art & me

First of all, my name is Lauren Spigner and I am a fourth year 3-D Design student here at USC. Art, in all forms, is very much a part of my life. I like ceramics (especially hand building) and wood working. I also enjoy drawing, painting, photography, and computer design. I have made drawings, paintings, and many sculptures in the past but currently I am experimenting with found objects and varying locations and sizes; seeking to discover the very essense of art and what makes art, in fact, art.
Some of my favorite artists are Monet, Duchamp, Schiele, Degas, Lautrec, Renior, Brancusi, Picasso, Braque, Manet, Warhol, Jun Kaneko, Klimt, and Van Gogh. Most of my favorite artists are of the 20th century. But lately I have been looking to contemporary artists for personal inspiration for my work, like Gabriel Orozco and Claes Oldenburg.
I enjoy going to museums. I go to the McMaster Gallery each time it changes, as well as the Columbia Museum. I have a good friend who acts in local theater productions, so I attend his plays often. I've seen two shows on Broadway, The Lion King and Chicago but I have never been to an Opera. I love to dancing but I'm talking about the social kind of dancing, not ballet or anything.
I am taking this class because I am interested in Art Education and I am considering pursuing the Art Ed. degree instead. I think that I learn best in hands on situations. Also, visual aids are helpful for me.
Art moves me daily. To me everything is art. Anyone makes it, whether they know it or not and everyone enjoys it, whether they know it or not. It's not just a painting or a sculpture but more accurately an extension of oneself. Like when I create a sculpture, the work is actually a piece of me, out in the world for everyone to see. So I believe that music, video games, comics, television, etc. are all art. And I can't explain it but somehow you know me and understand me better by simply looking at what I have created. I love art because I can say so much more about myself by just creating, than I ever could with words.
People inspire me. Relationships inspire me. Nature inspires me. Life inspires me. Walking outside, seeing the world, and all the people I know and don't know, makes me breath a little deeper. These things push me and make me search myself and the world. They force me to explore.
I'm not sure who decides what "good art" is or how they do it. I suppose it boils down to asethetic pleasure. I just know that the standard for "good art" is ever changing. Most artists don't reach their peak of popularity until long after their death. In history, "good art" has been indentified by royality, the church, the government, and the upper class. I don't know what to make of this. But I honestly try to search for the "good art" in everything.
Me and my friends typically try to defend our favorite pieces of art as being better than others, by describing the way the pieces deal with reality. Whether it be commenting on reality or relating to reality through fantasy, we see most the world and therfore, most art, in relationship to reality. I feel that one of the best movies of last year was "Away We Go." In this film, an unmarried couple deal with the tasks of having a child, deciding where to live, and ultimately, who too be in their new family. This film aims to be about a real couple dealing with real life. I appreciate the everyday, mundane aspects of this relationship coupled with the intensity of huge life decisions.
Feist's last record, Reminder, is currently playing on my iPod. She's deep and catchy. Give "I Feel It All" a listen. . .
***The picture above is a performance art piece I did over a year ago. These are various found objects, frozen in jello, and tied to a tree. As the jello melts, the objects are revealed. This piece deals with time and space, exploring the urgency of time and the expanse of space.