Art:21 History Reaction.

               After I watched the Art 21 video, I enjoyed listening to the artist Glenn Ligon. In this video Glenn Ligon explained the story of how he becomes an artist. He started to draws any picture, cartoon or an art work. He used to sale them to his classmate. His mom encouraged to give more attention to art. She registered him to take classes in the art school which helped him to improve his skill.  Also she used to buy any kind of books he need. Glenn Ligon was interesting in American history. 

Lamb Tagine:Food Art 1064

This is a traditional Moroccan Lamb Shank Tagine with cinnamon & Carrots. I preferred to cook it because it’s my favorite dish.  Tagine remind me of my city Fez, this  place where Tagine is a popular dish in most restaurants and houses. Tagines are a historically  made in Berber clay pot. Traditionally we prepare Tagine on top of a portable clay called (Majmar),which is much cheaper than a stove.  It will take a long time for tagine to be cooked but that is the secret for a healthy and delicious taste.

Ingredients:

 1: half pound lamb

2: one big red onion diced

3: four or five carrots cut into small pieces

4: one piece of cinnamon steak

5: Salt & pepper to taste

6: Moroccan olive oil

7: garlic crushed 

8: one bunch of Persil.

Below are general cooking and preparation instructions

On a medium flame using a tagine, seal the lamb until brown using a little oil, then remove and set aside. Add all spices (dry and seeds) and roast in the tagine, then add onions, Persil and garlic and fry until golden brown. Add the stock, lamb, and salt & pepper to taste, bring to boil then cover with tagine lid and simmer on a very low flame or in the oven on 160 C for 1.5-2 hours.  Cinnamon and carrots should be added in the last 30 minutes of cooking. Hope you find this recipe worth a try. bon appétit ......

Sculpture Center Reaction

Recently we visited the Sculpture Center located in Long Island City Queens. It’s a massive space where many artists have installed their art works. It was my first time to see this kind of art works presented in a clear and organized place. The space plays a huge role in how the art work is portrayed, and it helps amplify the beauty of these art works.

The wheelbarrows were the first pieces of art work that caught my attention.They were placed in a large space in front of a big door. A wheelbarrow is a tool that helps us move heavy objects from one place to another. Placing this tool in a huge space gives it  great value. The space has a big impact on this piece of art because when I first saw this tool I started thinking about the important role that it plays in our daily lives. Also it has a great design that changes an empty place into an interesting one.

Another art work that caught my eyes was the “Cyclone Fence”. It’s a huge piece of fencing that is placed in the middle of the exhibit. It has an interesting cyclone shape that grabs the viewer’s attention. It also has a very unique geometric design. It fills the space and creates an amazing art work. Placing this large piece in sculpture center exhibit provides a great value to the space and art works. Clearly it is apparent that there is a strong connection between the space and the art work. The cyclone fence will have less value at the absence of space. For example if that piece of fence were to be found outside on the street people would not appreciate it. 

The "Ropes" was the third piece of art work in this exhibit that got my attention. It was made of two ropes hanging on the wall and stretched to the floor. It’s designed as perfect a triangle within the space. It puts a great value into the place.  The artist did a good job by connecting the ropes to the floor. Also he used the color white on the wall which makes this art work more interesting and unique. Using a space is a smart way to present an art work in order to add more value.

             In conclusion, space and installation in artwork is very important. It has positive impact on the artwork itself. Therefore, the artists use this techniques to place their art work properly.

“Untitled”

Wheelbarrows, water

Bill Bollinger

1970

"Cyclone Fence”

Bill Bollinger

1968

"Rope Piece"

Bill Bollinger

1967

Design in Our Lives

Last Monday we went the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA),and the purpose of our visit was to observe the art works that are exposed in the art deign gallery. We were assigned to focus on the Architecture section located on the third floor. I had a chance to enjoy those wonderful pieces of art work, which stimulate my imagination to think about the predictable life we may have. We were instructed by our professor to write a reflection about our visit; I chose to write about the high functionality and low functionality art works.

Carna folding wheelchair was a perfect example of the high functionality art works. I chose this design, because this chair will improve handicapped life, and it will be easy for them to use to fulfill their basic needs. This chair will help them depend on them self, have positive impact in hospital setting, because it will help doctors and nurses to displace the patient easily so that they can get the appropriate care they deserve.

