Final Project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1r_DB3J5dc


Final project: For my final project, I created a video of myself in 3 different locations. First was on the steps of the knowledge center, my apartment and lastly by the river. For the project I wanted to depict the feeling of someone who is about to graduate. In the video, I was smoking by the steps and by the river. And I was throwing old stuff away. This video was inspired by the movie, "Reality Bites." In the movie, they create a documentary of their life after graduation. This final project was my version except I was documenting myself a week before graduation. The meaning of the video is saying goodbye to Reno. The river was my favorite place in Reno. The steps of the school was my ode to saying goodbye to UNR. I personally like to donate old stuff, and I was depicting a real part of myself. Donating old things is one of the things I'm going to do before I move out. And smoking is the biggest part of the project because cigarettes signify my time in UNR and how it is about to end. Cigarettes was also the thing that helped me survive college in my opinion. The costume I wore was to encompass all of the messages I was trying to say.

Response to Heidegger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzRVBnPYGdo

Response to Heidegger: For this project, I wanted to response to Heidegger. He says we make the original meaning of something lose something because we compound it. He also said that we should reject technology, but accept it. And I agree with that in a sense. If you embrace technology and accept it to a fault, there can be consequences. There are also dark sides to technology and my project depicted that through the subject of human trafficking. Human trafficking is prevalent and has now found its way to social media. My projects that as my project emphasizes what exactly can happen in the Internet besides its use for communication. In the video, you will see how human trafficking expires and the overall arch of the dangers of the Internet.  

Artist Lectures and Artist Exhibitions

Luiza Benisano

ART 350s

Clint Sleeper

May 7, 2015

Artist Lecture

            For my artist lecture, I chose to go to Joel Swanson’s artist talks. Joel Swanson’s artist works played with the use of letters. I liked his play of words for his artist work because I never realized the importance of letters, how it denotes messages and how personal and impersonal it can be depending on how the sender uses it.

            On his work “Wish you were here,” he found a letter that had the title of his work on the letter that he scanned and printed on a wall vinyl. I thought it was such a great art work because, in one’s lifetime, people are going to receive letters from somebody important to them and I don’t think people really internalize the letters that were written to use to convey a message to them. And Joel Swanson does that perfectly.

            On his work “Ampersand,” he wrote full ampersands on a 13 x 13 wall. It took him days to complete it. On the top wall, he used a ladder to complete an ampersand and on the bottom wall, he had to lay down to complete the ampersand. His other work called “Homophone,” the words right, write, rite are all interweaved and so every letter are a reflection of each other.

            Overall, I really like his work. I thought it was different and eye opening. I have never paid attention to letters and he opened my eyes to that. I want to be able to be introspective of letters because it has so much meaning behind it without people even realizing it. His work is unique and a one-of-a-kind artist who explores the usage of letters.

Luiza Benisano

ART 350s

Clint Sleeper

May 7, 2015

Artist Lecture

            For my artist lecture, I chose to go to Terry Marshall’s talk. Terry Marshall said that a lot of his artwork is inspired by X-Men’s Storm. I thought his artwork was very interesting because it is dedicated to African-Americans in light of lives lost such as Trayvon Martin, etc.

            When he did his artist talk, a lot of young African-American kids had recently died in the hands of men with guns. His talk was emphasizing that all lives matter and that black lives matter. A lot of his work was dedicated to this issue. A sample of his artwork was titled “Black Body Survival Guide.” The Black Body Survival Guide is a book full of tips on how not to get killed if you are an African-American. One of the tips in the book says, “Hands up and always look happy.” This book is supposed to experiment with social justice.

            He also founded Intelligence Mischief in 1995. Their “Hack Lab” is used to engage in conversation about civic engagement. Their purpose is to help low income communities to solve social problems.

            Overall, I really appreciate Terry Marshall’s artwork. I like how he has the talent to incorporate his social work for a social cause. I also like his artwork because he incorporates the identity of African-Americans to his artwork and he reiterates and stresses the importance of their lives. The message of his artwork after all is: black lives matter.

