Determining Taste Preferences through Analysis of Contemporary Art What is your assignment? You will write a short paper

Critical Discussion: Determining Taste Preferences through Analysis of Contemporary Art What is your assignment? You will write a short paper (approximately 1000 words or four pages) based on a series of taped interviews with contemporary artists drawn from the “Art 21” website. The paper will be short, but it needs to be a densely descriptive, analytical essay that displays your capacity to succinctly comment on the works of your chosen artists, your reactions to that work, and what those reactions reveal about yourself and your evolving relationship to contemporary art. In this paper you will demonstrate your developing critical skills by describing the works of the three artists you find most personally rewarding. For each of your chosen artists you will discuss and evaluate what aspects of their work appealed to you and why. What is the purpose of this paper? How should you start to write it?

The artists and works of art that you choose is completely up to you. The purpose of this project is that you start to make some observations about your own developing taste. So first, simply choose your three favorite artists from the Art 21 website. Once your three choices are made, research their work using the “Art 21” website. Use that research material to introduce us to representative works by your artists so that we can learn about them.

Then, and this is VERY important, the final part of your paper should be your assessment, after careful reflection, as to why YOU chose THOSE images. Why are they significant to you? You may find that the choices reflect different facets of your personality. You may find that there are clear themes that relate to your interests. This paper is as much about your conscious assessment of your developing taste in art as it is about the artists themselves.

Resources for the paper: As your primary resource you have the huge website at PBS called “Art 21” http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/ Here you will find biographical information, images, video footage, interview materials. All of this information will be critical for your papers. You will want to spend a good deal of time with the “Art 21” website as we progress through the semester in order to choose your three artists. Before you turn in your paper make sure you have covered these topics:

1. Have you described the artist’s work and working process using specific works of art to illustrate your discussion?

2. Have you described the reasons that these works appealed to you? 3. In your final summary have you evaluated what you have learned about yourself and your own evolving taste in art by thinking about your attraction to these artists? Did your chosen artists have any patterns/themes in common that sparked your interest? Have you described how these commonalities relate to you? Or does each artist represent a different facet of your own sense of self? Have you described your “ relationship” to each artist’s work? 4. Have you properly cited all of your sources using MLA format? Do you have a “Works Cited? You will post the paper by the due date to the appropriate discussion link and also to Turnitin.