Thomas Hirschhorn was born in 1957 in Bern, Switzerland. He studied graphic design at Schule fur Gestaltung in Zurich and currently lives and works in Aubervilliers, France.
In an interview between Thomas Hirschhorn and Hans Ulrich Orbist in 2003, Hirschhorn makes an analogy between art and an archeological excavation site with regards to his project ‘Archeology of Engagement’, 2001.
Hirschhorn believes that an excavation site is the perfect arena for art because it eliminates the notion of hierarchy and commodity status which is continually enforced upon objects and artworks. This is because when objects are discovered throughout an excavation, there significance isn’t immediately apparent so one object cannot be deemed more important or valuable than the other. Hirschhorn modeled 'Archeology of Engagement' to resemble an excavation site which allowed him to exhibit and display all the information he had acquired throughout the project in a ‘value-free, nonhierarchical manner’.(394)
This raises important questions concerning the hierarchical status of artworks and constant valuations which are forced upon them. This provokes the question, on what means can someone base and therefore judge the value of a work of art? Furthermore, who should be awarded this power in deciding an artworks worth?
Moreover, Hirschhorn suggests an excavation site allows for ‘misinterpretations and incorrect judgments’, which is why he rejects exhibition catalogues, attaining that ‘the problem with catalogues is that they often want to assume authority. A catalogue is often intended to legitimize or revalorize the artwork.’(396)
Frequently catalogues or artist statements tend to legitimize a works existence by providing explanations of the artworks meaning, which not only narrows the works potential meaning but also sacrifices the ‘secret’ or awe factor within an artwork. Catalogues can also pre-condition the viewer to think in a certain way by supplying conclusions without letting the viewer interpret the work on their own accord.
Walter Benjamin details the importance of ambiguity within artworks by saying “it is half the art of storytelling to keep a story free from explanation … It is left up to [the reader] to interpret things the way he understands them, and thus narrative achieves amplitude that information lacks”.(Walter,68)
On the other hand a catalogue can also be a useful strategy in allowing an access into the work, through providing a general context, or by detailing conceptual concerns the artist has addressed, which can be easily expressed and delivered through text.
Benjamin sees the value in upholding ambiguity within an artwork, while Hirschhorn finds catalogues assert authority which somewhat justifies and therefore validates a work. This poses artists to consider if accompanying texts contribute to potency of an artwork, or are they detrimental to an artwork? Alternatively, if text is integral to the works accessibility; to what degree should one restrict information to the reader, how much should one reveal or conceal?
References:
Thomas Hirschhorn interview with Hans Ulrich Orbist, Thomas Boutoux ed., Hans Ulrich Orbist: Interviews volume 1, Milan: Charta, 2003, pp.393-400.
Jean Fisher, “Towards a Metaphysics of Shit,” in Documenta 11 Platform 5 The Catalog, Ostfildern-Ruit: Hajte Cantz, 2002, pp. 63-70.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Nicolas Bourriaud, “Art of the 1990s”, from Relational Aesthetics, Paris: les presses de réel, 2002, pp.25-40
Nicolas Bourriaud born 1965 is a French curator and art critic. Bourriaud is now Gulbenkian curator of contemporary art at Tate Britain, London.
Within this text Bourriaud coins the term and concept ‘Relational Aesthetics’ in an attempt to understand and characterize the emerging art practices of the 1990s.
Relational art and aesthetics utilize spectator participation and human interaction as the basis and means for artistic production. Bourriaud was interested in art’s remarkable shift in focus, quoting ‘artistic practice is now focused upon the sphere of human-relations’.(28) Continuing to explain how various artists now use ‘the exchanges that take place between people, in the gallery or museum space…as the raw matter for an artistic work’.(37)
Relational art caused a dramatic shift in the operation and role of the art gallery and museum, forcing them to recognize and endorse un-saleable works of art and immaterial kinds of practices. It also reconsidered the once clear-cut distinction between the gallery/exhibition site verses the artist’s studio, by effectively fusing these two spaces together. Bourriaud states, the ‘arena of art was expanding’ through ‘this type of “real time” work, which tends to blur the creation and the exhibition’.(38) Bourriaud uses the exhibition ‘Traffic’ (1994) as an example of how ‘each artist was at leisure to do what he/she wanted throughout the exhibition, to alter the piece, replace it, or propose performances or events’.(38-39)
American sculptor Robert Morris can be seen to have conceptual affiliations with Relational aesthetics as he also incorporated the gallery as both as an exhibition and studio working space. Within his artwork ‘Continuous Project Altered Daily’ (1969) Morris produced an environment with an inexhaustible set of variations as he consistently changed the installation each day for a month. Morris shares similarities with Relational aesthetics, when Bourriaud states, ‘the entire exhibition process…is “occupied” by the artist’.(38) Furthermore, when Bourriaud affirms the ‘author has no preordained idea about what would happen: art is made in the gallery’.(40)
Morris’ explicit disinterest in achieving a permanent end product was essentially attacking the ‘rationalistic notion that art is a form of a work that results in a finished product’ or ‘static icon-object’.(Berger,72). Continuous Project Altered Daily undermined art works and objects specifically created to meet the demand of the museum and its patrons.
