Week 6- Anish Kapoor Sculpture

Anish Kapoor

Cloud Gate (2004), Millennium Park, Chicago

Celebrated for his gigantic, stainless steel Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor is changing the cultural environment with his public works.

1.Research Kapoor's work in order to discuss whether it is conceptual art or not. Explain your answer, using a definition of conceptual art.

Conceptual art is more about the planning, the drawings and the initial ideas forming the finished product. ‘ The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.’ - Sol LeWitt. So in relation to this instillation, I would say it is conceptual art. The work is a prime example of a thought out idea process, which makes this work so successful. With the ideas of distortion and the artist personal relationship with Chicago where the sculpture is placed.

2. Research 3 quite different works by Kapoor from countries outside New Zealand to discuss the ideas behind the work. Include images of each work on your blog.

‘Yellow’

Yellow is a large scale instillation , the colour was chosen in referring back to Kapoor’s Indian roots. The piece is very bold and the vivid colour draws attention. The work plays with our ideas of perspective, our eyes are drawn to the strong colour as much as they are to the void in the middle, Kapoor says ‘... It’s that phenomenological shift that brings uncertainty, that asks the question about what it is that we’re looking at. ... I hope that somewhere in that is a moment of poetry.’ To get the smooth finished look that is shown in this piece of work the sculpture is meticulously moulded and smoothed down before the yellow pigment can start to be applied. 

‘Svayambh’

The work is named Svayambh, from a Sanskrit word meaning self-generated or auto-generated. The material, which coats the doorways, is a mix of wax, paint and Vaseline, adding to the impression that the car-like structure has passed through leaving the tracks.

‘Orbit’

Orbit is a 115 metre-high sculpture designed created for the 2012 Olympic park. It’s a steel tower that gives panoramic views of the City. A 455 step staircase wraps around the exterior of the tower. 250 coloured spotlights illuminate it at night. ‘“Anish and I were conscious from the beginning that the ArcelorMittal Orbit would be a lasting legacy to the city and so we wanted to stretch the language of the icon as far we could go. The Orbit is a hybrid, a network of art and structure, and its dynamic is the non-linear. You read into it multiple narratives in space.” - Cecil Balmond

3.Discuss the large scale 'site specific' work that has been installed on a private site in New Zealand.

 This large ‘site specific’ was installed at “The Farm,”  1,000 acre  private estate outdoor art gallery in Kaipara Bay, north of Auckland, New Zealand.

4. Where is the Kapoor's work in New Zealand? What are its form and materials? What are the ideas behind the work?

“I am interested in sculpture that manipulates the viewer into a specific relationship with both space and time.” –Anish Kapoor, Tate Magazine, July 2007

This work is located Kaipara Bay, North of Auckland. The materials used to create this installation were a deep red polyester fabric supported by red structural steel. The fabric itself weighs 7,200kg and the steel 42,750kg each! The ideas behind this work were to provide a ‘kaleidoscope’ to show off the magnificent views that keen be seen from this site at Kaipara Bay. Once again, like most of Kapoor’s work, he aimed to create some sort of distortion or relationship between the space and the viewer.

5. Comment on which work by Kapoor is your favourite, and explain why. Are you personally attracted more by the ideas or the aesthetics of the work?

My favourite work done by Kapoor would have to be the sculpture ‘orbit.’ I enjoy this sculpture the most because of the dynamics and aesthetics. I enjoy the fact that you can see panoramic views of the city also the way in which the sculpture has been shaped.

http://www.anishkapoor.com/322/Cloud-Gate.html

http://www.nouse.co.uk/2009/12/18/anish-kapoor-at-the-royal-academy-a-conversation-with-dr-adrian-locke/

http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html

http://gibbsfarm.org.nz/kapoorvideo.php

Week 5 - Pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi

Pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi

In teaching week 5 you will discuss pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi in your tutorials.
Use this discussion, the notes in your ALVC book and the internet to respond to the following
questions;

1. Define the term 'pluralism' using APA referencing.

 ‘Any situation in which no particular political, cultural, ethnic, or ideological group is dominant. There is often competition between rival groups, and the state or local authority may be seen as the arbitrator. It has been asserted that this is the way that cities are run, rather than by an elite; the theory thus relates to the nature of power.’ R. Dahl (1961)

2. How would you describe New Zealand's current dominant culture?

In today’s society I would describe New Zealand has having a very western Culture. There are some aspects that are of Maori Tradition, but it’s is most defiantly dominated by the western culture

3. Before 1840, what was New Zealand's dominant culture?

Maori was the dominant culture, but there was an increasing number of European settlers in the NZ.

