Orals vs. Summer

So, apparently it's hard to force yourself to read art history books when the weather is gorgeous and you play loads of softball and go on awesome roadtrips to the Berkshires with your friends. Who knew?? None-the-less, I continue to press on!

Currently barreling through Cubism and Culture, which actually gives a lot of intellectual history behind such figures as Duchamp and Matisse, as well as more commonly known Cubist artists. I still need to learn how to pronounce Gleizes. Any ideas?? Maybe learning proper pronunciation would be too much at this point. Yes, I think it is. Scratch that.

I've also realized how helpful shelving in the library is for studying for orals. I find myself seeing a book on a movement or artist and instantly trying to call up canonical works of art and (most importantly) smartypants things to say about them. Today I also found a book on Neue Sachlichkeit and basically said "oh crap...nothing is coming up, I'd better check this one out." Though harrowing, this is also a useful part of seeing hundreds of art books as I work.

The Berkshires wasn't all fun and games, though. We made it up to Mass MoCA, where I gained a new respect for Sol LeWitt and experienced an actual Santiago Sierra performance. The latter piece, Veteran Standing in a Corner, really affected me. The museum recruited actual vets to stand, in uniform, so close to the corner that you could not see their face. While this work certainly draws attention to the treatment of war vets in this country and uses Sierra's signature antagonism to make the viewer think, my sense of unease went a bit deeper than I usually expect in a gallery-based performance. I kept wanting to go speak to the performer, or at least see his face. Not to mention how the connotations that come with "standing in a corner" certainly made this civilian watching feel unfairly placed into the role of judging schoolmaster/voter, forcing punishment for potential acts or decisions I will never be able to understand. This sense of unease and implication is no doubt intended, but I just wonder what (if any) benefit it could provide for the performer. I definitely want to do an interview with one of them.

Perhaps my recent research on Wodiczko's three recent pieces working with veterans makes me predisposed to a more therapeutic collaboration with veterans of war - while still maintaining a critical sense of confrontation with the viewer/spectator. Sierra's piece, along with Wodiczko's and the recent collaborative venture Combat Paper Project are rich investigations of how art can be part of a return from war or even a means to (hopefully) begin to heal its wounds.

OK, now it's Orals vs. Future Research Projects. Basically Orals vs. other stuff in general. Also the Nats got swept by the Angels, which was distracting.

And now before bed, it's back to the Cubists, who apparently were into far-out theories about perception and the fourth dimension. I'm seeing a Cubist-Psychedelic comparison in my mind now. It is optically giving me a headache.

More to come...

More meetings, bibliography construction

So... I still need to finish Doss's book tonight, but I think this is completely doable. Met with another professor on my committee today and crafted some more bibliography beyond the focus area in Art since 1900. While this is starting to feel pretty overwhelming, I was able to make up some salient discussion points for comparison on the spot today for a non-visual comparison between a generic Matisse 20s painting, a Sonia Delaunay design, and a Florine Stettheimer. Combining random things is something I like anyhow (put ALL the foods on the fork at once!), so this wild combo made it interesting. While obviously just a casual bit of conversation, it did make me feel a bit more confident (as I know it would have been a lot easier with actual visuals to talk about), but of course, the volume of material is starting to weigh on my head pretty hardcore.

Softball was canceled tonight (so lame!) so I was able to crank out and revise the bibliography more, which you can see at the tab above. I'm sure some will be skipped and likely more will be added, but it's a start :-)

New comparison for the evening:



and



Theme: male heroics, awesomeness, and artistic performance with sticks. GO!

(BTW, as I posted this, the Nats hit the .500 mark. Woohoo!)

Today's previously unknown (to me) work of art

Arthur Dove's "The Critic" 1925. Collage of anti-modern critic Royal Cortissoz.

Way better than those touchy-feely abstractions of nature. Love the rollerskates.

Here we go...

It is what it is...

I am about to embark on what will (hopefully) be the last art history exam I will ever take, the Second Qualifying Exam or (more commonly) "Orals." It is an intellectual rite of passage where you enter a room of three professors who proceed to grill you for up to two hours on an incredibly wide range of material (all of which, you need to have mastered). My exam will consist of a "focus area," Public Art in the U.S. since WW2, a "major field," Art Since 1900, and a "minor field," Film Studies. This test will take place in the first two weeks of September (date TBA) and will be followed (pass or fail) by sleep, beers, and my ecstatic attendance of at least two games of the Nationals trip to Citi Field. If all goes well, I will be a PhD "candidate" and can forever relinquish the title of "student" as I inch closer and closer to "doctor." This ultimate goal will, of course, guarantee me copious amounts of fame and notoriety, limitless fortune, and a lifetime of rewarding and stable employment.

And now for the studying: So it begins...

With less three months to go, today I'm starting to review some First Exam images and reading Erika Doss's Twentieth-Century American Art. I'm hoping to power through this book and refresh my major canonical images while also reviewing some European greatest hits on the old Powerpoints from two years ago. Met with focus-area professor last week, will be meeting with other major field professor tomorrow, so hopefully will be able to hammer down that bibliography by Thursday AM. Film studies I'll handle next week...