Joseph Beuys (Extra Credit #8)

Joseph Beuys is a man of many artistic titles, he is a sculptor, performance artist, installation artist and a graphic artist. Beuys was born in 1951 in Germany, he grew up middle class in a strong Catholic family. In 1940 he joined the military, and was trained as an airplane pilot. He fought in World War two, and was injured a numerous ammount of times. He was heald prisoner at the end of the war, after five years he was finally able to go home.

Afterward Beuys began to reshape his focus toward art, with the war as one of his main subjects. He began to sculpt large scale sculptures and put them on exhibit. He also produced many drawings and room installations. He even became involved in the artistic process of creating multiples. He was also a part of many political activist groups and called for reform, which he showcased in his work. Beuys continued to work and be a part of many exhibitions untill his death in 1986.

Andy Goldsworthy (Extra Credit #7)

Sculptor, photographer, and enviornmentalist, Andy Goldsworthy has created many beautiful works of art. With his most popular works in nature and outdoor enviornments. The materials most often used in his works include flowers, mud, icicles, leaves, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs and thorns. He feels that it takes someone incredible brave to work with flowers and petals, he likes to work with nature as a whole. Goldsworthy is considered to be the founder of modern rock balancing, and for the majority of his works; his hands, teeth, and other simple objects are his tools.

Photography also plays an important role in his works. Many times Goldsworthy will photograph his work, and the photographs show every stage the piece has gone through. Its beautiful peak at perfection, and how it slowly deteriorates and falls apart. Goldsworthy has recieved many awards for his art, and he has also been featured in many publications.

Survival Research Society (Extra Credit #6)

Created in 1978 by Mark Pauline, this group's main purpose is to create and use technologies outside of their normal purposes. The society has created and demonsrtated over 45 presentations in the U.S and Europe. Each one of their performances involves interacions between tools, robots, and machines with lottle or no human interaction.

Kevin Bracken (Extra Credit #5)

It was very hard for me to find information about Kevin Bracken! Every time I looked for his information in a database, tons of people with the same name and information came up. This lead me to realize that Bracken is not very well known, but hopefully with the info I found people can learn a little more about him. A Long Island native,Bracken co-founded Newmindspace while he was studying in Canada. Bracken is a flashmob artist, meaning that he gathers massive ammounts of people in an area and they act in certain ways that people may not understand. The mob just assembles so suddenly, but then they are gone in a flash.(guess that's why they call it a flash mob)In one of his flashmobs he manages to gather hundreds of people together, and gets them to join in on a huge pillow fight. Im sure he has many others, but since he is not known to many there is still much more to learn about him.

Maya Lin (Extra Credit #4)

Maya Lin is an artist who is known for her amazing sculpture and landscape art. She is the artist responsible for the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. At the young age of 21, Lin won a competition for the right to design and create the veterans memorial. She beat out thousands of competitors, and when she tried to complete and construct the wall she faced lots of criticism and scrutiny. She completed the wall, and it is a masterpiece. It is a black-cut stone masonry wall, with the names of the 58,261 soldiers who lost their lives.

Other than this famous creation; Lin operates her own studio, and has designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Lin also continues to create many works of art indoors and out, she has her own book, and she has received and been nominated for many awards.

Donatella Versace (Extra Credit #3)

Donatella Versace was born 1955 in and brought up in Italy.She is a major fashion designer and the current vice-president of the Versace group. Her brother, the famous Gianni Versace was the head of the fashion forward and super stylish Versace company and name brand. But his death in 1997 left Donatella in charge. She has managed to keep Versace in its role as a major player in the fashion world, and she continues to supervise the productions of dozens of collections every year. Whether it be handbags, fragrences, clothing and more. Under Donatella's watch, the company has continued to grow and prosper, and Donatella has come up with some creations of her own. Donatella's hard work has earned her a Do Something With Style Award nomination, for her charity work in donating supplies and creating tote bags for children. Today she continues to work, and expand the Versace brand.

Vivienne Westwood (Extra Credit #2)

Vivienne Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, England in 1941. She began designing clothes in 1971, and opened her first shop called ‘Let it Rock’. Ten years later Westwood had her first collection entitled ‘Pirate’ shown. In 1990 Westwood launched her first menswear collection in Florence, and that same year and the year after she won the British Designer of the Year Award. After this the only place that Westwood could go was up, and that’s exactly what happened. The years after these early awards, Westwood continued to be recognized and received many more awards.

She continues to create outstanding shoes and outrageous fashions. Westwood is not afraid to be bold and she still has attitude, even in her older years. Westwood is “cutting edge but classic, she is unflinchingly rooted in what matters, whether it is human rights or classical fiction. No trendy noise for her, just cleavage, mischief, and…please don’t arrest me baby, T-shirts” (vogue.com)

Robert Smithson (Extra Credit #1)

Robert Smithson was a land artist. He was born in New Jersey in 1973, and studied painting and drawing in New York. Some years later he began writing and was interested in landscape architecture, these writings then lead him to his future artistic medium. In 1969 he started to produce land art pieces, one his most famous creations is "Spiral Jetty".Made out of basalt and placed on a salt lake in Utah, Smithson had to move and shape tons of earth, salt, and basalt to form this creation. Broken circle is another of his famous works, and was created the year directly after Spiral Jetty.

