Happenings were very big in the 50s and 60s, particularly in New York, and were primarily arranged by Allan Kaprow, who was reffered to as 'The Happenings man'. The idea of the happenings was to break down that fourth wall between performer and spectator, introducing the element of participation into art.
One of th emore modern contributions to this idea of the happening are groups called Flash mobs. These groups of people arrage themselves suddenly in a public place and perform a brief, completely random and seemingly pointless act and disperse as if nothign happened. The groups organise themselves and gain participation through social networking sites, viral emails and telepone communication.
This is a work performed in Grand Central Station where participants froze in place for 5 minutes
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Gallery Visit. (Anne Landa + ArtSpace)
The exhibition at artspace was surprisingly good to be honest! I loved the collection of works on show and I got this real sense of escapism on one hand and this obsession on the otherhand from those looking for missing loved ones. The artworks were very interesting in that they were built up from all this meticulous documentation.
The work that stood out for me was 'Okains Bay' by Brent Dyer and how a special rag tag team to conduct an esoteric investigation was assembled. Of particular interest were the art dealer that specialises in "the aesthetic of the recluse" and the drug addict on Dlemoxotine Hydrochloride which greatly increases awesomeness in the abstract processing part of the brain.(i'm sure theres potential for a future artwork there...)
Anne Landa was extremely engaging too! really liked Charlie Sofo's work 'Fields' (the one with video of him stalking cats, boulder and videos of him walking) my favourite bit was the bit with all the little bits of debris he collected from his shoe while on his journeys.
2 really interesting shows in one afternoon.
ps the computer game work titled 'outlands' by David Haines & Joyce Hinterding
no surprise..
The work that stood out for me was 'Okains Bay' by Brent Dyer and how a special rag tag team to conduct an esoteric investigation was assembled. Of particular interest were the art dealer that specialises in "the aesthetic of the recluse" and the drug addict on Dlemoxotine Hydrochloride which greatly increases awesomeness in the abstract processing part of the brain.(i'm sure theres potential for a future artwork there...)
Anne Landa was extremely engaging too! really liked Charlie Sofo's work 'Fields' (the one with video of him stalking cats, boulder and videos of him walking) my favourite bit was the bit with all the little bits of debris he collected from his shoe while on his journeys.
2 really interesting shows in one afternoon.
ps the computer game work titled 'outlands' by David Haines & Joyce Hinterding
no surprise..
Gallery Visits - Anna Schwartz and "the other one"
In all honesty, the second gallery we visited was extremely underwhelming. French text hanging on sheets of acetate doesnt move me in any way. Anna Schwartz was a bit of a hit and miss, howwever the hit was the artist who piggy backed the suit through sydney, dragged the log across town and the sawing of the plank she was sitting on. She made the afternoon worthwhile!!
Art & Identity
In relation to art and Identity, I chose Yinka Shonibare MBE. Hes a british artist with nigerian heritage and he explores the themes of colonialism, post - colonialism and globalisation.
His sculptures are tableaux vivants of figures appropriated from figures in Rococo paintings i.e The Swing (Fragonard) Skating Priest (Raeburn).
He uses a colourful fabric called Dutch wax fabric in all his artworks. It has strong connotations of African Identity - however it actually is produced in Europe. Shonibare explains the reasons for using it:
“When you realise they are designed and produced by people in Dutch and English factories, then that completely destroys the methodology of this seductive African thing. Therefore it is important I don’t go to Africa to by them, so that all African exotic implications remain fake. And I actually like that fakeness.”
He often portrays his headless European Mannequins in leisure activities because the activities come from the exploitment of the African colonies
(2nd Favourite artist of all time)
His sculptures are tableaux vivants of figures appropriated from figures in Rococo paintings i.e The Swing (Fragonard) Skating Priest (Raeburn).
