Blog entry 7

Where does art belong? Are there any restrictions on where art can or can not be? I dont believe there should be a limit on the location of art. “In other cultures, art has never been restricted to pictures on the wall, but has always been something much more integrated with life.”(251) This makes me think of advertisements. I find that advertisements are a key part of art. I find commercial art to still be art. The first artist that comes to mind first is Andy Warhol. This is an example of commercial design influencing fine art,Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can. Andy and other Pop artist from the 60's were heavily influenced by advertisements. Warhol was even a commercial artist before we made any attempts at the gallery system. Another example that comes to mind is street art. Artist like Banksy and COPE2 prefer the urban setting to display there work. In my eyes graffiti is often on the same level as works in galleries. This brings up the issue of the legality of street art. Should it be legal? I don't believe thats possible when it comes to privately owned buildings. Maybe city's should make a greater effort to give street artists opportunities to create work in legal ways. If there were legal opportunities for street artists I'm not convinced that they would go for it just because than they would lose the thrill of having it be illegal. Maybe street art is just this Catch-22 that I can't seem to grasp yet and maybe thats why I find my self so constantly interested and captivated by it.

This week in class, photographer Terri Warpinski presented her work. Some of Warpinski's landscape photographs really appealed to me. I also found that the more tweaked with work appealed to me less and less. Her brightly colored landscape photo's had a since of mystical beauty that was awe striking. Warpinski's work reminded me that there is such powerful beauty in the world that is just waiting to be captured, with a little help from technology of course. Another aspect of Warpinski's work that intrigued me was how much her work has lead her world travelings. I find that art allows you to see the world through a new unique lens and Warpinski was able to use her lend all over the world. She had such a unique and neutral seeming opinion about the world and its many cultures and conflicts. Her works and stories about Israel are what interested me the most. The heart breaking story about the little boy who's father was killed crossing the border to try and get to work so he could support his family was both touching and view changing. I also found my self extremely intrigued in her following of the berlin wall. Something so powerful and evil as the berlin war is gone and the kill zones have become unique public spaces that better the community. I would be interested if there was a visual difference between the two sides that the wall divided. If the building on her left just didn't match the ones on her right.