The MCA Show

Unable to make it on thursday, I wandered into the MCA early halloween morning to view the Luc Tuymans.  The exhibition works span a number of years and subjects though the dull color scheme never faded further than recent memory.  I found myself drawn to two paintings in the whole exhibition, the Demolition 2005 and The Parc 2005.

The first thing that drew me to these paintings was the particularly beautiful color, layout and technique used to create them.  As was mentioned in class, Tuymans uses news pictures as reference, however the paintings really take on their own identity through the way the thin layers of paint become a haunting image.   I might describe the colors he uses in both works as almost ghosts (I guess its the spirit of the season) of a former photograph.

Over all, the most enjoyable thing about the exhibition was the way that individual paintings were only snapshots of a greater story.  In order to understand the entire meaning behind each work you had to contemplate all of the works in the room.  An emotionally drained newsreel faded even further by the time they were buried.

Superstition and general paranoia

Without question my favorite was “Superstition” It has completely taken over my mind. It also links into this strange feeling I have that the uncanny is following me. I mean that the concept has become sentient and is following me. Which is the kind of paranoia that is part of the uncanny. See?
I have never seen something so unsettling and yet so simple. The modeled white torso and the mostly flat black insect like object over top of it, its terrifying, like a succubus. I read a bit about it, they discussed the fact that the most painterly aspects of the painting are the background and the torso while the main portion of the image, is black and with out detail. It seems like a black hole, and then with the two legs that move off of the creature that point so much to some sort of insect.
It interesting to look at this image and think about his technique of painting one image in a day, and that the image is specific to that day. I keep wondering what the day was like that he painted that.
There is such casualness to the painting. The lack of precision and the informality of the design makes me think of a doodle, something that was done while daydreaming, the release of a repressed memory. This is something that I would like to incorporate into my own work. His ability to take something so unsettling and then amakes it into an everyday event which makes the image terrifying. I really liked this exhibit and found that his work, while painting, is really linked to photography and the instantaneous moment.

Cardboard?

After looking at the paintings themselves,  I started looking at the sides of the paintings and found myself fascinated with the staples and tacks he used to stretch the canvas, and then there were four paintings on cardboard. (Die Zeit). Almost makes me want to go find my stapler and staple into something for a while.

When I looked at "Diorama", I was underwhelmed by it except for the size. Later, when I was talking to Carrie, I looked over and saw that it was perfectly framed by the openings of the doors in the gallery.

It looked more interesting in person. Which is probably why I'm not a highly regarded photographer.

La Correspondance

When I rushed into the Luc Tuymans exhibition in the MCA, my first impression was a bit of confusion and awe. Although we viewed some of his work in class and discussion, I am not super familiar with his work. With 15 minutes to view his exhibition (it was closing soon), it was interesting to feel like I was viewing all of his work through cloudy color filters. I realize that this is a characteristic of a Luc Tuymans painting. After viewing all of his work, I went for a second cycle through the exhibition a bit slower to closely examine his paintings.

After slowly viewing his work, I am not a huge fan of his work. I enjoy his work, but not to the extent I thought I would be. I wasn't exactly floored by his paintings, though I can appreciate them. However, I was struck by one in particular: La Correspondance (1985). Out of all of his paintings, I felt like this painting in particular demanded my attention. The background appeared to me to be a wallpaper pattern. The color scheme matched that of the rest of the exhibition, but what caught my eye was the room "behind" the wallpaper pattern, especially the red X on one of the tables. All tables are deserted and the one table with the X looks marked, as if something was to happen with that table and whoever sat there.

When I got home, I googled the piece and read an interview with Luc Tuymans. He claims it to be one of his most conceptual pieces. The anecdotal story linked to it is this: a Dutch writer in the early 20th century was stationed in Berlin. Because he didn't have enough money to bring his wife to Berlin, everytime he went to a cafe, he would send her a postcard with a sketch and a red X to mark where he ate--whcih is why it is called correspondence. He proceeded to do this for the five years he was stationed in Berlin. Tuymans wanted to get across the idea of homesickness. (Glisdorf, Daily Serving,"Luc Tuymans: In His Own Words", 2010)

Afrotaslinear!

I was amazed at the amount of control and detail Chris Ofili showed in his Afrotaslinear exhibit. while walking alongside the walls i was wondering how he did them. the watercolor paintings are amazing because of the way he bleeds the pigment and then creates tie dye designs in the clothing. i was also amazed at the vast amount of images there are. i can only imagine how long all these would take. especially the ones where they are just graphite on paper or ink on paper. they were all so clean i would imagine it is hard to keep the paper as white as possible.

as for the images, i loved. i loved the abstraction of the hair and all the different variations. i think i may be a sucker for good watercolor drawings but these ones are truly exceptional.

too bad we couldnt take photographs in there...good thing we have the internet.

Chris Ofili

I really enjoyed Ofili's Seven Brides for Seven Bros. I feel like the series of seven drawings really summed up the show in a nice way and included a lot of the messages of the other work within it.

The work itself is of seven African women, drawn exaggerated with great gesture and an almost comedic rendering, using the individual afro sporting faces that he based most of the show off of. Each woman is a seeming stereotype of an african woman-curvacious, sassy, bending forward with backs out, hips and lips large. They immediately recalled Lisa Yuskavage, pushing it a step conceptually forward by commenting not just on the male gaze toward women, but on society as a whole's gaze toward African women.

The drawings are so indicative of his work. The skill level is simultaneously high and low brow, clean and deserving of the light of a well lit gallery, while child-like. Even in their childlike nature of the drawings, there reads an ironic disdain from an insider looking out. The laugh of an intellectual who is playing a long with society's game only to show how stupid it is.

Meh

I wasn't exactly thrilled. I sort of feel like if it wasn't Chris Ofili nobody would give a damn.
I don't know if I need to adjust my expectations for a "drawing" show. Maybe I should not hope to be wowed or awed or wooed or anything of the things I like to be... but I don't think so.

A lot of times more is more. A lot of times seeing many examples of the same or similar type of thing helps to create a specific impression or define the individual pieces. I feel like that is not what happened. For me, it seemed like since most of the drawings were done in such similar styles with such similar techniques that they all just blurred together, the same thing with the water colors. I started to feel like: seen one seen 'em all.

I DID like the water colors more. I enjoyed the bright colors he used and the way they were allowed to bleed together. I liked his illustration of different types of dress, different hairstyles, and his explorations of different skin tones. I almost felt like there were too many of them though.

