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.

Me and Rubyfruit: A look into Sadie Benning's Thoughts

I did not particularly care for Sadie Benning’s video “Me and Rubyfruit,” but I can appreciate the thought she put into the video. I thought the conversation she had with herself through the text she wrote down and the thoughts she said aloud were interesting because it was a way for the viewer to understand Benning a little better. Although the audience did not get to answer the text, the conversation still felt interactive because we could access Bennings thoughts that otherwise we might not know. I also liked the fact that the video functioned as a sort of diary. I gained a better appreciation for her knowing that the video dealt with her inner turmoil, and I felt a stronger connection to the video than if it was just a documentary or something else. Although I can see where someone would feel like they were violating Benning’s privacy by viewing this video, I really appreciated the fact that she was strong enough to let the world witness her inner struggles.

This video wasn’t my favorite, most likely because of how choppy it was, but I can see where Benning is coming from and I appreciate the video for that.

Tony Oursler Response

I honestly cannot enjoy Tony Oursler's work. Even after listening to other students in class and reading more about him, I am still really uninterested. Well, I'm more than uninterested - I'm actually annoyed. I still appreciate being shown his work, because I feel like college is one of the few times in life that I personally will be, not only exposed to but, forced to watch such a different type of art and media.

The Oursler video that we watched in class was the most grating work that I have seen in this class so far. When watching it, I felt stressed and nervous. I was upset that I had to keep watching it, because I just wanted it to be finished. The feeling that it gave me was that of a fly buzzing around your head as you're trying to fall asleep. More than anything else, I was annoyed.

After listening to the other opinions of students in class, I don't understand Oursler any better. Two arguments I heard for him were the following:

1. At least he makes you feel something, which is better than feeling neutral.

Why? Why is it better to feel stressed out that to feel neutral? There is a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical industry dedicated to making people feel more neutral, so how can this be true? If I never had to deal with anxiety in my life again, I would be perfectly okay with that. So why would I purposely try to feel anxious by viewing these exhibits?

2. He is exploring the darker side of the world.

The reason why this doesn't make sense to me is because Oursler never explicitly stated anything like this when talking about his intentions in creating his installations. He spoke a lot about trying to make the viewer see something different and about trying to change the way things are seen, but he never said anything about seeing something disturbing or dark. I don't believe that this was his intention.

Also, I'm not really impressed by seeing "disturbing" images like these. If one really wants to be upset and see the "darker side of life," go view a snuff film. Better yet, there are websites on the internet that post videos of people being murdered, complete with all the gore. If the point is to upset people, then he was being pretty mild.

Also, I don't think it's that hard to be "creepy." A lot of times I doodle during lectures, and the things I draw end up being really weird looking and scary. To test this theory, I spent the entirety of my biology lecture yesterday making weird drawings, and some of them were pretty disturbing. I feel like making art that is ugly and scary is so much easier than to make something beautiful.

I think the biggest problem I had with Oursler is that he gave me a feeling of extreme anxiousness and then didn't tell me what to do with it. For example, my favorite artist we've viewed in class so far is a tie between Glen Ligon and Barbara Kruger. Both of these people show art that is meant to create tension, but they couple this with social commentary, giving the viewer somewhere to put that tension. Barbara Kruger purposely made her images "ugly" by throwing bright red boxes on top of them, but the ugliness, in this case, had a purpose. It was to slap the viewer out of his or her previous state of mind and to get him or her to think about the subjects she presented.

Although I understand Oursler is not the same type of artist as Ligon or Kruger, I still feel like he should have created some sort of outlet for people to express their emotions in his work. If he would have given me something to think about while I experienced his work, then I wouldn't have been so annoyed.

