Week 13 & 14 Video Blog

For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.
The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art
Lowbrow has a different meaning to every artist. The dictionary definition is a person regarded as uncultivated and lacking in taste. Artist Robert Williams says her invented this term but doesn’t care for its meaning. Some believe Lowbrow Surrealism is a more fitting term while other still embrace Lowbrow. Pop culture, car culture, and folk art have both major influences in the genre. Lisa Petrruci says the art is more relatable that esoteric art. After World War II, this was known as “Atomic Age” which was another important part of the genre. Art covers so many different things ranging from concept art to paintings. Anthony Ausang, who was an artist, says it is the job of critics to categorize the art. Robert Williams was an original Lowbrow artist. Ausang was introduced to Zap Comix. Robert Crumb inspired rock poster artists to start doing underground comics. There was a point when galleries were not willing to display Lowbrow. Artists in the 50s and 60s drew upon the tiki theme and incorporated it into their art. Conceptualism brought thought to art it excluded audience members who were not trained in art history. Williams thinks the established art world is set up to promote only certain types of art like minimalism and abstract. The unaccepted artists created their own art scene after being shut down from museums and galleries. Females became interested in Lowbrow art as well. The Internet had a great effect on this. The punk rock generation propelled Lowbrow art culture. Artists were able to get their work to the masses in the form of album covers and fliers. In Vancouver, the Pop Tarts opened the Tart Gallery. They gained more recognition and acceptance after being featured in a book about female Lowbrow artists. Juxtapose magazine has made it possibly for people worldwide to stay in tune with the Lowbrow art scene. Before Robert Williams couldn’t get anyone to show his art work and now he is in demand all over the world for his work. Lowbrow has gained more recognition and acceptance in the past ten years.

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach
Modern Art in the MOMA from 1929 onwards was displayed primarily in chronological order, representing each art movement. Art is displayed on white walls with flexible lighting. By the 1970s, traditional ways of displaying modern art are question. Art came off the walls to become busy and noisy. Artists explore the political and ideological contexts of the museum itself. The Tate Modern display its modern art if four sections. Each section is an overarching principle providing a theme for the selection and exhibition of the selections of modern art. The Tate thematic approach to displaying art prompts controversy when three works by Richard Long are put together with Monet’s “Water Lilies”. Unlike MOMA’s original concept of displaying art is chronological order, visitors to the Tate are provided with striking and often abrupt transitions between the individual display rooms. Critics say that the viewers should have no knowledge of art; art should be entertainment. Many of the abstract artist’s tried to make paintings that were not dependent on figuration. They wanted to convey emotions, aesthetic effects or social vision. The Joseph Beuys room in the Tate Museum creates a church-like atmosphere. Visitors do not materially understand what they are looking at. They transition to the next room where art will consist of waste and junk.

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology
Native American’s bones were collected as a scientific curiosity during the US genocide against the Indians. Anthropologists differ on whether or not they remain should be returned to their ancestors. Maria, a Yankton Sioux, fights for the bones of a Native American who is taken for a study after a road construction crew discovered the body. The Anglo bones are reburied by Native bones are studied. David Van Horn, who is a field archaeologist, is charged with criminal possession of Native human bone fragments. He avoided jail but loses his livelihood as a result of his prosecution. The Europeans encounter the Native Americans and remove them from their own land. Burial mounts are through to be too civilized to have been built by Native American. In the 19^th century, Samuel Morton MD studies brain size and concluded that the size of someone’s brain is related to intelligence. The Native American skulls are collected and stored in museums. Susan Harjo who is a Cheyenne and Muscogee leads the flight for Native people’s objects of worship to be returned. Dr. Barnes, a physical anthropologist, is prevented from doing her research of Native American migration because of the new law. This was called the Grave Protection and Repatriation Act. Bones with similar defects suggests shared genes and origins. Bronco Lebeau, a Lakota Sioux, rejects theories of the evolution and migration held by the dominate US. The Sioux people emerged from the Black Hills and didn’t migrate from somewhere. Repatriation requires that scientists first determine the bones tribal affiliation. Skull measurements help to identify where the bones should be returned. Conflicts of interest are rampant. The Native Americans have ceremonies to discover whether the bones are their ancestors or not. Their past is conveyed through an oral tradition. Scientist’s learned a lot about today’s health problems by studying the remains of human beings from the past. Scientists can benefit future knowledge by studying the past. Bruce Rothschild is an arthritis research. He theorizes that arthritis is a new disease that trigger may come from the Tennessee River region. Natives as well as scientists are skeptical. British researchers of DNA test bones infected with TB. They claim research benefits understanding how man changes from the ancient to the modern. Native Americans are still skeptical. Maria Pearson continues to represent the right to an undisturbed Indian burial ground. The holy areas are avoided by construction crews and archeologists do not excavate graves. Change in diet and lifestyle is related to high rates of diabetes. Omaha women, die earlier due to small pox and a change in their daily life. Their bones reveal that hard work by manufacturing furs worn them down and led to a lower birthrate and life expectancy. The Native Americans in the 20^th century are stripped of their tribal identity at the US boarding schools. Dennis Hastings, an Omaha, is satisfied with the reburial of his ancestors’ remains. Both the tribe and scientists have gain new knowledge of having the bones analyzed prior to the burial.  Native Americans design the exhibits in New York’s Native American Museum. The Ancestors’ bones continue to be brought home. Archaeology must share the responsibility for stewarding the past.

George Eastman House: Picture Perfect
George Eastman is the creator of the first affordable, user friendly camera. He became the father of popular photography. The museum established at his home celebrates the contributions he and the company he founded that have made to the advance of art, science and the phenomenon of photography. The photography collection at the George Eastman House is a visual history of photography that represents that works of 14,000 amateur and professional photographers. This collection includes all types of photographs, famous and obscure, including documentary to fine art. The technology collection at this house contains about 16,000 objects, including around 5,000 cameras. This holds the largest Daguerreotype collection outside of France. Eastman worked to make photography accessible to everyone. He creates the first affordable, user-friendly camera and founded the Eastman Kodak Company. His “Brownie” camera revolutionized photography and the motion picture film stock he invented with Thomas Edison became the industry standard. The 50 room colonial revival estate George Eastman began building in 1902 serves as the centerpiece for the museum. Along with his works there are personal possessions in this house. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made Eastman a lifetime member to honor his contributions to the film industry’s development. Today the George Eastman House is one of the world’s premiere motion picture archives. In 1996, the George Eastman House established the first school in North America to teach the restoration, preservation and archiving of motion pictures. His world revolved around his work and around philanthropy. The museum offers a variety of means to access collections which include online times, that celebrate the art, technology and impact of photography and motion pictures.


 Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.
The videos do relate to the creation of my Art Exhibition project. An art curator is someone who is showing the relationship between the art and the viewers, that person has to know. This is like the same thing with creating an art exhibit. The person has to know what is going to draw the viewers to that exhibit, and what is so different about this exhibit that people are willing to come to it. I believe that it definitely relates. I feel as if we are going to be acting as the art curators for this project, which will be really interesting and fun, in my opinion.


 What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?
The films definitely add a lot more depth into the curation project. When I first read the project I was a little confused, now after watching the films I have a better understanding. I thought the films were very helpful, although I am a visual person, so any visual helps me so much more rather than just reading something.