Head Show

Hi everyone,

There is a really cool show on at Utopia at the moment called 'Heads' which is pretty much just a show of heads from a range of different artists.

The opening is on saturday from 3-5 and here is a link. There isn't really much on that page but the artists in the show include Chuck Close, Alex Katz, Richard Larter, Rick Amor, John Beard, David Fairbairn, Marea Gazzard, Alan Jones, Dick Watkins and some others.

There will be drinks and lots of people from the art world I think so y'all should totally come.

SUMMARY FOR PERFORMANCE

Performance art of the 1930s-70s is timelessly unpredictable and thought-provoking. In 1933 Black Mountain College in North Carolina was directed by John Rice who brought in artists Josef and Anni Albers (who'd taught at the Bauhaus in Germany - "the house of building") for the mixture of disclipline and inventiveness "art is concerned with the HOW not the WHAT". Instead of literal content, Albers' performance art focused on factual content - the content of art. Art in this case is "a general study of fundamental phenomena; 'space, form, colour, light, sound, movement, music, time, etc.'" (Xanti Schawinksy in 1936, former Bauhaus colleague). A selection of these elements are impossible to achieve through two and three dimensional work. The college had brought in a European idea to America - 4D art. Schawinksy's first staged performance 'Spectrodrama' in Bauhaus was "an educational method aiming at the interchange between the arts and sciences and using the theatre as a laboratory and place of action and experimentation" - ACTION AND EXPERIMENTATION! FRESH, NEW, SHOCK, MONOCLES DROPPED IN CHAMPAGNE GLASSES. EVERYDAY: Young musician John Cage and young dancer Merce Cunningham broke out of conventional structures of music and dance. In 1937 Cage did 'The Future of Music' playing "non-intentional music" with found objects ("one way to write music: study Duchamp" - Cage) to expose everyday music - the Chicago Daily in 1942: "People Call it Noise - But he Calls it Music"; 1943 performed to "high-brow" audience at Museum of Modern Art in New York whom did not attack the "Futurist noise-musicians". Ordinary gestures were captured in Cunningham's dance performances "These were accepted as movement in daily life, why not on stage?". SPONTANEITY: Toss of a coin decision for performers to dance in which order in 'Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three' (1951). Zen Buddhism and oriental philosophy inspired Cage, noted by Francine Duplessix-Gray "Art should not be different [from] life but an action within life. Like all of life, with its accidents and chances and variety and disorder and only momentary beauties." Preparation could be minimal (Black Mountain College Untitled event 1952) in "Dada and Surrealism-like notions of chance and 'non-intentional' actions", or could be highly structured though seemingly unorganised (18 Happenings in 6 Parts 1959) where the viewer became participants by experiencing the works - AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION. Performance art; kicking 2D ass.

Living Art (part 1) Summary

· Performance art

- emerged early 30s

- European war exiles arrived in NY

- established as ‘an activity in its own right’ by 1945

· Black Mountain College, North Carolina

- original director: John Rice invited Josef and Anni Albers

- Albers had taught at the Bauhaus. The ‘combination of discipline and inventiveness’ endorsed at the Bauhaus provided the foundation for the Black Mountain’s makeshift curriculum

- ‘art is concerned with the HOW and not the WHAT: not with literal content, but with the performance of the factual content. The performance – how it is done – that is the content of the art.’

- improvised performances through the days and nights

- 1936 Xanti Schawinsky arrived to initiate his ‘stage studies’ program: ‘a general study of fundamental phenomena; ‘space, form, colour, light, sound, movement, music, time, etc.’

· Spectodrama – Schawinsky

- aimed to reveal the interchange between the arts and sciences by utilising a theatre spce as a laboratory

- a group multi disciplined students ‘tackled prevailing concepts and phenomena from different viewpoints, creating stage representations expressing them.’

- focused on visual aspects of light (reflection) and geometric forms

- it was a work of ‘formal and pictorial concept’

· Danse macabre (1938) – Schawinsky

- less of a spectacle and more of an in the round production

- the audience was dressed in cloaks and masks

- Schawinsky’s two performances as well as his innovative new course emphasised performance art as a means of collaboration between faculties.

· By 1944 the college had initiated a summer school and attracted numerous new artists of varying disciplines

· John Cage

- simultaneous with the emergence of the College Cage was making his ideas known in New York and the west coast

- concerned with music: ‘where ever we are what we hear is mostly noise’

- performed concerts where the instruments consisted of mundane objects

- 1943 he performed one of these pieces in New York at MOMA to a high-brow audiences who, astonishingly, ‘listened intently without being disturbed’

- believed in the notion of chance and indeterminacy

- ‘hearing of the piece is his [the listener’s] own action - that the music, so to speak, is his, rather than the composer’s’

- 4’ 33” (1952)

- ‘My favourite piece is the one we hear all the time if we are quiet’: John Cage

· Merce Cunningham

- sympathy for Zen Buddhism

- abandoned the linear nature of narrative and the dependence on music for rhythmic direction