The two drawings I like the most were "brooklyn" and the "afromatrix". They each seemed like refreshing moments in the show. "Afromatrix" had a different treatment and size for every head. I also thought the way they were displayed was an interesting reference to specimens or the idea of a collection.

Afromatrix

        Child-like and humor are worrds that I would use to describe Chris Ofili's work I saw in the Art Club last Friday. I was more attracted to mostly the big drawing papers with little skinny lines and a lot of white space. What special about them is the little drawing details or you may call the composing element of the drawings that looks like many heads with afro.

        My favorite piece out of all in the show is the No. 20 Afromatrix. It is basically 112 drawings framed in one big mat board and frame that is 41.5 in. x 61.5 in. It is done by Chris Ofili around 2000 to 2007. Again it is composed with many little afro heads. There are many variations in the piece. The afroes appear in different shapes. Some look like animal shapes, and some look just like crazy hair. Though enerally the piece lookd very geomecial. However, every individual little piece of paper inside of each mat frame has tiered up. I really enjoyed how detail the work is and the variations in the whole unity.

        The idea of haing little afro heards is very clever, however, I think on the level of the entire show, it is a little bit over used. It is a probelm I think many artists face when dealing with a whole body of art. You want them to be unified but you do not what people to be bored with it. I found it not easy to decide especially when dealing with my own work. There are many requirements go into a good body of work show. First it needs to be originally. They it needs to hold down to the direction but willing to explore the suprise of it. Then everything needs to be pulled together so it looks like from the same body. I say that Chris Ofili's show definitly fulfilled most of the requirements, but I just hope there is a little bit more suprise.

Are those Afro heads?

I had never heard of or seen the work of Chris Ofili until Carrie and Yood started mentioning this show that was held a few years ago that was found rather controversial apparently. I think it was called "Sensation?" The opportunity, however, to see the work of a great and controversial artist in-person was an experience I'm glad to have had.

I think what struck me the most about Ofili's work at the Arts Club of Chicago was that it was mostly made up of this collection of what looked like just pencil sketches, but on a larger scale. It is amazing what some artists can do with the simplest of materials, such as graphite, paper, and watercolor. My favorite piece was one that used both white and black Afro heads to make a sort-of optical art piece. (The heads were grouped in two opposing semi-circle shapes.)

Not to compare myself to a great artist or anything, but I think I especially enjoyed this exhibit because it affirmed a way of working that is present in my own art. I employ repetition with lines and patterns a lot in my work, similar to Ofili. Seeing this exhibit gave me ideas both in how I can progress with my own style, and what kind of art pieces I should attempt next.

Chris Ofili--he's a genius with elephant dung and pencil

Chris Ofili's show at the Chicago Arts Club was a surprise to me. Familiar with some Ofili's past work, I never expected to find such beautifully abstracted compositions, such as that in Afroeverlasting.

At first glance the work appears as a circle constructed of some fragile, intricate material. Upon further investigation, the viewer realizes that this fragile, intricate material is a very abundant series of afro heads. Yes. Afro. Heads. These are the heads of men with voluptuous, blooming craniums of quintessentially African-American/British hair. These tiny heads ostensibly contribute a satirical aspect to the overall effect of Afroeverlasting, as does its title.

The title Afroeverlasting is absolutely hilarious. It is an undeniable fact of which Chris Ofili was obviously aware. Humor in juxtaposition with truly austere and gorgeous composition--the stark and stoic or resistant use of mark and color--creates a sort of work that I cannot describe. I feel that I have viewed two pieces as I recall my reaction to Afroeverlasting--the one I aw as I approaced the work from afar, which was a delicate circle, and the other.

The other was a playful collage of one image that carries considerable weight--the afro head.

Ofili at the Arts Club of Chicago

Chris Ofili’s Afrotranslinear show was amazing. Although I assume everyone hoped to see some of his infamous elephant dung works, I was pleasantly surprised with the pencil renderings and watercolor works on exhibition at the Arts Club of Chicago. The entire show was seamlessly displayed, as his afro-delineated pencil drawings led to a room of small watercolor paintings and drawings that depicted afro-muses.

One element that unified most of the works was the bulbous afro shapes also seen in the pornographic butts and the elephant dung of his previous paintings. In one drawing, the form was enlarged and delineated using small afro heads. The small shapes are beautifully drawn and meticulously crafted, calling for a very intimate viewing.

Interestingly, Ofili’s work is as intentional as it is gestural. The show’s press release accurately describes the paintings and drawings as simultaneously “crude” and “purposeful”. This juxtaposition is particularly striking in the 7 brides for 7 bros, 2006 series, one of my favorites. From afar, the drawings look like loose Picasso-esque contours of naked women in erotic poses but from close-up, each line is composed of small afro-head drawings.

Afrotranslinear

On entering the show, I must say I was a little disappointed. After discussing the YBA show in our class and the uproar his elephant dung images had caused, I was expecting something a little more, well, controversial. At first glance the show was bland and felt like an exhibition of work I had seen before. On a closer observation of the work, his line drawings of people were made up of tiny smiling Afro heads ranging in detail and size. The portraits on the walls were done very delicately, the intense colors forming tie-dye patterns and aiding in separating each individual from the others, creating what appears to be a sort of typography. The show carried an overt sense of humor from the titling of his images to the imagery presented.
The images that most struck me were from the series 7 Brides for 7 Bros whose title is borrowed from the musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The women in the piece are in actuality based on one woman, Ofili’s wife (her favorite musical happens to be Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), and are depicted in a highly sexualized, if not fetishized, manner. Again, the graphite drawings are made up of small Afro heads- not excluding her genitalia and pubic hair. Each individual drawing is titled after the lead male characters of the musical- it seems as if he has given up his wife to these unknown men.
The sexual content of the images seems out of place with the other, more considerately humorous, images in the show. However, if we consider the others as explorations of Black identity, these seem more an exploration of Black sexual identity, an aspect that cannot be neglected when considering an individual, much less an entire group. After circling the exhibition several times, I kept returning to these drawings. Perhaps it was the seeming displacement of the images that originally drew me to the series, but it was the consideration of their inclusion that kept me engaged.

Chris Offili


It is strange to look at the body of work at the Arts Club and think that it was the same artist who incited the Mayor of New York City to try and force-ably take down a work of art from a gallery, though, it was an election year as it was pointed out in one of the hand outs, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. The paintings and drawings seem playful, even those of the slightly pornographic women with their mild stereotypes, the hair, the nails and so on are not offensive. They are pretty and light. By looking through them you get a sense of culture and a sense a people. The portraits made up of tiny afro-ed heads hint back to the traditional portraits of the European nobility as well as the placement of the water color images, all hung in rows, in matching frames and with matching compositions.

