BAMPFA Exhibit Review by Heather Schlesinger

(sign on the façade of the museum)

(myself in front of the museum)

On April 20, 2019 I found myself in Berkeley, CA yet again, this time visiting The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive otherwise known as BAMPFA.  The building itself looks very modern.  As you walk in, there is a nice sense of space as the ceilings are high and the building allows for a great deal of natural light which serves the art well.  

(exhibit title)

In the museum there was an incredibly interesting and thought provoking exhibition called Boundless: Contemporary Tibetan Artists at Home and Abroad.  The works displayed are by internationally known Tibetan artists. Along with these contemporary Tibetan works there are historical sculptures and artifacts displayed.  I found this to be an exciting contrast as there is obvious traditional similarities among the old and the new, yet the contemporary works have modern qualities and symbolism intertwined with traditional figures.  

(myself in front of the exhibit)

(The White Proposal, Tenzing Rigdol, 2014, Mixed media on Canvas)

The White Proposal, by Tenzing Rigdol is an extremely unique representation of the Buddha.  Tibetan prayers in ink are on the outside of the Buddha representing the artist’s family as they once manufactured ink for printing scriptures. Chinese text is in white inside of the the Buddha which is a proposal for self-governance written by the Tibetan Government to be considered by the Chinese government.  This piece has layers of meaning.  Rigdol incorporates political aspects with the traditional Buddha form. 

(myself viewing The White Proposal)

(Wrathful Dance, Tenzing Rigdol, 2014, Mixed media on canvas)

Wrathful Dance is another mixed media work by Tenzing Rigdol. This image displays the hardships that the Tibetan community is currently facing.  The flames represent self-immolation protests that have risen in numbers since 2009.  The personal aspect in this piece is the map of Denver, Colorado in the Buddha’s halo. This is where the artist immigrated and earned his studio art degree.  The flames are representing terror and the map representing perhaps the place that saved him.  This is a powerful contrast, bringing a great deal of personal emotion in the work.

Rigdol has created art that truly makes the viewer think about what is going on in the Tibetan community.  The artist’s work is demonstrating the displacement of Tibetan’s and the sacrifices they are making in order to bring international attention to their struggles as they are living under Chinese rule.  

(Ahimsa, Chungpo Tsering, 2016, Charcoal and gold leaf on paper)

Another piece that is especially moving is Ahimsa (nonviolent protest) by Chungpo Tsering.  This piece represents self-immolation.  There is a contrast present with the butterfly’s and meditation pose mixed with the violence that is signified with the gas can and headless figure.  This piece allowed me to feel the determination that is present in the Tibetan community. 

(myself viewing Ahimsa)

(Gold Child/Black Clouds, Tsherin Sherpa, 2013, White and yellow gold leaf, acrylic, alcohol ink, glitter on linen)

The piece, Gold Child/Black Clouds, by Tsherin Sherpa is another example of the powerful artwork present in this exhibition.  There is a sadness in the figure's eyes.  Again, beauty is mixed with anguish as Sherpa represents this child full of life with smoke all around and charred skin on his face.  This work speaks to what is going on within a child's life who is dealing with the conditions in which the Tibetan' s live.  

All of the works in this exhibit contain several layers of symbolic meaning.  The artists are balancing their cultural traditions and the contemporary issues they are currently facing while maintaining an immense amount of exquisiteness in their work.  The fact that these beautiful pieces are juxtaposed with deeper, political, and quite sad symbolism is what moved me the most.  Is the purpose of these works to raise awareness?  It’s really up to us as the viewers to do something or do nothing.  As an artist, if I were to create political art that is raising awareness on current social issues I wouldn’t want to just let people know about what’s going on.  I would want and hope for change, and for people to feel my passion for the subject.  I highly recommend this exhibit and then possibly taking a stance on these issues being raised.  Perhaps being an artist is just the position of influence and the position of power is in the actions of the viewer.      

Expressions Gallery

(mural)

A couple of weeks ago my friend, John Klaiber, and I went to Berkeley, CA for a little gallery visit. First we went to Berkeley Art Center and although it was closed, we were able to explore the nature area that it was located in. We came across this mural under a bridge and I certainly felt as though it was blog worthy.  

