Art and Identity: The Museum of Modern Art

During our trip to the museum of modern art we were asked to find pieces of art that expressed different forms of identity be it a historical , cultural , or individual. We were to look at works from the contemporary gallery exhibit that showed works from the 1980s to now and the Cindy Sherman exhibit. Personally i didn't find anything form the Cindy Sherman exhibit to my personal liking so all of the following artworks are from the Contemporary exhibit.

The First Piece of work that caught my eye was an "untitled" piece from the series Dear Painter , Paint for me by Martin Kippenberger (1981). In this piece we see what seems to be a urban city corner where someone has thrown out a couch an da man in a suit is sitting on it. When i saw this i imediatly thougt about its historical identiy not just because of the objects around that respresnt a past era but more of how this captured the feeling of how slow this era was compared to the one we live in now. The sidewalks are empty , the streets arent packed with cars , what i belive to be a bussiness man is just lounging on a couch that was thrown out. Compared to how we live now there is no way any pf this would occur because of how fast everything has become in our curent time, maybe we all have to just sit down and realize all the things around us before we pass the by.

As I moved along the exhibt this piece from Ashley Bickerton named "Tormnented Self-Portrait" (87-88) caught my eye , as i stood there staring at what was in front in me for a good 10 mintues it final hit me these were all the things the person whos self portait was made of they used in their everyday life. At the moment i realized what better way to show Individual idenity, usually one would think it would involved a person but this was so much better. The logos of the products give one an inside look to a person we will never meet and never see their face but we will know their favorite cigarette brand and their hobbies.

The final piece that drew me in was one by Takashi Murakami named "727" (96) , the moment one lays eye on it one knows that its heavily influenced by Japanese's culture and thats what cultural identity is about. The painting itself reminds me of many a manga I've read in my life (manga is a type of Japanese comics) that alone made me like it since i am a avid fan of them. The more time i spent looking i started to realized that not only was it showing the current culture of japan by the little magna monster but the background is one that i have seen in so many other Japanese works from ancient times. This piece not only makes the view identify with the current but also incorporated something from its past so its not only making use of cultural identity but of historical as well.

This was my first time going to the MoMa and i will say i will be going back to further explore what it has to offer. Going with the goal of looking for and finding works of art that showed the diffrent ways to identify itself helped me not only keep focused but look beyond just the painting or photo, it made me think the time period this as created, what was going on in the world during that time, and where was this person from. This trip not only taught me something but it made me look forward to all our other field trips.

Works Cited

Martin Kippenberger

"untitled" (from Dear Painter, Paint for Me)

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

1981

Ashley Bickerton

"tormented self-portrait"

synthetic polymer paint,bronze powder and lacquer on wood , anodized aluminum,rubber,plastic,Formica,leather,Chrome plated steel, and canvas

1988

Takashi Murakami

"727"

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas board , three panels

1996

Narrative Digital Collage

This collage represents what i used to daydream about when i was younger.Everytime class would get boring i would enter this mind state and relax, during this time in my life nothing was more fun then playing video games and being able to play in a bouncey castle (to this day if i could find an adult one i would rent it ASAP).

Good Art Vs Bad Art

If one is to ask a room full of people what good art and bad art is you would get different answers across the board. For me personally good art is a piece that grabs you and makes you think beyond the actual piece, it makes you ask questions like why did the artist choose these colors and is the background just a background or is there more to it. The more the piece of art makes you feel involved and wanting to understand it the better it is. For example Raphael's painting St. George Fighting the Dragon , when i see that i not only see the actual image but i start making a back story and asking myself questions to better understand the entirety of the painting.

Now bad art to me is simply art that doesn't grab my attention and make me want to know more about it, it doesn't have to invoke life experiences but a simple wow that's cool would do. Bad art doesn't do that to me, its just an object that exist and nothing more. That's how i feel personally and i don't mean to diminish the work of the artist who put there sweat and soul into those paintings but just not being able to get a reaction from it makes it bad art in my personal opinion. The painting below me some people may be able to see beyond it being just splatter from a brush, I cant i only see the splatter and nothing more so for that reason i would just keep moving along if i saw this in a museum.