Chemo 1

This sculpture is called Chemo 1 by Robert Arneson.This piece really caught my idea because most of his pieces are comical. However, this piece is dark and really makes the viewer think about what he has to say about chemotherapy. We usually think about chemo as a drug to help cure cancer, but I think Robert is trying to portray how he feels that the human body is left after many chemotherapy treatments; frail and damaged.

Robert Arneson Pink Connection

I chose this piece because it is a self portrait sculpture of him kissing himself. It kinda seems like hes into himself because of all the sculptures of himself he makes and that he made one of him kissing himself. I wonder if this is suppose to be sexual like his other pieces he has, over private parts. The detail is amazing and its incredible how he captured himself so well, even the back of his head.

Smorgi-Bob, The Cook (1971) Robert Arneson

Above is a picture of Robert Arneson's sculpture, Smorgi-Bob, The Cook. This was his first of many self portrait sculptures. What makes his self portraits so fun is that he is able to make fun of himself. The piece is ceramic, and completely white. The picture makes the sculpture appear bigger than what it really is because of all of the detail in the food.

Robert Arnson

I found this interesting because while looking up information on the I came across a comic strip that included this. The name of this pieces in particular is Eye on Mark, it was built on a campus facing the Chancellor's office showing that the students are watching. I also found it interesting that the pieces as a whole were called eggheads, which in the american slang means someone considered intellectually gifted in the field of academics.

Robert Arneson

I choice this sculpture due to its more interesting concept. It has a dark feeling due to its form and concept. The way how it was made rough adds the creepy vibe and how the fingers stick out is unsettling to say the least. What also makes it different is how instead of the keys on a normal type righter it has fingers, the fingers that would probably using it.

Robert Arneson

I chose the piece Bookhead from the Egghead collection by Robert Arneson because I thought it was a nice rendition of the classic "nose in a book" saying. I think it's comical and says a lot for being such a simple piece. It doesn't demand attention with loud colors or intense detail but because it is simply white and has few lines and details, it is fun to look at.

California Artist

I chose this work by Robert Arneson called California Artist. He did this work to show the world how a critic viewed him as. I like everything about this sculpture. 

My Life as a Dog, Robert Arneson

I chose "My Life as a Dog," by Robert Arneson for 2 reasons. One reason was because of the piece as a whole, including the title. His facial expression gives the piece a pessimistic feeling, confirming the title's negative tone. The second reason was the name on the bowl. Of course Bob is the nickname for Robert, but it is also, in my opinion, the most generic male name. It seemed fitting that Bob would be chosen as the equivalent of a basic dog name, like Spot on the bowl. In this way, he lived the life of a dog.

Robert Arneson Brick Bang

 

The sculpture I chose from Robert Arneson was Brick Bang. I found this sculpture so interesting because not only is it a sculpture of himself, but it shows a brick with his name being thrown at his head. I think he did a great job capturing the emotion of the sculpture. The detail of his facile hair and the creases of his face were well done. 

A Hollow Gesture - Robert Arneson

Theresa Spath
I really liked this sculpture by Robert Arneson because it is humorous. It is also very interesting to me that it is life sized. It is so detailed and must have taken a lot of time and effort. Arneson uses so many different colors to create a nude color which I thought was really cool about this sculpture.

Eye on Mrak

This is one of the seven Eggheads created by Robert Arneson in his The Egghead Series. The pieces were finished shortly before his death in 1992. All of the Eggheads are placed on the campus of UC Davis, where Arneson had taught. I choose this one because it seemed interesting and playful. The head looks to be laughing almost, with the way the forehead and eyes are squinting. I find it interesting that the there is an eye in the center of the back of the head. After doing more research, I found that the eye was placed to face the Chancellor’s office but since the Chancellor’s office has been moved. Some believe it was mean to sent the message to the Chancellor that the students are watching. I also found it interesting that Robert Arneson specifically asked the University to allow students to be able to closely interact in a playful manner with the sculptures. Due to this students have done several variations on the sculpture itself.