After seeing the Chris Offili show I went to the Luc Tuymens retrospective at the MCA. The similarities between these tow artists are interesting to note. Both complete the images with in one sitting. They both look back to the culture in which the artist is living and both deal with a certain color palette. Though that would be where the similarities stop, for these are two very different artists. Tuymens work is in drab, desaturated and unsettling colors, while Offili is bright, rich and dense. The work its self can be seen as in much the same light as the color palettes, though I would not call Tuymens work drab, but it is as unsettling as Offili’s is bright and humorous. It seems more like a comparison of the two cultures, Belgium and Trinidad, than of the two artists.

Offili takes what is personal to him and is able to form it into something that is accessible to the audience at whole as well as giving insight into himself. I find that the balance he has struck is one of great precision and it is functioning very well. This is something that I am looking for in my own work. The correct balance between the personal and the universal in the message. When is to much of the artist in the work as well as when is there not enough of the artist in the work? You can feel Offili in the works but they are not necessarily about him, he is just the missing piece that transforms the work.

the background patterns

I was delighted to find the background penciled filler patterns on the pieces on the East wall of the exhibit. I particularily liked #4, Cumaca, 2006. He used a pattern that was like shells, the lines of the shells, over and over.

I use a similar pattern in my free motion quilting on my quilts. One of the differences is that Ofili can lift his pencil whenever he wants, when I'm adding lines with a sewing machine, I don't want to stop the line of stitching unless I have to. So my shapes tend to grow out of each other. Plus, my lines aren't as close together as his. It takes me about an hour to fill a square foot, and that's moving pretty quickly, he must have spent hours and hours on his drawings.


I'm teaching a free motion quilting class at a quilt show next week. It would be amusing to use some of Ofili's images as samples, not mentioning his controversy, and seeing if anyone recognizes his work.

Incidently, I did see one of his controversial painting at the Walker in Minneapolis a little over a decade ago. The painting was gorgeous. The dung was like a decoration, if you didn't know what it was, you wouldn't guess. I don't remember which painting it was, I don't remember the butts, but I was going through the museum quickly, lots to see, too little time.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

AfroOfili

The Chris Ofili show at the Arts Club of Chicago was a rather relaxing look at an artist who is known by many for controversy.  The lack of ponographic clippings was somewhat disappointing however there were specific aspects of the apparently simple drawing work displayed.
In our recent essay assignment, I chose to look into the work and philosophy behind Roger Brown's style.  In his words "there has to be a complexity in painting but to make things instantly readable is very important...reducing a certain form so that you can repeat it over and over" while then continually add more complexity is a key aspect of Brown's work. At the Ofili show, it was apparent how the process described is not painting specific but spans other forms of representational art. Chris Ofili's pencil drawings are a prime example of the usage of a single symbol to create a complex image. 

I was most interested in his series 7 brides for 7 bros created in the period between 2004 and 2006.  Each depicts a woman posed erotically open and welcome.  At first glance it looks like a simple line drawing but a closer look will tell you that each woman is in fact made of tinny afro-ed heads of almost uniform size and shape.  I was impressed by the way with which Ofili has taken this one iconic shape and used it obsessively to create complex forms and shapes.

Rockin My Socks!

You know that feeling of accomplishment you get when you just finished something you have been working hard on--that is the feeling I got when I looked at Chris Ofili's artwork. Even though I did not do anything but view and take in his work, the appreciation I had for the work he did corresponded to a feeling of pride & accomplishment that we get when we finish something. It felt as if I participated in finishing his work, just by receiving his work, and thus I felt this feeling of accomplishment.

In addition to that feeling, I also was amazed by Ofili's work, particularly the Afrotranslinear pieces. From afar, the pieces appear to be drawings of women or couples or other geometrical shapes composed of darkened circles or translucent circles. His depiction of the human figure is extremely stylistic--characteristic of Ofili. But when you get up close, those circles are actually afros of smiling faces! It was amazing how tiny the afroed faces could get, without losing their form or shape! It was great to realize what I was looking at when I got closer.

Though I am really intrigued by all of the Afrotranslinear pieces, I was drawn to Afro Reap and Sow. This piece has two hands, released from a clasp, sprinkle seeds to the land below. As you can guess, the seeds were afroed smiley faces as well as the outlines of the hands. I enjoyed this piece more so than the others because it gave me some insight on how Ofili chooses between dark fros and light fros. The way he chooses comes down to lighting and shading. The dark fros represented shaded areas and the albino fros represented lit areas. I loved the use of straight lines, without the faces, that reinforced the ideas of light and shade. I also loved how fluffy the afros appeared. They weren't simply darkened half-moons, they were carefully detailed to appear dense and freshly picked.

If we were still talking about our involuntary positive responses, I had one here at this exhibit. The moment I realized they were all composed of tiny faces with fluffy afros, I just became really happy and appreciative of the work Chris Ofili was doing. I enjoyed his paintings as well, but his drawings blew my mind!

Racism and grouping

I was really interested in what was said in the presentations about Edmona Lewis and how she, and other people of minority descent are bunched together as “African America” and yet they are of mixed race. This also corresponds to conversations that have some up in other classes, for instance the du Sable monument that is proposed or mean to be built by Navy Pier. The Du Sable foundation had rejected two of the proposed monuments because they did not look “African American” enough, but Du Sable was Haitian and French. When I brought this up in class everything got really quiet for a moment, and then we just moved on. People are apparently not overly comfortable talking about this as it seems to border on labeling people but isn’t that exactly the point? That people are being put into these groups that are not correct? It seems a lot like people trying to ignore different races in an attempt to be super not racist, and are just being a ignorant of our cultural uniqueness.

Also fall related

I was standing on the L platform at the Berwyn stop and I had my heavy coat on to keep warm. I had my headphones on but I wasn't playing anything to loud so it just kind of blocked out a lot of the noise. All I could hear was the fall wind whistling as it brushed past. And I looked around and watched a couple share a kiss and an old man holding a child and I thought of how simple and yes, beautiful it all was. It reminded me of being young and playing soccer out at the giant fields on the edge of town and running off the sidelines to my mom who had a blanket ready to wrap me up in. It was warm and safe and all I could hear was the wind hitting the blanket that guarded me from it.

Theory v. Study

I really enjoyed last weeks presentation that attempted to associate aspects of philosophy with art--to synthesize a sort of theory explaining art function. I understand that it was much more complex than this, really, but I felt that this was its goal, in the end. The function of art is a strange question. It is easy to come up with simple answers that are problematic themselves. For example, "It broadens our understanding of the world." This may be true, but we don't understand exactly how it does this, nor are we sure of the nature of art in the wider world (i.e. a definition of art). Once vocabulary such as question, definition, problem and answer are introduced to a notion, it is pretty obvious that philosophy will be the tool necessary for its eventual understanding.

