Lemmerman Gallery/Gallery Response-Mariah Torres

“Towers on a Menacing Sky” is a piece painted by Allan Gorman. The image displays an electrical tower that stands tall against a red and black sky. Gorman had painted these towers in an angle where the viewer feels tinier and more intimidated. This painting reminds me of Secaucus Road, a small highway that connects Secaucus and Jersey City. The highway runs through a field with occasional trucking companies and factories such as Goya. Also, this area is home to various electrical towers. Seeing this painting in the Lemmerman Gallery definitely gave me some nostalgic feelings, but also scares me. It intrigued me on how I felt nervous when I studied the picture, even though I pass by these electrical towers every single day.

                Allan Gorman, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1947, is a visual art professional who was known for his photorealistic pieces. Gorman had a fascination with machinery and vehicles. In his past works, he captures the geometrical shapes of machines. “I strive to make art that is unique to me, and interesting enough to make its own statement” (Gorman, Allen). Gorman had several artists that influenced him to name a few, Richard Estes, Robert Cottingham, and Wayne Thiebault. These artists emerged in the mid-60s and early 70s in the West Coast. These artists were known for their geometrical artworks involving machines and vehicles. Using the inspiration from the artists, Gorman had made his artworks for the consumers to capture the mood and aesthetic. “I ask viewers to share a journey of discovery with me and hope they’ll become as excited and fascinated and moved as I am about the beauty that can be found in what’s often taken for commonplace… I use this notion to inform my choices of what to present” (Gorman, Allen).

                This work is an example of intervention because I feel that the electrical tower plays the antagonist in nature. Humankind has built this to benefit ourselves not for any other species, which disrupts nature. When I would pass these electrical towers when I ride the bus, I don’t think twice about them. After seeing this image, I pass by these towers and think what other things that man-made items that may destroy nature. This can serve as an activism piece because it draws consumers to examine the image. Going back to Gorman’s statement, his goal as an artist is to have the consumer to become fascinated and moved as he was. The message in this piece is that Gorman wanted the consumer to share an experience and to look closely to his work.

Deer in Moonlight is a piece printed by Edward Fausty. The piece presents a forest area that is partly lighted by the sun. Towards the left of the image, is a home that rests on a hill with a single deer in front of it. I was fascinated by the quality of the image. It felt almost surreal like it was a painting. This reminds me of the northern parts of Jersey since it is mostly forests.

                Edward Fausty is a photographer and printmaker. He currently runs an art studio in Boonton, New Jersey. Fausty has a fascination for starry night skies and captures them in his works. This work can be an example of intervention because in this photo because the sky is not the main focus of the photo. Upon viewing this photo, the eyes fall against the house and the deer. I think the message conveyed in this piece can be that the house disrupts the deer’s home. Viewing Fausty’s past works show clear night skies with bright stars. Seeing the sky covered in this photo is unusual for his style.

https://www.thejcast.com/listings/njcu-lemmerman-gallery/
http://www.edwardfausty.com
https://issuu.com/arthabens/docs/biennial.ed.vol.i/84

Exhibition Visit Response

 

Olga Mercedes Bautista
Bonding with Plastic
2019
Silicone, leaves and plastic debris

