UMFA Art Critique

Name: _______Ryan Gunn_______

1)

Which museum did you visit? check/bold one: _X_ UMFA (U of U) ___Leonardo ___UMOCA

2) Describe at least one of the standard/permanent/general collections. When walking from one gallery to another, you come across a broad open space with great, big, light blue vinyl words covering the space of three walls. Lawrence Weiner's, "BENT TO A STRAIGHT AND NARROW AT A POINT OF PASSAGE is part of the museum's permanent collection of contemporary arts. It has a very contemplative effect as you walk into the room, urging you to stop and seek it's meaning. I myself spent a good ten minutes thinking what the words could mean. The simplicity of the words plastered to the wall somehow does the exact opposite for the work, and seems to give it a much grander meaning.

3) Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special exhibit. Apon arriving at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, you first walk through a series of rooms all focused on the same theme. The exhibit on display when I attended the museum was titled "The Savage Poem Around Me: Alfred Lambourne's Great Salt Lake." The exhibit as titled centered around Alfred Lambourne's works on the Great Salt Lake. The exhibit contained both poems and paintings on the Great Salt Lake, each work depicting a different angle on the lake. It was very interesting to see the different paintings of the lake, and how a famous landmark of Utah, and my home, could have so many different moods with different views. Indeed, Lambourne very much captured the spirit of the lake.

4) What kind of information is provided about the works? Describe three places you might find more detailed information that doesnt include the web. The works of the museum are very organized. They are separated into different galleries to view them in. To find additional information on the pieces however, a couple methods provide the easiest and most efficient means of finding the information (other than the internet of course. The first and most obvious way would be to inspect the informational plaques set close to every piece in the museum. Second would be to actually ask a museum employee (curator, front desk attendant, etc.). And finally a third way would be to seek informational pamphlets provided by the museum. Of course there are many other ways of finding additional information, these are just three simple methods of finding them.

5) Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the artists? This question must be answered in its entirety. As I wandered through the museum looking at the different works of art, I realized that to really appreciate all of the works it would take at least 2-3 days genuine interest. As I didn't have that time available to me, I made a much more casual sweep through the museum, only stopping at pieces that really interested me. As expected, the ones that seemed to interest me the most also happened to be some of the more popular pieces in the museum. The first one however that I've decided to include for this review would be the piece titled "Discarded Memories," by Chakaia Booker. This statue upon first glance is merely some black material twisted together to give it a very chaotic feel to it. However upon further inspection, you see that the black material is actually black car tire rubber. The whole statue is made from the rubber, with a slight addition of wood and paint. This piece was made in 2008, but really prompts you to think back maybe to earlier memories. Memories that whether good or bad, will stay with you forever. They are part of what shaped your life, and made you into the person you are today. The rubber of the car tires I believe invokes many different memories. Seeing them you remember back to maybe car rides, which leads to a vacation, which may lead to an experience you may or may not remember. The next piece I decided to include, is a very odd looking statue. Located on the second floor overlooking the room with the large quote on the walls, it seems to loom over the very spacious room below (as it is one of a few works that can be seen from that room on the ground floor). The piece is titled "Ethnic Man" by Viola Frey. The "Ethnic Man," was created in 1991 from earthenware, also using a low-fire glaze. When you first approach the piece, you realize the true height of the statue, and the large amount of ceramics that it must have taken to mold the statue. Why is it titled "Ethnic Man" though? Well, the statue actually represents everyone. It carefully takes features from all different types of ethnicities and blends them into one giant ceramic person. I believe it symbolizes the American "melting-pot" theme. The last piece I would like to include in her is a painting by Edgar Alwin Payne, which is titled, "Red Mesa, Monument Valley, Utah." The painting is simple enough, but along with the simplicity you begin to see the complexity of the landscape. The painting is simple oil on canvas, but is really gives you an idea of what the first settlers to Utah might of seen, and you can only image what they felt. The bright orange and red hues really give life to the painting. You imagine what it would be like to stand at the place in which it was painted to depict, and stand down looking at the massive, almost intimidating formation.

6) How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class? It all relates in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships. The artwork I decided to include within my critique, all relate in one way or another to the themes we have thoroughly discussed in this humanities class, the first of them being the Discarded Memories piece. This very abstract piece I think ties in nicely with our first unit on identity. The piece puts forth the theme that we all have memories acquired throughout our lifetime, and although some of them may have been tucked away to the back of our mind, they all still have influenced our identity as a person. The next piece, Ethnic Man, also relates nicely to the identity unit of the class. Within the piece, one can see all ethnicities represented together. You can see how maybe past issues and experiences have almost biased the world around us. This artist however, put past those segregations and created a piece incorporating everyone. The last piece, Red Mesa, Monument Valley, Utah, goes with the last unit we are covering, (and doing this assignment for) the arts section. Obviously we can see how it would tie in here, as it is simply an amazing art piece that really captures the grandeur of the red rock formations of southern Utah. 7) What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this type of event again? Why or why not? (75+ words) When I first learned we would be given an assignment that required us to visit a museum to view art of all kinds, my heart sank a little. I havent in the past really enjoyed studying and visiting places that have to deal with a more creative side of things. As the deadline for us to visit the museum approached over the break however, I tried to really motivate myself into going and having a good experience. To help with that, I invited one of my really close friends who is currently taking a college level humanities class at another high school, to accompany me. This gave me the motivation to get up to the museum with an open mind and a positive attitude. What else can I say? The experience was great! I enjoyed looking over the different ark works, and so did my friend.