Art 21: Power ~ Octobe12, 2009

Art. At the end of the segment on art in the 21st century, the way they defined what art is really stuck out to me. It started out with the audience seeing an older man fall asleep. Then a younger man comes up and asks the older one how he would like it if he could take what he was feeling right at that moment before he was about to dose off, and hold on to it for forever. In a way that was the best way that anyone could ever describe art. The artist’s goal is to make the audience feel the way that they are feeling at that point in time when they first feel the emotion they want to portray through their work of art.
I chose to watch and write about the Art 21 segment on Power. I chose this particular section because I wanted to see how certain artist portrayed the emotion/ feeling of power. I found out that each artist relays the feeling of power in many different unique ways. The first artist, Cai-Quo-Qiang, described the way he often thought about the feeling of power. Through the use of gun powder, he delicately made works of art by blowing the right amount of gun powder and the use of color. He said that this use of gun powder made him feel like he was conveying the feeling of power because of the power the gun powder gave him. The second artist, Laylah Ali, often thought that creating characters without hands shows power through what they still can do without them. Also in using a belt in some of her work also displays power. She described it as in having a belt; it equals power because of domestic violence. Also when you go to prison, the belt is one of the first things they take away from you because it gives you power. Finally another artist used the very simple body movements and simple words to display power. The artist Krzysztof Wodiczko used the art form of projection to project very simple hand gestures of the person who is telling a very touching story in order for the message to be powerful to the audience. Whether an artist uses different elements to make their art, the absents of human features, or the examination of subtle gestures, each artist has his own way to relay messages through their work of art.

Thats all for now!

~Ali