Sunday, December 26, 2010

Calories In A Roast Beef Publix Sub

Untitled (Portrait of Ross) - Felix Gonzalez Torres

Untitled (Portrait of Ross) - Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1991)
What could be more festive than a mountain of candy colored? Yet even they can become synonymous with insecurity, deterioration, death. It is a portrait (obviously allegorical) of Ross Laycock, a companion of Felix Gonzalez-Torres died in 1991 due to AIDS. The artist lets the audience interact with the operator taking the candy and bring with them. In this way, as if torn off parts of Ross, which is subject to a slow decline. Even the amount is random: the weight of the candy is equal to the weight of the ideal mate, is decreasing day by day as that pile. Gonzalez-Torres, however, established that at the end of each day's visit will add back in place of other sweets are missing, such as to ensure a kind of eternity.
This type of work leads to a fundamental innovation: the museum / art gallery is no longer a simple container, but a place where the work can be realized and come to life through interaction.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

How Much Does It Cost To Be An Alaskan Guide

Melencolia I - Albrecht Dürer

Melencolia I - Albrecht Dürer (1514)
According to Hippocrates, who is considered the father of medicine, our body is dominated by four humors: phlegm, blood, yellow bile and black bile. The proper balance between these elements ensured a healthy state, while the predominance of one of them could cause the onset of disease and determine a particular state of mind. For example, the predominance of black bile led the subject to be the slave of melancholy (MELAS, melanos: black - chol: bile). Also
astrological tradition comes to us from the belief that the planets influence the character of men, so that those born under Saturn have features such as a propensity to feelings of sadness and a tendency to do well in artistic fields. This association has probably originated from the tradition that describes the artists as people prone to sadness (in some extreme cases, resulted in madness), so that we almost came to believe that only those born under the protection of Saturn could be called a true artist. In the work of Dürer
we are presented with a winged figure in a thoughtful attitude and in a melancholy mood. The incision, which is part of a triptych, is full of alchemical elements and symbols (scales, hourglass, solid, scale, etc.).

It can be seen, inter alia, the presence of a magic square, which was supposed to have the power to chase away the sadness.
Adding the numbers in each row, column and diagonal (as well as some groups) is obtained as a result 34. While the numbers in the central cell of the last row give the date of realization.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Baby Red Spots On Legs

Do It Yourself (Landscape) - Andy Warhol

Do It Yourself (Landscape) - Andy Warhol (1962)
A work to be completed according to the scheme equal number / color not belonging to a series of five paintings.
A clear challenge to the user, which starts from a desire to distance themselves from the idea that the artist is a special person. Stereotype that is grounded nell'aneddotica, from which they develop a set of beliefs - for example, that the future artist manifests his talents since childhood and that this is done in special situations (remember the episode of the young Giotto drawing a sheep prodigiously), or having a personality out of the ordinary, often ending up in the madness.
Well, Warhol wants to break with all this and ask you to reflect on the fact that art is not necessarily sublime (as well as could be seen in the romance). Also not afraid to take note of the fact that in a society where consumerism is setting up with ever greater force, even art is subject to commodification.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

What Happed To Beldray

ironers - Edgar Degas

"I never want to drink, when I was in the hospital. Funny, no? But after I toil like a slave all week, I have to force hangover. Have you ever noticed that cooks drink like sponges? And even the bakers? E ' work. Have a drink for strength. "
Martin Eden, Jack London

ironers - Edgar Degas (1884)
Although this is the association that is made more immediate, is not only Degas ballerinas. In addition to portraits of a typical bourgeois Paris there has other, perhaps more uncomfortable. Snapshots of a reality that they preferred to conceal where the myth of the "belle époque" seemed to be late in coming. And where a bottle of alcohol could assume a different meaning: not nice tool in the hands of a Bohème, but only escape from a grueling work.