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.