EXHIBITION REPORT Due - APRIL 26th
Planning your visit to an art museum or gallery:
1) Look online for the days, hours, directions and available parking at your chosen
destination.
2) Select an exhibition or artist to look for before you arrive, this will help you focus on
the gathering of facts and writing of notes for your paper.
3) Take notes about the formal attributes, develop a visual analyses.
- Describe the overall form, materials, and media used.
- Describe the compositional qualities inherent in the artwork.
- Describe the style of representation, for example: Idealism, Naturalism,
Surrealism, Abstraction, Expressionism, Pop art, Non-representational,
Minimalism, etc...
4) Research the artist’s history and other works in order to broaden your perspective.
5) Determine which modes of analyses to apply for deriving meaning:
- Formalist
- Iconographic
- Biographical
- Contextual
- Feminist
- Psychoanalytic
- Marxist
6) Consider the influence of the museum or gallery framework on the exhibition:
ex. Categories, groupings, themes, etc...
Overview
A critical part of this class is the art gallery | museum report in which you visit a museum or gallery that displays contemporary art. This is an independent project to be completed outside of classroom hours. Your review must be a minimum of 5 paragraphs long.
Objective
A report about the artwork's form and content will be your goal. Pick one exhibition or artist to write about. Use the language of art elements to describe the formal qualities. When discussing the content consider all the various levels of meaning you can derive from the work's materials, symbols and social/political context. Analyze the associated conditions and form a coherent contextual perspective to include in your point of view. Remember that art is not just the expression of feelings, it can be understood from a social point of view as well as through its form and symbols. Consider written materials as part of the artworks potential meaning(s).
Gallery and Museum Suggestions
View links on this course companion blog for appropriate museum and gallery suggestions.
SAMPLE REPORT
From my perspective, the artist is trying to portray the mumbo jumbo, mixed up, convoluted world that our modern science and technology has created for us. As we go about our daily lives, ever busy and ever pressed for time, we jump from one task to the next, one activity to the next, rushing around everywhere without the time to sit back and ask, “What does it all mean?” This is reminiscent of songs by the early 1970’s group, Chicago, such as 25 or 6 to 4. We are racing around with hardly any time to think. Likewise, with Albert Oehlen’s painting, we are faced with a bewildering array of shapes, lines and shadings that don’t seem to make sense, except that they make us think of technology in general. This abstract array of shapes and lines communicate the problems that modern society has generated. We are faced with such confusion in the painting and in our daily lives that we go into future shock, as Alvin Toffler predicted in the early 1970’s. As such, Albert Oehlen’s painting does not make any specific comment on this existence; he just provides a portrait of it so that we can sit back and think about our situation and form our own opinion.
Albert Oehlen uses a traditional medium and a fairly established artistic style in order to communicate a very modern message. In a sense, this painting looks to the past, when things were simpler, and it looks to the future, as it makes us wonder if these issues are going to get even worse. With the use of traditional media, Albert Oehlen communicates a very modern message and reflects the present as it really is. Our technology is moving faster and faster so that we cannot keep up with it. This theme is commonly reflected in a lot of different works of art in our modern world, such as Star Trek episodes, thrash metal, as well as examples of high art
SAMPLE REPORT
Computer Art: An Abstract Expressionist View of Modern Society
By Michael Bottomley
Note: the painting this report talks about can be viewed at the following URL: http://collections.lacma.org/node/219798
1998 Paintings
Acrylic on canvas
72 1/2 x 54 in. (184.15 x 137.16 cm)
Gift of Margo Leavin Contemporary Art
Currently on public view:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Broad Contemporary Art Museum.
This piece of work by Albert Oehlen looks both to the past, the present and the future. It is evidence of a feeling that the author Alvin Toffler in 1970 termed “future shock”. This is the idea that people in the modern world face so much rapid technological progress and so many changes in religion, spirituality, the quality and pace of life and social and environmental conditions that they go into a state of culture shock with respect to the modern world and their place in it. Albert Oehlen, with his painting, Computer Art, expresses this feeling very well that Alvin Toffler expresses in words. So, this painting looks to the future. However, as will be explained in future paragraphs, this painting also looks to the past and thus, in sum, reflects the quality of life at the present time. This will be explained and supported further in the paragraphs that follow.
In one sense, despite its modern content and modern subject matter, Computer Art by Albert Oehlen looks to the past. The painting uses an abstract expressionist form using abstract lines and shapes in no particular order that cannot be recognized as any specific object or pattern. Abstract expressionism might seem modern to some people, but actually this form was already well developed by people like Jackson Pollock in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Likewise, the painting uses traditional acrylic on canvas, when nowadays artists are moving into media such as mixed media, installations and performance art. Painting moreover, is viewed by some prestigious art schools as in a word, “dead”, although many people might challenge this assertion. At least from the standpoint of the 21th century, the work, Computer Art, looks very much like a standard abstract expressionist work, with much left to the imagination of the viewer.
