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I really enjoyed visiting with Julia Jacquette today. It was a unique experience to get to walk through an art exhibition with the artist–something I’ve never had the chance to do so before. I loved being able to ask her questions and hear how she interpreted her works, made certain decisions, and even to see how we would sometimes see something that wasn’t intentional on her part. One of the things that stuck out most to me was when she was explaining the process she went through curating material for each page of her memoir. Between going to the library, doing google searches, compiling pictures from her family albums–among other things–it was an extremely extensive process. And it really reminded me of a collage of sorts. Not of the physical material brought together as we saw in the examples we’d studied in class; but more so a collage she put together in her mind, repurposing all the material she collected into a new work. To this end, it made me think that we’re always doing some sort of collage in our minds. Be it bringing together sources in a paper, drawing on different influences in a work, today was a reminder of how much the works we produce are amalgamations of what we’ve learned and experienced. Julia Jacquette’s work was like this, only more so, because of all the pieces she’d purposely gone out searching for to illustrate her memory.

It was also really special to hear the personal sentiments behind each work. I’d have to say my favorite page after meeting with her would have to be the first page with her and her mother. It brings to mind a specific brightly patterned shirt I always remember my mother wearing when I was a child. I was actually able to remark upon it when I was back home for the break and we had dug it up from an old box. It brought surprisingly vivid memories and feelings of comfort and nostalgia–akin, somewhat, to what I imagine the emotions behind this page are.

 

Today’s lecture was amazing.  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to hear about the whole exhibit from Julia herself, and it was something that offered insight into the exhibit as a whole that I had never experienced before.  This was the fourth time that I had walked through the exhibit, and after hearing it described by three people prior to Julia, I thought I knew all there was to know about the exhibit.  I was completely wrong, and the impressions I had of each of her pieces and her inspirations were changed after hearing her speak.

I was truly curious to hear about her feminist approach to art, and after hearing how these were ideals she was raised with, and these ideals still inspire her work today, I was inspired.  I also think that hearing her discuss her illustrated book helped shaped my idea of play and a playground as I start working on my final illustration.  I cannot wait to go through the exhibit a 5th time, and be able to see it yet another light after listening to Julia speak today.

Although I did not get to see Julia Jacquette in person, I did visit the installation at the Wellin. I was enthralled by Jacquette’s “American advertisement” exhibit which engages with contemporary art in the form of advertisement. The exhibit exploits the methods through which American advertisement convinces viewers to purchase products, while critiquing that very behavior. Jacquette took pieces of American fashion and beauty magazines and painted them on a large scale. The effect is what often looks like a close up shot of a Coca-Cola advertisement, but instead is an expanded version of a 4”x4” cutout of a picture of a dress. The size of these images in the Wellin make the statement that our coveting for new products is a phenomenon that encompasses the American experience. The colors from the above piece are an inviting shade of caramel and white. Vogue Magazine, one of Jacquette’s influences for this project, intends to immerse viewers. I have long been interested in how artists for companies make art for advertisements. Beauty magazines often eschew uplifting substance with vapid images of blatant consumerism. An entire industry that is just devoted to selling products. There are no column pieces or editorials sharing interesting points of view on societal issues. Instead, there are only pictures that enchant viewers into buying their products. Jacquette seems to recognize this phenomenon of American consumer’s fascination with magazines and general consumerism. In addition to recognizing it, she aims also to show what captivates us about the lust for more, but she also critiques the companies that feed off of America’s consumerist society. In summary, even though Jacquette, once again, adds to the consumerist cycle by displaying these images for more people to see thereby supposedly giving the original company’s products more exposure – it is the company that loses in the end because there name does not appear on any of the pieces. Maybe this is the answer that Jacquette puts forth: we must take back the beauty that “they” try to sell us and recreate it for free.

It was such a privilege getting to speak to Julia Jacquette today and have her walk us through some of her paintings and the thought processes behind them. The longer I looked at the paintings, the more impressed I was. For some of her paintings, Julia used advertisements as inspiration. I was very impressed by how she managed to pick out these beautiful intricate aspects of advertisements and paint them in a way that is so realistic that I had to do a double take when I learned that they were not photographs.

I was particularly drawn to Julia’s “gold paintings.” I like how she is able to use whites, browns, yellows, greens, and purples to make a painting look gold.

My favorite painting by far is the one of Charlize Theron’s J’adore Dior gold dress detail. I cannot gush enough about how beautiful and accurate this painting is, so I will let the comparison between the painting and photo speak for itself.

 

I also really like this painting with a similar color palette- the painting of a whiskey glass.

Even though this painting is not gold, it is in the warmer temperature hues, so close enough. The bottom left face reminded me a lot of Mandy Moore. I wonder if she is who Julia painted there? Do the other faces remind you of any celebrities that you know?

I absolutely loved getting to meet Julia Jacquette this morning. Her answers to the class’ questions helped us understand her as a person better, and I think it was interesting to go through a few more generic question before focusing more specifically on a few pieces of her work. As someone in the class brought up, someone with no background knowledge of what Julia’s work represents, especially in regards to the zoomed-in, abstract pieces and her interest in stylizing advertisements, might not fully understand what it symbolizes. Having the opportunity to see paintings is amazing and while art is about interpretation, I found it crazy how much the meaning of a piece can change with explanation of its original message or method of production by the artist. Seeing pieces of art is a completely different world than hearing about them.

