I See A Bay Area Exhibition at the ICA

On March 26, 2016, I went to the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). They are located on 560 South First Street, and the exhibition that I saw was You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be: Part II by the late Susan O 'Malley. This exhibition runs from February 20-May 22, 2016. In the ICA, her work was presented in the Cardinale Project Room, which is located in the very back to the left of the ICA. According to the booklet they provided, Susan was a social practice artist who used simple and recognizable tools of engagement to invite participants into an art experience. Additionally, the exhibition is a dedication to her, because on February 25, 2015, she died unexpectedly in her last week of pregnancy with her twin girls, who unfortunately did not survive as well.

The room where the presentation took place was small and enclosed with only one entryway. When you enter, the wall to your left was projecting 6 of her videos produced in 2004-2005. One of her videos included is How To Be An Artist-In-Residence, where O'Malley is basically calling herself an artist-in-residence in the Willow Glen neighborhood in San Jose. How I interpreted this was that she is the neighborhood artist.

When the video looped back around, it started with a participatory performance video called One Minute Smile, where large notecards appear as screenshots and tell the viewers to just smile for a full minute. I tried this out, and it was, in a sense, pretty relaxing. However, I feel like to have this effect, you really do need to participate with the video.

To the left of the wall, was a small sign that said, "WHAT'S YOUR ADVICE?" This is in regards to her 2014 project, Advice From My 80-Year-Old Self, in which she interviewed people from Berkeley with the question, "What advice would your 80-year-old self give you?" Under the sign was a pedestal that had different colored sticky notes and a container of pencils in which viewers could write down their own advice and stick them onto the wall around the sign. I participated in this by writing on a blue sticky note, "Go and Live out your DREAMS".

A strength from this exhibit is that it was small and intimate, so not a lot of distractions were happening, and because it was in one room, you can really focus on the video. However, what I thought was a weakness was that I went on a non-busy day, so there weren't a lot of people to start a conversation with about the work.

Overall, even though the exhibit was small, I thought it was cute in a sense, especially with one video called 3 Chances, where it's a one take video of her trying to blow the biggest bubble with gum. Fortunately, I was able to take a video of her third try, succeeding.

"Nashville Shadows" From her 6 digital videos

"One Minute Smile"

"Advice From My 80-Year-Old Self"

Me looking at "Reject the Paint by Numbers", 2016
Vinyl digital window print 

"How to be an Artist-in-Residence"

My Advice to me, from me

Is that a Mask you're wearing? Noh, it is!

On Wednesday, I went to the Library Gallery to see the exhibition, Traditions Transfigured: The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi. This runs from February 11-May 21, 2016. Its reception was on opening day from 5-8 pm. The idea of the Noh masks originated from Japan and has provided a dynamic space for exploring and expressing human emotion, according to the brief summary in the gallery. In the 14th century, the masks were created to be more modernized and has inspired those in the art world to be drawn to the themes of human suffering and release.

The artist, Bidou Yamaguchi, has not only created traditional masks, but also the iconic female faces of those in the western art world, including the Mona Lisa and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. He has also made masks that capture the look of Kabuki actors. He has made the faces from 2D works of art into 3D masks, giving them depth and, in a sense, life. Bidou has connected the Eastern world with the Western world, all with just a craved block of wood.

There was one area that had two sample masks that you could try out, which I thought was neat, because you could get the sense of how it felt, and to me, they were a lot thicker than I expected, but they weighed pretty light. Across from this station, they had a How-It's-Made display to show how a solid block of wood turns into a Noh Mask. Along the walls were Kabuki masks, as well as the 2D illustrations of the actors alongside of them. The center of the main room had the masks of the Girl with the Pearl Earring and Mona Lisa. behind these two was one of a more supernatural mask, where it was of a white faced woman with white horns protruding out of her hairline. This one reminded me of Maleficent portrayed by Angelina Jolie.

Overall, this was a really interesting gallery to go through. What made it great was that it did not focus on just one side of a culture, but integrated the opposite side of as well! The way that Yamaguchi incorporated famous western art with traditional eastern culture shows that a style of art is not limited to just one culture rather, it is open for anyone.

