Week 4 - Denver Art Museum

 I was able to attend the Denver Art Museum Panel where I was able to see actual artists from Latin America speak on their works and ideas alongside Professor Lopez. I enjoyed the panel because when I used to think of art and artists, I only envisioned it through a European or American lens. Even though I know art is universal, I sometimes find it hard to see past that. So when I saw these artists, I was happy to hear about their works. However, an artist that caught my attention was Damian Ortega. Although he showed us a couple of his works, I forgot to write them down, but as I looked through his artworks online, I admired his work Cosmic Thing. The work is a disassembled Volkswagen suspended in the air. I feel as if he is dissecting a commodity in order to prove how it is nothing more than just pieces of metal and man-made machinery. However, what I enjoyed most about the presentation was watching the artists talk about art. It might seem like something so trivial, but to hear the artist varying and similar perspectives on how they create art and the importance of art during this pandemic was the highlight of the event, in my opinion. Professor Lopez was the only Chicana artist amidst the group of men and I don’t know if it was just me, but they seemed intimidated by her. I wish there was a recording available, so I could look at the works shared and their explanations. 

Pablo Helguera's work Instituto de Telenovela was also an interesting piece considering the far-reaching influence of the Mexican soap-opera Los Ricos Tambien Lloran in Russia. It really makes you think about how art and entertainment is an international language. He also proved that art is interactive with his office space he made to “study” this phenomenon.