Yukinori Yanagi Q&A

1) What is your initial reaction?

I responded really well to what was said in the opening paragraph: “He chose, instead, to enlist an animal as his equal, his artistic collaborator… Yanagi chose to create art with an ant, an insect that is normally considered neither beautiful, individuated, endearing, nor directly useful to human enterprise.” But it is indirectly useful to human (I saw a special on ants a few weeks ago). Ants can destroy our homes or they help aerate our soil and kill pesky critters. In many countries they are used as a source of food and medicine. The Chinese have used ants for hundreds of years to help them cultivate citrus fields for harvest later. Ants maintain more than we think.

Another thing I thought about was the Jains of ancient India, who are still around today. Jainism is a religion/philosophy that stresses the equality of all life in our world. It’s very strict when it comes to killing other creatures and they are hardcore vegans. Non-violence is of the upmost importance, especially if you want to reach Moksha, which is similar to Satori or Nirvana. I practiced Buddhism in high school, and since Jains and Buddhists have very similar ideals, I restricted my travel, constantly looked where I was walking, and I never stepped a foot in the grass for about a year and a half. Traditional Jains almost always carry a broom with them, so as they travel they can sweep away any insects or living organisms. Killing a creature would hurt their chances of reaching an understanding of the true nature of the soul. So all in all, Yanagi’s work hits home. I remember constantly keeping an eye on the ground. When I came home from school I would pay very close attention to the way the ants and other insects moved so I could step over them to enter my house. I still have many of the same beliefs that killing anything is wrong, and non-violence is the answer.

2) Why does he do this kind of work?

To reach perfection is the first thing that comes to mind. Ants construct and maintain a perfect environment… never deviating, always at equilibrium. Yanagi is showing us what Utopia is like to experience. I see it as kind of an ‘informal interview’. By following the ant he is recording its journey through it’s life; the boundaries that have defined him and gives clues to what will come in the future. ‘The ant’s work’ is a direct representation of Yanagi himself. I think we could all learn a lesson from our tiny ‘friends’ as well.

3) “…Ants and humans have missions. But an ant’s mission is predetermined.” Response?

Does knowing your purpose in life make you a more evolved creature? Sure ants can’t learn culture, appreciate cool winds on a hot summer day, or cook a flambé, but does that make their existence less profound than humans? Do we really need to try to find ourselves, or learn other languages, or achieve our life goals? Do we really need to exist at all?

4) Who does this remind me of?

As far as meditation goes, Oliver Herring comes to mind. He said that his work with the knitted Mylar was meditative, even though it was time consuming and hard on his body. Frankenthaler comes to mind as well. She almost didn’t do any of her work really. She would dye the canvas and move it around, so that it ‘painted itself.’ I feel like Yanagi is doing the same thing here. He isn’t really creating these lines. The ant is. His mass is moving the ant around, and he isn’t really letting the ant go anywhere it wants… he is confining it to the space he has created.

5) Has his work influenced me?

Yes. Before I read about his work, I knew that I could use anything and everything to inspire me to create works of art. But after reading this, it makes me feel like I didn’t really know that everything could really inspire me in the first place. Fuck this class is good… Epiphany after epiphany!

6) What are you going to do now that you have had so many epiphanies?

I’m going to rethink my life of course. Everything I have done up to this point feels so trivial. Some of my ideas are good, but I need to totally overhaul the way I perceive my own work and develop my ideas in the future.

