Ashley Explores The Arts

Location:

If I could hypothetically go on a trip to any art museum in the world to see a specific artists or exhibit, I would love to go to London and see the Tate museums. In London they actually have four different Tate museums, just based on their location. These locations are the Tate Modern, the Tate Britain, the Tate Liverpool, and the Tate St. Ives. I would love to see all four, but if I could take this art trip then I would specifically go to the Tate Modern. It is open on Sunday’s-Thursday’s from 10 am to 6 pm. On Friday’s and Saturday’s, it is open from 10 am to 10 pm (they are open for the working-class people, I approve). I would like to actually see two artists exhibitions that are displayed. I want to see Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room, which is on display in the spring of 2021, I am assuming after they reopen on May 17^th. I also would like to see Kara Walker’s Hyundai Commission, on display from October 2021-January 2022 and maybe another one of her permanent artworks, I am not sure if it is permanent or not. The other exhibit of Walkers would be, Grub for Shakes: A Concession to the Negro Populace. Kara Walker’s exhibition is just a bonus in seeing when at the Tate Modern.

About the Art:

I chose this specific museum to go to because I really wanted to see one of Yayoi Kusama’s exhibitions. When I saw that they had an upcoming exhibition of one of her mirror rooms, I was even more excited to travel there. I had tried to plan a trip to Japan and see more of her works there, but I do not speak Japanese and it was making it difficult to understand when her artworks were at certain museums.

The exhibition of Yayoi Kusama’s that I really want to see is called, Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life. She created this in 2012 for her retrospective at the Tate Modern. It is also one of her largest installations she has ever made. The reason she made these mirrored rooms is because she wanted to give a “hallucinatory scene” but creating everything by hand was too hard, so she used mirrors to create the fields she wanted. This exhibition room is of course a room with mirrors on all sides, so when a person steps in, they are surrounded by endless space. In this particular mirrored space, there are purple string lights that seem to dangle down and then reflect into infinity. It is like stepping into a world where purple stars surround you.

About the Artist:

Yayoi Kusama is a contemporary artist and is still alive at the age of 92! She was a part of the Pop Art Movement which started in the 1950’s and ended roughly in the 1960’s. Pop Art is actually a small section of the umbrella term Modernism; and Pop Art began in England and New York. There were a lot of Japanese artists at the time, hence why Yayoi Kusama is a huge part of Pop Art, but because of the time, the American government imprisoned any Japanese Americans. This art movement also had a lot to do with popular culture and appropriation. Its biggest influences being advertising and consumerism. The artwork was meant to represent banal and ephemeral items. Banal meaning throw-away items or items easily disposed. While ephemeral means short lived or in the moment items.

Yayoi Kusama was born in Japan into a wealthy family, but still struggled because of the times there was hatred and racism towards Japanese people, along with that, she was female. Kusama actually had issues, as did most females, with male artists attempting to copy their work and then taking credit for being the first person to create it. This is why we need to support living and non-living female artists. In the 60’s, after Kusama moved to the United States, she began creating textured and unusual works. Most of her works were actually phallic like and covered in polka dots. Polka dots are a huge part of Kusama’s life, she tried to incorporate them in almost all of her artworks. As mentioned, a lot of her artworks are the mirror rooms because they help create the field perspective that would have taken her forever to create by hand. I would be so excited to actually experience one of her mirrored rooms because they look so magical and feel like they would be surreal.

Budget and Extra Stops:

In total, I believe this trip would cost roughly around $3,370. I first plan to take the trip in possibly August, from the 1^st-5^th because I would have to stay longer than just a night in London. My plane ticket with British Airways would cost about $1,803. This would be a round trip, leaving on July 31^st and having only one stop. The flight would be about 19 hours I believe, which makes sense for the pricing. Before I even did that, I would need to acquire a passport and that would cost me about $175. Why are they so expensive? I have no idea, why is anything so expensive? After getting my passport my next thing would be to buy the flight ticket and then book my hotel. I found one that is only a few blocks away from the Tate Modern and that is the Novotel London Blackfriars. A stay from August 1^st-5^th would cost me about $799.39, which actually is not that bad because it also includes breakfast. Therefore, I would not have to budget for breakfast because I can just use my resources. There is a good question if I would even eat breakfast though, because of the time zone differences, my body would be all out of whack. Since my body would be all out of whack, I would need something to keep me caffeinated and awake, so I would budget for $50 on coffee. Seems like a lot, but I do enjoy my coffee, especially from a different country, could be exciting. For food I might budget around $250 for snacks and actual meals because I am not sure how much everything costs in locations, but I just want to make sure I have enough to cover me. The next thing I would need to budget for would be the most important part of the trip and that would be the museum itself. The admission price is free, but because of COVID, they have timed exhibitions admissions. You have to buy a ticket for that, and I believe it would cost about $6.97, but to see a certain exhibition, such as Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored room, another ticket for that would cost between $18.13 and $30.68. Each exhibition is different and ticket prices are also determined by the age of the person, like most things. At the museum they also have concessions and tickets for those would cost between $13.94 and $27.89.

