Artists of the week

Matthew Barney is a jack of all trades. He is generally a sculptor, although he does dabble in film, video, installations, photography, drawing and performance art. Oddly enough he happens to date Björk on top of all that. He is best known for The Cremaster Cycle. Best described as a series of five films that display a self-enclosed aesthetic system. Barney has received mixed reviews for most his work, from comments such as "an unabashed display of Oriental kitsch that makes Memoirs of a Geisha look like an ethnographic documentary." Jed Perl declared in review of Barney. But others consider him to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Matthew Barney's work inspires a feeling of curiosity in me when I see it. It makes me question the validity of society and the acception of stereotypes. His use of different media allows him to reach a larger audience and speak to more people. Limiting yourself to one media causes you to think one-dimensionally and causes your work to become stagnant.


Being one of the most influence film artists in his time, Viola has spent over 35 years of his life dedicated to be considered a major contemporary artist. He has gone all over the world and studied subjects from video to Zen Buddhism, all inspiring his work. His films are mostly concerned with the life of humans. He shows the human experience with different techniques of slow motion video that drag the viewer into the film. He has had his work show all over the world. National Gallery, London, Guggenheim Berlin, Guggenheim New York, California, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York are just a few of the many locations he has had an exhibit shown.



Viola produces some of the most insane videos I have ever witnessed. The video reminds me of films like The Shining and The Ring. I can only assume he had an influence on the directors of those films. I liked the way he used nose with the video, creating a different feeling then what you would normally associate with. I even felt slightly disturbed at points. His other works like and were not as interesting, but I can see how people would find it innovative.



Rist isn't as wide spread and known as Viola, but she has made a living making some beautiful art. She works in videos that normally portray the human body in a sexual way. The videos are short with lots of color and speed. She is a feminist, and it comes through in her work. A feeling of happiness seems to come out of her works. She is now teaching at UCLA after being invited by Professor Paul McCarthy.



At first I wasn't really understanding what people saw in Rist, but after watching a few videos I saw the humor and playfulness that makes her. Although, I didn't feel there was a whole lot of thought in the work. A few of the videos seemed like they were making fun of art, rather then making it.