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ART MUSEUM CRITIQUE

Name_MaddieMcMillan Class period/section: Huma. Tue., Th @ 1 pm


1) Which museum did you visit? (check one) __X_ Univ. of Utah ___ BYU
2)Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period, geographic
region, or topic) within the museum. {150 words}
I chose the latin American section. The first thing I noticed about this section as a whole
was how abstract, and vibrant it was. I remember there was one picture titled, No
parking here at any time, and it was extremely vibrant. There were bright colors, and
there was quite a bit of violence as well. The focus of the picture was a brightly colored
severed head with a knife stabbed into it. Another picture was portraying people (that
were blue) dancing in black with lots of colors in it. I think these pictures were supposed
to show the Latin American love for colors, and fun, and partying. The next pictures I
looked at were of hard times for Latin American people. One was a picture of a refugee
with their mouth covered. And another was a physical representation of a kitchen. It
was extremely small, and it showed that Latin Americans did have hard trials, but found
joy in life still.
2) Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask
museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). {100 words}
I found the temporary exhibit a little weird. The exhibit I chose was a few pictures that
were dedicated to a DJ named Larry Levan. It was two pictures, and in each picture,
the people had zoomed in pictures of Larry Levan stuck to their faces. I thought it was
just a dumb picture, but the point the photographer was trying to make was this: That
Larry Levans face was on women, black men, and white men, and that meant that
Levans music spanned across all different kinds of people. This showed the high
degree of respect that the photographer had for Larry Levan as an artist, and as a man.
3) What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to learn
or gain from the exhibits you viewed? {100 word minimum}
I think that museums as a whole are teachings of the humanities. They teach us about
people who have come and gone, and what their lives were like. The people at the
museum picked the exhibits that they did, because they want us as a Utah culture to
understand other people, and other cultures. Whats most important is that they wanted
us to see that art, regardless of who does it, or when they do it, connects us, and helps
us to associate ourselves with the people who did the art, or the cultures that were
associated with art. Different exhibits help us to expand the way that we look at the
world, and to be more open to other kinds of thinking. And I think its a beautiful concept
that art ties the past and the present together.
5)What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for further
information if you were interested? (Name three possibilities)
Each piece had information about the artist that did the piece, and what inspired
them to do it. Some pieces that took a long time described how the artist made the
piece.
1. They had a QR code on each museum piece description that would

automatically give more information


2. We live in a world where the internet is right in our hands. If we
wanted to know more we could simply look it up.
3. I could ask a museum worker about a piece as well. I could also, if
I was REALLY interested, write a letter to the artist or their family
regarding the piece, so that they could give me more insight on it.
4) Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to
these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the
artists? What message do you think the artists were trying to convey in the works you
chose to discuss? This question must be answered in its entirety. {This should be at
least 500 words}
1. One piece that I found to be really cool was a tire sculpture. From
far away, it looked like glass, or hard plastic, but when I got onto the
second floor and saw it, I was amazed. The artists name is
Chakaia Booker. The sculpture was done in 2008, and its simply
black tires wound and bound together. Booker titled this Discarded
Memories. In those two words, I felt like the meaning she was
trying to convey was that there are memories that we disregard and
take for granted while in our cars. But honestly, how much time is
spent in the car with our families, singing songs, taking naps, or just
talking? I think she was saying that we need to remember all the
fun times we have with other people.
2. Another piece I thought was cool was a piece titled Man on Fire. I
was mainly attracted to this piece because it wasnt a painting, it
was large, and it had a man, with no emotion on his face, with
flames shooting up and to the left of him. That interested me too,
because the fire shot off of him almost, rather than completely
engulfing him. He did this sculpture to talk about an Aztec ruler
named Cuauhtemhoc who drove the Spaniards from Mexico city.
He got tortured with fire. He also did it in reference to monks who
set themselves on fire. I think that overall, he was agreeing with
their war protests, and showing his admiration, by making the man
still look strong, and brave even though he was on fire.
3. Another piece I found to be very interesting was an all granite
picture. I didnt realize it was granite though. Anyway, it was all
black, but it had different textures, some of them being very shiny,
or grainy, etc. The artist is Teresita Fernandez. She did this
sculpture all out of granite by studying different types of granite to
imitate a horizon. She did it based off of the history of the Valley
Borrowedale in Cumbria, England. She wanted it to be interpreted
however the viewer interpreted it.
4. A random thing that I loved about the museum was this door. It
technically was a piece. It had no label. It had no deep meaning. I
was just beautifully done by, Id assume, a student at the U. From
far away this door was light and dark blue. It had an intricate, but
simple pattern of flowers and designs. As I got closer to the door, I
saw that it was in fact all tape! It was even one color of tape. But
the person that had decorated this door had layered their pattern so
that It looked like there were three colors. It was amazing, and it

made me want to decorate my door as such.


5. Another piece I thought was cool was this type writer. It was fun
because it could be touched, and actually typed with. While I was
typing my note, I looked up and saw all of the other notes people
had written on there. Even though no one else probably noticed it
or cared, I thought that it was really cool that people in the Salt
Lake Valley were all connected by one little piece of paper on a
type writer. That I could see a glimpse into hundreds of peoples
lives by what they said on the paper. It was the first time Ive really
appreciated Humanities as a whole. It made me realize that every
person is living a life on this Earth too, and that its interesting to
learn about it.
5) How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class?
(They do relate in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships). {Minimum
of 150 words}
The main thing I was thinking about was how love spans across time, no matter the
amount. One of the temporary exhibits was a shrine that was dedicated to a woman
named Lola. It was beautiful, and it had dried flowers all over the ground around it.
I saw how war is everywhere in all societies in the Pacific Island section, when I looked at
Pacific body masks, and things that might be seen or looked at as armor. Another thing
that I noticed was spirituality. That was the main thing that was compared among all the
exhibits. Every exhibit had certain focuses on spirituality. In the Latin American section, it
was shrines, and ceremonial candles and other items. In the Pacific Island section, it was a
spirit boat that spirits would ride on in the afterlife. I made me think a lot about how all
cultures believe in something. And that doesnt mean that what they believe in is wrong, it
just means each group is different. And thats ok. No one group is a more right than the
other. Each exhibit showed me that spirituality gives more purpose to life, and who cares if
its different from other religions. It makes the group that practices it happy, and as long as
no one is hurt, why judge it?
6) What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this
type of event again? Why or why not? {Minimum 100 words}
I personally really enjoyed the pieces that I was looking at. I thought they were really
cool! I like to see the different ways that people look at the world, and what the world is
to them. One thing that I was thinking about when looking at these pictures and
sculptures was that I need to get as much out of my life as I can; that I need to make
memories, and experience other cultures. I realized that some of the stereotypes that I
tied to certain cultures were not entirely accurate. It made me look at some things in my
life a little bit differently. I would enjoy attending an art gallery again because I found a
lot of the different works to be very interesting, and I thought a lot of the pictures and
sculptures were really cool!

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