Luiza Benisano

Art 350s

Clint Sleeper

Artist Exhibitions

            For my artist review, I chose Tehching Hsieh’s work for review. His work is titled “One Year Performance” in which he dedicates a year of his life to do enduring performances. His performances accompanied his personal statements, which are rules of what he can and cannot do within the performance taking place. His first “one year performance” was from 1978 to 1979 in which he was to be in solitary confinement in a cell-room for a year. In this performance he deprived himself from having any human interaction or technological use. Food was the only source he was allocated. His second “one year performance” was from 1980 to 1981. In this performance, he punched a time clock every hour for one year. He had to come back for every hour in the studio for an hour. The last “one year performance” he did was from 1981 to 1982. In this performance, he had to stay outdoors for a whole year. He could not go in to a building, subway, train, car, airplane, ship, cave or a tent. He only had a sleeping bag for a whole year. I think his series of one year performances were rigorous. In my opinion, doing an artist performance takes a lot of dedication to art. Teching Hsieh’s dedication to art however, is to the extremes. I do however, enjoyed his work a lot because it almost tackles the essence of time. Time is something that is so fleeting that nobody can really encapsulate what happens in one’s life in a year. He on the other hand, was able to successfully encapsulate the essence time through his series of his performances. Along with his performances, he took a picture of himself every day to be able to record the change of time. Overall, I thought his work of art was successful because I think he was able to experiment with art while incorporating his life into it. 

Luiza Benisano

Art 350s

Clint Sleeper

Artist Review

            For my artist review, I chose artist Renee Byer’s work for review. Renee Byer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning documentary photojournalist for The Sacramento Bee. Her exhibit, “Living on a Dollar a Day” depicts the struggles of people who live in extreme poverty. Renee Byer traveled to ten countries worldwide to be able to take photographs of the daily struggles of people. She traveled from Bolivia to Africa. A lot of the photographs of people she took had a background story of their struggles. One of the most poignant photographs she took was of a boy cleaning in up a dump site in India, and behind the photograph was a little girl defecating not too far away from the boy. Other photographs include of a child herding alpacas and llamas in Bolivia. Alvaro Quispe, a 9-year-old boy helps his family survive following the death of his father by herding. Another photograph titled “Working to Survive” depicts Fati, an 8-year-old searching for anything she can find in a waste dump so she can exchange in for pennies in order to survive. Another photograph in her exhibit is titled “Children Helping Children” in which a little boy named Vishal Singh, 6, cares for a baby girl while her mother is away in a slum in South Delhi, India. I think Renee Byer’s art work is inspiring because it spreads awareness of how people can live in such extreme conditions. I personally, come from a third world country myself and I think it’s admirable that she utilizes her art work through spreading awareness for a cause. I also find her art work beautiful in that she uses real subjects, subjects of children and people living in such poor conditions and fighting for survival. To be able to encapsulate real issues and to be able to tell a story using art work through photographs is great work. And a great form of art. 

           

3D Model Project

Artist statement: I referenced a house for my 3D model project. I decided to use video images of places where I used to live to symbolize that I have moved everywhere and don't necessarily have just one place that I call home. It's also a nod to my current situation because I am graduating in less than 3 weeks and Im still in the process of finding out what my new "home" will be.

3D Model Project

Chromakey exercise

Artist Statement: Response to Heidegger

Artist statement:

My artist statement is a response to two excerpts I've read from Heidegger. One point the reading makes is that to a certain degree we should reject technology, but Heidegger is not totally opposed to technology. I personally agree with that statement because I am not opposed to technology, but I reject it to a certain extent. The video I made illustrates the pitfalls and dangers of misuse of technology when we don't reject it and its grave consequences.

The second response to my project is a part in the reading when Heidegger says that when you add something on to something, the original purpose of that something loses its meaning.

