Ross Bleckner - Art and Abstraction

Ross Bleckner, Dream and Do, 

1996, oil on linen, 84" X 72"

Ross Bleckner, Mysticism for Beginners, 

2001, oil on linen, 84" X 180"

In his many artworks, the artist Ross Bleckner exhibits an appeal that usually does not befit the generalised opinion of abstract art. His execution of colour is tender and delicate, warm and delicious; with themes which are abundantly repetitious.
His artworks leave you wanting, but what you want is questionable. Is it a ball or a bow? If not something visually present, what do the textures make you want? Do they make you hungry or want to open a gift?
In any case, we are left with aesthetically very pleasing artworks, which are in fact abstract.

http://www.rbleckner.com

Attila Csörg

Slanting Water, Attila Csörg.
1995, photograph.
Galerija Gregor Fodner, Ljuljana/Berlin, and collection Mark Cucek.

When I saw this photograph by Attila Csörg it instantly reminded me of the work I had seen by Alex Gawronski at Artspace on Tuesday. Gawronski’s installation was of two wooden boxes with a glass lid. They are hanging like a scale with different currencies of the same amount in each of them. Slanting Water is of two glasses of water on a turntable. When the glasses are spun around, the wind blows the water into abstract shapes. It looks like a city full of skyscrapers falling down. It’s surprising and entertaining to observe ordinary phenomena under extraordinary conditions.

"what Georgie said"

''Exchange-value''

I really liked this work also and on the same premise as Georgie. I liked the way it was still able to convey its message without the use of elaborate imagery or dense visualizations. It stood simply as uneven scales forced into an "equal" existence by the use of a tiny piece of wood wedged into the joining point from which both sides were balanced. The work, regardless of its simplicity of form, seemed to speak of power, strength and economy while also suggesting vulnerability and misguided values.  A poetic analogy of societies imposed ideas of equality.

Fortune, Told!

Art Space 31/03

Gail Priest's exciting concept took my attention and I pined for a moment alone with the piece, I asked the fundamental question about prosperity,"Will I be rich, Will I get 1 millon dollars?" but I was also barking away about my bleak outlook in general at present. The opportunity to ratify some concerns with a projection of my personal wants to explain, was impassable.

The runes (I also had become fascinated with builders, tilers glue marks) drew Substance, Health and Consumption. Not a million dolllars but crazily enough, provided some affirmation of the need for a more positive future.

The Chinese practice of I- Chiing utilizes the total possible combination of three coins in the random act of falling and landing to their face values, There are 64 combinations and each has a meaning.

Confucius, Emperor of China, had the practice banned, angry at the procrastinations the game brought.

Runes originated in Norse times, the symbols of specific Nordic, pictographic letters carved into water worn rock, with one being left blank to incorporate Odin's presence and that which is the great unknowable. One way to divine one's fortune is to shuffle the runes in an opaque bag, while asking yourself a question needing answers, the single rune drawn will have an answer.

Artspace

"Exchange Value"- Alex Gawronski

I thought this Piece was good. I remember someone asking (I can't remember who it was) whether it actually was physically balanced. When we were told it wasn't I thought about it some more and realised that the money in the wooden containers was equal in value but the pole was fixed there. I guess this could represent that things aren't really equal and that there is the potential for equality to occur but society has rigid rules and constructs that prevent this from occurring. Also what's equal in some ways isn't in others. Might be completely off but I found that the work could symbolise a lot. 

I also really liked the "Between  site and space" one with the video cams. Hours of entertainment looking into the camera and watching that guy on his computer! 

ART & Abstraction

Currently showing at ANNA SCHWARTZ Gallery:

Robert Klippel Bronze Sculptures 

It is definitely worth the trip to Carriage Works - especially if you have not been there yet! (the Performance Space is housed in the same building)

(Aura) Sitting Swaying : Stelarc

when i first saw stelarcs suspention works i didnt really know what to feel part of me thought it was just amazing and the other part thought aboutthe pain he must have been going threw. I find it to be a very spiritual piece and although it seems destructive to string ones self up by hooks i find it very peaceful to view.  

Artspace

While it's all still fresh in my memory...

I thought Artspace was pretty cool. Two works that particularly struck me were those of Gail Priest (the interactive sound installation with the interpretative sheets... I couldn't find the name of the work) and Tim Silver's photographic exploration of Japan's gay subculture and horror films. The common element I noticed between these two works (which I suspect as the very quality that drew me to them) were their forced viewer involvement, whether physically or mentally.

Priest's work involved the hysical pressing of a button to initiate video projection and sound, further invoking action by prompting the viewer to interpret the images with the provided legends; much like tarot cards. What I was acutely aware of when viewing the work was my reluctance to pick up the sheet and touch the button. The mental block of refraining to touch works was challenged upfront by the straightforward nature of the Priest's instructions.