- natural movements such as walking, leaping etc can be classified as dance

- him and Cage collaborated intensely and performed together at the College

· Experimental performance art spread to New York where practitioners were highly influenced by Black Mountain College’s Untitled Event of 1952

- innovative seating arrangement; four inwards facing triangular blocks of seating forcing each viewer to experience a performance uniquely

· Live art as practiced by Allan Kaprow

- he saw environments as ‘spatial representations of a multi-levelled attitude to painting , and a means to ‘act out dramas of tin-soldiers, stories and musical structures that I once had tried to embody in paint alone’

- 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (1959): one of the first works that engaged a wider audience other than the artist’s close friends, seen as an opportunity to increase the responsibility of the audience, invitations and instructions were issued, took place in a loft subdivided by plastic walls into three different rooms, consisted of 6 parts the beginning and each of which was defined by a bell.

- ‘The actions will mean nothing clearly formulable so far as the artist is concerned’: Kaprow

· The term ‘Happening’ was widely used but vague in definition, artists disliked this label. The sensibilities and structures of each performance/happening were incredibly vast, however a distinct common thread can be identified: New York seemed to be the hub of this experimental art form, despite variations proliferating in other countries such as Europe and Japan

Part 2 performance art

The setting or venue was important for Rauschenberg’s pieces for determining the events, more important in fact the materials at hand and the players involved.

Rauschenberg’s aim was that the dancers costumes for instance would match the object do closely that integration would happen leaving no distinction between inanimate object and live dancer.

Carolee Schneemann:s Meat joy was performed at the Judson Memorial Church, New York. This piece transformed the naked body and fluids such as blood from animal carcases creating a moving painting. Schneemann wrote “What I find will be what I need both in terms of performers and of metaphorically imposed space relations” this quote relates to the fact that both people and location is a unique basic of selection for an inspiration for a work that with out the specific location and people that are incorporated with this than the artwork itself would fail to exist as it is.

Improvisation was a key element in performance art. Prompting their bodies to find out what they could do rather than focusing on a pre existing technique.

Artists such as architects, painters and sculptures were encouraged to explore on an outdoor stage rather than a familiar studio, unusual chorographic ideas. It was these kind of dancers that formed the inventive Judson Dance Group in New York.

Performance art includes a different array of aspects that strayed away from the conventional spotlight on the dancers themselves. John cage focused on using common objects and sounds to create ‘music’ within a space, where as Joseph Beuys focused on everyday objects to create a symbolised icon as well as live animals such as a Coyote. This artwork also involved a meditative conversation to an object, animal dead or alive. This then brought the meaning of the artwork out in the open as it was incorporated within the performance itself.

Part 2 - Performance art

• The venue was an important part of performance art, an object in the piece that determines the events of the performance. It is even more important than the materials and performers.
• Rauschenberg's Pelican used the set and objects to determine what actions the performance took. It was performed in a skating rink with roller skated, backpacks and a mobile trolley. The skates and the trolley determined that the performers would glide around while another performer in ballet shoes performed ballet movements. The backpacks turned into parachutes which caused the skaters to slow down.
• Rauschenberg used costumes to blur the lines between objects and performers and the setting.
• Oldenburg integrated setting and performers and the audience while Whitman's performance kept them separate.
• Carolee Schneemann turned the human body into the artwork by making a collage of blood on the bodies of performers. Schneemann's performances were determined by the objects and performers that she found, as they became 'structural elements' for the perfomances.
  
• Dancers were a great influence on performance artists as many artists used the same dancers, likewise the dancers were influenced by the artists. The dancers had similar concerns and ideas in the artists, such as the importance of using everyday objects and activities in performances, however the dancers were able to show the artists more about the body in space.
• Yves Klein was a painter who was searching for 'the most perfect expression of blue' through monochromatic painting, eventually leading to collaborating with models who pressed their bodies into paint and then onto a canvas while he stayed clean and well dressed. This created paintings from 'immediate experience', the result of a private performance by a model and directed by an artist. This was then performed as Anthropometrics of the Blue Period in front of an audience, in doing so revealing the process of making the painting.
  

Performance Art Part 2 Summary

I think what is gained from this account of performance art’s transformations through the 1960’s is that we are given a thorough and comprehensive view of the changes occurring in performance and specifically dance during these times. We also gain a valid understanding of what caused such changes.

We are enlightened to the facts that revolutionaries Cage and Cunningham gave traditional performers a way of expressing themselves differently in front of an audience more accepting of the new and experimental. These dancers were taken out of their comfort zones and learnt to integrate the aspects of everyday life, including its objects into the performance medium. Dancing became a way of life including the seemingly mundane and unnoticed actions like walking, eating etc.

Another who helped develop the performance of the 1960s include Ann Halprin who encouraged improvisation to unlock the bodies full potential and abandoned conventional technique and pattern, as well as including ‘non representational aspects of dance’ and revolving around task orientated movements

These approaches were taken to the Judson Church and Ruben Gallery where they reached audiences through public performances, in programmes of happenings and events. The performances began to include chance procedures to further the capabilities of dance.

