Angela's Contemporary Art Journey: Blog #9: Lectures from the Art History Symposium

2015 Festival of the Arts: 11^th Annual Art History Symposium

California State University, Sacramento: Mariposa 1000
Saturday, April 11, 1-5:30 p.m.

Bridget Gilman, one of the speakers at the Art History Symposium, focused on the contemporary issue of urban transformation and aesthetic experimentation responses to Gentrification in San Francisco. Among her influences were Mike Mandel, Larry Sultan and Janet Delaney who were photographers who photographed in San Francisco. Gilman explained how Delaney mimicked Ansel Adams strategy of taking photos from an elevated view point such as from the top of a car. Mandel and Sultan took photos billboards in order to challenge commerciality but instead had the opposite effect. For example when the two collaborated in creating Sunkist oranges billboards, the Sunkist Company actually liked the photographers’ billboards and wanted to buy them. The artists’ rebelled by responding with a billboard with oranges on fire. When I asked Gilman what she found interesting about Gentrification she responded by saying “It’s relevant in today’s society. It costs as much to live in San Francisco then to live in Manhattan”.

Another speaker who spoke at the Art History Symposium was Matthew Weseley. His focus was on the work of African American Artist Robert Colescott. Weseley explained that Colescott dealt with racism and segregation in Oakland and that in different times of Colescott’s life he was labeled with different racial descriptions such as Mulatto and even White. Colescott did not identify with black stereotypes and was afraid of them because he did not want to be associated with them. In search of his identity he confronted black stereotypes in his paintings. One example of such work is a painting titled The Green Glove Rapist which is an acrylic on canvas painted in 1971. This piece was created in reaction to a case where a rapist was believed to have been black but in reality was not, in reality the rapist was a Jewish man. Colescott painted the scene not how it happened but what people thought had happened. He painted based on pre-conceived notions reflecting the meaning of dark skin and how society interprets it.
I found the last speaker’s content to be the most interesting. Nicolas G. Rosenthal focused on the growth of vibrant Native American Indian Art in Northern California in the 20^th century. What I found to be so fascination was Rosenthal’s exploration of Contemporary Native American Art. I have commonly seen and admired the Artwork of traditional Native Americans’ but have never seen Contemporary Native American Art. Rosenthal explained that the explosion of Native American Artists’ making and selling work is a way to argue for the validation of Native American culture. It is a rebellious response against the push for assimilation. It also shows change over time to Native American culture. An example of this is a by Artist Jean Lamar created in 1985 titled Vuarneted Indian Cowboy which shows a Native American woman in Contemporary society wearing sunglasses, a cowboy hat and Western style clothing. In the Native American woman’s sunglasses is the reflection of an eagle and jets.