Comprehensive Study Notes on Contemporary Art and Global Perspectives

The Horn Players ($226$)

The Horn Players ($226$) features Basquiat, a unique looking person whose appeal in the art world stems significantly from his tragic and untimely death at the age of $27$. Because he died young, he did not produce a vast quantity of art during his lifetime, which has contributed to his cult status based on his specific look and his early passing. During his creative career, Basquiat was addicted to heroin and cocaine and was often properly high while painting his works. Historically, his popularity grew immensely posthumously, as seen in his heightened market value and reputation following his death.

The Gates ($224$)

The Gates ($224$) consisted of various panels that were only displayed for a temporary duration of $2$ weeks. The artist intended for the piece to be ephemeral, knowing that the audience would desire more precisely because it was taken away. This work is characterized as site specific, meaning its meaning and purpose are entirely dependent on its site and local environment. The artist specifically chose the color orange so that the installation would stand out against the landscape, creating a distinct juxtaposition. The project required significant logistical effort, including obtaining many permits, which meant the planning took a while to complete. Located in a high traffic area, the work was not considered natural to Central Park.

Vietnam War Memorial ($225$)

The Vietnam War Memorial ($225$) features a signature wall that descends into the ground, a design intended to make the visitor feel like they are going with those being remembered. The memorial lists only names rather than showing specific people, which provides a more meaningful experience to the viewer. It was constructed using gradnite from the USA, a material so reflective that the visitor can see themselves in the material, which is described as almost like seeing loved ones in yourself. The goal of the piece was not to glorify war but to honor veterens. The design was chosen through an annoymus contest and was won by Maya Lin, a $21$ year old Asian American woman. Initially, she was attacked because of who she was, and people worried she might not fully understand the weight of the war. Geographically, both sides of the memorial point to different monuments in Washington. This entry concludes with mention of ID quiz $1.1$.

Summer Trees ($227$)

Summer Trees ($227$) represents an old Korean art form that deals with limitations in medium. It utilize black ink because all the art is one color, black, which spreads on the surface—a concept linked to cultural diffusion. The composition consists of only black ink on a white background, where the artist would dilute the ink if a gray hue was desired. The piece conveys a sense of ink going down, suggesting kinetic movement. On the bottom of the work, one can see stubs, while the long stocks represent trunks, signifying abstract trees. This style is categorized as Korean abstract expression. The work is not polychromatic, as it lacks many colors. The artist poured paint on the canvas and squelch it on the flour. The work focuses on value, which is defined as the amount of light or dark in a hue.

Androgyne III ($228$)

Androgyne III ($228$) was created by a Polish artist during the context of WW2, a time when Poland was facing invasion and the new threat of Russia. The figure is hollow, symbolizing how everything was being taken from the people during this time. The sculpture lacks identity, featuring no face, distinct features, or gender, representing an abstract realistic human body. It shows realistic emotion, specifically the sadness felt in Poland during the communist era. In a classical sense, the work is not considered beautiful.

A Book from the Sky ($229$)

A Book from the Sky ($229$) was not displayed in China due to censorship; instead, it was shown in NY. The piece is highly interactive because the audience must work through the room, making it an immersive experience. It matters that the work is not in China. It utilizes woodblock printing, which functions like a stamp to create information faster. However, the work is filled with fake characters that the artist made up. These fake characters were created to attack the government and serve as propaganda. The sheer volume of fake characters suggests that the government doesn't mean anything anymore, explicitly attacking the communist China government.

Pink Panther ($230$)

Pink Panther ($230$) features a woman's depiction reflecting Jayne Mansfield, a sex symbol compared to modern figures like Sydney Sweeney. It portrays the Pink Panther cartoon character turning into sexual content. The work includes two actors in a state of nostalgia and functions to reverse gender dynamics by showing the woman bringing the panther in. The piece is characterized by its artificial nature, including a fake blonde look, heavy makeup, an artificial outfit, and the Pink Panther himself. This references banality, a term for unoriginal things. The piece was made in a factory, signifying mass production and high costs.

Dancing at the Louvre ($232$)

Dancing at the Louvre ($232$) explores the mixing of cultures, specifically focused on Black women. It utilizes a quilt, a medium associated with AA (African American) culture and women. The center of the work is a canvas, while the border is a tie-dye quilt. The narrative involves the need to be ordeny in the Louvre, but the figures are shown playing, demonstrating that she can break the rules. This is considered folk art and is part of the culture, showing Black women confidently putting themselves in western culture.