Like 'Continuous Project Altered Daily', Relational Art was based and defined on an installations ‘temporal structure’(Bourriaud, 29) and ephemerality, subverting traditional and conventional ideas that art production should result in physical matter or objects.
In effect, Relational Aesthetics’ primary interest in producing human-relations and experiences successfully challenged and dismantled repressive conditions of the gallery and museum.
References:
Nicolas Bourriaud, “Art of the 1990s”, from Relational Aesthetics, Paris: les presses de réel, 2002, pp.25-40.
Berger, Maurice. “Labyrinths: Robert Morris, Minimalism, and the 1960s.” 10 East 53rd Street, New York, USA: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1989.
Within this text Bourriaud coins the term and concept ‘Relational Aesthetics’ in an attempt to understand and characterize the emerging art practices of the 1990s.
Relational art and aesthetics utilize spectator participation and human interaction as the basis and means for artistic production. Bourriaud was interested in art’s remarkable shift in focus, quoting ‘artistic practice is now focused upon the sphere of human-relations’.(28) Continuing to explain how various artists now use ‘the exchanges that take place between people, in the gallery or museum space…as the raw matter for an artistic work’.(37)
Relational art caused a dramatic shift in the operation and role of the art gallery and museum, forcing them to recognize and endorse un-saleable works of art and immaterial kinds of practices. It also reconsidered the once clear-cut distinction between the gallery/exhibition site verses the artist’s studio, by effectively fusing these two spaces together. Bourriaud states, the ‘arena of art was expanding’ through ‘this type of “real time” work, which tends to blur the creation and the exhibition’.(38) Bourriaud uses the exhibition ‘Traffic’ (1994) as an example of how ‘each artist was at leisure to do what he/she wanted throughout the exhibition, to alter the piece, replace it, or propose performances or events’.(38-39)
American sculptor Robert Morris can be seen to have conceptual affiliations with Relational aesthetics as he also incorporated the gallery as both as an exhibition and studio working space. Within his artwork ‘Continuous Project Altered Daily’ (1969) Morris produced an environment with an inexhaustible set of variations as he consistently changed the installation each day for a month. Morris shares similarities with Relational aesthetics, when Bourriaud states, ‘the entire exhibition process…is “occupied” by the artist’.(38) Furthermore, when Bourriaud affirms the ‘author has no preordained idea about what would happen: art is made in the gallery’.(40)
Morris’ explicit disinterest in achieving a permanent end product was essentially attacking the ‘rationalistic notion that art is a form of a work that results in a finished product’ or ‘static icon-object’.(Berger,72). Continuous Project Altered Daily undermined art works and objects specifically created to meet the demand of the museum and its patrons.
Like 'Continuous Project Altered Daily', Relational Art was based and defined on an installations ‘temporal structure’(Bourriaud, 29) and ephemerality, subverting traditional and conventional ideas that art production should result in physical matter or objects.
In effect, Relational Aesthetics’ primary interest in producing human-relations and experiences successfully challenged and dismantled repressive conditions of the gallery and museum.
References:
Nicolas Bourriaud, “Art of the 1990s”, from Relational Aesthetics, Paris: les presses de réel, 2002, pp.25-40.
Berger, Maurice. “Labyrinths: Robert Morris, Minimalism, and the 1960s.” 10 East 53rd Street, New York, USA: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1989.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”.
Walter Benjamin, born in 1892 was a German-Jewish Marxist, literary critic, essayist, translator and philosopher. His main interests were literary theory, aesthetics and technology.
