I took advantage of the thanksgiving break and visited the
Hammer Museum of UCLA. Since my friend and I were UCLA students, we could get
free admission. The courtyard level is very pleasant, it includes a dining
service and provided space for casual meetings. As my friend and I went to the
third floor, our adventure into the art world has begun.
The first exhibition we encountered was On Pleasure Bent by
Mark Leckey. His art works combines sculpture, sound, film and animation in
presenting ideas. Mr. Leckey speculates on objects and on the future. The arts on
display show his interest in all types of objects – from prosthetic hands to
Felix the Cat – and how these objects can influence us as humans. One of his works on display is an animation
of a shadow of a dog barking to the left side of the artwork. He made use of
the technology to show the dog’s constant motion and growling. In the end, I
was able to understand why the artworks were produced that way. The description on the wall explains Mr. Leckey explores the potential of human imagination to appropriate and
to animate a concept, an object, or an environment. (I was not allowed to take pictures of the animation.)
The next exhibition we saw was James Welling’s monograph. One of the artwork that intrigued me the most was his Glass House Project. He made use of color filters held in front of camera lens and took pictures of the architect Phillip Johnson’s legendary 1949 house. He later returned to the house twelve times over the next three years in all seasons and all weather conditions to create the final project. The purpose of the art was to blur the lines between a recognizable object and a visual hallucination. As we can see in the picture below, the photo combined the tree branches on the top half with blurry texture and the interior of the house with an orange filter. This photo clearly blurs the lines between the exterior and the interior of the house and also creates a hallucination with the usage of blurry white color and the orange colors of the interior.
Another collection included Welling’s flowers project. He took pictures of the pressed flowers and feather in his great-great grandmother’s diary help insight him about pressed flowers and photograms. Historical connections were made between botanical specimen, natural prints and photograms.
The next exhibition we saw was James Welling’s monograph. One of the artwork that intrigued me the most was his Glass House Project. He made use of color filters held in front of camera lens and took pictures of the architect Phillip Johnson’s legendary 1949 house. He later returned to the house twelve times over the next three years in all seasons and all weather conditions to create the final project. The purpose of the art was to blur the lines between a recognizable object and a visual hallucination. As we can see in the picture below, the photo combined the tree branches on the top half with blurry texture and the interior of the house with an orange filter. This photo clearly blurs the lines between the exterior and the interior of the house and also creates a hallucination with the usage of blurry white color and the orange colors of the interior.
Another collection included Welling’s flowers project. He took pictures of the pressed flowers and feather in his great-great grandmother’s diary help insight him about pressed flowers and photograms. Historical connections were made between botanical specimen, natural prints and photograms.
Lastly, we went and saw the Armand Hammer Collection, which
were gifts from the Armand Hammer Foundation. It contained major movements of
19th century French art, including the work of Van Gogh and many
other works from Dutch artists such as this art below by Rembrandt. I was
really fascinated by the amount of artworks on display by European artists from
the 19th century and before. I was also able to understand the
artworks better than the contemporary artworks produced by Welling and Leckey. (Since I was not allowed to take pictures of this display, I found one of the pictures on the internet).
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