This week we studied the art of ceramics and its significance about it.  The speaker that talked about this topic was Professor Brian Gillis who works with ceramics as well as other medias.  I found his presentation interesting because he brought up the term of multiples and how it relates to ceramics.  The definition he presented for multiples was “a three-dimensional object that is intended to exist not as a unique work of art, but as an editioned original.” Basically, it’s when an art piece has additional editions or collections that is either exactly the same with minor changes, or there is a characteristic that relates it to previous pieces.  Before this presentation I never really thought about art in terms of multiples.  But this idea very broad and general that it's hard to determine what is a multiple.  Throughout the class Professor Gillis kept questioning if a certain art piece is an example of a multiple.  Some of the main comparisons he made were does it have to be an exact replica, or can it be something that just has the same shape?  Could it even be using an existing physical object and presenting it through a different media? Can it be as simple as making copies of the same thing? Or could I be using materials from the existing art to make other things?  All these questions were addressed during the presentation and it was thought these questions that made the topic very interesting.  For once, it wasn’t about the examples showed, but the questions that arose from the examples that made the presentation worthwhile.  It made me think though, multiples doesn’t only apply to ceramics.  I disliked the fact that the presentation defined ceramics as being a process of multiples because when you think about all medias use multiples.  In graphic design logos, posters, clothing, and print are being duplicated multiple times, isn’t this using multiples? It extends to fashion design, isn’t making more different sizes and color variations of the same item multiples? Isn’t mass production in general the idea of multiples? Even companies like Apple use multiples, hence the 5 generations of iPods.  It’s amazing that an art term like multiples can be applied to real life situations and makes it understandable.  This presentation instead of focusing on ceramics I came to understand how big the impact and importance of art is on our society.  We can use art to explain things in a way that affects people instantly.  Think about it, isn’t more interesting when there is a visual? It’s proven in lectures everyday, there is never a class where someone falls asleep to someone who is just talking.  To close things up the term of multiples defines how we spread the greatness of art.  It’s not about creating one extravagant piece, but creating an extravagant piece and being able to spread the importance of it to gain different perspectives. 

            The artist we studied this week was Gabriel Orozco who utilizes this term of multiples in his art.  Out of his many artworks I found the Supermarket photos the most powerful and intriguing.  The reason why I found it so powerful was because of its commonality.  The environment of the supermarket is one anyone can relate too.  So many things happen in this one area that no one really pays attention to the organization and strict protocol of a super market.  Orozco basically took notice of how organized the supermarket is and decided to do something we always wanted to do, mess it up.  Everyone has that urge in them sometime in their life where you just want to mess things up because its fun.  And to do it in place where everything has a specific place and location is just amazing! This relates to the topic of multiples because he used more than one of the same objects to display the work.  For example he moved five potatoes to the school supplies section by placing each potato on a folder.  This is a multiple because there are five similar objects, and the repetition of it completes the message of the art piece.  If there were only one of each object the affect would not be the same.

            Another artist we studied this week was Justin Novak who is well known for his ceramic figurines entitled “21^st Century Bunny.”  His sculpture was really powerful because not only did it have this urban street vibe, which I am most interested in, but it had this strong patriotic feel as well.  I had the idea that it almost challenged the problems in our government by using the red and blue colors.  Also the fact that it is an animal, it kind of fits in with the political party animals character and because its neither an elephant or donkey it suggests this creation of a separate party.  But, besides my idea of what I think the meaning is I still felt just appearance wise that the piece was successful.  It has this playful and cute look that it makes you want to own one right when you see it.  This relates to the term of multiples because he was able to create different editions of this one sculpture.  Just by changing the size and color gives it a whole different feel even though it's the same shape.  That is why the idea of multiples is so beneficial to art as well as society.  Not only are artists able to spread their work around the world, but continue their artwork for many years.

            The last artist we witnessed was JR and his TED wish.  I found this artist’s work the most moving and touching out of the entire artists we studied.  He took the idea of multiples to a whole new level.  He used the art of photography and used it to spread a message around the world.  Like I said before, multiples give artists the chance to spread their message around the world, just like JR.  By printing multiple pictures and varying them by size gave him the opportunity to present this powerful message through art.  After his first collection of photo installations he didn’t stop there, he took this idea and did another collection with a different message and photo subjects.  He used the art of multiples to portray a different chapter of his art.  He went from doing it in one town, then to multiple towns, to multiple countries, and now the whole world.  This shows how powerful art can be, it can change the world.  Even though it may be just posting pictures, the messages and stories behind the photos is what changes the world.  By giving people the opportunity to share their stories to others and have people learn about it, he is changing the world.  It may not be a drastic change, but he is slowly inspiring people to open up and not be afraid to share their thoughts.  The world consists of people, and when you are able to inspire people, you are changing the world one person at a time.

            After this week the first thing I could think of was Bearbrick.  Bearbrick is a designer toy brand that utilizes the term of multiples.  All there toys have the same shape but are painted differently.  Every month they have a different collection that has a theme to the design of the multiple Bearbricks.  For example a Star Wars Collection, Skittles, Spongebob, and many more.  Even though it's the same shape, the changes in design make each collection entirely different from the rest.