He uses a colourful fabric called Dutch wax fabric in all his artworks. It has strong connotations of African Identity - however it actually is produced in Europe. Shonibare explains the reasons for using it:
“When you realise they are designed and produced by people in Dutch and English factories, then that completely destroys the methodology of this seductive African thing. Therefore it is important I don’t go to Africa to by them, so that all African exotic implications remain fake. And I actually like that fakeness.”
He often portrays his headless European Mannequins in leisure activities because the activities come from the exploitment of the African colonies
(2nd Favourite artist of all time)
Art & Narrative
When I was first researching about art and narrative I found that it was a lot harder to understand than I originally thought, particularly the text by Rosland Barthes, 'Death of the Author'. The more I researched the topic however, the more I came to understand it and I became particularly interested in how contemporary artists today are engaging with it in terms of the everyday.
The works of Kutlug Ataman I found particularly interesting as he focuses completely on speech, highlighting personal subjective experiences. He likes to present the action of speech in a performative aspect, rather than a means of communication, as his subjects disscuss the're everyday narratives with a sense of self-revelation. His documentary works, as they were, seem to have a performative edge as his subjects get so enthusiastic discussing the're everyday personal passions.
I also like how the area of art and narrative can been seen far more subtly in works, such as Bill Henson's. His photographic portraits work so well in suggesting a narrative through simple everyday compositions. These works he says he asks his models to just be, no acting, and yet very minuet instructions are given to achieve this look of being caught off guard or as though they are being spied apon. His dark contrasting images of wispy youths subtly suggest stories of love, lust, anxiety, desparation and lonelness. They often give the audience a sense of unease as though they are spying on these intimate moments, which are in fact fictional.
The works of Kutlug Ataman I found particularly interesting as he focuses completely on speech, highlighting personal subjective experiences. He likes to present the action of speech in a performative aspect, rather than a means of communication, as his subjects disscuss the're everyday narratives with a sense of self-revelation. His documentary works, as they were, seem to have a performative edge as his subjects get so enthusiastic discussing the're everyday personal passions.
I also like how the area of art and narrative can been seen far more subtly in works, such as Bill Henson's. His photographic portraits work so well in suggesting a narrative through simple everyday compositions. These works he says he asks his models to just be, no acting, and yet very minuet instructions are given to achieve this look of being caught off guard or as though they are being spied apon. His dark contrasting images of wispy youths subtly suggest stories of love, lust, anxiety, desparation and lonelness. They often give the audience a sense of unease as though they are spying on these intimate moments, which are in fact fictional.
Art & Environment
RICHARD SERRA'S TE TUHIRANGI CONTOUR
Going for almost 800ft and standing 20ft high, te tuhirangi contour is Richard Serra's Largest sculpture to date!!
It was commisioned in 1999 and is located near Auckland NZ.. Like all of Serra's Sculptures, his work immerses the body of the viewer through its sheer scale. It is interesting to see environmental works like this that arent ephemeral yet still have a sense of subtlty. Richard Serra compliments the existing beauty of the landscape through colour and line.
Going for almost 800ft and standing 20ft high, te tuhirangi contour is Richard Serra's Largest sculpture to date!!
It was commisioned in 1999 and is located near Auckland NZ.. Like all of Serra's Sculptures, his work immerses the body of the viewer through its sheer scale. It is interesting to see environmental works like this that arent ephemeral yet still have a sense of subtlty. Richard Serra compliments the existing beauty of the landscape through colour and line.
POP ART!
when it comes to Pop art in the contemporary artworld, japan has the spotlight. with artists like Takahashi Murakami and Yoshito Nara creating crazy Japanese Manga creations. there is also a big market for Japaneses pop art so the movement has been gaining a lot of movement in the last decade. The work is familiar: cartoonish in style, big heads and big eyes and is destinctively Japanese/
As far as Western Pop Art Kristen Morgin is great as well. She makes sculptures out of real Americana stuff in unfired clay then paints it. LOOks delapidated - a real poignant comment on disposable consumerism in America
As far as Western Pop Art Kristen Morgin is great as well. She makes sculptures out of real Americana stuff in unfired clay then paints it. LOOks delapidated - a real poignant comment on disposable consumerism in America
Participation Art (community based)
saw this article. pretty cool stuff!
