Finding 'Heaven' in the 'Garden'

I particularly enjoyed the vision behind the current gallery exhibition, "Parable of the Garden", in TCNJ's art gallery. For some reason, the ideal of "finding heaven" and exemplifying that search through art struck a chord with me. More than anything, the work consisting of a patch of grass and three looping videos, "Paradise" by Djoumaliev and Kasmalieva, intrigued me. For some reason, when I personally envision heaven, thick soft grass is usually part of that vision, and oddly enough, I really wanted to sit down or lay in the grass in the exhibit. Also, one of the three videos really struck me as well--the man reaching for the sky, and failing each time, obviously. It reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite novel series: "those who challenge the sun get too close, and they burn". It almost denotes that heaven is attainable, but not during our own lifetimes. Overall, I'd say this was a very effective piece, and while somewhat unconventional, was a piece of conceptual art I could really appreciate.

Dia:Beacon Impressions

Dia:Beacon was surprisingly enjoyable--to be honest, knowing that the majority of work I'd be seeing was going to be conceptual, unconventional, and generally not what you see at most art galleries, I had my doubts. However, placed in the beautiful urban-style building, these artworks appealed to me even more than they would have in a normal setting (the fact that I'm currently taking conceptual art also helped their case, in forming an impression upon my traditional taste). Most notable of all, to me, was the room exhibiting just one of Andy Warhol's artworks--Shadows from 1978-79, which consisted of a series of screenprinting on canvas that encircled the entire room. I had never seen one of Warhol's works in person, and the impact on the space in which it was placed made it very effective. Also, the digital aspect to his work also intrigued me--I like that he made it mainstream and acceptable to take digitally-created media and display them in traditional format, which is what I'd like to implement into my own career when I'm out of college. Also, his consideration of motifs and two approaches to the project also reflects some of the work I'm doing in my classes this semester. I think that this artwork, and the majority of Warhol's work, is very relevant in my studies as an art student, and I hope to see more of his work in the future to help further my practice of bringing digital media to traditional spaces.