Showing posts with label eleanor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eleanor. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Art & Audience/Politics - Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
"I want you, the viewer to be intellectually challenged, moved and informed . . . I need the public to complete the work. I ask the public to help me, to take responsibility, to become part of my work, to join in. I tend to think of myself as a theater director who is trying to convey some ideas by reinterpreting the notion of the division of roles: author, public, and director" - Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Interactive or “Participatory art”1 as Eleanor Heartney suggests is art which involves the audience in order for the artwork to fully function. Adriano Pedrosa states Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s art is highly dependant on audience interaction, giving the viewers an “obligation to act”2 in reaction to his works. As seen in Gonzalez-Torres’s artworks, meaning is created through the act of participation. He presents the viewer with a situation where curiosity and intrigue acquires the better of them relying on a physical or emotional engagement with the work.
There are many personal references to Gonzalez-Torres’s works which are only acquired through audience participation. Issues such as gender and sexuality, death and loss, time and change, freedom and repression are questioned. Gonzales-Torres’s life partner Ross who died of AIDS in 1991, maintained a recurring role in most of his work. As seen in “Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)” 1991, the candy spill begun at the weight of the two combined lovers, and as the mound is stripped slowly, changing in shape and weight it represents mortality and loss.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)", 1991,
175 lbs Fruit Flasher Candy, size variable.
Gonzalez-Torres explores the medium of audience interaction differently to his candy spills and paper stacks, In “Untitled (Go Go Dancing platform)” 1991, the audience is invited to watch and become emotionally involved in the artwork consisting of a white platform with a rim of lights occasionally enlivened by a well-muscled male dancer who privately listens to music. This creates a situation where the viewer participates from a more observational viewpoint, and like most performance art, is confronting to witness. Heartney suggests that “it is the attitude of the audience toward the art which becomes the work”5.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled (Go Go Dancing Platform)", 1991,
wood, lightbulbs, acrylic paint, GoGo dancer in silver lame bathing
suit with listening device and sneakers, 21 1/2 x 72 x 72 in.
Switzerland, private collection.
One of Gonzales-Torres last conceived works before his death in 1996 was “Untitled (Golden)” 1995, which was essentially a curtain used as a room divider, suspended in which the viewer must pass. He invited viewers to take part in the metaphorical and literal evolution of his work’s meaning as Pedrosa suggests “The gentle confrontation of this golden screen provokes the tactile and sensory, inviting the viewer to transform its shape simply by walking through”6. “Untitled (Golden)” is a work of transitory passage associated with his battle with AIDS - from life to death, public to private, the known to the unknown.
1. Eleanor Heartney, Art & Today. ( London: Phaidon, 2008).
2. Adriano Pedrosa "Felix Gonzalez-Torres - Breif Article". ArtForum. 16 Oct, 2009.
"I want you, the viewer to be intellectually challenged, moved and informed . . . I need the public to complete the work. I ask the public to help me, to take responsibility, to become part of my work, to join in. I tend to think of myself as a theater director who is trying to convey some ideas by reinterpreting the notion of the division of roles: author, public, and director" - Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Interactive or “Participatory art”1 as Eleanor Heartney suggests is art which involves the audience in order for the artwork to fully function. Adriano Pedrosa states Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s art is highly dependant on audience interaction, giving the viewers an “obligation to act”2 in reaction to his works. As seen in Gonzalez-Torres’s artworks, meaning is created through the act of participation. He presents the viewer with a situation where curiosity and intrigue acquires the better of them relying on a physical or emotional engagement with the work.
There are many personal references to Gonzalez-Torres’s works which are only acquired through audience participation. Issues such as gender and sexuality, death and loss, time and change, freedom and repression are questioned. Gonzales-Torres’s life partner Ross who died of AIDS in 1991, maintained a recurring role in most of his work. As seen in “Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)” 1991, the candy spill begun at the weight of the two combined lovers, and as the mound is stripped slowly, changing in shape and weight it represents mortality and loss.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)", 1991,
175 lbs Fruit Flasher Candy, size variable.