Mel Chin refuses to be pinned down, hemmed in, or otherwise restricted from pursuing whatever concept fires his imagination—in whatever medium seems appropriate. The Houston-born artist began his career making sculptures based on research into ancient cultures, social issues, and geopolitical subterfuges. But after a 1989 solo show at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, he appeared to jump track, abandoning object-making for the less familiar territory of conceptual art based on botany, ecology, and hands-on collaboration with scientists and government officials. In his redefining project Revival Field (1993), he attempted to reclaim 60 square feet of toxic soil in a St. Paul, Minnesota, landfill. To do this, Chin and his collaborator, Rufus Chaney, relied on plants called hyper-accumulators, which can draw heavy metals like zinc and cadmium out of the earth through their root systems. Though Chin has subsequently been tagged as an environmental artist, he has followed many divergent paths, also working in recent years with comic books, animated films, and even commercial television.
He is currently working on a new environmental reclamation effort. the fundred dollar bill project / OPERation Paydirt cosists of equal parts conceptual art gesture, school lesson plan, and exercise in magical thinking. Chin is asking children across the country to draw fake $100 dollar bills - Fundreds - and submit them to volunteer led collection sites in public schools. Once three million of these Fundreds have been generated, an armoured car equipped to run on recycled vegetable oil will visit each collection point, pick up the childrens artwork, and eventually deliver all 3 million fundreds to congress. the goal is to make a one to one exchange with legislators, securing 300 million actual US dollars to clean lead contaminated soil in New Orleans following a protocol developed with Howard Mielke of the Tulane/Xavier Centre for biomedical research. Through the project, Chin hopes to highlight problems with lead poisoning that have plagued New Orleans poorest neighbourhoods since well before Hurricane Katrina.
here is the website http://fundred.org/
Mel Chin refuses to be pinned down, hemmed in, or otherwise restricted from pursuing whatever concept fires his imagination—in whatever medium seems appropriate. The Houston-born artist began his career making sculptures based on research into ancient cultures, social issues, and geopolitical subterfuges. But after a 1989 solo show at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, he appeared to jump track, abandoning object-making for the less familiar territory of conceptual art based on botany, ecology, and hands-on collaboration with scientists and government officials. In his redefining project Revival Field (1993), he attempted to reclaim 60 square feet of toxic soil in a St. Paul, Minnesota, landfill. To do this, Chin and his collaborator, Rufus Chaney, relied on plants called hyper-accumulators, which can draw heavy metals like zinc and cadmium out of the earth through their root systems. Though Chin has subsequently been tagged as an environmental artist, he has followed many divergent paths, also working in recent years with comic books, animated films, and even commercial television.
He is currently working on a new environmental reclamation effort. the fundred dollar bill project / OPERation Paydirt cosists of equal parts conceptual art gesture, school lesson plan, and exercise in magical thinking. Chin is asking children across the country to draw fake $100 dollar bills - Fundreds - and submit them to volunteer led collection sites in public schools. Once three million of these Fundreds have been generated, an armoured car equipped to run on recycled vegetable oil will visit each collection point, pick up the childrens artwork, and eventually deliver all 3 million fundreds to congress. the goal is to make a one to one exchange with legislators, securing 300 million actual US dollars to clean lead contaminated soil in New Orleans following a protocol developed with Howard Mielke of the Tulane/Xavier Centre for biomedical research. Through the project, Chin hopes to highlight problems with lead poisoning that have plagued New Orleans poorest neighbourhoods since well before Hurricane Katrina.
here is the website http://fundred.org/
MINIMALISM & MATERIALITY (abstraction)
Looking back through my sculpture journals I came across Nathan Slate Joseph. this guys sculptures really embody minimalism and materiality without being some boring boulder dumped in a paddock. When you think of sculpture traditionally its usually monochrome but Joseph etches his metal constructs with pure mineral pigment to get these beautiful organic shapes with intense colour. It is really obscure to see this technique used, as pigment doesnt play an important role in sculpture unlike printmaking and painting.