4. How does the Treaty of Waitangi relate to us all as artists and designers working
in New Zealand?

The treaty of Waitangi relates to us as artists as it is the history of our country, it is something we can draw inspiration from. Whether you are Maori or of European decent, the treaty is a part of you as a New Zealander.

5. How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on 'regional diversity' that leads to a 'homogenized world culture' in New Zealand in particular? (ALVC2 handbook page 52, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/globalization)
Globalization could be seen as having a negative effect on New Zealand as it is such a small country and already, Maori culture has been taken over. If the world eventually became a ‘homogenized world culture’ would have a huge effect on such a small nation. Also, New Zealand having such a large trading platform, if free trade came into play as a part of globalization, we would lose a huge amount of income as a nation.

6. Shane Cotton's paintings are said to examine the cultural landscape. Research Cotton's work 'Welcome'(2004) and 'Three quarter view ' (2005) to analyze what he is saying about colonialization and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Shane Cotton precisely portrays ideas that have been seen throughout his work, including the ‘marked heads’ and the Ionic Birds. In the work ‘Welcome’ the Fantail and Whitehead are native birds which are messenger between the people relating to euorpean settlers coming into New Zealand. Also in this work there is the idea of keeping the memory of his ancestors alive with the portraits of the two Maori men, with traditional head dress and face tattoos.

‘Three Quarter View’ was done with the idea of putting together Maori and Pakeha imagery to create  hybrid paintings that shows the two cultures coming together in the same country. This piece of art is very much dominated by the ‘Moko’ on the face of the flax trader Barnet Burns, this bold and vivid imagery on the English men resulted in his decision to live among the Maori and involve himself in their culture. Cottons work challenges cultural identity and looks more at the space between the Maori and Pakeha cultures.

7. Tony Albert's installation 'Sorry' (2008) reflect the effects of colonization on the aboriginal people of Australia. Research the work and comment on what Albert is communicating through his work, and what he is referring to. Describe the materials that Albert uses on this installation and say what he hopes his work can achieve.

The materials used to create ‘Sorry’ were kitsch objects found and applied to vinyl Sorry is a work based on the apology of Australia’s past president Kevin Rudd to the indigenous people also known as Aborigines, Australian citizens who have for many years been ill treated by the Australian government. This apology showed a real unity for the country.  Alberts reflects the historic value of the day. He captures the essence of the people through their faces and life style as a representation of what they are as a ‘people.’

8. Define the term 'kitsch'.

Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value.

9. Explain how the work of both artists relates to pluralism.

Pluralism can be seen in both these artist’s ideas and relate to each other through the ideas of traditions, culture. Also the way the indigenous people live and express their identity through their culture. They also both refer to the past and their peoples culture and how we can interpret this today.

http://pluralism.org/pages/pluralism/what_is_pluralism

http://www.ccpr.murdoch.edu.au/art/acquisitions/tony_albert.html

http://www.gowlangsfordgallery.co.nz/editions/shanecotton.asp

http://www.crystalinks.com/maori.html

http://thearts.co.nz/artist_page.php&aid=24&type=bio

http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/collection/indigenous_australian_art/tony_albert

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

Kehinde Wiley is a Gay American based painter born in Los Angeles, who has an international reputation. Wiley lives and practices between Beijing and Brooklyn.


This weeks ALVC class focuses on the Postmodern theme "INTERTEXTUALITY", re-read Extract 1 The death of the author on page 44 of your ALVC books and respond to the oil paintings of Kehinde Wiley. 

1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly. 

"Intertextuality seems such a useful term because it foregrounds notions of relationality, interconnectedness and interdependence in modern cultural life. In the Postmodern epoch, theorists often claim, it is not possible any longer to speak of originality or the uniqueness of the artistic object, be it a painting or novel, since every artistic object is so clearly assembled from bits and pieces of already existent art." Graham Allen, Intertextuality. Routledge, 2000

Basically, this quote is saying that nothing is original anymore because everything  is taken by other inspirations and art works, and even sub consciously people think they are making something original when in fact  they are using other things that they have seen to create it.

2. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyzes how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work. 

Wileys paintings are very colourful with ornately decorated backgrounds; bold in both style and colour the men painted in his work are often dressed in street clothing and are posing in a heroic manner. This gives reference to old paintings of Renaissance masters. His work is a very clear example of intertextuality, as he has put together many different styles and ideas. Without having the knowledge of these different ideas and periods the viewer would not know this about his work. Also, if Wiley was not influenced by different periods and ideas he would not be able to portray these ideas, and his worl would be very different to what it is now.

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 51 and discuss how the work relates to this theme. Wiley’s work deals with the ideas of pluralism as he has placed black men in traditional Western Renaissance style settings. By him doing this he is making a clear point and breaking down boundaries that were earlier in place regarding social status of race. He is challenging the cliché of ‘upper white class’ by putting African Americans in the frame.