James Turrell

James Turrell was born in 1943 in Pasadena, CA. A hard worker, he received his pilot’s license at the age of 16 and his BA in 1965. Turrell is best known for his work with the Roden Crater. He got the crater in 1979, and it is located in Flagstaff, Arizona. Turrell’s main focus with this volcanic crater is to turn it into a naked-eye observatory, so that people who enter the crater can see the natural celestial phenomena in the stars. The majority of his other works deal with the perception of light and space. Another of his famous works is called “Sky space” and it deals with just that. Turrell also produces light tunnels, and light projections that deceive the eye. Turrell even has his own museum. The James Turrell Museum opened in Argentina in 2009, and he personally designed it.

Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan is an internationally regarded fashion designer, and was born in 1970 in Nicosa, Sicily. He grew up there, and graduated from the Turkish Mariff College of his hometown. In 1982 he moved to England; here he began to study design in London. He completed his graduation degree in 1993, and with it presented a wonderful presentation of garmets that he buried underground to see how they would decompose. This collection was called “Tangent flows”, and before the year was over the collection was purchased and put on display in a luxury store in London.

In 1995 Chalayan won a top fashion design award in London, and by the time he was 25 he received financial backing to participate in Britain’s capital Fashion week. So already at a young age, Chalayan reached great feats of success. Chalayan started his own clothing line, and in addition to that he was able to create designs for three years for the New York Knit label TSE. Chalayan still continues to produce many different collections and fashion shows for his label. Chalayan puts a lot of thought and effort into the production of his garments, he even includes abstractions in his pieces like: vampires, tombs, constriction, and darkness. Chalayan debuts many collections every year, and his clothes are sold in the U.S, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Hong Kong, and Japan.

In 2008 Chalayan was appointed as the creative director for the German sportswear label, Puma. That same year he teamed up with Swarvoski to create a series of Led dresses for a showcase in Tokyo. He has even created dresses with built in walking sticks, headdresses, a disposable collection, and a table dress. He has also been nominated twice as top designer of the year, and along with his many other awards was awarded the Design Star Honoree, in New York. He has also expanded his portfolio to menswear. Things continue to improve for Chalayan, he continues to produce collections that are showcased all over the world.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

I made the trip to the Museum of Jurassic Technology today, May 15th. Initially I thought the museum would have something to do with dinosaurs and prehistoric times since the title of the museum has the word “Jurassic” in it. I was wrong, the museum wasn’t about that at all, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a completely new experience for me, I had never been to a museum like this before. The museum is dimly lit (there is enough light to see where you are going), so as you travel around you encounter rooms with different levels of brightness and light, and different sounds in each room. I did enjoy how the exhibits were lit, each one had something different and interesting about it. The type of light that they chose for each exhibit attracts your attention, and makes you look at the item longer than you normally would. From that you were able to think a little more about what you were actually looking at, and come up with more questions and even opinions about it.

The music in the museum was also very unique. Certain rooms and exhibits had different types of music to go along with them. Some of the music was very calm and soothing, and the others I found a bit eerie. Especially in the darkest rooms. I liked that the museum was interactive, they had exhibits where you could look through things to see the certain images, or how things worked. There were working models, and my favorite were these interactive paintings that would light up when you stood in front of them. The light had a positive and negative effect on me, I loved how it showcased the different types of art, technology and machinery. But in certain rooms it was very hard to take pictures since you are not allowed to use flash photography in museums. I had to leave out some of my favorite pieces because of the lighting.

It was very interesting to take a look at the technology of the past. To be able to see how it was used in different applications like; art, science and theatre. My favorite was the theatre section, there were mini working models of stages they used for the plays of the past, backdrops, and props. This museum has an experience all its own, I think that it will have different feel for each person who visits. I’ve never encountered a museum like this before, with all of the darkness and light. The music, and some very interesting and unusual exhibits.

My Earth Art

For my art project I wanted to make a statement, it’s subtle and some may not understand it at all. I titled it “our takeover”, I wanted to show the human impact on the earth around us, and how humans have taken over what nature used to have. I have a potted plant in my home, and I decided to use it in my earth art piece as well, because plants are a part of the earth (this one just happens to be in a vase). I wanted it to look like the potted plant was invading on the space and territory that the rooted plants have, making its own path into their world. I dug out a path to show the route that the plant took in its invasion.

The potted plant represents humanity and what we have done to nature. In many parts of the world people have cut down trees, and deforested large areas just so that people can have what they want. Our own invasion into the world of nature, i.e. the potted plant. I used a plant to represent humanity, not only because it is linked to earth art, but because people and plants both need the earth to survive, and I saw that there could be more connections that way. Everyone might not understand it, but that’s what I have to say.

Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian contemporary artist. I couldn’t find much about her early life, but her current works and exhibitions are very well known. Beecroft’s work is a form of fusion, she fuses conceptual issues and artistic concerns to create her works of art. Beecroft is very versatile and skilled in many forms of art, including drawing, painting, videos and photographs. Much of her work involves the use of female models, and her performances are encounters between the models and the audience. Each performance is made for a specific location and often referers to the political, historical, or social associations of the place where it is held.

