So my visit to the New Museum was quite interesting! And it only took 40 minutes to find a parking spot because the San Gennaro festival was going on at the same time. I took the elevator to the fifth floor and walked my way down.
The fifth floor exhibit with the 5 speaker audio set-up was particulary engaging: I like that you had to go all the way up to hear what was coming out...
The David Goldblatt imagery was haunting: The lack of men with their children in the photographs was a painful reminder of the absence of paternal figures in the lives of the children in black South Africa. I also liked the way the images were hung on the walls: one smaller framed in black next to one larger hung with clips and nails. The stairway installation was also engaging.
The Emory Douglass work was bare bones, old school, newspaper style. An interesting juxtaposition of Goldblatt and Douglass in the building since they both showed content of a people oppressed by racism, and both VERY politically charged! Good colors though, in the emory paintings.
What I found most intriguing to me personally was the Iannone exhibit on the first floor, not for the art (which I thought was mediocre) but for her lack of education: this means to me her work is craft. Reading her bio on the wall, it stated she was self taught and self trained. What?! You mean a craftswoman can get an exhibit at the New Museum?
I was told this semester that my work should be more"art" and less "craft". With this request, I take issue: if I spend nine years in school learning the ins and outs of ceramics, does that not make my work more art than craft? I was always under the impression that art separated itself from craft when there is an education behind the work.
Why is it, then, that I am asked to tailor the aesthetic of my work to someone else's expectation/ interpretation so that they are satisfied to think it is art and not craft?
My education separates my work as art and less craft! My full and thorough knowledge in my specialty makes it art and not craft! My style is my own: I am expressive with clay, yet I always remain conscious of the fact that since ancient time, clay has been the material for a vessel.