15- Final Response: Blog

15- Final Response: Blog

Jennifer Jeong

 

            I first signed up for this class because of its title- Sculpture and the Public Imagination. My works mostly consisted of three dimensional paintings and drawings therefore I wanted to get an actual hold of information on other sculptors and sculptures. I hadn’t really had an idea of what was out there at least with the sculptures now. When I first started going to class, I thought it was going to be just a boring lecture in the classroom looking at sculptures on the PowerPoint. However, that thought came to an end pretty soon. We had more field trips then we had class and I enjoyed and learned so much more from just that experience. I also got to actually learn famous and amazing sculptors whom I never even knew of.

            When we did have class, the class was never boring. Our professor made everything interesting and got a lot of the students involved. I thought the class had a very good back and forth discussions and it was really nice having discussions about our weekly blog posts. I also enjoyed having reading leaders because we were not listening to what our professor just had to say but from another point of view from the chosen student. I was glad to have shared my thought when I had to do the readings for Maurizio Cattelan. I think the blog posts helped more to get to know the works at the field trip more because I had to dig deeper to write about them. However, it did get a little hard to keep up with them from time to time.

            Even with the challenge of getting up real early on a Friday morning, I really enjoyed the Noguchi Museum visit, MoMa, the Highline, and the lower Manhattan trip. The highlight of this class was I think the visit to the Noguchi Museum. I never even knew there was such museum in New York. Although the museum was a bit far, I fell in love with the peaceful atmosphere as soon as I entered the museum. This gave me a different perception on museums and how it could be a private space of an artist. This class actually gave me a chance to appreciate and learn about sculptures that we pass by everyday without any acknowledgment. I learned how site-specificity is important to the sculptures also. I also felt that the site could affect the sculpture either negatively or positively.  

            An issue that we discussed in class was the relationship between sculptures and the public. I thought the main issue was how public sculptures were exposed to the public yet most times exposed very unsuccessfully. I could not find one proper signage at the Highline or the lower Manhattan sculptures for example and I thought that this was very upsetting because public sculptures can have so much more potential for educating the people if it is done the right way. I had a friend who lived right on Wall street and never knew what the sculptures were and who they were by. Also I have been to the Highline a number of times but it was during the field trip when I noticed that I had passed by more than half of them without knowing they were even pieces by a group of artists. I believe that the public sculptures when poorly publicized and labeled could make art a waste because nobody cares because they do not understand why it is there, or what it is. Now that I know that these problems are issues of public sculptures today, I immediately look for more information when I am passing by the sculptures. Now that I know, I want to understand and actually look out for the sculptures because I am used to it now.

            I think this class really opened my eyes to the public sculptures as well as sculptures that have been around in history and today. I believe my apathy towards whatever information there is for sculptures turned in to acknowledgement and interest. I’ve been to so many places to look at art this semester and hopefully I could continue my blog about my findings throughout New York.

14: The High Line!!

14: The High Line!!

I have been to the High Line quite a few times now but I honestly have never noticed the arts at the Highline except for the ones next to the benches. Last time I’ve been there, I was too busy eating lunch and watching Katie Holmes and Suri Cruz just chill next to me with mad paparazzi taking photos. I have never been to the start to the end of the highline. I have only been to the middle area few blocks after and before the start and the end.

The art at the Highline was somewhat “eh” despite its great purpose and site. I believe that New York really needed that Highline and it was a very smart idea to transform the old railroad tracks. However, the art at the high line was like going on a scavenger hunt. Our class even though looking at the map just went right past the sculptures and had to go back and half the time, we were wondering, “is that it?” “We found it!” It was hard even with the map our professor kindly printed and provided us.

Since the map of where all the art is located at the very beginning of the highline, I don’t even think that people could actually even know that there are permanent and temporary art up for display. I think the main problem is in the signage. Since most of these sculptures are site specific, the sculptures are made for that particular space. Since this is a park, without a signage, people are most likely to just walk right past by is because it somehow blends in with the setting and the place of the art works. The worst one to find was the Virginia Overton’s “Untitled” which I wrote a blog about before this one. Nobody would have known unless they studied the map real closely that there was a sculpture of a truck located in the parking lot that is up for view next to the Highline for the people at the park. Again, no big signage of that anything is in display. What is really sad is that there is signage on every art but it is just made to camouflage with the rails and does not grab any attention what so ever.

Other sculptures that were hard to find was Spencer Finch’s The “River That Flows Both Ways” located at the Chelsea Market Passage. They are window panels each with different shades of the river. If it would have not been on the map, honestly, I wouldn’t have thought it was part of their art collection. I think this is because this work blends perfectly in with the architectural building on the side.

Highline also had small sculptures, which was their “Lilliput”series of placing very small “Gulliver world like” sculptures. Two other sculptures were really hard to find which was the 22inch urban guy sculpture by Tomoaki Suzuki named “Carson.” I think this was because the signage was really small and behind the tiny sculpture. The other one was Allyson Vierira’s “Construction” which was bronze paper cups.

