Week 8 | Andy Liu

 Mirzoeff textbook, How to See the World Chapter 2

"Seeing the world is not about what we see but what we make of what we see."

"Only the fact that we think indicates that we exist. Everything else must be doubted and tested."

- I found these quotes to be intriguing as they pertain to our everyday lives. As an artist, it is fascinating how there could be one picture or painting yet everyone sees something a little different. We are all seeing the same thing, yet we aren't. The saying goes, we bring ourselves into whatever work of art we're experiencing. Thus, even though we're looking at the same thing, we all make something different of what we see. Furthermore, it's interesting to approach existence based on the fact that we think, yet the thoughts we have are nonmaterial which in contrast to all the "existing" objects in our world are of material. I agree with the sentiment that everything must be doubted and tested, because if it wasn't then how would be know?

John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Chapter 4+5

"Oil painting did to appearances what capital did to social relations. It reduced everything to the equality of objects. Everything became exchangeable because everything became a commodity."

"Yet many oil paintings were themselves simple demonstrations of what gold or money could buy. Merchandise became the actual subject-matter of works of art."

- Oil paintings of ordinary objects tend to instigate questioning regarding why this object was painted, yet when the object is painted it isn't the object anymore but a representation of said object. With this in mind, this allowed "everything" to become a commodity as anything could be painted then sold. It's understood that in art history that still life paintings depict the lifestyle of the owner of the painter and that itself become a commodity. 

Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises

"Because of her figures’ ultimate other­worldly manifestations, it was most surprising to see that they begin as rather classical drawings before they are reworked, manipulated, amputated, ornamented and otherwise transformed."

"Mutu’s work is informed by important social and cul­tural issues, but leaves the ugly truths for the surrounding discourse, even though there are hints in the works, such as stereotypical depictions of “exotic” Africans."

- I appreciate her perspective and the topics she addresses in her works. Although times are progressing, women at times are still seen as objects for sexual desires, and through Mutu's work she criticizes that aspect. To appropriate pornographic images to create portraiture is a means of reclaiming the power that pornography holds and recontextualizing it present the audience with images that challenge their assumed depictions of women in seductive positions.

Creature collage inspired by Wangechi Mutu