Discussion on Asian art

Date: Monday, Nov. 29th.
Our discussion today revolved around Asian art and understanding it with a Western upbringing (education, society, etc). Some of our main topics were:
1) Exposure to Asian art (personal and in general)
--From where do you know about Asian art? How do you think this has affected your views on Asian art?
2) Religion, wealth, and commission. Here, we compared the Scrovegni Chapel in in Italy to the Sanchi stupa in India. Some of our main points within this topic were: commissions to gain favor with the God(s), and establishing wealth and power.
3) Symbolism: spiritual vs. religious, and assumptions that Asian art is serene, and understanding that symbolism is often political, and that these principles are universal.
4) Art v. artifact- discussion of museum viewing and how it affects the relationship between viewer and object. (How is Western art shown in comparison to Eastern art?)

A couple of questions that we can answer on the blog (we didn't have time to get to them) are:
1) How does what we know about Asian art influence how we see contemporary Asian art?
2) How does what we assume about Asian art influence how we see contemporary Asian art?
And to help you understand some of what contemporary Asian art can be (because it is limitless), here are some links:
Asian Art Now
Art Asia Fair
Thavibu (has art from Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma
Let me know if you would like more images or any other information!
Sarah

Oakland Art Murmur

http://www.oaklandartmurmur.com/

Arts and Crafts House Party

Friends and strangers gathering together to create art. This could be anything from small crafting projects to giant masterpieces. However, there is no pressure to be the next Frida Kahlo or Van Gogn. Really the night is about creating, eating, and laughing. We will start inside but depending on the weather and the vibe it is entirely possible that we will venture outside later in the evening and have a backyard bonfire.

Where: 2825 Newport Road, Alameda Ca 94501

When: December 4, 2010 starting at 7 pm

You're welcomed and encouraged to bring any or all of the following:

Art Supplies: this can include anything from pencil, paper and paint, to bottle caps and cardboard. Be creative! If you have a drawer of buttons or old clothes with seemingly no purpose bring them along.

Poetry, short stories, spoken word, music, food, beverages and anything you would like to share.

Commercialism vs. Fine Art

The fine line:






Selfridges shop window.

Carlos Merida, A Guatemalan Artist

Murales de Instituto Guatemalteco de la Seguridad Social (IGSS),
Guatemala City, 1959

Born December 2, 1981, Guatemala City, Guatemala- died December 22, 1984.

From 1910 to 1914 Merida traveled in Europe, he lived in Paris where he became acquainted with Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani. Upon the beginning of World War 1, Carlos Merida returned to Guatemala, where he held his first one man exhibition. After gaining an interest with the social and artistic revolution in Mexico, he went to Mexico City and became involved with the nation's mural painting; there he became Diego Rivera's assistant. After 1927 he took a second trip to Europe, gaining influences from the Cubist and Surrealist Movements.

I'm into this Painting

Hoorah! My first post on the Mills Art History Society Blog!

It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm reflecting on things from the previous week. The painting above strikes an inspirational chord. It keeps a balance of detail without being over-cluttered. The rich red color is strong and vibrant, making the still-life objects stand out. I've always really enjoyed works by Matisse, and this painting actually features other sculptures and paintings by the artist!

The Red Studio, Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

 ‎"Perhaps it is my liking for stone that attracts me so much to sculpture. It restores to the human form the weight and indifference without which I cannot see any greatness in it." 

Albert Camus, Notebooks 1942 - 

Art in Museums

In our meeting today, we discussed how art is presented in different museums of the western world. Currently I am in a class about contemporary art in Asia in the 21st century, so I was interested to find out how art is presented in the Eastern world versus the Western world.

When I think of the western world and art, I think of two different settings. The first is a vastly beautiful white room with images and three-dimensional objects spaced perfectly from one another, with descriptive wall panels, and stale distances between viewers. The second is something a little like this:



An almost Horror Vacui of a room.

But what do museums look like in the Eastern world? A little earlier today, I learned about the artist Jung-Yeon Min, from (of all things) a tumblr post. But I was fascinated not only by the content of her work, but the seemingly gigantic scale at which she worked.

How can this kind of painting have it's own white wall, or share a non-empty space with many other paintings (not necessarily like this one)?



Maybe I'm crazy for thinking there is some kind of difference between the two,
because when there's a museum like this in China:










And a museum like this in New York:






One has to think that they probably aren't too far off in terms of display.

My last question would probably have to be about items that are considered "exotic" or "primitive" in the western world. These items are usually the ones you will find in a darkly lit room, all in glass cases with carefully placed wall panels (in the western world). For example, ancient Chinese pottery, or African tribal masks. How are African tribal masks displayed in Africa? Or are they even displayed at all in their place of origin? We pride ourselves as westerners so interested in the creations of our culture, but maybe a mask is more to a tribe than a "work of art."

That's all for now, I hope it made sense.

Mills College Art History Society Manifesto

24 OCTOBER 2010

We seek to establish a society for the promotion of art history as it does exist and as it can exist:

1. as a field of critical academic knowledge

2. as a method of elevating and sustaining the visibility of women in the arts including critics, historians, artists, curators, and other contributors to the field's excellence

3. as a mode of communication and the development of ideas between and of members of the Art History Society community

4. as a way of attaining a higher level of independence and individuality as thinkers and participants regarding art and art history

5. as contributors to art history as a field of study and a mode of thinking that can and will be utilized for the betterment of the arts and of ourselves

     We seek to affirm more powerfully our lives through art and to learn how to more meaningfully integrate art into our lives; to realize the power of art as a method of expression, be it cultural, personal, public, political or otherwise; and to know art as an affirmation of existence, suffering, enlightenment, empowerment, intelligence, emotion and visibility as beings.

     The Society's goals as a collective are to deepen and expand the connection between Art History Society members and the arts. Methods of accomplishing this goal include attendance of regional arts events in the San Francisco Bay Area, including but not limited to museum and gallery exhibitions, forums, performances and discussions; serious discussions about the arts, with no exclusive focus on any particular society, period or culture; networking; inviting figures from the art world to speak at the College; creating and sustaining a space online and/or in print where members of the Society can publish art critiques, art essays, art announcements, and other relevant documents pertaining to the Art History Society.

The Art History Society of Mills College