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.