Silver's photographs however, I felt engaged the viewer in more of a psychological sense; challenging the viewer to identify from which movies the film still reproductions were created. Both works, I felt had a playful kind of feel to them, a bit pop-culture-esque.

Aura- Yinka Shonibare- how to blow up to heads at once

I had the great pleasure of seeing this exhibition last year at the MCA, not having had the time in recent years to visit galeries or keep up to date with current artists it was an experience of aura that hit me immediately and profoundly as i walked into the gallery and saw this life sized work of the two ladies in those beautifully crafted dresses, an image of delicate, refined beauty and yet at the same time an overwhelming sense of vivacious passion, dominance and strengh.... i dont think i can adequatly describe the sensation that i felt seeing this work that would do it any justice ...truely awe inspiring.

aura - a 'Wheatfield'

Agnes Denes - Wheatfield - a confrontation 1982

Agnes Denes's art works pertain to her ideas on environmental issues, human concerns and the exploration of the essences of 'things' as forms of communication.

In May 1982, Lower Manhattan, she began to sow the seeds of her latest public artwork. Herself and a small team went about digging 285 furrows, removing rocks, debris and planting the seeds of the wheat crop they were planning to grow in the dirty Battery Park Landfill. This was a laborious process all of which was done by hand, with each furrow taking up to two to three hours to complete. The field was maintained for four months. An irrigation system was set up and the crops were continuously fertilized, weeded and cleared of 'wheat smut'. On August 16th Agnes and her team harvested the crop, collecting almost 1000 pounds of healthy amber wheat.

I think what i resonates to me about this work is the simplicity of its beauty, the stark retinal contrast presented to the viewer by location and the subtly of its suggestion. The suggestion of vulnerability, power, deteriorating social values and the contrast of economic statuses. The work took up 2 acres (worth approximately 4.5 billion dollars) of busy, decadent Downtown Manhattan - an metropolis of achievement, culture and money. 

Agnes Denes describes the work herself as a 'symbol, a universal concept' ... 'a confrontation of High Civilization' and yet a 'Shangri-la, a small paradise, one's childhood....forgotten values, simple pleasure'.

Rene Magritte
[The lovers] 1928
oil on canvas
54.0 (h) x 73.0 (w) cm

When i was about 9 or 10 years old my family and i went to the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra. I first witnessed this painting there. As soon as i stumbled upon it, my senses were heightened with intrgue. How could such a ghostly and sinister image be so beautiful at the same time. At this age i had no idea of the Surrealism movement or who in the hell "Rene Magritte" was! So really i was apreciating the art for what it was. And with such an innocent child-like perspective, it must have been the aura that struck me. I could never properly put into words how i felt that day, but i guess the "aura" must be there because i have never forgotten walking up to this painting and being completely dumbfounded.

This image ended up being the catalyst for how i would begin making my art years down the track, so really i owe this work alot!

Aura - Justin Maller

Apologies for the late post.

I couldn't locate either of the two images I was searching for online of works I'd seen in person I felt impacted by, so I've chosen an online image I found in 2008 that still impacted me nonetheless.

Unity featured by Justin Maller (Australian Freelance Illustrator and Art Director) on deviantart.com is a collaborative work by Maller and others (un-named). I think for me, the aura this work holds is derived from the level of skill and and primary concern for aesthetics evident within the image. Beauty is the predominant feature of the work; a quality which I feel that in today's art community sometimes seems overlooked; sidelined by works geared towards the production of anti-art; the anti-aesthetic or largely conceptual works. It is this quality which has provoked me to re-visit the image upon occasion (I had it as my desktop background for quite a while), if only to appreciate the comforting sharpness of the work.

Fullview is so much better; http://ekud.deviantart.com/art/UNITY-62854825

Aura - Oldenburg’s Apple Core

I saw Oldenburg’s Apple Core at the Tate Modern when I was in London at the beginning of this year. I know it’s strange and hard to believe, but this gigantic apple core seemed to have an aura. I think it was more to do with actually seeing an Oldenburg sculpture. The photo I took doesn’t really justify, how cool the apple core really is, but there’s no photography allowed in the Tate Modern, so I just took the photo and ran.

Aura

This is a watercolour portrait of my grandmother by Jenny Hock. The picture has a unique atmosphere where I feel as if I’m there with her. She is in her garden sitting, looking out to the familiar view of castle hill. Breathing in the pungent smell of bats and rotten star fruit. This painting is very moving for me. It stirs up pain and happiness and generates many memories I have with my grandmother.

