Aaron Fowlers Observation

This Summer, I had the opportunity to spend my entire break attending conferences and interning at a lab at UCSD so I thought to myself I would never have the time to visit any art museum or do my summer assignments for that matter. That was until I realized I was living at a campus who had an art piece practically on every corner of their six colleges. I then began my journey, on scooter, to discover the hidden and the not so hidden gems The Stuart Collection at UCSD had to offer. It was then that I fell in love with 2 specific art pieces throughout the campus, those being Do Ho Suh’s Fallen Star, which depicts an immigrant’s transition into American culture, and Kiki Smith’s Standing, which depicts a seemingly tortured woman.

Art is a conveyor of whatever message or story a person wishes to share. As a society, we’ve become accustomed to the abundance of diverse messages and stories stemming from a multitude of cultures and people of varying backgrounds. However, the art scene has not always been this representative of all people. Contemporary artists such as Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, and Norman Rockwell have taken it upon themselves to proclaim the importance and presence of African Americans in history. Using purposeful art composition and meaningful symbolism, these artists address the imbalance power between African Americans and whites in regards to the lack of representation of African Americans in the history of art. By addressing this imbalance

African Americans are no stranger to discrimination. Children across American are taught about the horrific times of slavery. Following slavery, we learn about the discrimination African Americans face in the light of their bittersweet freedom. Due to this unstability, many amazing young African American artist emerged with breathtaking stories to reveal; the stories weren’t easy to expose because publishing companies and the alike were very

Interviewer: What do you think about the art that has been made for the movement?

The exhibit that I visited was located at the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts in Florence, Alabama. The exhibit was created by Marian Baker. She created and set up her work as a solo show. The title of her exhibit is called Storytelling Time with Marian Baker. The show can be seen from November 27 through December 28. Her art is very whimsical and portrays her life. The art I viewed was unique, but had similar characteristics to each other.

Lucinda Cobley a local artist in Houston created this piece to celebrate the opening of the grand opening of the welcome center at the University of Houston Downtown created a piece called the “Matrix” located at the O'Kane Gallery at UHD. The “Matrix” is made up of acrylic paint and ink, plastic drafting film, mirror film, vellum, nylon netting, and mirror, according to the description provided for us in the room. This piece was created early 2016 during the spring semester. It is a large piece at approximately 50ft long with reflecting lights passing thru the colored film.

“Sam, be quiet!” The whole room went silent, then everyone broke out laughter. Mrs. Fowler, my eighth-grade science teacher and science club coordinator, uttered these words numerous times a day, due to my chatty demeanor. It had become a class joke that we couldn’t get through a period without her saying it – and she sometimes threw a “Sam, be quiet” out even when I wasn’t talking or someone else was.

On a frigid and blustery winter morning in early February. I and my classmates ventured out on an excursion to the Museum of Contemporary Art in the Streeterville area of Chicago. The exhibit we were to view was the Pop Art show, which intrigued me as I am a huge fan of Roy Lichtenstein work. But as strolled about the different artist collections I was drawn back to a piece by Andy Warhol entitled Jackie Frieze 1964. The sadness in her eyes were simply captivating as well as, her twinkling eyes and smile in two of the photos. There were other more famous compositions in the Warhol collection on display such as his sublime rendition of the Campbell's Soup cans. The sorrow of Jackie Kennedy's eyes kept pulling me back to her. So there I stood

The found quite a bit exhibition fascinating, but the one that caught my attention was Sunset by Andy Warhol. Sunset is a meditation on the temporality of our daily experience. Warhol began making film in 1964 when the Menil Collection founders John and Dominique de Menil specially made the artist to create a new film. I learnt that one with spiritual significance place where Warhol shot sunsets was in San Francisco, East Hampton, and New York City.

The interesting thing for me is that he didn’t have a list for his art work or he sometimes didn’t even know what he was going to use or to do. But the magic thing is that in the end, he can put all the things together and becomes a special work that has the special thought in it. He said that a part of the work was about this sense of honor in the celebratory that the Soundsuits is fantastic. I like his work because we can immerse ourselves into the work and we can feel that is very colorful and creative. "Trayvon Martin” is a new work that was shown at Cranbrook. It was made up of a black mannequin dressed in a hoodie, sneakers and jeans. And then surrounding its body is these plastic blow molds. He saw some of the problems on today’s society. He wants to change our way of engaging with one another. And he wants to use art as a form of

The very first work of art that caught my eye was the 2015 “Out of Body” piece by a woman by the name of Shinique Smith. Made with acrylic, ribbon, plastic bags, fabric and paper collage on a wooden panel, the art was truly cool to look at. This particular art work was purchased from an unknown source and placed in the Weatherspoon Museum in 2016. It portrays the edge that we have in 2016 and fit very well in the “Decade by Decade” section of the museum. The idea of change and difference being okay, is challenged in this work by incorporating many different things into one board.

"Orphan" by Vytautas Ignas. I selected this piece of work because it is different and it is unlike the other pieces in the virtual museum. The subject matter of the work is daily life. This painting shows the sad depressing life of an orphan although all orphans aren’t depressed this one is the facial expressions and body language tells it all. He is holding a dandelion which they say represents a gift from a loved one to bring happiness but he looks sad as if the dandelion is his last memory or his only memory of parents or relatives in general. The medium of the painting is oil on canvas. The title definitely helps me interpret what I see the title explains it all his sad eyes why he is alone why he is holding the dandelion. It gives you

Trailing behind the docent, I walked into the exhibit and looked around; immediately, I was entranced. Immense, 20-foot tall, canvases lined the museum walls. Vibrant colors and symbols surrounded me on all sides. Keith Haring and his graffiti style, with its anthropomorphic symbols, transported me into a different era. I was standing in the middle of New York City in the 1980s. The issues of this age became apparent through his pieces: crack-cocaine use, racial discrimination, gay rights, AIDS. His works simplified these complex controversies into stick-figures and bold lines yet the emotions remained fresh and intense. The black humanoid figures being strangled by white overlords in his “Free South Africa” posters evinced a hatred for racial

          While visiting the SCAD Museum of Art I came across an extraordinary piece of art that caught my eye.”You Diserve it mama!!” by, Aaron Fowler this

When I visited the Museum of Modern Art, the exhibits were fascinating, intense, but interesting. Out of all the pieces, only two types of art stood out to me; Asian and African art. There were two sculptures that displayed extreme value from not only the culture but from the artists who created them. It was intriguing to see what my perspective and the people’s beliefs and usage of the sculptures meant at the time. And to also look into the great value and historical meaning behind them. I will discuss how I encountered the pieces and how they both looked like through my up close observation of them.