Identity Project

I had several ideas for this project... None which have worked out. I worked all day Sunday and created 2 identity projects, both which were complete failures. So I trashed 'em. Just simply deleted them out of my camera's memory.
In the end, when they day was closing in, I created one final piece, which I settle on. And it's something I thought about doing but only if I had the resources and enough time and thought put into the piece. I did a sound piece. Now I'm not knocking sound pieces as art, because I'm a musician and music is a form of artistic expression, but I just think it is so far from something I would actually do in the first place... so in a way, this piece is a non-reflection of my identity. It's some shit my Doppelganger Joey would do.
As far as identity goes, when I think of who I am (or what I have become rather), I think of my mom and dad. I believe the things I believe, do the things I do, laugh the way I laugh and look the way I look because of them. I am a perfect blend of their pros and cons. If they were a matryoshka doll, then you could yank them in half and find me inside.
As far as the piece goes, I decided to juxtapose my parents two completely different identities against one another. My father is a very heroic individual. Always opening the car door for a lady, donating to less fortunate families, while remaining humble. He would step in front of a bullet or a knife to save your life (and he has). My mother on the other hand, is very self-absorbed. While I care for her deeply and love her for her humor, gumption and care giving abilities, she is a very deceptive woman, a workaholic and obsesses over the trivial aspects of everyday life. On top of that she steals from her family, drinks excessively and chain smokes like Mr. Morris is declaring bankruptcy.
So what the piece is, since you can't hear it, is just 2 layers. My father is a creator and my mother a destroyer. In the sound clip, my father is playing The Eagles in a Spanish thumb-and-finger picking style. In the background, my mother is talking to herself in the dark by her fifty-five gallon fish tank about some coworker that threw a 'fucking knife at her hand' (which is probably a lie... she lies about everything).
I would have really like to develop this idea more, and incorporate more sounds to illustrate the identities of the people that I identify with. But I'm not 100% dissatisfied. This 'piece' offers a very stark contrast between my parents. It's as if I have lived in two separate houses my entire life.

Don't Throw Fuckin' Knives At My Hand. Sound piece.
3 Minutes, 42 Seconds

Still Struggling...

Splitting into groups was definitely an interesting way of collaborating this week. I wish we could do it more often, even outside of class so there is no inhibitions or constraints of time. Although, I think I learned something I wasn't ready to understand... I hate my own conceptual ideas. I think that they, for the most part, are 2d, unconventional, and underdeveloped. However, I am really good at taking someone else's ideas and turning them into thought-provoking and making them more dynamic. I also learned something else... I don't take other ideas well. I mean I do.. but it isn't genuinely my ideas. I know that my art is coming out of other art (other famous art), but for someone to just hand me an idea to run with is just awkward. I feel like I will be pointed out or reprimanded for illustrating or documenting a piece of work I didn't even develop in the first place.
Anyways, I'm really worried about my piece. I have gotten a lot of great ideas, and I've been thinking about it for 2 weeks, but now it's getting late and I just keep shooting them down or are unhappy with the final way I'm going to orchestrate everything, or I don't have enough time, money, materials or competent help to give me the alpha-piece I've been waiting to create my whole life... I would rather put an end to my misery by drinking a flask of antifreeze before I settle on an idea or final cut I view as a failure.

Souls and Contract

Here is one of the first images I gathered. My youngest brother James gave me his soul almost immediately. He tried to give me 100% of it and said he loved me and that I was his brother so I deserved it all. I said, "But what if you die early? A part of you won't get to experience reborn life immediately." He kind of frowned, and then said "Well how about 16%?" It was cute. He said later he gave me 16% because that was the age when he found God. And that made me think about how (older) people go to church and proclaim that every dollar they earn, they will give 10 cents back to the Church. It's moving to hear my brother try to give me such a grand portion. A lot of people I have talked to thus far want to keep it to themself. They say that they would disgrace God if they gave away something that He gave them. But my brother sees it as a sacrifice to a greater good. He isn't selling his soul to the Devil, or giving up something he doesn't care about, something precious. He does it because he knows what will come out of it will be good, and inspiring, and will make people think about their own spirits. I only have his picture to show, because he is the only one I want to show. There were more, but I want to dedicate this blogspot to him.

James Anthony Moya-Mendez

More Thoughts + Contract!

Hurrah! I finally finished the contract. But, I can't offer you a link or anything. You will just have to ask me if you want a copy to read over and then eventually sign.
Other than that, I thought it would be really interesting if I made a booth, kinda like a lemonade stand, and ask pedestrians and random passerbyers if they wanted to offer me a piece of their soul for art's sake. Or maybe a petition, going door to door asking for donations. I think I decided against that idea however because I am then violating peoples personal space, and I don't wanna get my nuts kicked or anything.
I also thought about the pictures I would be taking. I thought it might be even more interesting if I print and cut up all the pictures of the people I have taken in accordance with the percentage of soul that I was given, and collaged them together as a 100% complete soul. Example: Let's say Abe Lincoln gives me 25%, Farrokh Bulsara gives me 50% and Michael Jackson gives me 25% also. I will cut 25% of Lincoln and Michael's pictures out and collage them with Farrokh's 50%, so I amass a complete soul out of smaller portions.