A Quick Overview

3D vs 2D Kabuki Faces 

This reminds me of Maleficent

Can I pull off this face? Yes or Noh?

How do I look?

Girl with the Pearl Earring

Mona Lisa

Comparison

The Technical Seoul

This past Monday, March 7, 2016, I went to a lecture for New Media Professor applicant, Alex Lee. He is from Seoul, Korea, and his focus is about time and its relationship with photography. During his lecture, he incorporated a lot of science in his work, and he adds both time and space into his art. There was one point where he compares 3D modeling with photography.

His work and focus seemed very interesting; however, his lecture presentation was not the the best: he read from his notes and barely made eye contact with his audience. He could have been more enthusiastic while talking, and his overall posture was very causal and informal; there were a couple times where he leaned over the table and read from his laptop, instead of standing up straight with confidence. To me, he seemed too comfortable, and when he talked, it was a little quiet at times; it made me wonder if the people in the back could hear him at all.

Overall, I see Alex Lee with potential, he just needs to concentrate on how he presents himself as well as having to speak up. I feel that he needs to prioritize what he talks about, because he wasn't able to cover everything in his lecture.

Selfie with Alex Lee

All About Art with the Anatomy of Dutch Deaths

On Friday March 4, 2016, I went to a lecture in Kadema 145 for a potential Art History professor, Anuradha Gobin, who has a PHD in this subject. She focuses on the Dutch Republic, specifically the city of Amsterdam, as well as the criminal body of the area. The art she teaches leans towards the human anatomy and deaths/executions from that time period. During her lecture, she talked about how executions were public events and the continuation of punishment rituals. The sight of the gallows was considered a sight of art, and its location caused a mix of ideas and progression.
Because the human body was a topic of interest, artists and anatomists used it to show their civic authority. When demonstrations were being done, the cadavers being used were wither someone who died a lonely death in a hospital or criminals sentenced to death. The anatomists were no longer the person with knowledge, because they passed it down to their students by allowing them to physically engage in touching and examining the dead body on their own. This allowed the students to gain knowledge for themselves.

Overall, Anuradha had an interesting and engaging subject. Before her actual lecture, she gave us a brief overview on what she would talk about, so that we were prepared to know what would come next. Although she reads from her notes, it does not sound robotic at all, she still sounds engaged and lively, as if she was talking straight at us. I think she has great potential in being an Art History professor, not just because of her communication skills, but also because of her intriguing subject.

Selfie with Anuradha Gobin

Seeing Hansen Island

On March 2, I went to an art lecture at 3pm in Mariposa 1012 for a future potential new media professor, Isla Hansen. She currently lives on NewYork City, and is one out of the six founding women of a collaborative team known as Dadpranks. Her work is based on developing systems and ways to connect technology with the human body; a term she used was technological mediation. She was inspired by the idea of sports photography and how these shots of the athletes made it look like they were "levitating" in mid air. One of her main focuses is developing things that we can use with our bodies, because she believes that technology and our bodies should always be progressing.

She has made a few body-interaction oriented games/installations, in which she said during her lecture that the games used as instrumentations for metaphors. One of the installations she mentioned was called "Monstroscopy" which is an interactive installation for the Children's Museum of Pittsburg where visitors are able to perform an endoscopic-like surgery on a monster. During this, they were able to see their hands inside the beast with the help of monitors, making it seem like they are emulating the surgical process of taking out/ making incisions on certain internal organs.

One awesome thing that I found interesting about Isla's work was that she doesn't just focus entirely on technology, but she adds the physical aspect into her work as well. She has incorporated puppetry to help with a demonstration for a microbiology lecture, and has done other performance pieces as well. Although she has several different focuses as a new media artist, it's not random at all; they all connect in a way that makes everything she does so cohesive.

I definitely see great potential in her as a professor at Sac State. The only thing I am disappointed in is that because this is my last semester here, I won't be able to take a class with her if she gets the position.

Selfie with Isla Hansen