Art Off The Wall

The 21st Century Art Historian

I feel my need or desire to be an art historian is to reconcile my passion for art history and art with the rest of the world. I desire for these things to be accessible and enjoyed by more people, by the public; because I believe in its ability to generate happiness, intellectual thought, and a fulfilled life where one views the world differently than most, who seem to perceive the world according to themselves, their jobs, and their possessions. I think that an art filled life forces one to think beyond these parameters (i acknowledge that for the majority of human history, people have perceived the world in this way). For this reason I wonder how I might devote my life and work towards sharing my passion and knowledge of art and producing productive change.

I think it would be incredibly interesting to conduct a project where I sat down with strangers and friends to discuss art. I am interested in how the majority of people perceive art. I’m not so much interested in what they think art is; that century and a half old question of what constitutes true art; but what is its function, why do they think it exists, do they think it is of any use other than aesthetic pleasure, and what they think would be different in the world if it did not exist.

I am also incredibly interested in the influence and potential future influence of the Internet on art history. When discussing music many cite the idea that as a result of the internet it became possible for smaller movements, styles, or genres of music to thrive by the increase in accessibility and free democratic input of information by anyone with an internet connection, thus creating thousands of niche markets and doing away with the top-down dispersal of information that the old media infrastructure produced. In that way it would be interesting to see if the internet has produced niche markets where new or traditionally neglected types or genres of art have been allowed to proliferate. I then wonder what the internet’s effect has been on the Canon and if has changed the way the canon is composed or added to.

Here are a few photos of the Islamic Society of North America’s mosque in Plainfield, Indiana.

I have been writing a research paper/ architectural analysis on this mosque for my class this spring, Islamic Art and Architecture.

In my paper I consider this mosque a unique and interesting structure, considering its location and relationship with traditional forms of Islamic architecture.

Constructed in 1979 by the architect Gulzar Haider, this religious building is an anomaly for radically breaking with the traditional forms of mosque architecture that are found in Islamic countries and mimicked or reproduced in non-Islamic countries.

The Islamic Society of North America’s Headquarters and Mosque

The Islamic Society of North America’s Headquarters and Mosque


art off the wall

One in the age old series of bad jokes about one syllable names: What do you call the man with no arms and legs hanging on your wall? Art.

Thus I introduce the topic of my blog. Art, art history, museums, and the like.