Featured Artist: Kara Walker

Kara Walker's work is deeply connected to themes of race and identity, history, culture, and the darker side of human nature. In particular, she often places her works within the context of the pre-Civil War South. The facial features, body shapes, and costumes of her white and black figures are precise and often exaggerated, using line and form to not only signify ethnicity but to comment on the way we use race to define ourselves.

The Emancipation Approximation, 2000

Many of her works are sihouettes, a form of art popular in the 18th century. She plays with the irony of using such imagery to present a criticism of the time period. "Walker's compositions play off stereotypes and portray, often grotesquely, life on the plantation, where masters and slaves engage in a profoundly unsettling historical struggle" (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/7aa/7aa857.htm) 

Works from Walker's My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love exhibit

Excavated from the Black Heart of a Negress, 2002

Featured Artist: Tom Friedman

Tom Friedman is a master of taking everyday objects and transforming them into works of art. He has formed works from things like toothpicks, soap, asperin, and chewing gum. While the complexity of these pieces is impressive on its own, often there is a concept, a joke, or an idea that he is trying to comunicate.


Untitled, toothpicks, 2005


Untitled, ball of 1500 chewing-gum between two walls, 1990


Untitled, pencils, 1995

His untitled pieces using toothpicks, pencils, and gum are testaments to his perseverence, showing an agonizing patience and attention to detail. The works plays with the idea that nothing is too ordinary to be art. I'm also interested that so many of his works are untitled. Perhaps that is to force them to speak entirely for themselves?


Untitled (Total), 9 cereal boxes, 2000

Another ordinary object that Friedman has painstakingly transformed is a series of retail packaging. In the above image, he cut up nine identical cereal boxes into small squares and reassembled them in a single larger version of a Total box. He's taken a familiar object out of its original context and given it new life.


Untitled (Excedrin), sliced retail packaging, 2000

Untitled (Lucky Charms), 1 cereal box made into 4, 2000

I love how all the works in this series feel like their humming with activity, vibrating so quickly that we can't get our eyes to focus on them.


Untitled, soap and hair, 1999

Unlike artists such as Jeff Koons (whose works are not intended to have meaning beyond their viewers' initial reactions), Friedman is all about deeper meaning, the surprise, or "the second look." Works such as his soap and hair sculpture are intriguing at first because you're not quite sure what you're looking at. Looking closer, you become amazed at the perfection with which he has created the circles. Finally, as you realize what the circles are made of (pubic hair), your initial response is to recoil back.

Book Art Assignment

Brian Dettmer
Brian Dettmer is a master of altering books. He works by cutting away sections of books to reveal images or phrases buried deep within them. At other times, he creates sculptural works with the books, changing their shapes and context. He describes his work this way: "When an object's intended function is fleeting the necessity for a new approach to its form and content arises… Through meticulous excavation or concise alteration, I edit or dissect a communicative object or system such as books, maps and other media" (http://glasstire.com/?p=9627). His most recent exhibition New Worlds to Conquer, depicts the fascination and excitement that can be generated by exploration. The works show wonders of the world, representations of historic events and architecture, and portrayals of all types of people. Just as the book are complex mazes of images and ideas, so too are the ideas they represent.


The War on All Fronts, Altered book, 2010


Civilisation Part 1, Altered book, 2010


Civilisation Part 4, Altered book, 2010

War Through the Ages, Altered book, 2010


Alice Austin
Alice Austin's experience as a curator, history in printmaking, and love for unusual book shapes and structures combine in her artist's books. The books are beautiful, unique structures that play between the realms of sculpture and traditional books. Instead of words, she seems to use color and texture to communicate ideas. For example, in her work Milk Butter Eggs, she examines the quiet, monotony of daily chores. The accordion fold with identical pop-outs reflects the repetition of the houses that are printed on them. Inside the pop-outs are views of a kitchen and laundry line and the view from the kitchen during a coffee break. The colors are mostly soft save for the long strip of bright blue houses. The blue serves as a continuous, unifying line across sections that draws the piece together. This repitition of imagery and shape reflects her subject's monotonous nature, and her use of color shows how days and chores tend to bleed together without distinction.

Milk Eggs Butter, relief-printed accordian structure, 2004

Other examples of her work:

Box of Happiness, 2009


Red, Yellow, Blue, 2000

Jacqueline Rush Lee
Intrigued by the histories, meanings, and contexts of the books, Jacqueline Rush Lee transforms them into sculptures that attempt to convey new ideas. She sees the physical and conceptual aspects of the works as being interconnected. Thus, by changing the books into sculptures, she draws new narratives from them. Unlike Dettmer who cuts away parts of the books to reveal inner text and ideas, the majority of Rush Lee's works deal with the book as a whole. She does not call out specifics from the text, leaving the interpretation of her work more open-ended.