Yvonne Rainer was another to further the performance of the 60s. A dismissal of past and present in her approach to dance led to a set of basic and extreme principles to be applied to performance;

• No spectacle



• No virtuosity



• No transformations or magic or make-believe



• No glamour



• No transcendence of star image



• No heroism



• No anti-heroism



• No trash imagery



• No involvement of performer or spectator



• No to style



• No to camp



• No to seduction of spectator by wiles of performer



• No eccentricity



• No moving or being moved

They may appear problematic and in some cases contradictory yet like an eastern parable, its uses were vast and extremely revolutionary

Though the early 60s had origins bred from abstract expressionism, many could not accept the socially irresponsible attitudes that kept such artists working reclusively in a private studio. Dance was to be a part of and a reflection of life in its purest forms. Dada-like manifestos began and open attacks of typical art values rose. The aspects of minimalism in dance could also be attributed in part to the minimalism present in the contemporary sculpture of the time, encouraging dancers to act as if object and therefore could be carried, picked up etc.

The piece tells of artists and performers Cage, Rauschenberg and Whitman performing in New York to celebrate art and technology in 1966. Performances such as Ken Dewey’s City Scale 1963 leading the audience/participants through the city to view unique performances (model undressing at an apartment window, car ballet in car park, singer in shop window etc), and Rauschenberg’s Pelican 1963 where roller skating partners speed around a slow moving ballet dancer and as she speeds up the skaters slow down with the aid of specially made parachutes, give greater insight into the world of revolutionary performance in the 60s. Rauschenberg’s other innovations came in the form of trying to create costumes that mimicked objects so well that there would be no way to distinguish between object and dancer. \

Writings about other artists such as Oldenburg activating the audience in the aisles (performers using actions of sneezing and eating popcorn as inspiration) and Whitman attempting to widen the gap between audience and performers/stage making time and space major themes of his work provide the reader with the vast possibilities and ambitions of this explosive period in performance.

This Youtube channel has some snippets from a documentary, called Fully Awake, about the Black Mountain College. Using narration, archival photography, and interviews with former students, teachers, and historians the film explores the schools beginnings, its unique education methods, and how its collaborative curriculum inspired innovation that changed the definition of art itself.

Fully Awake: The Black Mountain College

Performance

• Began in the US in the late 30s


• It was very much about experimentation, many of these experiments were conducted at Black Mountain College


• "Art is concerned with the HOW not the WHAT.." this quote demonstrates the emphasis on the process of performance art.


• The performances looked at different ideas of the time and sought to express them.


• "It was visual theater" Schawinsky- they worked with light and geomtric forms interacting in space.


• John Cage wanted to use everyday sounds to create symphonies, sounds such as heart beats, rain, bells. "People call it noise- But he calls it music" newspaper article by critic


• He later had a concert and was well received by his New York audience.


• He did a concert in which no sounds were intentionall y produced.


• Raucshenburg worked with Cage at Black Mountain


• Used Dada, Futurist and Surrealist notions


• 'Environments' -"spatial representations of a multileveled attitude to painting" Kaprow


• In the 60s many artworks seemed to make no sense


• the artists developed their own 'iconography' for objects in performances


• all known as 'happenings' in the press though they were very different works

Kaldor Public Art Projects

New WEB LINK added - check it out:

Kaldor Public Art Projects

Abstraction

Abstract art seems to confuse people however the ideas behind abstraction works are quite simple. The artists aim to capture an idea within the work, the idea is usually very simple or maybe just a glimmer or glimpse of an idea or feeling.
"The abstraction is often the most tangible form for the thing in myself that i can clarify in paint" Georgia O'Keefe
When looking at various abstract works i can see this to be true. The simple colours, shapes, textures allow the audience to more clearly see the movement, shape or general feeling of the work. Once the idea or feeling is captured the artist does not elaborate on it. They dont want extras to interfere with the main idea, they want the viewer to be able to look at the work and react insentaniously to that singular thought of feeling. To look at abstraction art further I researched Australian artist Robert Hague who had some very contrasting works. His sculpture "Bow" was a simple twisted and folded piece of bronze, however had the work not been made out of bronze, it would have changed the complete feeling of the work. The contrast between the heaviness the metal brings and the fluid movement of the work is essential.
"The form of a work of art and its materials are closely related" Donald Judd
I think this statement is especially important for abstract art.

Art and Popular Culture

When I was in London in 2010 I saw the ‘Pop Life’ Exhibition at the Tate Modern. It consisted of artists such as Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Sturtevant.