Also in “Untitled (Strange Bird)”, 1993, Pedrosa states the paper stacks “sit silent like tombstones or anti-monuments”3
depicting black clouds with a singular bird in flight, representing power of the individual spirit referring to Gonzalez-Torres’s experience with AIDS and the effect it had on his life. The precarious shape, weight and composition of “Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)” and “Untitled (Strange Bird)” are slowly diminished, as the audience is invited to take pieces away with them. However in this case “to eliminate is to complete”4 with the final act of the audience, the artwork gains a life of its own and is replenished by the gallery. 
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled (Strange Bird)", 1993
8 in. x 44 1/2 in. x 33 1/2 in. (20.32 cm x 113.03 cm x 85.09 cm)
Collection SFMOMA
Collection SFMOMA
Gonzalez-Torres explores the medium of audience interaction differently to his candy spills and paper stacks, In “Untitled (Go Go Dancing platform)” 1991, the audience is invited to watch and become emotionally involved in the artwork consisting of a white platform with a rim of lights occasionally enlivened by a well-muscled male dancer who privately listens to music. This creates a situation where the viewer participates from a more observational viewpoint, and like most performance art, is confronting to witness. Heartney suggests that “it is the attitude of the audience toward the art which becomes the work”5.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled (Go Go Dancing Platform)", 1991,
wood, lightbulbs, acrylic paint, GoGo dancer in silver lame bathing
suit with listening device and sneakers, 21 1/2 x 72 x 72 in.
Switzerland, private collection.
One of Gonzales-Torres last conceived works before his death in 1996 was “Untitled (Golden)” 1995, which was essentially a curtain used as a room divider, suspended in which the viewer must pass. He invited viewers to take part in the metaphorical and literal evolution of his work’s meaning as Pedrosa suggests “The gentle confrontation of this golden screen provokes the tactile and sensory, inviting the viewer to transform its shape simply by walking through”6. “Untitled (Golden)” is a work of transitory passage associated with his battle with AIDS - from life to death, public to private, the known to the unknown.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "untitled (golden)", 1995
Strands of beads and hanging device, variable dimensionsSolomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Art Institute of Chicago, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 2008.
1. Eleanor Heartney, Art & Today. ( London: Phaidon, 2008).
2. Adriano Pedrosa "Felix Gonzalez-Torres - Breif Article". ArtForum. 16 Oct, 2009.
(accessed 17/10/09)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_4_39/ai_68697165/
3. Ibid
4. Ibid
5. Eleanor Heartney, Art & Today. ( London: Phaidon, 2008).
3. Ibid
4. Ibid
5. Eleanor Heartney, Art & Today. ( London: Phaidon, 2008).
6. Adriano pedrosa "felix Gonzalez-torres -Breif Article". ArtForum. 16 Oct,2009.
(accessed 17/10/09)
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/gonzalez-torres_felix.html
Bibliography:
Heartney, Eleanor. Art & Today. London: Phaidon, 2008.
Bibliography:
Heartney, Eleanor. Art & Today. London: Phaidon, 2008.
Komis, Dmitry “whitehot Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Isa Genzken, Francesco Vezzoli @ the 52nd Venice Biennale”. Whitehot Magazine, 2007. (accessed 17/10/09)
http://www.whitehotmagazine.com/articles/francesco-vezzoli-52nd-venice-biennale/790
Pedrosa, Adriano "Felix Gonzalez-Torres - Breif Article". ArtForum. 16 Oct, 2009.
(accessed 1710/09)
http://www.whitehotmagazine.com/articles/francesco-vezzoli-52nd-venice-biennale/790
Pedrosa, Adriano "Felix Gonzalez-Torres - Breif Article". ArtForum. 16 Oct, 2009.
(accessed 1710/09)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Broken Homes - Andrew Mackenzie
Through reading Broken Homes, I have been made aware of some of the deeper issues that Callum Morton’s Valhalla, holds. Immediately the review began breaking down layers of meanings, one in particular was Mackenzie’s analogy of the title, explaining how the Valhalla - meaning “Hall of the slain”, implies the continuity of history and Mackenzie suggests “we be careful no to see the world through the anxiety… of USA foreign Policy”.