My response in that aspect was that technology has a lot of great uses, but experiencing things firsthand has lost its meaning because we can now experience everything through technology.

We are essentially adding something onto something and in turn, that something (technology) is losing its original purpose and meaning. 

Lightbox

For the light box project I used this image. I enjoy making collages because they have a subliminal message but a strong one because they are represented in the images. I saw the use of the light box as a means to put light into something that I thought mattered. That to me was the image of a collage I created. This collage has significant meaning because in the past I sent it to local politician. This imagery is something I want to put light on because it conveys an important issue to me. Human trafficking. I truly believe this issue is silent in that nobody talks about it or thinks it's a worthy cause to fight against. I thought the use of the light box was a perfect way to convey the message that I want human trafficking to be put to light.

 

Monochromatic color

For the project, I chose to do a collage. The project was to install art work into the gallery. The common theme was monochromatic color. I chose the color red because I thought it was vibrant. I chose to do a collage because I like making collages. My collage consisted of collecting images from a magazine. I collected a series of images from a magazine that embodied the color red. I've come to find that a lot of advertisers use the color red to advertise their product because research shows that consumers are more drawn to the color red. This projects was my play onto that. The color red sells
. All the images I used are all from advertisements I found in one magazine.

Society of the Spectacle

Society of the Spectacle was created a Marxist theorist named Guy Debord. This text was important in the situationist movement. The article plays into the everyday life. Sociologists suggest that everyday life is not here or is open for interpretation. It could mean whatever it can mean. Here is the summary from the text:

“I have just said that the reality of an observable entity designated by the term "everyday life" stands a good chance of remaining hypothetical for many people. Indeed, the most striking feature of the present "Group for Research on Everyday Life" is obviously not the fact that it has not yet discovered anything, but the fact that the very existence of everyday life has been disputed from its very inception, and increasingly so with each new session of this conference. Most of the talks we have heard so far have been by people who are not at all convinced that everyday life exists, since they haven't encountered it anywhere. A group for research on everyday life with this attitude is comparable in every way to an expedition in search of the Yeti, which might similarly come to the conclusion that its quarry was merely a popular hoax.

To be sure, everyone agrees that certain gestures repeated every day, such as opening doors or filling glasses, are quite real; but these gestures are at such a trivial level of reality that it is rightly objected that they are not of sufficient interest to justify a new specialized branch of sociological research.” 

Another interesting quote I found is that “to fail to criticize everyday life today means accepting the prolongation of the present thoroughly rotten forms of culture and politics…” I thought this was an interesting read because prior to this reading, I never really questioned the meaning of everyday life. Now to me it can open for interpretation or hypothetical. He also makes a play at celebrities and how they are supposed to be regarded because they are a spectacular form of a human being. Pseudo-satisfaction is also something he states, which is a fleeting want or desire for something that is represented to be something meant for you but once you don’t like the product anymore, you will find something else. Reading this piece sends me a message to question everything parlayed in my “everyday life.”

