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Artist Lecture

Blithe Riley is a digital artist that works with video installation. In her talk today, she discussed several of her completed projects. Two of these projects were the three part installation, Shake, Crawler and Wall and the project Scale and Descent. These two installations differed a lot from each other but at the same time were both very unique pieces of art.

Shake, Crawler, and Wall are three installations that uniquely combine videos, installations and actors. The actors, if present, will interact with the video being shown. In Shake the actors is a Quaker. The video she follows has fours stages (birth, awakening, trance and rest.) The exhibition tells a simple story of a spiritual ritual that balances liberation though dance but also a restriction through faith. The next installation Riley shows the group is Crawler. She admits that she got inspiration for the work from the Matrix and its female lead Trinity. In the work, there is a video of a woman crawling through what looks like a cave. When the woman gets to one end of the video screen and disappears, an actor pops out with the same outfit of the women on the screen. Then she eventually disappears and the same thing happens but on the other side. With these two installations I wondered how well timed are the actors and the videos. I also wondered how different would it be if the actors were not present. Finally, it crossed my mind if the actors got tired of constantly doing the same motions and if different people rotated for the part. The final part of this three piece exhibition was the Wall. In this exhibition the actor doesn’t appear. Instead they are hidden behind a wall. Also, people can physically interact with this one. The participants would stick their hands inside the wall and feel the actor’s hands grab theirs while the participant would look at a prerecorded screen. This could cause confusion and a bit of surprise to the participant. Overall, I believe the installations worked well combing completely different types of art.

The second installation I felt was more extravagant than Shake, Crawler, and Wall. Scale and Descent could not even be enclosed indoors. It was part of a defunct water tower. Between the spaces of the towers were several screens. Inside the screens showed a person climbing and down the tower. The tower itself provided a surface for the onscreen person to climb on. Unlike the others, this installation did not include actors however, it did share the same concept of having an actor on film interacting with an environment not on film.

I have never seen an artist quite like Blithe Riley. It would have been nice to seen Shake, Crawler and Wall in person. That exhibition took a year to make so most likely I would probably not see any of her work in person at St. Mary’s.

National Art Gallery

I have been to the National Gallery of Art two times prior to my field trip on Thursday and I have been to the Hirshhorn once. I had never been to the Sackler. This trip I decided to visit the Sackler and see the National Gallery one more time. I feel as if visiting the national gallery this third time has helped me respect the place better. Having a partner really helped me not get lost, the previous two trips I walked alone, and it provided company in which I could talk to and express how I feel about the art. It was probably this small change that helped me appreciate the art in the gallery, especially the older works, a bit more.

One of the greatest things about going to a museum is seeing the actual artwork. A reproduction will never ever capture the brilliance and detail shown in the actual work. At first, I did not care too much about Cezanne or Van Gogh but seeing their works up close is breathtaking. Another thing about visiting a museum is the fact that you recognize pictures that you have only seen in books and for once in you life you are only several inches from the painting admiring every stroke. I was fortunate while visiting the gallery to find some of my favorite artworks. An example of this is Magdalene at the Mirror (the sister painting, The Magdalene with the smoking Flame, was in the Disney movie: The Little Mermaid.) I also saw Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. This memorial was dedicated to the Massachusetts, Fifty-fourth Volunteer Infantry, the first official all African American regiment. It was a complete surprised to see both of these works there. It was hard to express how happy I was. However, I also gained some new favorites. The large oil painting, The Voyage of Life: Youth by Thomas Cole was breathtaking. In the upper left corner is this beautiful castle made up of clouds while on land is this lush greenery. Another beautiful work is the Corinthian Maid by Joseph Wright. What attracted me to this picture were the rich deep reds and the expression of the two people. I felt that although subtle, there was a lot of emotion between the two.

After seeing the almost exaggerated beauty of the human anatomy, I headed to the Eastern part of the building which features modern art. The works on this side of the building sharply contrast those in the West building. No longer are there portraits, landscapes, and still life but a shift of focus to color and more abstract art. Someone told me, that you can’t compare modern art to pre-Twentieth Century art because their focus is on two different things. Modern art has pushed the boundaries of art and has us question what can be defined as art. Looking at one of Cy Twomby’s untitled pieces in the gallery, one can easily say that anyone can do that. However, at the time this picture was created, the mere thought of it being in a museum was scandalous. I feel as if I value both types of art and I will try my best not to compare the two.

Instead of visiting the Hirshhorn, I decided to visit the Sacker. This museum focused on the Asian and Middle Eastern art. It also had an exhibition featuring bibles predating 1000 C.E. and fine beads necklaces made up of torn paper. After seeing the Western artwork at the National Gallery, it was nice to see some Eastern works. These artworks seem very organic compared to the western art. In the Chinese art, there was not a portrait of a perfectly replication of the human body but a story. The Indian sculpture often featured very voluptuous and ornate women. There was often a subtle bit of sexuality to the sculptures too. The Asian art also seemed more fantastical than the western art. Woman often had four arms or more in Indian art and colorful dragons were often featured in Chinese art.

Every visit to an art museum concludes with an amount of knowledge gained. I feel as if this trip helped me appreciate art more. I would have loved to explore the Hirshhorn too. The Smithsonian is such a miraculous place. It does not give it justice to explore just two museums in a day.