Brick

I really like this sculpture because it captures a lot of motion. I find it very funny that he would show himself being struck by a brick with his own name on it. It is just a really cool piece that is able to translate motion and feeling very powerfully  

Robert Arneson "California Artist"

 

I like this work by Robert Arneson because he depicted himself in an unflattering way. It is a risk to present oneself as socially undesirable, and Robert Arneson took this risk. Arneson completed this ceramic sculpture in 1982 to show the physical representation of what a New York critic had described him as. The critic said he was the "impoverished sensibility of the provincial cultural life of California" and depicted Arneson's work as the "mark of a mind that is too easily pleased with his own jokes." In response to these comments he made this sculpture. I think this courageous and funny. 

Klick

Klick is a glazed ceramic sculpture that was made in 1965. It caught my attention because I really enjoyed the idea of the irony of having an eyeball be the camera lens. I felt it portrays a manful message that photographs are just physical copies of internal memories, and a picture doesn't tell the entire story whereas a memory does. This piece is in the George Adams gallery in NYC.

Robert Arneson

I selected this sculpture designed by Robert Arneson because although it is a self portrait, the image it gives off expresses all people in a unique way. This is because the massive head in the center is representing the human itself, all the seven small heads attached to the top of his head are symbolizing different personalities one human can have. These emotions are held within the human mind and I think that it was very creative how Robert made this image, and how without using words I could understand its meaning just by its detail.

Brick Bang- Robert Arneson

This sculpture stood out to me. The concept seems to show a lot of morbidity. A brick is literally slamming into the side of someone's face. This sculpture can be seen as funny or can be seen as a morbid. The concept of this sculpture scares me in a away and seems to show and almost promote self- harm. That takes a lot for an artist to show someone harming themselves inside of an art piece. This makes the artist very vulnerable.

Brick Bang, 1976

The morbidity of this piece is why I love it so much. A brick, which states his name, is banging against his own head. Why would an artist create something that blatantly shows self-harm? Suicide? It portrays how much he's hurting inside and he's not afraid to show it.

Portrait of George (Moscone)

Bust of Slain San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. I chose this piece because of the history behind it, in addition to the almost caricature-like features of the bust. The sculpture was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission in 1981 to commemorate the former mayor, who was assassinated 3 years earlier, and stand in the Moscone Convention Center. It was in storage for 30 years after it was rejected by the Arts Commission and vandalism was threatened, and it now stands in the SFMOMA. The pillar that the bust stands on is adorned with images and phrases from the mayors' life, and contains references to his assassination including two bloody bullets and references to the assassins' defense speech.

Robert Arneson Assassination

I find this piece by Robert Arneson pretty interesting. His work consists of mostly him doing self portraits of sculpting his head in various forms. This piece shows Robert being killed by being shot in the head. What I like about this piece is the detail that went into the gun it looks like a scene out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. 

Marina Abramovic

I chose Marina Abramovic's Rest Energy because I thought it was the most thought provoking.The idea of the relationship between mass and energy was interesting but more interesting was the trust that was tested during this performance. I am not sure if I could ever be so dedicated to my work to put my life in the hands of another to create art.

Rest Energy: Marina Abramovic

I thought Marina Abramovic's piece called Rest Energy was very inspiring. The name of this art work "Rest Energy", is based on a relativity theory. In this theory it is stated that there is an equivalence relation between mass and energy. Both the man and woman in this sculpture are resembling one piece of this. I enjoy this very much because this woman is Marina and the other side of the arrow is being held by her lover/husband. This theory is expressing that in order for something to  work both sides need to share the same amount of energy unless it will not work; symbolizing that in this exercise the two people are testing their trust, and if they are not balanced someone can get hurt. I thought Rest Energy was a brilliant idea.

 

Relation in Time

I chose Relation in Time, Abramovic and Ulay are sitting back to back, and their hair is firmly tied together, symbolizing the bond between them. They did this performance for 16 hours in silence and on the 17th hour they allowed the public to spectate and take pictures. I like this performance a lot because its meaning, how they don't have to see each other to know they are connected. 

Rhythm 0 (1974)

While I find some performance art difficult to understand, I like some of Marina Abramovic’s pieces. I feel that some of her performances are not only artwork but a sort of psychological experiment. I chose Rhythm 0 because I found it extreme but also like the psychological aspect of it. In this performance Abramoivic stood completely still in a gallery. She left 72 objects on a table with the instructions to the audience that she was an object and that they could do anything they wanted to her and she would take full responsibility for six hours. Among those objects was a loaded gun. It is interesting that in the first few hours of the exhibition, the audience is respectful but as time goes on, the crowd becomes more malicious even cutting her with knives and placing the loaded gun in her hand. Abramoivic states that at the end of the exhibit when she started to act like herself again, like a real person that the crowd dispersed quickly, unable to face her.

