Week 6- Anish Kapoor Sculpture

 Anish Kapoor

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 art in which emphasis is placed on the means and processes of producing art objects rather than on the objects themselves and in which the various tools and techniques, as photographs, photocopies, video records, and the construction of environments and earthworks, are used to convey the message to the spectator. (The free dictionary, 2011)

He is one of Britain’s leading talents in Conceptual art. Conceptual art is seen more flashy and savvy, whereas Kapoor combines the idea of thoughtfulness, creativity and a traditional respect for beauty, even though the resultant forms are non-traditional.

"Shooting into the Corner" consists of a cannon developed by Kapoor together with a team of engineers. A pneumatic compressor shoots 11-kilogram balls of wax into the corner across the room; all in all, 20 tons of wax will be "fired away" throughout the exhibition run. Loud aggression on the one hand and silent growth on the other give the piece tension, sensuality, and compelling power. (MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, n.d)

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.

Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror is a breath-taking, 35-foot-diameter concave mirror made of polished stainless steel. Standing nearly three stories tall at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Centre, Sky Mirror offers a dazzling experience of light and architecture, presenting viewers with a vivid inversion of the skyline featuring the historic landmark building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. (Anish Kapoor Mirror Sky, 2006)

 

Marsyas is a massive construction that filled Tate's Turbine Hall for four years. The sculpture has three steel rings joined together by a single span of PVC membrane. Two of the rings are positioned at each end of the hall and the third is suspended beneath the two in the middle over a bridge.

Seemingly wedged into place, the geometry generated by these three rigid steel structures determines the sculpture’s overall form, a shift from vertical to horizontal and back to vertical again. (The Unilever Series: Anish Kapoor, 2003)

 

A process artwork substituting the machine's gesture for the artist's, My Red Homeland is self-sufficient: a mechanical arm revolves slowly, thereby pushing 25 tonnes of red wax. This "homeland" is first of all a dynamic landscape, intense and profound, combining the oily density of the material with the circle's purity. Anish Kapoor disappears behind the logic of an artwork that, virtually like an autonomous creative force, traces a sacred form in the heart of the shapeless. (My Red Homeland, 2003)

The ideas in each work are very different from eachother. In "Sky Mirrors" he tries to 'dazzle' people with an experience of light and architecture. This stainless steel concave mirror presents people with an inverted view of the skyline giving the idea of reflection and an experience of being close to the sky.

The idea behind Marsyas shows a shift from vertical to horizontal and back to vertical again. We see this by havng two of the rings are positioned at each end of the hall and the third is suspended beneath the two in the middle over a bridge.

My Red Homeland shows the idea of  traceing a sacred form in the heart of the shapeless. We see the shapeless as the huge pile of wax in the middle of the room and the circle thats been carved into it as  the sacred form.

 

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

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

'Site Specific' is located on a 1,000 acre private estate outdoor art gallery in Kaipara Bay north of Auckland. Made up of a custom red PVC-coated polyester fabric by Ferrari Textiles which are supported by two red steel ellipses that are about 42,750kg each. The fabric alone weighs 7,200kg". It was designed to withstand the high winds that blew in from the sea off the northwest coast of the North Island.

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?

Shooting into the Corner was my favourite of his works because of his idea to shoot amounts of wax into the corner and having a massive buildup of what i thought was paint but really is wax. I would say that i'm attracted more to the look of it rather than the idea. I find that artwork is more about how it looks than the ideas to it. The ideas are there to understand it more but I personaly tend to like art in general by the way it looks.



Reference List:

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

http://www.robgarrettcfa.com/thefarm.htm/

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/conceptual+art

http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/6532

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/kapoor/default.htm

http://www.publicartfund.org/pafweb/projects/06/kapoor/kapoor-06.html
http://www.monumenta.com/en/2011/medias/view/12/my-red-homeland-2003

Week 5 - 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.

“Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religions, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities.”

Cultural Context: Pluralism in Art. - (retrieved 28 August 11).http://www.design.iastate.edu/NAB/about/thinkingskills/cultural_context/pluralism.html

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

I do not think that there is a dominant culture in New Zealand considering that our country is very diverse with cultures from all across the world including the Pacific Islands, Asia, Europe and Africa. I wouldn’t say that the Pakeha/European or Maori culture are dominant, I wouldn’t think any culture within New Zealand is dominant, but I will say that the Maori culture, which is the culture that we associate with New Zealand is slowly fading.

