Artist lecture: Penelope Umbrico, 10/5/09

I found Umbrico's lecture and work to be refreshing and extremely playful. I experienced a great sense of déjà vu throughout her lecture because I found myself nodding my head and agreeing to the many sentiments she brought up, such as finding photos of babies and pets in catalogs to be sad because they are unaware of what is going on around them and for contemplating about fake families and people associated with monograms that are stitched on items for sale in catalogs. These were things I had never actively thought of before but that I agreed with immediately when she brought them up. That sense of understanding of something so trivial with a stranger and artist was uplifting. At first I struggled with the knowledge that she doesn't shoot any of her own images but once she used the example of anything you upload on the internet is the equivalent of leaving garbage on the street for anyone to pick up, I found myself no longer struggling with the method of her production and came to accept it.