Writing assignment Blog Entry

Bourgeois Reading
1. Emotions are a big part of what inspires an artist, so I think Bourgeois used confrontation as a creative approach because it can be very emotional and in the end beneficial. Hate, anger, and sadness (just to name a few) have all inspired great works of art.

2. In the Bourgeois reading, Allan Schwartzman is "stupefied" with Bourgeois' work. He justifies his opinion by stating that she is "one of the defining artists of our time, she is one of the great artists of the twentieth century" because her pieces have an emotional exposure at the core, they hold psychological insight and there is a strong emotional presence in every piece of work she does.

3. I think if art can exert intense emotion than it is good art. I think viewers want to look at a work of art and feel something, not just look at it and move on to the next one, not thinking of anything. A contemporary artist that I feel creates an intensity of emotion in his artwork is Salvador Dali. His art is very intense and definitely evokes strong emotions in me (from shock to empathy).

4. Because Bourgeois sometimes finds herself not being able to express the content of her subconscious in modern art, she often takes risks for the sake of her art. She had to reflect on herself intensely puts this strong emotion and personal experiences/thoughts into her works; she was quoted saying, "I carry my psychoanalysis within the work" (85). I don’t know if I would be able to make artwork that was so personal, but I think for her the risks she took were worth it.

Leris Reading
1. When Leris writes that the meetings in the bathroom with his siblings were most sacred because of its secrecy, he means that perhaps the meeting wasn't the most important part of his memory. Having a secret (especially when you are little) gives a certain amount of power and can be exhilarating (in this case of not being caught), which becomes sacred.

2. The ill-defined space that Leris and his family would walk by was a space between two fortifications that didn't seem to have a purpose to him but he seems to remember them very well. A landmark that I remember traveling by when I was younger was the playground at my elementary school. I think it had more meaning than the ill-defined space that Leris remembers walking by, but it is also a memory of mine because not only would I play in the playground, but I would have to walk by it to get to some of my classes. I guess then it represented childhood and a care-free time. It is different now because my elementary school was completely renovated and the playground isn't there anymore, so now it’s sort of a sad memory.

3. One of the words Leris talks about as having the ability to immediately evocative a memory from his childhood is a word his older brother made up: "Baoukta." He describes it as war cry for when they were playing Indians when he was a kid. He explained that that word had an exotic feel, and seemed like his brother held the secret of its meaning.

4. I think Leris and Bourgeois would both agree that self-reflection and confrontation is worth it because of the emotion it brings to the surface, because to me both Leris and Bourgeois seem to be very emotional, personal people. I think it is worth it because the results could impact other people's lives greatly and create an intense reaction.