Morton’s original family home “Myoora” had been recently torn down, and as I understand, Valhalla became a representation of the outward old house although “burnt out, scarred and a maimed shell”. The architectural scaling and location of Valhalla meant that it is strategically tucked away from the rest of the other artworks, which I hadn’t considered until reading this review. Not only is the work separate in location, but I agree with Mackenzie when he mentions that it is also “not immediately identifiable” as art.
With this statement, arises the discussion between the public and private lives of humanity, with homes acting as the “retreat” from the world’s pressures, so in our private areas we can really be ourselves and reveal our true colours. Mackenzie mentions that the “home is central” because in recent years the city and public spaces have declined in social life, recruiting people away from public eyes to create a sub-division separating interaction.
Mackenzie then goes onto arguing the architectural side of things faulting the design of American houses as another reason for this separation between public and private, with security, comfort and community, who can say no? This according to Mackenzie and Mary Jane Jacobs “planned the separation from the working city from the seeping suburbs”.
Mackenzie states that “this Valhalla is not a heavenly hall… it is a monument to a home broken by time and the proclivities of real estate… a monument to the raving force of economy over ideology” which I think sums up the majority of Morton’s ideas. Mackenzie suggests that Valhalla’s walls mark the eroding public life as well as the demolition to a part of his own past.
I thought the review was really interesting, and opened up a couple of points which I hadn’t really thought about during our discussion in class. I agreed with most of Mackenzie’s points as well which made it easy to interpret and understand.
Morton’s original family home “Myoora” had been recently torn down, and as I understand, Valhalla became a representation of the outward old house although “burnt out, scarred and a maimed shell”. The architectural scaling and location of Valhalla meant that it is strategically tucked away from the rest of the other artworks, which I hadn’t considered until reading this review. Not only is the work separate in location, but I agree with Mackenzie when he mentions that it is also “not immediately identifiable” as art.
With this statement, arises the discussion between the public and private lives of humanity, with homes acting as the “retreat” from the world’s pressures, so in our private areas we can really be ourselves and reveal our true colours. Mackenzie mentions that the “home is central” because in recent years the city and public spaces have declined in social life, recruiting people away from public eyes to create a sub-division separating interaction.
Mackenzie then goes onto arguing the architectural side of things faulting the design of American houses as another reason for this separation between public and private, with security, comfort and community, who can say no? This according to Mackenzie and Mary Jane Jacobs “planned the separation from the working city from the seeping suburbs”.
Mackenzie states that “this Valhalla is not a heavenly hall… it is a monument to a home broken by time and the proclivities of real estate… a monument to the raving force of economy over ideology” which I think sums up the majority of Morton’s ideas. Mackenzie suggests that Valhalla’s walls mark the eroding public life as well as the demolition to a part of his own past.
I thought the review was really interesting, and opened up a couple of points which I hadn’t really thought about during our discussion in class. I agreed with most of Mackenzie’s points as well which made it easy to interpret and understand.
Art and Architecture/Institutions - Simon Starling
Simon Starling
Simon Starling
“Inverted Retrograde Theme, USA (house for a songbird)”
2002
Starling, born 1967 is an English artist who works and lives in Berlin. Heartney suggests Starling “targets modernist design” as he refers to the failure of security and unconventional housing structure. As seen in “Inverted Retrograde Theme, USA (house for a songbird)” 2002, the two structures have been turned up-side down to reinforce the dysfunction of the design. The steel bars on the windows and doors suggest a lack of security and Starling has inserted live parakeets into the models “evoking the caged entrapment of its residents”.
http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/simon_starling1/
Simon Starling
“Inverted Retrograde Theme, USA (house for a songbird)”
2002
Starling, born 1967 is an English artist who works and lives in Berlin. Heartney suggests Starling “targets modernist design” as he refers to the failure of security and unconventional housing structure. As seen in “Inverted Retrograde Theme, USA (house for a songbird)” 2002, the two structures have been turned up-side down to reinforce the dysfunction of the design. The steel bars on the windows and doors suggest a lack of security and Starling has inserted live parakeets into the models “evoking the caged entrapment of its residents”.
