Field Trip #3: Chelsea Galleries

DUE: 5/01

The galleries in Chelsea represent the art marketplace. Unlike the museums and other non-profit art spaces that we have visited, the majority of these galleries are commercial spaces. This means that their primary function is to make money. They do so by selling artwork. Galleries generally have a list of artists whose work they represent. The galleries regularly change their shows to display work by each of their represented artists. 

For this reaction, you will assume the role of an art collector. Collectors are part-art lovers, part-investors. Their big-money purchases help keep commercial galleries in business, and by proxy, help keep their favorite artists making work. However, the art market is a fickle beast…an artist whose work is fashionable today may be all but forgotten in ten years. This is why the best advice for any collector is to buy what you like. Even if your investment doesn’t make any returns, at least you have something that you like to look at!

For your writing, select exhibitions from two galleries: one artist whose work you would like to collect, and one artist whose work you would not like to collect. For each show, consider these questions: What do you like/dislike about this artist’s work? Why do you think that this artist’s work is/isn’t a good investment? Would you want to display the artwork, or keep it in storage?  Describe two examples of artwork from each exhibition to back-up your decisions. Also, make sure to reference the gallery names as well as the artists’ names in the body of your writing.

Your writing should be at least 350 words and posted to your blog under the heading “Chelsea Galleries Reaction” with the label “Field Trip 5”. At the end of your post, cite your four artworks in the following format:

Artist’s Full Name

“Title of Work” (written in quotations)

Year Completed

*At most galleries, this information is available at the reception desk.

There are literally hundreds of galleries to see in Chelsea, so here is a short list of galleries that I recommend. However, you are free to explore and find galleries on your own. A list of galleries and exhibitions in Chelsea can be perused online at: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/art

Gallery: David Zwirner Gallery

Location: 537 West 20^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Richard Serra

Description: Early work by the seminal American Minimalist sculptor.

Gallery: Anton Kearn Gallery

Location: 532 West 20^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Richard Hughes

Description: Contemporary British sculptor with a sardonic sense of humor.

Gallery: Luhring Augustine

Location: 531 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Charles Atlas, Johannes Kahrs, Reinhard Mucha, Rachel Whiteread

Description: A group exhibition of artists exploring common themes of memory and the shaping of collective & individual histories.

Gallery: Yossi Milo Gallery

Location: 245 Tenth Ave, between 24^th & 25^th Sts.

Artist(s) on Display: Charles Freger

Description: Photos documenting individuals from 18 European con

Gallery: Pace Gallery

Location(s): 510 West 25^th St. and 508 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Zhang Xiaogang

Description: Portrait paintings by a Chinese artist who mixes Maoist imagery with a Pop Art sensibility.

Gallery: Pace Gallery

Location: 534 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Adrian Ghenie

Description: Surreal, abstract paintings by a Romanian-born artist.

Gallery: Cheim & Read

Location: 547 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Al Held

Description: Large, alphabet-inspired Pop Art paintings from the 1960s.

Gallery: FLAG Art Foundation

Location: 545 West 25^th St. 9^th Floor

Artist(s) on Display: Tom Molloy

Description: Photorealistic graphite drawings with political undercurrents.

Project #3: Illustrate a Story

DUE: 4/17

For your third project, you will take on the role of an illustrator. An illustrator is a commercial artist who brings somebody else’s story or idea into the visual world. For this scenario, you have been hired by the non-profit organization StoryCorps to illustrate one of their archived stories. Since its founding in 2003, StoryCorps has worked with the Library of Congress to record and catalog more than 35,000 oral stories. The participants in this project are Americans from all walks of life. The stories that they tell run the gamut of human emotions and experience. To begin, start listening to some stories at the StoryCorps website:http://storycorps.org/ . Click “Listen to Stories” from the left-hand menu, and you can browse by category.

Select any one story to illustrate. Your illustration may be created by hand (drawing, collage, etc…) or you may create a digital collage using Adobe Photoshop. Either way, your illustration must convey the essential nature of the story. I expect a minimum of four hours invested in this project. As with your digital collage project, do not include text in your illustration. Instead, use your understanding of formal analysis to tell the story with visual language alone.

When you are finished, upload a digital image (.JPG) of your illustration to your blog under the title, “Illustrate a Story”, with the label “Project 3”. Include a brief description about what you found interesting about this particular story, and what elements of the story are represented in your illustration. You will also need to embed the original StoryCorps recording into your post. Here is how to do this:

• On the StoryCorps webside, click the “Share” link next to the story.
• From the share menu, click the orange “Embed” button.
• Highlight and copy the embed code.
• In your Blogger post, click the “Edit HTML” tab.
• Paste the embed code into this field.
• Make sure to switch from “Edit HTML” to “Compose” when you upload your image and write your description.

Remember that Adobe Photoshop is available to you on any Mac computers in the library or in the lab B-333. Scanners are available in both locations too.

Field Trip #2: “Design in Our Lives”; The Museum of Modern Art

DUE: 4/10
Whether or not we are aware of it, the design arts infiltrates our lives on a daily basis. Design influences everything around us from the products we use, to the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the spaces we inhabit. The Museum of Modern Art has a special interest in the field of design. They have an entire floor of their museum and a stand-alone design store to prove it!

For our third field trip, we will go to the various design exhibits at the MoMA. The design galleries feature an eclectic sampling of artists and designers who blur the lines between the two fields. Some of the objects are made for real world utility, and some of the objects are…well…less practical. The study of functionality in design is called Ergonomics. It may help to research this topic before writing your response.

For your paper, you must write about four different works from this exhibit. Two of the works must have “high functionality” and two works must have “low functionality.” Since there is no such thing as perfect design, your opinion about functionality will be somewhat subjective. In your writing, compare and contrast the varying degrees of utility that you assign to the works you choose. Consider the following questions: How do you define these categories? What do your “high functionality” objects have in common? What makes them so ergonomic? What do your “low functionality” objects have in common? How could you alter these objects to make them more ergonomic? Does an object need to be highly functional to be good design? Are art and design always two separate ideas? If not, where do they meet?
Your finished writing needs to be at least 350 words. It should have an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Post the writing on your Blogger page under the title, “Design in Our Lives”, and label the post “Field Trip 3”.

At the end of your post, cite the four artworks that you chose in the following format. This information is generally available on the wall near the artwork:

Artist’s Full Name“Title of Work” written in quotations*MediumYear Completed

*When referencing the work in the body of your writing, also be sure to write the titles in quotations.