Event 2 : Fowler Museum

My second event was visiting the Fowler Museum on the UCLA campus. I saw the Reflecting Culture exhibit for the Fowler Collection of Silver. It was a great experience viewing what the museum had to offer. This was my favorite of the few exhibits at the museum, so I will focus my event review on this one. The exhibit contained 251 different objects that were all the way from Europe, Britain, and the United States. The majority of the silver was in good condition, and considering the extremely old age of these objects, it's crazy how nice the presentation of the objects were. Many well-known silversmiths and jewelers such as Paul de Lamerie from Britain, Karl Faberge from Russia, and United States' Paul Revere. Something interesting to note is the various pieces of silver that can fully convey what societal events were occurring during this period of time. For example, the United States and Britain are separated by the Atlantic Ocean, but share many creative similarities in the silverware. In addition, some of the colonies that came from Britain significantly influenced the social culture of the United States. It can be determined that the silver portrayed the time period's social hierarchy. The wealthier citizens that had an economic advantage over those who had economic disadvantage was shown in the silverware they possessed. It was a socio-economic status quo that many rich people during this time period found desirable.

In conclusion, the exhibit does a great job of combining society and art. The art is a reflection of societal norms for the time period in which these commodities were desirable for economically well-off populations. It is important to use these clues to examine the past and backgrounds to which people lived. Prior to taking the class, I never thought I would gain this knowledge, but it is something that I can now relate to many historical contexts.

Event 1 : Hammer Museum

For my first event, I went to the Hammer Museum to view the work of Charles Gaines groundwork that has been a developing style of art over the course of his career. It was a unique, yet great experience to analyze the work throughout the museum. This specific exhibit was my favorite because the gridwork integrated a numerical theme. For example, on one of his pieces he drew one through 9, in extremely small font about a centimeter in size, but numbers completely covering the whole canvas. It caught my attention because I am a big fan of numbers and the integration of numbers in artwork is rarely seen. Although it may seem as if the artwork has randomly placed numbers throughout, they eventually come together to create the resulting art piece. All of the colors created a visual experience that encompassed a forest-like scene. It was one of the most unique piece of art I have ever seen mainly because of the combination of mathematics and art. Although I am not the most talented artist, I would consider attempting to create something similar. Nonetheless, mathematics and art are of interest and I think I could mathematically create a drawing using a type of grid, then combine the color in the grid. I think I could take this up as a future hobby, and depending on my success with it, maybe pursue this as a career. Regardless, this exhibit was thought provoking art that created an inner fascination with this form of art, ultimately furthering my knowledge of art techniques.