Within the essay Walter Benjamin asserts that ‘in principle a work of art has always been reproducible’ (49). However, since the rise of mechanical reproduction in modern society there has been a loss of “aura” concerning original artworks. Benjamin’s definition of the word “aura” is the experience when one is in the presence of a unique and original work of art, and suggests that the ‘decay of the aura’ (52) is ‘symptomatic’ through the advancement of technology and technological processes. In other words, through the process of reproduction the quality or value of the original is somewhat jeopardized as it infers with its authenticity, and therefore reduces its “aura”.
Repeatedly artworks are photographed and reproduced in the forms of images, and reprinted in art books, the internet, magazines, and other publications. This increases the accessibility of these images to the common person and general public. Benjamin describes how mechanical reproduction in the form of a photograph ‘enables the original to meet the beholder half way’ (50). Accessibility depreciates the value of the original in some way by shortening the distance and space with the original. Rather than having to travel to the exact location of the artwork; one can simply view an image taken of it, essentially undermining the aura and authenticity of the work.
Despite the fact that an artwork can be reproduced, Benjamin maintains that ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.’(50) Often photographic reproductions aren’t enough or satisfying and people still yearn to view original artworks with the naked eye. A classic example would be Leonardo Di Vinci’s masterpiece the ‘Mona Lisa’. Many would have presumably seen a photographic reproduction of the Mona Lisa yet still travel great distance to see the original authentic work of art. This is further demonstrated when the Mona Lisa was stolen and still ‘a line of people had come to solemnly stare at the empty space on the wall, where the Mona Lisa had once hung’ (Rosenberg, 1). Reinforcing the idea that the “aura” of a work of art is not only inherent within the object itself but also the historical time, place and space the original holds. This suggests that perhaps original artworks still hold importance and significance in contemporary society.
However, the aura of an artwork is also strongly embedded within the social hierarchical system. Changes in modern lifestyle have made the Mona Lisa more accessible, through technological advancements such as aeroplanes, which shorten this geographical distance between the artwork and viewer. The way the Mona Lisa is also exhibited in the Louvre, being popular tourist attraction, also demonstrates the significant change in society, by appealing artworks to mass audiences. No longer are paintings hung in secluded churches or the rich mans home, only accessible to the highest order of priests or the wealthy. Paintings are being view by the masses of general public in which Benjamin suggests this mass consumption contributes to the elimination of aura.
This issue raises many questions: whether in fact multiple reproductions of an artwork necessarily jeopardize the originals uniqueness, but perhaps the copies reinforce the authenticity and preciousness of the original? If all copies and reproductions are defunct because they have no ‘aura’ or value where do they sit in contemporary society? Furthermore, could reproductions possibly have the potential to challenge and subvert enforced hierarchical structures?
References:
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, reprinted in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas Kellner ed.s, Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, pp.48-70.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The Mona Lisa was stolen!” About.com 20th Century History. Pp.1-3 Retrieved 3 September 2009http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/monalisa.htm
Within the essay Walter Benjamin asserts that ‘in principle a work of art has always been reproducible’ (49). However, since the rise of mechanical reproduction in modern society there has been a loss of “aura” concerning original artworks. Benjamin’s definition of the word “aura” is the experience when one is in the presence of a unique and original work of art, and suggests that the ‘decay of the aura’ (52) is ‘symptomatic’ through the advancement of technology and technological processes. In other words, through the process of reproduction the quality or value of the original is somewhat jeopardized as it infers with its authenticity, and therefore reduces its “aura”.
Repeatedly artworks are photographed and reproduced in the forms of images, and reprinted in art books, the internet, magazines, and other publications. This increases the accessibility of these images to the common person and general public. Benjamin describes how mechanical reproduction in the form of a photograph ‘enables the original to meet the beholder half way’ (50). Accessibility depreciates the value of the original in some way by shortening the distance and space with the original. Rather than having to travel to the exact location of the artwork; one can simply view an image taken of it, essentially undermining the aura and authenticity of the work.
