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Have you ever felt as though a piece of art changed you? Forever altered the way you see the world? It sounds idyllic, but I like to believe it’s true – not as an artist teaching, but as a student, constantly engaging with the many forms of expression I encounter each day. Today was one of those days that a work of art moved me. 

"Art is not what you see, but you make others see" - Edward Degas, www.pinterest.com/zatista

I stumbled upon a YouTube video a friend posted on Facebook. It was a short documentary about the story of a 17-year-old boy living with terminal cancer. He was faced with months, maybe weeks to live – and so he did. Zach Sobiech turned to music as a means to say goodbye to all of his loved ones. Zach’s song “Clouds” has reached millions on Youtube, and is now available on iTunes.

“And we’ll go up, up, up


But I’ll fly a little higher


We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little nicer


Up here my dear


It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now


When I get back on land


Well I’ll never get my chance


Be ready to live and it’ll be ripped right out of my hands”

As I watched Zach tell his story (albeit through some tears), I started to wonder about the way in which we are all living. I also wondered about art’s place in this life. What if someone told you you had one year, or one month, or one week to live? What would you do with that time? Would you travel? Would you run a marathon? Would you write a song? Would you tell someone you loved them? Would you get married? Would you mend a friendship? Maybe you would paint a masterpiece. Or visit a renowned artwork in a foreign country.

“You don’t have to find out you’re dying to start living.” – Zach Sobiech

Perhaps we should change the question: What would you do, if you knew you could not fail? Would you run a marathon? Would you write a song? Would you tell someone you loved them? Would you paint a masterpiece?

Fear is what stops us from determining our greatness. Zach reached his family, and people everywhere with his music. It will go on forever, even if Zach cannot.

"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt" - Sylvia Plath, www.piccsy.com

Millions of people are remembered today because of what they left behind – a little piece of them. Whether it be the ceramic decorated mosques of the Ilkhanids in the Middle East, the water lilies of Monet, the crooning of Frank Sinatra, or the forever relatable words of Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, we remember these icons for their art and their message.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss, www.blissfulroots.com

So, the next time you contemplate drawing, or writing, or singing – be sure to do it. It’s sure to be extraordinary, and it’s bound to have an effect on another human.

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• No Photos, Please!

Described as a “global art project transforming messages of personal identity into works of art,” the INSIDE OUT project encourages any citizen of the world – man, woman, elder, child, religious or not, to share their face. By sharing our portrait, it is believed we are sharing our message.

"Rising Souls, Haiti: the resilience of Haitians," Port of Prince, Haiti, www.jr-art.net

Inspired by renowned street artist, JR, the project brings coworkers, activists, friends and communities together by asking them to create a group action. A statement to define who they are, and what they are standing up for. A group could be as little as five people, or bring together an entire city, like the group action witnessed in New York’s Time Square this past month.

INSIDE OUT Project in Time Square, New York City, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT has reached the far corners of the world. Meaning we, the citizens, are standing up for what we believe in. Some of the outstanding group actions are standing up to issues of oppression, apartheid, gender-based violence, youth-based violence, and climate change.

INSIDE OUT's locations, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT’s project “Esperanza” (meaning hope) was a collective action that brought to light the faces of mothers in Caracas, Venezuela, whose children were victims of violence.

The Mother's of Caracas, Venezuela, www.insideoutproject.net

In Afghanistan, the INSIDE OUT project meant lifting the stigma that the media has laid out of what living in this country is really like. Collaborating with ISAF HQ, the people of Kabul proved that there is in fact happiness in the neighbourhoods – laughter can be heard, and living in Afghanistan is something to be celebrated.

INSIDE OUT Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, www.insideoutproject.net

JR’s innovative project has even landed in the Arctic, as activists of the #savethearctic movement created a massive eye at the top of the world, trying to rid the icy land of the destructive industries that are encroaching.

The Eye on top of the World, the Arctic, www.insideoutproject.net

Another project facilitated by JR, Face 2 Face has been his largest illegal call to action yet. Meeting people on both sides of the separation wall, in Israel and Palestine, JR pasted massive portraits along the separation wall on both sides of the conflict. Groups of portraits were posted together of people – from either side – doing the exact same job. One pasting presents passers-by with the face of a rabbi, an imam and a priest; another with the face of a Palestinian cook, and his equal on the Israeli side.

The Holy Triptych, Seperation Wall in Bethlehem, Palestine, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT is putting all of us face-to-face. With our own issues, and maybe the ones we haven’t opened our eyes up to yet. Anyone can take part, so perhaps this is our call to action. What are we standing up for, yelling about, whole-heartedly caring about? Let’s paste!

“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world… INSIDE OUT.”  - JR

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Museumgoers snapping photos of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, 1889, at MoMA. ©2013 REBECCA ROBERTSON

From Carolina A. Miranda via Art News:

We’re in an age when people take pictures just about everywhere, an act that photography critic Jörg M. Colberg describes as “compulsive looking.” The phenomenon has created a unique set of challenges for art museums, many of which have historically had strict limitations on photography — either for the purpose of protecting light-sensitive works or because of copyright issues.

