Today we stayed in Manhattan all day, starting with a studio visit. We met with artist Franklin Evans who is in the process of preparing for a show in Rome, Italy. His work features bold, bright colors and imaginative designs as well as bits and pieces of art history ranging from Titian to impressionism and post impressionism such as Matisse and Cezanne. He explained to us that much of his work is about the process of creating and that his studio becomes its own piece of art in the process of creating other works. Because of this, the Covid pandemic was really difficult because his work could not be seen in person and lacked a lot of the material quality when shown on a screen. In addition, he allowed us into his studio where we sat to discuss his work. It was unusual, however, as we were allowed to walk over his art (with foot booties). His studio was like a mess of paint and paper, with material everywhere (on the walls, and floor). Overall, his work isn’t something that I’m used to and would normally not spend a lot of time looking at, however I was surprised by how much I liked it. It is very creative and visually interesting. I’m not sure if it would be described as conceptual or not, but it feels very conceptual in the sense that even if the meanings of the world are not immediately apparent they still exist. This fit in very well with the museum we saw after meeting with Evans – the New Museum of Contemporary art. This museum is full of conceptual art and installation. The first thing that stuck me about walking into this space was the sounds. Upon walking into many gallery spaces there were all kinds of noises. It was a little bit off putting, especially with the high pitched screaming sounds that accompanied a screen that displayed a neon human head and the underlying skull and vertebra. I feel like this is something that I would have liked if it didn’t have such off putting sounds. I felt that the museums were interesting but weren’t really meant for me. While it is interesting to see the work and figure out how they display the difficult and often political concepts underlying the art – I felt as though there were times I just couldn’t quite figure it out, even though I spent lots of time trying. Sometimes I would take away my own ideas and conclusions, which I think is good and allows the viewer to engage with pieces more deeply. However, there were other times I left not knowing what to think or how to feel. One reason that I did lie the museums is because of how many non-American artists were featured. I don’t actually think I saw an American name – which is great. Being in the U.S I feel that I only see art from people who live in the U.S but the New museum had work from people all over the world. It is also valuable because the viewer gets to see how artist’s from other countries deal with issues surrounding their own heritage or issues regarding their countries. Drew University also has an art history curriculum that is extremely Eurocentric, so it is really nice and very refreshing get away from that.