Sergio G. Villamizer
Home Sweet Home
2015
Photo Collage 

The two works that I have chosen are "Bonding with Plastic" by Olga Mercedes Bautista and "Home Sweet Home" by Sergio Villamizer. Both of these works are located in the Visual Arts Gallery. I choose these artworks because of the way these pieces immediately stand out as soon as you walk into the gallery. When I was viewing the artworks it instantly grabbed my attention with the way "Bonding with plastic was displayed. It was hung in mid-air with bark and plastic she had found on the shore after Hurricane Sandy had hit New Jersey. It is also shaped in the way a tree would be but it is hollow inside, and there are no "roots" connecting to the ground. This might be a way that the artist is alluding to the issue of pollution and if pollution continues at this rapid rate nature will continue to be contaminated and ultimately the world will be driven to its own destruction. Looking at "Bonding with Plastic" closely there are various kinds of trash that are plastered on the bark which was all found on the shore after Sandy hit jersey. Wrappers, to plastic bottle caps to bags, are all present on top of the bark. Another working theory I have is related to the number of "trees" that are displayed, which in this case there are three. What does this mean you might ask? Well, there is a scientific theory called the "3 Day Effect" which revolves around the subject of taking a break from technology, and it taking three full days for your brain to reset. This artwork could also be symbolism that technology has completely cluttered our minds just like how the pollution has cluttered the nation and this is symbolism that we all need to implement the "3 Day Effect" to refresh our minds, maybe then we can all as a nation begin to take initiative to clean up after ourselves. The three-day effect would be quite a plausible solution to the overall addiction to technology and the internet by everyone in today's generation. 

Now moving onto my second choice from the gallery the artwork "Home Sweet Home" by Sergio G. Villamizer. This piece was made with the use of photoshop with places from all over Jersey to make a collage that truly signifies the gritty look that Jersey gives off. It is heavily industrial and dependent on the recycling of older buildings to make new and improved properties.  This artwork defines the aesthetic of modernization, rebuilding, and a significant "grimey" element that undoubtedly describes Jersey. Other then these key elements they use modernization to promote publicity on buildings in exchange for money to come in on a steady basis. In the book Ways of Seeing, chapter 7 page 132 line 4 it states "Publicity is effective precisely because it feeds upon the real. Clothes, food, care, cosmetics, baths, sunshine are all real things enjoyed in themselves." This also extends to buildings and businesses that thrive on publicity to turn in extra income. As you can see in the collage there are numerous logos that can be easily recognizable by virtually anyone. Some of the recognizable logos include Coca-Cola, Delta, McDonald's, CVS, Walmart, Dunkin Donuts, CXS, 7 UP, Target, Burger King, NJ Transit, etc. As it says in the Ways of Seeing "Publicity is always about the future buyer" and this phrase holds true in all accounts. Publicity and propaganda are riddled throughout the city to entice the public to shop for their respective products and services. The consumption of buzz regarding their products is what really turns a profit for companies. The rave of the company is inherited by consumers and then the consumers spread recommendations which then leads to purchases and this process follows forever, this method is still the most effective way to create publicity. Another way I perceived this collage is the accumulation of modernization, buildings, destruction of buildings, and reconstruction of buildings as a sort of realization that there is not enough nature in our cities. Anywhere you go you will undoubtedly see buildings and construction but rarely do you see green in terms of vast greenery. Although the title of the collage is "Home Sweet Home" I think the artist is using irony to predicate that nature needs to revitalized into a "grimey" metropolitan city. Both of these works of art overlap in their themes even though they are presented very differently. In the description of the artist, it states "Places give us a sense of belonging, they inspire us, and they provide comfort and influence our self-concept and stae of mind...Today's places also offer idealized bodies, comfort food, and every imaginable product promising to make our lives better, to make us more desirable, better consumers..." this means even the artist himself reassures me that publicity within our city is enveloped to be consumed and strategically placed to entice us.

Works Cited 

"Ways of Seeing" Chapter 7 

Artist Description 

  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hurricane-sandy-water-pollution/

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/05/plastics-facts-infographics-ocean-pollution/

https://www.houseboating.org/The-3-Day-Effect-Why-You-Need-Nature-Blog

   

Gallery Response Essay

THE POWER OF VISION THROUGH ART

My gallery response essay is based on two astonishing art work pieces that got my attention at the Lemmerman Gallery. The reason why I choose to write about this gallery is because the format of the gallery is quite interesting. The gallery is divided into two sides,  the left and the right. As soon as you walk into the gallery, you can tell the difference between each side of the room. The left side is full of artistic work that portrays happiness, memories, journeys, and that overall side is a positive message. The right side is full of artworks which are portraying the dark side of history/world such as explosions, massive waste, darkness, etc. I do believe that the curator stated that all the artwork in the gallery are based on locations in the state of New Jersey, meaning all the artwork in the gallery were inspired by a specific place or event from New Jersey.