Rest Energy

 

This sculpture known as Rest Energy by Marina Abramovic was created in 1980. It shows Abramovic's former lover pointing an arrow towards her heart. The sculpture demonstrated trust in one another and risking your well being by devoting yourself to someone. I found this piece to be very interesting because he basically was holding her life in his hands. 

Relation in Space (1976) by Marina Abramović

In Relation in Space (1976) by Marina Abramović was a work that she did with Ulay.  They both ran into each other repeatedly for an hour. This was done to show "that self", which was mixing male and female energy into a third component. I was interested in  this performance art  by Abramović because I was intrigued by the physical aspect of this art. While I was watching this, I could not imagine how physically exhausting it was to be running into someone for an hour. This shows that Abramović was very dedicated to her work, and put her heart and soul into her art.

"Imponderabilia" Marina Abramovic

This piece, called "Imponderabilia," is an art exhibit where Marina and Ulay stand naked in a doorway, the only entrance into the museum. What I liked about this piece is that the audience, who are just normal people, must make two decisions. The first is if they are willing to squeeze past the two to get into the exhibit. The next is that which body are they going to face when they enter.

Marina Abramovic - Rhythm 10 (1973)

Theresa Spath
In this piece of performance art, Marina Abramovic uses knives and stabs the blank spaces between her fingers. This was very dangerous because she could and did stab herself, and each time she stabbed herself, she selected a different knife to use. I really never knew much about performance art until I read more about this artist. It is really interesting the way she expresses herself through different ways one might think not to even be artwork.

Nude with a Bull Head, 2006

I love this chromogenic print by Marina Abramovic. 

 My favorite part about is the flawed human body and that it's in an image in the outdoors. It's beautiful. I love how organic and eccentric it is.

Nude With Skeleton

This work of art was powerful and stood out to me. The concept of the overlapping of the bodies amazed me and I was stunned by the simplicity of this picture. The work of performing art shows such depth for such a simple concept. The idea for this came about from an ancient Tibetan tribe tradition in which Buddhist monks would sleep with dead, decaying bodies during certain nights. The bodies would vary in the decomposition stages. This was believed to help the people get over the fear of death and the idea of mortality. This was also performed continuously by the artist over a span of 700 hours!

Nude with Skeleton, 2002-2005

I chose this piece because I find it powerful. It was repreformed continuously in shifts during its exhibition for a total of over 700 hours. It was exhibited at the MoMA. This exhibit was influenced by Buddhism, where monks sleep besides the dead while the body decays in order to understand death. It find it powerful the depiction of facing the fears of death and mortality. I love how it shows that death is apart of life, through animating the skeleton by her own movements. People tend to forget this and fear the unknown instead of embracing it.

Marina Abramovic

Rest Energy, 1980, by Abramović and Ulay a  former lover and collaborate. The arrow pointed directly at her heart. Microphones picked up their racing heartbeats, the creaking bow string and their vocal efforts to not let go. 
I found this  to be a moving piece because they are holding life in their hands. If she is to fall back she could mistakenly shoot an arrow into her heart. I feel that this signifies that love is a dangerous thing you are not only putting your heart in someone else's hand, but also have to have knowledge to know when to remove yourself.

Rhythm 10 (1973)

Rhythm 10 by Mariana Abramovic is performance art in which Marina had laid out 20 knives in front of her and stab the white spaces of her spread out fingers and kept doing so at a faster rate until she pierced her skin, then she picked up another knife and did the same until she ran out of knives. What I find interesting was that she was willing to her hurt own body just for the sake of art. It truly shows how dedicated she is and how much she loves her profession.

The Abramović Method: Chair for Man and His Spirit

Mariana Abramovic is a performance artist, and I chose her exhibition "Chair for Man and His Spirit". I liked this one because it requires the audience in order for the show to have meaning because they are a part of the exhibition. I also like it because she came up with the idea by combining themes from her past exhibitions. She uses different minerals embedded in the chairs to manipulate the mood and feel of the room, and to bring out different aspects in the people involved.