Dylan Yvonne Welch's Transpace Trace Evidence

Tracing the Evidence

by Ryan Neubauer

Untitled
22 x 30
Digital Print, Collag, hand drawing

Dylan’s Welch show was incredible. Her work is mesmerizing in the since that she work seems so spacious and calming. The artist statement does that, “I want to amplify what I experience as true in my daily life: that the world around me is real, tangible, predictable, yet simultaneously infinitely mysterious. Science is capable of building incredible knowledge about the cosmos by observing nature to determine relatable patterns.” Her work does reflect the mysterious of the cosmos and patterns.

Circle Space22 x 30
Digital Print 

As shown in Circle Space, she uses the coolness of the blue to really give a feel of space and looking out in space. Then she uses perspectives to give depth of field on a two- dimensional plane. It gives me a since of wonder and the feeling of there is something more in the picture, but there’s not.

Audium in the Morning
22 x 30
Digital Print

Audium in the Morning is another that gives another since of space. It also looks like a 20-sided di. It almost feels like you are rolling a di to see where it lands on a mysterious mat that represents space.

Nesting III
Paint, collage, spray paint on wood panel

Another piece of work that really intrigues me is the Nesting III.  Nesting III is interesting because it reminds me of a prism when light is shines through dividing the colors that make up white light. It reminds me because she used a pyramid like shape and the rainbow on the bottom in the middle.

All of these works have geometric shapes and the feeling of perspectives. This is the science part of her statement. Dylan is using objects found in Math and Science to give us a since of wonder and space. These objects feel inorganic compared to other works of art that we have seen, such as the movement of realism.

Berry's David Wojnarowicz Talk

a Day WITHOUT Art

by Ryan Neubauer

David looks so cool.

Berry Blinderman’s talk on David Wojnarowicz was incredible. Though in class we already had talked a little bit about him in class. This talk was a little bit more in depth about him especially his child hood. David’s childhood wasn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. Berry said, “He had a horrible dad who was just plain psychotic and he spent most of his adolescence out wondering the streets.” Most of people who grew up with a broken family typically grow up to be horrible people. David didn’t grow up to be a horrible person but he grew up to be an aspiring artist and activist. To have such a person growing up in a horrible home where his family was extremely broken, then having a this beacon of hope.  Another thing Berry said, “He was a spiritual person, in a time that artist said didn’t exist.”

Lions, Tigers, and Bears Oh My!

So David went to where the entire gay hookup places and painted cows around the walls of the building. He was always going around and drawing on things, always putting his work in places he knows it was getting taken down. David was a great guy, his work used something that already had print stuff on it.

Scumbags more like dick bags.

Smile and wave, said the queen.

Then the AIDS crisis hit everywhere, it hit his mentor and his mentor passed away. He was in a fight with the government and even the churches. The churches offered a place where you can pray the gay away or offer protection in churches. All of the artist at the time putting out work that goes against the government and religion. The whole art community was furious with what is going on in the world. They were all angry at Ronald Regan, who was president at the time and he did nothing, and churches.  Regan did nothing about the AIDS crisis he was just a face of the country at the time. Just like the Queen of England, she just smiles and waves.

Queer in Normal

Then he came to Normal, Illinois and that was an experience. He came to Normal and had a show in CVA 110. This show got a lot of attention all around the area and got in trouble as well. When they sent out catalog they were getting all sorts of mail from the area. Berry said, “The president of the school was getting all sorts of mail and said I don’t care what they say this artwork is staying up.” It was a funny moment because normally people in higher power were on the opposite end of the board and didn’t allow something so open to remain up. 

It stays!

They were sent a letter from Congress, Newspapers were printing out articles, and outrages from parties who were against using religious figures in art. It was a spectacle of the generation here in Normal, people being “offended” by this one piece of artwork. There were some many works that could be interpreted as way worse than this Jesus one.

Oh my God I'm so offended.

My visit to CAM

My Visit to the Dirty Museum

By Ryan Neubauer

Into the Meuseum we Go

My visit to the Contemporary Arts Museum was a nice calm and embarrassing experience. When I first entered to the museum they asked me where I was from, which is normal to count how many comes and where they come from.

Me and my buddy, Sign.

I first notice two signs and each sign was the same thing. I noticed about 5 signs on the main floor saying that “Kelley Walker: Direct Drive contains content that may be difficult for some viewers.” There were constant reminders about the content of his work. I found this interesting this sign appeared only in one area of his exhibition, which was the content that sparked controversy. It’s like they wanted to the constant reminder that this work may not appeal to other viewers, which I understand why but I don’t think that it’s not necessary.

schema: Aquafresh plus Crest with Whitening Expressions (Trina), 2006.Look how big it is.

