ART MUSEUM CRITIQUE ********************************** Name _____Matt Moses _________________Class period/section__ MW 8:00 AM _____ 1.

Which museum did you visit? (check one) ___ Univ. of Utah _X_ BYU 2. Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period, geographic region, or topic) within the museum. One of the first pieces of art that is viewed upon entering the museum at BYU is Brower Hatchers installation titled Seer. Its most impressive feature is its size. It is a massive modern sculpture, and it appears to be a converging of the old and the new with the base made out red clay like materials similar to the layers of ancient earth. The top of the sculpture is a modern geodesic transparent wire frame toped with a large bird feathers. According to the description of the art piece the installation is meant to represent the history of Utah. Embedded within the sculpture are somewhat random objects including, a dinosaur skull, stature of Brigham Young, and letters of the desert alphabet. The art piece is attempting to personify multiple aspects of the history of Utah. The range of time that the piece covers is ancient to modern. The sculpture has a distinct southwestern feel to it from the red stone to the Native American headdress. 3. Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). I was very impressed with Pam Bowmans installation entitled Becoming. The viewer first encounters a large grey wall that is pierced with hundreds of strings in a symmetrical pattern. This wall appears to be like an orderly waterfall of string. The wall also blocks the observers view of the rest of

the installation. Upon walking around the wall the viewer sees that the strings continually penetrate through the wall and are collected into formations of large ropes. These ropes are then coiled into a massive coil of rope, which towers over the viewer. This installation seems want to communicate the idea of cooperation or togetherness. It communicates the idea that we are great when we combine our forces into one common cause. 4. What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to learn or gain from the exhibits you viewed? I feel that the over all experience is eye opening and that is what the museum administration is primarily trying to accomplish. The art pieces can convey strong emotions and can also be interpreted in different ways. I feel that the museum is a source of culture to those who visit. I dont feel that all of the participants who visit the museums are appreciative or receptive to understanding the meaning behind the exhibits. For me ultimately I feel that I leave with a feeling of apperation for the arts. I also feel as though the message that the artist was trying to communicate has left with me. 5. What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for further information if you were interested? In general there is not a large amount of information available for each piece. I think this is intentional as a standard part of the way musumes operate. This leave the viewer the opportunity and situation in which they explore there own interpretation of the art. The information that is available includes a small card with the authors name, the name of the piece and an approximate date of the work. Sometimes there are supplementary signs next to the work providing additional context and

background to the art piece. Additional information could also be obtained from the musumes website. 6. Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the artists? What message do you think the artists were trying to convey in the works you chose to discuss? This question must be answered in its entirety. Of the many impressive exhibits that were on display at the BYU Art Museum the one that I was most impressed with was a series by Edward Burtynsky entitled The Industrial Sublime. This was a fairly large and comprehensive collection of photos and videos that document the eerie and ironic beauty of industrialization. The collection included examples from all over the world, but most of the artwork was from Southeast Asia where the effects of industrialization have been the most dramatic. One of the pieces in Burtynskys collections that I was particularly impressed with was a photo of a landscape which I initially assumed was flowing molten lava. The image is of a black dark landscape with a stark bright orange material flowing like a river. I initially thought of the beautiful images of flowing lava on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. As I looked closer at the image I had to look closer to determine what I was really looking at. Upon further investigation I discovered that the image was not flowing lava but was actually polluted water in china that was a byproduct of nickel processing. The black ground was not volcanic rock, but heavily polluted soil. It was impressive because the image was truly beautiful in its self. The paradox was that the image actually in reality was something that was the direct opposite of beauty.

Another similar example that I observed was a beautiful symmetrical view of black dark towering pyramids. The size of these towing piles was quite impressive. It looked like a modern version of the Pyramids of Giza. The pyramids turned out to be massive piles of coal near a power plant in China. Again the image its self is quite beautifully stunning with the size and scale of the collected coal. It left me thinking These are our modern pyramids? This is all that we can create in our modern world? I feel that I was drawn to these works because they were quite modern and had direct relevance to me in my daily life as a consumer. In a sense it made me feel the pain of the earth being robbed of its resources and scared by pollutants. This exhibit gave me a perspective to how many freedoms I have in my life. I fell as though I have a lot of challenges, but nothing compared to the countless factory workers in some of the manufacturing plants that were depicted in the exhibit. I felt grateful that I was not one of the 80,000 workers that worked at a shoe factory in China that was shown as an example. The subject of global industrialization is an interesting and controversial topic that Burtynsky gets into. In terms of global competition I look at the massive amounts of cheap labor that china has compared to the US and I felt there is no way that I could compete under those terms. In another sense I feel like the mundane jobs that exist overseas are not jobs that I personally would want to compete for. In a sense I feel the viewer is left with a sense of hopelessness that the events that are unfolding are inevitable. I feel that the artist feels this inevitability as well that he is merely documenting some extreme cases of industrialization. There was a quote from the author on the wall that said Weve never stopped taking things from nature. What is different today is the scale.

Burtynskys style is in a sense capturing things that are extremely large. His photography is quite modern and sometimes necessitates the need for wide-angle lenses in order to capture the magnitude of what he is trying to express. The medium of high quality photography works well for what the artist is trying to communicate. It forces the viewer figure out what the piece actually is, often leaving them astonished. At the entrance of the exhibit there are a series of quotes that I believe best describe what the artist is trying to communicate. The industrial sublime, the toxic sublime, the beauty in the beast, paradoxical beauty, awesome ambiguity, landscapes that are blighted and beautiful, these are some of the dichotomous epithets chosen to describe Burtynskys work. I believe the artist is trying to communicate the great scale to which mankind is robbing nature. The story which he is trying to communicate is a very contemporary message and a rapidly changing one. The artist leaves the viewer stunned at the beauty but also of the scale of what he is trying to communicate. The paradox that is being portrayed leaves the viewer impressed by the scale of modern technology and yet saddened by some of the things that also impact our culture and environment. 7. How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class? The theme in class that was the most relevant to the examples I looked at is Responses to Nature. The theme of mans relationship to the natural world directly relates to Burtynskys work The Industrial Sublime. One of the assigned readings discusses industrial tourism and the National Parks. In this discussion a debate is raised on whether the national parks should meet the needs of tourists, or if the visitors should adjust their expectations and alter their plans so to not impact the park. The exhibit of

the industrial sublime is portraying this same discussion of how we should manage mans impact on nature. Additionally the theme of war could be used as an example to discuss global competitiveness. Also I think that the theme of spirituality relates in a more general sense to understanding art. In the different belief systems that exist today there are many interpretations on life, salvation, and the afterworld. In a similarly way different individual can have different views on artwork and what there meaning could be. 8. What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this type of event again? Why or why not? I very much enjoyed this opportunity to visit a museum of fine art. I had never been to the art museum at BYU or even ventured into the BYU campus so it was a unique and enjoyable opportunity. I was impressed that such an impressive collection of art could be viewed in one location, and it was free! This experience took me out of my comfort zone and forced me to do something I normally dont do. After visiting the museum I felt a desire to share this experience with others and I am more likely to visit exhibits in my free time.