Collages

Janine Antoni

At first, my reaction was only: This is a weird piece of art. But looking at it again, I think I see it as a statement about the (often forgotten) link between what's beautiful and what is natural. The blackness of her hair and the shiny black color of the animal, coupled with the gentleness with which it seems to be nuzzling her, gives a feeling of her being at peace and completely unafraid. I like that.

Conceptual Unity

Hope Hippo by Allora and Calzadilla. What drew me to this piece was the absrd and comical imagery, but after studying it for a bit, I was ab;e to notice a conceptual unity between the two figures. The hippo looks tired, cranky, and a little angry, adjectives that may describe someone as they wake up in the morning to go to work. Reading a newspaper is an activity that may go on in this time. Conversely, the man reading the paper has an expression of natural wonder on his face, staring intently. This sense of wonder can mirror what an animal with no real analog to human thoughts may have. In this way, the two have switched roles somewhat.

Cristobal Mendoza

Cristobal Mendoza's piece is interesting because it is a distortion of reality as we know it- it is obviously the map of the world, but different from what we are used to seeing. The continents are stretched out in all directions, and even their sizes are altered- Europe is tiny, canada is merely non-existent, and the north african desert seems huge. The colors chosen, from the black 'ocean' to the green and beige lands challenge most maps we usually see- where countries are colored and the ocean is blue. The piece definitely comes together as one piece though, because we attach a certain meaning, a concept, to what these shapes are.

Janine Antoni- "2038"

In this photograph, “2038” by Janine Antoni, the artist has put herself in a bathtub or watering trough and appears to be nursing a cow. This image fits in with a common theme among her works, which is finding beauty in everyday events and tasks that we overlook, especially female-oriented tasks. This picture is interesting because it seems very strange at first, but it is just a role reversal, as people drink milk from cows all the time and never really think about the animal that it comes from.

Cristobal Mendoza

Cristobal Mendoza's works show conceptual unity through his use of projected images. His Missed Connections, Every Word I Saved, and Peephole take advantage of the viewers tendency to make connections within art. The pieces allow viewers to make their own connection between common words and phrases.

Conceptual Unity: Janine Antoni

"Mom and Dad" by Janine Antoni is an excellent example of both visual and conceptual unity. Visual unity is created by the repetition of color and pose, and by the appearance of certain subjects in multiple images. Conceptual unity is present in the general idea conveyed by the pictures: each appears to be a portrait of a couple. Through this conceptual unity, Antoni is able to emphasize the genders of the subjects. 

Alfredo Jaar

Alfredo Jaar is an Latin American artists who uses art to show politcal concerns. He shows a lot of different images of people of different areas and uses these to get his points accross. I find his work interesting but I find it very hard to connect all his peices.

Janine Antoni

Janine Antoni often makes use of her body to explore abstract expression and femininity. In Loving Care, Antoni paints with her hair. The stark image of her mopping the floor on her hands and knees looks almost desperate and subservient, but the painting left behind is evidence of the creative power that she holds. She wields this power with her hair, a symbol of feminine beauty. Through Antoni's performance and the resulting painting we can see how creativity can burst out into the most mundane and submissive actions.

Clamor - Allora & Calzadilla

It seems to me that the body of work produced by Allora & Calzadilla is mainly focused on the various ways in which specific aesthetic forms and media are used (and abused) by society. By subverting established conventions of 'proper use' of specific forms, the artists invite the viewers to engage with the political aspects of convention and open up the possibility for alternative practices. In 'clamor', the artists created a large, bunker-like enclosure which combines the architectural elements of military construction with the craggy ruins that war leaves behind. A group of musicians hidden within the enclosure play military music from various time periods and geographic regions, playing out of slits in the enclosure as if poised behind a machine gun. The competition between the simultaneously playing musicians, combined with the form of the structure itself, create a conceptual unity which evokes the absurdity of nationalism and the ways in which war and especially military music is used to rally people together.