Despite the fact that an artwork can be reproduced, Benjamin maintains that ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.’(50) Often photographic reproductions aren’t enough or satisfying and people still yearn to view original artworks with the naked eye. A classic example would be Leonardo Di Vinci’s masterpiece the ‘Mona Lisa’. Many would have presumably seen a photographic reproduction of the Mona Lisa yet still travel great distance to see the original authentic work of art. This is further demonstrated when the Mona Lisa was stolen and still ‘a line of people had come to solemnly stare at the empty space on the wall, where the Mona Lisa had once hung’ (Rosenberg, 1). Reinforcing the idea that the “aura” of a work of art is not only inherent within the object itself but also the historical time, place and space the original holds. This suggests that perhaps original artworks still hold importance and significance in contemporary society.
However, the aura of an artwork is also strongly embedded within the social hierarchical system. Changes in modern lifestyle have made the Mona Lisa more accessible, through technological advancements such as aeroplanes, which shorten this geographical distance between the artwork and viewer. The way the Mona Lisa is also exhibited in the Louvre, being popular tourist attraction, also demonstrates the significant change in society, by appealing artworks to mass audiences. No longer are paintings hung in secluded churches or the rich mans home, only accessible to the highest order of priests or the wealthy. Paintings are being view by the masses of general public in which Benjamin suggests this mass consumption contributes to the elimination of aura.
This issue raises many questions: whether in fact multiple reproductions of an artwork necessarily jeopardize the originals uniqueness, but perhaps the copies reinforce the authenticity and preciousness of the original? If all copies and reproductions are defunct because they have no ‘aura’ or value where do they sit in contemporary society? Furthermore, could reproductions possibly have the potential to challenge and subvert enforced hierarchical structures?
References:
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, reprinted in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas Kellner ed.s, Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, pp.48-70.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The Mona Lisa was stolen!” About.com 20th Century History. Pp.1-3 Retrieved 3 September 2009http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/monalisa.htm
Monday, August 17, 2009
Natalie Robertson, “The 10 Predicaments of Maui: Notes on Tricksters”, Brian Butler ed., Volume 1, Auckland: Artspace & Clouds, 2008, pp. 16-28.
Natalie Robertson is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Art and Design at AUT University, Auckland.
Within this essay Natalie Robertson draws parallels between Maori legend Trickster god ‘Maui’ of a thousand tricks’ and Trickster tales from ‘South and Central America literature known as ‘magical realism’’.(22) Robertson makes connections between Maui’s Trickster characteristics with other Tricksters worldwide, and demonstrates how this knowledge may help understanding the art practice of Francis Alys.
Robertson suggests that ‘Maui of a Thousand Tricks… shapeshifter and change agent provides us with an example of the artist who challenges the norms of his culture’… which are ‘qualities associated with innovative creative practice’.(20) Robertson provides the example of Alys’ work The Ambassador, in which he used a live Peacock as his representative at the 2001 Venice Biennale. Through this thought-provoking performance Alys challenges the norms of the art culture by sending an animal as his agent to a reputable and prestige international art exhibition. This cynical gesture was to criticize the contemporary social and political context of art, in particular the hierarchical structure of art establishments. Alys assimilates Trickster attitudes by embracing contradictions, irony and humour in order to reveal reverse truths and make bold political statements.
New Zealand artist Judy Darragh, also assumes this persona of the Trickster as she has ‘a genuine interest in fakery. Never afraid of artifice, instead she indulges in it, continuing to remind us that… art is a series of tricks’.(Conland, 205) Darragh utilizes this concept of fakery and artificiality by making artworks from inexpensive materials. In particular, second-hand goods from op-shops, kitsch copies of fine art and $2 shop merchandise such as plastic flowers, fluorescent paint, and fake jewels. Through the use of ‘fake’ materials and copies of fine art, Darragh critiques and comments on the larger issue of genuine artifacts which is a concern for the contemporary artist in such a reproducible world. Like the Trickster, Darragh uses contradictions with ironic undertones to challenge the divide between low art and high art, by incorporating economical materials and attributing value to craft art. As Natasha Conland describes Darragh’s practice, ‘The preposterous try-hard, the fool, has a way of reminding us more poignantly of the real’.(Conland, 205)
Through her use of the fake and artificial to challenge and undermine traditional conventions, Darragh effectively creates subversion. She inversely explains ‘the real’ more accurately through exposing a closer reality.
Robertson believes that ‘Tricksters demonstrate the kind of attitude that I think contemporary artists can learn from’.(20) Creative practitioners Alys and Darragh whom simulate the personality of Maui and Tricksters use their art as device to make statements about wider issues of political context of the community which I too believe the contemporary artist can aspire to.