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

Before 1840 Maori was the dominant culture. There were about 100,000 Maori and 200 European. This has dramatically changed over the years when the musket wars occurred, killing over 20,000 Maori. Soon after, the Pakeha settled on the land and took over the country.  Technological advances in travel was soon big and different people started migrating from overseas and over the years the Maori culture slowly decreased and is no longer the dominant culture.

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

The Treaty of Waitangi is a reminder of our country’s past. As artists and as New Zealanders, we have to keep the history and the culture alive through art and design. But this treaty is also a reminder of how easy it is to manipulate and take advantage of this responsibility to keep the culture alive and how we as artists and designers have to also be aware of the misuse of the sacred art form and traditions of Maori culture. We must not only keep the culture alive, but must also respect it.

5. How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on regional diversity in New Zealand in particular?

I would say that it does have a negative effect on regional diversity in New Zealand because of the misuse of the the sacred culture and traditions of the Maori people. Because of this misuse of culture and it being manipulated it loses that significance and purpose that it has. We as a country have to keep this culture alive. Its not only Maori culture but as a diverse country we have to look after

6. Shane Cotton's paintings are said to examine the cultural landscape. Research Cotton's work 'Welcome'(2004) and 'Forked Tongue' (2011) to analyze what he is saying about colonialization and the Treaty of Waitangi.

 'Welcome' (2004) Shane Cotton 

http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/catalogues/work/52293/shane-cotton-welcome.aspx

'Forked Tongue'(2011) Shane Cotton

Shane Cotton is a New Zealand artist who has both Maori and Pakeha descent in him. The ideas that he trys to incorporate into his work is the two cultures of Both Maori and Pakeha/European. "Cotton’s work has addressed historical contact and the way in which the process of painting effects change by re-presenting figures and symbols from the past." (Flight Paths, 2007).

7. Tony Albert's installation 'Sorry' (2008) reflects 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. Define the term 'kitsch'.

Sorry is an artwork by Tony Albert who by Kevin Rudd, a former Australian Prime minister, commemorates to the indigenous people of Australia (Aboriginal People) as an apology  to them who have suffered as a result of 'past mistreatment' by the Australian Goverment. Creating this work Albert is merely paying his respects to the Aborigines and reminding others of Kevin Rudd's former apology.

The term 'Kitsch' is “something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality" (Webster, 2011).

Albert's materials that he uses are very significant as they hold some sort of significance to him and his family.

"Even in my family, we had this stuff, too, so there are generations of people who understand the iconography." (Sorenson, 2009) 

He gave these objects and items a sense of importance or a meaning and it was something that indigenous people of Australia could be proud of because it represented them as a people and as a culture.

"Recontextualising them changed their meaning, gave them voice, bringing them back in a black, empowering way." (Sorenson, 2009)

8. 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 culture, traditions and the ways of living as an indigenous people. The also both refer to the past and their peoples culture and how we can see this today.

Tony Albert | Australia b.1981 | Girramay people | Sorry 2008 |

 Found kitsch objects applied  to vinyl letters | 99 objects :   

 200 x 510 x 10cm (installed) | The James C Sourris Collection.

 Purchased 2008 with funds from James C Sourris through the 

 Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Reference List:

http://www.design.iastate.edu/NAB/about/thinkingskills/cultural_context/pluralism.html  

http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/art/flight-paths/

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kitsch

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/curios-of-the-contemporary/story-e6frg8n6-1111119151528 

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley

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

Kahinde 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 39 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 refers to the way that any one text (written or visual) is influenced, or made up of a variety of other earlier texts. As a result, the notion of intertexuality suggests that whenever we try to make sense of a text (written or visual) we are constantly referring back to our understanding of its influences to help us understand it. - ALVC resource book (2011). intertextuality, p.36

This means that when we come across a text, such as Wiley's work (seen above), we can see that the idea has come from or is similar to a painting by Jacques-Louis David which was painted in 1800. This reference or use of idea is what we know as 'Intertextuality'.

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.


His painting style can be compared to other traditional artists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian and Ingres and appropriates the signs and visual rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, opulent, majestic, and sublime in his representations of young, urban, black men. (Kehinde Wiley, 2011)


His paintings are both traditional and contemporary modes of representation. Rendered in a realistic mode –– while making references to specific old master paintings. (Kehinde Wiley, 2011)

We can see this by comparing one of Wiley's paintings with an earlier painting of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David (1800). The idea of Wiley's painting has been clearly referenced from this painting, where as in his version of Napoleon it is an African American man dressed in modern clothes.

