Why is this one showing naked women?
Mr. Kim is unusual among Nam June Paik's Robots because it is a portrait. In this case, art collector Kim Yangsoo, Paik's underclassman at Kyunggi High School and a fellow Korean art enthusiast in the United States. Paik used videos of nudes in several of his works, and he noted that Mr. Kim, the subject of this portrait, was constantly thinking about women.
I have a question about 'Mr. Kim' by Nam June Paik. Are the radios supposed to be making noise? Or are they meant to be silent?
I believe they are meant to be silent but perhaps I've never listened closely enough. Are you hearing something coming from them?
I didn't hear anything!
Ah okay! Yes. While the screens are playing videos, the work doesn't produce sound. His interest in the radios likely stems from his larger interest in the role technology and science play in art. They are also interesting aesthetically as 1950s orientalist imitations of red Chinese lacquer objects made in the United States.
Oooooh okay! Thank you!!
Tell me more.
The artist assembled this work by sewing together six gele, headscarves worn by Nigerian women for important events.
The artist herself is of Nigerian descent and identifies as queer. By bringing together Nigerian textiles associated with womanhood and the colors of the gay pride flag, she is combining and affirming two aspects of her identity.
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In this photograph, artist Mickalene Thomas has captured her mother. Her work often centers the black female body and it was this series of photos of her mother that inspired her in the first place.
She says: "By selecting women of color, I am quite literally raising their visibility and inserting their presence into the conversation… By portraying real women with their own unique history, beauty and background, I’m working to diversify the representations of black women in art.”
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This is a porcelain vase from China's Qing dynasty. It features an image of a deer, a symbol of longevity -- deer were thought to be the only animals capable of finding a sacred mushroom that could grant immortality!
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That's a lotus flower! One of the reasons this turquoise color may have been so popular is because it may have represented a watery setting for the lotus flower, itself a symbol of Buddhist enlightenment.
Why are the bodies blue?
While the painting is realistic in style, the blue-green colors of the couples skin creates a sense of otherworldliness which ties in to the somewhat "alien" concept of the work: the nude from a woman's own perspective.
Semmel painted this from a photograph she took of her and her partner in bed.
The colors both demand the viewers attention in their uniqueness while also desexualizing the nude, encouraging you to consider other visual elements more closely.
Which other elements?
Elements like the perspective of the female subject, which is unusual. Also, the way their bodies and their surroundings can be likened to a landscape, with mountains and valleys and a blue sky in the background.
Thank you!
The white shoes that she wears in the image and has tied into the waist of her skirt are key iconography across the series, but she hasn't spoken much about their meaning. She prefers to hear viewers' own interpretations.
Through these images, and others in the series, Faustine poses at sites in New York connected to slavery to document histories that are being erased.
Wanna have a laugh? I just walked by Fuck Painting #6 and my grandmother asked what it was. I told her it was a tree... was it really created with an airbrush? It looks like it was printed.
It is indeed airbrush! The closer you get to it though, the more that crisp perfection starts to break down.
Where was this piece of artwork found?
This panel of tiles is believed to be from Damascus, in modern day Syria, based on its style.
In Ottoman Damascus tiles like these were common decorations set into the walls of mosques as well as other buildings. There is a similar example of more abstractly decorative tiles on view inside of The Norm restaurant.