Diane Madden, center, leads Trisha Brown dancers in “Roof Piece Re-Layed” at the Modern photo: Ruby Washington/The New York Times

But the ubiquity of digital cameras, along with the irrepressible urge to take pictures, has led many museums to revise their policies in recent years. “You are fighting an uphill battle if you restrict,” says Nina Simon, director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History and author of The Participatory Museum. “Even in the most locked-down spaces, people will still take pictures and you’ll still find a million of these images online. So why not support it in an open way that’s constructive and embraces the public?”

image from allposters.com

Certainly, there are practical reasons for doing so – no-photo policies can be difficult to enforce. What’s more – social media further complicates the issue. This Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reported that 97 percent of the more than 1,200 arts organizations it polled had a presence on platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. New York’s Museum of Modern Art, for example, posts photos of artworks and installation processes on Facebook (where it has around 1.3 million followers), the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art has photos of its Sol LeWitt wall drawings on Instagram, [and the list goes on].

a typical day's viewing in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum in Paris. Photograph: Lydie France/EPA

With museums sharing so much imagery themselves, it can be difficult for visitors to understand that they can’t necessarily do the same. “If a museum is really active on social media, they’re putting forward the idea that they represent a venue that is all about being conversational,” says Simon. “For the visitor, it can be disturbing to then go to the physical space and be confronted with a policy that isn’t.”

Photo by: Ryan Donnell 2009

The biggest hurdle to wide-open photo policies is the issue of copyright. Museums often do not hold the copyrights to the works they display, which creates legal problems when visitors start snapping away. But with the deluge of cameras, along with the fact that the vast majority of visitors simply want to snap a pic for a Facebook album, has led some institutionsnto ask lenders for permission to shoot, with the stipulation that pictures are for noncommercial use.

photo via gizmodo.com

“There’s an undeniable benefit to having visitors tweet about their visit or share photos,” says Brooke Fruchtman, associate vice president of public engagement at LACMA. “We’ve had great success with our Stanley Kubrick exhibition because people could take pictures of anything.” For more than a year, the museum has allowed photography in its permanent-collection galleries. Still, for temporary shows, permission ultimately rests in the hands of the lender, as in the case of Caravaggio’s Toothpuller, which is owned by the Galleria Palatina at the Pallazzo Pitti in Florence.

As a culture, we increasingly communicate in images. Twenty years ago, a museumgoer might have discussed an interesting work of art with friends over dinner. Today, that person is more likely to take a picture of it and upload it to Facebook.

photo via www.sketchngintuscany.com

This transformation in the way in which people digest visual stimuli — not to mention the rest of the world around them — is something that Harvard theoretician Lawrence Lessig has described as a shift from “read-only” culture (in which a passive viewer looks upon a work of art) to “read-write” culture (in which the viewer actively participates in a recreation of it). The first step toward recreating a work of art, for most people, is to photograph it, which, ultimately, isn’t all that different from the time-honored tradition of sketching.

You can also find Carolina A. Miranda at C-Monster.net

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Uncommon to the commuting world, I am a rare-breed of traveler who loves my daily public transportation time – it unearths the underground world of street art.

Balloon Boy by Spy

The practice of street art is one that is truly astounding. “Street art” is an umbrella term for graffiti, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheat pasting, guerrilla art, public mosaics, and yarn bombing. Street art around communities and urban settings brings an aesthetic to spaces, as well as a message.

Yarn bombed tank Copenhagen, 2006

Often, street art gets a bad wrap – stigmatized as vandalism, territorial tagging, or just another corporate advertisement.  In fact, this art movement, per say, requires a great deal of compositional theory and great attention to detail. Street Art, in any medium, often carries socially relevant themes, along with the flourish it adds to an ordinary brick wall.

Inside Out Project New York City, 2013

The INSIDE OUT Project, that recently took over Manhattan, is one that distinguishes the significance of street art, and art in the public forum. Through large-scale wheat pastings, the project enables everyone to share their personal and political views with a grandeur view of their own portrait. Participants can take their own photo, and take part in one of the photo booths set up for the project, and print their face, then paste it anywhere in their community. What a gift it is to be able to look up at the inspiring and driven faces within our own communities, and not just another ad for the latest automobile.

Inside Out Project New York City, 2013

As we integrate art into the streets around us, whether it is filled with political anarchy or is simply an intricately designed work, all thanks to the paint aisle at Home Depot, we also integrate this art into our homes. For the INSIDE OUT project, this means integrating our neighbours, and our sisters, and our uncles into the environment around us, and sharing the issues that matter to them.

Inside Out Project New York City, 2013

Perhaps here at home, we can do that same. Street Art doesn’t just have to be something we pass on our morning train. That same unsanctioned, underground passion can find a place in our homes as well – literally with artworks, like this photograph from Jon Bidwell, capturing street graffiti on the side of a train compartment.