Boo!

My first fall is beautiful. All of the fallen leaves, cool weather and earth tones come together to represent that very American Halloween that I've never quite experienced in Miami. Last weekend, friends and I drove to my brother-in-law's family's house and we shot spooky halloween inspired videos in their backyard/forest. Hocus pocus.

My Ahh Moment

My husband was not working last Saturday. Finally we had some time of our own to spare. We decided to take a visit to Navy Pier.
One of the things I enjoy about walking around chicago is to see all the dogs walking on the street. I usually tempt to take pictures of those I really like, however my camera does not always do a good job catching things that are moving quickly. So while I was walking in Navy Pier with my husband, I saw a beautiful big brown dog among the crowds. I murmered when I took the camera out:"Everything else can be unclear, but please do not let the dog be!" This is how the picture turned out--

Boo!

My first fall is beautiful. All of the fallen leaves, cool weather and earth tones come together to represent that very American Halloween that I've never quite experienced in Miami. Last weekend, friends and I drove to my brother-in-law's family's house and we shot spooky halloween inspired videos in their backyard/forest. Hocus pocus.

Hello Beautiful!

I'm a huge dork for nature... and I love seasons, especially fall. Lately I've been getting really excited about the colors of the leaves. Whenever I leave the house to go to school or work or just to walk around the neighborhood I'm always thrilled to bits about how pretty my neighborhood looks. Before I can stop myself I say to nature "Hello, beautiful!" and then immediately after "Hello world!"
(so far I still have the good judgement to think these things to myself instead of shouting them out like a crazy as I walk down the street alone). My friend Greta used to say "Hello world!" on particularly nice days when we'd go on walks in San Diego or when we'd drive to Sunset Cliffs in her mustard yellow Volkswagon with her dog Francis and sit on the edge of the world and watch the sun set into the water.... "Hello World!" I like it.

Tech wonderfullness

X-mas come early. This is my computer wallpaper at the moment, the images being split down the middle to fit my dual monitor setup (2 27inch). Disclaimer: If you are a MAC user and have been your whole life, you can skip this blog. Today, I reinstalled my desktop computer with a shiny new OS: Windows 7 64-bit. I did this for 1 purpose: Use all of the installed 8 gigs of RAM for maximum photo/video editing power! Why am I blogging about this, you might be wondering? I have been building my own windows machines for the past 7 years and nothing can be more frustrating and disastrous than reinstalling operating systems. The complexity of reinstalling all of the drivers, programs, and settings defies patience levels of most human beings. I completed the smoothest transition today out of all previous installs, setting a personal record of ~2.5 hours from start to finish. The definition of elation has yet another entry.

If you are a Windows user and are interested in a dock that functions similar to the Mac dock, check out http://rocketdock.com/

Beauty in Thoughtfulness

Taking a cue from Rachel, the beauty I found this week was in a gesture of thoughtfulness. Today I had my Research Studio class. Our assignment was to have made instructions that a fellow classmate could follow, and make a work of art from. Accompanying these instructions, we had to include materials. My project called for color, and all I had were my expensive, (what I consider expensive), chalk pastels. Thus, I sent my pastels in a box with other materials and instructions to the professor, to hand out to an unknown classmate. I prayed that someone conscientious would get my box, and treat my supplies with care.

It turns out that not only did the recipient respect my materials, one of the pastels had crumbled (like they so often do), and without telling me, on the lunch break, he had gone out to Blick and bought me a replacement pastel. What a beautiful world! I would never get mad at someone for having a material accidentally break on them, and definitely never ask them to buy me new supplies. However, the love this man probably has for his own materials, influenced him to respect mine.

You can tell which one he replaced, because it is the only one with the wrapper still on.

Involuntary Positive Response :)

Everyday, I walk to and from classes, mainly on Washington Street. Most days, I walk back pretty late after sundown, but sometimes I'm lucky and get to walk back while the sun is setting. Walking west on Washington Street, There's always a site that catches me off guard and just makes me grin. It's seeing an older brick building being towered over by a newer sleek building--especially when the sun is setting. A pinkish light shines through the column of buildings and this "tiny" old brick building is here still standing strong, next to this ginormous, shiny skyscraper. I never say out loud "beautiful", but in my mind, I say "Ah, refreshing!". It's the same feeling I get when I have appreciation for the strenuous hard work that is put behind a piece of artwork.

(PS this wasn't caught at sunset unfortunately..)

Photobooths

We went to a wedding last weekend and they had a photobooth. You can go online and look at all of the photostrips from the wedding. I sat there for about half an hour laughing really hard. People dressed up elegantly and making funny faces into a camera is really funny. Juvenile. But really funny.

And, I'm happy about the found wallet, the new job with the excellent vocabulary.

And Chicago is just such a pretty city this time of year. Taking the bus home in the evening is such a delight.

Unexpected elation......

Even though we had already been assigned this blog post and we were supposed to be aware of when we felt pure joy at the sight or smell or sound of something, I was taken by surprise by the pure joy I felt yesterday at roughly 8:37 pm.  It was the first day of my part time job as a server at Gyu-kaku, a Japanese BBQ restaurant opening in November on Ohio street right next to the gallery we will be visiting next week. Sitting around the grilling tables of the third floor, the management informed us we would have to learn 9 phrases in Japanese.  I was suddenly and unexpectedly excited about coming to work simply so I could shout "Irasshaimase, konbanwa!" Of course this has nothing to do with the ecstatic cry of "beautiful" in regards to artwork but I also felt a little something akin to joy staring at the cow mural made to look like the shape of Japan on the third floor....

Well well well, today has certainly been an interesting day my fellow classmates. I thought maybe I would collect my small positive involuntary responses and then post them at the end of the week, and I think maybe I’ll still do that, for I’m feeling particularly positive right now. BUT, an event of epic proportions (in my life at the moment) has occurred. Ok maybe I may be exaggerating a little but hey, who doesn’t make a sad face when they lose their wallet? You’ve got everything in there; so that means you have everything to replace and/or pay fines to replace (SAIC, I HEART YOU). But today I thought I had lost my wallet in the MCC building and had almost accepted the fact that it was gone forever. Another wallet I’ll have to replace (yes, I’ve had one stolen out of my backpack before). So I retraced my steps with the help of others and asked around. (thank you by the way). Finally I came to the 12^th floor café and asked if anyone had turned in a wallet.

