Today was my second painting class in which our instructor, Carrie Moyer, a painter who lives in New York, gave us an interesting reading by David Levi Strauss about how capitalism hems in the free expression of artists. Then she showed a series of slides that were all painters that had political statements, from Otto Dix to Gerhardt Richter. Most of the images she showed were incendiary, especially one called Hitler in Hell. And then she gave an assignment to paint a painting that would cause people to join our cause, to believe in our strongly held beliefs. Yikes! I have beliefs but don't believe art necessarily must be about that. She said that art isn't all about your own expression, which I understand, but I was really looking forward to exploring some abstract paintings, some colours & compositions, no messages.
Anyhow, I was quite disappointed by that. So I wasn't really sure what to do, and I was really resisting this assignment. So I went to find out about RISD's picture library just to avoid sitting in the studio trying to figure out what to do until classtime was done. The picture library has many many file folders on hundreds of topics. Inside each folder is a wad of laminated images relating to the topic. There are also folders on images of work by different artists.
The topic I wanted to check out was Canada! There were two folders on Canada, and one on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Most of the images were older and showing the natural beauty and splendour of Canada. Within the folder I happened upon an image which struck me which I'll use for the "change the world" painting assignment, so that makes me feel more at ease about the assignment, and I am now very interested in it. The painting is due Thursday, so I'll document it and put it on this blog.
All in all, I think this RISD picture library is a really great resource for artists, and just looking through the images sparked a lot of ideas.
2 comments:
So weird... I totally agree with you, and you know I'm always up for some politics. Propaganda class! Tell Carol you didn't sign up for the "cultural revolution".
Post a final painting--I can't wait.
yeah! It's bizarre. I found myself actually researching Russian propaganda posters 30 minutes ago. Oh well, I'm trying to keep an open mind, also to keep going with my own sensibility, and not just go always totally with what the teacher wants. I'm going to give up being a grade whore!
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