Fiber art

This week, we all went to the Mint Museum of Craft and Design to study fiber art... for no particular reason. It was fun and enjoyable... until we actually saw the exhibit. I learned a lot... but will never use what I've learned. So all in all, it was very educational!

No really. What is holding these people back? They obviously have the talent and skills needed to really fuck with contemporary youth, but all they're doing is weaving pretty colors back and forth. I don't care to look at something that makes my limbic lobe relaxed and tranquil feeling. I want to look at shit that makes me ralph all over the floor or question my existence or at least have a greater appreciation for the methods used to create it in the first place. I would just rather see art that makes me change who I am. I like the shock value (and I don't mean shitty, underdeveloped shock) in contemporary art. Where is the serious content and purpose?

Some people like this stuff though, either because they suck at making quilts and they get a lot of inspiration out of looking at other aesthetically charged pieces or it reminds them of their dead grandmother or they just have a bland personality. And I know that not all art has to communicate an idea or message. Sometimes just evoking emotion is all that it is about, but for a museum that primarily contains art made after WW2, in an era that concerns itself with questions of what constitutes what art actually is, I expect to see something a little more avant-garde/modern than paleolithic... which leads me to my next point.

I don't know if I want to say this is art. Is it? Yes, the museum says it is. Does that mean I won't argue it? Hell no. Is it modern art? Yes, says the museum, but not really (not to me anyway). I'm aware we have been arguing what art is since the dawn of Greek civilization, and I know that there is no complete definition that clearly categorizes it, but I still have to argue it, especially because I live in a time that characterizes art as being original, transcendent of the literary, or pushing strong social and political viewpoints into the mainstream culture. When I see quilts or blankets hanging on the walls, I think textiles. Industrial Revolution. Cozy, warm, belongs on my bed. This type of work, as a whole, hasn't really developed so much that we can say it's breaking new boundaries or intervening on, manipulating or developing the social structures of our modern world. Shouldn't contemporary art and museums make the public stop in the middle of the sidewalk and ask questions about our morals or ethical principles, our ideas about global warming or baby killing, our addiction to prescription drugs or how we perceive Christ or our mother's sexuality?

Also, gotta love those docents! I just love the way they tell you how to think about art while you're being led around like a dog on a leash! While I personally prefer the Andrea Fraser types, I wouldn't have minded making hot, art-porn with ours either.

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Albert Einstein

Cliché? I think so! But important to realize none the less.
It is my belief that a true artist must completely explore, comprehend, accept and facilitate all sparks of creative thought. Art is a way of reflecting on our imagination, beliefs, gained knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Without a fundamental understanding of art and its disciplines, we wouldn't be able to express our individual ideas or culture as a whole.
Art must be viewed in the broadest sense of its meaning. It is an artist's duty to acknowledge and proliferate all forms of art - not just visual art, but performance, theatre, music, dance, language arts, culinary arts and the physical arts as well - even if they pursue mastery in only one or two specific disciplines.
Now I sure as hell don’t think my art is more important or meaningful than any person, be it Giotto or some random, Hispanic third grader, but I would have to say I was kind of disappointed in some of the Material Invention projects we looked at this week. I was expecting everyone in the class to have a firmer grip on exactly what they wanted to do, and develop their pieces like they would any other fine artwork they would work on.

Given, I myself didn’t develop my work as well as I would have liked, given the restrictions, but I still think I have a lot firmer grasp on how to manipulate content, form, or even the overall composition of my art work for a more powerful or aesthetical response. I’m very critical of other people doing a good job, and I know it sounds kind of doucheish, but I want everyone to realize that you are making this art for me too. So do a good job! You have lots to offer and I want to learn something from you!

As for our Meaning lecture, thanks Stephanie, Drake and David. I enjoyed sucking on your brains!