4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview. 

Wiley’s work raises quite a few questions, about many things including social/cultural hierarchies, colonisation etc. His work is very controversial but puts forward a valid and a very talked about subject regarding the ‘black’ and ‘whites’ of society. Wiley has painted African American men of the street in a renaissance style, giving the men power and showing wealth, traditionally it would be white men, this is where he has pushed boundaries and made a statement, has challenged stereotypes. 

5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that
you have read during your research.

I really enjoyed researching Wiley’s work. I like the ideas behind the art and the boundaries he challenges.

http://www.skny.com/artists/kehinde-wiley/

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/cambridgeauthors/byatt-intertextuality

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/kehinde-wiley/

THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

Week 3- Hussein Chalayan and Post-Modern Fashion

Hussein Chalayan

Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing.

1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?

 My personal responses to these works are, I feel as though the artist Chalayan,  is trying to make a statement through the use of Clothing. I would consider these more art than fashion pieces as, people would not be drawn to buy or wear items like this in public. They are pieces of art that are very controversial, especially the ‘Burka.’ I imagine that this would offend the Muslim community as there traditional dress has been altered and nudity has been used. The work "Afterwords" was created by a story of refugees. The idea behind the work is packing up your home and leaving in times of trouble. The work itself has been created by recycled furniture. This again I would not class as fashion, the model is simply a coat hanger for the, almost sculpture. This could be classed as wearable arts, where a piece of work is created by something recycled or obviously something else., this garment is a prime example.

Fashion is where garments are made that appeal to a large, or in some cases a small, group of people. You get very generic items that appeal to most fashion tastes, but fashion is about creating your own ‘style.’ People find a designer or particular item of clothing or ‘look’ that they fancy and begin to create their own fashion sense. Fashion can be defined as "for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, or furniture."  With art you are taking an idea or inspiration and creating something not for any ‘group’ in particular. It’s difficult to determine what is ‘art’ and what is ‘fashion’ because they are both very similar. I guess the main difference would be the materials used and the audience it is appealing to.

2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

Just because a person’s art is being used to sell or promote products does not take the fact away that it is still art. I can be a huge advantage in an artist’s Carrier. It not only sells the product it sells their name. The art simply becomes commercialised, instead of designing things that carry her view, it would be for the company instead. Being an artist, she would automatically add and create subtle meanings within the design.  

3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?

4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now(2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

I feel as though it is important that the artist makes the piece of art themselves rather than a group of people putting together your ideas. It gives more emotion to the art work. When creating art, you have a distinct image or idea that you want to see come to life, when a group of people are doing this for you, it’s a huge risk that it might not be finished or put together the way you envisioned. Of course if it was a big sculpture or something that needed to be mass produced it would be vital to have others as a part of it. Otherwise, if you are able to do it yourself, Why not?  

http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/chalayan.html

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/burka

http://fashion.about.com/cs/historycostumes/a/whatisfashion_2.htm

http://ilikecatsmorethanpeople.blogspot.co.nz/2010/11/hussein-chalayan-burka-1996.html

1.     Define Post-Modernism using 8-10 bullet points that include short quotes.

·    What post modernism gives us instead is a multicultural defense for male violence ‘a defense for it wherever it is, which in effect is a pretty universal defense.’ -Cathavine Mackinnon

·     When used in a constructive postmodern view, it does not reject modernism but “seeks to revise the premises of modernism”. Postmodernism attempts to erase all of modernism’s boundaries, to weaken its legitimacy, and to disturb the logic of the modernist state. (Witcombe 2000)

·     The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes postmodernism as “a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices” which exercises concepts such as difference, repetition, and hyper-reality to “destabilize other concepts” such as presence and identity.

·    Postmodernism began as ‘a rejection of the tenets of Modernism’ (Witcombe 2000)

·    ‘For some it means anti-modern; for others it means the revision of modernist premises.’ (Witcombe 2000)

·    “Postmodernism is associated with relativism. Relativism is the idea that ‘anything goes’”, Saugstad (2001).

·    Postmodern sensibility does not lament the loss of narrative coherence any more than the loss of being.