My first piece of work is called Schema. It stands 20 feet in height but has of it is laying flat on the ground. I wanted to take a picture to show how big this piece of work is. It is huge compared to the average person. Half of this artwork was on the floor because it's very tall.
One of the gallery guards was watching us, which is the normal thing to do. While I was walking behind a wall my dad stepped on the 20 feet piece of work and was told, “To get off the artwork, sir.” I was very embarrassed and I apologized for my dad.
After that, I was asking the gallery guard a few questions, one them being, what happened that sparked outrage. By everything I mean the articles of outrage and the post-it notes that were a response to Kelley Walker’s exhibition. He told me that it wasn’t that his work wasn’t good but he didn’t answer any of the questions that he was being asked behind his work. “There was nothing being said, he could have said something ridiculous and it would be something.”  Which I agreed in this situation, giving an answer even if it was something way off from what you actual thought behind his work. The next question I asked had there been any more traffic in the museum after the incident. He answered yes or no. He continued to say that there have been more political science majors from the university.

15 inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, 2016.
Someone was mad, yikes.

Then I walked around and looked his work and found work not related to the outrage. There was a Mac Pro that was cut up in and placed on top of each other.

There was a whole room the size of a closet that has pieces of glass all of it. Also, it has more of the controversial work. This work was part of a series called Disaster.

An actual mood board.

You thought we were going to be silent?

STOP TRYING TO CENSOR ART!

The last thing I saw was the reaction board. This board was covered in posted notes of people’s reaction to the show, which I thought was very noble of the CAM. The reaction board, I think was a good way to let some of the anger out and to let us see what people thought.

The Andy Warhol Doesn't Play Second Base for the Chicago Cubs, 2010.

Overall the show isn’t bad, he had really interesting work such as the Andy Warhol Doesn’t Play Second Base for the Chicago Cubs and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. These pieces of artwork from Kelley Walker were pretty interesting. The Andy Warhol Doesn’t Play Second Base for the Chicago Cubs is a pretty cool of artwork and yet it wasn’t mentioned in any of the articles about him. I understand that people, including me, were upset but there are other works that were a little more interesting personally.

Before the Storm

Ryan Neubuaer

Jason Judd

Contemporary Arts

Tuesday November 1, 2016

Deborah Willis Before the Storm, Eatonville
Digital chromogenic print, 2012 

Deborah Willis

Before the Storm, Eatonville

Digital chromogenic print, 2012

Courtesy of the artist and Material Life, New Orleans

Project statement by Deborah Willis, which says, “I believe that Eatonville is enriched by its history as a black incorporated town and the cultural legacy that Zora Neale Hurston left in depicting its beauty, spirituality and family memories in her numerous novels, short stories, and letters.”

When I saw this picture I took a minute to look at. As I was looking at this picture it felt so empty. Then I remembered the mood felt like it was something of out of Edward Hoppers pieces. It looked like something that was empty and gone at the same time depressing. The field, house, and the area around the home looks like it was abandoned by everyone. Just as abandoned like Edward Hopper’s The Lighthouse at Two Lights. This work has a mood that feels like something is empty like no one is home. Hopper has this ability to set a tone/mood in his paintings. His mood is quiet and lonely but he is using bright colors to show some hope but it feels like something is missing.

Edward Hopper The Lighthouse at Two Lights, 1929

For example when you live your life by yourself no one is entering it’s just you and it’s not bad and it’s not good just a shell of a person walking. Just as Deborah Willis Before the Storm, Eatonville photograph, the mood of the photo feels like everyone abandoned their home and everything just as the storm was about to hit. It’s like an empty shell of a animal, it has the shape of the animal but nothing inside.

Empty Shell

 I was depressing to look at but at the same time eye catching. The thing that was eye catching, for me, was the contrast between the clouds and the long tree trunk. These elements of air, earth, fire, and water fight in a battle that we are stuck in between the elements of nature but at the same time they live harmoniously. This caught my eye because of the dark clouds in the background and at the same time the sun is hitting the trunk of the tree that is way high. It looked the air and earth was going to play a game of survival.  Going back to the mood that Edward Hopper makes in his paintings, the contrast of light but having the feeling so dark and empty.
           

Full Moon in a Tree, Wonsook Kim

Ryan Neubauer

Review

September 29, 2016

Contemporary Art

Full Moon in a Tree, bronze 2011.

