Field Trip: ICA Boston

So I decided to go to the Institute of Contemporary Art with Nikia last week. I've been to the MIT art gallery in the past but haven't gotten a chance lately to visit the ICA. There weren't as many things currently on view in the exhibitions as I had last seen it, but nevertheless there were still some interesting pieces. Many of the art installations were abstract and heavily conceptual...thank goodness for the exhibit descriptions! Mark Bradford was one of the featured artists, where most of his work consisted of abstract, oversized paintings with mixed mediums. He uses many bright bold colors and all of his paintings have repeating motifs like grid-like patterns and adding several layers of different mediums. What was interesting was each new layer was dissolved or cut away at certain places to reveal what was underneath it... it was an interesting way of showing "class, race, and gender in American urban society". He also had a video on display where he was wearing MC Hammer-esque pants with a giant tube wrapped around his waist and he was attempting to play basketball. By hindering his own movement he said it represented society's expectations/stereotypes as pressure for weighing people down from what they do...

There were several pieces in the galleries that interested me, including Shepard Fairey's artwork (it was amazing to see the collection of artwork, I just wanted to have them all for my personal space). Another piece that I found interesting was Christian Jankowski's "The Hunt". It was a short video which followed Jankowski over a course of one week where he shopped at a grocery store and only bought/ate the things he shot with a bow and arrow. It's quite humorous but it also made me think of nomadic tribes hunting for food, meshing primitive hunting traditions with current methods of obtaining food, and the male's role as the "hunter".