my overall thoughts...

I really enjoyed this class. I didnt like it when there was some change starting module 3. I personally did not have any interest on art. to be honest, the only reason why I enrolled in this class was recommendation from one of my english class-mate. I first thouht this class was all about drawing and get grades on that. but when I notice how this class work, such as, researching artist, museum trips, and art projects, I really had fun. I especially liked on identity. I was able to put more efforts into on my identity project because it was all about me. as i was doing this project i was able to look back my childhood, memories, and realized how important my families are. I now able to look more deeply on any paintings or art stuff. I learn that some artist are willing to sacrifice their life, such as, griffith artist. I've exprienced to paint on the wall at the Venice art wall and realized that there are many different style and concepts on art. once again, I really enjoyed this class and I'm glad I acutally gain some knowlege on art, better understanding, and be creative... BE CREATIVE!

12th artist: Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian contemporary artist living in Los Angeles. Beecroft's work is a fusion of conceptual issues and aesthetic concerns, focusing on large-scale performance art, usually involving live female models. At her performances, video recordings and photographs are made, to be exhibited as documentation of the performances, but also as separate works of art. The work and her conceptual approach is neither performance nor documentary, but something in between, and closer to Renaissance painting. She sets up a structure for the participants in her live events to create their own ephemeral composition. The performances are existential encounters between models and audience, their shame and their expectations. Each performance is made for a specific location and often references the political, historical, or social associations of the place where it is held. Beecroft’s work is deceptively simple in its execution, provoking questions around identity politics and voyeurism in the complex relationship between viewer, model and context. I think her work is very impressive in a way how she uses women as to create works.

11th artist: Marina Abramović

Marina Abramović is a New York-based Yugoslavian performance artist who began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over three decades, she has recently begun to describe herself as the “grandmother of performance art.” Abramović's work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. In her first performance Abramović explored elements of ritual and gesture. Making use of twenty knives and two tape recorders, the artist played the Russian game in which rhythmic knife jabs are aimed between the splayed fingers of her hand. Each time she cut herself, she would pick up a new knife from the row of twenty she had set up, and record the operation. After cutting herself twenty times, she replayed the tape, listened to the sounds, and tried to repeat the same movements, attempting to replicate the mistakes, merging together past and present. She set out to explore the physical and mental limitations of the body – the pain and the sounds of the stabbing; the double sounds from the history and from the replication. With this piece, Abramović began to consider the state of consciousness of the performer. “Once you enter into the performance state you can push your body to do things you absolutely could never normally do.”

10th artist : Donatella Versace

Donatella Versace is an Italian fashion designer and current Vice-President of the Versace Group, as well as chief designer. She owns 20 percent of the entire stock market assets of Versace. Her brother, Santo Versace, owns 30 percent. Donatella's daughter Allegra Versace inherited 50% of the company stock after the death of Gianni Versace, Donatella's brother and Versace's founder. I personally like her because she is one of woman who has been success in life. She has created many designs that would stand after Versace brand name. She has created clothing, accessories, and now moves on to furniture. She is always moving forward for new style to design and create. Oblivious, her brand is very famous that everyone in today’s world recognizes and even popular star wear her clothing in special event. Overall, I like how she always moves forward and have versatile talent that is very useful and promote her to higher social position.

9th artist Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces, some of which are still manufactured and sold. There is a place called Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum and this is where he would decorate with all of his art that has been created by him. It is really interesting to find out that he has a museum that is decorated by his work. He is best known for his abstract sculptures designed as adjuncts to architecture. An example of his environmental work is his massive red cube designed for the marine midland bank building, New York City. As a landscape architect, noguchi created a large number of playgrounds, parks and gardens. In the 1950s, he designed gardens for Keio University.

Yoko Ono

My Artist: Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono was born in February 18, 1933. She is a Japanese artist, musician, and author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon. Ono brought feminism to the forefront through her music which prefigured New Wave music. She is a supporter of gay rights and is known for her philanthropic contributions to the arts, peace and AIDS outreach programs. Ono was an explorer of conceptual art and performance art. Ono had ordeal life since she was young. First, she is daughter of a Japanese pianist who gave up his career to marry into money. In 1945, her mother either suspected or was warned that America would bomb Tokyo, and took the family to safety far from the city before the bombs began falling. Ono married composer and pianist Toshi Ichiyanagi, and then attempted suicide. At the mental hospital she met jazz musician Anthony Cox, and when she discovered she was carrying his child she divorced Ichiyanagi and married Cox, but he had mood swings wilder than Ono's and she promptly had the marriage annulled. Cox apologized, and Ono was pregnant, so they remarried before their daughter was born. By the mid-1960s their new family was living in New York, where Ono dabbled in music, performance art, short films, and performance art like "Cut Piece," wherein audience members were given scissors and invited to cut away her clothing. In 1969 she divorced with Cox then remarried with John Lennon, the member of Beatles. As I was researching I noticed that she had challenge life. One of her work called “cut piece” is very famous performance art she have done in the year of 1965. She would sit impassively, a kind of bodhisattva, while people slowly cut off her clothes. It was an amazing feminist manifesto before most people knew what feminism was.
http://youtu.be/Zfe2qhI5Ix4
What interested in me was few of her message that were hidden unless anyone could recognize the message. The message were such as, “look at youself in the water you are beautiful”, “breath”, “don’t stop”, and “I love you.” This entire message can mean differently regarding on how audience accept and understand. It may be given comfort or love or even a peace… restfulness… I like the idea where she writes her message in anywhere, so the audience can look at or find out unexpectedly.
http://eunicelee.tistory.com/236
overall, her work was very interesting to me. her work is very simple but have strong point and powerful meaning. also, I like the idea when she asked audience to come over to the stage and be part of her performance art during the "cut piece".

Module 4, 8th artist: Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-American artist famous for her performance art and "earth-body" sculptural, photographic, and video work. I was surprise on her death at early age. According to this one article, it said it was an accident which she fell down on 34 floor of where she lived with her husband. Her husband was also well known artist and he was accused for murdering her death, but court announced that it was a suicide and no charge against him. I heard about how artist suffer from depress and how their emotions change so quickly. Her performance art focused on women’s body and trying to express what women have on their appearance and comments on things that was restricted to women in back in the days. Was she commenting of freedom? equal right to all human being?