final week questions
you’ll be reading about and considering the work and measures of success for Daniel Joseph Martinez, Michelle Lopez, and Matthew Barney.
1. Please summarize from the readings what is meant by the artist chapter sub-headings
A. Political Success-Diffusing Concentrations of Power
Daniel Joseph Martinez doesn’t like to be referred to as an artist, but prefers to be called a “Tactical Media Strategist.” He chooses to defy rules and conventions set by society and the government. He wants to create a dialogue between those who have the power and those that are controlled by them. He focuses on politics and those governing that control all the power. He wants to get a discussion started between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” this is what is meant by diffusing concentrations of power. His work wreaks havoc with public images of organizations and undermines the complacency of those who are in charge of them.
B. Sensual Success-Deflecting Media Attention
Michelle Lopez believes in balance. She doesn’t believe in getting too much attention when the effort put into her work was not equal to that, and she says this produces careless complacency. The title of this sections was chosen because of Lopez’s attention to balance. She deflects unncessary media attention even though at this time, most people thrive on attention as a connection to their high accomplishment. She measures her success in a sensual manner as she carefully and cautiously balances out the costs and benefits of her works.
C. Strategic Success- Creating Resistance
Matthew Barney’s uses more than paint, brushes, and rags, but also choregraphers, composers, film editors, and makeup artists. Being able to meld all of these different elements together to create work takes strategic planning. Barney uses all of these elements to help expand the difficulty of his newest work, which places resistance on him as an artists and a person to be able to overcome this resistance. He creates this resistance because he believes that by imposing it on himself he is testing his “artistic resolve” and challenging himself as an artist.
2. Connected to your upcoming course evaluations… How can we define Success within this class? What separates an “A” from a “B” etc? More importantly, what new understanding or ability might be expected from a student after finishing this class?
Defining success in an art/sculpture class isn’t something I am familiar with, but in the more conventional academic classes we measure success based on effort placed into their work, homework, and attending class. Since we don’t have tests in this class, I believe our studio work should be able to supplement for that. Our attendance in studio and lecture should be a big part of our grade because many of us try our hardest to make it to both and also make the effort to purchase/find all the necessary materials for studio. Possibly our attendance could be what separates an A from a B and a C, although I know lecture attendance wasn’t always taken I’m sure most of the TA’s know who always comes and who doesn’t. I believe that I am more capable at being objective when looking at artwork. I shouldn’t just judge art on how I see it, but think about the effort, time and emotions put into every piece of work. I also understand that anything can be art, not just paintings or marble sculptures.