 (the side of Expressions Gallery)

(me-Heather Schlesinger)

(John Klaiber)

We ended up at an impressive gallery called Expressions Gallery. The work exhibited was commenting on homelessness. They displayed art work that was created by the homeless as well as art created by local professionals that are passionate about the issues that the homeless community faces.

One of the installations was a meal for the homeless.  Displayed was a menu for their options and a meal of glass, sand, dirt, gravel, rocks, and soap.  Represented here is a very clear message saying that options are limited for the homeless and society is ok with it.

(Doug Minkler, All of Us or None, poster)

  

Doug Minkler's, All of Us or None, caught my attention as well.  This piece is an awareness billboard, a wake up call for society, letting us know that we should not be leaving anyone behind and that we are all equal.  

(Carol Denney, You Lose Board Game, card board and mixed media)

Carol Denny created a piece called You Lose Board Game.  This is a different version of monopoly to say the least.  The boxes that you could land on represent a daily issue in the life of someone who lives in poverty or on the streets.  I appreciated her bringing this awareness to these issues in a conceptual way.  She uses a board game to share her message as a gateway into the middle class, as monopoly is a common, suburban game.  

(Carol Denney, Toilet Memorial, mixed media assemblage)

Another piece by Denney is an installation of a toilet chained up representing the denial of bathroom access to the homeless.  I have been in a business myself getting food when a homeless man walked in to use the bathroom.  He barely took two steps in the building before the owner yelled at him "NO" and pointed at the door.  I was taken back because I had never seen or experienced anything like this.  This is a HUGE problem for the homeless community.  Then the rest of us complain if we smell pee walking around in cities or if we find human poop down by the Sacramento or American Rivers.  This is why!    

Doug Minkler and Carol Denney's works are political while representing facts and addressing these social issues connected with homelessness.  This gallery was a great find, the people that worked there were very friendly and informative, and the art was fantastic.  I recommend this gallery the next time your in Berkeley, CA. 

  

SF MOMA

(Myself in front of SF-MOMA)

This semester I was able to go on a little trip to SF-MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco) with some of my fellow class mates.  Last year I went to the one in New York so I was really excited to be able to compare the experiences.   

When I walked in I noticed that the inside of the museum is nice and spacious, and light and airy, which I really like when I am looking at art (especially on a free day and there’s A LOT of people).  I was excited so I jumped right into looking at the art.  

(Louise Bourgeois, Spiders, 2003, stainless steal)

The first exhibit that really leaped out at me was Louise Bourgeois’ Spiders.  Made out of steel, these spiders are extremely interesting subjects to me.  I really don’t like spiders so seeing them on such a large scale brought me into a new perspective of seeing the creatures. There is beauty to them, one that I haven’t recognized before.  I love how she brought us into this different world by creating them on such a ginormous scale.

(Chuck Close, Lorna, 1995, oil on canvas)

(Chuck Close, Agnes, 1998, oil on canvas)

(close up of Agnes)

Seeing Chuck Close’s work is also very exciting for me.  I love his distorted large scale portraits.  The human figure and portraits are a common theme for me in my work so seeing his work up close and analyzing his organic shapes within each grid is truly a sight and just makes me happy.  

(Gerhard Richter, Stadtbild Madrid, 1968, oil on linen)

Gerhard Richter’s Stadtbild Madrid certainly struck me as well.  The way he created this city scape just from different shapes and black and white value changes is very impressive.  I enjoy this piece immensely as well as his others that were displayed. 

(Gerhard Richter, Fenster, 2002, oil on linen)

Fenster is eye-catching to me because Richter was able to capture the shadow extremely realistically.  I also find the intense contrast of black and white in this context luring.  Even though it is just a painting of a window, its convincing and makes me wonder about the story that goes along with this window and why he decided to paint it.  

(Max Beckmann, Frau bei der Toilette mit roten und weissen Lilien, 1938, oil on canvas)

One of Max Beckmann’s paintings was also available to view.  I really like Beckmann’s work.  This semester I recreated one of his paintings as an assignment and I just appreciate his style so much.  The piece above is abstract and literal, bright and dark, gestural and emotional.  He is different and that’s what I like about him as well as the contradicting elements is his paintings.  

There were so many other works that were so exciting to see however if I wrote about all of them we’d be here a while.  I just love seeing the works and artists that I have studied, it truly makes the experience that much better.  My classmates and I had a great time!

