Art 21 Reflection #3

Vija Celmins: time
'Builds a painting' rather then 'paints a painting.' She makes a structure. Her paints have these allusions as if you're right there. For a while she painted things that could be turned on like hotplates and lights (things that were around her studio.) Always thought that it was impossible to go right from nature. She tests herself and pushes herself to make things. She doesn't only draw, she's used lithographs as well. The images that she picks are already surfaces and later inspire her. I think she said that she tries to neutralize emotion...Celmins work is incredible. She knows what she wants her work to do from the beginning (an image of how she wants it) I relate because what she does is so perfect and seems like a perfectionist just like me. However, I know that I would never be able to have the patience to do what she does.


Elizabeth Murry: humor

Makes something happen with a fluid material (paint). Primary thing that paint is about is harnessing it. Shapes are carton-y, lumpy, rounded, inflated, wacky and connected. It never directly said it, but from what I saw, she didn't paint on canvas, it was on like wood with maybe canvas over it? But it each painting had holes and wasn't just a solid. She said that she lets the cards fall and see what they make in the end. She likes to used intense color and tries to make it work with everything else in her paintings. Conflict and tension, she wants them to 'live together.' Just like us, she has an art book type thing to have a place for her to start from. As much as she always wanted to be an artist, she also wanted to be different. I think that that's what makes me relate to her the most. Had trouble finding herself, but this one painting called 'Excavation' really started to make her 'feel her body and her mind.' Once her hand is in control, she lets her feeling come through. She loves quiet, and sometimes, I need to be by myself too. Not because I don't love talking, but because sometimes it's nice to just think.