Do you know how much of weight had lifted off of my shoulders when the friendly barista said yes? As my eyes began to water a slight amount and my fingers clinched my wallet tightly I realized that that involuntary response of jubilation wasn’t just from the fact that I had found my wallet but from the fact that SOMEONE, somewhere out there turned it in. It was like the world telling me that hell yesss there are good people out there. And even though something like turning in a wallet may seem like a small sense of duty, it’s a grand gesture to me.

So I just want to say THANK YOU to that person. Where ever you are.

Sincerely,

Rachel

apparently Italians dont like power rangers...

When everyone likes serene pictures of realistic dears and nicely painted skies Italy loves the more abstract paint strokes with bright colors all over the place. What is up with Italy’s least wanted painting? Probably the most random painting you’ll come across for out of all of the. Elvis? Emaciated naked statues? THE PINK POWER RANGER?? What is going on there?

Looking at the different surveys Italians rather see an older object over a newer one. They’re smart enough to know that they rather buy a painting that they like rather than a painting that goes with their décor. And, oh! What a surprise, Italians prefer Italian art over all other art. How modest. (that’s not as bad as how much more Americans prefer their own art over other art…geez).

They’ll take traditional art over modern art and they love the spring…who doesn’t? They don’t like looking at animals and, my lord, what ever you do, don’t talk about religion. Italians cant really decide what kind of indoor scene they want to see so just throw the objects out the window. And while all these loopy Italians with high school educations seem somewhat uptight about what kind of art they like, they go and say that they want to see “different looking paintings” with “whimsical designs.” So if you find yourself having dinner with an Italian (and an author they so badly want to serve food to) don’t be afraid to talk about spending taxes on art, and why were there so many Power Ranger series.

One of the things I found interesting about the final results of the survey was the composition of the final paintings. The compositions are pretty standard and formulaic. I assume it's probably the most objective way to create the paintings but it assumes that if a country prefers mountains that they prefer to see them in the left part of the painting rather than the right or that if there is a tree and an animal they must always be standing on the right side in the foreground. I am curious to know how the size of the geometric patterns are chosen. Many of the least wanted paintings are a series of squares in different colors that seem to be roughly the same size as the squares in all the other least wanted paintings. Why does geometry almost always mean square and not rectangle or trapezoid or anything else. Why does Portugal get crosses instead of squares and how come Denmark gets Don Quixote with an erection?

Ahhh Holand

I found that these kind of play in to the stereotypes that I had for each country, and there is nothing funnier than the fact that Italy really does not want Elvis.

It was Holland that seemed the most interesting, they seemed to bounce around in their opinions. They had the truly abstract painting and do not want cats or figurative paintings. This marked sense, considering they are pretty saturated them considering the whole Dutch renaissance and what not.
What was really surprising was that they, on whole preferred people fully clothed. This was a giant disappointment as I have always thought of the Dutch, much like the Japanese, as the country who does and likes weird things. We are talking about a country that puts chocolate sprinkles on everything.
But oh well, good for the dutch for breaking away from tradition. Expect that they like traditional art work in the home and they don’t want piece that makes them think. So good for the Dutch for making no sense.

Kenya v. USA

I thought a comparison of very different countries would produce the most interesting results, thus I chose Kenya and The United States. To begin, I decided to compare their favorite colors- not surprisingly both were blue. However, the United States prefers blue by a much greater margin- 44% to Kenya’s 29%. Kenya was also more confused as to what their favorite colors were- including the option “Not Sure” in their selection of choices (they were, however, certain of their second favorite colors). When choosing the activities of the figures in the perfect image, the United States preferred to see people at leisure, while Kenya wanted people depicted working. This was unexpected- I supposed that America would prefer to show an industrious people, as much of their history and current culture revolve around the hardworking citizen. I assumed that Kenya, with its tumultuous history would prefer to see images of indulgence and excess- thus leisure. This reversal surprised me. The most staggering difference was the amount of money each was willing to spend on a work of art they enjoyed. The majority of Kenyans responded they would spend between $6.00 and $11.00 dollars, while most Americans would spend between $200 and $500 dollars. If we consider this in terms of average household income, the average Kenyan is willing to spend a larger percentage of their yearly income on art than is the average American.

Art and Home Décor in the US

I was particularly interested in Komar and Melaid’s survey questions regarding art in the home. My interest in this area lies in that almost everyone decorates their immediate surrounding. It can even be considered and informal way of curating or a sort of art form. Unfortunately, Komar and Melaid’s survey was conducted in 1993, before the hype of American home make-over reality shows. I would have enjoyed seeing how the public’s perception of what the home should look like affects their responses within the survey.

Komar and Melaid’s project description states that most participants with an interest in the arts tend to be less definitive in their taste and more open to a greater variety of artistic styles. However, both of the questions regarding home décor provided only two opposing options; no “it depends”, so as in most multiple choice questionnaires, it is difficult to gage how many preferred a combination of both.

I thought about which would be the educated response to “Does one select art to fit with the décor of the home, or does one select art based on whether or not they like the piece”? Maybe, “a mix of both” would be most appropriate. Professor Yood might agree since last lecture he spoke of the importance of context and its affect on content.

 One of our recent readings (from the shark book) pointed out the importance of smart curating. Although the chapter was interested in the organization of works within a modern museum, I would say that home decor responds in a similar manner as each individual object forms part in the creation of a space. In my opinion, works should relate to each other the space, but at the same time, I would want to I would want to include art that I enjoy looking at. Interestingly, 60% of the participants selected to choose art for their home solely based on whether they like the piece or not.

Komar, Melamid, and the United States

How to sum up America? Well, we like our own art the best (49%), even though those Americans polled had never heard of/didn't know of Jackson Pollock (78%), LeRoy Neiman (66%), or Georgia O'Keefe (65%). We don't think that art needs to provoke thought, it can just be aesthetically pleasing (75%), which sheds light on why we don't like contemporary art that much. We are prudish in that we prefer fully clothed figures (68%). And lastly, the majority of those polled would only like to spend $500 or less on a piece of art that they really liked. However, in our defense, we prefer blue as both our favorite first color, and favorite second color.