However, in my opinion, this abstract work has a very definite message. The markings, shapes and lines are very much indicative of technological themes. Many of the shapes look like some giant machine with moving parts, and some shapes look like a plumbing network. Moreover, the title of the work, Computer Art, is an attempt to make the viewer believe that it was created by a computer, which it was not, or that it is a painting of some type of machine, or technological gizmo. These shapes are very confusing, complex and there is no definable pattern except for the general impression of something technological. This combination of recognizable shapes in an abstract and convoluted fashion, in my mind, sets up what the artist is trying to say with this work.
Computer Painting
Albert Oehlen (Germany, born 1954) 1998 Paintings
Acrylic on canvas
72 1/2 x 54 in. (184.15 x 137.16 cm)
Gift of Margo Leavin Contemporary Art
Currently on public view:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Broad Contemporary Art Museum.
This piece of work by Albert Oehlen looks both to the past, the present and the future. It is evidence of a feeling that the author Alvin Toffler in 1970 termed “future shock”. This is the idea that people in the modern world face so much rapid technological progress and so many changes in religion, spirituality, the quality and pace of life and social and environmental conditions that they go into a state of culture shock with respect to the modern world and their place in it. Albert Oehlen, with his painting, Computer Art, expresses this feeling very well that Alvin Toffler expresses in words. So, this painting looks to the future. However, as will be explained in future paragraphs, this painting also looks to the past and thus, in sum, reflects the quality of life at the present time. This will be explained and supported further in the paragraphs that follow.
In one sense, despite its modern content and modern subject matter, Computer Art by Albert Oehlen looks to the past. The painting uses an abstract expressionist form using abstract lines and shapes in no particular order that cannot be recognized as any specific object or pattern. Abstract expressionism might seem modern to some people, but actually this form was already well developed by people like Jackson Pollock in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Likewise, the painting uses traditional acrylic on canvas, when nowadays artists are moving into media such as mixed media, installations and performance art. Painting moreover, is viewed by some prestigious art schools as in a word, “dead”, although many people might challenge this assertion. At least from the standpoint of the 21th century, the work, Computer Art, looks very much like a standard abstract expressionist work, with much left to the imagination of the viewer.
However, in my opinion, this abstract work has a very definite message. The markings, shapes and lines are very much indicative of technological themes. Many of the shapes look like some giant machine with moving parts, and some shapes look like a plumbing network. Moreover, the title of the work, Computer Art, is an attempt to make the viewer believe that it was created by a computer, which it was not, or that it is a painting of some type of machine, or technological gizmo. These shapes are very confusing, complex and there is no definable pattern except for the general impression of something technological. This combination of recognizable shapes in an abstract and convoluted fashion, in my mind, sets up what the artist is trying to say with this work.
From my perspective, the artist is trying to portray the mumbo jumbo, mixed up, convoluted world that our modern science and technology has created for us. As we go about our daily lives, ever busy and ever pressed for time, we jump from one task to the next, one activity to the next, rushing around everywhere without the time to sit back and ask, “What does it all mean?” This is reminiscent of songs by the early 1970’s group, Chicago, such as 25 or 6 to 4. We are racing around with hardly any time to think. Likewise, with Albert Oehlen’s painting, we are faced with a bewildering array of shapes, lines and shadings that don’t seem to make sense, except that they make us think of technology in general. This abstract array of shapes and lines communicate the problems that modern society has generated. We are faced with such confusion in the painting and in our daily lives that we go into future shock, as Alvin Toffler predicted in the early 1970’s. As such, Albert Oehlen’s painting does not make any specific comment on this existence; he just provides a portrait of it so that we can sit back and think about our situation and form our own opinion.
Albert Oehlen uses a traditional medium and a fairly established artistic style in order to communicate a very modern message. In a sense, this painting looks to the past, when things were simpler, and it looks to the future, as it makes us wonder if these issues are going to get even worse. With the use of traditional media, Albert Oehlen communicates a very modern message and reflects the present as it really is. Our technology is moving faster and faster so that we cannot keep up with it. This theme is commonly reflected in a lot of different works of art in our modern world, such as Star Trek episodes, thrash metal, as well as examples of high art
such as the film, Samsara. In conclusion, this work of art is an expression of a very common
theme in our modern world that is expressed in a fashion that looks to the present, the past and
the future. This work of art succeeds in that it merely paints a portrait of the theme in a unique
manner. The results are left to the viewer.
Bibliography:
O'Brien, Glenn. "Albert Oehlen." Interview 39.4 (2009): 106. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Corris, Michael. "Albert Oehlen." Art Monthly 302 (2006): 34-36. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Moreno, Gean. "Albert Oehlen." Artus 13 (2006): 38-39. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Frederick, Jeff. "Albert Oehlen." Art In America 100.6 (2012): 162. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014
O'Brien, Glenn. "Albert Oehlen." Interview 39.4 (2009): 106. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Corris, Michael. "Albert Oehlen." Art Monthly 302 (2006): 34-36. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Moreno, Gean. "Albert Oehlen." Artus 13 (2006): 38-39. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Frederick, Jeff. "Albert Oehlen." Art In America 100.6 (2012): 162. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2014