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.

 According to Caldwell (1999):

Pluralism in art refers to the nature of art forms and artists as diverse. The Cultural context of art is all encompassing in it's respect for the art of the world's cultures. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religions, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honors differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities. (para1). -ALVC resource book (2011). Pluralism,the Treaty of Waitangi and Globalization, p.46 

His work relates to pluralism in a sense of differing ethnicities and economic status. By painting African American men on horses gives that sense of equality and that 'black men' can be also be depicted as heroic and of a high class and not just the stereotyped 'white society'.


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

In his paintings we see that he paints young urban black men in heroic poses which give them a sense of power. In the paintings seen above we are given these images of African American men portrayed in a fantasy-like, majestic sense and his idea of taking a fusion of styles from different periods (which are mainly associated with  the white society) and referencing them in his paintings and associating them with 'black people', it conflicts with racism. I see this as a firm statement to the white society that everyone in this world should be treated equally, no matter what colour or race you are.

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

Reference list:

http://www.cretique.com/archives/4012
http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11

AUT University. (2011). Academic Literacies in Visual Communications 2: Resource Book. New Zealand, Auckland: Lyceum Press


http://www.artnet.com/awc/kehinde-wiley.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehinde_Wiley

Week 3- Hussein Chalayan

Week 3- 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?

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

I find these pieces very interesting because of there unique look and it makes me question the reason and idea behind his work. His works are definitely postmodern in a sense where he integrates innovative materials and technology into his designs. 
I would say that both Chalayan's works Burka and afterwords are both art and fashion, i think that fashion is the relationship between the clothing and the person wearing them and defines a person and in this case we can see the relationship between the wearer and the piece being worn. In Burka we see naked women with different length masks and in afterwords we see a garment made from what appears to be wood. The way in which each is viewed is different, Burka is more about femininity and the cultural reason behind the masks and how it contradicts its purpose by having naked women wear it. 
This is the reason why i also think that it is art because it goes against its cultural purposes and is more of an expressive piece or pieces.

Hussein Chalayan, Burka, 1996

                                                                 Hussein Chalayan, Afterwords, 2000

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?

 The nature of his work remains the same. Does the meaning of art change? no it doesn't, art is widely used across the world to advertise. Its a way for people to communicate with the product before purchasing it. Advertising is an art form in itself because, just like other forms art, its to express and communicate an idea to the viewer. Chalayan created a chandelier for the Swarovski crystal palace installation. it is an airplane wing, balancing against a wall. When its large wing flap moves, a long strip of Swarovski crystals are illuminated by LED's.
He also teamed up with level vodka to produce a new installation. 'The level tunnel' is a 15m long, 5m high installation that can be experienced from the exterior or blindfolded on the inside. He has developed an experience of the senses, working with a number of different materials as well as playing with scent, touch and sound. Chalayan's installations are no different to the above pieces of fashion. They both have the same purpose - to communicate his ideas visually through the works, the only difference is that the installations are advertising.

 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.

by m

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

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?

 This is a video installation telling a story based on identity, geography, genetics, biology and anthropology. The film questions whether the extent to which identities can adapt to new environments. Postmodernism would have influenced Chalayan's approach to this video and how it shows the idea of 'The new world' and the technological advances that are seen in the world today such as collecting DNA and analysing the traces of the wearer.

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 would think that its not important that the artist personally makes the piece, as long as the idea is the artists. Just because it was made by someone else, doesn't necessarily make it theirs.But taking into account this idea of importance, i also think that it would be better if the artist makes it himself therefore we as viewers can get a better understanding of what the artist is trying to portray and it enhances our experience because it was made by the artist them self, i feel that no one can interpret another persons idea better than the person who owns the idea so what the artist might be thinking might be different to what the person making it has in mind.

Reference list:

http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/home/
http://www.husseinchalayan.com/blog/

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

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5209/hussein-chalayan-at-the-design-museum.html

http://stylezeitgeist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4534

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0768786/

Week 2 Post-Modernism, Ai Weiwei and Banksy

 Post-Modernism

This week's ALVC tutorial covers Post-Modernism. Use the ALVC texts and definitions from the internet to define the term and answer the following questions;

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

- The period in which we now live in now.

- Known as the 'New Age'.

