Burnett1 USF Contemporary Art Museum A Family Affair Victoria Burnett HUM1020.004F15 11/1/15 Burnett2 For my museum visit I went to the USF Contemporary Art Museum. The USF Contemporary Art Museum is a small art museum close to the Marshall Student Center on campus next to the College of Fine Arts building. The museum opened its doors in 1989 and has held multiple exhibits from around the world (“About”). The exhibition on display there currently is titled A Family Affair and showcases art that focuses on the artists’ family relationships and friendships. There were many different styles of art including photography, video and music. A few of the artists displayed at the museum include Renee Cox, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Kalup Linzy, Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas. The social angle that was most prevalent overall in the museum was history in the form of family relationships. Most of the artists were African American and many of them had underlying race and ethnicity social angles to their art, however; the theme of the exhibit was family and all of the art in the museum showcased family and family relationships. Renee Cox’s art particularly stood out to me. Her work Olpmpia’s Boyz (2001) was an eye catching photo because it was 14 feet wide and showcased her naked with her sons. The photo is a recreation of Manet’s Olympia (1863), Cox puts herself in the place of a white prostitute from the original painting and puts her sons in place of a black maid (Voeller). Cox is made the focal point, or the area of emphasis, of this photograph with lighting and her being in the center of the page (Sporre 65). The social angle most strongly associated with her work is History, specifically family history. Her work focused on family by incorporating her two sons into the photo. Race and Ethnicity can also be seen through this photograph as she replaces the white prostitute with herself. Another one of her works featured at the museum is My Son (2001) which features her son covered in an American flag. Burnett3 Another artist that stuck out to me was LaToya Ruby Fraizer. Mainly her photography was showcased, but she also had a video at the museum talking about her and her mom’s alternative health treatments for various ailments. Her photography was very interesting because the photos were of everyday, ordinary scenes that were not special at all. Frazier was able to capture those ordinary moments and make them into works of art. One photograph was titled Momme (2008) and is a picture of her and her mom. The picture at the bottom of the essay is me in front of Momme (2008). Her mom’s face is sideways to the camera and Frazier’s face is looking straight on towards the camera and is half covered by her mom’s face. It allows the audience to see the similarities between the two. Her mom is in a robe and while she is in a tank top, their hair is up in a casual way as if it were just another day getting ready. This photograph spoke to me because there was a lot of emotion in the photo and I got a sense of their mother daughter relationship. All of Frazier’s photographs lack color, which means they are all black and white (Sporre 55). Some of her other works featured include Grandma Ruby’s Recliner and Grandma Ruby’s Refrigerator. Frazier’s work most identifies with the History social angle. This can be seen in how she portrays her mom and herself and other relatives that tell a story about their day to day lives that talk about her own family history. I enjoyed Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas’ work as well in this exhibition. One photograph that was intriguing was Sometimes I see Myself in You (2008). This picture has three faces, one is Deborah Willis’, one is Hank Willis Thomas’ face and the other is their face fused together. The fused face appears to look like a real face upon first glance because the artists are mother and son and look very similar (Voeller). I think this photo is a perfect representation of A Family Affair because it is a mother-son art team that made art out of fusing their faces together. Burnett4 There is repetition, the alternating of items, in this picture in regards to how the faces are placed equal distances away and how the faces are positioned toward the camera (Sporre 56). This pair of artists focused on History as their social angle, specifically family history. Through all their work in the exhibition, there was an underlying theme of the family and presenting different family members. Another work featured in the exhibition by the team is Thomas and Thomas (2008) which is a photograph of Hank Willis Thomas and his grandfather looking almost identical in similar suits standing by almost the exact same street corner. Another type of medium which I never thought would be in an art museum was music by Kalup Linzy. Linzy makes original music and “soap operatic narratives” which talk about many different topics including “love, loss and the challenges of artistic and sexual self-realization” (Voeller). A narrative tells a story (Sporre 132). The Art Museum had headphones so the audience could listen to the music and also had music videos playing which starred Linzy. The music included Chewing Gum (2015) and Conversations wit de Churen X: One Life to Heal (2013). The lyrics did a good job of telling about Linzy’s experiences and did a good job of conveying different emotions. I could feel the hurt and confusion through the tone, which “establishes relationships within a piece,” and lyrics that Linzy used (Sporre 122). I enjoyed that the museum had not only photographs but also music and videos. Other work in the museum by Linzy include Queen Rose Family Tree (2014-2015). I chose to go the USF Contemporary Art Museum because it was convenient to get to as I live only five minutes away. I was also interested in the exhibition A Family Affair that is still on display at the art museum. I began to wonder about what type of art work would be present there to showcase families, and I also found it fascinating that the entire museum had art only Burnett5 contributing to that one exhibit. The USF Contemporary Art Museum was very small, I am sure very few people even know that it is on campus. The art museum was fun to explore and it is nice that there is a place on campus for students to go and appreciate art and see new types of art that they have not been exposed to before. To me, the museum is now a place to get away to when I need to take a break from life on campus and want to appreciate art. I visited the USF Contemporary Art Museum on a Monday afternoon, which means I was the only person there besides the gentleman working there. While I was there no one else came to the museum, so I was not able to talk to anyone or see reactions to the art while I was there. However, I think that the USF Contemporary Art Museum is playing a role in the community and to students on campus. The museum has many events that are open to the public, such as a free guided tour of A Family Affair by the curator Megan Voeller (“About”). The museum holds Artist Talks and other events to get the community more active in learning about art (“About”). The USF Contemporary Art Museum also helps make an impact for students. The museum offers many intern positions for those interested in art and writing (“About”). The USF Contemporary Art Museum was different than any museum I have visited in the past. I have never visited a traditional art museum before with paintings or sculptures. I have only visited science museums with interactive exhibits that pertain to animals or humans. I have been to the St. Louis Science Center, which is similar to a museum, and to the City Museum in St. Louis. The City Museum is a museum for young children with areas to climb and do craft activities, they have an aquarium and a shoelace factory inside as well. The USF Contemporary Art Museum compared to those museums are vastly different. The USF Contemporary Art Museum was not interactive, was smaller and adults are the target audience. The exhibits in the USF Contemporary Burnett6 Art Museum change from season to season but always showcase art. The St. Louis Science Center and City Museum are interactive and target kids as the primary audience. The museums do have some changing exhibits, but for the most part the museum stays the same. The focus of the Science Center and City Museum are to get children thinking about science and to get kids active. I enjoyed going to the Contemporary Art Museum now as an adult because it gave me a better appreciation for art seeing it up close. The exhibit was not the type of art I usually enjoy seeing, I enjoy paintings and drawings more than photography and music. Even though it was not what I usually enjoy looking at, it was still very eye opening and gave me a different perspective on the types of modern art being made today. Word Count: 1553 Momme (2008) LaToya Ruby Frazier Burnett7 Works Cited: "About USF Contemporary Art Museum." USFCAM Contemporary Art Museum. University of South Florida Institution of Research in Art, 2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015. Sporre, Dennis J. Reality Through the Arts. 8th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pearson, 2013. Print. Voeller, Megan. A Family Affair. Florida: USF Contemporary Art Museum, 2015. Print.
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