Trade ($233$)

Trade ($233$) makes a violent reference to when Columbus came over, depicting evil white people who stole land from Native Americans. The painting includes team names on a string that are named after NA (Native Americans), which the artist views as offensive stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood. It notes that FSU is different because they have their own Seminoles. The painting contains NA propaganda relevant to college contexts. Red paint is seen dripping, symbolizing blood and creating kinetic movement. An empty canoe in the work implies death.

Untitled #228 ($231$)

Untitled #$228$ ($231$) references old Renaissance art terms. The background features curtains to a tent behind the main figure. The face suggests something bad just napped and gives a feeling of "your next." There is no life in the face; the figure is pale and wears a mask because it is gray. The focus is on Cindy Sherman, a woman depicting the Virgin Mary. The composition includes a triangle, representing the Holy Trinity. It depicts holy women in history, which is noted as irony because the figure has killed someone. The work goes against the male gaze and traditional depictions of women; while women usually return the male gaze, this figure is in a dominant position, gazing back.

Rebellious Silence ($235$)

Rebellious Silence ($235$) is the work of a USA artist referencing the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It features a woman from Iran wearing a chador, who grew up during the Iranian Revolution. Her expression looks like she could kill you, signifying women taking power. The story on race involves women asserting their faith to Iran. The chador is used for desexualizing the form. There is a sense of potential energy, implying that something might happen. The work includes phallic imagery, representing a male body part through a gun, which symbolizes male aggression and power and the ways people sexualize Eastern women.

Pureland ($241$)

Pureland ($241$) is inspired by Budaism in Japan. The artist is placed at the center of the image, surrounded by jenies created through editing and CGI. Although some initially didn't think it was art, it is recognized as such now. The lotus appears as a symbol of Buddhism, a religion where practitioners believe in ending life to stop suvering. The piece is immersive, using new art technology to reference old terms and Buddhist principles. The central person is like a Buddha but is a woman, attempting to reach buddhood. Small creatures called bodhisattavas are present to help you survive. The work references old forms and uses hieronical scale, making the Buddha bigger because he is more important.

Earth's Creation ($234$)

Earth's Creation ($234$) was created with parts of Austrian Aboriginal culture. It represents the "green time" after rain when nature blooms. The piece uses earth tones and dots that represent puddles where one can see rain falling. The canvas is $20\,ft$ wide to reflect the expanse of the outback in AU (Australia). The artist used impasto, gestural, and paintley techniques similar to European artists, often working on the floor to remain connected to the peace of the work. The rough and bumpy texture allows the viewer to feel nature. The work sold for $1,000,000$ dollars, marking a moment where a non-white artist received significant recognition.

No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop ($236$)

No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop ($236$) is an interactive and temporary installation using ready made found objects assembled together. It reflects a Nuyorican identity, meaning someone living in NY but from PR (Puerto Rico). The work critiques machismo, the Latino expectation that men need to be strong, and explores the diaspora, or a culture living somewhere else. It attacks male stereotypes by juxtaposing a rose (feminine) with bullets (masculine). Phallic imagery is represented by the bullets. The barbershop is depicted as a place where one starts going to become a man, and the title refers to the idea that a man can't cry. The work compares both a surgery and barbor shop, characterizing them as tools to cut down the male.

Corned Beef 2000 ($237$)

Corned Beef $2000$ ($237$) uses canned meats to comment on the good (they don't perish) and bad (health impacts) aspects of industrial food. It comments on food waste and environmental impact, noting that cows eat, then fart, then are killed, after which gas explodes, leading to more pollution. This is trash art made from found objects. It critiques factory farming and over-processed foods, linking them to obesity and pollution. It addresses mass production, capitalism, and includes a critique of white people. This entry precedes ID quiz $1.2$.

Electronic Superhighway ($238$)

Electronic Superhighway ($238$) was created by an artist who moved to the USA in the $60's$. It uses neon signs to draw attention and references the World Wide Web in the $90's$. The installation features video screens with every state on a loop, referencing old movies and screens. Located in a Mason museum in DC, it includes a camera watching the viewer, making it interactive. The artist is from Korea and loves TV, and the work gives a culture and perspective that blends into Western society. This is categorized as fluxis art, a movement related to TV.

The Crossing ($239$)

The Crossing ($239$) is an immersive piece in a museum where the viewer is positioned between two screens, one on the left and one on the right. The figure has arms out in a pose suggesting crusifixation and the Holy Trinity imagery. It provides sensory overload through the themes of flooding and burning using new tech like fake fire. It references Christian traditions like crusification and babtism (water). It also deals with being reborn, referencing Hinduism and Buddhism (reincarnation). It mentions Nirvana as the end of reincarnation through self-annihilation.

