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Rites of Passage into Contemporary Art Practice
| Semester and Year | FA 2011 |
| Course Number | ARTS-UG1420 |
| Section | 001 |
| Instructor | Barnaby Ruhe |
| Days | Thu |
| Time | 3:30 PM - 6:10 PM |
| Units | 4.0 |
| Level | U |
| Foundation Requirement |
Description
Modern art has been a balancing act between control and letting go. This course focuses on the psychological interface between the two, the “liminal” zone. We will survey modern artists’ techniques for tapping the sources of creativity, including Dada collagists’ free-associations; Surrealists’ automatic writing, doodles, and “cadavres exquises”; and Abstract Expressionists’ embrace of chaos as a resource. We will engage in very simple exercises: doodling, speed drawing, painting an abstract mural as a group, keeping a liminal journal, collaging, and exploring ritualistic techniques. We will follow up each exercise with discussions, take a trip to MoMA, and conclude the course with an essay, reexamining modern art in light of the inner journey each of us has taken during the course. Readings include writings by Arnold van Gennep, R.D. Laing, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Victor Turner, Mircea Eliade, James Elkins, and Frida Kahlo.
Syllabus
Course Type
Arts Workshops (ARTS-UG)