http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/simon_starling1/
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Art and Globalism/Spirituality - Do-Ho Suh
Do-Ho Suh
Floor, 1997-2000
Floor is an installation where the audience is invited to walk across a thick glass floor where more than 180,000 small PVC plastic figures strain and reach to support a thick layer of glass. The figures, just over 2 inches high and cast from six-different molds, were differentiated by reductive characteristics of gender and race, their legs bowed with the effort of supporting the glass plates raised above their heads. ‘Floor’ refers to globalism by commenting on class and population.
Floor, 1997-2000
Floor is an installation where the audience is invited to walk across a thick glass floor where more than 180,000 small PVC plastic figures strain and reach to support a thick layer of glass. The figures, just over 2 inches high and cast from six-different molds, were differentiated by reductive characteristics of gender and race, their legs bowed with the effort of supporting the glass plates raised above their heads. ‘Floor’ refers to globalism by commenting on class and population.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Art and Identity - Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman deals with the big questions of life, in the words of his 1983 neon: “Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, and Pain”. Nauman's work focuses on the essential elements of the human experience including identity. His more early light series are grappled with the semiotics of body, identity, word games, neons and figurative language. My name as though it were written on the surface of the moon (1968), addresses the name in relation to identity while at the same time challenging the value placed on an artist’s signature. Nauman draws an acute analogy with the manner in which the artist's role and identity has similarly been misconstrued and romanticized.
Life Death Love Hate Pleasure Pain, 1983
Bruce Nauman deals with the big questions of life, in the words of his 1983 neon: “Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, and Pain”. Nauman's work focuses on the essential elements of the human experience including identity. His more early light series are grappled with the semiotics of body, identity, word games, neons and figurative language. My name as though it were written on the surface of the moon (1968), addresses the name in relation to identity while at the same time challenging the value placed on an artist’s signature. Nauman draws an acute analogy with the manner in which the artist's role and identity has similarly been misconstrued and romanticized.
Life Death Love Hate Pleasure Pain, 1983
My Name as though it were written accross
the surface of the moon, 1968
Art and Collaboration - Christo & Jeanne-Claude
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Christo and Jeanne-Claude are a married couple who have been collaborating together for over fourty years. There works are large scale, temporary installations and are best known for producing enormous packaging projects such as wrapping parks, buildings, and entire outdoor landscapes. There works “momentarily intervene in the local population’s daily rhythm in order to create "gentle disturbances" intended to refocus citizens' impressions” - Christo. Most of there works take years to plan and organise with the enormous effort and teamwork required for the actual installations.
Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet
Little Bay, Australia 1968-69
Christo and Jeanne-Claude are a married couple who have been collaborating together for over fourty years. There works are large scale, temporary installations and are best known for producing enormous packaging projects such as wrapping parks, buildings, and entire outdoor landscapes. There works “momentarily intervene in the local population’s daily rhythm in order to create "gentle disturbances" intended to refocus citizens' impressions” - Christo. Most of there works take years to plan and organise with the enormous effort and teamwork required for the actual installations.
Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami,
Florida, 1980-83
Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet
Little Bay, Australia 1968-69
Art and the body - Lee Wen
Lee Wen
“I was manifesting by using my body as an element in sculpture, by painting myself yellow and in appearing in performance as the yellow man” – Lee Wen
Lee Wen is a Singaporean performance and installation artist. In the Journey of a Yellow Man series, he has coated his body in yellow paint symbolizing his cultural identity as a Singapore citizen. Wen also uses red chains to represent social bondage, constraints, and restrictions of freedom within many Asian counties, whilst also referring to security and continuity. Wen also performs with rice – as it is the staple food in Asia, which refers to developing countries and the basic necessities in life which are taken for granted. With the aid of these props and Wen’s interaction with them, his body becomes the documentation and material for which his performances are executed.