Of course, while at the museum they will have a gift shop and I have to have something for memory, so for shopping in general I would budget roughly $120. That is not just for the gift shop, but other shops I see while in London. It is also budgeted for one of my extra stops I plan to visit. To be able to get from my hotel to the museum or from my hotel to my other stops, I would be using public transportation such as the buses. I know they have fares, so I would budget around $20 for bus fare. I think I could even walk to the museum because the distance is not far, but I would not want to get lost and look all confused. Now, while I am in London, even though the art museum is the main reason I would be going, I would also stop at two different places as well. I would like to visit The Natural History Museum and the Kew Gardens. The Natural History Museum actually isn’t too far from my hotel. So, I believe I would take a bus for that and I have the bus fare calculated in. Also, the Natural History Museum is actually free, which is very nice. However, I noticed at their gift shop they have stuffed dinosaurs, so I will of course have to buy one of those. That is budgeted in with the $120 for gift shops and just shopping around. For the Kew Gardens, they are a bit further from my hotel, it says it is recommended to take the Subway and the costs for that is roughly $5, which is also calculated in with my bus fare. It would then cost me roughly $20.91 to be admitted to the gardens. I want to go to these places because I absolutely love historical museums and botanical gardens. Overall, that is the budget for myself, I assume that would also be the same for somebody else trying to go on this trip. They could plan differently if they already have a passport and if they do not need as much caffeine as me. In total, for a normal person, this trip might just cost $3,000, which actually is not all that bad.

To anybody reading my blog, I wanted to share this letter that I sent to the curator at the Georgia Museum of Art. I wrote this letter because in my art class we have been discussing artists that are left out of the art world. We were told to pick an institute close to us and write them a letter on something their art institute could improve on. I chose the art museum in Georgia because as I mention in the letter, I was born there and hope to go back some day. I also chose it because this is a museum in the south where civil rights were born and slavery was a huge issue and looking at the museum, I think they should have more art that represents not only the history of the state, but the whole south. Currently, this museum does not do a good job at representing people of color or the history of the south, so I want something to be done.  I want everybody to be able to read this letter and see that they can do the same. If more than one person reaches out to places like these and state things that museums need to do better at representing, things might actually change. Look at everything in the world that has already changed because more than one person spoke up. I hope by reading this letter it inspires you to reach out and maybe make a change.

Hello!

My name is Ashley Duncan and I am writing to you on behalf of my modern art history class. Throughout the semester of this class we have been discussing the absence of certain artists in art history. Artists such as females or people of color. Specifically, why I am writing is because of an assignment we have to do. We had to choose an art institute close to us and find something they were missing/could improve upon. I chose the Georgia Museum of Art because I was actually born in Georgia and now currently live in Iowa.

As I examined your art institute online, I noticed something that was missing from a lot of the museum and that was people of color. Or more specifically, artists of color. It seems that a lot of the museum’s artwork comes from collections instead of exhibitions of certain artists. Collections are nice to have because then the museum can get an array of different artists, but they also give the majority of the credit to the person who donated the collection then. The artists a part of the collection doesn’t get as much credit or maybe they do. I am not really sure how most people view collections because we have mainly discussed exhibitions in my art class.

Anyways, the biggest factor that I wanted to bring to your attention and yours specifically, is the amount of African American art you have. On the museums website it says you are the African American exhibitions curator and I wanted to suggest some ideas for more African American art or artists displayed. I noticed between the years of 2014 and 2019 there were a few exhibitions for African American artists, such as Stoney the Road We Trod, Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête, and The Crossroads of Memory. Since then, it seems that these types of exhibitions have dwindled. It is understandable due to COVID, making everything more difficult and I know there is a new exhibition for Carrie Mae Weems coming up in 2022, but I wanted to offer some other artists that could be put in the museum.

