Ai Weiwei

This past week, we were able visit a fascinating museum. Palazzo Strozzi was used for the first time as a stage for a single artist, world famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Ai filled the entire building, including the facade, with old and site specific artworks. I haven't seen much of Ai Weiwei's work before, besides his performance piece dropping an ancient urn. This museum was a much needed inspiration that I needed, a fresh beat of contemporary in my months of renaissance.

Something that I found important within Ai Weiwei's work was his use of simplicity throughout each piece. He takes his single complex idea and uses the most powerful symbols to explain his stance on the issue. I find this very difficult to achieve, as an artist I think that I am always adding to my pieces every detail that will go with subject. One of my favorite pieces in this gallery was his piece Study of Perspective, where Ai's middle finger is shown in front of some of the most iconic landmarks and government buildings around the world; including the Mona Lisa, the Louvre, the White House, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark's Square, La Sagrada Familia and many others. He wants viewers to question their approach to their government, as his was always trying to take him down. With one simple gesture, he is able to either shock the viewer, make the viewer think into their own lives or both. Just with one small change to a normal photo anyone might take when going to visit these places.

I hope to see more of his work, or continue to learn about his other pieces. This exhibition left me craving knowledge about not only his work, but work of many artists. Throughout school I enjoyed art history but it was something that we had to take, so I didn't put my whole heart into it, I wish I would have. Now I want to learn about artist's works and what makes them so passionate to create this pieces that may have been provocative of the time. On to the next museum, Ciao!

Nasty Women

This past week, I was losing my motivation for working in the studio. We have had one critique, with limited feedback so I have been stuck in my own mind. Homesickness was also not helping, seeing all of my best friends meet up for a reunion at our sorority house was probably one of the hardest points here so far. I was just at a standstill waiting for our much needed week off. My roommate and I finally found something that we were passionate about when watching recaps of the third political debate. I am not one to share my political views, but when it comes to the way that women are perceived and treated I tend to find my voice. Overnight the hashtag 'nasty women' went viral when one candidate used that phrase during the debate. It was a phrase that every woman was able to relate to. Many women have been called nasty or bossy, and this is just another one of the numerous examples of the unequal way women are treated. When a woman is independent and stands up for what she believes in, she is considered bossy. When a woman is affectionate and dresses to show off the body that she worked so hard to get and feels confident in, she is considered slutty. The inequality needs to stop, and I believe that we can get there soon. And with that I stand by the 'nasty women' movement because I am a nasty woman.

Prato, Italy

This past weekend, for our contemporary art class, we traveled to Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato Italy. With some help from our professor, that actually happened to work in the museum, we were able to get in without waiting in the 2+ hour line. We were thrown right into the middle of the museum, starting with a video installation made by Bjork titled Black Lake. Now this sure was a way to get started, the video was shown on opposite walls accompanied by surround sound music. This was one of my favorite pieces, maybe it was just because it was the first we came across but the room shaking sound had me intrigued. This was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2015.

As we continued through the circular exhibition space, I stumbled upon another artists work that I found fascinating. At first I was a little taken aback by the subject matter, but when I read closer into the meaning of the work it all made sense (my absolute favorite thing about art, being caught off guard and then learning the background information and leaving in awe). Andrey Kuzkin went off the idea of "the man and the Earth, the Earth and the man". He wanted to place himself into landscapes as if he were merely a tree, he wanted to become one but the fact that he is incapable only adds to the piece. The work, "The Phenomenon of Nature or 99 Landscapes with Tree" is a series of photographs of the artist with his body suspended in the air in different landscapes around the world. It is also a film, looking into each of the photographs more in depth. The way that he puts himself into these scenes, it looks out of place but all he wants to do is fit in. It was my absolute favorite of the exhibition.

I'm excited to continue my journey through Europe trying to make it to every art museum that I can, there is just something about it that always makes my heart jump when I figure out the meaning behind an artist work. On to the next! Ciao!