Parable of the Garden

Going into the gallery, I don't feel that I really knew a lot about Iranian art. Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever really thought there were people making art there very much as digital art. I think a guided tour by the curator of the gallery was helpful to my understand of the work. Not knowing much about Iran, her guidance helped me to understand the cultural undertones of the work. The one piece that really sticks out in my mind would have to be the one entitled Happy Meal. Happy Meal is an important piece because its length and portrayal of the the main character allows the the viewer to forget that they are watching someone with a veil, but rather that they are watching a child. I also liked that she has to struggle to open her toy due to her veiling because it speaks to the struggles, what ever they may be. Although I still do not know much a whole lot about Iranian culture, I feel that this exhibition helped me to better understand the people and their culture.

Dia: Beacon

The Artist that i found most intriguing would have to be Bruce Nauman who was being exhibited in Dia:Beacon's lower level. The entire level had a certain dark and creepy feel to it as soon as you stepped out of the elevator. I found that I was pretty nervous to be down in the basement, which i think added to to why I liked Nauman's work. The site it was in helped the work in my opinion. The piece that I liked the most at this exhibition was a digital piece that was set up with in a room on 8 different large projectors which showed different rooms being filmed on night vision. It seemed that you would stare at one screen long enough and in the corner of your eye, something would pass by another screen and catch your attention. It had a sort of haunted house feeling. It was almost like the documentation or an exploration into a haunting. As strange as it seems, this is really cool to me because i love being scared as well as the idea of a paranormal world.