Lectures
Terry Marshall
I felt that Terry Marshall’s talk was more interesting than Joel Swanson’s. Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that he included a little bit of humor and spoke a bit more enthusiastically. I find his themes to be relevant but, at the same time, felt a little put off. This talk was a little after the whole Michael Brown shooting incident, which happened in Ferguson, MI. It was natural for Terry Marshall to include it into his topics about black equality. Specifically, centering around black people being feared when compared with white people, to those who aren’t black. While I agree that there are stereotypes concerning those of black people, I think they may have been exaggerated just a tad bit. When talking about Ferguson, while I believe that the case did deserve attention, the fact that the community caused a riot to gain it seemed to be entirely ignored. Although it didn’t help the argument that he gave, or his work’s message, I did wish he did at least address the issue existed.
As for his work itself, I found them to be a little different than the norm. Not in a bad way though. They were humorous and I thought that was great. One such example that I liked was the Black Survival Guide. It was a guide that satirized the actions that black people have to do when faced with certain conditions, in order to survive in society.
Clint Sleeper
Clint Sleeper is a professor at UNR. His theme is disappointment. While we (the class) went his last lecture in the previous semester, this lecture was notably different. Mainly, this lecture is not about one work, but rather the entirety of his practice. It was interesting to see his background in music in action, as it seemed many of them did include audio as a major component, especially in his performance pieces (of course), which seem to be quite a sizable portion of his collection. Some of the works were pretty hard to look at, such as the razor blades being played around with. Combined with the lemons being juiced in the midi and the chance of causing a fire or shock, I have to say Clint is pretty, well, “YOLO”. Nonetheless, his talk was interesting and some of his work is pretty funny. One outstanding example of this is “Teaching Capitalism to Nature”. I found the lecture interesting, and think most people would stay awake. If Clint talking didn’t keep them awake, then the noise from his work being shown most certainly would have. Definitely an interesting tactic. Keep up the good work.
Exhibitions
Pink Elephants on Parade
Fairly certain this exhibit is named after the sequence from the Disney movie, Dumbo. In the movie, Dumbo gets drunk after drinking from water that contained champagne. He then begins to see pink elephants, and shortly afterwards, finds out he can fly. Perhaps these sculptures are supposed to represent the things that we have to see before we too, can “fly”. These sculptures, displayed at the Sheppard Gallery, contain a mix of an assortment of everyday materials in classic forms. A combination of the new and old, it draws parallels with works such as Pac-Mondrian, from Prize Budget for Boys, albeit not quite as humorous. With a wide variety of sculptures on display created with diverse materials, it was a little difficult for me to read into the context. Had it not been for the provided papers, I honestly would’ve been pretty lost. Once reading the papers though, it does become quite clear. The concept is quite interesting: he focuses on the fakeness of modern architecture. In addition, the pieces themselves were interesting, with color and shapes running amok.
Flo Oy Wong: You Gotta be Brave
Flo Oy Wong is an artist of Chinese descent. She works with several unusual mediums including rice sacks, funeral paper, and American flags. Despite the various mediums, she remains consistent on her style, which is collage. Each work also has a distinctly Chinese background, with portraits littering many of her works. On paper, it says “she interviews people she finds heroic in order to explore disquieting matters that transform her and viewers to a place of healing, connecting and understanding.” Each piece invites us into a part of Chinese culture. As someone who is also of Chinese descent, I find these pieces to evoke familiar feelings, as the aesthetic is definitely something I’ve been around many times in my life. Thus, it is hard for me to judge this work from an objective viewpoint. I believe these works are targeted toward those unfamiliar with this type of aesthetic, because of the fact that it’s supposed to provide insight into the Chinese heritage.
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