“I was manifesting by using my body as an element in sculpture, by painting myself yellow and in appearing in performance as the yellow man” – Lee Wen
Lee Wen is a Singaporean performance and installation artist. In the Journey of a Yellow Man series, he has coated his body in yellow paint symbolizing his cultural identity as a Singapore citizen. Wen also uses red chains to represent social bondage, constraints, and restrictions of freedom within many Asian counties, whilst also referring to security and continuity. Wen also performs with rice – as it is the staple food in Asia, which refers to developing countries and the basic necessities in life which are taken for granted. With the aid of these props and Wen’s interaction with them, his body becomes the documentation and material for which his performances are executed.
Journey of a yellow Man (series)
1993
SORRY THIS IS LATE
Monday, August 10, 2009
Installation Art - Essence and Existence
Zurbrugg, Nicholas. “Installation Art – Essence and Existence”. In What is Installation Art? An Anthology of writings on Australian Installation art, edited by Adam Geczy and Benjamin Genocchio, 25-31.
During this chapter Nicholas Zurbrugg draws upon traditional and contemporary theories of installation art. He allows the reader to understand and consider the aim of a successful installation and how it differs from other media, with reference to the origins and recent development of installation art.
Zurbrugg begins with a description of what he considers to constitute as installation art. “Artists install, inside, outside or around exhibition space” with use of three dimensions. In this way, Zurbrugg argues that installation art asserts a more “complex spatial impact” than other art forms. Zurbrugg then goes on to discuss the relative connection between the installation and the artist. He mentions that artists are usually attempting to redefine an exhibition space and therefore the “artist is their own curator” which touches on the basis for the intrigue (I believe) in installation art.
Zurbrugg then goes onto discuss the origins of installation explaining that it derives out of “futurism, Bauhaus, dada, surrealism and constructivism” also stating that “modernistic experimentation” defined the evolution and making of installation. He references several theoretical opinions, exhibitions and texts, and compares prominent avant-guard and contemporary artists such as John Cage to Duchamp which indicates the development and progression of installation since the 19th century.
Zurbrugg continues to elaborate on the interactive relationship between the viewer and the artists work. He finishes with mentioning that movement is possibly the “most rewarding type of installation” and as so the viewer mentally and physically becomes involved within the installation.
The chapter, Installation Art - Essence and Existence Zurbrugg successfully comprises a thorough explanation and investigation into the origins and theories of installation art. I found he argues many important elements in installation such as the connection between the artist and the space in which installation is constructed, as well as the connection between the audience and the installation through movement. Overall I found it a very interesting and direct review.
During this chapter Nicholas Zurbrugg draws upon traditional and contemporary theories of installation art. He allows the reader to understand and consider the aim of a successful installation and how it differs from other media, with reference to the origins and recent development of installation art.
Zurbrugg begins with a description of what he considers to constitute as installation art. “Artists install, inside, outside or around exhibition space” with use of three dimensions. In this way, Zurbrugg argues that installation art asserts a more “complex spatial impact” than other art forms. Zurbrugg then goes on to discuss the relative connection between the installation and the artist. He mentions that artists are usually attempting to redefine an exhibition space and therefore the “artist is their own curator” which touches on the basis for the intrigue (I believe) in installation art.
Zurbrugg then goes onto discuss the origins of installation explaining that it derives out of “futurism, Bauhaus, dada, surrealism and constructivism” also stating that “modernistic experimentation” defined the evolution and making of installation. He references several theoretical opinions, exhibitions and texts, and compares prominent avant-guard and contemporary artists such as John Cage to Duchamp which indicates the development and progression of installation since the 19th century.
Zurbrugg continues to elaborate on the interactive relationship between the viewer and the artists work. He finishes with mentioning that movement is possibly the “most rewarding type of installation” and as so the viewer mentally and physically becomes involved within the installation.
The chapter, Installation Art - Essence and Existence Zurbrugg successfully comprises a thorough explanation and investigation into the origins and theories of installation art. I found he argues many important elements in installation such as the connection between the artist and the space in which installation is constructed, as well as the connection between the audience and the installation through movement. Overall I found it a very interesting and direct review.
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