The Great Book of Alphabetically ordered liquefaction aka Formless

This blog is a visual aid from verbal regurgitation caused from Formless and a lot of coffeee.

bY AnNeLiSe and JeSsIcA 

lets cite and refrence

I mean hey this is a research class right? Entropy huh, well i read it again and now everything is soo clear. The idea of work as opposed to the physicality of the work it self as stated on page 207 "certain artists, however, wondered what would remain of a work if it were torn up, or rather what would remain of the concept of the work of art it the very act of tearing were to be the sole technique". This process sounds very similar to what we are trying to achieve in the final project as the concept of our colaberation could very well become a lump and therefor the obvious motive behind creating a lump would be to show the entropic process. Does this spell a simpler meaning to the process when it comes to art making? somewhat if you even consider what you are working on as art, does your work become an extension of your feelings or is it simply a response to teh way in which you view the world around you. Possibly a concoction of the two? Either way the book leans towards your creation becoming garbage at one point or another. Jean Arp's paper collage would be a fine example of philosoartist that i find difficult to understand how this work can be referred to as art. I would consider it more along the lines of a demonstration of a philosophical concept by means of paper collage. Is that seperation important? Not really. Should it be noted, yes. crap time for class- ill finish posting later

Been a While

Okay, so ENtropy was the biggest thing that stuck out to me this time around. That seems to be the case with most of us, but for me this concept hit not only in this class but in my life and in astronomy and even in my mold making class. It has been a really rough term for me. I feel like my thoughts, my relationships with other people, my grades, my ability to think and reason, and my ability to coexist with people in this society are all experiencing this entropic process. It's horrifying. I am being stripped of the way that I exist. It is amazing. I am broken. I am raw. I am so deep in this weird, transitory state that I don't know anything about myself or the world for sure. My thoughts are purely scrambled. I even spaced the fact that I needed to post on here. These readings, like our others were difficult to comprehend especially in my current state of mind, but I enjoyed reading them. I sat in the AAA Library on the second floor over in the dark corner seats with the windows that I like so much and I read them. I read them all the way through. I should have posted then when it was all fresh ('cause entropy is all I got left) but I read them multiple times and I had a good time doing it. It went over my head mostly but I enjoyed myself so that was cool. I think I have a fever so I am going to stop writing now, but this is my stab at a response to the readings. Maybe, if I can remain in reality long enough, I'll go check it out again and read them over.

another bitchy blog? I guess one has to read to find out. Its funny i was in italy this past summer and although i was in a cheerfull mood the entire time i looked back on the blogs recently and discovered that i bitched about many different things when i was blogging. Mostly about the thrones of tourists and how we were simply a part of the group i had grown to despise. This past reading was absoulte jargon to me even after two rereads it simply didn't click. Or possibly i didn't want it to click and as a response i blockaded my reasoning behind a brick wall of not being interested in the ideas put forth in the book. I also keep coming thinking about how i would like to take another ceramics course at UO but possibly have something to show for it besides a blog, a video and a disheveled jar which is holding my most sacred memories. Silly thing is i'll bet that jar doesn't make it home with me so i'm seriously doubting its importance to me. When in fact i'm trying to reduce my possessions to the amount of which i could stuff a trunk and live happily the idea of focusing on the process of artmaking and once finished with the work i can return it to earth works well in my current state. That way i can hold every project on a hard drive. So does this post have anything to do with the reading? Why yes as it makes as much sense too. Am i looking forward to 12 more hours of critique? I wouldn't miss more than a?

One late but worth the wait blog for a response to liquid words. Well being worth the wait makes is appear that i have wrapped my self around this text soo many times that i could cite it word for word. That simply isn't true and i would be checking my self into state institutions if that was the case. As for one reason or another the reading did in fact make sense and by further reading i don't think that was the intention of the authors. It tends to place the idea of an idea into the relm of fine art? Soo weird! Sometimes i simply regret that i didn't go to some craft school and define art theory for myself as opposed to having others try and accomplish this for me. In fact this reading at times along with meeting graduate students only brings out a somewhat depressing feeling. Because for one reason or another people actually conciencously or unconceincly belittle others soo blatantly its appalling.