Final 343 Performance piece

Luiza Benisano
Art 343
Final Project

For my final project, I chose to do a performance piece. Personally as an art student, I was curious to feel what it was like to do a performance piece. To be a performance artist. Throughout the semester I have seen artists in the likes of Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovic and Bas Jan Ader do performance pieces that evoked so much subliminal meaning that it was all up for open interpretation. It was interesting to me that a lot of their pieces did not involve them talking or be literate at all, and yet their piece conveyed so many messages. I believe that, that was a challenge in doing such a project. When creating the idea of my performance piece, I was advised to do something that had meaning. My original idea was that I wanted to do something inspired by Marina Abramovic and Yoko Ono. I gathered that their pieces often were violent-themed. On top of that, I had to blend the themes of the artists into the writing of Moyra Davey. Moyra Davey wrote Photographs and Accidents, which talks about the accidents of taking photographs and how viewers seek this imagery. This kind of imagery, although incites curious-ridden viewers, these are also the kind of images that are unseen. Initially, those were the ideas that I had to do a project. Violence and unseen. With those ideas in mind, I thought of a political issue I have always taken a stand in. It is a political issue that not too many people know or probably even talk about because there is a lot of misunderstood information. In the past, I have always wanted to shed a light on the issue because I am passionate about it. Towards brainstorming the idea for my project, I was pretty sure I wanted my subject to be about the political issue of human trafficking. My next challenge was putting those two pieces of ideas together. My plan was for my piece to convey two things. One was for me to personally experience what it is like to be violated. I somehow wanted to simulate what it felt like to be a victim of human trafficking and that interpretation to me is to be violated and controlled. Because I am so interested in the issue, I thought it would be best fitting for me to actually feel what it is like, as close as possible as I can. The other goal I had in mind was to have my audiences do things to me that in the process signifies that I am giving them control of what they want to do to me, which is a form of violation. I wanted to do something that they would not realize was a way of violating me. Overall, I was trying to simulate the experience of human trafficking the best way I can interpret it. I am fairly sure that those who partake it don’t even know the magnitude or that they are even partaking in human trafficking. A common misnomer about human trafficking is that the victims are consensual prostitutes seeking to make money, but instead are held ransom and would be beaten if they said otherwise. In my eyes, they are victims and I don’t think people see that. That is why I wanted the participating audience to not have a clue what they are doing and then figure out that in a way, although I asked them to do those actions, that in a way they still violated me. I came up with two contrasting ideas as to how I wanted to present my piece. The first was to intensify my vulnerability by having people cut off pieces of my shirt similar to Yoko Ono’s piece. The second piece was to ask the participating audience to put make up on me. I feel that those two actions are very significant in what women go through. On one hand, they are masking all the darkness and beautify themselves in hopes meeting the end goal, which is to meet somebody for the night. The next is what really takes place. Vulnerability. Baring and sharing yourself unwantedly with unfamiliar territory. That was my overall piece. The difficulty I found in doing the performance piece was that I was terrified! I was terrified for a lot of reasons. First, I was scheduled to perform first; second, I knew that I would be pressed for time and lastly, I was terrified. Because of all these contributing factors, I had only asked five people in the audience to participate and because of my nervousness, I rushed my performance. But overall, this project was the most risk-taking piece I have attempted. It terrified me to perform it, but I did. It was a good push for myself personally because even if it was so nerve wracking for me, it was important for me to able to convey my message that I deemed to be important. The end result of my piece was that nobody tore up my shirt, which was okay with me! And at least five women from the audience came up to put make up on me. The most distinct one was someone drew red lipstick across my nose, which made me look like my nose was bleeding. I would have preferred it, although nerve wracking, if someone did tear my shirt up so I could have accomplished my goal and that was to simulate vulnerability. I feel like my message would have been clearer if my other intention was also preceded. Overall, I am happy with my project. Even if it might have been unsuccessful, the success for me was that I was still able to have my piece and message conveyed to the audience. And also, I got to feel how nerve wrecking it is to perform an art piece for the audience. What I would do differently is take my time and not be too terrified so I can convey my message better. 

