woops week 12
This week we are reading about China Adams, Alix Lambert, (the Intro to Measuring Succes) and Betsy Damon.
1. I believe that this is the first week that all of the artists we are reading about are women. From our readings in the book can we make any judgements on the representation of women and their level of success within the world (s) of contemporary fine art. How else might we make such judgements? What information can you find online about these issues?
China Adams is definitely a corky one. She drinks human blood out of love. I mean, call that whatever you want but that’s someone who really truly unconditionally loves you. For me, it’s so repulsing to even think about it, but for her, it’s an expression of friendship and love. Also, I can’t help to wonder if she ever tapes herself drinking the blood or if she keeps that part confidential (even though she openly talks about it and publishes it.) This woman is bizarre and seem to be very emotional and romantic which I like, and I also admire her way of selling herself. She’s made it, whether she wants to believe it or not.
Alex Lambert is a woman a little less in la-la land and a little more ‘head-on-your-shoulders’ gal. Her work comes from real life circumstances and real life situations that she finds interesting. Real time is what she captures and I think people respect that, sometimes more than creativity. Beauty is all around us but we often forget to even look. She captures the now that we tend to overlook because we see it in fiction. It’s interesting to study about two very different women who are both equally successful.
Betsy Damon, I really loved. What started as an interest to help a community, evolved into a massive project involving millions of people around the world. Her success is clear and definite and I’m pretty sure that she will lay in peace on her death bed. Success is not determined by how much money you have, and have many cars you own, instead it is measured by the number of people you have touched throughout your life. In her case, she has helped the earth and the people not to be famous or to be a successful artist, but to help and make something beautiful and practical all while focusing on the element of water. There are thousands of biologist that do the same, but it’s nice to see that some are appreciated. Great work.
2. There seems to be a big shift between reading about the first two artists and then Damon. For me it doesn’t simply seem like the shift is the shift from “mission” to “success”. What other factors might unite or divide these three artists?
Adams and Lambert are what the majority of people would call “artists” whereas Damon is more of an engineer that is categorized as an artist. The first two artists make art for themselves primarily because that is their mission, their healing, their salvation, and their job, whereas Damon does it because she found a solution to a problem bigger than herself; she looks beyond the realm of her own life into the realm of the world around her.
3 years ago