Me and RubyFruit

I like Sadie Benning's style of video recording her voice in relation to the text that she had prepared to portray her thoughts and confusions about her place in society as a young lesbian girl. Especially since she made this in the 80s, it was still something "coming of age" and a concept that was just starting to be "accepted" and only begun to decipher and attempted to be understood. With this video, Benning shows the darkness, the scariness, the timidness of a young girl who has a life crisis of trying to figure out who she really is, according to the demographics of Unites States. The choppiness of the film, the background (and ironic) happy music, the static from the old style camera, the black and weight all create this sense of finally "coming out", slowly.
For a 16 year old girl, she took a risk at bringing up a subject that was so controversial, and still is to this day. I congratulate her for being strong enough to acknowledge the fact that she is different than the "normal" 16 year old, and put it on public display. This video is almost like a personal diary and it almost seems crazy for her to bring out her deep secret. I know that I really wouldn't want to publicize the intimate feelings I had at that age, but she is an artist and she wasn't scared to push the limits of the classical art and created her own mark.
I can't say I really found it aesthetically pleasing, or if I found it beautiful, but I respect the way she calmly expressed her sexual identity, while still making a great impact.

Benning Response

It took me quite a while to fully develop how I felt about Sadie Benning’s piece “Me and Rubyfruit.” I think the fact that I went home and watched another time helped with this. My initial impression was hoe impressed I was that Benning was able to create such a complex and emotionally mature piece at the mere age of 16; I had a lot on my mind at this age as well, but she simply takes it to a new level. At first I remember that the video really just creeped me out in a way; the distorted and dark feeling of the piece gave me a similar feeling as to when I watch horror films, especially with the tone of voice that she uses. After watching it a second time, though, I was able to concentrate more on the context of the project and I think that this made it more appealing to me. I liked how she never shows her entire face when filming; she only shows her eyes and I think that this is a method in which to detach any identity that could be associated with Benning when viewing the piece. The black and white shading alongside with the scrolling of text and eerie atmosphere I think makes the mysterious setting for an appropriate atmosphere for someone who is dealing with their sexuality.

Sadie Benning Response

One of the first things I noticed about Sadie Benning is her point of view. She takes simple video shots and creates a depth with them that is very obvious and unassuming. Her works are complex yet simple, and with their concentrations they manage to focus on very relevant themes and questions for young adults. In Me & Ruby Fruit for example, her attention is on the ideas of marriage and love that depict American society in a way that allows for a lot of homophoebia and worry about things that are "different" from the norm. I think this depiction is very accurately and appropriately questioned in her work. I especially love how she uses her own young eyes in the video, giving the piece a very clear and youthful perspective.

What Sadie Benning stands for is someone who is transitional, at least in this particular piece. She creates, with her work, a space for those wondering about who they are. As she carefully depicts objects and ideas that centralize the issue at hand, her work creates thoughts and emotions that are very personal for each viewer. As an audience member, I'm extremely impressed that someone so young could have the effect of an audience like she did when she made the piece. Despite its simplicity the video is real. It's emotional without tears, it's colorful though filmed in black and white, and it's very adult despite being portrayed through the mind of a teenager.

Sadie Benning's Me and Rubyfruit (1989)

When I was viewing one of Sadie Benning's debut works, Me and Rubyfruit, I forgot for a few minutes that she was just a teenager when she created it. I thought that it was such a powerful piece for a young lady to make. However, then I realized that it is her youth that makes this video so powerful. It is her raw thoughts, her amateur filmmaker status and skills, and her age that make this video what it is--slightly disturbing. It was definitely something that made me uncomfortable to be viewing, but that is what makes it so beautiful. If there is one thing I have learned in this class, it's that art should push the envelope. the pieces that I have found most striking in this class were the works that expressed the inner turmoil of the artist and that challenged the viewer to think a different way, or at least feel a different way.

Benning's video did just this. The black and white picture, with the crackling and popping of an "old" video recorder made this piece seem dark and extremely personal. The old records playing in the background made it feel like a poorly-shot home movie. In a way, that is what this video is, and that is what Benning intended it to be. She, a young girl that was forced out of school due to the homophobia she was encountering, wanted to let her audience into her mind., into her inner-dialogue. The way she wrote out some of the responses reminded me of a diary- a book of sacred and secret thoughts. She wanted to let her audience read her diary in hopes that it would help them understand that she is just as uncomfortable with her sexuality as they are, as society was at the time, and in some ways, still is.

All in all, I think this video accomplished exactly what Benning intended. It created tension, discomfort, and provokes thought and dialogue about the subject of sexuality.