Museum Visit

I recently had the unique opportunity to visit the University Art Museum located on the campus of the State University at Albany. Upon arriving to the museum I was anxious to experience what my visit had in store because in my life time this would be the second museum I ever went to. We entered the museum on the main floor and were immediately surrounded by works that varied from computer animations to works that contained letters in different kinds of patterns. At the time, the University Art Museum was featuring an exhibit, ‘Courier.’ ‘Courier’ consisted of a group of eleven artists who all brought different forms of art which were related to the process, sound, and printing mechanisms of the typewriter. The exhibit was slated to open October 5 and run all the way through until December 4, 2010. The artists featured included Leona Christie/Gavin Christie, Daniela Comani, Lee Etheredge IV, Ann Hamilton, William Kentridge, Matt Liddle, Elena del Rivero, Allyson Strafella, Ignacio Uriarte, and Xu Bing.
The Museum was interesting to visit because the works allowed me to think creatively how they were presented and what they were trying to explain to the viewer. As we walked in on the lower level the work we viewed first was “abc” by Ann Hamilton. I was surprised to see this piece in the University Art Museum and remembered discussing it in class. In class I felt that this piece was very interesting because normally we are used to seeing letters come out and not be erased one by one. Viewing this piece in real life was a much different experience. The video screen was very small and it was mounted inside of a much larger white wall. Looking at the piece from a distance made it seem even smaller as the white wall overpowered the small video screen. When looking up close you can make out the finger print smearing the ink and erasing away the letters right before your eyes. Ann Hamilton’s work is interesting for the creativity she used in her piece. Seeing it in real life gives the viewer a different feel of the art she produced.

A large majority of the works that were shown in the museum consisted of a lot of skillful typewriting patterns. One particular artist that I noticed was Lee Etheredge IV, who was a very skilled typewriter who created art by making patterns of certain letters. At first when looking at the work it seemed almost not impressive with the technology that is available today. Then I thought about creating this work with a typewriter and I gained a lot of respect thinking this way. His work consisted of multiple circles, some overlapping each other and some by themselves. Looking at this piece from a distance the work looked like regular old circles that are drawn on a paper. I then took a closer look I could see that all these big circles were made from individual letters grouped together to make up a larger shape. I found this interesting that the picture looked completely different when you viewed it from different distances. The intricate style of work Lee had to do to create this piece was also impressive and made me appreciate the art much more than I did when I first looked at.

As we went up stairs to the balcony portion of the museum we ran into two rooms that contained video works. As we entered into the room with the projector, a movie came on that was on a loop of a man, Michael Winslow. This piece contained Winslow making noises into a microphone that perfectly resembled the noises made while typing on a typewriter. As I watched the movie I tried closing my eyes to see if I could get a more realistic sense of the work. The sounds were spot on and it took until I opened my eyes again to realize that they were not the sounds coming from a true typewriter. This portion of the museum was one of my favorites because I’ve never sat in an exhibit and watched art being performed live on a screen. I feel the viewer gets a more behind the scenes look at the process of creating the work and this was interesting for me to experience.

Going to the University Art Museum was a very interesting experience. In class we viewed many artists and their different styles of work, but going and experiencing art for myself was a different experience. Leaving the museum I felt that the art I viewed impacted me and made me appreciate things I did not appreciate coming into the museum. These include things such as the amount of work and effort needed to be an artist who produced popular enough work to be in a museum. The overall quality of the museum impressed me and although it was not as large as other museums the works were very interesting. The work that was derived from the typewriters, the skills to make the exact sounds of the typewriter, and the creativity to experiment with what would happen if you erased the ink all impressed me. Attending the University Art Museum at the State University at Albany allowed me to appreciate and look at art differently than I did upon arriving on the campus.