Mining MIA

The pieces that I will be using that were from Minneapolis Institute of Art include:

Age of Bronze

Francois-Auguste-Rene Rodin
1876-1877
Bronze
France





The Tiber Muse
Unknown sculpture
2nd-1st century BCE
Marble
Rome







Head of Aphrodite
Unknown sculpture
3rd century BCE
Marble
Greece







Mirror (that I couldn't get to load on here, but here is the website for it http://www.artsmia.org/viewer/detail.php?v=12&id=8288

Mirror
Unknown artist
1710
Wood, gesso
England

Ceremonial Ko Dagger (another that I can't get to load on here
website: http://www.artsmia.org/viewer/detail.php?v=12&id=835

Ceremonial Ko Dagger
Unknown craftsman
1523-1028 BCE
grey-green jade with white striations and bronze with green crystal inlay
China

Imagine a room with oak paneling and small windows. There is a mirror placed on the far wall painted a gold color with two candles placed in it flickering softly. The Rodin statue Age of Bronze is facing the mirror, seeing it's reflection looking back at it. Right behind him, about a few feet away is the Ceremonial Ko Dagger. It is lying on the floor pointing away from what it lying right next to it, the Head of Aphrodite. The Head of Aphrodite is lying on it's side about a foot away from the knife, and facing the dagger. Rodin's statue is placed farther away from the head than it's distance from the dagger. Standing right behind the breakage point in the head, is The Tiber Muse. The Roman statue is placed about two feet away from the head. Throughout this whole setup, the only light would be from the two candles in the mirror.

I wanted it to symbolize how people are always innocent bystanders. That people rather worry about their problems instead of helping those who need it.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism. It is artwork that, some believe, started in Paris in 1968 from the student riots; while others believe it started twenty years ago. It is an artwork that is innovated, but does derive some background in society, whether it is from everyday life or a famous painting. An example of a postmodern piece of art is Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. That architecture is postmodernism because of the innovation throughout the entire building. He designed the museum off of the history of Bilbao as a fishing town; hence, the giant fishing boat. By forming the entire museum as a boat, Gehry showed how the history of that city is important to that area. He doesn't go completely away from modernism, like what postmodernity artists do, instead he shows the science and industrialization that modernism emphasized. The curves of the steel plates catches the light, and the entire building is constructed of a steel frame and titanium sheathing. Lastly, the dog that Jeff Koon placed in front of the museum added a comical viewpoint on the building. The dog seems to be the museum's guard dog. Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain with Jeff Koon's Puppy, in my opinion of what I know about postmodernism, are postmodern works of art.

Website for just the museum

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/bilbao/guggenheim_museum_bilbao.htm

*note: If you want a larger picture of the museum just click on that thumbnails. Also, this website has better pictures of just the museum.

Website for Guggenheim Museum with Puppy

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/bilbao/gehryguggenheim/gehry.html

*note: Again, if you want a larger picture of the museum with the puppy, just click on the thumbnails.

Thank you for reading

Susan Ahlfs

Intro

Hey, I'm Susan Ahlfs. I go to the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, MN. I will be blogging about various artists and artwork that are located in the twin cities' area. I basically will be blogging about the contemporary arts, with most likely a few exceptions.