Katie Andrea
2008

The Paralysis of Public Space: Art and Identity in the Public Sphere in Post-Soviet Moscow

Abstract
My thesis focuses on how monumental art and public space function in a transitioning society. Throughout the twentieth century Moscow public space was subject to an onslaught of official art and essentially an onslaught of changing meanings. I will demonstrate how the Moscow public sphere became so layered and complex that it was unable to function in the formulation and projection of a cohesive national identity to the Russian public.

back to top

Erin Faulk
2008

Michael Mandiberg and Damian Loeb: Negotiating Appropriated Images Through Technology

Abstract
Through their respective uses of digital technology, contemporary artists Michael Mandiberg and Damian Loeb redefine the theoretical boundaries of direct image appropriation. By scanning the images onto the web, Mandiberg challenges the technical boundaries of appropriation by re-appropriating Sherrie Levine’s After Walker Evans series. Loeb, on the other hand, appropriates Hollywood film stills and translates them into traditional oil paintings. In my essay, I prove that both artists recapture Walter Benjamin’s notion of “aura” in reproduced images, establishing new viewing audiences and re-negotiating the terms of authorship in appropriated art.

back to top

Emily Knust
2008

Framing Matisse’s Bathers with a Turtle

Abstract
Matisse’s Bathers with a Turtle is an example of a painting that has circulated through different contexts. The painting has had an important provenance because it has inhabited both public and private spaces and has been included in several important collections since its creation in 1908. In my paper, I discuss how the location, owner, and criticism in each context frame the meaning of the painting.

back to top

Elaine Reams
2008

Materializing Yves Klein

Abstract
My paper focuses on the Anthropometries and Fire Paintings of Yves Klein created in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Through exploration of primary documents, photographs, and of course the artworks themselves I will prove that Klein’s work is about both releasing and capturing the transcendent aspects of the human body on canvas; in performing this act, Klein exercises his own creative/spiritual energy, therefore elevating his own status as artist/prophet and ultimately revealing his belief in the power of art.

back to top

Chuck Lee
2008

October 18, 1977 and Other Real Stories: Gerhard Richter and the ‘Anti-representation’ of Holocaust Trauma

Abstract
Through the photo paintings of Gerhard Richter, a conflict is revealed between history and memory. The artist’s October 18, 1977 cycle reflects the encounter with Jacques Lacan’s symbolic notion of the Real—the trauma of that which is assumed incogitable, the greatest example being the Holocaust. My paper will address how Richter, in subscribing to Theodor Adorno’s ‘negative aesthetics,’ subliminally uses his photo painting cycle, showing images of the Red Army Faction, as a means of entry to the Real of the Holocaust—that impossible Other, the suffering we cannot comprehend.

back to top