Aura - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel

This may seem like a bit of a cliché but one artwork that definitely has an aura, well for me anyway, is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I visited the Sistine Chapel when I was in Italy early this year and walked over a half hour through the halls of the Vatican just to see it. Even though it was packed full of people being enveloped by this work of art was an experience.

Ron Mueck (Aura)

Not long ago, the NGV acquired this work by Ron Mueck titled "Two Women". I had read a lot about Ron Mueck as well as having seen images of his work. To finally be able to see his work in real-life was an amazing experience. Mueck is a hyper-realist and the detail in his work is incredible.

Aura- Whiteley's 'Alchemy'

I saw Brett Whiteley 'Alchemy' at the Art Gallery of NSW a few years ago. Prior to seeing it i had been studying the painting throughout year 11 and 12 and had spent countless hours deciphering the painting, its many meanings and Whiteley's life for assignments and exams. So when i did finally see it in person it was a very surreal experience. I think 'Alchemy' it the type of artwork that whether you're seeing it for the first time or the hundredth, this aura it has is just as powerful.

http://www.brettwhiteley.org/alchemy_and_more/alchemy

Tim Hawkinson

"Drip," 2002, polythene, mechanical component, and water.

I saw this work at Tim Hawkinson's exhibition at the MCA last year. Tim Hawkinson is a fascinating artist his works have multiple depths to them. The work 'drip' influenced me merely due to his use of materials and use of sound. The work was an in capturing piece by his use of sound to make non repetitive patterning through water drips .This work was much about appealing to peoples senses which influenced me to involve the audience more in my own works. Just the feeling of this large creature hovering over the audience was almost an surreal feeling.

AURA

I thought it might be helpful to elaborate on the concept  - following are two critical discussions relating to Benjamin's AURA:

"Walter Benjamin’s notion of the “aura” has emerged as one of his most recognizable and widely used theoretical concepts. Defined in historical, aesthetic, and psychological opposition to the techniques of mechanical reproduction, aura has become a common theoretical currency across the arts and humanities... In literary, visual, and cultural studies, aura has become synonymous with the traditional work of art, whose contemplative experience is progressively eroded with the advent of modern media technology. Even in Benjamin’s time, then, aura described a state which had already become obsolete. Aura is thus a concept coined with hindsight, describing an elusive phenomenon from the perspective of its disappearance. It alludes to a groundbreaking cultural shift from authenticity to replication, from uniqueness to seriality, and from the original artwork to its “soulless” mechanical copy."

Imaginary Encounters: Walter Benjamin and the Aura of Photography - Carolin Duttlinger [Poetics Today 29:1 (Spring 2008)]

+

"Walter Benjamin's essay, "The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" initiates the critical discussion of the idea that artworks have "aura," and proposes that this "aura" is destroyed by the process of mechanical reproduction. His notion of "aura" quickly expands to include more than just art -- anything that is reproducible is folded into this conception. While this description of Benjamin's article is highly reductive, it captures his essential thesis that inherently suggest a historical loss brought about by technological change. Following Benjamin's argument it is logical to suppose that art would be without "aura" once mechanical reproduction gives way to digital reproduction. As economist Hans Abbing has noted:

Walter Benjamin predicted that the technical reproduction of art would lead to a breaking of art's spell ('Entzauberung'). Art became less obscure, more accessible and thus less magical because of technical reproduction. ... Benjamin's prediction is not difficult to grasp. Technical (re)production enables a massive production of artworks at low prices. It would be very strange indeed if this didn't reduce the exclusive and glamorous allure of art products. ... But thus far, this hasn't happened; [the composer] Bach and his oeuvre maintain their aura. In general, if one observes the high, if not augmented status and worship of art since Benjamin's essay first appeared, his prediction was either wrong or it is going to take longer before his predictions are borne out. [1]

Abbing's observations about Benjamin's thesis that technological reproduction and mass availability result in diminished "aura" suggest that instead of diminishing the "aura" of art, reproduction helps to extend the aura of the works reproduced instead of destroying that aura."

SEE: The Aura of the Digital - Michael Betancourthttp @ www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=519

At this point - I am simply asking you to describe a work you have seen that has in-turn influenced you.

Aura - Tender are the Stairs to Heaven

Tender are the Stairs to Heaven is an installation by Yayoi Kusama. I saw this work in January at the NGV in Melbourne. Unfortunately this photograph doesn't express at all the experience of viewing the work. It's a ladder of neon fibre-optic cable that extends from the floor to the ceiling with mirrors at the top and bottom. The room is black and the ladder changes colour.

It goes on forever.

It was during the heat wave and I hadn't slept for a week. I wanted to cry.