The curator who provided information on each artistic work piece was Ms. Ushi Motor. While she spoke about each individual piece, I became interested in finding out the underlying meaning for two major artworks. The first art piece is someone taking a photo of a crab, but the fascinating aspect of this specific artwork which makes it so mind-blowing is that there is no crab. This artwork was made by Kerry Kolenut in 2017 and the artist called the piece Taking pictures at the beach. I believe the theme being addressed in this artwork is identity. The use of technology, more specifically phones has now provided people with means of creating several identities for themselves. For example, the identities in which we have created for ourselves on social media platforms are not the same as our true physical identities. Most people are more focused on portraying their very best side on social media rather than making that unrealistic trend on social media realistic. As we discussed in class about when people post photos of themselves living their best lives, but in reality, they are probably depressed. People tend to believe what is not real, just like the person in the artwork was taking a picture of a crab who was not actually there. I, later on, went back to the gallery to read the artist statement to figure out why he made this artwork.

Kerry stated in his artwork statement that he called this piece Taking pictures because of the idea of capturing memories. People take several pictures and each individual picture means many different things to them, but the one meaning we can all agree upon is photos capture memories in our lives. As we discussed in class, we can learn about history and someone's life by just looking at their photos. This artwork is part of activism because it portrays the power of photography. The reason we have a visual image of what occurred in the past such as slavery, segregation, wars is because photographers took pictures as proof of what is happening. Pictures show us how far in life we have come and not to give up. Pictures are not just regular objects, they are a means for us to connect with our past.

The second astonishing artwork that caught my attention as soon as I walked into the gallery was the artwork made by Joel Simpson in 2013 called Chaos Cubed. It is the transformation of metal objects into cubed shaped artistic pieces, this idea of turning nothing into something. In class, we watched a Ted talk video about a clay maker artist who turns nothing into something extremely beautiful such broken, old houses in the neighborhood. The idea of being able to transformed waste into an iconic artwork piece is a theme that is addressed in this photo. I do not think anything is actually ugly because it can always be transformed into one of the most astonishing artwork. This artwork actually looks like fishes up close but it is actually metalled objects all joined together in a cubed shaped. This is a work of activism because the artist is trying to make an awareness of the amount of waste being produced in our environment. 

Joel Simpson stated in his artist statement that this artwork illustrated the related phenomena of chaos, turbulence, and profusion. Although there is chaos, there is still a way for chaos and disfunction to be fixed. Instead of throwing all the garbage and waste into the ocean or water system, we can find a way to reuse them or put them someplace safe. I believe Joel also address the theme of space. This idea that earth is our home, our space and it is up to us to define our we keep that space of ours guarded against harm's way. Other artists such as Francesca related to Joel message on finding ways to protect our space, earth. She talks about the importance of the triple R's (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) as well as the effects of waste in our environment. People need to start doing the little they can to keep the environment as safe as possible such as recycling, no littering, and using recyclable ways to prevent the earth from being full of harmful things. 

My overall experience at the gallery was amazing and even better when I learned about how so many pieces of information can be brought out from just a single image. Joel Simpson and Kerry Kolenut are both incredible artists with an amazing sense of capturing art and make awareness through it.

Work Cited Page:

Lemmerman Gallery 

Susan Sontag article on photography

John Berger, Ways of Seeing Chapter 7

Rosenblum, Aaron, et al. "Behind the Scenes of Segregation in Louisville." The Filson Historical Society, 26 Feb. 2015

Ted Talk we watched in class about the male clay artist who transforms houses

Francesca. "Reducing Waste: The Effects of Worm Compost on the Environment." - Free Monthly Tips, Tricks, & How-Tos to Teach You How to Become a Worm Farming Expert, 2 Aug. 2019

Midterm Proposal

Besem Etta-Ashu

October 23, 2019

Midterm - Activist Art Project Proposal

Societal Standards of a Woman

The topic in which I would like to base my final project is on the societal standards of a woman. After discussing several topics in class such as patriarchy, artists who challenge the status quo, identity, power of an image/photograph, capitalist, etc. the topic that resonated with me the most was patriarchy from bell hooks reading. Instead of making my project about male power over women, I decided to base my project on societal authority over women. This idea of society being dominant and controlling (acting as a patriarchal figure) on women's rights of who they can and can not be. 

