Lub Dub

Ann Tyler's "Lub Dub" was very thought provoking book.  The way the book was read also had a major impact in how much I thought about the message Tyler was trying to convey.  If I had not read that book in a class room setting I would not have known the background information which was critical to understanding the book.  The themes presented were very controversial, and are often portrayed in today's media.

The way the information was presented made viewers think deeply about what love is and what society accepts as love what what sexuality is.  Tyler uses a very creative technique which connected many different aspects of love in a tragic story.  This story begins by informing readers that there was a death.  As readers continue on, they find out more about the people involved and how the death came about. This information was presented in a very chilling way. I think this approach was very thought provoking and made readers feel sick to their stomach.   The depictions of internal body organs greatly helped in give an extra chilling effect on readers. I also think the way readers only gain a small amount of information on each page they read builds anticipation. This allows readers to think about the story and leaves a lasting impact.  Tyler was very effective in making viewers think about what love is and how people can do  some crazy things in the name of love.

The picture I chose really reminded me of how gruesome most of the pictures in the book are.  It also showed what a heart really is as opposed to the colorful cut out hearts everyone usually thinks of.

Oursler

I found this response to be rather difficult to put into words. After viewing the past few artists in class, Tony Oursler stood out to me, but for all the wrong reasons. Usually in a piece, I can find one thing of which I can relate to in order to keep my interest in the work. For Oursler’s work, I found no such connection. I actually found his pieces to be rather obnoxious. For me, the annoying part of his work was not so much the creepy skulls or the shrilling voices, but rather the lack of a deeper emotional feeling. I found his pieces to be superficial and lacking emotion. I am aware that there was supposed to be a deeper meaning and such, but for me, it did not hit me at all. I feel like I may have gotten a better response if I was able to see the work in person, but I just feel like it was a let-down. I feel like I can walk away from the piece, and have nothing to say. This is not the point of conceptual art. Conceptual art is supposed to spark an interest and a conversation. I left class feeling underwhelmed. I am not sure if the works just didn’t live up to some of the more radical and controversial pieces we have looked at so far this quarter, but I just found him to be superficial and almost pointless. In all honesty, I can’t even really remember what the message of his pieces was supposed to be, therefore, for me, the pieces were useless. Conceptual art is meant to make you think, but his pieces made me annoyed.

Lucky Pierre

Out of all the conceptual artists we have discussed in class the last couple of weeks, Lucky Pierre is one that truly intrigued me. His imitation work involving prison inmates and their final meal before execution really speaks a great deal and exemplifies Pierre’s role as a social critic. I have always been a very strong believer that, regardless of the offense or wrongdoing a person commits, murder should not be a consequence and I feel that he truly speaks to that. The way in which he projects the fictitious convicts on the television screens, in that he never shows their faces, adds to the idea that we do not see convicted felons as people, ultimately making it easier to “legally” murder them. I also like the way in which he presents his agenda, in that I feel that it creates more of an experience rather than just observing and pondering a picture, thus evoking more thought.

Lub Dub

I feel so stupid for not remembering the name of the person who created the "Lub Dub" book we look at in class. I tried searching for it, but all I could find were heart rhythms and medical information. This was my favorite artistic work we looked at in class last week. What I like best is that the author could have gone in so many different directions with the story, but decided to create a commentary on love. She definitely could have been a social critic and tear a part the show and how different media outlets covered what happened. Instead, she struck at something more personal. Love, or even a harmless crush, are both supposed to be happy things with candy hearts, but either could cause so much emotional or physical pain. It's not always pretty like our perfect cut-out hearts; a real heart isn't very pleasing to look at.

I additionally enjoyed the experience a person gets when looking through the book. A majority of the pages are different and draw the reader in. Her words are clever and the images can cause the viewer's stomach to turn. It can really make a person feel tension and anxiousness while looking through it.

I found this image from a random person's blog and I thought the text she wrote was interesting so I included it.

All that I am grateful for exists in a heart beat

(lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub)

Each heart beat contains:

Courage

Compassion

Grace

Fortitude

Each heart beat contains these cherished virtues:

They are what make us all human.

My heart beats on and I am grateful

That each beat reminds me that I am alive

In the very moment,

Able to appreciate the world that I live in.

lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub

Lucky Pierre Response

I had found Lucky Pierre one of the most interesting and memorable artists that we had looked at the past few days. It was mostly memorable because of its uniqueness. I didn’t exactly find it appealing to look at. It was rather uncomfortable for me actually, knowing exactly what the project consists of and what the subjects are eating. I cannot imagine myself doing such a thing, knowing that the meal is someone’s last wish basically. The fact that the subjects knowingly commit themselves to it was kind of disturbing. Additionally, they never know what they are going to get, so they are in for a surprise. Even though they can easily decline the meal, I still see it as a risk that they are taking.

