Connection Post #1 - Censorship10/31/2018 Personal Opinion and Analysis
Censorship is a prevalent issue in the artistic community today. Despite the promotion of free speech in democratic societies like the United States, politicians and people in power still work to censor artistic expression that may offend them or oppose their ideology. For example, in "The Art of Controversy," Kwame Holman explores the "Sensation" art exhibition which caused public outrage with the piece "The Holy Virgin Mary" and provoked Rudy Giuliani to threaten the museum with cutting funding. The museum appealed to the courts and refused to take down the work or close the exhibition. Throughout the transcript, questions regarding the ethics of censoring this work, especially since the museum is a publicly funded institution, are raised and debated. Primarily, if the government can censor a public institution, would that infringe on free speech? In my opinion, in this situation, the government can censor the Brooklyn Museum. The government is funding this institution, and they have the right to have a say in what is presented to the public. If the museum was privately owned, then they could definitely show this exhibition, but since it is not, it needs to listen to the people who give them the majority of their money to exist or risk losing that funding and support. Although I disagree with the way that Rudy Giuliani reacted to the exhibition without ever stepping foot in the gallery himself, I understand where he is coming from. The museum is bound by contract to "have open access to the public, to train young people in artistic things, and to really put on an appropriate show for the citizens of the city" (pg. 3). If they fail to meet these guidelines, then they are liable to punishment. In defense of the museum, I believe that the government should have a consultant in matters like this who specializes in art who can educate the policymakers in how they should consider situations like these. Someone who knows the significance of these pieces and their messages should be advising those who have a say in the fate of these exhibitions. Furthermore, I believe the public needs a larger role when it comes to censorship in publicly funded institutions. If there was indeed widespread public outcry, as Giuliani and his constituents claim, then the exhibit was damaging to stability and there are grounds to take it down. In the end, these facilities are created to help the public, and, if they are not achieving that goal, then they can be shut down or changed. However, if claims of unrest are untrue, then the government has no grounds to take it down especially if it is just a handful of policymakers who dislike the art. Obviously, a society not as "free" as the United States would make a more concerted effort to censor art. For instance, in China, Ai Weiwei is frequently attacked by the Chinese government for his open critiques of them. This is a different situation because it is clear that China is in the wrong. Ai is not displaying any of his work in publicly funded institutions, but China continues to block his every move, even going as far as destroying his Shanghai and Beijing studio. In "Is Ai Weiwei China's Most Dangerous Man?" the writer explores Ai Weiwei's role in society. I found particularly interesting how China's best attempts at censoring Ai really only make him more popular. This begs the question, is China really censoring Ai Weiwei if his message is just further disseminated by their actions? China is definitely trying to censor Ai Weiwei. However, they just raise more support for him in the process. In our technologically advanced world, nothing is truly secret, and China's acts are causing social media storms that increase Ai's prominence. Sure, they stop him from making art by destroying his studio and keep him on his toes with the amount of security cameras they have set up around his residence, but every time Ai makes work, everyone is watching. This audience can be partially attributed to people's outrage at China's attempts to censor Ai. Ai said it himself in the article when he stated "'They create me rather than solve the problems I raise'" (pg. 3). Ai's quote brings up an interesting perspective. Instead of addressing Ai's discontent, they try to stop him which brings media attention to the Chinese government's anti-free speech stance instead of the other serious issues Ai tries to comment on. In a way, this is a form of censorship. By drawing attention to something else, the government is hindering Ai's communication. That is, if it worked. I believe that if this is China's intended strategy, then it is horribly executed. Through their very public acts, they are drawing negative attention to themselves and Ai's work is very easily interpreted. The media focuses on China's actions that is true, but they also convey Ai's message to show what the government is trying to suppress. Furthermore, sometimes Ai's work is commenting on government censorship, and, if China tries to suppress that, it would be irony at its finest. Following along with the idea that censorship just perpetuates a work and an artist, this phenomenon also presents itself in the "Sensation" art exhibition. People came to Brooklyn from far and wide to see what all of the controversy and anger was about. There were people lined up to get into the gallery. In this situation, I believe it is not truly censorship until they have to take the art off the walls and close down the gallery. To conclude these four loosely related paragraphs, I believe that the government has the right to censor a gallery when they are funding that gallery, but only with the consent of the people who are funding the government and with adequate reasoning. Furthermore, censorship is not truly censorship until the art is not able to be accessed by anyone. Comparing The Two Articles and Some Opinions About How They Were Written These two articles both explore the meaning of censorship and the reaches of it. When put together, the articles reveal the differences between a democratic and non-democratic society. Both governments exercise censorship but with very different reaches. The US can only censor that which belongs to them or is funded by them, and even then, that draws controversy, whilst the Chinese government is free to censor whatever it likes with the ire of every free-speech loving country in the world. "The Art of Controversy" was very fun to read as there was a real interview conducted between two contrasting opinions. "Is Ai Weiwei China's Most Dangerous Man?" was much more expressive and stylistic with great quotes from Ai Weiwei that really enriched the article.
