Oliver Herring

Oliver Herring's work I find quite amazing. Just all the time he puts into each piece is unbelievable. I don't think I could sit and knit for ten years no matter how determined I was. I think his videos are also really humorous but really cool as well. I think my favorite works of his though have to be his sculptures made with the photos. I've always loved collages and the fact that he basically makes a sculpture and covers it in really actuate portraying collages is just really amazing.

Cia Guo-Qiang

I love his use of gunpowder. I think it's a fascinating medium to use for drawing and I really don't think I'd ever think of something like that. The unpredictability of gunpowder is something I like because I really enjoy not knowing exactly how things turn out. I think that's a really important part of making art is failure. If everything we made came out perfect we would have no room to grow as artists and I like how he just embraces that.

When I first saw the installations involving the dead animals I didn't really know how to feel about them. I thought that the use of the animals was interesting but I really didn't personally like it. Although I think the more pieces involving the fake animals I see I actually kind of like. Especially the one with the wolves leaping across the room and then crashing into the glass I think the concept is pretty cool and just the amount of work that had to go into these pieces is amazing.

The car installations are increadable. I love the look of explosion the lights give the cars but the cars still remain perfectly intact. They almost remind me of scenes from movies and stunt cars.

Mike Kelley

Honestly I think Mike Kelley is a bit strange but I really like his work with stuffed animals and how accepting he is of other peoples opinions on his art. I like how he never thought of his stuffed animal installations relating to child abuse until someone else mentioned it and then he started looking at his art from that view and taking that into consideration as well while making the pieces. I find that really intresting because I don't know if I'd be capable of doing that. I'm quite accepting of how other people interpenetrate me work but I know how I mean for my pieces to make me feel and how I want them to be expressed and I could try but I don't know how much I could incorporate others opinions with out changing the entire piece itself. I do think his use of stuffed animals is really unique. It reminds me a bit of Jessica Stockholder but it also leaves me wondering where he gets his stuffed animals. I wonder if they have sentimental value, were found at a thrift store or antique shop, or if it's just things he bought for the piece. I think depending on where he got the stuffed animals might change some of the meaning behind the piece.

inspiring installations

Marla Olmstead

Poor Marla, I hate that a four year old who just likes painting got caught up in a huge controversy. I really don't think at the time she had any idea what was going and but I really feel like it was dangerous for her. I also feel bad for her mom. I don't think her mom had any bad intentions and she was also trying her best to avoid the whole thing blowing up. Personally I feel like it was the dad provoked the media. In nearly every interview he seemed nervous like he was trying to hide something. Maybe he was just genuinely nervous but he seemed to push Marla a lot to work harder. I think that even if he was helping her it shouldn't have been such a huge ordeal. She was only 4 at the time and 4 year olds do need some direction but I also feel like she never really was the prodigy the media made her out to be. Her mother never considered her anything other than just her 4 year old daughter that likes to paint.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

I really enjoy Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work. I think it's really inspiring how dedicated to their work they are. I don't know if I'd be able to handle 25 years of fighting with the city to get a work of art up for 16 or so days. I think the idea though was really cool and very unique I wish I had the money to spend on creating whatever I felt like making.

Matthew Barney

Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9 was a very interesting film to watch but at the same time really difficult to sit through. I liked the way he used barely any dialogue. It makes the viewer have to visually figure out what is going on and how the character is feeling. Although many parts were very awkward and strange to watch and try to figure out an a lot of the time I had no idea what was going on. The pace of the movie was very slow and I found it really difficult to stay focused and pay attention to the movie. At times I think the slow pace is a good way to show a dramatic change in scenery or a period of time having passed but I think many of the long slow aspects of the movie made it difficult to watch and was very frustrating. I think if you don't try to analysis the story too much it's easier to watch and accept. Even though I couldn't sit though the entire movie in one sitting what I saw was very well established and thought out. Overall it was a very odd movie but very artistic and I personally think a good representation of what Matthew Barney is capable of making.