How far is too far? 9/4/08

Word to describe the topic: Ethos

Quote from artist: " The tattoo is not the problem. The problem is the existence of social conditions that allow me to make this work." Santiago Sierra.

Hoban, Phoebe. "How far is too far?" ART NEWS summer 2008. 145-149


I thought this article was interesting because it talks about the boundaries of contemporary art and how far can we push the boundaries of art. One of the artists this article was talking a bout was Adel Abdessemed his work consisted of a video installation of animals being killed with sledge hammers. Even though the animals were going to be slaughtered and he did not kill them himself this work really angered audiences. Another one of these artists goes by the name of Santiago Sierra where he would pay impoverished Cuban prostitutes and poor Mexicans to tattoo their bodies. This work not only disturbed audiences but critics as well. I think this article relates not just myself but most conceptual artists today. If we are trying to get a certain message across in our work we have to have the ethics in order to back off. If your work is too offensive no one is going to want to see it.

Barry Moser article

The artist I decided to write about is the illustrator and publisher Barry Moser. He was originally from a strict southern background. Growing up in military schools he says that being an artist was just not accepted in his family. He ended up getting a degree in mechanical engineering and took a teaching job in a military school in Tennessee. Teaching at the military school was not for him and went to the east coast where he took a job teaching. There he learned printmaking. There Moser and couple of other colleagues started up their own printing company and started commissioning work like Moby Dick. Later they decided to cut out the middle man and publish the works themselves. The first work they published was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He's gone to illustrate 0ther novels as The Aventures of Huckleberry Finn and Marry Shelley's Frankenstein.

link to the Article
"Barry Moser Designer, Illustrator and Publisher". Communication Arts
September/October 1985.
link to web: http://www.moser-pennyroyal.com/Home.html