WIGA 2010
Is art just a pretty picture or can it change the world? Should it make you think? Should it make you act?
Team Kenan invited Duke students to submit original artwork that demands change, makes viewers laugh, squirm, grimace, cry, or wonder – and ultimately want to live better.
The winners of the inaugural What is Good Art? Competition were unveiled at the exhibit opening on April 5.
Top prizes went to:
Michael McCreary, “Tension in Yellow” (1st place)
Stephanie Vara, “The Dinner” (2nd place)
Colin Heasley, “Stop Signage” (3rd place)
Kirstie Jeffrey, “Love, Love, Love” (Honorable Mention)
Marissa Bergmann, “Veins and Brains” (Honorable Mention)
Zach Blas, “Queer Technologies” (Gallery Choice)
A prestigious panel of experts judged competition submissions on their ability to fuse ethical and aesthetic dimensions into one statement. The scope of work solicited for the competition was intentionally broad: students were free to interpret the ethics-art link in many different ways.
Panel of Judges:
William Fick, Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice of Visual Arts
Margaret Mertz, Executive Director, Thomas S Kenan Institute for the Arts
Louise Meintjes, Associate Professor of Music
Noah Pickus, Director, Kenan Institute for Ethics
Thomas S. Rankin, Director, Duke Center for Documentary Studies
Kimerly Rorschach, Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum
Suzanne Shanahan, Associate Director, Kenan Institute for Ethics
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman Professor in Practical Ethics
Read the full 2010 statement for What Is Good Art? below:
See the rest of the 2010 What Is Good Art? Exhibition below.
Colin Heasley, Stop Signage
3rd Place
This piece was made using various shades of lipstick in order to convey the desire for youth and perfection that is perpetuated by our culture and media. The stop sign itself not only conveys the idea of an attempt to halt aging, but is also a symbol that is to a certain extent generic, representing an idealized perfection in which everyone is young and beautiful but lack quirks that make them interesting. The piece from left to right shows a timeline of intensifying use of makeup as a hypothetical person ages, sacrificing their identity to try and achieve societal "norms." The final inverted stop sign represents a breaking point at which this person cannot conceal aging any longer and must come to terms with the loss of their youth or lose their identity entirely. In this final panel the stop sign's impact disintegrates from making a strong stand against aging to a feeble plea against ostracization and the passage of time. This work alludes to the ethical implications of a youth-driven society, and how this can lead to a loss of personal identity and self image. Should we all look perfect, and is there even any point of trying?