Italy's Most Wanted

There were a couple "most wanted" paintings that were especially interesting in comparison to those of other countries. personally, my tastes most paralleled those of the denizens of Holland, Germany, and Italy. This similarity is basically arbitrary and boils down to my preferences. It has nothing to do with Komar and Melamid's "scientific findings". It seems to me, however, that subject matter really matters very little to the most wanted painting. People seem to want images that are so bland they may as well not exist. I think Komar and Melamid might have done better to document the already existing works, and, more importantly, most popular artists, living or not living. The fact is that most people have no idea what they want from art. That's why they don't make it themselves. Artists decide what people will look at because they are driven at an intellectual and investigative level to create. When given the opportunity to think about what they want to look at, the non-artist general public chooses almost nothing. However, when they are given a range of images by the experts and professionals of the visual world--artists--they tend to choose and appreciate works that have more complexity than the "most wanted" paintings, even if they do consist of blue skies, blue water, funny animals, cute children, and George Washington. I think that the most important things about art are the artist, the art object, and the concept which was the impetus for the creation of the art object, in that order. Because I think this, Komar and Melamid's study seems almost pointless, as it involves none of the most important elements of creation. Or, if it does, they are sort of shadows or parodies or deformations of what they should be.

A Investigating of My Own Country-China

Well, I am of course very interested in the datas about the country which I was born and grew up in. With what topics I was interested, I found most of them not suprising. With the changes in society happening in China right now, people's mind have started to change. When most parts of the history of Chinese paintings has imageries, the contemporary Chinese people are very open to either realistic or different looks in paintings. Even though people still prefered realistic (33%) over different (9%) looks, the both/depends column is the highest but really close to the number of realistic. I also found it interesting with the the choice of soft curve or sharp angles. Under the Chinese tab, 55% prefers soft curves compare to 25% sharp angles. Then I wondered if it is ture of other countries. Not suprised, 65% American prefered soft curves and 55% Germany. While Russia has pretty low percentage on the definite both soft curves and sharp edges, Russian still prefer the former by 10% difference. I wonder if this has to do with humans' own body form since it is what we are use to. Other datas I thought interesting are the scene of the paintings. 59% prefers festive subjects while there is only 12% prefer serious subjects. I think it has to do with what the general Chinese people's view about the function of art, plus the Chinese culture is a very festival orientated one.
Something that suprised me is the choice of the favourite colors. Since red is everywhere during Chinese traditional holidays and any big events, I would assume that the first place would belong to red. However, not only it is not the top on the list, it is actually the 8th. As far as what kind of art Chinese people prefer, 36% choose modern while 28% choose traditional. I guess depends on the data, there seems really a growing market of modern art in China nowadays.

Iceland vs the WORLD

Let's see what the island surrounded by naturally lush landscape, destructive volcanism, and Norse myths have to say on this survey. As expected, but a little low in my opinion, they topped out with a favorite color of blue at 31%. They care more about the design of a winter coat than either underwear or a car. no surprise there. Interestingly, they chose American art as their lowest type of preferred art. Coming in at a whopping 80%, they want to see outdoor depictions in their art and fields and rural scences instead of lakes/rivers/oceans. Is that because of the art they have seen inthe past or their longing for fertile ground to sow fresh food? I wonder why they have a preference for soft, curvy paintings when the landscape they are surrounded by could be considered angular,jagged. Yet, they want random patterns rather than geometric shapes? It seems conflicting with a natural outdoor scene... There is a split of ~32% for a painting to be serious or festive. I like that they only have 3% of the population opting for famous people in their paintings and 86% don't have a preference of sex-type or age.

Russia likes religion

I thought it was interesting that Russia, a formerly communist country liked religion related paintings best. And ones with flowers. That are pretty. So they like pretty religious flowers.

Holland!

This survey was conducted in 1996 with 949 people.

I found the favorite color questions very amusing. I lived in Holland when I was younger (only for a couple of years) and I do agree that in Holland, most people prefer blue, green, yellow and red. I attribute this to the flower beds of tulips they have all over! Most of the tulips I remember were yellow and red. The sturdy stems were green and the flowers were framed by a big blue sky. I would say tulips have become an iconic symbol for the country. They have fields of columns of tulips all over, with the dominant columns being yellow and red--supported by the green bases and blue overhead. This more than likely corresponds with people preferring spring and summer than fall or winter. Tulips and other flowers blossom, as in other northern hemisphere countries, more heavily in the spring and summer. For indoor scenes, people from Holland enjoy flower still life, after wanting to see common people in the paintings.

It was strange to find out that 52% of the people (at least those surveyed) preferred neither wild animals or domestic animals in their paintings. I have no idea why this is so and I'd love to hear reasons why. The only thing I can think of is that they like to see groups of people at leisure in the paintings they prefer.

Also, they prefer smooth brush strokes, soft curves, as well as playful, whimsical patterns. They also prefer blended colors and paler shades. This would be attributed to the history of painting in Holland. Although this survey was conducted in 1996, the mentalities towards art are influenced to an extent by art done over the centuries. I'm thinking about the influences of 17th century art and how it has influenced not only art of the recent century but also how people respond to and prefer certain aspects of art.

This survey is super interesting. I wonder what results would look like now in 2010, especially in the U.S. and on the Internet! The last 10-15 years most definitely have probably changed perceptions on a lot of the questions.

When reading Aperture and then Artforum I found that there were some differences. For one, Aperture is purely a photographic magazine when Artforum is a magazine that covers a lot of grounds in the art world. Maybe that is why I felt so overwhelmed when first flipping through Artforum. Everything feels somewhat stuffed into the issue and as a view I am bombarded with content and ads. However, in Aperture, the articles come one right after the other. This also reminds me of Artforum’s website. You can tell from the very start that Artforum is just so pregnant with information and some information that does not pertain to the actual magazine, when Aperture has visually economical website and with clear tabs at the header.

well, that and aperture just has a sweeter photo on the cover

An advantage to Artforum, though, is that it covers almost all bases of art, it has reviews on not only artist but openings as well. It covers books, fashion, and film when Aperture only covers photography and artist’s projects.

Frieze v. Artforum

ArtForum is based in the idea of celebrity in the art world. Its main articles focus on people and their interactions with one another rather than on art or emerging notions in art. The first thing I noticed when we pulled up the magazine's website last week in class were the gallery adds. I guess its selling out, but it seems like a good idea to me. What better place is there for galleries, which must earn money, to get the word out about their reputation and shows? Frieze does the same thing, but ots focus is clearly more intellectual. Instead of some headline about some art mogul on the red carpet with Natalie Portman or something, Frieze has a running slide show of current art. Gallery adds appear in the right corner, but other than that, articles and images are very art oriented. I also noticed that, besides the prevalence of new art images and art centered intellectual material, Frieze seems to be especially tied to the notion of art organizations, movements,efforts and gatherings.

