Evolving

    For me, this weeks guest lecture and readings were particularly interesting. All three were very diverse, yet similar in the art world. All of which showed a transition and change in art and life. Ron Graff, the guest lecture for the week, showed how his work progressed over time.
    Graff has had his own art studio since he was five years old. He eventually got in trouble with the law by stealing a motorcycle and was forced o either go to jail or join the service. He began painting in the navy. After the navy he went to school at Northern Cal. After about two years he went to Yale graduate school. He started having troubles painting in studios and began making street painting of what he saw out his window. From there he began doing drawings. After a while he was tired of realism and painted all kinds of different unrealistic things. Again started changing by painting landscaped (mostly of Oregon I believe he said) and then painted flowers. After he went back to painting unrealistic things. Throughout his entire art career he could never define what art is. He could not figure out if realism was art, and still does not know. He had many questions and “ I don’t knows” along the way.
    Similarly to the first reading, Arthur C. Danto, a philosopher and art critic. He also is unsure of what art is. During their interview Suzi Gablik, author of Conversations Before the End of Time, asked him several art related questions and just like Graff he had to respond “I don’t know”. It seemed to me that he was almost afraid to give his opinion about some art. In the introduction Gablik mentioned that the only art he tend to critic is that which is in a museum already. To me, this means that he is only willing to talk about something that someone else has already said is art. I believe this could be because art is beginning to change and evolve and he is afraid to claim it before someone else. This also shows because he considers himself a philosopher before anything else, like he is not proud of the title “art critic”. It seemed a little a little weird to me
    The second reading was Coco Fusco, she is performance artist, she seems a lot more opinionated about the art world but still really unsure. Fusco gave a whole lecture in Spanish because not all Americans speak English. Fusco was obviously trying to show that the art world is different and diverse but she was still really unsure of the effectiveness of it.
    All three people are very unsure what art is but something that the are sure of is that art is changing.