Objectives:
- Learn about public funding for the Arts.
- Examine public art’s role in capturing history and place-making.
- Explore the relationship of cultural values to civic dialogue, beautification and identity.
Artifact: Public Art
I can say personally I love public art. It is such a way of open expression. Many people look to public art to find a connection when it comes to society and ways it connects one another. An amazing thing about public art is that you can be walking down the street and see crazy sculptures or murals, you do not always have to be in an art museum or gallery to see these pieces. Public art amazes me much more than gallery styled art, it is different and it takes a large amount of creativity.
In the reading for this week written by Erika Doss she speaks about the controversial pieces seen and also speaks of traditional public art and then the shift to modern public art. Typical forms of public art are what we can normally find at any popular public area. Walking through the University of Oregon campus we can see some sculptures, I have seen many sculptures throughout the campus that would be described as public traditional art. When it comes to public art there will always be people who agree and who do not agree or even enjoy a piece. In the article it speaks about the sculpture of the FDR memorial in Washington D.C. Here it is shown that he has a disability and in a wheel chair. The controversy about this sculpture is that disability activists said that this piece was inadequate because it did not touch on all of the other aspects of FDR’s life. One other piece spoken about was the piece in the Denver Airport. This piece proves the different types of public art that we can see in a modern day society(Doss 7).
Another example of public art is the installation in the Denver International Airport, a great place to express your art,”… to permanent public fixtures like Kinetic Light/Air Curtain, Antonette Rosato and Bill Maxwell’s mile-long installation of 5,280 minipropellers, backlit in blue neon, that spin wildly when trains pass by them at the Denver International Airport” (Doss 2). This is an amazing piece of public art in a place that you wouldn’t really expect to see it. This is such an unique place to put a installation, thousands of people a day take these trains to get in and out of the airport so it a great place to put an installation.
Many times we see public art in non traditional areas and ways. My favorite example of a public art is Banksy, who is a public English artist that has met headlands. He is known for is controversial art and the most amazing thing is keeping who he is a secret for all of these years. Many of his graffiti pieces have really expressed the political issues going on in the world. An example of one of his more famous pieces is the one he did in London of soldier painting peace. He presents art in a satirical way shows the expression of free speech and has touched on many political issues we see in the world today.
Public art drives communities together and is a way to reach out to people with the same views. Public art is always changing and that is important to understand. “Public art is artwork in the public realm, regardless of whether it is situated on public or private property, or whether it is acquired through public or private funding” (Doss 2). It is a wide variety of sculptures, murals, installations, and many more. I think we will see many more unique public art pieces as the years go on. Public art reaches to a bigger crowd, a universal understanding of creativity.
Reflection: Since this is the most recent post we have done it is still heavily on my mind. I think it is important to give credit to the artist who display their artwork to the public. Not everyone can be invited to the latest exclusive modern art show. I think that public art does an awesome job of capturing history. I used a couple of example touching on that, one being the presidential leader Franklin Roosevelt. Another example being my favorite public artist Banksy who touches on the wrong going on in the world and makes it a tad satirical. People should check out some of his documentaries like “Exit Through the Giftshop” an HBO documentary film!
In the reading it gave us example and ideas of how public art moved from a traditional to a more modern way. The example used was the Denver International Airport and I think this is a great example from the movement from traditional to modern. I see traditional more as sculptures like FDR and more modern pieces like installations. This artifact helped me look inside the cultural aspects of public art as well. As a way to connect people together and help communities and help drive them together.
Future: In the future I will continue to open up my horizons loving public art. I hope to one day be able to visit some of that places Banksy has made his mark (many of his work has been taken down). I want to go back to Chicago and visit the Chicago Cloud Gate again because now after learning about public art I will have a better understanding. Some many people come out and visit the Cloud Gate but don’t realize what it took to get it there. Art is all around us and I think it is important to go see as much as you can while you are on this planet.