      Postmodernists also explored the idea that we do not control nature, which has been believed in the past. "Nature does actually precede culture,not the other way around". (Saugstad, A. 2001)

2. Use a quote by Witcombe (2000) to define the Post-Modern artist.(page 24)

‘The post – modern artist is ‘reflexive’ in that he or she is self-aware and consciously involved in a process of thinking about his or her cultural self in history, in demasking his or her own pretensions, and promoting processes of self-consciousness’ (witcombe, 2000)

3. Use the table on pages 47 and 48 in your ALVC handbook to summarize the list of the features of Post-Modernity.

The table suggest that Post- Modernity has an unclear bases for social and cultural unity. There was no concern for ‘depth.’ It became culture adapting to simulation. Real- time media, substituting for the real. Hyper reality and image saturation came into play. There was a disruption of the dominating high culture by ‘popular’ culture. Art became a process, it was now performance, production and intertextual art. Art now had no serious intention and boundaries were broken.

Use this summary to answer the next two questions.

4. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)
in order to say what features of the work could be considered Post-Modern

This art done by artist Weiwei falls under post-modern art because he has mixed a very current brand with a historical urn and the logo is a very popular and well known icon in our modern society. This was his way of  incorporating pop culture to this post-modern piece.  The artist has created a contrast between something that is unique to his Chinese culture and something that is very much a marker of the West. A political statement is also made and with this work he is pointing out the destruction and the erosion of Chinese culture, by taking an artefact and transforming it into something very modern, perhaps the way he sees China

5. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist
to discuss how each work can be defined as Post-Modern.(Use your list from question 3.)

http://www.e-rudite.net/postmodernism.htm

http://arthistoryresources.net/modernism/modpostmod.html

http://www.contemporaryart.com/faurschou/ai-wei-wei/

http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/postmodernism/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3124787/Banksy-in-his-own-words.html

WEEK 1- Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'.

WEEK 1- Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'.

Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'. 

Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg's intricately constructed claymation films are both terrifyingly disturbing and artlessly sweet.The new works created for the Venice Biennale explore a surrealistic Garden of Eden in which all that is natural goes awry.She exposes the innate fear of what is not understood and confronts viewers with the complexity of emotions.Nathalie Djurberg was awarded the silver lion for a promising young artist at the Venice

Art Biennale 09.

(http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6886/nathalie-djurberg)

'Experiment' (2009) Venice Biennale

  

1.    What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?

Clay Animation, is a form of stop motion animation. Each object is sculpted in clay or a similar material, it is placed on the desired set, a film frame is exposed and then the object is moved slightly by hand, another frame is taken and then it is moved again. This creates the motion we then see later in the film. When played back at a frame rate greater than 10–12 frames per second.

2.    What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?

Surrealism is defined as, ‘Surrealist art is dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control of reason and convention.’ So in relation to Djurbergs ‘Garden of Eden’ it is obvious to the viewer that she has created quite a ‘dream’ like scenario, almost like a nightmare. She has made ‘the garden of Eden’ which is generally seen as a ‘peaceful’ and ‘serine’ picture, very harsh and dark. It is a very blunt comparison. The Garden is covered in creepy flowers, they are so big they make the viewer feel almost intimidated by their size. Their colours and shapes are nauseating.

 "a strange dreamlike atmosphere". From research on Djurberg's work I have found that her work is very colourful. This relates back to the term " surrealistic Garden of Eden".

Awry is defined as with a slant or twist to one side; askew, away from the appropriate or right course; amiss. Djurbergs work is very unusual and she has used something very natural and turned it into something very fake looking and quirky.

3.    What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?

Djurbergs work in particular confronts the audience with very contradicting emotions. The colours and the flowers throughout make you feel happy, even the though the size dwarfs the initional Audience, it has a somewhat exciting and intriguing effect. These feelings in comparison to the ones felt when seeing the plasticine woman being deformed and torn by the plasticine men are totally different. It is shocking and quite distressful.

4.    How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?

Djurberg plays with the ideas of traditional children storylines, but adds her own twist on them, almost taking the innocence out of them and adding a slight sense of humour.

5.   There is a current fascination by some designers with turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing. Why do you think this has come about?

I think this has come from the realization that things aren’t always what they seem. There are a lot of things in the world that may seem to be sweet and innocent but when you look deeper they may in fact be the complete opposite. This is where the disturbing part comes in, it’s like the hidden monsters almost, and the sweetness is a cover from what they really are. The media defiantly has a huge impact on this subject by the way they make people out to be, also just general society. We live in such a materialistic world, where we don’t tend to look deeper than the outward appearance or perhaps the first ‘layer’ of a person. I think designers have delved into this idea, as it is opening the eyes of people to really look deeper.

6   .  In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?

I firstly find her work so fascinating just by the type of media used, it is very unique and quite a nesh area of design. I enjoy the way she takes the plots of children’s stories and plays with them to create something quite different.
 

http://www.artrepublic.com/art_terms/19-surrealism.html

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/awry

http://artnews.org/artist.php?i=1211

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZGjhxYVhmo

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/aug/25/artist-nathalie-djurberg