Besides that banter i only would like to comment on the reading and its reference to the asphalt spill outside Rome. Its comforting to think that a confused construction worker and a photographer could stumble into moma by dumping excess asphalt and being able to talk about it. I mean common fellas i know your trying to deconstruct the boundaries of art but can't it retain some aesthetic beauty? In response to this i'm planning on peeing on a dirt mound by my house while recording the pee's effect on the ground. Then i talk about how its a direct representation of my material presence on earth and how this is a universal language and blah.

Entropic closet X (tra)

In Italian, "tra" means between, often used as a reference to a time frame. X tra - extra - too much - not enough time - in between times/moments - non-permenance - x marks the spot? - does it? - this spot - this place - in time - a moment - never arriving - arriving - journey - motion - falling - rain - growth - transition - trasferirsi - to move oneself - transmutation - permanent change? - permanence - change - cambiare - sempre - there is - there isn't - ho cambiata - cambiero - passato - presente - futuro - breaking down - building up - experience - a $2000.00 shot of Napoleon's whiskey - why? - perche no? - cause I can -
When I think about art, my initial thoughts go to a museum, then maybe a gallery, a show, etc..., all these places where the art is regarded as something sacred or special. Ancient works are often referred to as "treasures", and indeed, I agree, yet, when proposed the idea of ..."What Remains of a Rembrandt Torn into Little Regular Squares and Flushed Down the Toilet..."a huge manuscript on Rembrandt by Jean Genet, which Genet himself torn up and flushed down the toilet, is a very interesting concept to me. I have seen many Rembrandt's, they are haunting in the way in which one is confronted by the portraits' humaness and the figure stands more naked before you with their gaze than if they were nude. They are magnificent. "Genet writes of Rembrandt: 'It is from the moment when he depersonalizes his models, when he strips all identifiable qualities from objects, that he gives both the most weight, the greatest reality...But it was necessary that Rembrandt recognize and accept himself as a being of flesh...of meat, of blubber, of blood, of tears, of sweat, of shit, of intelligence and tenderness, of still other things, to infinity, but none denying the others, or better, each saluting the others.'" ..."You are me, as you are we, and we are all together..." - Lennon; to truly see the self, to see the self as all others, to see the self as these separate objects of disintegrating waste or accumulative intangible qualities or defects - defecate - waste - waste away - death - dissemination - and then what is true, what perchance is truth? "Everything is approximate, even less than approximate, for if you peer more closely, even the most perfect painting is a filthy, wart infested approximation...Form had turned to formless, the finite into infinite, the individual into totality."

Life, death and unity

As I began reading “Water Closet” I found myself lost and frustrated as I often do when reading this book. To be honest I couldn’t really connect or follow it until about half way through the chapter. I began to understand and even enjoy the reading when I started to understand the ideas of entropy, unity and death. The author quotes Bataille saying “essentially all beings are only one.” I really like this because it communicates the way that people, and indeed art as well, are all connected in life as in death. Not only do humans live and die but so can art and other non-living things. They also quote Jean Arp where a beautiful image is created where decomposition and death create new life and continuity in a new way. Arp talks about how imperfections in art showing the process of the art, or decomposition of the art can be viewed as something beautiful rather than imperfections and deaths of art.
When the authors begin talking about the idea of cutting paper into unique strips and claiming it is special in it’s process, I can not relate. I think I understand what they are saying, the process of doing something, for example cutting paper, is unique to one experience, moment and time. When the moment is later remembered by looking at the art it can not be re-experienced only viewed and remembered. I think they are saying that the experience is sacred if for no other reason that it can not be recreated at any other point in time. To me this is easy to understand, but I find it boring and even a little inconsequential. Why dwell on a moment that can not be relived? Certainly every moment is unique, but how you capture that could be more interesting that cutting paper in my opinion. Maybe what I can gather from this is that my own experiences can be unique and more interesting if I share them in other ways. Maybe it is a challenge to me rather than inconsequential nonsensical blabber.
Mcollum’s talks about the beauty in nature is fascinating to me. I really like the idea of emphasizing, duplicating or recreating nature in art pieces. Nature is the purest and most interesting form of art to me because it is everywhere and in no way created by anyone. I like the innate beauty that nature offers. The display of fossils and dinosaur tracks is beautiful because it recreates life and nature millions of years ago. I really respect this recreation of life long after it died and decomposed and is now being burned in my car as fuel. I see a connection between this idea of recreating life from long ago and this entropic idea of decomposition and unity. I like the connection between life and death and the display of both.

-sean