Event 2- Hammer Museum

Event 2- Hammer Museum- 5/16/17

When I visited the Hammer Meuseum, I truly had no idea what to expect. Would it be contemporary paintings, political pictures, sculptures? What I found was truly more than just individual pieces of art; everything and everwhere had a message. They were all different, but they were all important.

The first place I visited was an exhibit created by Oliver Payne and Keiichi Tanaami. In a half dome shaped room, there were 20 or so of a similar type of artwork that was unlike anything I had seen before.

The best way to describe it would be like a tradition sketched with Japanese video game icons superimposed upon it. My very first thought when I saw this was to what the message could possibly be becuase there was clearly something it was trying to say. Imedietly, for this piece in particular, my mind went back to the Art and Robicts unit in week 3. To mix this type of middle like weapon coming out of the hands of what appears to be a representation of Buddhism or another type of religion which spreads the idea of piece is very unusual. The eyes are made up of spaceship that are shooting blue misses downward in the shape of tears. To me, this is a commentary on how the current weaponization of the world and the constant fighting that is occurring is at odds with the more peaceful religions that do everything in their power to spread the message of peace and unity.

After experiencing this artwork, I felt like the other exhibits had to be somewhat similar. In short, I was completely wrong. The next exhibit I toured was more traditional looking artwork, all composed in the 1700-1800s. One piece in particualr grabbed my eye.

It was of a ship dock somewhere on the French coast near Normandy. Unlike the previous piece of artwork, it was not clear representation of some message, but rather something that I could look at and study for hours in order to create my own message depending on my mood. I could discuss the calmness of the sky compared the the choppiness of the sky or the simplicity of the boats on one side of the dock compared to the massive merchant ships on the side opposite.

As I walked towards the next hall, I noticed something else that was clearly conveying a message. Although this time, it wasn't part of an exhibit, but rather the meuseum

itself. Above a group of people playing ping-pong on a table, there was a giant red sign that read, "End White Supremacy. Firstly, I was surprised there was ping-pong tables in a museum. I had always been taught that you were supposed to be quiet and admire the art, but that is it. This went against every norm I had ever learned. And twhatmay have been the point of placing this piece here. You have to go against the norm, do what isn't common, in order to create equality. Or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, it's one of my favorite artworks at the museum.

For my last room in the museum, I toured an exhibit by Jeanine Oleson which had a beautiful instillation of a large fabric rug in the center of a room, with audio coming out of what appeared to be a clay pot. It wasn't until I was leaving the museum however where I noticed the final piece that at first, I didn't even realize was part of the museum. As part of Andrea Bower's instillation, there was 2 very, very large pieces built into the lobby. The first, as seen in my selfie at the beginning of the blog, was a series of ribbons hung on metal polls, all with different messages such as "Divest LA" "Agua es Vida" and "Tierra y Libertad".

 This, in combination with the second part, which as a massive graph on the wall, and light up letters with the same words. represented the banks that were purchasing and investing in different mining places throughout the country. Through their pipelines, there is an irreversible amount of damage not only done to the environment, but also the communities that they pass through. There is no doubt this is a politically charged issue. But as we have learned in just about every unit throughout this quarter, art

is a courier for difficult topics because people are able to receive the actual message in a non-combative way because they can see it in a different light. So while it is trying to make a point about the environment and communities by doing it in an artistic and creative way, so much of the tension is diffused.

Throughout the tour of this museum, while I expected to go and look at some nice artwork, I got so much more. I reaffirmed so many of the lessons I have learned in this course so far, and have been able to experience messages I am familiar with at this point, but in a whole new and creative way which only makes it sink in that much more. As an experience as a whole, this has been on of my favorite art museums I have ever visited, even though it is quite small, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys artistic expression.