Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Week 6- last blog for semester 2-Barbara Kruger

Research Kruger's work to find an example from the 1970s or 1980s to compare with a more recent work. How has Kruger's work changed with the developments in contemporary visual arts? Describe a recent work that moves away from the 'poster' type work of her early career.

Find 2-3 works by Kruger to add to your blog.

American conceptual/pop artist Barbara Kruger is internationally renowned for her signature black, white and red poster-style works of art that convey in-your-face messages on women's rights and issues of power. Coming out of the magazine publishing industry, Kruger knows precisely how to capture the viewer's attention with her bold and witty photomurals displayed on billboards, bus stops and public transportation as well as in major museums and galleries wordwide. She has edited books on cultural theory, including Remaking History for the Dia Foundation, and has published articles in the New York Times, Artforum, and other periodicals. Monographs on her work include Love for Sale, We Won't Play Nature to Your Culture and others. She is represented in New York by Mary Boone Gallery. A major exhibition of her work will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in fall 1999, and at the Whitney Museum in New York in 2000.




Barbara Kruger. (American, born 1945). Rage + Women = Power, cover for Ms. magazine. January/February 1992. Photolithograph, composition and sheet: 10 3/4 x 8 3/8″ (27.4 x 21.3 cm). Publisher and printer: Lang Communications, New York. Edition: mass produced. Purchase. © 2008 Barbara Kruger


July 8, 2007

TITLE: We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard. /1992

Her works are characterised by their provocative and introducing black & white photographic images and bold statements.
Since the early 1970’s Kruger has been using slogans to question the social and political forces within society and to promote causes she believes in such as supporting legal abortion and fighting domestic violence.


Between the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Barbara Kruger, working as a graphic designer for popular magazines,gained recognition in the art world for photo-based images overlaid with blocks of text in a signature color scheme of black & white
and red. Her practice of culling and editing found photographs and of pairing them with phrases in provocative ways was informed by her interest in feminism and critical theory. These investigations into the seemingly innocuous and yet potentially insidious ways in which ideological messages infiltrate daily life by means of the mass media continue today, although she has more recently expanded her repertoire to include installations with video and audio components and oversized sculptures.


How does the audience experience a more spatial, installation art work compared with a poster?

In my opinion, installing spatial art work requires including video, audio components and oversized sculptures, because its dynamic sound and its huge oversized sculptures can make audience feel more spatial. However, the 2D poster is more about visual communication between audience and artwork.

What elements does Kruger use in her work to create a strong impact?

She only represent 3 colour, which is black & white and red and she used many layers for introducing images(overlap). Also, she used bold text to some main point to give strong impact and it is successfully done.

references

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kruger

Week 5 - Kehinde Wiley

Kahinde Wiley is a Gay American based painter born in Los Angeles, who has an international reputation living between Pe King and Brooklyn.


Last weeks ALVC class focused on the Post Modern them "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. How do we make sense of his Kehinde's work? Identify intertextuality in Kehinde's work?


I found the evidence of Intertextuality from the AVLC book (page44).
However, Kahinde Wiley's work is more like a portrait with French rococo and Islamic architecture background. Also it shows West African textile design to urban hipop and the "Sea Foam Green" of a Martha Stewart Interiors color swatch.





Kehinde's work relates to this weeks Post Modern theme "PLURALISM" re-read page 50 and discuss how the work relates to this theme?


Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicites, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, regions, economics statue and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while their commonalities.

Wiley recreates history by inserting African Americans into the canon of art history, and in doing so expands our knowledge of how race has been expressed in it. Paul D. Miller, also known as D.J. Spooky states, “Wiley’s canvas surfaces are a mirror reflection of America’s unceasing search for new meanings from the ruins of the Old World of Europe and Africa. In the process of reflection, the world that we see on his canvas transforms the way we think about old and new, race, masculinity, and above all, the generous soul of an artist’s ability to provide a way of saying simply: another world is possible


Kehinde's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview.


Information on specific paintings was difficult to obtain however Matt has the info for the last 2 paintings.


3. Kehinde Wiley Count Potocki, 2008 oil on canvas, 274.3 x 274.3cm




4. Kehinde Wiley Support Army and Look after People, 2007 oil on canvas, 258.4 x 227.3cm

Week 4- Anish Kapoor








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 the ideas behind 3 quite different works from countries outside New Zealand.


