Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Trip to the Bay

During Spring break, my fellow grads and I took a trip to the Bay to not only go to the Firelei Baéz lecture, but to also visit as many galleries as we could fit into the day. I took so many pictures, that I even lost track of the names of some galleries. I took as many pamphlets and handouts that I could in order to remember where I went and what I saw. The day as a whole was really splendid and I thought it was really beneficial to get outside of Sacramento to see some different kinds of work. It made me excited to look for graduate programs outside of Sacramento too. Seeing the diversity in work out of my hometown made me eager to go look at art in other places.
Som, Trevor, and I beneath a sculpture(Union Square) in which its sister (about 20 yrds away) can retain the sound of the other. While Trevor, Som, and I talked within the piece, Chelsea was in the other one listening to our conversation and vice versa. 

We saw a lot of work that day, so I will narrow down a couple experiences that I found the most interesting.


Altman Siegal Gallery 



I was really excited by these paintings in 49 Geary Building at the Altman Siegel Gallery. The gallery was showcasing the work of Liam Everett. Everett works in mixed media, creating these large abstracts out of acrylic, enamel, alcohol, and salt on linen. According to Everett's artist statement, this body of work, all done in 2016, addresses the idea preconceptions of how a painting should be. He reflects on the writer Bertolt Brecht's writing and play The Elephant Calf, in which he borrows the show titles from. Because Brecht's play acted as an interlude or play within a play, Everett borrows from the idea with his very heavily layered paintings, purposely posing questions about the picture, or picture within the picture. His goal is for the not for the viewer to find some deeper meaning, or to narrate a certain story. He wants to communicate a "reality from the studio" and acknowledgment from his surrounding environment, considering spatial and temporal conditions when building paintings in his studio.  


I enjoyed the abundance of marks in the work, creating a textural experience in which all the marks gather to create a wall, and hardly dissipated except for some areas. After reading about the purpose behind these paintings, I was interested in the way Everett infused the work with his environmental experience. It makes me want to visit his studio, because I almost expect it to look like mine, messy and full,  with the type of work that he does. With a focus on his environmental experience, Everett gave me ideas on how I could shift my studio experience to broaden my own work. 
Gallery View 



Untitled (Teotihuacan), 2016 


Detail of Untitled (Teotihuacan) A.

B.

C. 

Untitled (Cahokia), 2016 

Som and Sean looking ( I was too busy taking pictures, I did not get one of me and the work) 




  Yerba Buena Center 





 At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the piece that I admired the most was Samara Golden's A Trap in Soft Division. When I entered the room, there was a large area of the floor blocked off by a low wall that had a mirrored surface. When I looked down, I had to almost catch my balance. It felt like I was about to fall into the world that was being reflected. This world consisted of foam furniture, faux stain glass windows, lamps made of lighting gels and black caulk, fabric, glue, and polyurethane paint, and adapted found clothes and objects. This piece was installed on the ceiling, where each "room" was installed upside-down so that it gave the illusion of being below you in the mirrored world. I was so fascinated by this installation. It made me feel almost out of body and displaced from the reality I was in. I felt like if I leaned over the wall too much I could fall into the world and never return to reality. With my altered perception of my environment, I also felt nostalgic. When looking down into the world or up into it, I felt like gravity was taking me there either way I looked. The vastness of the piece welcomed me into it, and each room felt like a sister of the room next to it. Some of the furniture looked the same, but something seemed a bit different in each room, whether it was an added element or a shifted object. Golden really takes the viewer almost by force because it is almost impossible to not be engaged when viewing the work, looking up into it, or down into the mirrored reflection. It was very intriguing, and has lasted with me.  I am eager to see more of her work in the future.



The mirrored floor, feat. myself.

You can see the woman behind Trevor taking pictures of the ceiling where the work was installed.


Here is a very interesting video of Samara Golden's installation of A Trap in Soft Division and a little more about what it is about

My people, 
(left to right) Sean Hong, Trevor Pope-Lance, Chelsea Thompto, Bailey Anderson, Bobby Edwards, Som Sayosone, Me (Caiti Chan)


2 comments:

  1. You guys should make a mandatory assignment for yourselves to go to the city!

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  2. Thank you for sharing your pictures. I particularly liked the interesting angles you captured in some of the photographs.

    ReplyDelete