The show looks at Andy Warhol and his ‘good business is the best art’ quote and then looks forward to how artists since the 1980’s have engaged with mass media and the market and created their own signature ‘brands’. Instead of commenting on the mass-media culture these artists have deliberately become part of it. The show commented on the celebrity culture of the world and how the artists have become celebrities in more than just the art world. These artists have aimed to reach mass audiences by extending their art outside galleries. For example Takashi Murakami gave away tiny replicas of one of his most famous sculptures when people bought certain gum. Keith Haring created his ‘Pop Shop’ to be able to have his art accessible to everyone and where he could sell his brand in large numbers. Sturtevant is a particular artist who stood out to me because she did works called ‘Haring Tag’, which were deliberate copies of Haring’s works and style. Sturtevant has nor original works, all of the are copies of other artists’ work which I see as a criticism of the individual brand that artists like Keith Haring tried to create. Sturtevant’s copies are near perfect copies, making people think it is Haring’s work and in doing so riding his coat-tails to gain more recognition.

Mike Kelley

Kelley is a performance artist and sculptor who comments on ideas associated with popular culture. He often works with "discarded toys and trashy comics probing the underside of assumptions about childhood and adolescent identities" (this notion of youth reminded me of Paul McCarthy's intentions).

He had an exhibition in the Uk a couple of years ago called 'The Uncanny' based on Freud's concept; its seemed relevant to this weeks topic of popular culture...

Kelley has brought together his own selection of disturbing sculptures throughout the ages, and the effect is mesmerising. He groups together pieces in sections - figures, animals and loose body parts. Interspersed with iconic sculptures like Allen Jones’ pop-art bondage piece, Chair, Cynthia Plaster Caster's penis moulds and the Chapman Brothers’ Ubermensch, are 19th-century medical models and Napoleon's death mask. This is a brilliant history of figurative sculpture with a macabre edge.

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A2305757

Kelley said that with these doll-like sculptures "the viewer isn't lead to reflect on the psychology of the artist but on the psychology of the culture"

Gilbert and George

gilbert and george doing their art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OGziyW-_FY

i do wonder what their intention is behind such a performance

Don't call pop culture art - it's rubbish

This is an article I found from the Sydney Morning Herald website questioning the validity of popular culture being transferred over to the art world

Don't call pop culture art - it's rubbish

Art and Popular Culture

Jac Leirner's Lung, 1987 is a line of cigarette packs stung to nearly 5 meters long. This work reminds me of Andy Warhol's campbell soup cans in the way that they both consist a mass construction or gathering of a specific brand (in this case marlboro cigarettes). This also resembles Warhol's Time Capsules with an excessive compulsive attribute of a mass collection over years.

Art and Popular Culture - Silvia B.

After looking at popular culture I began to realize the crucial difference between pop culture and pop art. It's after making that distinction that I found how my work consists highly of pop culture themes such as the environment, science (bio tech and computer) and consumer culture. I think that pop culture stems from this mass consumption/consumerism society and the surrounding barriers regarding class and status, particularly how we question those barriers (and even how or if people chose to recognize them) to bring art to an equal level for all artists and audiences.

I have come across artist Silvia B (shortening her last name to a B, as if trying to create a persona similar to that of a celebrity like Madonna or Prince). Her work deals with vastly wide themes from race, religion, consumer culture, status, gender and many more. Her sculptures are highly realistic and aids to bring the audience into a world of her own creation and change the conventional perceptions of the aforementioned themes. She breaks down barriers and builds surreal comments about popular culture today in a supremely powerful way

Here's a her website if you want to see her work
www.silvia-b.com/

G&G

I watched this Gilbert and George interview a while ago http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3049336.htm Quoting George: "The picture stays still, the world changes" - their art can be interpreted throughout decades and could be just as related to current issues as they were since the 1960s (troubled youths, homosexuality, high art vs low art, poverty, etc.) They don't live their art (unlike Charlie Sheen or Lady Gaga) which makes their works that much more intense; these two well-spoken gentlemen do not seem to make artworks that involve nudity, sexualised acts and bodily fluids.

bret easton ellis on Charlie Sheen

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-12/bret-easton-ellis-how-charlie-sheen-is-giving-us-what-we-want/

Abstraction art

the concept of minimilism in art is quite a puzzling concept to me. I understand the initial intent behind such a movement, of stripping the work to its most fundamental form and features, and allowing it to be what it is. Early minimilist works seemed to play predominately on the 'shock' value, providing a sort of wow factor and create a certain public reaction. I can appreciate artists intent in this sort of situation. However as the movement progressed, and artists (such as Judd) began to make 'unmonumental' works, i start to question, just how is this art? These later minimilist artists, seem to be removing the practice from art and in turn eliminating the artist process. If a piece of brass can be a piece of brass in nature, and that is art - then how can an artist claim some sort of intellectual property over this concept by presenting it in a gallery? This is not at all an artists idea, and in turn the artist is removed completely from the process and finished piece of the art - so to what extent is it actually the artists art?

Appreciation for abstract art

The simplistic look of abstract art can be misleading. What I thought was a lack of concept is actually a lack of narrative. The geometric and organic forms provoke the audience's emotional responses to their pure physicality. Abstract Expressionism in the 1960s was initially shocking (akin to most of the movements) where artists concentrated on the structural nature of art and sculptors, like the painters, broke out from the frame and started to spread out through the room using materials that broaden from wood and metal to fabrics and glass. Though some works of abstract art do not particularly wow me, I appreciate their craftsmanship and intention to spur our responses merely by their colour, shapes and lines alone.

