It felt almost surreal to perform maintenance art by cleaning the sculpture on campus while people were still going about their daily activities around us. I have never seen anyone cleaning the various sculptures and artwork on campus, though they seem to desperately need it. Because I have never seen anyone performing the same task (at least in plain sight while people were still going about their days around them) it felt almost wrong. As if maintenance work should be done out of sight of others. Which is a ridiculous concept because if maintenance work is essential, people should be observing it so that they can appreciate all that maintenance work does for them like (in this case) keeping their campus clean and free of dirt/graffiti, etc.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Maintenance Art performance is strikingly different from Richard Serra flinging molten lead against the walls of an art museum. Mierle Laderman Ukeles is working with a preexisting canvas (the Wadsworth Atheneum) and creating art by performing a cleaning ritual on said canvas. One could interpret that Richard Serra is creating art by performing the destruction of his canvas (the walls of the museum) and flinging molten lead at it. So Mierle Laderman Ukeles is sustaining and taking care of her canvas to create her art whereas Richard Serra is severely alerting and even destroying his canvas in order to create his art.
I think Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum is most certainly art. She is asking us to view what we would normally consider common/ordinary/expected in the lens of something special, something to be valued, and something to be seen.
I believe you can interpret something to be art in both ways – meaning that an object or an action can be or not be art due to the intentions of the creator and it can be art or not art based subjectively on the perception of the person viewing the art. Art exists in both the creators world and the audiences world at the same time, and both parties can have differing opinions on whether or not their piece qualifies as art. Meaning that house painting may not be art to the man whose job it is to paint the houses, however it could very well be art to a person walking down the street. Additionally, a painting on canvas would more than likely be considered art to its creator however perhaps a guest at the museum disagrees and does agree that it is art.
I have always seen the value in what we have termed “Women’s Work” in class, however viewing it in the lens of being art was new to me. After discussing and performing “Women’s Work ” I can say that I believe it is art when either the person performing it believes it to be art or when someone viewing it believes it to be so. In short, “Women’s Work” is art when a person views it in the lens of being so.
Truthfully, I cannot think of a celebrity’s star I would get down on my hands and knees to clean. I admire and enjoy the works of many celebrities past and present in the form of their music, movies, etc. however I don’t see a need to keep their Hollywood Star pristine.
ART 110 Blog 
Love the DETAIL photos of the activity! 😀
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