Blog #6, Week 7

For week seven there were several interesting artists& authors that we were required to read about, watch, & listen to speak. Carla Bangtson was the guest speaker & she specializes in drawing. We also read about Kiki Smith, a drawer & sculptor. We read an article called "The Death of the Author" by Rolland Barthes. However, My favorite piece of the this weeks assignment was watching a film about artist William Kentridge, titled "Anything is Possible".

Carla Bangtson is an artist who paints  & draws. Her presentation however was about art and the environment. I was very interested in the pictures of the artwork she showed. My favorite piece of art that she showed was a piece by Robert Smithson titled "The Spiral Jetty". It was a video taken from above in an airplane of the land below where a spiral was created with mud, salt crystals, rock and surrounded by water. I thought it was such an amazing use of nature & really looked beautiful. Another piece of artwork I appreciated was the video taken of "A Journey of a Cockroach" because even though bugs disgust me, it was so interesting to see the bugs live their lives in their environment. The colors were extremely vivid and really popped out at me, which I really liked. She concluded her presentation with artwork of her own & I was very impressed with her creativity by used ants as a source of a tool to create ink lines on painted on canvases. I thought it was a very clever idea. 

Kiki Smith is a drawer & a sculptor. Her sculptures were very detailed & intricate which I really like. My favorite piece of her is the one titled "My Blue Lake". It's a drawing one two people with the same face, it is some interesting & really makes me think about it. I LOVE this drawing. It also is somewhat of a mind trip which I enjoy. I thought it was also great how she used real life people to inspire her drawings of dead animals. 

"The Death of the Author" by Rolland Barthes was about how the author or artists creates his/her artwork but the reader must meet the author half way by bringing meaning to what the author created. It is a relationship between the author and the reader & without the reader connecting to the author/artists work, it doesn't mean as much. If the author or artist creates something they share with an audience & they bring meaning to it then once the audience brings their interpretation the meaning is complete. 

William Kentridge is an artist who specializes in drawing. Even though he specializes in drawings, his artwork is used to create operas which I think is incredible. Watching his video titled "Anything is Possible" This was my favorite artist of the week. Not only is his voice so soothing with he accent but it was so interesting to hear how he creates his art & how his drawings create something bigger. His methods are so unique & then make something you wouldn't necessarily expect. I thought it was amazing how his drawings and creativity turned into incredible operas that were very well done. It was very cool how he took video of himself walking & then drew a horses top making his legs the horses legs on the projection.

I feel like William Kentridges film about his work & the article "The Death of the Author" related to each other because what the article was trying to say to the reader is what I think was shown in Kentridges film & his art. He was the artist but he also wanted to get the audiences response to his art work & get their interpretation along with his own, so it in turn becomes full circle. 

This was actually one of my favorite weeks to interpret artists work, even though I don't think I am able to fully understand everything.