References:
Natalie Robertson , “The 10 Predicaments of Maui: Notes on Tricksters”, Brian Butler ed., Volume 1, Auckland: Artspace & Clouds, 2008, pp. 16-28.
Conland, Natasha, ‘Speculation’. Auckland, New Zealand. Venice Project, Clouds, 2007, p. 205
Within this essay Natalie Robertson draws parallels between Maori legend Trickster god ‘Maui’ of a thousand tricks’ and Trickster tales from ‘South and Central America literature known as ‘magical realism’’.(22) Robertson makes connections between Maui’s Trickster characteristics with other Tricksters worldwide, and demonstrates how this knowledge may help understanding the art practice of Francis Alys.
Robertson suggests that ‘Maui of a Thousand Tricks… shapeshifter and change agent provides us with an example of the artist who challenges the norms of his culture’… which are ‘qualities associated with innovative creative practice’.(20) Robertson provides the example of Alys’ work The Ambassador, in which he used a live Peacock as his representative at the 2001 Venice Biennale. Through this thought-provoking performance Alys challenges the norms of the art culture by sending an animal as his agent to a reputable and prestige international art exhibition. This cynical gesture was to criticize the contemporary social and political context of art, in particular the hierarchical structure of art establishments. Alys assimilates Trickster attitudes by embracing contradictions, irony and humour in order to reveal reverse truths and make bold political statements.
New Zealand artist Judy Darragh, also assumes this persona of the Trickster as she has ‘a genuine interest in fakery. Never afraid of artifice, instead she indulges in it, continuing to remind us that… art is a series of tricks’.(Conland, 205) Darragh utilizes this concept of fakery and artificiality by making artworks from inexpensive materials. In particular, second-hand goods from op-shops, kitsch copies of fine art and $2 shop merchandise such as plastic flowers, fluorescent paint, and fake jewels. Through the use of ‘fake’ materials and copies of fine art, Darragh critiques and comments on the larger issue of genuine artifacts which is a concern for the contemporary artist in such a reproducible world. Like the Trickster, Darragh uses contradictions with ironic undertones to challenge the divide between low art and high art, by incorporating economical materials and attributing value to craft art. As Natasha Conland describes Darragh’s practice, ‘The preposterous try-hard, the fool, has a way of reminding us more poignantly of the real’.(Conland, 205)
Through her use of the fake and artificial to challenge and undermine traditional conventions, Darragh effectively creates subversion. She inversely explains ‘the real’ more accurately through exposing a closer reality.
Robertson believes that ‘Tricksters demonstrate the kind of attitude that I think contemporary artists can learn from’.(20) Creative practitioners Alys and Darragh whom simulate the personality of Maui and Tricksters use their art as device to make statements about wider issues of political context of the community which I too believe the contemporary artist can aspire to.
References:
Natalie Robertson , “The 10 Predicaments of Maui: Notes on Tricksters”, Brian Butler ed., Volume 1, Auckland: Artspace & Clouds, 2008, pp. 16-28.
Conland, Natasha, ‘Speculation’. Auckland, New Zealand. Venice Project, Clouds, 2007, p. 205
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Celia Lury, “‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science”, Theory, Culture, Society.
Celia Lury is Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths College. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process at Goldsmiths.
Celia Lury within her essay ‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’, discusses the concept of a ‘brand name’(93). She begins analysis by drawing a direct comparison to how historically a brand name functioned for a product to how currently a brand name functions in society. Historically being ‘a mark of ownership intended to create trust in the consumer as a guarantor of the quality’.(93) To now no longer only serving this primary purpose, but instead that brand name serves multiple functions within culture. Lury proposes that this considerable change within the ‘contemporary brand’ marks ‘a transformation in the author function’.(94)
The ‘author-function’ is an idea developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault. He critically questioned the role of the author by suggesting that through our own reasoning we construct an author, but this individual we designate as an author is only a presumption (94). Lury uses British artist Damien Hirst as a ‘figure case’ example of someone who typifies this change in the author function in present-day society. Hirst proposes that ‘becoming a brand name is an important part of life’ (93), suggesting that is it a necessity and simply unavoidable because of the world we live in. At several points throughout his career Foucault proposes that publishing text without authors’ names attached would be a useful step towards dismantling this ‘author function’. (Hendricks)
I question what would happen if artworks were released to the public where the name of the creator was absent. Would author ambiguity successfully remove all prior knowledge and conceptions of the author enabling us to look simply the artwork itself? Et al is a New Zealand art ‘collective’ which attempts to remove the author by wishing to remain anonymous. Et al advocates being a ‘collective’ but is often suggested to be an alias for Auckland artist P.Mule (Marilyn Tweedie). What is interesting is that although et al remains anonymous, it has still established a distinguished brand name. In fact, being an anonymous collective attracted much curiosity and attention, making their anonymity a commodity in itself, proving that creating an unidentified brand name or author doesn’t affect success.