Final Project 345 Circuit-Bend

Luiza Benisano
Art 345
Final Project

December 17, 2014

            For my final project I chose to do circuit-bending. I chose this because I thought it was such an unconventional “art work” because circuit-bending has nothing to do with creativity, but it consists of you finding points to put together. I also wanted to try something new since I have never worked with a circuit board. Before doing the project we watched circuit bending videos made by artists and I thought it was so cool how you can mess with sound. My material was a pink teddy bear. I thought it was a fitting choice because it was inexpensive. I also really like teddy bears and wanted to work with something that I could give a personal touch. I also chose the bear because it emanated baby songs. This reminded me so much of my best friend who is due anytime. Initially it took me maybe 4 or 5 days to complete the work. In all honesty, I had no idea what I was doing at first. I think that is why it took me the longest time to figure it out. The starting point was to be able to take out the teddy and bear and disassemble the parts that was neatly tucked inside the teddy bear. Originally I was not sure that my project would be successful because prior to this project, I tried to circuit-bend and mini-toy car but I failed. It did not work at all. This final project was only my second try at circuit-bending. Thankfully, attaching the wires the jack was a success. The music of the teddy bear was transparent and working through the speakers. My next job was to find two points that I can short-circuit. On day one I was able to successfully find two points. I wasn’t all too great with soldering either so that took time too. Those first two points I created was similar to a switch as I had a dry run with it. The two points lit up by the switch of the buttons, meaning that the light would transfer by the switch of the button. The sound too would get warped as I would toggle the switch. With this first try, I thought a mini-switch was the most fitting to use so I soldered one on. The following day, it stopped working and I could not figure out why. I came to the conclusion after that it may just be that I created a permanent short-circuit. I had to unsolder the material. The result was that my two points did in fact create a permanent on and off switch so for those two points I had to use a button that adjusts the volume control, a potentiometer switch. For the other part of my work, I had to find other points to circuit-bend. I was able to find them eventually. For my other points I had to use mini volume control buttons, wheel potentiometer. The end result of that was that I had three buttons for functions. The switch potentiometer was used for turning up and turning down the volume, and the two wheel potentiometers were meant to mess with and distort the sound of the baby rhymes. That whole process approximately took me three days, which was not too bad. The difficulty that I had with making this project is that there are wires everywhere and so it is easy for them to get all tangled up, which probably explains why at one point the circuit board stopped working because the wire for the speaker got pulled out. Thankfully they worked after I soldered them back on. The most difficulty I had with the project was that it would seem that I would find two points to circuit-bend and so I solder them on only to find that they are not working at all. The whole process of creating circuit-bending work is that it is a hit or miss and a trial by error basis. I would have wired working one day only for me to find it not working the next. By the time I presented it for finals, only one wheel potentiometer was working. Fortunately, the switch potentiometer was still working as well. I performed it and it presented my ultimate goal, which was to warp the sound of the baby rhymes. In essence, I enjoyed making the project because I learned how to circuit-bend. I’ve also never seen the insides of toys that play music and light up and it so it was fun for me to mess around with it. My only regret with the project was not putting the circuit board back which made my work unaesthetically pleasing. My original idea for that was to put the two wheel potentiometers on each ear of the teddy bear and the switch potentiometer to be in front to make it look like the teddy bear’s penis to make it a humorous aesthetic. But then again, I’ve learned my lesson in that the wires and working with them is a hit or miss thing. I did not want to risk my whole project not working for the sake of putting it inside a teddy bear. Overall, I was pleased with the experience. My favorite part of doing this project was finally getting to master to solder without creating giant blobs for the wires to get lost on. I thought that whole process was the most artistic of all. This is personally something I would want to do as like a hobby. The sounds that I was able to create or warp I should say was incredibly creepy sounding baby rhymes. The points that I circuit-bended slowed down and warped the sound of the baby rhymes. It sounded like the rhymes were meant to scare you in my opinion. One thing I wish that worked with my material were the lights. Originally the bear would light up too, but I think from creating my first two points, which resulted in the volume, I ended up creating a permanent off-switch for the lights. If that had worked, it would have been more aesthetically pleasing and frightening, which was kind of my overall goal. Nevertheless, my material worked and I am pleased with the end result of the sound.

Dada Review

Luiza Benisano
Dada
Art 343

            The Dada exhibit I walked into was my favorite exhibit to visit. I was not really familiar with the Dada movement until I learned it recently in class. By my interpretation, the Dada movement is the anti-art, which means that it does not have to mean anything at all. Another way that I saw the Dada exhibit was that it was a form of anarchy in an artistic sense.

