Module 13/14 Videos Review

1.       For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

“The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art”

•  Lowbrow was used originally by an artist Robert Williams and it used to mean lacking taste. It now has developed to have a meaning of its own
•  The dominating art from in the 1950s and 1960s was abstract expressionism. In the 1960s rock posters used several visual psychedelic colorful images combined with lowbrow images. They were shown in Europe during this time, but the U.S. refused to include them in any museums. It was perceived as art by “hippies on drugs”.  
•   Lowbrow always contains a narrative pun, where there is dynamics and always something happening in the art
• These types of artists had complete freedom to create art that doesn’t necessarily provoke thoughts from the viewers.
• The internet brought an awareness of new styles of art such as lowbrow.
•   In the late 70s, punk rock musicians became widely popular, and all these musicians had a fine arts background. Lowbrow art was expressed in record covers, rock band flyers, etc. Several times the musicians would be the ones designing the record covers, which allowed for millions of people to be exposed to their art when they purchased the records
• The Lowbrow movement blew up when a curator in 1986 began showing these types of art that are selling for much more money than art used to. 
• Over the past few years, lowbrow’s genre has changed and several art galleries are now open to showcase them

“An Acquiring Mind: Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan”

• The Met opened in 1870 with several European and Dutch paintings, but eventually the collection grew to represent all cultures and works of art 
•   Any work of art being considered to put on play in a museum must be approved by the director. Montebello has turned down several artworks he is unimpressed with.  A private employee meeting is held for the curators to present their findings in 5 minutes.
• It is difficult to eliminate personal taste completely as an art curator, but it is important to remain objective
• Curators are a part of portraying history, especially in the Met. There are nearly 100 curators and curator assistants who enhance and add to the Met’s collection.   
• When a museum acquires a work of art, it is the beginning of the discovery process.  Many works have been purchased for display without knowing anything about the artworks, like the country they were created in, who created it or who (if it’s a person) the art is portraying
•  Art conservation is crucial to the preservation of art history for the world. Sign of age is desired, and the art is not intended to look new or in perfect condition.
• The Met has one of the largest collections 17^th century Italian baroque paintings, and over half of them were acquired under the curatorship of Montebello
• Exhibitions planned in the Met all have themes. The can be large or small, broad, centered on an artist, movement, or time period

2.       Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.

 

The videos relate to the Art Exhibition project because they feature interviews from art curators as well as assistants that help explain the job of an art curator. The interviews explain certain artworks and how they fit a theme or represent a time period. The videos show different artworks in exhibitions that center around a theme, and the curator explains how the piece was acquired and why it was needed for that exhibition.

3.       What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?

I thought the videos were helpful in explaining what an art curator or an art curator assistant does when creating or adding to an exhibit. I thought the video about the Metropolitan Museum explained art curation in better detail and I was able to gather more information and ideas for themes for my art curation project.