Self directed...In progress

Art and Audience

Armchair Theatre, installation at the National Theatre.

When reading Art & Today’s chapter on the Audience and reading about participation of the audience, I was reminded of my recent trip to Europe. On the first day of the trip, I was in London and happened upon this great artwork. It was out the front of the National Theatre and at first glance reminded me of Putt-Putt due to the overwhelming amount out fake grass used! The lounge suite was arranged differently every day that I passed by it and occasionally someone was sitting on it. I think that it is wonderful when artists make art that people can interact with, because in the process of interacting with art it becomes less intimidating to the non-art public.

Broken Homes – Andrew Mackenzie

I found that this article was incredibly useful in the understanding of the background of the artwork and the artist. In this case the artwork was a very personal replication of an important element of the artists life, of which in this case the viewer can empathise with, as no home is perfect. It is interesting that the house is built not to scale, yet not as a miniature, it is as if the artist is lingering between the architects’ model – which in this case it relates to the artists' father – and the actual article being the house that the artists father realised. Mackenzie also mentions that the house was demolished [page 85] which gives the replication all the more emphasis as the replication is now a representation of a period in time that has lapsed.

In the last paragraph Mackenzie makes a comment about the Venice Biennale being a “world stage” and “far from a healthy place for art” due to the pressure on artists. [page 87] This is very interesting to me, having just finished reviewing Art & Globalisation, because in the art-world Biennale’s have played major role in the transformation into a globalised society. I think that Biennale’s are a great way to show the world what different countries have to offer, but I have to agree with Mackenzie and ask how does the pressure of an international stage influence an artists, art-making? Or is this pressure exactly what an artist of the 21^st century needs because today’s society is incredibly fast passed and can in fact handle it?

Art & Architecture

Sacha Sosno, La Tete Carrée de Sonso (2002). Musée d’Art Modern et d’art Contemporain (MAMAC) Nice. 

Sacha Sosno designed this monumental (30m x 14m) sculpture. It is in fact a building – a public library, on the Museum grounds. Standing close to it you feel as though you are an ant, and that the body of the sculpture may emerge from the ground and unexpectedly flatten you.

I saw this when I was cruising around Nice and thought that the town were artistically advanced. It was a very useful landmark when I was on foot looking for the Museum as I am not the best map-reader.

I would love to go to work everyday in the big, box head, and I am sure that I would have bragging rights. Although I would probably be a librarian and that doesn’t sit to well with me, as I wouldn’t want to brag about that. No offence any budding librarians.

Art & Globalism

Antony Gormley

Gormley, Antony. Field, 1991 (American). Terracotta variable sizes, approx 35,000 elements, each 8-26 cm tall.

Salvatore Ala Gallery.

Heartney refers to Globalisation as a “multifaceted phenomenon” and mentions that one of the aspects of it is “proliferation”. [1] Taplin expresses that a feeling of proliferation is the most overpowering visual element that is exhibited in Gormley’s Field artwork, which is a mass of 35,000 terra-cotta figures, with their only facial identifier being two poked in eyes, all facing the entry to the space and only allowing visual intrusion. The coarsely formed, limbless figures resemble miniature men, who are standing to attention, perhaps waiting for direction. [2]

Taplin states that to create Field, Gormley employed “Third World labour” from Mexico who were a family of “brick makers”. These workers produced an awe-inspiring and significant artwork for another affluent culture, which in turn causes the viewer to feel conflict and irony. Gormley forces the viewer to become a commanding dictator, whose responsibility is to impose their culture onto the mass. [2] In relation to globalisation, Heartney describes the representation of the mass of numerous unidentifiable figures as a disintegration of the “individual”. [1]

Gormley’s artwork Field is a negative statement with regards to the effects of Globalisation, in particular to the facet of “classes and cultures”, how the ruling classes rein supreme, and long-established cultures are used for their cheap labour and their traditional ways destroyed. Taplin also mentions that the artwork is an aggressive critique of modern life, with its completely consuming and destructive existence. [2] Vidler observes that Field’s mass takes up the entire wall-to-wall space, which signifies an invasion, which is another negative aspect of Globalisation. [3]

Heartney also argues that technological advances play a significant role in the advent of Globalisation. Technology is assisting modern economies through the profiting from mass production of goods, which are manufactured inexpensively in developing countries. [1] Gormley’s Field is a grand example of mass production that is produced by a developing country, and yet ironically it is produced in a non-technological way.

No matter how the artwork is viewed in relation to globalisation, whether in a positive or negative light, Field is an overpowering artwork that the viewer is compelled to relate to. The sheer number of people being represented in clay, all still and quiet, has powerful capabilities that they perhaps have not come to realise.

Bibliography

[1] Heartney, Eleanor. Art and Today. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2008.

[2] Taplin, Robert. “Antony Gormley at Salvatore Ala (Review of Exhibitions).” Art in America 79, no.11 (1991): 147.

[3] Vidler, Anthony. Antony Gormley: Blind Light. London: Southbank Centre, 2007.