References:
Celia Lury, “‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science”, Theory, Culture, Society, Vol.22(1), London: Sage, pp.93-110.
Hendricks, Christina. ‘The Author's Remains: Foucault and the Demise of the "Author-Function”’. Philosophy Today. 1 July 2002, Vol.46(2), Pg. Abstract.
Celia Lury within her essay ‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’, discusses the concept of a ‘brand name’(93). She begins analysis by drawing a direct comparison to how historically a brand name functioned for a product to how currently a brand name functions in society. Historically being ‘a mark of ownership intended to create trust in the consumer as a guarantor of the quality’.(93) To now no longer only serving this primary purpose, but instead that brand name serves multiple functions within culture. Lury proposes that this considerable change within the ‘contemporary brand’ marks ‘a transformation in the author function’.(94)
The ‘author-function’ is an idea developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault. He critically questioned the role of the author by suggesting that through our own reasoning we construct an author, but this individual we designate as an author is only a presumption (94). Lury uses British artist Damien Hirst as a ‘figure case’ example of someone who typifies this change in the author function in present-day society. Hirst proposes that ‘becoming a brand name is an important part of life’ (93), suggesting that is it a necessity and simply unavoidable because of the world we live in. At several points throughout his career Foucault proposes that publishing text without authors’ names attached would be a useful step towards dismantling this ‘author function’. (Hendricks)
I question what would happen if artworks were released to the public where the name of the creator was absent. Would author ambiguity successfully remove all prior knowledge and conceptions of the author enabling us to look simply the artwork itself? Et al is a New Zealand art ‘collective’ which attempts to remove the author by wishing to remain anonymous. Et al advocates being a ‘collective’ but is often suggested to be an alias for Auckland artist P.Mule (Marilyn Tweedie). What is interesting is that although et al remains anonymous, it has still established a distinguished brand name. In fact, being an anonymous collective attracted much curiosity and attention, making their anonymity a commodity in itself, proving that creating an unidentified brand name or author doesn’t affect success.
References:
Celia Lury, “‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science”, Theory, Culture, Society, Vol.22(1), London: Sage, pp.93-110.
Hendricks, Christina. ‘The Author's Remains: Foucault and the Demise of the "Author-Function”’. Philosophy Today. 1 July 2002, Vol.46(2), Pg. Abstract.
Monday, June 22, 2009
James Clifford, “On Collecting Art and Culture”, in 'The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art'.
James Clifford over the last 30 years has been a highly influential and controversial scholar working in field of anthropology. His work challenges the conventions of anthropology by offering new ways to understand interactions and exchanges that shape cultures.
Within his essay “On Collecting Art and Culture”, Clifford critically analyses Western methods of collecting and classifying exotic objects from non-Western cultures throughout history. An interesting point arises when Clifford uses the example of the American Museum of Natural History in regards to its ‘Boas Room’ containing Northwest Coast artifacts.
Clifford stresses the importance of why the Boas room should not be modernized and its display method renewed, as ‘a moment in the history of collecting’ (229) could be potentially lost. He emphasizes that the exhibition not only presents a ‘superb collection’ (229) but essentially captures how the Western culture collected and displayed non-Western artifacts during that era. Highlighting that inherently within the Boas Room collection it contains significant information about Western culture. A duality arises in that through the representation of one culture it can inversely reveal more about the other culture. One cultures representation of another culture’s artifacts also exposes a crucial issue that they have the power to misrepresent the foreign culture.
