Art Lecture Review

          Artist Joseph Delappe spoke at the University of Nevada, Reno on April 17, 2013 about his work spanning from 1997 to present day. The focuses of the pieces he discussed were protest, memory, and reenactment. Usually I tend to find many of the artist lectures that I attend are not that interesting.  It may be that my art also focuses on political and social issues, but I found his to be very intriguing.  Coming from a background in drawing and painting, I really enjoyed seeing a different way of dealing with the issues that were at stake.  While the earlier projects were unique it was the World Trade Center Memorial Competition works and those that were influenced by it that really caught my attention.  The work “America’s Army: Dead in Iraq” was the most eye-opening of all.  The idea that the government funded a first person shooter game that they used as a recruiting tool for the Iraq War was baffling in itself. Delappe used the game as a forum to try to show the other gamers the reality of what they perceived as amusement. In typing the names and dates of death of fallen soldiers, Delappe tried to bring awareness that people do not just regenerate, but in fact it is a real issue where people have and are dying. To my astonishment Delappe said that his work was received with so much dislike that the gamers eventually voted to have him booted from their games and would even kill his unarmed character in order to get him to stop “interrupting” them. 

            The way that Delappe has used new technology in his work is very admirable in my opinion.  He found a way to reach more than just the art community and involved those that were most effected by the hypocrisies even when they themselves did not realize it. It is really interesting to see another artist utilize other medias and be successful in their works both visually and conceptually. All in all I really enjoyed hearing this lecture.