Second 2 articles.

In the Walker article, I found the idea of an artist having one "big idea" interesting.  I've never heard of this idea before, but it can really make sense of certain artwork.  For me, it can be really hard to appreciate art if the artwork is not visually appealing.  Once a person learns the artists' "big idea," the artwork can be seen in a completely different way.  It is a good way to make a reputation in the world of art for a person.  I agree that an artists' "big idea" should be personal and something the artist is very passionate about.

I really didn't like the garden project by Jennifer Barnett.  I think she took this idea way too far and is too repetitive.  If I was interested in an artist, I wouldn't want to see 200 versions of the same work.  I realize that all the gardens are all somewhat different, but they are all still gardens.  As a viewer/critic,  I would become uninterested after viewing five or so of essentially the same thing.  As an artist, I would never want to create basically the same work more than a couple of times, let alone 200 times.

The Barrett article explained visual interpretation in a good way.  It's hard to fight subconscious thoughts taking a quick glance of images.  This article helps break down images in a way most people wouldn't interpret them.  The Destiny Child's magazine cover was my favorite example.  It really shows how misleading images can be to the artists.  It shows an artist's work, specifically musicians, can be easily overlooked by advertising images.  This idea has transformed many musicians into performers rather than musicians.

I didn't completely understand the idea in the first section.  I like the idea of showing misleading images of certain African-American stereotypes and trying to make a change, but wouldn't this just lead to a continuation of misunderstood stereotypes?  Stereotypes exist because of what people see in the media or hear about, not usually from their own experience.  If there is multiple images of this same stereotyping, this would lead to the same and possibly an increase in the stereotyping.  But, this is just my opinion.  There could easily be something I interpreted incorrectly.