Society has implemented standards in which all women have to meet or live up to in order to be considered beautiful or acceptable as a woman. Women are supposed to be tall, but not too tall. Smart, but not too smart. Tough, but not opinionated. Have a voice of their own but not arrogant or outspoken. Skinny but not all bones. Overall women can be whoever they want to be as long as they are not trying to be better than a man or go against the societal rules of an acceptable woman. Women are not only subject to the patriarchy system which was created by men but also to social standards of what an ideal woman is supposed to be like which are also created by men. Men think they know what it means to be a woman more than women themselves, so that is why they have the power to shape women into their ideal form.

My project would be based on three different posters shaped in the form of an African woman with big afro hair. The first poster will be a drawing, painting, or picture of a female who is suppose to be the ideal African woman based on societal standards. There are also going to be descriptions at the bottom of the picture of what an ideal societal woman is going through emotionally. She will be having thoughts such as she always has to eat salads and go to the gym to keep her body shape. She always has to wear makeup to look attractive. Always having to smile, although she is sad on the inside. I will also surround the picture with emotions she would be feeling such as sad, depressed, anxiety, overwhelmed, trapped, etc.

The second poster will be drawing of an African woman who is comfortable in her own skin and proud of who she is, me. After looking at other black female artists who empower black women to be proud of their bodies such as Micklane Thomas, Chimamanda, and Faith Ringgold, through various art forms, I decided to make several sequences of poster identifying the beauty of an African woman.

The third poster is going to be shaped in the form of a female but instead of identifying the type of lady through drawing or painting, I will leave the poster blank. I will draw a question mark in the middle of her face. This gesture is to leave my audience with a question of which type of lady they would like to be. Is it a female who is defined by societal standards or a lady who lives every moment for herself?

My overall message from my project is to empower women to be whoever they want to be and not try to live up to an unrealistic standard of what a woman is supposed to be. A woman's worth should not be based on the opinion of anyone else except themselves. Being the "perfect woman" does not make any woman's life better, instead, it worsens it. Although we all know these unrealistic standards do not benefit anybody, most women still try to live up to it because we see it in our everyday lives. The ideal woman is on television, being described on the radio, music videos, and magazines which all begin to lessen the unideal woman's courage. I want to inspire women to have more courage in being proud of who they are instead of creating an identity that might ruin their lives forever. In reality, the "perfect woman" is a woman who lives every moment of the day being herself for herself.

Society's Ideal Women

Women who live on their own terms of beauty

Bibliography:

Lakritz, Talia. " 11 Surprising Double Standards That Still Exist for Women in the US."

INSIDER, INSIDER, 18 Jan. 2019

           McIntyre, Morgan. "The Social Standards Women Face." The Odyssey Online, The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017

An Artist Who Challenged the Status Quo

Ava DuVernay 

Writer, Producer, Director and Distributor of Independent Film.
She's been nominated as the first black woman for many Academy awards.
She was the first black woman to direct a live-action film with a huge budget (talking millions).
She created, co-wrote, and directed the Netflix drama miniseries When They See Us, based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case.
In 2010, she founded the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM), her own company to distribute films made by or focusing on black people.

