ARTISTS AS PRANKSTERS

It's April Fool's Day so what better to talk about than artists who are known as pranksters. There have been many pranks pulled throughout Art History but here are two artists who stand out the most.

The first is Harvey Stromberg. Now, it's hard to find any actual information about him and his art but we do know that in the early 1970's he got this idea to go to the MoMA and make exact sticker replicas of light switches, air vents, locks, and things like that. So weeks before his "exhibition" he walked around the MoMA and took notes on the structural details to create the realistic looking stickers. When he went to place them he said "When I install a piece, my adrenalin is racing. In fact, its very hard for me to come up with serious reasons why I do it." A lot of his "pieces" stayed up for 2 years before Stromberg held an fake gallery opening with plastic champagne glasses. And that's about all we know about it! A lot of people think it's strictly a prank, others like to think it's art. What's your opinion?

On another hand we have an actual artist who is known for high class pranking, Banksy. Having placed his own work in museums from the British Museum, to the Louvre and the Met, Banksy has done it all and made a statement while doing it.
In 2005 Banksy placed a stone with a cave drawing on it with a caveman pushing a shopping cart in the British Museum's Ancient Artifacts Section. This piece apparently stayed up for 3 days going unnoticed.

Image from British Museum

Again in 2005 Banksy smuggled in his works (all Anti-War related) into museums in New York City. Including a fake Andy Warhol print "Discount Soup Can" in the MoMA, "You Have Beautiful Eyes" in the Met, "Soldier with Spraycan" in the Brooklyn Museum, and "Withus Oragainstus" in New York's Natural History Museum.

Banksy, Discount Soup Can, 2005, Museum of Modern Art

Banksy, You Have Beautiful Eyes, 2005, Metropolitan Museum of Art

"You Have Beautiful Eyes" in place in the Met

Banksy, Soldier with Spraycan, 2005, Brooklyn Museum

Banksy, Withus Oragainstus, 2005, Museum of Natural History

In 2006 Banksy put a life-sized replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in Disneyland inside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. It remained there for 90 minutes before the ride was closed down and they removed the statue.

Image from www.woostercollective.com and BBC News

And possibly his biggest hoax of all, in 2010 he created a movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop" which was a documentary about Banksy and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary. But there is a lot of debate over whether the documentary is authentic or all fake.

Whether you think it is disrespectful or hilarious, it's great to see someone in the Art World with a sense of humor. Especially on a day like today!!

References/Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/01/the-10-best-art-pranks_n_1388512.html
http://pranksters.com/historical-pranks/
http://www.complex.com/style/2014/04/banksy-hoaxes/#!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5335400.stm
http://www.woostercollective.com/post/a-wooster-exclusive-banksy-hits-new-yorks-most-famous-museums-all-of

ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE INSPIRED BY CHAIRS

Recently everywhere I turn people have been talking about their Dream Boards and other similar things. Now, I don't know much about Pinterest, I already have a Tumblr so why should I set up another similar account when I've already got one, plus 3 sketchbooks I use daily (soon to be 4). But I've heard it is pretty much a Dream Board at least something along those lines. Even Ron Funches on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon says he started using a Dream Board. 

Now to break it down, there are many different types of dream boards or walls or books or whatever. You can put up pictures of things you aspire to own, or you can have pictures of things you just enjoy and inspire you, OR you can have pictures of just literally anything that you find yourself liking (from a rug, to an advertisement)

As an artist I think it is key to surround yourself in what you like and allow it to always be present that way if you ever look at it differently or have it randomly catch your eye, you'll be inspired. I have so many artist prints framed and surrounding me at most times. TIP: I've found that when going to museums it's cheap to pick up a few postcards of your favorite pieces you saw there and use them as art around the house.

But most recently, while looking through an IKEA magazine, I found some things that I was drawn to visually. Yes I also do just want to buy the stuff in the image and decorate my house exactly like how they do, BUT I also found it aesthetically pleasing. Then it hit me, I liked how this particular room was designed because of it's similarity to what I want to do as an artist. The color palette was similar, the lines and it had aspects of it that I needed to put in my work. 

I know it shouldn't be surprising or innovative to think that interior design or the design of a chair or the way that this advertisement is photographed is linked to the fine arts because I mean come on, have you walked around the MoMA? There is a whole section devoted to artistic designs of furniture and I mean their stores alone have everything and anything there but somehow it's artistic... 

What I'm trying to get at is: use your sketchbook, or the walls of your house, or just a bulletin board to put up EVERYTHING you find yourself attracted to, not just the artwork. You never know what will make you see something in your work.

Related Post (with Artist References): http://artotterblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/inspiration-can-come-from-anywhere.html
Here's the Ron Funches video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slrgBNOmhTI

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE AN ARTIST'S BLOCK

Majority of us have experienced an Artist’s Block. It’s the worst feeling when you have absolutely no ideas or inspiration. It’s the lowest time of an artist’s career and life. The other day, my friend asked me what I do when I have no inspiration or clue of what to create. Here are some things to try out (what’ve you got to lose?):

- Check your sketchbooks. That’s the whole idea of them right? To write down ideas and things that inspire you so that you are always in the creating mood. Even if you don’t remember why you have a to-go menu of a pizza place you went to three years ago glued into your sketchbook, it has the possibility to spark something.

- Google things. Remember that one time you went to the MoMA and saw an exhibit on Futurism? It might not have been inspiring then, but it could be now!

- Go to a museum (even if it’s a local museum and not the Louvre). Take your time and really break down the paintings you are drawn to. Maybe the brushwork will stand out? Or the color palette? (If you don’t feel like leaving the house, check out Google Art Project)

- Try painting in the style you’ve always hated. If you HATE abstract, try it out. While you’re working or after when you look back, you’ll realize you actually can appreciate parts of it, or why you love painting in another style.

- Talk about it. Accept that you’re stuck and talk to you’re friends (especially you’re non-artist friends, cause they always give random and out of the box ideas of what to create). Go see what you’re artist friends are creating (but don’t get down on the fact that they’re creating and inspired and you’re not). Being in the studio whether it is your studio or someone else’s will start to get your creative juices flowing.

- Go back in time. Remember that crazy art history teacher you had? Remember how they were so boring and tedious about the work that you barely paid attention? But, you kept the books so later on if you felt like reading all about the Baroque period you could? Well hopefully that is true, because art history is the basis of all art. So go back to your roots and be in awe of that gorgeous Caravaggio painting you loved.

- Read any book. There are tons of random art books out there. Go buy WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution (edited by Cornelia Butler and Lisa Gabrielle Mark, Co-published by The MIT Press) or go buy a comic book for all it matters. You could be inspired by the style or the one pose the Black Widow is doing or the issues they bring up.

Whatever you do: don’t get down on yourself and start thinking that you can’t get any good ideas because you suck as an artist. Everyone has these moments of pause. Just take advantage of the quiet to really see art in a new way. I hope my ideas are helpful, and feel free to leave a comment of what helps you get through an artist’s block!!