Lying with the Wolf ($242$)

Lying with the Wolf ($242$) depicts a woman in a power position hugging a wolf, which deals with gender dynamics. Rather than being prey, she is taming the wolf. The wringled paper used in the work resembles a bed sheet. While it features an animal, it is not anthropomoic (animal with human characteristics). It references the Little Red Riding Hood story but reverses the narrative because the woman is in control and tames the beast.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao ($240$)

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao ($240$) was designed using titanium because concrete was too heavy and would crumble. Titanium is light but also strong. The experience is immersive with art located inside as well. It was designed by a famous architect known as a starchitect. The museum was placed in a sad, depressing town to bring beatification and revilitization to the area and attract people. A dog sculpture made of flowers stands in front.

Shibboleth ($248$)

Shibboleth ($248$) is an installation at the Tate Modern museum in London. A shibboleth is defined as something that divides people or sets them apart. The artist, from Columbia, moved to London and created this work to comment on immigration and the feeling of being from a different place that is perceived as not good. The work uses a line to separate the group of people on either side. It begins as a hairline fracture and eventually becomes two feet wide. It is temporary, as they have filled the concrete into a scar after a few years; this scar is meant to bring people together. It is sight specific because London has a lot of immigrants and experience with racism. It utilizes negative space, defined as unfilled space in a piece of art, specifically the crack.

MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts ($249$)

The MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts ($249$) contains art inside and references the Colosseum through the use of concrete and curvature. It blends old culture together through its concrete curvature and rectilinear geometry.

Sunflower Seeds ($250$)

Sunflower Seeds ($250$) was displayed in the Rate Modern in London, in the same building/room as Shibboleth, making it site specific. It features things that look like seeds but are actually puppies made of porcelain. This represents a mix of Asia with modern art. Porcelain is associated with old ink from China, making it more contemporary Chinese art. The work is temporary and interactive, allowing people to walk on them and feel overwhelm. The seeds represent communism because they are all the same, serving as an attack on the government. The artist hired people to make them in the porcelain capital of China, bringing people together and rebutting derogatory implications.

Darky Town Rebellion ($243$)

Darky Town Rebellion ($243$) references a slave rebellion that never actually happened. It is immersive because the viewer could be one of the characters if they step into the light. The artist is a Black woman from GA who references Stone Mountain, which depicts convergent war memorials and the site where the third wave of the KKK was found. There is a juxtaposition between the white wall and the illumination of a dream. The figures have no identity and are depicted as caricatures, making everyone look the same through silluates.

The Swing (After Fragonard) ($244$)

The Swing (After Fragonard) ($244$) is a $3D$ installation serving as a response to the $2D$ painting "The Swing" which featured $3$ men in a sexual context. The artist, originally from Nigeria, moved to Britain, which had colonized Nigeria. The work comments on colonization. In this version, there are no men, and the viewer becomes one of the men involved in the male gaze. It references tree tropes like hanging or pinching. The clothes are traditional African colors but are made of Dutch fabric, which is an attack on evil white people colonizing and the mixing of cultures.

Old Man’s Clothes ($245$)

Old Man’s Clothes ($245$) resembles Ashanti kente cloth or textiles through its pattern and colors. It references colonialism and the Ashanti people's history with the gold trade in Africa and silk trade with Asians. It uses globalization to show everyone is connected. The materials include found objects like allumincan cans, liquor bottles, and caps, similar to Corned Beef $2000$. It comments on colonization and globalization, specifically the negative effects like drunkenes. There is a concept mentioned of the subsum, or spirit in the cloth.

Praying Mantra ($247$)

Praying Mantra ($247$) was created by an artist who moved from Kenya to the USA in $1996$ as an immigrant. The work addresses being exotized and the fact that women from other countries are often thought of as more sexual, though they don't want to be sexualized. It references the preying mantus, where the female kills the male after mating. The figure uses leaves as camflouge with red and white spots. The bottom of the work features geometric patterns and is compared to Old Man’s Clothes and culture through kana cloth. The figure is holding a snake, referencing Aden and Eve and other cultures' religions. The legs are rectangular, like an insect's, and the figure looks like it could eat your head off. It signifies a desire not to be astrosized.

Stadia II ($246$)

Stadia II ($246$) utilizes linear perspective, including orthogonal lines and a horizon line. The stadium setting is inspired by the Colosseum. It features South African flags and references the World Cup of soccer. The composition includes horns known as relafu. It represents global unity, where everyone comes together, and addresses nationalism and globalization as cultures come together. Created in $2004$, it reflects the context of $3$ years after the events of $2001$, noting there is more security and more tech as the space feels smaller, similar to Electronic Superhighway.