The Empire State

So over the weekend I had the chance to visit NYC, meet some artists, and visit some galleries. I'm going to use a couple posts to talk about my adventures.

I went to NYC with the Visual Arts Department from Gettysburg College. We spent Saturday Morning walking around Chelsea visiting different Art Galleries. Over all I was not too impressed by what I saw hanging on the walls of the remodeled garages. The works by Wangechi Mutu as well as Albert Oehlen did spike my interest, but the majority of the art I saw was plain and simple shit. The Galleries were filled with to much "Modern Art", which in my opinion, while modern art does demostrate skill and planning it fails to incorporate all the elements and principles of art. Now before I go on I will state that I am a hypocrite and by no means to I consider myself to be a good artist. I see all this art that moves millions of dollars around the world and wonder how it is possible. I am never fully satisfied with my own work because I feel that I am still learning how to use all of the elements and principles to create truly great work.

I don't mean to say that I hate every piece of "Modern Art" I have ever seen. However I cannot comprehend how some people can enjoy such simplistic, "conceptual" work. But to each his own, and my own is to be the anti-"Modern Artist".

On a closing note, amidst all the multimillion dollar galleries we stumbled upon a great alley way underneath a bridge. Along the walls were some great graffiti/street art pieces mixed amongst parked cars and empty wine bottles. The piece which displays a two headed eagle had a tag next to it which stated "blog about this". I'm debating as to whether the artist was looking to get their work out onto the internet world or if it was a blatant statement expressing disdain for the blogging community. Either way it is an impressive piece and I think people should see it. I mean, it is street art right?