Proposal for accumulation project

For the past 12 weeks I have been collecting horoscopes. They are something that I have always been interested in for some quick entertainment. Throughout this experiment, I have become increasingly bored with the subject and myself. While I was never really sure what I was looking for, it sure was not anything deep like a meaning or a reason for them. At the end of the experiment, all that I found myself with was a pile of meaningless papers. They were completely non-functional and only good for an occasional laugh. So, it is evident that the only purpose of these things are to make people feel like they have a chance at having a better day by something exciting happening to them, meeting new people, or coming in to some money. Fortune cookies, horoscopes, the magic 8 ball…they are all the same. They function to give people a laugh and a little bit of unrealistic hope.
People enjoy this type of entertainment, and it is for this reason that I am proposing to put many large sculptures all around New York City on the sidewalks. I chose New York because my work would be widely viewed there and I feel like New York City people tends to stress people out. The sculptures would be different sizes, ranging from 4-12ft in height and many different colors. They will be round glass orbs (very thick glass) with a bit of a cloudy inside. They would also flatten off at the bottom so that they do not need any other base to sit on. They are round and orb like because that is what is most of the time related to the thought of fortunes. It would be easier for people to understand the purpose and I think that it would make them more comfortable with the whole piece. The point of these orbs would be to give encouraging words to people who touched it just like the others do. I am a fan of humorous art and of course this would be mostly for “entertainment” but it is also amazing how just simple words or gestures can really make someone’s day. A person would walk up to it, rub the side, the cloudiness would separate and words would appear. They would be something to the point of…”There are great things in store for you”, “Someone very special is thinking about you right now”….and really cheesy things like that, which I would have to take much more time to come up with.

Examples of how they could possibly look:

Daniel Joseph Martinez

Does he have a big problem with American? Is his work all about politics? Does he consider himself an artist?
I love that he makes art that has a point and could change your way of thinking. He must be influencial, especially to have a show called, "I shit on the order of your world" in the Veterans Hall. Funny. Its great that he works from personal inspiration and that he has the balls to do something like the burning piece at his school is sort of a rebellion fashion. People like him make me want to strive to do important things and address issues in my work. He seems to make quite an impression in the art world, with others sharing his political beliefs. I dont think that he is against America, just has issues like all the rest of us. He definitely considers himself an artist, as would I..but he says he is still awaiting that feeling that he has become a recognized and respected artist. Hes all over the place and in this book...what more does it take? It seems hopeless then, will I ever be able to feel that way and be pleased enough with my mediocre self?!?!

Arnaldo Morales

How does his life affect his work? Is he an artist? What does the public think of his work?
This guy has had alot of near death experiences it seems, no wonder he seems to have so much inspiration and this also explains the violent content of it all. He says that he wants to spend time with those violent sorts of people...gutsy. If I had been thru all the shit this guy has, I would want to stay as far away as I possibly could. He says that people have told him that his work is a bit scary but fun because it is so interactive. I really love pieces that I can interact with as well. but technology in itself scares me a bit because of the power that it seems to generate and also the fact that I can understand the mechanics of most of it to save my life. Combine that with violence and you've certainly got me on edge. He is just like a boy, and like both of my brothers always tearing things apart and trying to fix them..but i guess thats how you learn because any time i need something done or put together i know that they can do it for me. Its cool to see though that art can evoke so many different feelings and actions in a person as an artist and a viewer and you get things out of peices that you would never expect.

Kim Jones

Why is he trying to alter his appearance? Why does he become Mudman all the time? What are his performances all about?
This guy is certainly one of a kind...especially for someone doing performance art. I see performance art all the time. Learning about different ones in class and seeing them for myself, I could walk down the streets of new york and not be very shocked by most of the things I see. But i think that even this guy would stump me a little bit. Is he trying to get a fearful reaction out of people? I like that he sees himself as a sculpture and that is really interesting but it almost seems like he likes being one more than he does a real person because he repeats this action so often, or more so than I would think is necessary. Also, with the David sculpture...its funny, whitty...but it seems kind of wrong to shoot Davids penis off with the slingshot. Is he trying to take away his manliness? He cant destroy him but geez, he is certainly killing his pride. And he does all of this once again as mudman,and with a little mudman. Maybe he should have his identity changed to that and he can be Kim Jones on the side.