When the artist brings up the history of colour in sculpture, he brings up the amusing story of Picasso's painted bronzes (glass of absinthe 1914)
"in order to mask the precious metal and its venerable artistic history, thereby attacking the materials supposed integrity and offending the bourgeoisie" (and me)
When the artist brings up the history of colour in sculpture, he brings up the amusing story of Picasso's painted bronzes (glass of absinthe 1914)
"in order to mask the precious metal and its venerable artistic history, thereby attacking the materials supposed integrity and offending the bourgeoisie" (and me)
Annotated Bibliography (Folkert de Jong)
Demos, T.J., “Kutluğ Ataman: the art of storytelling”.
In this reading, Demos reviews select works by Ataman as well as looking at the relevance and evolution of narrative art in the postmodern art world. In the text, Demos references Ataman himself from several interviews with other sources as well as using Jacques Rancière’s research into the transformation of storytelling in art.
While Ataman’s work is substantially different from de Jong’s, Demos’ discussion into the complexities of narrative art are thorough and provide insightful ways to approach de Jong’s artworks. Furthermore, the reading lead me to Rancière’s writings, which proved most helpful in my research.
The main limitation of this article was that the body of it focused on describing Ataman’s works and didn’t elaborate on parallel studies from other sources. In all though, this reading revealed that there is a diverse range of conveying “narrative” in art. This reading gave me a significant amount of knowledge to help further conduct my research into de Jong.
Amy, Michael. “Confronting the grotesque: a conversation with Folkert de Jong”. Sculpture, June (2008): 24 – 33
In this journal article, Michael Amy briefly assesses the art practice and themes that Folkert de Jong explores, as well as the artists history itself. Following this introduction, Amy begins an informal interview with de Jong. In the interview that ensues between Amy and the artist, the conversation begins with Amy enquiring about de Jong’s “unusual choice of materials” and the artist reveals the materials source also produces materials for application in warfare. From this line of questioning, the conversation moves to de Jongs cultural history and the themes he explores in his instillations.
I found that this journal article was very helpful to me, as there is very little written on Folkert de Jong and it was intrinsic to my research. It was made more valuable because the artist himself reveals his use of historic, cultural and industrial imagery and themes that gave me an insight into the narratives he portrays. Although Amy didn’t focus on de Jong’s narratives, a substantial amount of information could be gleaned from this text.
Coughlan, Robert. The world of Michelangelo. Barcelona: industria gráfica sa, 1980
This book includes a good source of information on the history of narrative art as well as thoroughly documenting its relevance in the Western world (in particular Europe) during arts “classical era”.
While the majority of this book focuses on Michelangelo’s life, he was the “iconic narrative artist” of the classical era. Thus it gives insight into the function and role of narrative art in those times and in some regards works well in conjunction with de Jong as another European artist.
Although very little information was used from this book in my final presentation, it was crucial nonetheless, in order for me to gain broader understanding of European narrative art. It did however reveal similarities in Michelangelo’s works to the tableaux’s of de Jong.
In this reading, Demos reviews select works by Ataman as well as looking at the relevance and evolution of narrative art in the postmodern art world. In the text, Demos references Ataman himself from several interviews with other sources as well as using Jacques Rancière’s research into the transformation of storytelling in art.
While Ataman’s work is substantially different from de Jong’s, Demos’ discussion into the complexities of narrative art are thorough and provide insightful ways to approach de Jong’s artworks. Furthermore, the reading lead me to Rancière’s writings, which proved most helpful in my research.
The main limitation of this article was that the body of it focused on describing Ataman’s works and didn’t elaborate on parallel studies from other sources. In all though, this reading revealed that there is a diverse range of conveying “narrative” in art. This reading gave me a significant amount of knowledge to help further conduct my research into de Jong.