-  A philosophical movement away from the viewpoint of modernism.

- Anti-modern.

- The revision of modernist premises.

- Postmodernism is associated with Relativism, the idea that 'anything goes'.

- A tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. (postmodernism, n.d)

- It can be described as a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyper reality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning. (Postmodernism, 2005)


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

The postmodern artist is "reflexive" in that he/she is self aware and consciously involved in a process of thinking about him/herself and society in a deconstructive manner, "demasking" pretensions, becoming aware of his/her cultural self in history, and accelerating the process of self-consciousness. (Witcombe, 2004)

3. Use the grid on pages 42 and 43 to summarize the list of the features of Post-Modernity.

The Postmodern era looks past the hierarchies of social class and started to look at the idea of social and cultural pluralism. We see the difference from going from there faith in depth over surface to the attention to play with surfaces. They also started to accept and adapt to simulation and visual media becoming undifferentiated equivalent forms, simulation and real-time media substituting for the real whereas in the modernist era it was seen as a crisis in representation. The Modernist era had faith in the real beyond media, it wasn't till Post modernity where Hyper-reality, image saturation, and simulacra seemed more powerful than the real. Also the move away from art being a unique object and finished works to being a process, performance, production, intertextuality.this then gives us a broader idea of what art is and instead of a sense of clear generic boundary and wholeness (art, music, and literature) we have promiscuous genres, recombinant culture, intertextuality, pastiche.

4. Use this summary to answer the next two questions.

5. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)

in order to say what features of the work are Post-Modern.

Ai Weiwei, (born 1957, Beijing) is a leading Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator and activist. Ai is known for the design of the Beijing National Stadium, more commonly known as the "Bird's Nest", the main stadium of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Beginning with the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Ai has emerged as one of China's most influential bloggers and social activists; he is known for his tongue-in-cheek and sometimes vulgar social commentary, and has had frequent run-ins with Chinese authorities. He was particularly focused at exposing an alleged corruption scandal in the construction of Sichuan schools that collapsed during the earthquake.
Born in Beijing, his father was Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and sent off to a labor camp in Xinjiang with his wife, Gao Ying. Ai Weiwei also spent five years there. Ai Weiwei is married to artist Lu Qing. Ai Weiwei is represented by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne. (biography of Ai Weiwei, 2010)


China was outraged when this contemporary artist smashed a 2000 year old dynasty urn which challenged his country's political concern. He then goes on to paint the coca cola logo onto one of the urns. The logo painted on the urn is seen as postmodernism because he takes something modern, in this case the logo of a multi-billion dollar company and paints it onto a 2000 year old urn which was known as the highest art form of its time. Then by him putting the two together, creates a piece of postmodern art with contradicting features-the pot being the highest art form of its time and the coca cola logo being the most popular drink brand of its time.

6. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist

to discuss how each work can be defined at Post-Modern.(Use your list from point 6.)

Banksy is the driving force behind the explosion in the Urban Art movement, his style and energy has been responsible for opening the eyes of the masses and creating the platform for other artists.
His worldwide popularity is often put down to his ability to encapsulate the way people feel about today’s tainted world with poignant clarity.
Much of his work is stencil based, often hand finished, this style translates naturally to the screen-printing process. He has also gained great acclaim for his ‘crude oils’ – reworked traditional oil painting, often classics, with a special Banksy twist. (Banksy, 2011)

 This work by Banksy can be seen as postmodern by the tray of takeaway food in the hands of the beings from the human evolution. This idea is similar to Weiwei's coca cola pot-taking something old and adding something new to it, in this case taking the being from thousands of years ago and making it hold a tray of takeaways giving it a more modern look.

This picture shows postmodern qualities, where he is holding a bouquet of flowers instead of a Molotov bomb which is what the picture is supposed to be. This is seen more as a political statement where he wants to spread peace instead of war. Postmodern ideas of contradicting situations in our time, e.g Peace and war.



Reference list: 

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism

Witcombe, C (2000) Modernism & Postmodernism. Retrieved 29 January, 2004 from
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/modernism/modpostmod.html 

AUT University. (2011). Academic Literacies in Visual Communications 2: Resource Book. New Zealand, Auckland: Lyceum Press.


http://www.798district.com/798/en/artists/a/aiweiwei/01_bioexh/

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov06/Chinese.artist.dea.html


http://streetart.co.nz/oi-you/competition/inspiration/banksy