Week Five

Inspiration Images

By Egon Schiele

By Blaine Fontana

By Frazer Irving

Work: Classmate assignment, Make a Book!

Reading Response: Introduction to "Choosing a Mission"
After seeing the 1565 show last semester and enduring a long stint studying modern art, I came to a conclusion about artists. It seems they take jobs, perfectly legitimate jobs, and just choose to do them for a short time. Harrell Fletcher just woke up one day and decided to become a historian about Native American culture and our relation to it as post-1565 inhabitants of St. Augustine. Ignoring the fact that this town is historic, and that basically every other building is already a history lesson, Fletcher essentially went around to various places and basically presented in the museum a collection of... collections, from various other places. And a video of himself.

When asked what made his work "art" he replied that he just "did what he wanted."

Essentially this reading just summarized that thought. "All these options are available because artists practice art without needing credentials..." That really gets it. The reading goes on to mention how artists can comment on scientific findings without being "constrained." By what? Education? Basic understanding of the fundemental principles that facilitate a deeper understanding of scientific fact?

Harrell Fletcher set out to say something about how we as civilians of St. Augustine don't know much about its indigenous peoples. He didn't do so much of that. Mostly he just collected exhibits from other locations around town. Does that make him a historian? No. At best it provides a commentary (weak at best in this case) and at worst it stands to devalue the work of ACTUAL historians because artists have no credentials and of course are blameless if they misrepresent facts, unlike REAL people whose REAL job it is.

Of course this only applies to "modern artists" ie those who enjoy pretending to perform an occupation they are unqualified for. This sort of nonsense infuriates me. Accoutability should be MOST important in an artistic response to a topic, not least.