1/18/2014 0 Comments Artsy.netHave you been on Artsy.net?
This is a question I wish I had answered "yes" to a long time ago. If you are the kind of person who loves art and wants to expand your knowledge of the world, this is the obsession for you. I honestly can't remember how I learned about Artsy, but since then I have somewhat relied on it for my doses of sanity (when daily life seems to go up in smoke), of inspiration and of reminiscence (I sometimes find myself missing those days of inhaling cups of coffee and meticulously studying and analyzing for my UW Art History classes). Like every other social media site, Artsy lets you customize your profile. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, however, this one customizes according to your artistic personal interests and future learning endeavors. There is a tremendously wide range of media as well as a large selection of museums/galleries, as you can actually see photos of how particular art pieces are displayed in these venues--this gives the art fanatic a chance to keep their mind open and eyes searching for that unexpected hit of inspiration to come onto the screen. You can basically do the following three things on Artsy: Look at art you like, explore the art you may have never heard of or conceptualized, and write about art. I personally find the third to be the most exciting part about Artsy. You can really tell here that it is a website open to all perspectives. You have the chance to get your voice out in the art universe and perhaps to foster productive and flourishing conversation. Here is the link, which not surprisingly is www.artsy.net. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Much love, ~~MC
0 Comments
4/13/2013 0 Comments Art as a Meditative PauseArt is calming. When gazing upon the subtle tone of blue whose only weight comes from the brushwork done by the artist, you feel the world come to a standstill as you begin to focus on nothing other than the silent music of the piece.
Or, art is not calming. Rather, it is confusing, saddening, or prone to put you on edge. It stirs a fire in you that you didn't know existed, perhaps by the intense reds on the canvas or by the controversial message delivered by what sculpture is standing forcefully in your presence. Personally, art gives me a sense of peace. Since the first time I stepped in an art museum years ago, I have been aware of the tremendous effect that the atmosphere has on me. It seems like the world outside of the entrance doors ceases to exist, and that the inner silence within the white (or any other color, depending on the aesthetic taste of the curator for the exhibition) walls of the space lends safety and security. The art pieces encourage the viewer to stop for a moment, in the midst of the endless demands and requirements of daily life, and face inward in order to contemplate on his/her current intellectual and artistic state of mind. There is a certain meditative aspect to this, because when you focus on this part of the brain, it allows you to expand your thinking and openly welcome the various perspectives that emerge through the canvases. How do you react to art? What thought process do you go through when you walk in an art museum or gallery space? I would love to hear your opinions! ~~MC What do you think an art museum should look like?
Perhaps it was my longing to become a museum curator that made me come up with this question, but it's also that I've been drawn lately by a curiosity to know what people think of art museums. There's the Getty Museum, Le Louvre, and the EMP (Experience Music Project, in Seattle Center) for instance. They exhibit various forms of art whose expressions last through time, but each museum does so in a distinct way. With the Getty's highly sophisticated look of a modern architectural style where the smoothly-rendered walls stretch far into the sky, one's eyes will linger over the paintings and sculptures with a strong sense of aesthetic appreciation. There is such a rich, dense history within each piece, and not just by the dates printed on the captions, but also by what is purely tangible, the little details that are at times easily overlooked--the delicate edges of the stone sculptures, so precious because they appear about to fragment mercilessly at any moment; the sweeping contours of brushstrokes projecting slightly out of the canvas, strokes left by a painter who had wished to leave us with this secret masterful technique that created his painting into what it's been all these years... Each tiny detail contributes to the grand statement of how infinitely valuable and worthy of preservation the museum's wisely aging pieces are. However, looking at Le Louvre, it has an even deeper and more recognizable history than the Getty. With its overwhelming size and decorative intricacy dictated by the traditional French palace architecture since the Renaissance, the entire building must be called a masterpiece all on its own. The pieces themselves have not only come from the Western world (Greek and Roman antiquities, furniture and objets d'art, etc.) that is so popular in art museums and the public eye, but also from the depths, rolling hills and seas of places that deserve just as much attention--Ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian antiquities, as well as Islamic Art. What distinguishes the museum even more from the Getty is the fact that it houses the pieces that have over the years stood as uniquely ground-breaking definitions of memorable works of art, such as da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the beautiful and sensuous Venus de Milo statue. That said, it is undeniable that without