the colonial and economic changes occurring in Africa. His ceramic and wood sculptures brought to light his thoughts on the function and movement of items, such as the demolition and resurrection of such objects, including symbolism and the role of language. Some works of his are displayed publicly at MOMA, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including a wide range of other regional museums.