Midterm and Fetish

This past week was something of a blur.


Went to a show last Wednesday night, at the Kearny Street Workshop called, Fetish: the Culture of Fear and Desire. I don't often go to art shows unless its required of me for a class. Museums I will go to when the special exhibits are interesting, but for the most part I am almost alway disappointed by the shows. I found out about this show during a community arts oriented class and saw the little posting on the KSW's calendar and thought, well perfect, this is exactly what I am studying for my thesis, I should really give it a try. The postcard to advertise the show was a little misleading I will admit. I thought it was going to be a slicker event than it turned out to be. The actual event was small, in a room in the Mission, which was fine, space being kinda tight in SF, but the statement of the overall show was a bit washy.

You walk in and the description of "fetish" is on a large print out. Basically the definition of "fetish" and the recent usage of the word in relation to the Asian female body, both the political and cultural implications of that fetish. That was a good start for me, all this doubt about whether or not what I was doing for my thesis, the validity of it all was backed up by the show's opening statement. I mean, here were artists tackling the same issue as I was and it was a collective struggle. The first few works were intriguing. The first were large laquerware circles, kind of old Asian furniture type, glossy with, at first glance, painted irises on them. When you went in closer you realized that the flowers were made up of cut out images of porn, Asian fetish porn. And even though most of it were women's asses in not so flattering positions, you couldn't help but think how beautiful the forms were. The second was a piece about Asian women advertising descriptions of their ideal man, more specifically their height. I didn't realize that a man's height was such a big attractive draw for Asian women, but this artist took a whole bunch of their "height requirements" from the personal ads they had posted. Their pictures were then put on acrylic squares and posted at the height requirement they gave. Me being 5'5" I was able to see only about 2 of them comfortably. Otherwise there was a lot of tippy toe-ing all night trying to get a peek at the other women. But they were too tall. Which is I suppose the point.

The other exhibits were much less conceptual and a bit weak. I know art today is less about craft and representational art and more about concept and ideas, but I just couldn't get past the bad production. Maybe it's the designer's critical eye, but if you are going to show something to the public, make it nice and don't make the viewer think about your medium and the flaws in it over the concept you are trying to communicate. Overall I would stop by the exhibit if you are in the area. 17th and Capp Street in the Mission, the third floor of the building.

I think it gave me some ideas for how to deal with the images I have gathered.
That is a major stumbling block for me at this point. How do I use the images out there, the horrible stereotypes, and make them my own. To neither give them more power and voice, or misguide the viewer into seeing them as harmless. It's hard to pull myself apart from them as objectively as I can.

On that note, first week of midterms began today.
Basically a longer, more formal crit with guest designers who can comment on your work. The people who persented today were fine. It's all about how far along you have come with your idea and what you have produced. It's all about details and production at this point. I guess I gotta get going full speed now.

And GET THOSE SURVEYS GOING!! I will need them soon. Thanks y'all.