Event Blog #3

For the final excursion I visited the Hammer museum, here in Westwood. The architecture and colorful murals were intriguing from the outside; therefore I was excited to see what was within its walls. My favorite piece was the murals right inside the entrance (see below), for their intricacy, and almost shape-shifting form. The longer the viewer stares at the piece, the more patterns and shapes reveal themselves. The form and patterns are entirely symmetrical, reminding me of the mathematical symmetry in Leon Battista Alberti’s work. I enjoyed drawing similarities between the colorful, modern play with patterns to the Italian renaissance revelations on perspective we learned about in week 2.

In addition to the modern murals, I thoroughly enjoyed some of the older work in the Hammer museum. While drawing comparisons between our class material and these works, I noticed a significant difference between the more modern works and the older works—the framing. The more modern works have simply, or often no frames, compared to the extravagant, intricate framing of the medieval and older works (see below). My reasoning behind this would be that earlier works were most frequently commissioned by wealthy patrons for homes, honor, and portraiture, rather than more modern artist’s creations for the sake of art. Visiting the Hammer museum helped me bring to life the concepts we’ve learned in class, and I’m proud to have such a great institution here by campus.

Blog 9 

When watching the lectures this week I was particularly interested in the portion of lecture 3 about the cold war. The Cold war was an exciting era in history full of nation wide progress in space exploration and intense tension and completion with the Soviet Union. The day the soviets launched the first satellite, sputnik, changed our nation forever. We were now behind in the spaced race leaving our nation in fear of other more dangerous soviet advancements we didn’t know about. The competitive atmosphere pushed American scientist to work quickly and scientific advancements were made faster than ever. Our nation was in an era of rapid change and intense politics and learning about this made me curious to see how this change was reflected in the art of the time. After further research I found the cold war had significant influence in both the art and fashion world. In this era you saw a new genera of clothing in high fashion that reflected the space age and looked very futuristic. Pictured below is a Piece called the “Space Hat” by Edward Mann. (1965)

Another piece of art that was influenced by the cold war was the “Environmental Transformers” pictured below. They were created in 1968 by Haus-Rucker-Co and reflected the nation wide fear of an atomic explosions. The piece shows three different fly like masks that resemble some sort of futuristic gas mask. This piece represents the old saying “the art of the possible”. It became so famous because people were genuinely afraid they might end up having to live life wearing a mask like that one day.

Lastly, I included a famous drawing at the time that is a great example of American propaganda towards the soviets during the cold war.

CITATION

"Photos." TIME.com. TIME Photos, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1847017_1774639,00.html

Ward, Ossian. "Art and Politics of the Cold War." Time Out. N.p., 30 Sept. 2008. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

http://www.timeout.com/img/popUp/imageViewer.php?id=5833&image=10010685&type=4

"Designer Daily." Designer Dailys RSS. N.p., 14 Aug. 2009. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

 "Art and Politics in the 20th Century ." Digication E-Portfolio. Boston University, 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.

Blog number 8

In watching the lectures this week discussing nanotechnology, my mind was blown when Dr. Gimzewski said, “When we look at a picture of a molecule we are not actually looking at how the molecule really looks… these different representations here are representing something that is invisible. We can represent the atoms by balls; we can represent the connections by sticks etc. … But the picture is not really a representation of the molecule. The molecule is essentially in a way invisible. It’s more like a cloud of electrons and probabilities.” I was extremely interested in this idea because I had always thought atoms really looked like the balls and sticks in the pictures. It is crazy to think all the diagrams of atoms I have studied in science classes all these years are just computer generated pictures of an idea that is actually invisible. It is clear that the people generating these pictures must be extremely creative and artistic. As you can see in the pictures below, generating such atom structures with computers is an art form in itself.

I was also intrigued when Dr. Gimzewski mentioned that nanotechnology is starting to be used in cosmetics. This is because you can specifically target a cell and then by endocytosis the particle will be absorbed into the cell selectively. He mentioned that L’Oréal is investing in nanotechnology research for skin products. After further research I found that L’Oréal is the leader in Nanotechnology-related patents for cosmetics and invested $927 million in research in 2011. Research has shown that the nanoparticles can in fact have an impact on wringles, but only if they can reach the middle layer of skin called the dermis. More recent studies have shown that the nano-particles are in fact able to penetrate through the skin to the dermis, opening doors to endless possibilities in Nano-particle skin care and cancer treatment in the future.

CITATION

Falaschetti, Christine. "Nanotechnology and the Science of Beauty." Science in Society Main. N.p., 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

"Questions and Answers - How Do I Make a Model of an Atom?" Questions and Answers - How Do I Make a Model of an Atom? Jefferson Lab, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/167199-crystal-encased-atoms-could-harvest-waste-heat-to-generate-power

http://pictures.4ever.eu/abstract/atoms-and-molecules-126626

http://artsci.ucla.edu/biotech177/blog/?cat=12

Ashliegh. "BioTech 177." BioTech 177 RSS. N.p., 25 May 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Event Blog Number 2

When I first saw the Natural History Museum was an offered event for this class I was surprised and curious of how a History Museum pertained to the subject matter of this class, but intrigued never the less.  So this past weekend I visited the museum and in doing so discovered many ways in which the exhibit related to both art and science. As we walked through different parts of the Museum even areas of the seemingly least related subject matter were full of scientific facts and artistic practices. Also no matter what was being presented, each artifact was set up in an artistic and visually appealing way. (Some artifacts pictured below) Some of the most visually appealing pieces were in the prehistoric animal exhibit. Each fake animal had a mural behind it and other items such as trees, dirt, etc. set up to create an extremely realistic looking piece of art that takes viewers into the world of each animal. Each animal’s area seemed to me to be a masterpiece of art that was both beautiful and informative.