Yukinori Yanagi

Why did he chose to work with an insect? Does he just have a "thing" for ants? What is he trying to express in his flag piece?
I think it is very interesting and visually stimulating in the process and the end result to use the ant like he did. It must have taken forever and really hurt his back to have to do all that, and with a material as simple as a red crayon. It was really cool, but who thinks of stuff like that to do?!?! Wow, maybe that web article was right and I do lack all senses of creativity. Interesting to think to use animals and sort of weigh them equal with humans...I think that they should be. Upon reading the title for the flag piece, I just thought that this guy had an obsession with ants but when I started reading his explanation, I understand why he thinks of it that way. Dealing with the social and cross-cultural issues that he does, he sees the issues as being like ants who he says doesnt know national boundaries..true. We all suffer the same I suppose. The dragging of colors was also a interesting idea.

Gregory Green

What point is this guy gather his "inspiration"? What is like outside of his work? Why he does "weird shit"?
Ha, I wish I could have seen that episode of Hard Copy...must have been interesting. This guy in general seems to be quite interesting. He says that he feels he doesnt really have a choice to be an artist and I can understand this, but its cool that he addresses the fact that he is a normal person who balances his check book and sends out resumes. Sometimes, especially when looking at big artists, i forget these people have real lives because they just seem to be so wrapped up in their work...its kind of a relief. He researches things for his pieces but is also motivated by simple things like music and he references caffeine. I like this guys personality...it makes me think that I might be like that one day. I especially enjoy his Molotov Cocktail...what is he trying to do, teach little kids to blow things up?!? Haha, quite intertaining.

How CREATIVITY is Killing the Culture

This guy describes as being seen by some people as an asshole, jerk, or bitter....I'm pretty sure that I thought of all of these while I was reading this and quite possibly a couple more. I guess he makes a point (that I really only see him caring about) but wow....who the hell is he to crush peoples dreams by saying that they are not capable of being good enough to ever get anywhere. Let people try what they want, and if they fail then it will be by their own accord and they will decide where to take their life next. They dont need some cynical old man telling them otherwise. And by the way, he fails to mention anything about his own past artwork in this article...maybe he is just bitter because he was one of those people who just couldnt quite make it the way he wanted and he likes others to feel just as miserable as he does. I am one of those people that he is talking about and I like it....this guy pisses me off, life is short people, live it however the hell you chose and be as open, creative, talented, smart, adventurous, religious, and as happy as you want without listening to pricks like this. Oh, and by the way...I happen to love that WILCO song!!

Andy Goldsworthy Handout

Andy Goldsworthy is by far one of my favorite artists. I love that he works with nature and his compositions are always so beautiful. It is unique that he was chosen to do this Holocaust piece. And that he can represent this historic occurance with natural materials. Reading through the description of it all, I think personally I would need an explanation of it or else it would just be a piece that I would pass by and think...Oh, thats fun. What a great concept, I love that the piece grows increasingly important with time, and its creepy to think of the things in the piece killing each other in representation...who thinks like that?!? But then again, I guess nature and human life in itself works that way, feeding off of each other. Hes amazing.

Unofficial Manifesto

This lady makes some really interesting points and she makes them all sound very goodd. After all, arent they everything that a serious contemporary artist wants?!? But whats a bit confusing is her use of the term public art..what is public art anyways? Something seen everyday on the street, something in a gallery, something as insignificant as a piece of pottery in someones house?!? They are awesome goals for an artist, but lets face it...the public isnt going to see half of what the artist does in the piece. I especially like the one that says, "i am for a public art that doesnt pretend that everyones story is intrinsically interesting to everyone else." haha, thats so true. She is bold and humorous, I like her.

Final Thoughts

From beginning to end, I really struggled with this project. Not the actually collection of objects, but rather why I was collecting them....I suppose it was all just for fun, no deep significant meaning. I kept trying to change the direction that I was going, but it was all no good...In conclusion, this was the worst thing that I had to do all semester long. Why do I think this project was assigned?!? I personally think that it was a really good assignment, but that I just chose the wrong thing to do. It is important in a lot of art work to accumulate things. It could be the whole meaning to a piece, it gives you things to work with and could end up changing the piece throughout the whole process.

4.11.08

This is the last week that I will be documenting on these silly horoscopes...wooohoooo!! Honestly, I dont feel like I have accomplished anything with this type of accumulation except for a feeling of burden on having to find them, keep them, and try to document on them. At the end, i just ended up with a pile of different types of paper and the thought that it is just a waste of time. Where do they find all of the people to write them anyways and where do they get their information from?!? I'd like to know, maybe I can get a job...I've read enough of these over the last couple of weeks to know the drill.

4.4.08

This one for this week is mostly just a thought. Part of the reason that I was so interested in this is because of a friend that I had in high school. He truly believed in this kind of stuff and was so in to all of the astronomical things that went along with it that I couldn't even begin to understand..kinda cool. He always said that he was gonna do mine for me one day and I was really excited, he was in an accident and passed before he was able to. It was actually freaky at how he seemed to predict things...even his death which was an accident and definitely not his fault. After, it definitely made me question the realness in the whole subject...and if any of it was true, though I dont really know what "any of it" means. I hope you are following me on this.