Anthologia (Devotion Series), Altered books, 2008


Endoskeleton, 2000


Lorem Ipsum II: From the Summer Reading Series, 2009-2010


Cube, Altered book

Finished Found-Art Object Project!

Here it is! I'm thinking the bling on the masquerade masks might not have been a good idea, but oh well. The intention was to coordinate the level of decoration with the likelihood I would present a false sense of self to that particular social sphere.

Artist's Statement:
For this project, I wanted to keep things simple. In sorting through the pile of junk paper on my desk, I realized that I could separate the papers into different social spheres--school, church, and dance. Each social sphere represented a different part of me, or a different "mask" that I put on each day. I like the idea of creating physical masks to represent people's personas, and decided that the level of decoration would represent how false a sense of self they are likely to show a particular social sphere. In the end, the masks ended up being almost the same in level of decoration, which shows my realization that in changing even just a small part of your personality in identity in order to fit in, you end up changing your entire sense of self. Finally, the journal face represents people at their core. Undecorated and unadorned, I modeled the journal mask off my own face, so it has all the imperfections that I have. Nothing is hidden. The journal pages contain entries that highlight the confusion and hurt and depression that I worked so hard to cover up for over a year. No more hiding, no more masquerade.

Featured Artist: Ron Mueck

on Mueck began his career as a puppet and model maker for movies, eventually moving on to create animatronics and models for advertisements. These models dissatisfied him because they were created only to be seen from one angle. Anything beyond the camera frame could be a complete mess. Wishing to create figures that had "a presence" he turned to sculpture where he began constructing human figures in incredible detail.

Mask II, 2001-2002

The thing that makes Mueck so intriguing is that he is a hyperrealist sculptor. All of his figures are meticulously planned in order to faithfully represent the human form. This includes scaling the bodies, crafting pores and wrinkles into the sculptures' skins, and threading real human hair into their heads and bodies. Mueck uses fiberglass resin in order to create a realistic figure that is harder than the usual latex.

Pregnant Woman (close up), fibreglass, resin, silicone, 2002

One of the aspects of Mueck's work is the way he plays with scale. Despite his figures being incredibly realistic, most of his pieces are either much larger or much smaller than real life. He once said "I never made life-size figures because it never seemed to be interesting. We meet life-size people every day."

A girl, 2006


Spooning Couple, 2005

Many of Mueck's works tell subtle stories such as Spooning Couple, which shows a tiny man and woman laying together, the man in a T-shirt and the woman in a pair of underwear. The understated emotion is reflected in the miniature figures.There is no sign of obvious antagonism yet things do not seem to be completely alright. Their expressions and the fact that they both have their eyes open yet are not looking at each other hint that we are witnessing the moment where sexuality evaporates.

All in all, Mueck's work is a fascinating display of dedication to detail and the study of the human form.


In Bed, 2005

Two Women, 2005

Pregnant Woman, fibreglass, resin, silicone, 2002

Transformation Word Lists

Object's Original Function/Meaning:

• Junk paper
• Trash/unimportant
• Representations of social spheres
• Church bulletains
• Dance programs
• School assignments
• Scholarship notice
• Journal pages
• Private confessions
• Describe activities in my life

Formal Description of Object:

• Shape: Masks (one full-face mask, three masquerade)
• Color: Primary colors for masquerade masks, achromatic full-face
• Texture: Actual texture, rough, uneven
• Size: Full-face is life size (exact proportions of my face); masquerades are slightly oversized yet still smaller than the full-face
• Unity: Through repetition of shapes
• Presentation: Nestled in scarves, no hierachy to masks = all worn approximately the same amount of time
• Meaning: Full-face, journal mask shows details of my face thus is true self. Masquerade masks imply a false sense of self and are thus made of the papers from different social spheres.

Found-Art Project: Progress Pics

Here are some process pics from my found-art project! I decided to separate the junk papers in my desk into piles representing different social spheres. Am thinking that I'll do Irish dance, school, and church. Right now I'm working on the full-face mask made of journal pages that will represent me as I truly am. Anyways, enjoy the progress pics!

Goopy papermache mess. Horrible to get off the counters, btw.

So, first attempt could have gone better. I didn't realize quite how badly I was grimacing. As the paper mache dried, it just made everything that much more pronounced....

Second attempt went a lot better. Made sure not to grimace! I had to add a layer after I pulled it off my face just to improve the mask's strength. 



Featured Artist: Livia Marin

Livia Marin excels in transforming everyday objects into works of art. Her works tend to feature repetition heavily and focus on the process of the transformation above anything else.