First, I want to offer you this link, https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/black-history-month-10-artists-you-should-know/. It takes you to a page of ten different African American artists. The majority of them are alive, some of them are not. A few of these artists would be Jean-Michel Basquiat, he was a part of the Neo-Expressionism art movement and Contemporary art. He did a lot of graffiti styled art and even worked with Andy Warhol at one point. He did sadly pass away at the age of 27. Another artist is Kara Walker, age 51, and she is a part of the Contemporary art movement. Walker was born in Stockton, California and currently resides in Georgia, actually. Her father took a position at Georgia State University, which is different from the University of Georgia I believe. She earned her BFA at the Atlanta College of Art and her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her artwork is based around a lot of the American civil war era and around slavery. A lot of her work is actually violent and unsettling black silhouettes cut out and put on a white wall; usually representing slavery and racism. Walked created these artworks because her time in school, she struggled with racism. People called her slurs and said she resembled certain animals.

Today, I know she has a few exhibits at the Tate Modern in London. I don’t know if you guys can contact that museum and see if she has any traveling exhibitions that you guys could rent? Another artist could be Lorna Simpson, age 60, and she is part of the Contemporary art movement as well. Her art is based around African American females’ identities and I think that could go well with a lot of the Black Lives Matter movements going on. Somebody else who could be a good representation for Black Lives Matter would be Glenn Ligon, age 61, who is also a Contemporary artist. His artwork is creating powerful messages through paintings about race and sexual identities.

There are a few photographers who you could possibly add as well. They would be Earlie Hudnall, age 75, and Roland L. Freeman, age 84. Earlie was a part of the Harlem Renaissance and Civil rights eras. While Freeman is a photographer of Southern Folk culture and African American quilters. Elizabeth Catlett is another artist who was a part of the Harlem Renaissance art movement. She passed away at the age of 97, living quite the life by sculpting and using graphic art to depict the life of African Americans. The last artist I saved that you could possibly add in would be Alma Thomas, passed away at the age of 86. She was a part of the Abstract Expressionism art movement and created most of her work in her eighties after she retired.

These are only a few suggestions I have. A lot of the artists I mentioned are females as well, which could also help the museum because not a lot of female artists are represented. According to Hyperallergic, the highest percent of female artists in museum is only 24% and I think your museum actually does a great job with representing women artists. I was surprised with the number of artworks that filled the museum were by women. Counting the artworks made by female artists out of the 20 exhibitions online on your website, 40% of artworks are made by female artists, but white female artists. Out of the 20 exhibitions there was 55% of artworks created by African American males. Counting the exhibitions, I found zero created by African American females. Which was actually really disappointing. I know there are two exhibitions coming up for African American females, but for the fact right now, that is sad. I just feel like more could be done to represent not only African Americans, but also African American women.

I want you to try and add more people of color to your museum because according to Hyperallergic again, 85% of works in museums are done by white artists and only 1.2% is done by African American artists. With our day and age and all the new artists we have, I want to see that changed.

To me, I am not a person of color, but seeing people of color represented means a lot to me. Especially in these times with Black Lives Matter and the voting issues Georgia is having, I feel like African American people need to be represented more than ever. They have always been pushed aside, look at the history of America, we are god awful at representing anybody who isn’t a white male. I do not know how much control you have over getting these artists, but I want your museum to be different than the others. I want it to stand out and show how much they want to stand out against from just representing white male artists from Europe. I wish you well and I hope my suggestions have offered you some ideas into new things you could try for the museum.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this. I hope none of it comes off as insensitive or anything. I just really care about art and I want to see a change in the world where everybody is represented and not just rich, white men. Again, thank you.

Endnotes

Bishara, Hakim. “Artists in 18 Major US Museums Are 85% White and 87% Male, Study Says.” Hyperallergic, 3 June 2019, hyperallergic.com/501999/artists-in-18-major-us-museums-are-85-white-and-87-male-study-says/.

Ellis, Nicquel Terry. “Art so White: Black Artists Want Representation (beyond Slavery) in the Met, National Gallery.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 8 May 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/05/black-artists-african-american-art-museums-galleries-collections-painting/3483422002/.

“Home.” Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia, University of Georgia , 26 Apr. 2021, georgiamuseum.org/.

Jackson, Amari. “Approaching the Table: The Rich and Strange Plight of African American Representation within Major Museums.” BLACK ART IN AMERICA™, 27 Aug. 2020, www.blackartinamerica.com/index.php/2020/08/27/approaching-the-table-the-rich-and-strange-plight-of-african-american-representation-within-major-museums/.

Roussel, Marie-Caroline. “Black History Month: 10 Artists You Should Know.” Artsper Magazine, 21 Apr. 2020, blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/black-history-month-10-artists-you-should-know/.

Sam Phillips, …isms: Understanding Modern Art. (New York: Universe, 2013).

Art Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, ed. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003).