Art & Abstraction Bibliography

Heartney, E. 2008. ART & TODAY. London: Phaidon
The Art & Abstraction chapter of this book gives great insight into the concept of abstraction from its initiation in the early 20^th century all the way to the present day. The chapter discusses some of the key ideas behind abstraction, emphasising its connection to spirituality and the quest to achieve a state of harmony and equilibrium with in the universe. Interestingly, the chapter progresses chronologically through art history to reveal the diversity of abstraction, such that abstract works cannot be characterised by the portrayal of purely non-representational forms. Rather, the book explores the notion of abstract art as an overarching idea under which myriad different art forms can be produced.

Little, S. 2004. ...isms Understanding Art. Great Britain: the Herbert Press
This book offers simple explanations of art movements throughout history. Providing examples of leading artists, conceptual ideas, characteristics and techniques pertinent to each movement, it is great to refer to when in need of a clarification regarding the stylistic qualities of art. It is particularly helpful to use when analysing contemporary works; as it facilitates the ability to draw connections between art movements in history and a contemporary work that may convey qualities or influences reminiscent of previous movements.

Sangster, G (curator). 1991. Cadences: Icon and Abstraction in Context(exhibition catalogue and essay compilation). New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art
This compilation of essays, academic theses and artists and curators thoughts was a valuable resource. The essays provide sophisticates, in-depth analyses of the fundamental theories behind abstraction. It also provides extracts of interviews and quotes from the artists involved in the exhibition; it is fascinating to be able to hear direct from the artists some of their profound thoughts on their own abstract art making. The Charles Ray quote I used regarding his Ink Box work was drawn from this catalogue. This quote in particular demonstrated to me that there is no better way to describe an artwork other than the words of the artist themselves.

Abstraction - Annotated Bibliography

Heartney, E. 2008. Art & Today.

London: Phaidon

The abstraction section of Art & Today gives a small overview of abstraction and a description of its fundamental ideas. It also gives examples of abstraction artists, such as Donald Judd, and their works that fit into different types of abstraction, such as minimalism. It was helpful in gaining a more specific understanding of the subject and relating it to artists that I know such as Marea Gazzard as well as my own work. I had a general idea of what abstraction was before but after reading this part of Art & Today I know more about the abstractionist belief of reducing work from representation to the basic line, colour and shape that makes up art.

Franc, C. 1994. Marea Gazzard: Form and Clay.

Australia: G + B Arts International Limited

This book is a biographical look at Marea Gazzard’s career written through extensive research and contributions from many people and institutions. It details her life from a young girl to her pivotal role in the recognition of crafts (particularly pottery) as an art form. It has many examples of her work over the years including images and descriptions. It shows the development of her works since the 1950’s including the important Parliament House commission. This book was helpful in understanding what influenced Marea and her work and how it fits in to the abstract style of art. With the large number of high quality images I was able to make my own evaluations of her work in terms of the abstraction reading.

Gray, A. 2002. Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia (Marea Gazzard excerpt)

http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=116186 (accessed March11, 2009)

The National Gallery of Australia has a number of Marea’s works which can be found on the online collection. The works have short physical descriptions, some works have photographs and some even have a more detailed description of the work and artist. It was a useful website for finding good quality images of Marea’s work such as Kamares VII, 1972. This particular work was accompanied by a description of the work by Marea from Anne Gray’s book Australian Art in the National Gallery of Australia.

Abstraction: A QUESTION...

When you push abstraction to the absolute extremes are you left with nothing, emptiness, a VOID?

SEE: NOTHING WORKS by Anna Dezeuze

&

Anish Kapoor

Interview by William Furlong, recorded in Venice, June 1990

from Audio Arts Magazine Volume 10, Number 4, 1990

Abstraction

I've never found myself too awe-struck by abstract art, but I appreciate its context and its purpose. From what I can gather, abstract art was a response, in part, to the psychoanalyst theory and seeks to abandon all perceptions of reality except for what is important and at times completely theoretical or imagined. Its relations to cubism and post-impressionism allows us to see how the artists of the time (Picasso, Braque etc) began to question the importance of traditional painting and other art practices.

In the sculptural world of abstraction it is more commonplace to conisder sculpture as an occupation of space. Yet with abstract art one is forced to conisder fairly often the absence of space and how we react to that. Artists like Duchamp presenting a glass bubble of Pairs air and Gabriel Orozco showing an empty shoe box as an artwork confronts the audience, asking them to consider the simple moments in life and possibly try to concieve the artworks history or tale using little to no incentive.

It's alteration of the world as we currently and traditionally view it allows some of the most subjective art to come to life where a viewer can apply any preconceived ideas previously in their life to the artwork in order to create a completely original approach, whether it be alike to the artist or not. That is where I believe abstraction holds its greatest strengths.

"Rube Goldberg Machine." 1987

Seems like a complex 'Combine' or assemblage, everyday and found objects, though it is carefully organised and orchestrated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRnsXLjpWRI

Unmonumental Summary

Sculpture Theory 1

· Sculpture is one of the leading and most talked about artforms in contemporary art.