Being able to spend time interacting with and listening to Julia this morning was an incredible experience. Hearing about the creative process from her view was fascinating. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the two large murals, each a zoomed in depiction of a larger ad. It was interesting to consider the little idiosyncrasies that exist in advertisements, and for her to draw attention to such minute details, to me, was fascinating. To make such a beautiful piece of art based off of a reflection or a minuscule section of an advertisement is something that at once seems both abstract and representational, and then to hear her motivation behind creating the pieces makes you realize that both are simultaneously correct.

Being able to hear an artist speak about their work and the motivation and struggle involved in creating it was enthralling. Also impressive was the ease with which she was able to field questions and provide in depth answers on the spot. My question, about the possible shift in art in the years to come based on the emergence of digital play and the decline of traditional forms of play, was one that I believed might be too loaded for her to provide a quick and well thought out response so early in the morning, but she provided me with an answer I found to be more than satisfactory.

The experience in it’s entirety was memorizing, and it made me appreciate her work all the more. It made me hope that I will be able to take part in such events again in the future.

After this morning’s lecture and tour, I learned a lot about the elements Julia Jacquette chose for the book and the exhibition, and the meanings after the elements. Among the many elements such as the food, consumption posters, library resources, feminism and water, I am most interested in water and food, because they act as such common but unique elements in daily life.

As told in the tour, the two huge shadows of the water pools were selected from other small images exhibited as the side. It is really fascinating how water plays not only as life support but as a camera or an document. It records the interaction of people’s life, but since the shadow in the water is too easily disappearing, it hints at the fleeting of lifespan. Also, it shows the audience how variety of a object can be used.

Also, I find two other images– the one painted from the meat leaflet and this other one with different salads and dressings. Food can be really personal and sensitive as for indicating one’s personality. Different from other images exhibited, these two images feel more personalized and intimated. They connect the audience with the artist in a way that, audience feel a sense of belongings in the exhibition and pull art which seems like a remote and undefined terms closer to the audience.

Therefore, the most moving part of the exhibition of Julia jacquette for me is how she makes art is a daily life element and how good she is at using those elements to create an art that’s close enough to real life, but still above the real life.

Throughout my time at Hamilton, it has always been a special moment when I have been able to hear an artist or writer provide their own perspective on their work. This morning was no different! When Julia was explaining how she came to create her artwork and where her inspiration came from, it allowed me to see her creations in a new light. There was one part of our lecture with Julia that really stood out to me. She mentioned how some people interpret the meaning and messages of her artwork in ways she never intended for them to be seen. She went on to say that she was delighted at these new interpretations and that she welcomes any new ideas regarding her artwork that she has yet to discover herself. The idea that an artist creates a piece of work but does not know all the power and influence their painting contains is very interesting to me. It also helped me understand the point that every person interprets a piece of art differently and that there is no definitive meaning to a particular artwork.

Walking through Julia Jacquette’s exhibit in the Wellin Museum, it’s almost impossible to miss the artist’s fascination with contemporary advertisement.

One mural in particular, a pop art-esque of reflective pool water, caught my attention.

That’s from the JCrew article. I thought as I looked up,  a little embarrassed that I was able recognized the inspiration so quickly. And the Jcrew catalogue picture wasn’t the only one I recognized. There were bits and piece, close-ups of an ad featuring Matthew McConaughey and another painting pulled from a Dior perfume commercial.

I asked Jacquette what it was about advertisements that captured her attention with an answer already predicted in my mind…. “I’m attempting to critique advertisements, the unrealistic expectations of the glamour, and to deconstruct an image by focusing in on some specific detail.” I thought Jacquette would talk about critique. Her paintings were a way for her to point out how advertisements distort our perception of reality.

But my prediction was wrong. I was surprised when Jacquette responded that she falls prone to the swaying power of advertisements. She wants to travel to the couple’s resort. She wants to be as glamorous as the model in the Dior ad. Jacquette went on to explain that she admires ads and their fanaticism. Her art is not necessarily a critique but an homage.

I really liked the honesty of Jacquette’s answer. Sometime I find myself rolling my eyes at artists who are attempting to make a large critique on the ways of our current society. For me, it was refreshing to see that a talented artists can still appreciate what some may consider “low end” art such as catalogue ads. Jacquette is human just like us! I enjoyed hearing that she too can fall for improbable, such as perfume transforming the wearer into an image of elegance.

Today’s visit with Julia Jacquette was an all around amazing experience. I expected nothing less… After our brief tour of the exhibit on Monday morning, I immediately fell in love with her style of painting and play, and I knew that having the opportunity to chat with her would provide interesting context and information.

I particularly enjoyed Julia’s comments on her two large murals. She described the larger frames of work they were taken from — a J.Crew magazine spread and an ad for some sort of beach resort. She explained how each mural is simply a zoomed in “piece” of the larger advertisements. This context makes the abstraction all the more interesting, as someone in our class pointed out, it could critique the already “abstract” world of advertising. Personally, her close attention to the behavior of water and her way of depicting the colors of the water was my favorite part. She drew the water in a way that shows each color broken down to its exact location. The greens and whites of the water are separated out from the blues, making it it a hypnotic mixture of shapes.

Julia’s open mindedness to our interpretations of the two pieces was inspiring to witness. While it is not the larger lesson that I learned from our visit today, I did walk away from the discussion feeling empowered to search for little intricacies and details in all areas of art and life. Sometimes it is the tiniest, most obscure feature that can be the most beautiful.