Tang Teaching Museum

The museum that I choose to visit was the Tang Teaching Museum located at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. The museum was a very magnificent museum with a variety of some strange and interesting works of art. The artists of the different works had their own unique forms of art, and what they featured to be important and significant to audiences. There were three exhibits in particular that I viewed while visiting the Tang Museum. The first piece was called The Way We Weren't, an oil canvas painting created by Nicole Eisenmen. The second piece, Blow by Blow, was a sculpture made out of glazed ceramic, hydrocal plaster, and painted plywood created by Arelene Shechet. The final piece that I viewed during my visit was a piece called Type A: Barrier. It was a scuplture made out of reinforced concrete, created by the collaborative team of Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin. Each one of these featured pieces had their own meaning, and value, in which the artists were hoping to convey to the people.

The first piece, The Way We Weren't, attempts to explore the lives of people, both socially and pschologically. Nicole Eisenmen is trying to explore the emotions in which people feel in their everyday lives. Emotions are important, and the way we cope with them socially as well as psychologically are pictured within this piece in a variety of ways. Eisenmen's goal is to move away from the cultural norms based on gender and the interactions between men and women during the time. The painting seems to portray earlier times, in particular Impressionist times, when artists broke through the barriers of modern artistic values. Eisenmen shows how men and women can interact, and do the same things within society, and everybody is still content with life.

Nicole Eisenmen: The Way We Weren't

Arlene Shechet's Blow by Blow is a sculpture in which she is attempting to portray never-ending movement. Her piece portrays a variety of twists and puff out in different directions. The piece had a unique glaze to it, to exemplify the movements within the piece that may not have been seen normally. The why in which it shined in the light helped to show it off more. The piece contained hollowed out sections, bulges, and even holes. It appeared that the piece was tranforming, moving outwards and inwards in every direction at once.

Arelene Shechet: Blow by Blow

Type A: Barrier was a piece made out of reinforced concrete; it was literally a concrete barrier that was trying to symbolize protection and security. After the World Trade Center attacks, people everywhere wanted protection and security to make them comfortable within society and not have to worry for their lives. Barriers sprung up all throughout cities, and Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin portrayed the different structural forms of barriers. Inspired by different types of barriers, such as concrete traffic barriers, Ames and Bordwin created their own unique barrier. A curved 60 degree arc makes the Type A: Barrier moe attracting and alluring to people in the need for protection. People are akin to things that seem to supply better protection for them

Adam Ames & Andrew Bordwin: Type A: Barrier

Each Exhibit was very interesting and made you wonder about different things that exist within our society. The ways in which the different pieces makes you think is extremely interesting and extraordinary. I never thought that I would need to put a lot of thought into art, however, some things you really have to look at and think about what it is that the artist is trying to convey to you.