· Contemporary sculpture is without limitations.

· Everything is a possible material, they just have to be chosen and assembled.

· 21st century sculptors are stylistically different but similar in their 21st century style.

Assemblage:

“The placement of preformed materials, objects or fragments not intended to be art materials in juxtaposition with one another” Artist and collector Jean Dubuffet, 1950s.

· Leading artist was William Seitz in the early 60s

· Close ancestry to Duchamp ready mades or quotidian objects

· Need to make ‘Anti-art’

· Assemblage is a strategy to achieve unmonumentality

· Rauschenberg was a major leader in assemblage at its apex in the late 50s early 60s, he made ‘Combines’ e.g. ‘Man with white shoes’

· “There is no more subject in a Combine than there is in a page from a newspaper. Each thing that is there is a subject.” Cage, friend and mentor of Rauschenberg

· “incorporate reality rather than imitating it, making the method as well as the subject matter of assemblage one with each other.” Seitz

· 21st century assemblages have more focus on narrative, each element tells a part of the story.

· They are holistic, objects become one within the work.

· Original leaders of ready mades and assemblages (e.g. Duchamp and Dadaists) didn't like the 1960s descendents of their works

· Duchamp and Rauschenberg dislike classification and definition of their art

· Seitz inferred Neo dada assemblage might be a reaction to similarly tumultuous moment of stunning cascade of international information available in 1960s urban culture.

· Sculptural art today focuses more on narrative and content, form isn't as important, more composed than before.

Unmonumentality:

A sculpture that is unmonumental deliberately lacks monumentality and its connotations.

· Connotations of monumental– massiveness, significance.

· Use of everyday objects can create unmonumentality, therefore assemblages can be a major conveyor of unmonumentality.

· Buckminster Fuller claimed greatest artist of 20th century was Henry Ford for creating repetitive perfection and vast distribution.

· One-offs are uncommon today and so are highly valued

· Artists include Kristen Morgan, Urs Fischer and Elliot Hundley.

· Artist Tony Smith remarked of his sculpture Die 1962 that he didn't want to make it so large that it would become a monument, and that he didn't want to make it so diminutive it would exist merely as an object.

Atlas– a collection of juxtaposed images.

Merzbau– The rooms of Schwitters house which he transformed into art.

Proun– coined by Russian artist El Lissitzhy to describe his hybrid practice of spatialized painting which moved on to sculpture, vectoring the surrounding space and dealing with perception.

Specific Object– both a painting and a sculpture, a hybrid thought up by artist Donald Judd in 1964.

ART & TODAY

The reference text I mentioned in class for your presentations is : ART & TODAY by E. Heartney

Follow this link to the USYD catalogue

Unmonutmental summary

Unmonumental summary

Sculpture is a three dimensional art form that has been a component of the art world, since its conception. However, throughout time, artists and audiences perception of what sculpture is has drastically changed. Today, sculpture is perceived in an entirely different light than too what it was 100 years ago. In this modern world, sculptures are more likely to be built, sewn, glued or tied together, and can be made up of any object or material (potentially) in the natural world, rather than being cast, carved or moulded.

The concept of Assemblage in sculpture, allows for many new forms, shapes and in turn meanings to be derived from pieces, that otherwise would not have come into being through a more ‘fine’ artistic sculptural practice. Seitz once stated that assemblage was “The precondition of juxtaposition. It is a state of total randomness and dis-association”. Essentially what we can take from this statement, is that the key difference between the old avant gardes of Picassos era and the ‘new’ avante gardes, is chance. The element of chance incorporated into their works, not only added different visual layers and textures, but in itself, was a bold statement to their current political and social environment. By throwing logic out the window and allowing disarray to take place in their work, artists such as Duchamp, were metaphorically ‘sticking it’ to the calculating warfaring powers governing their nations, with the train of thought being that, if logic has led us too the brink of nuclear war, why bother with logic?

As Dada and sculptural practice in general broadened both in terms of practice and intent, more defined targets began to be noted in works, rather than simply society in general. An example of this is Huffy Howler (2004) by Rachel Harrison, a work targeting Pop Culture icon Mel Gibson, taking note of such events as his anti semitic comments and drug/alcohol addled actions. Through assemblage of not simply random, but carefully selected objects, Harrison managed to make a much more acute suggestion/attack, than that of artists of the past whom selected random objects to assemble.

One can note from these documents that it appears that the cycle of artistic intention is beginning to repeat itself. The conceptual framework behind pieces appears to swell in intent with each new development of practice. When practice first develops, its predominant intention appears to be to simply separate itself and establish a new ideology separate from that of all predecessors, and then gradually as time and development of the practice develop and become more refined, the intent changes from a ragged notion, to more intricate direct attacks or suggestions by the artistic.