Artist who challenge the Status Quo

BEAUTY

What is beauty by the way?. Is it having to live up to the standards of Victoria Secret models or being able to freely express one's true nature?. Society has created these extreme standards of what a beautiful person is supposed to look like. Tall, skinny, smooth skin without any trace of acne, and most importantly no body hair. In reality, not all women are like this. Every woman or person is beautiful in their own individual shape and form. Ben Hopper, who is an artist challenges the status quo of body hair through his photographs. Beauty is not to be defined by society, instead, it is to be defined by individuals themselves because everyone has a different point of view on what is classified as beautiful. Women should be allowed to dress and express themselves in any way possible that makes them comfortable. Beauty comes in different shapes, forms, color, gender, so there should not be a specific standard that defines all beauty.

Artist who challenge the status quo

Quotes:

"To indoctrinate boys in the rules of patriarchy we force them to feel pain and deny their feelings".

 "Patriarchy' as a social organization marked by supremacy of the father in the or family in both domestic and religious functions".

        The quotes explains how patriarchy effect the boys of our society and how society explains and views the father figure. As boys we are taught to not cry when we hurt ourselves and also  not show emotion to anything. This within its self is a problem especially for men of color being that  we are not allowed to express emotion we hold everything inside until one day we snap and its too late. the second quote explains that in both domestic and religious settings the father is the head and no one is above him besides GOD himself. the father rules the household and every one falls  in line.
 

     

 This work of art above really speaks out against patriarchy. The artist is  Hanna Barcyzk she is an illustrator   that treats conceptual illustrations for major media companies. Tis art piece was accompanied by an article which spoke out against the greater fear of patriarchy, which is a  woman  speaking her and mind and not be silent.  In history women were taught not to speak unless when spoken to  and also to not think and only rely on her husband. The piece a face that is silent almost like a mask  and a woman bursting out and has the facial expression as if she is almost shouting. The  artwork speaks of modern women speaking out against the rules and oppression of patriarchy.

Artist who goes against status quo

Brianna Hernandez is a Jersey City Native artist that I actually discovered through Twitter. Her art is very much so against the status quo, she touches a lot on sexism, racism, and homophobia. I would go as far as to call her a feminist. She is the first artist that I ever really connected with, her art is very detailed and explicit. I think what makes her so unique is the fact that I don't think she cares for what other think about her work, she does it because she loves it. You can find her artwork in the form of prints, home decor, clothing, grinders, and even phone cases. Her art work can be found if you search Artbybrix3 on twitter or google.

Artists who challenge the status quo

I do not know any artist but would like to choose one based on a Netflix film from Brooklyn 1986, that I watched named, "She's gotta have it. " The film is centered around a young female artist named Nola Darling and her journey as an artist trying to be true to herself and dreams. Her art is inspired by events that happened to her. She challenged the way society viewed African-American women. From the way, men would "cat call" women while they waked, tried taking advantage of them based on how they dressed, how women would go through procedures to alter their bodies to get certain jobs and how they were not allowed to have more than one partner. In the end, she created a piece that spoke directly to African American history that was viewed as provocative and painful.

Artist who challenged the status quo

Kat Von D is one of the most well-known tattoo artist that prove female genders can also strive in a male dominant job as a tattoo artist. She proved that not all females are only worth staying home, cleaning up and looking after the children. Females can also compete with males in an environment that most males occupy, like being a tattoo artist.

Link to Kat Von D's work: http://www.highvoltagetattoo.com/kat-von-d

Artists who challenges the status quo

Artists who challenge the Status Quo

     Because of my sister, Iv'e been exposed to many Mexican artists, one of them being Frida Kahlo. Frida became very vocal in challenging the notion of a patriarchy. She fought for women to have a voice. This portrait is titled "Self portrait with cropped hair." On top are lyrics that translates to "See if I loved you, it was for your hair, now that you're bald I don't love you anymore." After being with Diego Rivera, she painted this portrait to symbolize her abandonment of femininity. Her intention of this self portrait wants women to rise up and not take crap from men anymore. 

