Module 12

Sienna Russo

1. Explain why you selected each of the TWO videos you choose from the selection listed above.

The first video on Isamu Noguchi: The Sculpture of Spaces was intriguing because of the title mostly. I am interested in aspects of design, especially when concerning spaces. I think that seeing and recognizing how to arrange matter in space is a very important skill to have as an artist. I personally don't know a lot about sculpture, so this was an interesting concept to learn about. I do not know enough about sculpture or artists who have been successful, so I wanted to pick this one to know more.

For the second video on Andy Warhol, I found fascination in his before and wanted to know more. I think that he was just a sensation in the art world and any chance I get to know more, I will take it and run. I am intrigued to know more about this artist, his work and how he became so successful. His concept and process of work is the most compelling. I am currently taking a Fibers class and absolutely love fibers, this is another reason why I wanted to watch this video.

2. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

Main points of the video circulate around the natural world, its materials and the way that nature flows and interacts with all living things. Noguchi sculpts with the natural world for inspiration. He thinks of sculpture in terms of space and time, versus what paintings provides. He saw stone gardens in Japan that were seen as sculpture to him, this would be a big part of how he arranges his sculptures. He makes a space, where time affects his sculptures in a specific place or garden, they reflect what he experienced in Japan.

He learned carpentry at the age of thirteen from a Japanese, he then became a typical American. He went to New York from an nonexistent family. He then got an internship with the Guggenheim and then returned back to New York. He made a lot of heads and then would get involved with theatre, watching woman dancing. He viewed the stage as a space to where work would be made, Japanese and portraits would be incorporated within these spaces. The city of Miami hired him to design a park, designed a plaque on press building, red cube in manhattan, garden in California, Granite sculpture in Seattle and many other sculptures. There was political issues on the topic of ten million more needed by the artist to complete what he wanted but the city did not have the funding. He wanted the library to be knocked down and a larger commission by the city, so the library was demolished.

He believed that art should not be just in museums, it can be non representational and opened. This idea reflected his work of the black slide the most, it was also an interactive piece that could be used in real life. He enjoyed making playgrounds. There were examples in Jerusalem by Billy Jose, he was asked by him to make a place of tranquility. Circular spheres make up the walkway throughout the garden. There should always be a relationship between man and sculptures. He was able to transform places that were even on steep slopes, he would intertwined his work with the natural world. Overall there was a lot of intertwining between Japanese beliefs and the sculpture that Noguchi produces.

Andy Warhol: Images of an image video was based upon his art and his beliefs on fine arts. His work was based on portraits repeated over and over again, one example is ten Lizes. This was painted by Andy Warhol and he always said that he wanted to be a dancer. Colleagues intrigued his urge to create artwork with his involvement in the magazine world. Mass produced products were at their height during this time. Marilyn Monroe's death urged him to take her picture, used silk screening and this image would make him famous. He would play around with color, simplicity, scale,iconic people and repeat these images. He would play on current actors, actresses and reacted with the public to produce art that was relatable. Liz was a huge sensation in cinema during this time, Andy would produce many images that reflected her life and the relationships she had or would make.

He would enlarge images, play with contrast, paint fills the mesh of a silk screen, exposed to light with the image inside, rinsed the screen and then ink would be placed on the screen transferring the image on paper. This can be translated as many times as he wishes. He then would play with colleague with faces and mass produced objects such as soup cans. He would play with the idea of reproduction by making multiple of the same images. This reflects consumers products in a capitalist society in relation to Warhol’s art. Warhol produced many variations of Mona Lisa and Jackie Kennedy. The factory wasa the hangout of New York artists for parties and his studio. He published his own magazine about actors and actresses, made a film in Rome and became well known in the cinema world. He used polaroids, transforming them into prints on silkscreen and then added elements to them with paint.

By this time Warhol is extremely well known in the portrait world and was highly wanted. Andy would make multiple examples of self portraits, makinghimslef the main subject of his work. He was a journalist about current, important events in history. He became essential in the history of Americas. Although he would have an interest in the disillusionist, he always returned to the portrait.

2. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

The text goes into great detail about Andy Warhol in the text referring to the modern art. I thought that the video provided more about the artists concerning the people that Andy Warhol chose to make portraits about. I thought that Andy Warhol's interest of theatre was explained very well in the video but not as much in the text. I thought that the text talked a lot about mass production and his piece on Campbells, chicken noodle soup concept where the video focused on portraits. As for the Isamu Noguchi, the sculptor was mentioned in the text on page 118, referring to his “Red Cube”. This sculptor focuses on balance and visual weight with matter in space. There was a little section on him, not as much as on Andy Warhol.

3. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?

The first video was interesting and made all necessary points about the artists to understand him and his work. The video talks a lot about his upbringing, his concept and inspirations for his work. To be completely honest, once I saw the video on Andy I liked it a lot more. I thought that this video gave a lot of information and insight about all the projects that he accomplished.

The second video, I absolutely loved. This video was informative, gave so much personal information that I already did not know and a sense of him as a human being. I think that this video was a perfect reflection of his work. This video was extremely interesting and kept my interest the entire time. As for this video, I thought it was amazing and I have a lot of valuable information about Warhol now.