Unmonumental summary

Assemblage

Assemblage put simply is the process of putting together found objects. The name was coined by William Seitz in his exhibition “ The Art of Assemblage” at the museum of modern art in the early 1960’s. The exhibition featured works by early 20^th century European artists, Dubuffet, Duchamp and Picasso, and American artists, Robert Rauschenberg, Josheph Cornell. Central to assemblage is the use of “already made parts” these parts “retain their identity” and hence can be seen separately within the work while still ultimately contributing to the work as a whole. A perfect example of the Assemblage process are Rauschenbergs Combines these are a mix of painting and sculpture. Central to his work is juxtaposition the changing of “familiar objects into mysterious ones.” New Assemblage works are holistic and are more specific. Benjamin Buchloh’s article provided an essential link between original assemblage artists and late 20^th to 21^st century assemblage artists.

Unmonumentality

Unmonumentality Seeks to lack the qualities of all things monumental. Artists generally approach this in two ways, the obvious and the subtle. Kristen Morgin an American artist takes the obvious approach making a direct comment on “the destruction of the symbols of artistic permanence.”

Ready made Duchamp

Duchamp believed that “the artist’s nominative act – the declaration regardless of the object – was itself art.” This idea has lead to huge advances in rules of what can and cannot be used within sculptural works. Leading to the use of found objects. He displays his belief in ready made art in works like Bicycle Wheel (1913) and Fountain (1917)

Proun

Proun Was a word used by Russian artist El Lissitzky used to describe his practice. Proun was Lissitzkys exploration of three dimensional space through painting.

Abstraction Show

There is an abstract art show on where I work at Utopia Art Sydney called 'AAA -australian abstract art' and it is a mix of indigenous and non-indigenous abstract art. Here's a link to the show which is very conveniently timed.

I recommend looking through the rest of the site, in particular my favourite artists are Kylie Stillman and Masayuki Tsubota who was in the last show 'Made in Japan'.

Unmonumental

· Assemblage is a means to “unmonumentality”
- where by “pre-formed materials, objects or fragments not intended to be art materials [art placed] in juxtaposition with one another” Jean Dubuffet, 1950s
- Juxtaposing materials allow them to retain a binary identity
i.e. they contribute holistically to the work but remain contextually distinct

· William Seitz’s exhibition “The Art of Assemblage” (MOMA, 1961)
- elided events of the 30s-40s with those of the 50s “by tying the nihilism of Weimar to the existentialism of the nuclear age”
- endorsed Modernist belief in the persistence of assemblage and progression

· Apex of assemblage in 50s-60s: Rauschenberg’s “Combines”
- all elements within work are aleatory; recontextualising familiar objects, deeming them “mysterious” through juxtaposition
- Multiplicity of subjects within one work
- they represent “a shard of actual evidence of an irrevocably shattered society”

· Throughout the 70s-80s appropriations of principal assemblage artists were made, resembling “the works of the 1910s in intentions and in method” but were merely “paradigm repetitions”

· Twenty-first-century assemblage is distinguished by establishing coherence between disparate pieces
- intelligence, resources and precision now supersede chance, ultimately leading to more organised assemblages

· Assemblage art is not simply a reflection of the society that produced it, rather a result of it
- works fulfill the “criterion of cultural relevance” hence, they are metonyms of their context
- especially contemporary assemblage where works “incorporate pieces of the situation... [and] narrate the world”

· “Unmonumental”: “describes a sculpture that intentionally lacks ...massiveness, timelessness and public significance”

· Assemblage is a manifestation of eclecticism that represents a greater meaning
- optimal method to convey one’s multiplicity of ideas and perspectives regarding the multifaceted society in which we live
- as with all art, there is certainly no correct interpretation, rather a myriad
- can be viewed holistically or considering components of the work individually, acknowledging distinct contextual origins

Summary for Unmonumental

The sculptures made during the 1950s-60s reflect European experimentation of the 1910s-20s (note that both periods of time were post-war and civilians sought freedom from government suppression - a factor in artists' goal to break traditions in visual culture?). Duchamp's Dada "aesthetic indifference" and concentration on the physical element of objects was reversed in the mid-20th century where works such as Robert Rauschenberg's Combines allowed the audience to ponder about the relationships the objects had with the other (and insisted any connection would have been from chance). Rauschberg's works were described by art critic and historian Leo Steinberg as the "triumph of the immiscible" - a celebration of unblendability (not a word). Since assemblage art is pure content with no narrative, I agree with writer Roger Shattuck in that the works from the 1950s-60s could not have lived up to the inital shock and outrage from early 20th century audience. While early works were original, unexpected and obscene, those from the 1950s-60s to my opinion were mere time capsules that carried on the name of assemblage art like a persistent donkey with an empty cart (ohh, harsh). Rauschenberg focussed on the "ability to turn familiar objects into mysterious through juxtaposition" which pretty much defines early assemblage art. Present unmonumental artists create sculptures that have narrative which reflects our freedom of speech and open-minded audience; they are now able to judge society rather than produce observations of it.

