History of Art

i've been avoiding this.

where you were when we began this 360° process, where you are now, and what’s been happening in between. How-and-what have you been learning? Where do you think that the edges of your learning now lie? In what ways has your understanding been expanded, challenged, or complexified in this 360°? Be sure to include reflections on the degree of your critical, active engagement with the portion of the cluster devoted to the creation of our exhibit. 

Chapter 3

Amalia Mesa-Bains: Divine Allegories

HANNAH:

INTRO:

attached are the first and second drafts of our wall-text. comment w suggestions?

In Geismar’s “The Art of Anthropology: Questioning Contemporary Art in Ethnographic Display” we begin to unpack contemporary ethnographis museum pedagogies that are constructed in hopes of dismantling the westernized center. Contemporary art in this context is described as a language centered in modern art contexts that come with a desired visual aesthetic. She notes the supremacy of this framework within art spaces, as well as ethnographic ones. While "Artist Warriors" like Frank Wilson and the mentioned use the formalities of the art world to confront the parameters set by necessitated cultural foundations, and products of a “free thinking” artist.

            Subject to Display by Jennifer A. González offers an analysis of the visual culture of “race” throughout the work of five contemporary artists who became well known during the 1990s. Over the past 20 years, artists James Luna, Fred Wilson, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Pepón Osorio, and Renée Green have had a profound effect on the practice and meaning of installation art in the United States. In Subject to Display, Jennifer González provides the first substantiated examination and evaluation of their contribution, connecting the history of race discourse to innovations in contemporary art. Race, according to González is a social discourse that has a visual history (González 3).

I thought this article, about art dealers "moving out of the gallery and into the taco bell,"
(a reaction to the fast-paced, expensive art world, "a way to slow the process down
and let people experience the long view") might interest you all, as we continue to
explore ways in which our exhibit might engage our visitors:
www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/arts/design/art-dealers-move-out-of-the-gallery-and-into-a-taco-bell.html