ARTFORUM V.S. ARTnews

    When going to a bookstore, I usually stops at the art magazine section. Few times I really pick up the ARTFORUM. With the square shapes and countless advertisements, it looks more like the classified adds in a newspaper for me.
     Compare to ARTFORUM, I think ARTnews definitly meets more of the standards for an art magezine. First it is not a square, looking more like a magazine. Instead of huge pictures dominating the pages with little texts in the bottom, the texts in ARTnews looks more like real articles, more abvious and readable. Even though there are many adervertisements in ARTnews too, they still only take less than 60% of the whole magazine. While I feel like in ARTFORUM it is more than 80%. ARTnews is more affordable for college students too. Instead of $10 per issue like the ARTFORUM, ARTnews is $6. When reading ARTnews, I feel I was learning more about the contemporary art world from the collectors and curators point of views. It is better than only able to skan through all the time for the coming exhibitions I will probably not see.
   

Artlies.org vs. Artforum.com

I was curious to check out the Art lies publication after Carrie explained that it was geared towards a hipper audience. Art Lies’ website is minimal but in a casual and rather plain way. The site’s overall aesthetic can be interpreted as understated and hip although it mostly comes across as generic high school yearbook template. The site’s homepage frames the center with a column on the left side that provides links to subscriptions and other beauracratic information and logos. The focus rests in the middle of the page and is divided into Features and Reviews. The Features are unnecessarily lengthy and wordy, marking a stark contrast between the site’s straightforward look and its overly complicated writing.  Art Lies’ art jargon makes one feel as the Uninformed Reader, which in fact is one of the Features’ titles, alongside Smart Art, Knowing Stupidity and How to Engage the Reader. Overall, I feel that the site tries too hard to replicate the printed magazine and ignores the accessibility of its online format. Interestingly, I missed getting lost in the links and pictures.

Although we agreed in class that Artforum.com could very well be a sort of social website, I have to admit, the site presents itself for what it is- a more interesting  online version of itself. The layout is clean and smart while loaded with a variety of sub sections, national and international previews, news and reviews. The  Artforum logo sits on the top right corner and changes colors as do the alternating logos beneath it.  Amidst all of headings and copy, the layout is cohesive and attractive and quick reads such as Scene and Herd and 500 Words are in my opinion, catchy and internet friendly. I’d much rather browse through those than sit and struggle reading a much too long feature on Art Lies.org off my computer screen. Even though some of Artforum.com's content is superfluous, the company successfully differentiates their way of communicating through an online format versus a printed publication in a way that Art Lies does not.

Artforum and Art Lies

Contrary to popular opinion, I found Artforum’s website surprisingly easy to navigate. Although the articles are presented one after the other in what is basically a list, the tabs at the top of the page make it easy to find at least the type of article you’re looking for. In a similar manner, the table of contents in the print version very carefully spells out the articles in the magazine- admittedly, these articles are separated by an absurd number of ads for galleries, designers of all kinds, events and other “art related” propaganda. Were I not so enthralled with the images this fact might disturb me; luckily I am not the sophisticated art magazine reader who seeks out information over visual stimulation.
The website was also unable to overcome the magazine’s pictorial disease- the flashing ads that run along the sides of the site and through out the articles are difficult to ignore. However, the interesting features of the page- such as art happenings by continent and even by country- make for a more enjoyable visit, and if you know the artist or article you are looking for the search bar is always available for use.
In stark contrast, Art Lies has taken a minimalist approach to web design. The page is clean and follows a color scheme that doesn’t strain your eyes, nor do they make use of the disorienting animated ads. Because it is not so tiring to look at, the site is ideal for browsing. The articles are written differently- they use less inflated language and are more for those interested in contemporary art, but not necessarily collecting it.
The website is very easy to move about- the home page includes featured articles as well as information on subscribing and advertising in the magazine. Articles are organized under broad headings and listed by title with occasional accompanying images, eliminating the need to scroll down the entire page through articles you weren’t interested in reading (and ads you weren’t interested in seeing). The caliber of featured artists or contributing writers is on par with Artforum, many names appear on both sites with equal frequency. Reading either will keep you “in the know” of the contemporary art world; your choice depends your on “Collector” status aspirations and your affinity for “Scene and Herd”.

Art Monthly is not f*king around

>I opened the September issue of Art Monthly and there it was: an interview with Jorge Pardo. Unlike the two page spread advertising Georgio Armani followed by the two page spread for Wunderkind with a Harold-and-Maudian theme, *ahem* September issue of Art Review (at least ArtForum had the decency to lead with 46 pages of gallery & exhibition ads before getting around to any semblance of content) conversely, Art Monthly has done the wildly unpredictable in the world of periodicals. They are giving you what you came for right out of the gate. No, seriously. Page 1.
As mentioned in my preceding parenthetical mumblings, ArtForum's Summer edition doled out 46 pages of ads before you even get to the editor's letter, and Art Review masquerades as French Vogue for the FIRST FOUR pages plus that twist of the knife with Max Mara on the back cover. ArtForum weighs in at a whopping 390+ pages of perfect bound glossy full color squared-off glory while Art Monthly is a polite 44 pages of black and white text and imagery stapled and ready for consumption. ArtForum seems organized more like traditional or mainstream magazines starting off with ads ads ads, then notable deaths, books, films, media (Battlestar Gallactica? Really?), then architecture. Finally around page 275 we get to the main feature on "the museum" with a myriad of short essays written by various members of the art world population. The ads are dominant. They are eye catching, full color, full page, and in your face. Art Monthly on the other hand begins with an interview and has no color images. The ads are minimal. Most are only a quarter page, modest in design, and unobtrusive. They are clearly not the focus.
ArtForum is overstimulation. Art Monthly is a magazine about art.

Juxaposed.com vs Arforum.com

Since my original magazine pair was already mentioned earlier, I thought I would cover the online versions of each.  As was mentioned in the book and in class, Artforum.com is a strange hybrid art world and gossip   news site.  The original magazine, though not without advertisements, I would say is the austere older relative of artforum.com, where I personally was not sure how some of the information pertained to contemporary art.
When looking at Juxaposed.com, I noticed that the site itself was not far off from the content categories found in the magazine.  The art shown was primarily boldly colored, graffiti oriented, or tattoo-esque. It was also easy to navigate. Though it was designed with a younger generation of viewers in-mind, it was surprising loyal to the artwork the editors presented rather than celebrity gossip.