Website: http://www.antonygormley.com (accessed September 7, 2009).

Art & Spirituality

Anish Kapoor

You just can’t escape Anish Kapoor. Lately I have felt as though he has been following me, even in Art and Today. Nearly every major gallery has one of his works on display…I’m sure of it!

I have to admit that his works are amazing and dizzying to view. I say this as I did not have an appreciation for his works before I saw the real thing. Even if you are not a spiritual person (like myself), you get an inescapable energy that radiates from the works. Between the size of the works and the visual mind games that the works catapult at you, you get a sublime comfort that you cannot achieve with photos of the sculptures. You really have to stand in front of one and relax.

 Ishi's Light 2003, Fibreglass, resin and lacquer
object: 3150 x 2500 x 2240 mm

Turning the World Inside Out II, 1995

http://www.anishkapoor.com/

Art & Identity

I feel that in my art I am constantly addressing the issue of identity. For an assignment last semester, I created a puppet that represented what a patient of Kirkbride would have been like when it was a hospital. I made it move around to a sound track of noises, which were of my own voice. I cried, I screamed, I mumbled and eventually I became crazy.

For this piece I was trying to portray a loss of identity; the patent that had differing ideas to the rest of the world at the time and had to be put away and shut up. At the start they fought, and eventually gave up who they were and became empty and void of all identity.

Between the Folds

‘Between the Folds’ is a doco that was aired on the ABC on 9.8.09. It is a very interesting look at the art of origami and its uses.

Try to watch the quicktime clip on the website as it will amaze you. The imagery is beautiful.
PS the goateed geek near the end of the clip got his phd at 20..
http://www.greenfusefilms.com/

Art and Collaboration

I love collaborating. When you find that person that you can interact with to get a more satisfying and pleasing result it is a rush. It is as though a volcano erupts. The blood pumps and the excitement ramps up. To understand someone to this extent is unfortunately rare in my experience, but when it happens it’s addictive. The amount of ideas that can be churned out is unexpected.

Jake and Dinos Chapman is an artist collaboration that I enjoyed seeing recently in the exhibition Classified: Contemporary Art at Tate Britain. Their artwork ended up being my favorite of the exhibition. It is titled The Chapman Family Collection (2002), which was recently purchased by the Tate. The artwork filled a very large, dark room, which when you walked into gave you a very eerie feeling as you quickly saw that you were surrounded by34 wooden totems; all looking at you. Then you realise that they aren’t completely native statues at all. They have been stamped by the global goblin and become happy meal accessories.

www.whitecube.com/artists/chapman/

Art & the Body

After reading the topic of the week I was reminded of several things, as this chapter to me, seemed rather graphic in nature. A reoccurring subject in the chapter was the portrayal of females in art; how it has changed or not. It left me thinking is there a right way to portray a woman in art? If you find artworks that are quite graphic, interesting – is that wrong? Especially if you are female?

The book ‘American Psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis is a prime example of what I think to be a brilliant piece of literature and yet the feminists hate it. They even tried to shut the filming of it down, but it went ahead due to some say the fact that the director was a female. Yes it contains degrading images of women being ripped to shreds, but the reason why I have an appreciation for it was the whole story. ‘Patrick Bateman’ who is the main character is obsessed with himself, wealthy, intelligent, successful in his career and bored out of his brains. His boredom makes him do very bad things that only people in his situation could get away with.

Yes I am getting to the body with this story! His extreme obsession with the body beautiful is the only thing that he cares about and what he does with women only glorifies and feeds his ego and nobody stops him.

Installation Art – Critical review

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. Sydney: Power Publications, 2001.

In this chapter, Zurbrugg starts by explaining what Installation Art is, and that is something that is to be installed, employs time in some form, and utilizes a ‘three-dimensional space’. Zurbrugg expresses that the installation extends itself beyond the restricted parameters of traditional art making such as painting because there are not boarders containing the artwork.

Zurbrugg goes on to mention that even though the use of the term ‘Installation Art’ is relatively new, the type of art is present in many historical forms, such as ‘Stonehenge’. With the contemporary and most influential being the “early twentieth-century avant-garde movements”.

Technology played a large role in the evolution of Installation Art with the main early twentieth-century producers being from the futurists, Bauhaus, and kinetic artists. Dadaists are made mention for their impact on Installation Art through the use of unrestrained theatrics. Zurbrugg also attributes kinetic installation works as being the most accommodating with life today.

In Installation Art – Essence and Existence, Zurbrugg explores the origins of Installation Art, by investigating why it is and what it is. I found the chapter to be quite interesting and informative due to Zurbrugg’s clarification of Installation Art, and how it has transformed and progressed.

Reference:

Zurbrugg, Nicholas, Installation Art ­– essence and existence, What is installation? An anthology of writings on Australian installation art/ ed by Adam Geczy and Benjamin Genocchio. Sydney: Power Publications, 2001. pp. 25-31.