the valuable piece of history Le Louvre stands for, the word "art" wouldn't have as much of the color of life and diversity that it's wrapped itself around through all the years. With the EMP, it is honestly difficult to compare it to the Getty and Le Louvre, because of the extreme shift to the type of art this museum exhibits. It does not show the highest successes by Michelangelo or the highlights of Picasso, but it instead declares the sure achievements of musical legends like Jimi Hendrix. When you walk into the museum, you will be instantly surrounded by a modern aura radiating through the towering and curving walls and the vivid, glowing colors, as well as technologically advanced ways to allow moving music to catch your attention (for example, having a giant projection screen in one room that shows videos with music blended with scenes of cityscapes). You will be led by stairs, ramps, and turning paths to various exhibits, one of which tells the history of guitar amplification through displaying a 1770s Italian guitar, and going all the way to guitars that were played as the main vehicles of rock 'n' roll. All these artifacts that you will encounter are precious remnants of the evolution and bottomless pool of music, where styles have mixed and blended into each other, while other colors of sound have spun and molded into what have become true definitions of music shared by the entire world. This is what I admire most by the EMP, which is why I decided in my mind to almost put the museum in a compartment of its own, separate from the visual world preserved by the Getty and Le Louvre. This is not to say that I don't admire the visual arts, because I definitely do! There is nothing better than to stand in front of a painting with wonder and awe, watch how the evident brushstrokes curve and overlap each other to blend the colors with ageless versatility, and try to answer the inevitable question of how this piece of work survived the hardships of time and now looks just as much of a masterpiece as it did in the beginning. And despite this drastic differences in art form between the three art museums, it is safe to say that all three state the same theme: that the big names like Picasso and Nirvana had used their unique visions and motivations to redefine the world around them, and in turn to redefine the art form they had immersed themselves in--and these museums are willing to take every little bit of their architecture, organization of the art, lighting, and all the other features, and turn it into the reenactment of the change that those names had created at the time. So if I were to answer the question, What do you think an art museum should look like?, I would say it can look like anything, because Nirvana's biggest hits were not meant for the same part of the outside world as Michelangelo's David statue. No two pieces of art (or genres of art) can interact with the outside world in one way; since an art museum is to mirror whatever painting/sculpture/guitar it wishes to exhibit, its final look would as a result be different with Nirvana versus Michelangelo. What do you think? How would you answer the question? Please let me know, because my curiosity is practically boiling over! :) I'm all (pig) ears... ~~MC 5/9/2011 0 Comments The Most Natural ThingRecently, my friend and I took an adventurous two bus rides from the campus to the Seattle Asian Art Museum. It was part of a written assignment we had due the following Monday (aka, today!!) for our Indian Art class, where we had to look at three sculptural pieces extracted from Hindu temples and develop our perceptions of them. But really, to me it was also an exciting opportunity to visit the museum, since it was my first time there as it also defied my expectations.
To be honest, the striking impression I got from the museum had little to do with the artwork inside. Rather, it involved the ambiance. Before I visited SAAM, I had this image in my head that it was very similar to or pretty much the same as the Seattle Art Museum...I imagined the bustling streets with hoards of people streaming past the large modern-looking windows, as the peace of one's walk through the museum's exhibits would be occasionally interrupted by the honking sounds of cars outside. But as my friend and I approached the wide sweeping green of grass outside SAAM filled with freshly-bloomed tulips and the light scatter of sculptures gleaming in the afternoon sunlight, I felt the drastic difference between the two Seattle museums. Instead of being a museum almost completely lost and ignored in the crowded streets of Downtown Seattle, SAAM was in a quiet, park-like location; it was as if the museum was stating that it came out of nature just as much as what was surrounding it (the tulips, the sunlight...)--As if the art that it carried with it was the most natural thing in the world, as something to be greatly appreciated as much as when you watch the Sun rise on a memorable summer morning, taking in all the smells and sounds of the season you don't want to fleet from you. As you can probably tell, I love art museums. And although I unfortunately go not as often as I'd like, it's nice sometimes just to think about how one feels while walking inside, to get a taste of the atmosphere I found during my first time at the SAAM. Happy Monday, and enjoy everything that comes to you (or that you go to...by bus perhaps...:) )! ~~MC |
Archives
January 2016
CategoriesAll Acrylic Art Gallery Art History Art Is Everywhere Artistic Inspiration Art Museum Charcoal Dance Drawing Film Greek Sculpture Music Musicals Music Video Painting Pastel Photography Pinterest Poem Street Art Watercolor |