My favorite portion of the Natural History Museum was the Gem and Mineral Hall. I found it to be an exceptionally beautiful part of the Museum, and also the most relevant to this class. Gems and Minerals are used in all sorts of different artwork, form jewelry to large colorful sculptures such as the ones pictured below. Not only are Gems extremely beautiful, they are also full of historical and scientific information. Reading through the information in the museum I learned that Gems like these teach us everything from geology and mineralogy to gemology, paleontology, and mining practices. Gems combine art and science perfectly and are a great example of everything we have learned in this class.

Event Blog Number 1

This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the LACMA Museum. I found it to be extremely interesting and an eye-opener to the world of both modern and historic Art. First we visited the historic portion of the art museum. I was particularly interested in the work from the early 1900’s in Europe. My favorite piece form this era was By Alexander Rodchenko. (Pictured below) I thought it pertained to this class because of its symmetrical lines and angles similar to the work of Leon Battista Alberti as discussed in my second blog.

I also really liked the piece History as a Planter by Edward Kienholz. As you can see above, it includes a Jew plant and headlines from a newspaper. It alludes to the Holocaust and the news headlines connect to the 1961 trail of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Edwards’s works were so famous because they confronted current issues of the time in extremely creative interesting ways.

Next I ventured over to the Contemporary Art exhibit of the Museum. I found it interesting to see just how much different the art was here than in the historic section. Most of the art here was structures of some sort, such as Agnès Varda’s shack made of film strips pictured below. Their were very few pieces made with simply paint on canvas like that of the older European art. Also many of the contemporary pieces incorporated math and science by using video stream, robotics, and other modern technology in their pieces.

Blog 6 NeuroScience+Art

Through out the lectures this week, I found the work Santiago Ramón y Cajal to be the epitome of everything we have learned in this class. He is an incredible example of someone making strides in Science – Art collaboration back in the early 1900’s before there was even much of a field for his research. He is one of the greatest examples of a left and right brain thinker of all time and the winner of the Nobel Prize. He is the father of Nobel science and still refers to neuron cells as “butterflies of the soul” and said “only artist are attracted to science” proving that even an extremely artistic person can still be a scientific genius. Some of his famous drawings of brain cells are pictured below.

 

Another portion of the lecture that really resonated with me was when Professor Vesna discussed dreams. We have done so much research about dreams but yet we still know very little making it an incredible territory challenging the imaginations of both artist and scientist. After conducting research of my own, I found the work of Michael Vincent Manalo. Michael’s artwork is based off of images from his dreams and through digital manipulation he creates vivid artwork combining Neuroscience, computer science, and art. A few of his images are shown bellow. 

His artwork leaves viewers with many questions unanswered embodying everything forgotten in the dream world. I found it to be incredibly beautiful and symbolic of Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and how it manifests itself differently in every individual’s dreams.

CITATION

"Search - Santiago Ramon Y Cajal (1852-2003): Ciencia Y Arte - Science and Art." PaperBackSwap.com. PaperBackSwap, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Ehrlich, Ben. "A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Artist." The Beautiful Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Eugene. "Dream-Inspired Digital Manipulations." - My Modern Metropolis. Urban Outfitters, 16 Apr. 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

"Carl Jung - Collective Unconscious." Carl Jung - Collective Unconscious. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

"Collective Unconscious (psychology)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Blog 5

Blog 5 Biotech + Art

Once again this week I was surprised to see the subject area we were covering. I again found myself wondering how this new subject, Biotech, can be related back to art. Joe Davis, the pioneer of biotech even said, “The most absurd things are connected in very absurd ways. I like to take the least connected things and try to build connections between them.” Through the lectures this week I began to see these connections between the two subjects and how prevalent Bio Art really is in our society. From Joe Davis’s crazy experiments with info-genes and channeling lightning to more current artists working in labs such as Symbiotica, the Bio-Art culture is years in the making. Joe Davis’s famous lightening experiment is pictured below.

This structure channeled lightening into pulse laser of energy that then caused the structure to change color creating a beautiful display of art and biotechnology.

The Bio Artist I was most interested in was Orlan. She is an internationally renowned French artist that creates scandalous works of art that interrogate human ideals such as gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. I researched her further and found that her most famous work is that of which she did to her body. She went through over 9 plastic surgery procedures combining biotechnology and art in ways unlike anyone before her. She says she “always tried in my work, to break barriers between sexes and genders, generations and artistic practices”. Her most famous surgery is when she had two lumps put in her forehead to resemble the Mona Lisa. My favorite work of hers is her digital photographs, which she calls self-hybridization where she merges her face with images of pre-Columbian, Africa, or native American masks. In the picture below her face is merged with a Native American mask and a pre-columbian mask and a link to an interview with Orlan. Also pictured below is a clip from an interview with Orlan. Overall Orlan and Joe Davis are both pioneers in the Bio-Art culture and have influences society greatly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ1Ph-Pprj4

CITATIONS

Gilster, Paul. ""RuBisCo Stars" and the Riddle of Life." Centauri Dreams RSS. Centauri Dreams, 18 Nov. 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

"French Artist Orlan: 'Narcissism Is Important'" YouTube. YouTube, 14 July 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

"BLOG." WandaEwingcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

 "Photo | ORLAN OFFICIAL WEBSITE / SITE OFFICIEL D'ORLAN." ORLAN OFFICIAL WEBSITE SITE OFFICIEL DORLAN RSS. NetAgence, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

Rosenberg, Barbara. "Orlan: Is It Art?" Stanford.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

"Picssr: SalomeIkeJulien's Flickr Photos." Picssr: SalomeIkeJulien's Flickr Photos. PICSSR, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.