Public Art Tour

Today, I went to the Loop Public Art Tour. It is a new experience for me, looking at the map, listening for the audio and walking to the art works I knew, to relearned and know deeper about the artworks. It is very interesting to listen to the audio and look at an artwork. This is like a tour inside a museum; actually it is an outdoor tour. When I listen to the audio, I feel very participate in appreciate the artwork.

In this tour, I found out many things that I never knew before. The painting in the top of the building, I did not know it was a "tattoo" of the building. Then, I knew there are three flats behind our school in the lake river, but I never knew that there is a Vietnam Memorial under the stairs. Also, I did not know the park near the Art Institute is "Public" garden. After this tour, I feel that things are not like what we think. I learned that we should know deeper and find the truth of every things that around us. Study will not end, wherever it is in school or in life.

I strongly recommend the tour to you, in the audio tour; you can learn things that you never learn before. Also, you will enjoy walking with yourself, listening the mp3, taking photograph for the artworks in the Loop : )

HOB: FolkArt

House of Blues Chicago Foundation Room

I have seen the House of Blues many times, but I never walk inside, and see what it is. This day, our field trip is to get in the House of Blues and appreciate the folk art they have. In House of Blues, they have a collection of many outsiders’ art work. Most of the current HOB artist used the original medium like mud or other simple things that shows in our life to paint their idea of work. Since we went there for our art appreciation class, the HOB staff guide us to their Foundation Room which just open for their members. The Chicago Foundation Room affords a unique setting for entertaining. Members can enjoy the internationally architectural artifacts collections, original folk art paintings, and live entertainment. They can go to the opera bar and enjoy the “Blue shows”. The most interested part in this field trip is the wall decorations. They used many kind of medium to decorate the wall. For example, cotton cloths, beer bottle caps, colorful mud. This is a great trip for our art class. Hope we can have more excited trips later.

F-111 by James Rosenquist

James Rosenquist, F-111, Oil on canvas with aluminum, 10 x 86', 1964-65.

This painting was painted during the Vitamin War. As you see, it is a large paint in 304.8 x 2621.3 cm in twenty-three sections using fuses pictures of American prosperity with a darker visual current and the U.S. Air Force fighter-bomber, F-111, to show the upsetting connections between militarism and the industrial structure of the American economy. I choose this painting because it shows one reason that why people made pop art. In 1960s, the United States are having many art work about anti-war protest. People wants to show their idea of what they want their society be with doing their art. In this painting, the diver, cake and the light bulbs are like clouds meaning the F-111 made the US became rich; then the smiling little girl sits under a bomber hairdryer and the sea of spaghetti looks made us feel uncomfortable. This painting shows the power and impact of what James Rosenquist wanted us to think of. Stop war! Nowadays, this painting still achieved international acclaim with its room-scale size.

For more information, go to The Museum of Modern Art