            This week we talked about sculptures in contemporary art and how it has evolved over the years.  The speaker this week was Professor Amanda Wojick who specializes in sculpture here at the University of Oregon.  I felt that overall her presentation was the most prepared and knowledgeable compared to all the ones we’ve had this year.  Even though it wasn’t the most interesting to me I felt she did a great job in presenting 100 years of sculpture in an hour-long time slot.  One downfall about the presentation was that she only focused on female sculpture artist.  I felt that she should have mixed both male and female artists instead of just focusing on one.  But, I still was able to learn a lot about this kind of art.  One important point she made was making a distinction between abstraction and representation.  When viewing a sculpture it helps to determine whether the piece is abstract or representational, or even both.  Being able to distinguish that and then being able to make the connection to the opposite is when the meaning of the piece becomes evident.  For example the artist, Rachel Whiteread who takes all negative space and makes them into a positive existent space uses abstraction in her work.  Even though physically her work is abstract, when you look at it carefully it becomes representational in the sense that her sculpture is based off of a house.  By making this connection the meaning of her piece is shown, which is making the space that is unrealized most of the time visible to the eye.  Another artist I found interesting in her presentation was Tara Donovan.  I liked her work because she took sculpture to another level by combining it with using the art of light and illumination.  She uses simple plastics cups and stacks them to make a topographic landscape, then illuminates them by light.  I create this beautiful mesmerizing scene that eases the eye.  Both these artists have those abstract and representational aspects in their work, which makes them great artists.

            Another artist we studied this week was Louis Bourgeois who was the first woman sculptor in Professor Wojick’s presentation.  Personally I found her work not as interesting to me as the other artist’s I mentioned before, but she is a trendsetter when it comes to sculpture so I greatly respect her.  Her work set the bar for sculpture because she has been working in this field a long time.  Her work really plays off of making something really abstract in order to represent a certain issue.  Her piece Black Hands is so abstract but it represents such a huge issue in our society.  She says it herself in the interview that her piece is so simple and no one will understand unless you really pay attention to it.  She also says how the hands are one with the stone and how she focused the piece on vandalism, which is why she put it out in the open.

            The second artist we studied this week was Richard Serra, and his approach to sculpture is the total opposite to what we have been looking at in class.  His work is the epitome of abstract.  His work compared to Bourgeois is on a much more simpler stage but yet has the same amount of meaning.   In his pieced entitled Torqued Eclipse, the sculpture at first glance looks like a large piece of metal.  But when I started to observe the whole object and it’s details I found myself not being able to look away.  Something about it made me keep staring and wondering why and how this piece was produced. I was only limited to one side of the sculpture I really wish I could walk around the whole piece because if I had the chance I think I would be walking around it many times.  I found what he said about the piece really inspiring and open a brand new perspective to art.  He said, “You don't want the kind of 'wow' effect. Basically, what you really want to do is try to engage the viewer's body relation to his thinking and walking and looking, without being overly heavy-handed about it.”  Hearing this made me think that sometimes the simplest form of things can be the most powerful and meaningful.  Even though it relates to the cliché “the simplest things in life are the best,” it’s really hard to actually do it physically.

            All these artists that we have studied relate a lot to the reading assigned this week.  I thought the reading not only was interesting and put a lot of thought into my mind but it close a lot of open ends.  For example, how he challenges the statement “I’m just looking” really made me stop and really think about what it actually means.  Because he is right, we are not just looking, the products and ourselves are simultaneously “hunting” each other.  We are not just looking but deeply thinking and critically observing objects.  If we were just looking, the employee would not approach you making you give that answer.  This reading basically summed up how sculptures are viewed.  It’s when we are able to forget that we are “looking” and rather observe and find a connection with the art.   When that connection is made it should feel like nothing is around and its only you and the sculpture.  He also talked about how it should be someone’s goal to gain something when viewing and object.  Whether it could be a picture or sculpture a person should be able to feel an emotion or mood that will stick with them forever.  I feel like this reading answers the question we have been trying to figure out the whole term, how do we view contemporary art.  Through this reading it’s basically just looking, and finding that connection.  The more we engage with a piece the more perspectives and views start to become evident.  No two people will have the same reaction towards a piece, but that one person can take time to think about the different views.  It’s not about finding a meaning to a piece and leaving, but it’s more about being “flexible” and taking it ten steps further.  Those ten steps further are looking for other meanings that haven’t been made.  Knowing this really connects the dots when thinking about all the presentations and contemporary art we have looked at.

            After this week one thing that comes to mind is this new sculpture that was installed in my hometown Hilo, Hawai’i.  This piece is in front of the new courthouse/county building.  I swear I must have spent a good 4 hours just staring at this piece because its so abstract but I know it represents something really big.  It’s not as simple as Serra, but still not like Bourgeois it’s like in the middle.  I made this connection because now when I go home instead of trying to think of one meaning I will try to view it on a different perspective.  Also, I won’t throw away any of my ideas, because my wrong could be someone’s right.