Ficciones de un uso, 2,214 lipsticks, 2004

In Ficciones de un uso, Marin uses a staggering 2,214 tubes of lipstick to create an installation that is unified through repetition yet manages to reveal an unexpected individuality between pieces. No two lipsticks are the same color or shape. It seems to be a subtle commentary on the way women attempt to find individuality for themselves while still conforming to the homogenizing standard of beauty that is expected of them.


Broken Things, 2009

Broken Things, 2009

Broken Things again takes the familiar and separates it from it's usual context. Marin explains the purpose of the exhibit by saying, "In this particular show, the figure of something broken is what hinges that relationship: when something breaks it goes out of use, it can be discarded, but it might enter a new phase of signification if its owner has a strong attachment to it. It’s that moment of decision or indecision that interests me and that I try to recreate by building the object as an ambiguous figure. Within this, it is important that I have worked with mass-produced, non-noble objects, whereby things that were not important in the first place achieve a value or significance by the attachments that people form with them." (http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/2084-livia-marin-broken-things)


Broken Things, 2009


Broken Things, 2009

Featured Artist: Janine Antoni

Janine Antoni's art has taken on many forms from transforming everyday objects such as bars of soap or chocolate into busts of herself to performance art such as painting a floor with hair dye using her own hair as a brush. Always, however, there is a focus on the process.


Photo taken from Loving Care performance, 1993


Loving Care, 1993

Loving Care was a performance piece that featured Antoni getting down on her hands and knees and painting an entire floor in hair dye, using her own hair as a paintbrush. Though the meaning of the piece is subjective, one can detect themes of feminism, a love/hate relationship with beauty or beautification processes, determination, and simply the presence of the human body in art.


Lick and Lather, 7 soap and 7 chocolate self-portrait busts, 1993

Process and the presence of the human body are two themes that seem to run through Antoni's work. In Lick and Lather, she alters the familiar process of creating a self-portrait by licking the chocolate busts and washing with the soap busts until details begin to be worn away. Again, a love/hate relationship with body image can be seen, as Antoni slowly erases herself from her work.


Saddle, Full rawhide, 2000
In Saddle, the presence of human body is obvious in the shape of the cowhide, yet the piece is hollow, transparent. It's as if a ghost dwells withing the hide, the sentiment of death echoing the death of the cow that was necessary in order to create the work.


Moor, Handmade rope made by materials donated to the artist by friends and family, 290 feet, 2001


Moor, 2001


Antoni spinning fibers for Moor

Moor is an excellent example of Antoni's focus on the artistic process. The massive rope is made of materials donated from her family and friends, all spun together by the artist. The piece seems to be about connections: the connections between the artist and the people in her life, the connections between her and the feminine tradition of spinning, and finally the connections between stages of life, of history.

Featured Artist: James Turrell

James Turrell draws upon his experience in perceptual psychology and optical illusions to create art that focuses on space, perception, and light. His works are wordless, build entirely on visual perception and feeling. He says, “I want to create an atmosphere that can be consciously plumbed with seeing...like the wordless thought that comes from looking in a fire.”


His works challenge his audience by forcing them to wait, to become consciously aware of themselves looking. The works are meant to be taken in slowly, quietly, and over time. I see this as a subtle protest to the way current society rushes about, never taking time to slow down and observe the intricacies and beauty of the things around us.


Afrum (White), 1966

Afrum uses light projectors to create the illusion of a floating cube in the corner of two walls. The experience of the piece relies upon the position of the viewer in relation to the projection; some vantage points appear more convincing than others, yet there is a magic in the way that something so tangible could be created with light alone. Turrell once said, “In working with light, what is really important to me is to create an experience of wordless thought, to make the quality and sensation of light itself really quite tactile.”


The Light Inside, Light Installation, 2000

 Other works often control their viewers' perception of light by enclosing them inside a structure. An example of such a work is Meeting, one of his Skyspace pieces. Inside this closed room are benches that allow viewers to sit and look up at the sky through an opening in the ceiling. The work focuses on the changing light at sunset and the way in which that light affects emotion.


Meeting, 1986

Meeting, 1986

Viewers looking up at Meeting
Turrell's most ambitious work is still in progress: a celestial observatory created in the center of Roden Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona. David Cohen described the work as "a multimillion dollar earthwork of tunnels, elliptical chambers, and a perfected rim-- it is designed for enhanced contemplation of the heavens, a kind of natural telescope that will use the laws of perception in lieu of lenses." (http://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=node/311)


Roden Crater


Roden Crater Observatory


Roden Crater Observatory


Skyscape within Roden Crater Observatory