Wonsook Kim

University Galleries College of Fine Arts

Beauty in Nature

Wonsook Kim: Lines of Enchantment is about the recurrences in archetypes: a shelter, a small craft on the water, a figure crossing a fallen tree trunk or a bridge-often seen in various combinations and states of transformation These universal symbols of life’s journey and its attendant longing also reflect Kim’s experience as a Korean transplanted to the Midwest to attend art school, then to New York to live as an artist, and since that time shuttling between these three locations.

            I have this obsession with trees. Trees to me represent more than just a plant; they represent life and grow with each individual. When they first start growing its rough and hard to keep them up straight so support is needed when they are growing. As it is through life when we are little we grow up being guided by our parents. Parents give us the guidance that we need and when that support is gone we continue to grow. As through our life, we experience new things branch out and learn new things. In learning new things we sometimes lose against an obstacle, but we always get up and learn from what we have lost. That is the beauty in trees, we against all odds they still grow though gravity is fighting them the whole time. We learn from falling down and having the strength to get back up.

            The moon to me is another thing that I enjoy. The moon is something so mysterious because of its brightness in the darkness. It’s the one thing that light’s up the night in the sky and whether it’s full or not its draws us in. The moon lures me into looking at its beauty like a flower lures a bee. It’s beauty shows by having to be alone in the sky at night. It stands to me the most dominant thing and the most confident thing. It doesn’t need the stars to help support it stands on its own, that’s the beauty of the moon.

            Full moon in a Tree is interesting to me because it’s combing two things that I view a beauty. Though the moon is in the tree not above it or beside it. It’s on the top right of the composition and being entangled by the tree itself. This piece scares me because to me this feels like the moon is being lost in our memories. Memories are a good thing but they can also be bad things. The good thing about memories they hold the things that are most precious such as your first kiss, family, friends and some much more. The bad thing is that memories are forgotten lost. It’s scary to lose something that is precious to a person because it feels like something has been taken from the body.

Artist Lecture: Danny Volk

It gets Weird

Danny Volk got his BA in Theater Studies at Kent State University in 2006 and his MFA from the University of Chicago in 2014. His work focuses on the truth of objects and actions by using his theatrical semiotics to explore the social world.

            In his lecture, he was first talking about his experience as a theater major and how he worked in shows, directed them, and did some playwright.  Then he went on to talk about when he was in a play in high school he played a major role in the play, then in college, he was a minor character, a professor. This professor had a monologue and when he was doing the monologue he looked out and saw the audience, “They’re faces weren’t silhouettes anymore.” As he was explaining he says, “I could see faces and no longer hold on to that character. Both me and the character were happening simultaneously and in theatre that’s not good.” In theatre, everyone is hidden from the actors and actresses. The point of seeing a show is to transport you into that type of setting whether it be fantasy or within reality. The actors/actresses are trying to entertain us and can’t really hold the character by distraction. Those who he knew distracted Volk, such as his mother and friends, therefore pulled back into reality a little bit.  Both him and the character were happening at the same time and it felt awkward. This is true in a theatre because to be you in a play is wrong. Acting is an art form, like painting and sculpting; it’s a projection of person with a unique twist. To be projecting through you is good but being both you and character is not a good thing as he says.

            As he was talking about the work a couple of things came to mind. First thing came to mind was his artwork. His artwork pushes to our limitation of awkwardness puts the member of the audience into a “character” in a “play,” for example, his GAP project. As he was explaining what this was, I was thinking about a game of pushing boundaries when I was a freshman and I was as a stagehand for a play. The last showing of the play, whichever play was playing at the moment in time; the actors/actresses would play a game called slap butt. As the title of the game explains it all there was a twist to it. They would play it during the play. Trying to sneak a slap on another actors butt without any of the audience members noticing. It is almost exactly what he was doing but to a different degree. He is doing to an “audience member.” He was pushing the limitation of someone’s comfort zone and was waiting until someone reacted to see how he or she would react to what he was doing. The second thing that came to mind was the art movement, Dada. What he is doing is similar to what Dadaist did in the early 20^th century. The Gas Heart by Tristan Tzara has a similar effect on the audience member. The Gas Heart affected the audience by pushing boundaries with its characters and when those boundaries were pushed passed the line they left. Volk’s work in the GAP is similar; he used the element of touch to push those boundaries and was thinking about the reactions of the customers. As he was doing this project he documented how the customer reacted and added into the space in which he was presenting this project.