            The works displayed in the JOT Travis gallery exemplified much of that meaning behind the Dada movement. One work consisted of writings and painting with only the letter e, which of course did not resonate any meaning with me. I also watched a 2 minute video that had all kinds of imagery that didn’t really have a connection including the letter e.

            The work that stood out to me the most was a car door painted with the word “The same”. This piece actually consists of a car door, a painting and a photograph all meant to convey the importance of relationships. This piece was called “The Meeting” by Erik Burke. I liked his work so much that I ended up bringing home a poster that inspired his work. The image is two buses. One bus says, it is not the same and without you on the second. I rarely see art works that try to convey the importance of relationships, which is probably why I really enjoyed his work. Overall, the Dada was exhibit was aesthetically pleasing.  

Return of the Gold

Luiza Benisano
Return of the Gold
Art 343

            Return of the Gold is an exhibit made by Justin Maes. His exhibit is a series of art installations that consists of all kinds of animals from chickens, to fish, to cows. Some of the installations are paintings and some of them are glass installations. Other installations are sculptures. The common theme I found in all of them is that the animals in the installations seem to be so full of color, but the color gold emanates to the important body part for its function: the nose. Every nose or beak of the animal was color gold and that was the common theme I found. Maybe because it is a lifeline to be able to breathe, I figured that his piece

            His pieces included “The Son,” “The Spirit,” “Guidance and Direction,” “Almost Cotton,” “Chicken Feed,” “Golden Cactus,” and “Stay Gold.” I translated his work to be a celebration of himself as well seeing that his common themes were very westernized. He grew up in Nevada, which explains his common theme for the western pieces. The pieces that stood out to me the most was the chicken that emanated shadowy silhouettes. And also the sculpture of a bull with a golden nose.

            I interpreted his work to be a celebration of life because gold is considered of valuable use. The only body part that emanated any gold was the lifeline that lets us breathe: noses. I also found his work to be deeply inspired of westernized roots being that he was from Nevada. All in all, I was highly intrigued by his works. 

If It's Still There When You're Looking

Luiza Benisano
If It’s Still There When You Go Looking
Art 343

If It’s Still There When You Go Looking was created by Clint Sleeper. His work for this installation consisted of do-it-yourself benches and swings that can be installed in billboards or anywhere really for that matter. His website explains the inspiration behind the piece:

“The project is intended to engage with spaces and to find, make, or adapt spaces that might be sites for generosity and criticality. The book reflects my time in Vancouver and a practice of re-imagining city spaces, in a way a series of questions asked both in the texts and through the objects. The benches and swings might be gifts given to neighborhoods, and just as likely they are more biting critical gestures, which serve to detour billboards, advertising spaces, and anywhere with a bit of a view.”

With that said, I feel that his work was an answer to things that somehow vandalize beautiful things. I think the intention of putting benches and swings on random things make it stand out, which goes the same way for things such as billboards and signage. In his website, his says that he is from Vancouver. Vancouver is a beautiful place full of nature and green and I think the advertisements is a metaphor to the swings and benches.

According to his website, his work reminds him of his time in Vancouver and a practice of re-imagining spaces. The swings and benches can be interpreted to being of use to people who find it. It can serve as a gift and it can also serve as a nuisance similar to the advertisements that are bombarded in beautiful sceneries. The title of the work could also be interpreted to how long the objects actually stay in where they are at. Or if people somehow put them to use. 

Yes Men Fix the World

LUIZA BENISANO
YES MEN FIX THE WORLD
ART 343

           

I thought the Yes Men Fix the World documentary was such an interesting documentary. I wish that I could be a part of such a social experiment. The documentary follows Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno and Kurt Engfehr. They are activists who seek to shed light on issues that involve people being treated unfairly by corporations. Their social experiments involved well-known companies such DOW Jones and Bhopal, Exxon Mobil Vivoleum, Halliburton Survivaball, HUD and post-Katrina public housing and New York Times hopeful future edition.