3.28.08

Horoscopes are purely for entertainment, duh. I know that I have been so bored with this the whole time and quite honestly...it took all of the fun out of it and made it into a chore. I stopped even reading them and just started cutting. I went back the other day to them along with some old fortunes from cookies and read them. They make you feel good, I guess which day that the one I was reading could have came from and if that is actually how my day went. And those silly fortune cookies have the ability to lift your spirits a little bit....yes, I will have great success in life soon!!! Thanks cookie for the encouragement

3.21.08

So this past week, I started asking around to people about what they think of horoscopes and I got a couple of different responses. Most people just think that they are something fun to read, noone actually goes out of their way to find it though. However, I have noticed an increasing number of my friends on facebook who have added the horoscope application. Some people actually think that it is of the devil...haha. And it was also compared to fortune cookies, ouji boards, and magic 8 balls. I guess you basically get out of it what you want to and you just let it tell you whatever it is that you want to hear. That is what this whole thing is about, evoking an emotion.

3.14.08

So I have been bringing the Charlotte Observer newspaper to work lately and the employees get a kick out of it, everyone askes me to read theirs, of course they want to know what it says...its like a fun little game. Newspapers arent cheap so maybe I will start printing it off and bringing it in every shift to get reactions out of people and see what they think about the whole thing. I have a fellow Libra at work. We are supposed to be charming, passionate, creative, romantic...and allll this other stuff and she truly believes that she is, however I think that if these descriptions are true....she was definitely born in the wrong month.

3.7.08

SPRING BREAK: I talked things over with my sister and she thinks that collecting these horoscopes was a great idea...why?!? I am currently looking for a new spin on things. I need to take this idea to an audience and see what they think about the whole notion of horoscopes. Right now I am looking at a small pile of magazine/newspaper cutouts, and computer print-offs....boring!!

magazine commentary for missed classes

1- These magazines have tons of great visuals but surprisingly not all that many articles. I found a picture on the front cover of a nude couple projected on what seems to be clouds. Amazing. I think that they are holding hands and dancing. This is the handy work of Tony Oursler, I recongnized him immediatly because we had discussed him in class. He is one of my favorite artists that we have looked at this semester. Because his work is "active", I really enjoy it. It evokes emotions and feels very personal. Also, all of the digital things that he is able to do really impressed me since im not technologically saavy at all. And actually, the few artists that we have looked at this semester in class has been so much more interesting for me than anything that I have seen in 2 semesters of art history...thanks Malena.

2- I did manage to find a couple of articles to comment on in these magazines though most of them are quite dated, and by dated I mean from about 10 years ago. I always find it sad to think that an artist goes their whole life working hard and making art only to die and then get really famous...its such a waste. Though I will admit that the thought of looking at work from someone who is no longer alive makes it seem more important somehow...I dont really know why. This article was about Henry Darger, they opened a collection of his work in a museum in Switzerland, they were writing a poem/book about him and also making a movie of his life. Wow, that sounds like success to me. He was popular in his life, but too bad he wont be seeing any of this extra glory.

3- I came across a picture of the inside of a building that was stunning. The ceiling had different rows of black and white and an all over unique and retro feeling mood. A company bought this building in NYC and wanted to remove it, but were convinced otherwise....good. I dont know why people are so keen on removing beautiful art work. Why does it seem that public art is offensive to people. I think that they need to recognize all of these different types of art and learn to appreciate it. The concept that some people have of art just really piss me off. I know so many people who look down on me for doing it instead of something "real".... screw them, they should try to do it. They couldnt draw a decent stick figure.

4-Sex in art. Its so interesting how sex-driven our society is right now but it seems so raunchy to produce it in art, even though its been going on since the beginning of time. To be perfectly honest, for some reason it is some of the most appealing to me, I dont know if i am just a sexual person or what but it attracts me...therefore this article found me. The article talks about sexuality seen in ancient greek art, however I want to talk about the imagery the show. There is a silver cup with 2 men, one if pulling on a rope almost like he is on a swing. Perfectly acceptable...interesting. Theres also a girl peeking in the door watching them, what is this supposed to mean, i dont remember mentioning it in art history. I wonder if everyday office people were to see this, what would they think?!? Also there is a fountain statue of Priapus..and to be quite honest, he has the biggest penis that I have ever seen, in real life or in any sort of art, and he is aroused. Its almost offensive. If that represents power, I hope he was the freaking king. Thats all Im gonna say about that one.