Chelsea Visit

Enoc Perez
Enoc Perez did several paintings of modern architecture. He uses some method that takes the glossiness out of his paint. It makes the paint look dry matte and kind of caked on. I think this helps relay his view of the false optimism of this kind of architecture. I like his use of stark teal blue for a night sky and piss yellow for mid-day sun.

Maya Lin
Lin had three big installations, two of wood and one of wire. The biggest one is a large hill made of two by four standing on end. They increase in high from the outer edge to the center. The other wooden installation consisted of multiple wooden panels placed standing up one after another. These also indicate increase and decrease in level or degree. The panels are cut into square bases and placed in a grid formation. The wire installation gives the same sensation of increasing and decreasing depth but it is a gradual, linear increase or decrease using bent wire suspended above the viewer's head. She seems to be inspired by topographical maps.

Barthelemy Tuguo
This show contained a wide range of mediums, he had inks, photos, a video, an instillation and a performance. His work seems to be charged with some type anger. His drawings consist of contorted red and black figures. His video shows him flipping a log or something like that across a city. His installation creates a bizarre living space of beds with suitcases on them. The floor was also lines with card board boxes that are used to ship fruit. All of his works seem to have the feel of a performance. There were photos on the wall with stories behind each one. One was a picture of three wooden suitcases that he traveled with one day because he was tired of being "randomly" searched while trying to fly. All of his work also seem to have this dark sense of humor.

Seven Days in the Art World

The Auction
This first chapter was a little too much. The author started the book off with intensity of a christie's auction. It seems that once you go high enough the art world is moved by a relativly small group of people. I have always thought it was this way but i have never read a first hand account. The world of famous art and artist is suprisingly fluid and the reputation and price of an artist's work can deminish because of something like a rumor. I suppose its something that must be put up with if you are fortunate enough to gain that kind of notoriaty.

The Crit
This chapter shows the reader what grad school for the arts is like. She talks about the crit, which is an 8 hour event where each grad student displays his or her work in front of the rest of the class. It gives the student a chance to explain his or her work. I think this is a good practice if you are getting good responses from your peers which is not always so. I like the way she decribed the students as they were ariving and getting into thier poses. This was a good chapter for students in our position as we are about to graduate. It shed some like, for me atleast on what grad school will be like.

Alex Bagg's video

I thought that Alex Bag was a great performer. The movie consisted of eight video journal entries separated by these surreal videos. The movie has a lot to do with the notion of being bored and easily distracted and how it might effect an art student. I think she touches on a real problem my generation has. Which is a severely damaged ability to pay attention to anything for a substantial amount of time. I think that information has become too readily available and people have lost the ability to retain it.

Bucket of Blood

Yea so i though the way the movie showed us different aspects of the art world was clever, but it also made the art world seem like grammar school. There were a group of people who were already established as being good or cool, and what ever they approved of instantly became successful. I just didn't like that fact. However, i do often feel like a mentally handicapped busboy trying to impress an asshole poet.