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Progress Post #6 - October 26, 201810/28/2018 This week, we finished our lessons with Tommy :(. I really liked working with the charcoal and subtractive drawing, and I thought it was really cool how you could carve out a figure. I'm not completely satisfied with my drawing as I feel like I could have definitely improved it with more time and that the face is a little off. I definitely needed to resolve the hands and the legs more. I realized halfway through my process that I had lost my middle ground, so I had to go back in and lighten some of my shadows and highlights up so that the work was not aggressively lit. In terms of my home project, I have been making steady progress. I've done most of the clothing on the line, but I still need to finalize some which I am planning on doing this week. Furthermore, I need to sew my 85% together and embroider the front. I have a busy week ahead. Progress Post #5 - October 19, 201810/20/2018 This week, we started working on figure drawings with artist Tommy Van Auken! I have been trying to employ searching lines in my everyday drawings, but it's difficult as I often think in contour. I really like working with real life models as it brings a sort of livelihood into drawing. I am pretty satisfied with most of my figure drawings although I kind of hate all of my 1 minute ones as they are very unpolished and some of them are just intelligible. I've discovered that I like doing my searching lines in conte and then drawing my contours with charcoal as it provides a really nice contrast and emphasizes the figure I am trying to convey. I look forward to learning more and practicing more figured drawings. In terms of my home project, I have mapped out what I want to do (and found a purpose for my work) and downloaded all of my reference photos as well as painted the white base on my polo shirt. I plan on sketching and starting to paint tomorrow afternoon because I have finished all of my homework. I need to work out what I want to embroider on the front of the shirt however. I am thinking either a globe or an article of clothing. I am very excited to start this project and am thinking of doing a sort of performance art aspect to it where I wear it around school for a day. Awareness #1 - October 11, 201810/11/2018 Jooyoung Choi was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to Concord, New Hampshire in 1983 via adoption. She earned her BFA at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her MFA from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She studied abroad in Korea in 2009 and frequently returned over the summer for programs. Her website is www.jooyoungchoi.com. Upon entering her website, one can see her gallery and a menu consisting of about, paintings, video, sculpture + installation, available works, writings, and shop. She has displayed work in the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Anya Tish Gallery, the Front Gallery, the Brazos Gallery, the Project Row Houses, the Wing LUke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, the National Museum of Mexican Art, and the Lawndale Art Center. She has done residencies at the San Francisco Day School and the Wichita Riverfest. She has won three Stanfield Artist Awards, one Somerville Arts Council LCC Cultural Heritage Grant, one Ae Ran Won Portrait Project, one Idea Fund Grant, and one Artadia Award. She is a contemporary artist whose art focuses primarily on a fictional land of her creation called the Cosmic Womb. She uses all types of media to portray this land including painting, video, sculpture, animation, and music. The Cosmic Womb is around 6,732 miles large and is governed by Queen Kiok with the aid of her loyal servants Captain Spacia Tanno, Pleasure Vision, Plan-Genda, six humanoid Tuplets, Lady K, Aidee Three, Emo Flowers, Kun-Yook Six, Lydia "Nine" Fletcher, Haneul-Sek aka Nina Blue, and one Earthling from Concord, NH named C.S. Watson. She uses her own experiences to create characters and craft the Cosmic Womb. Her work is fantastical, eccentric, and brightly colored. She has many motifs in her works and repeats many characters. I am a big fan of the content and concept behind Choi's work. She gives the viewers an insight into her imagination and it's absolutely phenomenal in there. Her color schemes are cohesive and beautiful, and I adore how vibrant her work is. Furthermore, the fact that she has explored this content in many different types of art shows how versatile she is as an artist, and it's so cool to see the same idea translated across different medium. Perhaps one of her more well known works is "Live Free and Fly," which was painted in 2015. It is acrylic on stretched canvas and features all of the characteristics of her body of work. Looking at this work reminds me of a 1980s diner aesthetic smashed together with a 1950s commercial billboard. I love the dots and think that it makes the work very cohesive although it does give me a little trypophobia. My favorite aspect of this work is definitely the surrealist feel of it. She expertly weaves realistic painting with crazy patterns, characters, and ideas. "Live Free and Fly" is part of a greater body of work and they are bound together by similar motifs and color schemes. Perhaps the only negative attribute of this work in my opinion is the slightly transparent and smaller people going into the distance near the center of the work. Some of them are translucent, which I think makes the colors look a little murky in that area. Furthermore, the dots are a little overwhelming on the clothing of these characters. Progress Post #4 - October 5, 201810/4/2018 I FINISHED! Well, one canvas at least. I had a bit of struggle painting the background because it was very hard to cover the red colored pencil with yellow paint and you can still sort of see the marks but I think it gives the work a little character. It took a long time to finish and I had to rework a bunch of stuff, but I think it looks pretty good? At least from far away. I PUT THE SCREW EYES IN THE WRONG WAY THE FIRST TIME AROUND! AND I AM STILL MAD ABOUT IT! I think the composition of this piece is still a little off if only in the placing of the goats, but I am overall satisfied with how this is going.
author.jacqueline. she/her. senior. virginia, usa. art v. archives.
March 2020
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