I also think this is a very interesting idea to get a person to experience art. Though the volunteers are not exactly audience, they are still participants in the project and have the most vivid experience of this particular work of art. For me, just watching the recording of a stranger eating a prisoner's last meal before execution makes me get a sense of what that person was like. However, I don’t really see the purpose of this piece. Is its main purpose to influence the participants, the people eating the meals? Or is it supposed to somehow move the viewer of the video? I most likely will never find out the experience of the volunteer, however, as a viewer of just the video, it makes me want to look away. The “scene” is so well put together that it almost gives the allusion of a real last meal. That just gives me goose bumps.

I included a picture of videos of “Final Meals” playing facing the street for people passing by to see. I don’t know if people would understand it or know what it even is if they don’t know the background.

Lucky Pierre

I found Lucky Pierre's "Final Meals" video installation to be perhaps the most profound work we've looked at this quarter. In my opinion, through this piece they became true social critics of our society's overall acceptance of capital punishment. Though I probably wouldn't have considered it before, presenting the last meal a person deliberately chooses is incredibly symbolic. First, it speaks of what's happening with them internally-- maybe they're so frightened they can't eat, maybe they want to enjoy life while it lasts. Second, it begs the question of humanity. The U.S. justice system is arguably inhumane on a multitude of levels. Once people are deemed criminals, a system of dehumanization occurs (in my opinion..), even sometimes to the extent of taking away their freedom to live. Some might argue that they forfeited that freedom when they committed a crime, but still.. as an advocate of human rights, I disagree. With "Final Meals", Lucky Pierre brings the audience back to the level of these criminals being real human beings, with favorite foods or emotional stress, and to me that's what art should always be-- providing an eye-opening perspective.

Benning Post

Sadie Benning’s “Me and Rubyfruit” examined the complicated tone of sexuality and how it affects teenagers. Created in 1989, the video is haunted by a dark tone, emphasized with the black and white film. Benning (in her teens at the time) narrates the work, describing her inner-conflict of love for another girl. Juxtaposed against Benning’s narration, upbeat music plays. Benning uses the pixilation in the film to her advantage, making the video and concept of love abstract. Another important technique employed by Benning is her use of text. It is especially effective when she states “girls can’t get married” and then uses the camera to focus on her eye.

Though created in 1989, Benning’s work is still relevant today. Sexuality and its connotation is successfully given an conceptual tone by Benning in order to detail her personal struggles. The work was successful in engaging the viewer because it feels like Benning is speaking directly to the viewer. As a viewer, I almost felt as I was imposing on a film diary that I should not be watching, due to how personal the subject matter was. The length of the film (12 minutes) allows the work to have a story arch, which is important in engaging the audience.

Overall, the piece was very different from other films I have seen, and I appreciated how personal it was.

Lucky Pierre response

Of the artists that we talked about in class in the past few meetings, the art collective Lucky Pierre was the one that caught my attention the most. I really like the concept behind their ongoing “Final Meals” project. Recreating the final meals of death row inmates is interesting to me because I have always found the idea of feeding someone who is about to be executed one last meal featuring whatever they want pretty odd. If someone is about to be executed, then he/she must have done something awful to deserve that, right? Moreover, by executing someone, does that imply that he/she does not deserve life anymore, yet he/she deserves to feast like a king one last time? Yet, he/she is still human, and one last request is not hard to accommodate. Whether you agree or not with the death penalty is a personal opinion. Personally, I am against it, which might be what attracted me to “Final Meals.” (Un)fortunately, Texas, from which all of the last meals in the project were provided, got rid of the policy earlier this year.

In general, though, what intrigues me about Lucky Pierre is the community aspect to much of their work. Everyone who eats a “final meal” is a volunteer. They also used volunteers for their “Swearline” project, which “invited participants to call a voice mailbox and record their interpretation of swearing.” Another example was “Lucky Pierre Speaks Urban Format Radio.” For this project, Lucky Pierre and 40 friends, guest performers, and colleagues listened to the radio station B-96 and “repeated/interpreted the radio station’s words, music, commercials, and DJ banter,” which was then recorded. I think the use of community in art makes it more powerful because it allows more people to connect to the message or intention of the piece.

The picture is of how the “Final Meals” project is presented in exhibits.