Sky Mirror, a large mirror piece that reflects the sky and surroundings, was commissioned for a site outside the Nottingham Playhouse. The artwork itself, which was manufactured in Finland, is a six-metre-wide concave dish of polished stainless steel weighing ten tonnes and angled up towards the sky. It reflects the ever-changing environment, season to season, day and night.




In 2010 a new Anish Kapoor sculpture called "Turning the World Upside Down, Jerusalem" was commissioned and installed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The sculpture is described as a "16-foot tall polished-steel hourglass" and it "reflects and reverses the Jerusalem sky and the museum's landscape, a likely reference to the city's duality of celestial and earthly, holy and profane."

Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park within the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Kapoor's design was inspired by liquid mercury and the sculpture's surface reflects and distorts the city's skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate's 12-foot (3.7 m) high arch. On the underside is the "omphalos" (Greek for "navel"), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds upon many of Kapoor's artistic themes, and is popular with tourists as a photo-taking opportunity for its unique reflective properties.

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

The title is "Work at The Farm, Kaipara Bay, New Zealand" and it is his first outdoor sculpture in fabric and it looks like a trumpet.

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

Kaipara Bay, New Zealand and its made of fabric.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Kapoor

Week 3 - The Walters Prize 2010

a) Saskia Leek
b) Fiona Connor
c) Dan Arps
d) Alex Monteith





This week we will be visiting the Auckland Art Gallery to view, research and write about the artists selected for the Walters Prize 2010. Discuss the work in the gallery with your tutors and other students and answer the following questions.

1. What is the background to the Walters Prize?

Established by Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame Jenny Gibbs, they named this organization in honor of Gordon Walters, their main intentions was to make contemporary art as apart of our New Zealand culture. The Walters Prize is New Zealand’s most influential contemporary art prize; this recognizes artists that are devoted to contemporary art in New Zealand.

2. List the 4 selected artists for 2010 and briefly describe their work.

Dan Arps

Explaining things 2008, mixed media

The installation presented domestic objects previously discarded as unwanted. Everything that once had a specific function was transformed. Simple and everyday material, like posters, a BBQ table and chairs, lamps, a handwritten note and plinths were all reused as art material (Walters Prize 2010).

Fiona Connor

Something Transparent (please go round the back) 2009, mixed media

Something transparent demonstrates her idea about the unsettling potentials of the double-take. Positioning multiple reproductions of the glass and public entrance to the gallery in situ one behind the next, Connor’s work is both visually captivating and compelling conceptually (Walters Prize 2010).

Saskia Leek

Yellow is the putty of the world 2009

Whitish yellows and whitish blues contribute to the distinctive coloring of Saskia Leek’s recent work. Leek’s painting has long honored the appeals of popular images. Here she acknowledges a pathos in the generic nature of any picture of a sailing ship, say, or bowl of fruit, and aligns it with the now equally familiar idea of abstraction (Walters Prize 2010).

Alex Monteith

Passing Manoeuvre with two motorcycles and 584 vehicles for two-channel video installation 2008

Alex Monteith has taken advantage of contemporary technology to update the kinds of image-making experiments undertaken by structuralist filmmakers in many of her works.This work is described as a motorcycle performance documentation for a two-back lane split of Auckland ‘s northern motorway during morning rush hour traffic

3. Who are the jury members for 2010?

Jon Bywater - Programme Leader, Critical Studies at Elam School of Fine Art, The University of Auckland.
Rhana Devenport - Director, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth
Leonhard Emmerling - Visual Arts Adviser, Goethe Institute, Munich, Germany, former Director, ST PAUL St, AUT University
Kate Montgomery - Director, Physics Room, Christchurch

4. Who is the judge for 2010 and what is his position in the art world?

The Judge this year is Vicente Todoli, who once was the director of London's Tate Modern (a well recognized museum for modern art). Vicente Todoli has also directed many exhibitions for many modern artists in the past, making him an idea choice for judge.

5. Who would you nominate for this years Walter's Prize, and why? Substantiate
you answer by outlining the strengths of the artists work. How does this relate
to your interests in art? What aspect of their work is successful in your opinion,
in terms of ideas, materials and/or installation of the work?

I would nominate Saskia Leek. The reason why I liked her painting was because of the colour and its form. As I see the work, I can see a small house in this painting and it is formed with friendly green colour, which makes me feel very comfortable.
Therefore, I could realized that the warm colour and its house formed painting is related together and its brightness makes good harmony to this work.

references

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIHJ56xLY7s

http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/industry-news/2010/apr/68823-walters-prize-2010-finalists

Week 2 - Hussein Chalayan



Hussein 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?

Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion?


Im not sure what makes fashion fashion, but I think fashion is related to their peronality, which can influence people. Chalayan’s idea behind his works of Afterwords (2000) looks unwearable because it may heavy, also it looks more architecture. However I really liked the idea.

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?

I don't think working for commercial business would not change the meaning of art, because every art work can be made up purposely.

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?


Hussein Chalayan, still from Absent Presence, 2005 (motion picture)





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?

It is important when an artist is the first to design or create their own works. That is probably the reason why contemporary artists today mainly consider themselves to have ‘originally’ created their pieces, even though engineers and/ or manufacturers helped them create the work.

Semester 2- Week One
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)


Research Djurberg's work in order to answer the following questions;


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


Claymation is a form of stop-motion animation that uses actual clay figures which are molded into different positions for each frame.


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


The term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden' and ‘all that is natural goes awry’ is a method of describing Djurberg's work. These two represent the beauty of Djurberg's work. However, these work is very different from what we know about the "Garden of Eden", because of the awry effect.


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


Most of Djurberg’s stories seem to show characters that are peaceful but slowly changes into unsettling and disturbing characters. The sudden change of the storyline leaves her viewers disturbed and alarmed towards the grotesque scenes.


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


Djurberg’s stories often relate to folktales that mainly include traditional themes and roles such as “the good, the bad and the kind helper.”(Ryberg, 2005)
The ideas she communicates through her work tell stories and cover topics such as war, violence, sexuality, sadism, and the darker side of the human soul. She combines clay figures with traditional tales to hide her ideas and trick viewers to thinking that it is nothing but a typical childish work


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?


The artist is coming with the idea of opposit situation. Viewers automatically associate the idea of ‘Innocent and Sweet’ to a childlike theme, free from terror and death. Turning ‘Innocent and Sweet’ into a more mature and disturbing scene would create stir and chaos, leaving viewers shocked and disgust. This would eventually turn into an issue, which will attract more attention and media towards the designer(s) who is/are responsible for this effect. Looking at it more from a positive


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


Her works are really impressive. The claymation video she used and the theme about the intense social problems successfully drew people’s attention. The topic about
innate fear and the complexity of emotions that she explored is really interesting.

7. Add some of your own personal comments on her work.




'Experiment' 2009 Venice Biennale
'Turn into Me' 2008
Posted by Julia at 7:53 PM 1 comments Labels: claymation, Garden of Eden, Nathalie Djurberg, Venice Biennale.

Last blog (week 9)

Last blog question for semester one- Banksy's work


How can we categorize Banksy's work -graffiti or murals?
Graffiti is a images(form of simple written word) on the wall and it can be punishable, but if we have
permission to paint on it, its a mural.
Banksy's work is slightly illigal. Its graphic visually and also he mixes up a variety styles.
In he's art work, it always provide us with puns that have more than one layer of consciousness.

Research Banksy's work to attempt to answer this question.
What are some of the differing opinions about Banksy's work?
There are some of differing opinions are exist, which is "Banksy's work is a graffiti" and "Banksy's work is mural".

How does his work sit in relation to consumerism? Can his work be sold?
Banksy's work has been bought by celebrities such as Christina Aguilera who has 2 original Banksy piece bought for £25,000 while other works were bought for £50,000+

what are some of his attitudes to the sale of Art?
Banksy has stated on his website: “I don’t agree with auction houses selling street art – its undemocratic, it glorifies greed and I never see any of the money.” Yet he makes highly desirable one-off works on board and more affordable limited edition prints which are very easily acquired through the art market.

Read more: http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.php/auctions/auction-results/192-contested-sale-of-banksy-art-bombs-in-london-is-britains-stealth-artist-taking-charge#ixzz0opzU6bLp

Who is Banksy? Do we know his true identity?
The only solid biographical fact about the artist is that he was born and raised in Bristol.
It has often been rumoured that his real name is Robin Banks and that his parents think he is a painter and decorator - but no-one close to Banksy has ever verified these stories.

Resource from. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7504132.stm

Upload 2-3 images of Banksy's work that you find interesting, and comment
on the ideas behind the work.

Graffiti depicting graffiti removal by Banksy. Created in May 2008 at Leake Street in London. Notice the animals resembling cave art from Lascaux or Altamira.

Near Bethleham -2005