"The Four Stages of Public Art" Summary

The Four Stages of Public Art is an explanation of the four stages of public art. These four stages are based on Roy Bhaskar’s formulation of a four stage dialectic. This four stage dialectic refers to the practice of arriving to the truth by a trade of logical arguments. This stages coincide with following the transformations in the possibilities of public art and historical events (stages) . The essay talks about the different possibilities of public art, and of all types of public art in different locations which encourage viewers to respond and connect in different ways. The first stage is non unity. Bhaskar starts his argument with stating that “things are not what they are not” which is how he begins any argument that deals with transformations. For example , when public are is put somewhere in a public space that piece beings to change. That is what makes the non unity of the piece; it is that it is not the same as the art from the past. The second stage is negation. This stage makes a connection between the makings of art the impact that the art has on the viewer. This stage is the where the relationship between subject and object becomes visible. This is the realization that the public art is changing the impact on the viewer to something other than it would have been with the art. Artists know that the piece is not disconnected from the public and that then changes their art process depending on how they want the public to view and understand the piece. Totality is the third stage and it refers to the mutual relationship between stages one and two. In the instance of public art, this means that there is a connect between the intent of the artist and the meaning of the viewers. The last stage is the practice of transformation (self transformation). In public art this means that there are possibilities of transformation of what public art might possibly mean. This type of art is difficult to judge because it is constantly transforming so, trying to explain the art would only be helping it to change even more.

"Protect Us From What We Don't Know" Summary

Jenny Holzer has been using declassified government documents since 2003 as a source for her text based artwork. She gets the information from the National Security Archive in Washington D.C.. The NSA collects and publishes materials made accessible through the Freedom of Information Act. Holzer enlarges the text to 33 x 25 ½ inch or 103 ½ x 80 inch . Holzer inserts these works into a long tradition of political pictures, like works from Goya and Picasso. Like Andy Warhol, Holzer’s work are photo silkscreens printed in a range of colors. She stays with black and white like ordinary typed documents, but sometimes chooses designer backgrounds. Also like Richter, Holzer selects her subject matter as a calculated political act as a way to facilitate historical memory. Holzer sees the archival documents as physical objects with specific visual qualities. The most significant visual aspect is the government censorship of the material before it is released. Names and identifications are usually blacked out. Large sections of the information are often gotten rid of. The censorship creates an abstraction in the documents. An example of Holzer’s work that is noteworthy is in the exhibition that is so-called Phoenix memo. It is a black on white seven canvas painting presenting an FBI document sent from the Phoenix AZ office to the counter terrorism division dated July 10th 2001. That is 2 months before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. At the top and bottom of each page the word Secret has been printed then crossed out with a marker. The purpose of the memo was “to advise the Bureau and New York of the possibility of a coordinated effort by Bin Laden to send students to the US to attend civil aviation universities and colleges.” The Phoenix memo’s foresee 9/11 and the document’s prolonged life in the news make the painting powerful. Holzer’s use of these documents and others are unique in telling stories that the viewer can interpret in their own manner.

Albercht Durer

On Wednesday Feb 25th 2009, I went to the MFA in St. Pete to see the Albercht Durer Exhibit. Albercht Durer was a German artist in the 1500. This particular exhibit displayed his very detailed etchings, woodcuts, and a few of his paintings. The exhibit as a whole was absoultly amazing. The amount of detail he put into his etchings is mind boggling. He's techinque was seriously just meticulous hatching and cross hatching. What was truely impressive was the scale in which he did he work. Some of the etchings were as small as a half dollor and had to be seen with a magnifying glass in hand, but still the work was incredibly complex. Other pieces were chaotic in the hatching and cross hatching but in all that chaos there were angels and devils and movement. There were series from the bible such as Revelations, and the moments leading up to the birth of Christ. There were also genre etchings depicting peasant life. It was a truely impressive exhibition. I had the opportunity to go with my intermediate drawing class therefore I was able to do studies of his work. Here is one of my studies: ( Satyr and Nymph )