RUBY CHISHTI...Narratives of Memory: A Conversation with Time

(Ruby Chishti)

On April 6, 2019 Sacramento State University had the pleasure of having Ruby Chishti as a guest lecturer.  Ruby Chishti is an artist who is from Jhang, Pakistan.  She was born the fourth daughter in 1963 and grew up feeling unwanted due to gender discrimination.  As an escape she made dolls and altered fabric.  Chishti’s background conceptualizes her work and is both an emotional and intellectual outlet.  Her work is very much autobiographical.  This aspect in her work is connected to the material she uses and the subjects she portrays.  

Chishti uses materials that are not meant to withstand the test of time.  Straw was a material for her that was free and that was also meant to perish.  This is representative of time itself, as all things in life eventually perish.  She spoke about the inferiority of women that she grew up with and her attempts to bridge that gap with her art work. In her work, I Dreamt of Space Without Me in 2001, she used straw stuffed in black trash bags to build form.  Crows are incorporated in the piece and have become reoccurring visual elements in her works.  Crows are an important in her work as they have no sense of time.  They just live.

  (I Dreamt of Space Without Me, Ruby Chishti, 2001, Fabric, straw, and yarn)

In 2002 Chishti moved to the US and was holding on dearly to her memories from Pakistan.  As an attempt to mimic her memories she created Sketch of a Fading Memory in 2007. 

(Sketch of a Fading Memory, Ruby Chishti, 2007, twigs)

This piece is incredibly powerful.  It’s a site specific self portrait of her as a child with her mother.  In representing the sacred image of divine motherhood, she wanted to reverse the roles of mother and child.  This hits home for me as I am a mother.  As parents we are the protectors, providers, and teachers of our children, however everyday I learn and discover new things from my daughter as well as recognize the purity of the simple things in life.   

Ruby lost her brother abruptly from cancer at the age of 27 which heavily impacted her and her work.  Chishti created a piece called …and then I buried my pride along with you, 2008.  This piece represents her mothers image in a soft sculpture as her body is absorbing her brothers body.   

(Ruby Chishti, and then I buried my pride along with you, 2008)

The personal aspect in this work is something that I can also relate to as my mother lost her first born.     I have no memory of him as he passed long before I was born.  The concept of having another brother is always present, though.  I may not have known him but my mother has absorbed his memory.  

(Ruby Chishti, Live, Laugh, Love, 2009,  Chicken wire and fabric) 

Live, laugh, love, from 2009 is another work of Chishti's that I really enjoyed.  It is sculptural but it can also be worn, which I find extremely fascinating.  The meaning behind is just as interesting.  Chishti explained that this work represents the idea of homes and buildings.  Apartment building are full of the homes of different walks of live.  This piece is very inclusive to all and can be related to on a personal level as well as a wider scope.  I think of all the different living situations there.  Some people live in apartments, houses, the street, tents, huts even.  The home that we are raised in and whatever living situations we experience in our lives has a vast amount of meaning to us as individuals.  

Ruby Chishti travels around the world showing her art.  Her work is personal and collective, contrasting human connection.  As time continues and progresses we become busier and so we try to cling onto human connection.  The more we lose it, the more we value it.  Listening to her story, her process, and even her struggles in-between have been truly moving.  I am thankful for her visit to Sac State.   

Tavarus Blackmon Lecture

(Tavarus Blackmon beginning his lecture)

Tavarus Blackmon came to Sacramento State University on March 14, 2019 to discuss his recent exhibit at the Verge Gallery called Exquisite Diversion.  Blackmon really wanted to utilize the space he was given to show is art and he did this extremely well through installation, paintings, projections, and 3 dimensional videos as well as print experimenting.  His works displayed in the exhibit touch on several issues.  For example, the “sinister” aspect of being black in America, masculine toxicity, violence, and consumerism.  How he achieves these messages is by intertwining a sense of playfulness with serious subjects. As a father of three he seemed to not be able to help that his work has this element of play in it even though he mentioned he didn’t want his work to be playful, he actually wanted it to be serious.  Eventually, he excepted this aspect in his work.  