UNMONUMENTAL: summary Maddi

UNMONUMENTAL: summary PDF

asd

hello. i am james. i did it.

summary-unmonumentalism

UNMONUMENTAL: the Summary
Liam Crowley

In Laura Hoptman’s overview of the “resurgence” of Dada-inspired assemblages in the 21st century, she takes an in – depth look at the precursors of this phenomenon: the Dadaists of the 1910’s and the Neo – Avant Gardests of the 50’s and 60’s. As well as exploring the terms assemblage and unmonumentality.
The technique of assemblage traces its roots back to the “ready-mades” of Duchamp using found objects and pre-formed materials. This movement was a direct reaction of post-war society and was intended as a counter-culture; as Richard Huelsenbeck observes (p138)

“Fracture works against the notion of hierarchy.”

The second-coming of assemblage was heralded in with an exhibition in 1961 that showcased new talents inspired by the fallout of WWII, as well as paying homage to their predecessors. William Seitz’ objective was to concrete Dada as an ongoing anti – art movement, when he should have split off from the past and legitimised the art being created in the 50’s and 60’s as a standalone movement. Seitz got caught up in the romantic notion of assemblages being a by-product of socially deficient culture, while his contemporaries acknowledged that their work wasn’t spawned from a war – torn environment, like that of the Europeans in the 1910’s, as Raucshenberg remarks (p132)

“[is] less a representation of a world filled with a chaos of information, than an actual piece of it. No metaphor, no allegory could compete with a shard of actual evidence of an irrevocably shattered society”

This remark leads into 21st century assemblages having adopted the term unmonumentalism as a direct response to the war in Iraq, and the unprecedented amount of media coverage on a war. This has therefore caused the vast majority of society to be openly resentful to authority/government figures allowing the resurgence of assemblages to lose their counter-culture legitimacy. Hence the adoption of unmonumentalism.

Unmonumentality: Summary

This piece by Laura Hoptman gives a vivid explanation and history of the art of assemblage and its place in the search for unmonumentailty in sculpture. It describes the changes of assemblage from its conception during the pre-WW1 stages of Duchamp and Picasso to the 1960s when assemblage hit its highest point of success; continuing all the way to the Twenty-first century where the act of assemblage is used for widely different reasons.

Assemblage is shown as a bi-product of the Dada and Surrealist movements, adhering to the criteria of destroying a typical perception art to the point of using everyday objects to create anti-art. These ‘ready-mades’ gave way to the idea that anything of any size, created by anyone could therefore be used as art. Assemblage then took the stage as an art practice that relied mostly on the ability to filter and select objects instead of theorise and then create from scratch.

The 1950’s and 1960’s saw the pinnacle of assemblage where individual objects held a quality and story of their own while co-operating together in the same work to form a collective meaning. This type of art making could not be seen much better than in the work of Robert Raschenberg, whose combines, hybrid paintings and sculpture brought assemblage to unsurpassed brilliance. The work did however seem to depend on a certain degree of luck as chance played a colossal role in this process, which many could argue added to the mystery of these juxtaposed objects. As noted in Hoptman’s writing, Leo Steinberg called Rauschenberg’s work a ‘triumph of the immiscible’ as unlikely objects provided physical evidence of a world continuously bombarded with information. It seems as if where Dada art was used to cope with the hardships of war, the 1960s neo-dada assemblage could be a response the excessive abundance of information of the 60s urban culture.

Hoptman later explains how assemblage of the twenty-first century differed quite dramatically from its pre WW1 and post WW2 predecessors. The information available to the contemporary audience of the twenty-first century has clearly grown exponentially, reaching a point of borderline absurdity. The assemblage of contemporary times has therefore become more reliant on choice than the typical use of chance and luck of the Duchamps and Rauschenbergs of past eras. Where the Dada-inspired assemblage searched for anti-art and destruction of convention, twenty-first century assemblage tends to address more direct issues and attempts to conduct a social commentary. The piece continues to explain the relationship twenty-first assemblage or neo-neo-avant garde has with past movements and themes such as the 1980’s practice of appropriation.

The article concludes with a description of the term unmonumental and explains its aspects. It outlines how unmonumental sculpture intentionally decides to rid itself of the characteristics such as massiveness, timelessness and public significance. The availability of this kind of fractured art has brought this form to an extremely large audience as it appears in advertising, marketing, on the internet and in countless other areas of popular culture. For a style of art that tries to abandon properties of public significance it has become a largely popular and successful one.

Assemblage is "the placement of preformed materials, objects or fragments not intended to be are materials in juxtaposition with one another" Jean Dubuffet

A sculpture that is unmonumental deliberately lacks monumentality and its connotations.

Assemblage is a strategy to achieve unmonumentality.

Unmonumental

Being a manifestation of eclecticism, i think assemblage is an optimal method of conveying a multitude of perspectives with in a single work - such a practice seems incredibly relevant to today's society, as it is so multifaceted. In this regard assemblage, as an art form, has sustained perennial relevance despite existing for over a century. Basically, i think the artists and thinkers behind this art form should be given a pat on the back for creating a practice with such integrity. Well done Dubuffet, Seitz, Rauschenberg and all our other assemblage predecessors.