Hope Hippo

This piece, entitled Hope Hippo by Allora + Calzadilla uses a strong sense of conceptual unity. At first look, I had a hard time seeing the connection in this piece, but after some more time analyzing it, I found a strong connection between the expression and body language of the Hippo and the man. Both figures look like they have just worken up and are sluggishly strting their day. It is interesting that the artists could evoke such a similar quality in an aminal and in a human

cristobal mendoza

Much of Cristobal Mendoza’s art is conceptually linked by his interest in computers, how they relate to art, and his passion for exploring how the overlap between computers and art can tell us about who we are. One of his installations displays, letter by letter, all the words a person typed in a week. This work, “Peephole” at once connects us to the nosy, voyeuristic side of ourselves, while also thwarting it and leaving us unsatisfied, as it is difficult and tedious to piece the letters together. Another work, “Missed Connections,” is closely related, in that it takes messages from Craigslist and a program analyzes the words. In the installation, the phrases without the “meaningful” words are displayed in one place, while the phrases with all the “meaningful” words are in another. It is left up to the viewer to complete the phrases as desired, and to find individual truth in the sentences. This conceptual unity found throughout his work demonstrates an outstanding diversity, while simultaneously keeping a focus throughout years of toil, a difficult, though not impossible task. While his art isn’t stereotypically “pretty,” I think it allows us to come to a deeper understanding of ourselves, which is at the heart of any artistic pursuit.

Alfredo Jaar

This piece of art was constructed by Alfredo Jaar. He calls it "Shanghai (the artist of the future)". I find this example of conceptual unity intresting due to the way he decided to present his photos. The layout follows a pretty strict grid format, and the choice of black for the background really enhances the photos. It a really thought provoking piece of work.

Janine Antoni

This photograph captivated me because of the two similar portrait busts of a man. This piece of work exemplifies unity because of its use of repetition. The artist did not exactly crated these two portraits exactly the same way. First, the colors of the two sculptures are not the same. The dark sculpture has more details incorporated, whereas the white sculpture's details stripped almost all away. I think that the artist made it seem this way so that the piece will not be boring. Because of the slight difference between the two portrait busts, the viewers are interested to look deeper into the piece.

Janine Antoni, Umbilical

Antoni used silver to sculpt her mouth around a spoon handled by her mother.  Being born with a silver spoon represents being born with privilege and nurture.  It is quite fitting then that the title of the piece is Umbilical because the umbilical cord feeds and nurtures the fetus.  The spoon's handle  also physically looks like an umbilical cord, connecting the mouth to the mother.  Literally, the spoon is the means by which the mother feeds the child. I really like this piece because it can be interpreted in so many ways. 

Lick & Lather

This piece, “Lick & Lather,” by Janine Antoni, is constructed out of soap (white busts) and chocolate (brownish busts). It exhibits conceptual unity in its overarching chess-like imagery, in the representation of people—perhaps women specifically—in each line as both expendable and uniform (as opposing pawns) and as objects of consumption (as soap and chocolate).

Ingrown

This photograph, taken by Janine Antoni, shows a woman whose nails appear to have “grown into” each other.  This photograph relates to the weeks topic of visual unity because it creates a sense of harmony through the use of continuation in the nails.  I think that it is an effective piece, because the continuation draws the viewer to the unusual subject.    

Alfredo Jaar's preoccupation with human rights issues links together many of the artist's pieces.  The Rwandan Genocide, for instance, conceptually unifies and creates harmony not only between the various postcards below,  but also with a great many other of Jaar's works.  Jaar approaches the genocide from an interesting angle in this "postcards" piece, choosing to focus on survivors of the massacre rather than those who have died.  In doing so, Jaar not only shares an optimism surrounding the issue that is rarely communicated, it also reminds the viewer that the genocide is still very much an ongoing concern.

Janine Antoni

These two photographs portray the artist in a nurturing role. In the first image, she uses the familiar pose of the Virgin and Child, but plays with it by instead cradling her own leg. In the second she portrays herself nursing a cow, making a statement about the cows own nurturing of humans with both their meat and milk. It is clear that both these works play with the concept of maternity and nurturing. Both works are fascinating in their surprise and their use of the unexpected.

Hope Hippo

This piece by Allora and Calzadilla involves a hippo sculpted out of mud, a man, and a daily newspaper. I think the conceptual unity present in this piece lies in the actions of the everyday and how even these normal, mundane actions can affect everyone and everything . The man is reading a newspaper, a very mundane and everyday act. The hippo looks as if it is taking a nap under the sun, a simiarly everyday occurence for a hippo. I like this piece because I think that the position of these two figures together suggests a coexistence; it gives the message that man and nature can function side by side.