 According to MOMA website, the Artist Kawasaki was interested in bringing technology and fine craft closer together. He stated that "Older people, handicapped and normal people are separated in today's Japan, so designers need to make designs that are kind and caring and need to treat more handicapped people equally in society. . . To be a visionary designer I want to design products for myself first."

Wave Multi-Tool is another example of full and high functionality art work, it’s a great sized tool, and it was my favorite selection, because it’s very useful and helps in multi-task achievement. It has wire cutters, clip point knife, serrated knife, saw, scissors, wood/metal file, diamond-coated file, large bit driver, small bit driver, two double end bits, large screwdriver, ruler, and bottle or can opener.  I believe that this tool will help make people’s experiences with job maintenance and different types of manual work much easier.

“Forks” was one of the designs that had a low functionality work. It had a weird shape, and it will be hard for people to use as a fork, because of their shapes it may be dangerous. These forks design are not symmetric as the one we use today. It will be hard to use these Folks to pick up food. I strongly believe that these Folks are not the best for daily use.

"Platter" was the last piece of work I chose as a low functionality work. It’s designed as tree leaves. It was smooth and well done. We may use this platter to present some kind of food. However, this platter is not useful for all kind of food. This design is good but is not totally practical.

Finally, design plays a vital role of our live. Design is a part of our life. Some designs have a great value and high functionality, while others are unworkable. Artists work hard in order to design a good art work that has a full functionality on our daily use.

Kazuo Kawazaki
"Carna Folding Wheelchair"
Titanium, rubber, and aluminum honeycomb.
1995

















BENJAMIN RIVERA
"WAVE MULTI-TOOL"
STAINLESS STEEL

2004

BRUNO MUNARI

"FORK"

METAL

1958-1964

TAPIO WIRKKALA

"PLATTER"
PLYWOOD
1951

Art:21 Transformation Reaction

         Cindy Sherman has transformed herself into hundreds of different characters. She used her experiences in life and her knowledge to create unique artworks. Cindy Sherman has transformed her ideas in life to find herself as an artist. She switched majors from painting to photography. She began making her "Untitled Film Stills" in 1977, the year after she graduated from university. She photographs herself in various scenes and appearance, making amazing portraits of her history.

Illustrate a Story

        This drawn  picture  shows  the New London School  before and after the explosion occurred on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak caused an explosion, destroying the  new London School in the state of Texas. The disaster killed more than295 students and teachers.

MoMA PS1: The Good, the Bad and the Misunderstood

       last Monday we went to the  MoMA PS1 for  our second field trip . It was a very interesting trip, the museum had many excellent art works. We discovered some new art work that we didn't see in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. For instance, the Golden Ghost by Surasi Kusolwong was one of the art works that i liked the most. The artwork by Clifford Owens was the one that I couldn't understand, and Acrylic on Canvas by Henry Taylor was the one I disliked.

       The Golden Ghost by Surasi Kusolowong caught my eyes while I was walking around the museum. It looked very nice  from the top. I saw many colored files of cotton creating an comparable art work. I liked this art work because, it was wonderful to hop around in these fibers. It took restraint not to just throw my shoes off and dive in. I did not find any treasure, but I did enjoy laying on the top of all that material. If you go be sure to do a trust fall, just stand up and let yourself collapse backwards into the material. It feels amazing.


          The art work ( Anthology) by Clifford Owens was one of the pieces that I didn't  understand. He does a visual art performance. I had difficulty understanding most of his work. For example i didn't understand why he was cutting fruit and throwing it to the wall. Generally i didn't understand some of his action, even thought I am  sure that he has his own explanation and meaning behind these work.

                           

       Henry Taylor had many good pieces. He used color high contrast color, in order to express his ideas. However, i did not like one  of his art works that is shown in the picture below. I disliked this work for two reasons: first reason is that he showed someone enjoying  his cigarette on the left side of the picture. I think the artist should use his work to help people quite smoking instead. The second reason is that he showed a big  plate of pasta  in the middle of his work, that will encourage people to eat more pasta which is cause obesity.

      Finally, I would like to thank our professor for giving  the 
opportunity to visit new York museum.  I learned a lot about art even in short time. The field trip to MoMA PS1 was  fun and breathtaking, i discovered  more art work that has different aspects. I am very excited that we will see more museum this semester, also i would like to go one more time to the previous museum.






Surasi Kusolwong
Golden Ghost
(The future Belongs to Ghosts) 
2011

Clifford Owens
(Anthology)
 1971




















Henry Taylor
Acrylic On Canvas
Untitled, 2005