Artist who challenges the status quo, patriarchy, and its systemic power and dominance

Kara Walker

An artist who challenged the status quo, patriarchy and its systematic power and dominance. This artist is known for her cut-paper silhouettes in scenes that might appear confusing, surprising and graphic, but it is only to challenege the people who observe her art to open their eyes to realize the world we live in and its reality. This is one of her artwork that I found very interesting. The images represent the racial, sexual and historical tension in this country. As well as slavery, the hardships that Black Americans have to live or lived on the daily and wome's place on society (how they are viewed, as weak and below men). "While at times controversial, her work encourages the type of engagemnet, interpretation, and dialogue that makes works of art truly socially and politically relevant."

https://www.artspace.com/kara_walker/excerpt

Artist That Challenges/Addresses The Patriarchal System

Girls Against God, issue #1, co-edited by Bianca Casady and Anne Sherwood Pundyk, designed by J. M. Ruellan, published by Capricious










 I decided to share the ideals of an Artist by the name of CocoRosie. She talks about how the system of Patriarchy is oppressive and how it does damage to all women. She also talks about how sex, religion, and politics all tie together to create this system that not only women suffer from, but by men as well. She pulls quotes from other artists/major impacts to support her beliefs, and also provides a music video to further support her argument. The music video shows a girl and her mother both wearing long, sheet-like coverings and gold metal masks covering their mouths. The costumes in the video criticize the tradition of child marriage maintained in many countries by oppressive entities.

Abstract Takashi Murakami

After graduation from Tokyo University, along having a Ph D, BA, MFA, a young Takashi began the career in arts and craft since the early 90s. Through the studies of nihonga, influence from USA  and UK cartoons he had created a character by the name of MR. DOB dozens of his early creations were either flowers, lions or bear cubs. His mass production success came when mass producing toys, shirts and other crazy items of his style. What make his style outstanding is how he involves Japanese historian paintings in the mix of toons. In 2009 he got mix in the crowd of other wired artist known as the Edo eccentric  were please to assist his craftiness by following his work by merging historical periods, subjects of genera. this is amazing because their is no limit on this guy craftiness and show how artist can push the limits in art and we can try a similar technique that involves with time periods subject, style of any kinds in culture.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/takashi-murakami/all-works#!#filterName:Style_superflat,resultType:masonry         

art

Carrie Mae Weem  Mirror, Mirror in the series of Aunt joking during  1987-88. This image series stood out to me the most because many of them are stereotypes of black people that still stand today. The photo that resonates with me the most is this one:

 

Its caption is : LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR, THE BLACK WOMAN ASKED,
"MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO'S THE FINEST OF THEM ALL?"
THE MIRROR SAYS, "SNOW WHITE, YOU BLACK BITCH,
AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!!"

One of the two biggest issues that this photo challenges are representation of black women in the media. In the movie, Snow White, is representing the beautiful white woman with the fair skin to be the most beautiful in the land. By doing so the movie  indirectly implies that those who are not fair skinned are not deemed fine or beautiful. By quoting from the movie snow white, Weem  is bringing the lack of black women being properly represented in media to life in the photo it forces one to acknowledge the second issue. This issue is that women of color are not represented as beautiful. These show that black women in particular, are not credited for their contribution to society’s beauty standards, even today. We are undervalued within the world generally despite our culture being appropriated. This lack of representation causes little black girls to struggle with their self-image and self-love. This photo brings the question to mind, how can we raise young women of color to love themselves for who they were created to be without images that look like them starting from young age?

http://carriemaeweems.net/galleries/aint-jokin.html

Artists that challenged the status quo..

Ana Mendieta

untitled; Facial Transplant 

Ana Mendieta is one of my favorite artists that I discovered last year in one of my art classes. She is one of those female artist that created her own type of style as she was known as being unexpected. Creating this project with her friend by putting his facial hair on herself and glueing it on her face. Showing the sexualities of what men and women do not have to define themselves, allowing women to have facial hair to look different. While showing the masculine and feminine power of what can be created when challenging the identity of what a women should look like what men should look and have. Showing sexual identification to women trying to see themselves as "powerful as men are." That women also have that power no matter how they look or what they want or identify as one.