Blog Essay #3

Art:21 - Place

1)Do we define a place or does a place define us?
Both. We define places because we make them what the are. Without us, a place is nothing. Also places define us as a person. Most of how a person's personality and demeanor develops in life is a direct result of their surroundings where the come from.

2)How is each of the featured artists influences by particular places? How is this influence reflected in the artist's work?
Every one of the artists were influenced by particular places because I think every artist is influences by the places they've come from and the places they've been. Sometimes it's in the form of taking pictures of those places, such as in Sally Mann's work, or sometimes it's actually taking familiar places and being inspired to make new ones through creating space like Richard Serra.

3) Which artist do you feel most connected to and why?
I felt most connected with both Margaret Kilgallen and Barry McGee because I agreed with their views that art is for the public. I also agree that graffiti art is no more garbage than billboards are, and that should be respected and looked at as art just as any other painting in a museum would be. Not only are they not garbage, but I believe that graffiti is infinitely more valuable that billboards and advertisements because graffiti is the art of the people - a commentary on the world by who matters most in it, it's everyday people.

4) When you were young, was there a place that interested you? A place that scared you? List five places from your childhood. Use one word to describe each of them.
Hospital - Ominous. Lake - Escape. Pleasant Ridge Creek - Private. Shingle Shack - Discovery. Basement at house in West Chester - Cave.

5) Pick one of those places. Try and remember it as well as you can. Answer these questions about it... What objects occupy that place? What are the textures and sizes of those objects? What was the lighting like? Was it a dark dreary place? or bright happy one?
The basement at my house in West Chester was actually a pretty nice one. It was a finished basement that my dad finished completely by hand on his own time. It was mostly like another family room/game room. It was a very comfortable place and all of my movies and video games were there. However during one particular summer, the one I remember most about that place, was a summer when I blacked out the windows and pretty much made myself a cave down there. I spent at least 80% of my summer there. I even slept on the couch most of the time. Looking back on it, it was definitely a dark and dreary place.