Title of Event: Failure Lab Lecture
Date and Time: Oct 5 at 5pm
Location: Holmes Auditorium
Type of Event: Artist Talk and Reception
Title of Event: Failure Lab Lecture
Date and Time: Oct 5 at 5pm
Location: Holmes Auditorium
Type of Event: Artist Talk and Reception
Title of Event : Shepard Fairey Artist Reception
Date and Time : Oct 5, 3pm
Location : Samek
Type of Event : Artist Reception
Immediate Response
When scrolling through Jeff Koons’ work, I was surprised to see the simplicity of some of his work, including his sponge shelf. The piece that stuck out to me was more complex, labeled the Mermaid Troll. I was initially stunned at how creepy looking the piece was, expecting something a little more elegant considering it was a mermaid. The piece itself looks like it is mocking me, with an impossibly large smile and devious, empty eyes. The silver coloring of the sculpture also attributes to its uneasy feeling, as it makes the Mermaid Troll look like some sort of haunted relic.
Objective Description
This piece is as the name implies, with the bottom half being a scaly, wound up mermaid fish tail perched on what appears to be an ocean rock. The top half is what appears to be a female troll like figure with a sinister face and chipmunk like teeth, smiling and squinting menacingly. The figure has some sort of hat or hair, with the head noticeably stretched out on top. The statue stands at 20.5 inches tall and made of stainless steel. The piece is also missing both arms, rendering it limbless. This sculpture is certainly more troll than it is mermaid.
Technical Decisions
As mentioned before, the piece is solid stainless steel, giving it a silver metallic color that truly makes it appear to be some type of sinister ritual artifact meant to deter people from entering a cave. The piece is extremely detailed, from the scales to the smile, leaving little room for imagination as to the emotions of the figure. Perhaps to fit the stereotypical mermaid image, the sculpture appears to be female, as it has breasts. The fact that the statue is smiling contributes to its apparent malicious intent, perhaps posing as a mermaid only to turn to a murderous troll.
The Work in the World
I truly believe this piece was meant to entice fear, and I will believe this until proven otherwise. I also believe the piece was meant to show the duality of what seems to be enjoyment, but is actually harm, like developing a drug addiction or something similar. The viewer is lured in by the idea of a mermaid, but greeted with a vicious troll. Perhaps Koons is trying to portray that nothing good comes without evil, or that evil is often disguised as good. Either way, this piece undoubtedly mixes appeal and evil in a terrifying way.
The Story it Tells
This piece no doubt is meant to create fear and uneasiness in the viewer, and encourage them to think about the piece long after they last viewed it. I believe Koons was also trying to convey that there is evil in what promises to be enjoyment, much like an ad for nicotine or other possibly addictive substances. If this has any truth, Koons brilliantly uses abstract means to portray a simple message.
Radiolaria are unicellular protists, some species of which are over 500 million years old, that make complex shells made of silica. Much like snowflakes, no two radiolaria have the same design, adding to their natural complexity. I was fascinated by Haeckel’s commitment to finding art in science and combining them beautifully. Because of his ability to find art in nature, he was driven to discover over 4,000 different species of radiolaria, proving that science is made possible with passion. I do believe that if all scientist found beauty in their work the same way Haeckel did, there would be far more people dedicated to discovery. I have always had the tendency to connect art, nature, science, and mathematics, so this film did not do much to change my views on that. As a chemistry major, I have always found beauty in understanding the world both at a micro and macro level. The film does pose a contradiction when it comes to what in nature should be accepted as fact, as opposed to what is left up for creative interpretation. This is interesting to me, because on one side a man like Haeckel strives to find beauty in nature, which requires bending reality at times. However as a scientist, it is also his duty to understand an accepted truth. In my opinion, the balance is found in presentation of the material. I do think it is reasonable and healthy to portray certain discoveries as art, examples being the radiolaria, or like I mentioned before Wilson Bentley’s snowflakes. However, it is also important to present an accepted truth to all discoveries without romanticizing them. I believe that by crafting our own models of radiolaria, we are exploring the beauty of science in a way that allows us to understand natures unfailing precision and complexity, and this film is one of the greatest examples I have seen of this.