Fourteen by Jon Bidwell on zatista.com

We can also incorporate the fervour, and graphic imagery found so commonly in graffiti, with mixed media, or graffiti-inspired paintings such as Deanna Fainelli’s “Slice of the City”.

Slice of the City by Deanna Fainelli on zatista.com

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IMAGE: Pinaree Sanpitak, Temporary Insanity, 2004, (installation detail taken at Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, 2004)

1. Pinaree Sanpitak: Temporary Insanity – Austin Museum of Art
WHAT: Exhibition of Southeast Asian artist, Pinaree Sanpitak, who combines organic symbols and brightly colored sculptural installations to reflect on themes of spirituality, femininity, and equality in the region.
WHEN: April 20-June 30, 2013
WHERE: AMOA-Arthouse
What to look out for: One hundred amorphous, squeezable sculptures that you can play with.

Lesley Dill. A Word Made Flesh...Throat, 1994. Gift of Stanley Freehling

2. The Artist and the Poet – Art Institute of Chicago
WHAT: Planned to coincide with the institute’s “Picasso and Chicago” exhibition, the array of prints and drawings reveal the collaborative relationship between artists like Pablo Picasso, Robert Motherwell and David Hockney and poets such as Max Jacob, Rafael Alberti and Wallace Steves, respectively.
WHEN: February 1st – June 2nd, 2013
WHERE: The Art Institute Chicago
What to look out for: ”Skin with O’Hara Poem” (1963–65), a print by Jasper Johns that was inspired by the poet Frank O’Hara.

mage: Shinique Smith, Swaying Beauty, 2007, clothing, foam, rope, and twine, 60 x 22 x 22 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Schiff Fine Art, © Shinique Smith.

3. Shinique Smith: Firsthand – LACMA
WHAT: A exhibition of Shinique Smith’s work that reflects on the artist’s Baltimore upbringing and early desire to work with fashion and design.
WHEN: February 8th, 2013 – ongoing
WHERE: Los Angeles Museum of Art
What to look out for: A combination of costumery and textiles tangled into sculptural installations like “Swaying Beauty.”

El Anatsui (Ghanaian, b. 1944). Earth’s Skin, 2007. Aluminum and copper wire, 177 x 394 in. (449.6 x 1000.8 cm). Courtesy of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

4. Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui – Brooklyn Museum
WHAT: The first solo exhibition in a New York museum by the Ghana-born artist El Anatsui.
WHEN: February 8th – August 4th, 2013
WHERE: Brooklyn Museum
What to look out for: Twelve giant wall and floor sculptures made from metal, wood and appropriated objects.

 

Thorne Anderson, Thawra, Baghdad, Iraq, April 18, 2003. Digital inkjet print. High Museum of Art, Atlanta. © Thorne Anderson

5. Eye Level in Iraq: Photographs by Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson – de Young, San Francisco
WHAT: The photographs of Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson, two American-trained photo journalists who documented the aftermath of the US-led allied invasion of Iraq in 2003.
WHEN: February 9th – June 16th, 2013
WHERE: de Young
What to look out for: Images taken outside the confines of the U.S. military’s embedded journalist program.

Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977) Marechal Floriano Peixoto (The World Stage: Brazil), 2009

6. Kehinde Wiley: The Memling Series – Phoenix Art Museum
WHAT: A new series of paintings by the New York artist Kehinde Wiley, who is known for his knack for re-envisioning classical styles of portraiture.
WHEN: February 20th – June 23rd, 2013
WHERE: Phoenix Art Museum
What to look out for: Eight paintings based on the work of Hans Memling, the Flemish master painter of the Northern Renaissance.

James Turrell, Acro, Green, 1968, projected light, the MFAH, Museum purchase. © James Turrell

7. James Turrell: A Retrospective – Museum of Fine Arts Houston
WHAT: A collection of the many light installations of American artist James Turrell, concurrently presented by the MFAH, LACMA and the Guggenheim
WHEN: June 9th – September 22nd, 2013 at MFAH (May 26th, 2012-April 6th, 2014 at LACMA and June 21st-September 25th, 2013 at Guggenheim)
WHERE: Museum of Fine Arts Houston
What to look out for: ”Vertical Vintage”, a grouping of a dozen interactive, light-based installations.

Claes Oldenburg. Pastry Case, I. 1961–62. Painted plaster sculptures on ceramic plates, metal platter, and cups in glass-and-metal case, 20 3/4 x 30 1/8 x 14 3/4" (52.7 x 76.5 x 37.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection. © 2012 Claes Oldenburg

8. Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store – MoMA
WHAT: A retrospective of Claes Oldenburg, an artist who once rented a storefront in New York City and filled it with handmade, painted sculptures that mimicked the everyday commercial products sold in stores throughout the neighborhood.
WHEN: April 14th – August 5th, 2013
WHERE: Museum of Modern Art
What to look out for: A selection of Oldenburg’s past “Store” performances, seen through films projected throughout the exhibition’s halls.

 

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