Amy, Michael. “Confronting the grotesque: a conversation with Folkert de Jong”. Sculpture, June (2008): 24 – 33
In this journal article, Michael Amy briefly assesses the art practice and themes that Folkert de Jong explores, as well as the artists history itself. Following this introduction, Amy begins an informal interview with de Jong. In the interview that ensues between Amy and the artist, the conversation begins with Amy enquiring about de Jong’s “unusual choice of materials” and the artist reveals the materials source also produces materials for application in warfare. From this line of questioning, the conversation moves to de Jongs cultural history and the themes he explores in his instillations.
I found that this journal article was very helpful to me, as there is very little written on Folkert de Jong and it was intrinsic to my research. It was made more valuable because the artist himself reveals his use of historic, cultural and industrial imagery and themes that gave me an insight into the narratives he portrays. Although Amy didn’t focus on de Jong’s narratives, a substantial amount of information could be gleaned from this text.
Coughlan, Robert. The world of Michelangelo. Barcelona: industria gráfica sa, 1980
This book includes a good source of information on the history of narrative art as well as thoroughly documenting its relevance in the Western world (in particular Europe) during arts “classical era”.
While the majority of this book focuses on Michelangelo’s life, he was the “iconic narrative artist” of the classical era. Thus it gives insight into the function and role of narrative art in those times and in some regards works well in conjunction with de Jong as another European artist.
Although very little information was used from this book in my final presentation, it was crucial nonetheless, in order for me to gain broader understanding of European narrative art. It did however reveal similarities in Michelangelo’s works to the tableaux’s of de Jong.
gallery visit
David Haines and Joyce Hinterding unguided tours art gallery NSW
the fine line between the real world their artwork and a video game.
watch interview
art and identity
what could be more personal than literally connecting you art work onto yourself.
Stelarc uses science both as a medium in his sculptures and performance works as well as his own body. Stelarc looks at the human evolution and the connection between man and machine. Slelarc takes this concept to extremes but litterly hooking himself to machines and robotic limbs. One of stelercs most recognizable works is his third arm. Stelarc used this fully functional prosthetic limb in many of his performance, sculptural and digital artworks. This third arm was made from Aluminum, stainless steel, acrylic, latex electronics, electrodes, cables and battery pack. The movements of the prosthetic hand are controlled by electrical signals sent out by stelarcs muscles mainly from his abdominal and leg muscles which are connected through wires and censers, signals from contractions in stelarcs muscles are picked up, pre-amplified, rectified and sent to the switching system. The use of other muscles then allows stelarc to independent move each of his three hands without mirroring his right hand on which it is based.
Stelarc has also worked on a sculpture for your stomach which he had to be rushed to the hospital 5 minutes after because of concerns of a rupture or internal bleeding.
art and narrative-annotated bibliography.
Heartney, E. 2008. Art & Today.
Art has always been used to creat a story eg;
-cave paintings
-wars
-celibrations
-religious happenings
telling a story or narrative in an artwork could be portrayed through different ways eg;
-fiction
-non-fiction
-linier
-cyclical
-bassed on past present or future
Matthew Barney, Cremaster cycle 3, 2002. http://www.cremaster.net/#
CREMASTER 3 is set in New York City and narrates the construction of the Chrysler Building, which is in itself a character - host to inner, antagonistic forces at play for access to the process of spiritual transcendence.
Barney, Matthew the Cremaster cycle, 1994–2002, Cremaster 3.
In the dvd the Cremaster cycle. The entered apprentice played by Matthew Barney follows a serious of 5 stages through the Chrysler building overcoming challenges of birth, growth, death and rebirth. The do this through the use of instillation, peformance, sculpture, film cinematography and digital media.
Anyone who reads this should come see the Kylie Stillman show which is opening at Utopia on saturday, she's a super nice lady and will be there and yeah her sculptures are amaaaaaaaazing. in case its hard to tell, the picture is a couple of reems of blueish paper stacked up and each piece is individually hand cut and stacked to make the jug and flowers shape.
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