The start of the documentary shows Andy Bichlbaum fooling BBC News by appearing as “Jude Finesterra”. He then goes on to represent DOW Jones without the actual company knowing; speaking for them by saying that DOW Jones will recompense for what happened at Bhopal by paying the victims of families. An estimated 3,800 died as a result of the chemical accident. He falsely claimed that the victims’ families would receive $470 million.

The company’s stock prices go down, which lead to actual employees of DOW Jones to come out to the media to inform everyone that they would not be handing out $470 million to the victims’ families. That is just one example of what the “Yes Men” did to make themselves heard. Other examples include speaking in events to spoof and to shed light on corporate schemes. All in all, I thought this was such a great documentary. I truly appreciate the fact that there are men out there bold enough to shed light on important issues that people just tend to pass off or dismiss. Their actions sparked awareness in my opinion.

Maria Lind

Luiza Benisano

Art 343

Maria Lind

I thought Maria Lind’s philosophy with installations was interesting. She said, “This reflects an interest in mediation and the necessity for art institutions today to find ways to link the “minor” and “major” strands of the art world, the side streams and the mainstream, in order to partake in the production of public space.” That inspired my work that I installed in the gallery. I did a collage that inspired the color red. I adhered to her goal in a way that I felt that the collage and the images I used were contemporary but the meaning of the collage goes way back mixing the contemporary with the old.

            I really find her work interesting. And her philosophy at that. With her writings, it inspired me to make a contemporary art. The way I installed my work was unconventional in a sense that it was on a side of the wall, but the fact that I did a collage made it a contemporary piece. Ultimately, I appreciate getting to see contemporary work in galleries. I used to always think that galleries only consisted of snotty, old classic works of art but now that may not be the case. It is people like Maria Lind that inspire me to do more contemporary work.

Hito Steyerl

Luiza Benisano

Art 343

In Defense of the Poor Image

Hito Steyerl’s In Defense of the Poor Image was a very interesting read. He defined the poor image to be one that is the 5^th generation of the original image, one that’s title is spelled wrong. He used the example of Woody Allen’s movie in which the protagonist is a blurred image. He also states that piracy contributes to the circulation of the poor image. I agree with this statement very much so. Piracy takes away the original quality and richness of images from the original work. I agree with this statement because I have seen movies that are pirated. I agree with the statement that it contributes to the poor image because there certainly is a big difference. What he was basically talking about was low quality images that are perpetuated by misuse. And in the process people in turn also create low quality images thanks to YouTube and our cellphones. We can google a movie that hasn’t even been in theatres and we can probably somehow watch it on the internet. In terms of art work, the goal is always to make clean and original work and In Defense of the Poor Image counteracts that. I thought it was a great read because it used to be that people adhered to high standards for their viewing pleasure and now that certainly does not seem to be the case. People’s original work should be appreciated and settling for the low quality image refutes that like in the cases of piracy.

Clusterfuck Aesthetic

Luiza Benisano

Art 343

Clusterfuck Aesthetic

Cluster Aesthetic was about the new cacophony and the chaos theory. The series of art installations are more dominated by men than women since in the reading, it said that women don’t get off to making mess in making art work compared to men. The likes of these artists are Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy and Jason Rhoades. Jerry Saltz, who wrote the Clusterfuck Aesthetic, says that Mike Kelley’s work was a pioneering example of the Clusterfuck Aesthetic which meant the tendency towards overloaded multimedia environments in contemporary art. I saw Mike Kelley’s “Day is done” video and thought it was really weird and a perfect example of the Clusterfuck Aesthetic. His work was about pop culture and exhibited random things that did not seem to make sense when added together, but all exhibited pop culture. Examples of his images were angels, a woman dressed in the band KISS make up, Kate Winslet, and “slave day”. I thought his work really interesting and I personally would be interested in dabbling in works that could be considered the “new cacophony.” Most of my art works always seemed to have a message or meaning and that is why I would like to experiment in doing art work that consists of putting something together for the sake of putting something together. A Clusterfuck Aesthetic kind of work.