American Art Collector

I read through the last issue of American Art Collector and found it a very interesting comparison to Art Forum. It seemed to serve many of the same functions as Art Forum yet also seemed to speculate on an entirely different market. While Art Forum has articles and ads being taken out by the more elite galleries and focusing on the top tier of artists and their doings, American Art Collector focuses on a sub tier of mostly representational, formal, historicist work. American Art Collector makes the collector hard pressed to find any sculpture, installation, or really any avant-garde conceptual work. American Art Collector is really a representational painting collector's magazine and doesn't deliver any of the high end intrigue that surrounds the pages of Art Forum. It is however very practical, including charts showing various artists' pricing changes over the years. It really attempts to be a simple, straightforward guide for the rich, traditionally-minded collector who doesn't have much time.

Modern Painters/ArtForum

As mentioned in previous posts, Art Forum is decorated in advertisements. Out of 360+ pages, 40% have to be ads for various galleries. I love the colorful, representative photos in the ads. There was a series of articles under the title "The Museum Revisited" that I enjoyed. The audience for the magazine is artists "in the know" and those who are interested in contemporary art. There seems to be a celebrity appeal to the magazine that caters more towards monetary value than representative art from around the globe? There was also a great article about the function and revitalization of art schools. But the majority of the writings were poorly written and too flowery for my taste.
My comparison magazine to ArtForum was Modern Painters. The September issue featured a special report on Chinese artists. The audience for this magazine seemed more of the younger artists, with much of the magazine dedicated to showcasing art and articles, similar in setup to Wired Magazine. There weren't nearly as many ads as in ArtForum and the articles were less flowery and pretentious. There was a great section that showed how much money has been put aside in national budgets for the arts in various developed countries. USA: 54CENTS per person Japan: $8.68, China: $2.27, France $54.69

Art Forum vs Art in America

Perhaps because of our the direction of the conversation that we had in class but when looking at Art Forum I kept thinking that I was reading a life style magazine. All be it a very high end, and well designed, but life style none the less. First its the enormous amount of advertising. Like Vogue almost the whole damn thing is on advertisement. And then its also the style and content of the ads. They are flashy and colorful, again really well designed but still a bit much I think. But mostly, why was there a Yves St. Laurent Ad? I understand the cross over between art and fashion but it felt so out of place, and just awkward and added to the “this is who you should want to be” feeling that was through the whole magazine, and this combined with their website, its straying a little to far.
This became more apparent when I looked at Art in America. While there are still advertisements they are not the bulk of the content, and none of them (at least form the version I picked up were from a fashion label). The layout of the magazine is much less designed than Art Forum, which normally would irritate me as sign of being a bit too conservative, but in this case it just made it feel more approachable, more readable and more in tune with the studious nature that one would look for in an Art Magazine. Art in America is also smaller and a traditional magazine format.

As for the writing, they are different but I can’t say that I preferred one over the other, except that finding the actual articles was a lot more difficult in Art Forum than in Art and America.

I understand that Art Forum is THE magazine, but it seems a little too proud of its self....

Art Forum Vs. Aperture

Art Forum, without a doubt, has more funding than Aperture. The size and thickness is one apparent aspect to show this. Aperture is apparently thinner than Art Forum, and consequently features less than Art Forum. In Art Forum, it seems like every page not only showcases more art than Aperture does, but advertises for their shows at the same time. Art Forum, though consisting mainly of advertising and announcements, gives more pages to showcase art. I was surprised to see that Aperture doesn't give a page to an entire photograph, as would be seen in Art Forum--but this is more than likely due to funding. Being a very visual and thick magazine, Art Forum has the luxury to disperse its articles and interviews throughout the magazine, so the words complement the rest of the magazine. In Aperture, the interviews and articles do not have the same luxury--what ends up happening is the photographs associated with a particular commentary must be smaller to fit the page. What is refreshing is that Aperture's interviews do show more photographs of the same photographs than Art Forum does.

At first glance, they both have similar looking formats: menu bar at the top, advertisements at the right panel of the screen, and a white background. As we saw in class, Art Forum online showcases more of the interaction between artists and celebrities--and also the celebrity aspect of being an artist. There are more articles, commentary, and words in general online than I saw in the Art Forum magazine. Where the magazine advertises exhibitions and shows, Art Forum's website handles the what happens during and after the exhibitions. More advertisement occurs on Aperture's website than the magazine. Most of the drop down menus are dedicated to buying books, prints, the magazine, and donating to events and organizations. Much of the writing here occurs in the Blogs.

Showdown: Artforum versus Communication Arts

I chose to compare and contrast Artforum to Communication Arts magazine. Both were about the same size, (Artforum is a square, and Communication Arts is a portrait-oriented rectangle), thickness, printed in color, and bound format. The main difference between the two is that Artforum is an umbrella arts magazine, while Communication Arts mainly covers visual communication art such as: advertising, photography, and graphic design.

Artforum overwhelms its viewer with advertisements, while Communication Arts has a simpler layout and approach. As far as ads that look like ads, Communication Arts has only a handful, and they occur at the very beginning of the magazine, along with a few articles. Artforum's layout disperses advertisements and articles throughout the entirety of its pages. Communication Arts is set up with more clearly defined boundaries, almost like chapters. I feel as though I would have to look through the index to find a certain article in Artforum, while in Communication Arts, I could just flip to the right section.

Another thing that makes Communication Arts seem clearer and cleaner, is that it sticks to a two-page layout for its artists. The font is the same throughout these spotlights, and there is about four times as many images as there is text. Artforum varies its text, font, and font color a lot. I can understand why it does this, or more precisely why the galleries who take out ad space in the magazine do this, but it does not contribute to a cohesive whole as much as the format of Communication Arts does.

In conclusion, I think both magazines are great contributors to the Art world, but when I reach for a magazine to peruse the contemporary art scene, I will reach for Communication Arts.

Juxtapoz vs. Artforum

I decided to buy magazines instead of going to the library, as I was going on a long car ride and needed entertainment. Borders had the September issue of Artforum, the same one Carrie has, but not the October issue. Artforum is heavy, $10 and I didn't feel like dragging it around in my backpack. I bought Juxtapoz, because it was $6, not that thick, and it was the October issue.

The audience for Juxtapoz seems much younger than the one for Artforum. I think a party with the artists in Juxtapoz would be much more interesting, the art is visual, and even if I'm not sure what the point is, at least there is something to look at in the art. I feel like a party full of Artforum readers would be just a bunch of rich people trying to impress each other. The Juxtapoz crowd would have more ink and piercings.

The Artforum website has a more useful calendar though. You can sort it to have Chicago events, while Juxtapoz sorts by date, not by geography. I can actually USE the Artforum calendar to go see some art.

After our talk about Murakami doing LV, I found it amusing to see that Poketo has a line of bags and accessories at Target.