What struck me the most in Blackmon’s work and in his lecture was his series of the ginger bread man prints.  He uses this well known character as a symbol to represent himself and his experiences. It’s both personal and political. In these series there are other reoccurring characters.  The oven symbolizes his mother.  He was raised by his mother who is white and couldn’t fully help him navigate life as an African American.  Then there’s the alligator, which is representative of his father, who wasn’t apart of his life growing up.  He actually tried finding his father when he was younger.  This is the personal aspect of the series.  The political aspect comes from the fact that the ginger bread man is always running.  There is an element of danger, irony, and movement that is symbolic of the black experience in America.  The gingerbread man’s desire is constantly foreshadowed with danger.  No matter what, the ginger bread man is always going to get consumed.  Blackmon stated, “I didn’t think it would be political because I was using the gingerbread man but I realized it was as they’re all dying.”  He also pointed out that “there is something disturbing about being American and that he has a right to be critical of the place he lives in.” Which is very true.  We live in this society where we have just excepted this culture of consumerism, racism, and corruption.  As Blackmon also mentioned you have to be able to “eat it, buy it, or fuck it for it to have value.”   When will America open their eyes and see the bigger picture?  

I like that Blackmon isn’t afraid to take his work to this political place and question the very institution in which he lives.  It is also very exciting that he can do this while incorporating personal aspects in his work while keeping them visually pleasing. It seems rare that one can make their art personal, political, and enjoyable.  This demonstrates his abilities as an artist which is very inspiring.  I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Tavarus Blackmon

The Great Escape

latex on canvas, 5 x 5 feet, 2016

Tavarus Blackmon

Koo Kyung Sook... Understanding Her Work

(Koo Kyung Sook and Ian Harvey)

Thursday, February 28, 2019, our Contemporary Art History class had a wonderful one on one experience with artist Koo Kyung Sook in the University Library Gallery at Sac State.  It is here where her experimental, contemporary art work is displayed.  Sook explained that although her work is figurative, there is no special concept and that she has no idea of an image before hand.  This collection of work is a presentation of her evolving as a two dimensional artist since 2004.  The images are constructed from “hundreds of improvised marks," then she creates works from there.  

The methods that Sook uses are sincerely exciting.  She makes marks with found objects such as bubble wrap.  For one of her pieces, she put a bag over her head, dipped her head in developer, then rubbed it all over the photo paper.  As a sculptor, she was always using her body.  She would make plaster bandage molds of herself, so this concept of using herself as a medium isn’t so foreign to her.  

 (developer on photo paper)

Sook also explains that her experience receiving medical treatment was a form of inspiration for her.  The concept that parts of our body are constantly working together to give us this life, this body is something that she uses in her work.  

As she moved further into her two dimensional experimentation, Sook decided that she wanted to avoid a clean, finished surface in her work.  She explains that she likes “physicality” in her art.  She began to do woodcuts.  The process to create a three dimensional surface is to put about thirteen layers of paper on the woodcuts, then three layers of laminate.  This allows for a tactile surface.  She says this process has no name because is has never been done before, however I think that when I try it one day I will call it the Koo Kyung Sook Method!

Sook also has created collages with broken woodcut pieces and in another work she and her husband, Ian Harvey, used business cards, enamel, shellac, alcohol, and oil.  She carves her wood blocks by hand and even chips away at her thick paper pieces with an exacto knife and glues other parts on.  Sook believes that “with misregistration comes movement,” and I think we can all agree that her work has a great deal of movement.  

(Koo Kyung Sook)

Koo Kyung Sook is very humble and acknowledges all the help she has received during her journey.  She declares, “All these new experiences open other doors.  A large part of this is due to the help of others.”  She spoke a great deal on this process being intuitive.  I enjoy hearing this because sometimes as an artist I feel as though I need to have a plan or a concept first then decide how to go about it.  Sook is living proof that anyone can just start creating and then see how it transforms. Her work is motivational and encourages me to go throw paint around my garage with objects I never would have thought of painting with.  

(Markings 18-1, 2018, relief wood cut and collage)

After speaking about her artistic process, inspirations, and mediums, Sook ends her time with us with this statement.  “What I’m saying here is not what I’m going to say next time.  It’s just natural and real.”  This reminds me of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance” when he speaks about consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds.  He writes, “Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again.” Sook is a great soul and is not afraid to step out of a “foolish consistency."  This is why her work is so captivating.  During the opening reception of the exhibit, I sat there staring at her work for quite some time just entranced with the movement and vibrations they create.  I feel grateful for witnessing her show and being allowed the opportunity to listen to Sook speak about her work. 

  

 (Sook speaking about her process with this piece)