For our classes Maintenance Art activity, we went to Piotr Kowalski’s 1956 sculpture “NOW” in front of out Campuses University Student Union. We used a bucket of cleaning water and some sheets to collectively clean this sculpture that has accumulated dust overtime. Performing Maintenance Art made me value how important art pieces are and how we should preserve it in order to keep art pieces alive. Mierle Laderman Ukeles used buckets of water and cleaning supplies to wash the staircase at the Wadsworth Atheneum while Richard Serra flings molten lava at the walls of an art museum. The difference between these two is that Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ can be seen as preserving the art piece while Richard Serra can be seen as destroying the art piece. They are both Maintenance Art since they both portray labor but in art form. They are both art in my opinion. I would consider Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum art since she is using expression in her maintenance art. Her work would considered art regardless if her performance was at an Art museum or not. If she had been simply at janitor instead it still would have been art if she claimed it to be since art is subjective. Something that would be considered art would have entail a sense of self expression. I believe an object or action is Art or Not Art through the intention of the person performing it. All paintings on canvas are art but not because paintings on canvas are exhibited in art museums. A painting on canvas can be not art if the person that created it considers it not art. Painting house can be considered art if it is self expressive. A person’s star that I would get down on my hands and knees to clean would be Kobe Bryant since he has such an impacting legacy.
Britney Hok ART 110 