Beecroft’s performances have been seen as “art, fashion, brilliant, terrible, evocative, provocative, disturbing, sexist, and empowering”, reactions to her work vary from each audience member. Beecroft has produced works and performances for very notable and important art institutions and museums. She has had her own exhibitions, and even produced works for the famous brand Louis Vuitton.

Allan Kaprow

Allan Kaprow is known as one of the most famous pioneers of art. He was a painter and a performance artist, he is also the creator of “happenings”. Born in 1927, he began his education in boarding school and then pursued his education in the arts. He received his master’s degree in art history, he taught for a little while, and after he started his studio art career. During this time he became less focused on the object of painting, but the action itself. These actions lead to the creation of the happenings.

In the beginning, the happenings were very scripted. Here the audience and the performers had to do certain things to experience the art. Kaprow said that the happenings were “events that, put simply, just happen”. His happenings were a form of interactive art, a way for the audience and the artist to physically see and react to the piece, the audience could become the art. As time went on, the happenings evolved and became less scripted. In all of Kaprow’s happenings, his main focus was to encourage the audience to make their own connections to the happening and have their very own unique experience. Kaprow wanted to integrate art and life through his happenings, it allowed him to experiment with different things and still have the audience involved.

Stelarc

Stelarc is an Austrian performance artist, who mainly focuses on extending the function of the human body. He believes that the human body can be improved by technology, taking the flesh out and replacing it with highly functioning technology. Many of his performances include robotics, or the integration of technology with the human body. In his performances he has been suspended in the air by flesh hooks, sometimes he uses a robotic arm, and he has even had a third ear implanted into his arm. He hopes of getting some type of microphone installed into the ear, so that people will be able to hear through his third ear.

“Technology is what defines the meaning of being human, it's part of being human." Especially living in the information age, "the body is biologically inadequate." –Stelarc

Burning Man

Burning Man began on a beach in San Francisco in 1986. A man by the name of Larry Harvey and his friend Jerry James burned a wooden man on the beach as a form of self expression. Almost instantly other’s joined in the spectacle, there were some who watched, and some who began to do other things in their own self expression. From this small beginning, burning man has grown to become a community of over 48,000 people. Every year since then burning man has been held, and every year the participation grows. Today, the participants of Burning Man make the trip to Black Rock Desert once a year to participate in the festivities. They stay there for one week, and become a part of an experimental community which requires participants to rely on themselves differently than they ever had.

Each participant decides what they want to give to the community. Whether it be giant works of art, a theme camp, costumes, gifts, or anything else that they wish to share. Burning man has an incredible impact on the people who participate. It brings people together, and allows them to share their ideas and their art. People who have not had this experience are encouraged to come and explore, to see what burning man has in store for them.

Improv Everywhere

Improv everywhere is a prank collective based in New York City. It was created in 2001 by its founder Charlie Todd. The group’s objective is to cause scenes that sometimes cause chaos and even joy in public places (personally I find some of these scenes hilarious). Improv Everywhere has performed over 100 missions, which have involved over thousands of undercover agents. Missions like pants-less subway rides, and a “frozen” grand central station. Agents are involved in order to make every prank happen.

There aren’t any other official Improv everywhere groups outside of New York City, but others who wish to create and perform pranks like this group are encouraged to join prank associations so they can get started. There wasn’t much information about the history of improve everywhere, but people are free to contact them. The group also has travelling tour dates, so many others can be involved. Improv everywhere is a fun and creative collective that gets everyone involved in their pranks.

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was born in Blainville France, in 1887. As a child he was most interested in math, but at the age of 14 he learned to draw from a teacher. Which then began his art interest and career. He initially produced his paintings in the mode of Fauvism, since that was popular back then. But then he later turned to Dadaism, cubism and surrealism. He was known to switch techniques, and he used whatever suited him at the time.
The painting that he is most known for is Nude Descending Staircase. It is painted in the cubist form, and depicts a human figure descending a staircase. Duchamp also began experimenting with new and different types of media in his time; like sculpture, and even kinetic art. Some of his work was known to be very controversial, but it had a very strong impact in the development of 20th century art. Duchamp died in Paris, in 1968.

Maurizio Cattelan

Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian artist, and was born in Padova , Italy in 1960. He never imagined that he would become an artist, so he never went to art school. He instead taught himself. Before his artistic career began he worked a series of odd jobs, like a cook, gardener and even a nurse. His beginnings in art began with his own creation of furniture for his apartment, he called it “functional furniture with art meaning”. He said his designs were nothing special, but they caught the attention of Italian magazine editors and manufacturers. From then on, his career took off.

Cattelan is known in the art world as the joker, because of the way he challenges contemporary values through irony and humor. His style is a mixture of sculpture and live performance. His work is seen as the in-between of reality and fiction, and he is always bending and mixing the rules of culture and society. Cattelan has had many art exhibitions worldwide; in many different countries like the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico. He currently lives and works in Italy and the U.S.A.