I think signage is a very important part of site-specific art because it either blends in with the setting or it pops out. The only signage I could see before I saw the artwork was of El Anatsui’s “Broken Bridge II” although the signage looked temporary. I feel like if the art is specified as “Public Art” and it is for the Public to see it, then that place has to try to grab attention to let the public know that such art work is on display with maps in the middle and attention grabbing signage. I think it is also a challenge because it is a park and people are having their leisure time. Overall, it was a great trip and it was a good last field trip to end my sculpture art history class. It was my first time going from start to the end of the park and with that said, now I know where to find art at the Highline!

 

13 Free Blog: LEE JAEHYO

13- Free Blog: Lee Jaehyo

I am obsessed with the works of Lee Jaehyo. His work arranges from wood to steel and stone. Every time I look at his work, it makes me wonder on how someone could create such a thing.

A lot of his works are in hotels around the world and I have seen some at the W in Korea a lot. My favorites are the wooden pieces. Lee cuts the trunk of the wood to create organic shapes. His doughnut shapes also reminded me of Noguchi’s marble piece at the Noguchi museum in Queens.

Born in 1965, Lee is a Korean born artist. All of his pieces are made of natural materials that come from the earth. What really interest me are the shapes of his sculptures. They are mostly all organic and this is why I think a lot of the hotels have his works permanently installed in the lobby and in their interiors. The organic shapes juxtaposed with natural materials bring serene sense of ambiance to its surroundings.

His furniture pieces, which I wish to own someday, are also fun to look at and surprisingly look very comforting even though they are made out of wood. They look very modern despite the fact that they are made out of trunks of trees, even more modern than fancy chairs made today out of synthetic materials. His stone and steel pieces are also AMAZING.

I believe Lee’s pieces work also because of its scale and how they are installed. They are very large and just amazing to look at. I wish I could own everything and all his pieces are breathtaking to look at!!!

12: Off to Lower Manhattan!

Blog 12: Sculptures @ Lower Manhattan

We met at the Louise Nevelson Plaza to explore the Wall Street area early Friday Morning. Friday morning field trips are the worse to get up to but once I get there, everything changes. It is worth every trip and I always learn plenty of new things about sculptures.

We made the pit stop at the Chase bank inside the plaza to see the Noguchi “Sunken Garden” fountain piece and after that, we went to the streets to see the Red Cube by Noguchi and the Di Suvero piece. The water was not running through the piece since it was winter, which makes me want to go see it again during the summer.

 

The Di Suvero piece is called “Joie de Vivre” which is right in the middle of the Zucotti Park. Zucotti Park was also the site of Occupy Wall Street last year.  Every time our professor mention how Di Suvero was crippled yet managed to build such large steel sculptures always amaze me.  

 

I would have never thought that Noguchi made the “Red Cube” by just looking at it. I think it is mainly because I’ve been to the Noguchi museum with the class and his stone sculptures look nothing like the futuristic, geometric, and contemporary red cube in the middle of the skyscrapers.

 After this, we went to the Trinity Church graveyard and went down to Ground Zero to see the 9/11 memorial. Going down there is always gives me lots of emotions. I have not been there since the memorial waterfall was finished. The waterfall fountain was the exact diameter of the twin towers. It was very large in size and very peaceful. There were names of the lost ones where we could touch them and the piece was so beautiful yet very sad and upsetting. The sound really played a big part in this memorial because the sound of the waterfall made everything very peaceful.

Even though it was really cold outside, the trip was worth it. I always passed by these sculptures without knowing who made them but looking at them this past trip made me realize that I pass by so many things without knowing that they are there. After this trip, I went over to my friend’s apartment to eat lunch located at Wall and Water Street and told her about the sculptures near her house. I was surprised to hear that she didn’t know any of them really even though she lived right next to them. This also made me think how important signage is to public sculptures as well.

Blog 11: Virginia Overton’s “Untitled”

Blog 11: I could not make it to the trip to Dia: Beacon due to emergencies so I am really regretting that. Hopefully I will make a trip there before this year.  I went to the link on the LMS http://www.nycgovparks.org/art and decided to write about the public sculptures on display in New York currently.

I chose Brooklyn based artist Virgina Overton’s “Untitled” piece at the High line Park. What the piece is a pick up truck on top of Edison Park Fast stacked parking lot. The pick up truck has bricks filled on the bed of the truck and it is located on the very top of the stack.

 

I found out that Overton works a lot with pick up trucks in her works. She uses raw and found objects and recycled items in her works. Her pick up truck series usually have different materials in the bed of the truck usually located in a site-specific location.

 

This piece is located on West 20^th street and could be seen from the platform of the stairs.  This piece is presented by the Friends of the High Line and it is part of the commission of the park. This piece is on display from September 13- Spring 2013. This piece is really easy to miss because it is not “part” of the High Line and is part of the parking lot next to the High Line. If it wasn’t for the sculpture map provided by our Professor, we would not have found this or even knew such sculpture existed. The truck piece blends right in with the other cars in the stacked parking lot and the viewer has to look down from the attached platform to see the truck. I also wondered if the parking fee was part of the commission because it is a lot of money to park there or if the owner of the parking lot let them park the truck free. I also wondered if the stack parking lot moved, if the workers had to place the truck to the very top again so people would be able to see it better.

 

I think this piece was very unique because it was art blended in with the environment. However, I wish that this piece could have better signage for example some big stand up sign by the platform. Even with the map it was so hard to find and I took some guesses where this parking lot was based on the thumbnail picture of the truck on the map.