Charles Frederick Goldie’s portraiture paintings are an example of how the indigenous Maori culture were represented and misrepresented by Western culture. According to the ‘Tai Awatea/Knowledge Net’ website, ‘like many Pakeha in the early twentieth century, Goldie believed the Maori race would either die out or be assimilated’, and as a result he portrayed them in a ‘romanticised style because he believed he was recording a race in jeopardy’(Tai Awatea, par. 3). This preconception of the Maori race was externalized through his subject matter as he repeatedly chose to depict elderly Maori rather than youths, ‘even though at the beginning of the twentieth century the Maori population was increasing’. (Tai Awatea, par. 4) Further emphasised by his title descriptions which allude to Maori extinction such as The Last of the Cannibals and A Noble Relic of a Noble Race. In effect, many hold special significance for Goldie’s works as they are considered irreplaceable images depicting Maori ancestors, yet simultaneously they represent Goldie’s idealized view of their race, which can be seen as ‘documenting colonial attitudes of racism’. (Tai Awatea, par. 10)
References:
James Clifford, “On Collecting Art and Culture”, in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 215-251.
Tai Awatea / Knowledge Net, More of Te Papa online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 14 July 2009 http://tpo.tepapa.govt.nz/ViewTopicExhibitDetail.asp?ExhibitID=0x000a3db2&Language=English Paragraphs 1-11.
Within his essay “On Collecting Art and Culture”, Clifford critically analyses Western methods of collecting and classifying exotic objects from non-Western cultures throughout history. An interesting point arises when Clifford uses the example of the American Museum of Natural History in regards to its ‘Boas Room’ containing Northwest Coast artifacts.
Clifford stresses the importance of why the Boas room should not be modernized and its display method renewed, as ‘a moment in the history of collecting’ (229) could be potentially lost. He emphasizes that the exhibition not only presents a ‘superb collection’ (229) but essentially captures how the Western culture collected and displayed non-Western artifacts during that era. Highlighting that inherently within the Boas Room collection it contains significant information about Western culture. A duality arises in that through the representation of one culture it can inversely reveal more about the other culture. One cultures representation of another culture’s artifacts also exposes a crucial issue that they have the power to misrepresent the foreign culture.
Charles Frederick Goldie’s portraiture paintings are an example of how the indigenous Maori culture were represented and misrepresented by Western culture. According to the ‘Tai Awatea/Knowledge Net’ website, ‘like many Pakeha in the early twentieth century, Goldie believed the Maori race would either die out or be assimilated’, and as a result he portrayed them in a ‘romanticised style because he believed he was recording a race in jeopardy’(Tai Awatea, par. 3). This preconception of the Maori race was externalized through his subject matter as he repeatedly chose to depict elderly Maori rather than youths, ‘even though at the beginning of the twentieth century the Maori population was increasing’. (Tai Awatea, par. 4) Further emphasised by his title descriptions which allude to Maori extinction such as The Last of the Cannibals and A Noble Relic of a Noble Race. In effect, many hold special significance for Goldie’s works as they are considered irreplaceable images depicting Maori ancestors, yet simultaneously they represent Goldie’s idealized view of their race, which can be seen as ‘documenting colonial attitudes of racism’. (Tai Awatea, par. 10)
References:
James Clifford, “On Collecting Art and Culture”, in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 215-251.
Tai Awatea / Knowledge Net, More of Te Papa online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 14 July 2009 http://tpo.tepapa.govt.nz/ViewTopicExhibitDetail.asp?ExhibitID=0x000a3db2&Language=English Paragraphs 1-11.
Monday, May 18, 2009
James Meyer, “The Functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site-Specificity,” in Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art
James Meyer is a Professor of Art History. Meyer’s research interests involve American and European art since 1945, in particular Minimalism, Post-minimalism, and site-orientated installation.
Within the essay “The Functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site-Specificity”, James Meyer discusses the exploration of ‘site’ in art in the 1960s and 70s, and how the transformation of site specificity in turn critiqued institutional frameworks and commodities of the art gallery and museum. Meyer makes two distinctions of site; a literal site and a functional site. A literal site is a singular area in a precise location; it 'is thus a kind of monument, a public work commissioned for the site’.(24) On the contrary, a functional site ‘may not incorporate a physical place…it is a process, an operation occurring between sites’.(25)
Meyer uses Richard Serra’s artwork Tilted Arc as an example of the monumental literal site. What is interesting about this example of Tilted Arc as a literal site (a permanent work for a specific place), it undergoes a change and gains rather similar characteristics I would think to that of the functional site. In 1981, Tilted Arc was installed in Federal Plaza. Its sheer gigantic size caused much controversy which eventually to lead the sculptures abolishment. Through this process of its destruction, it becomes a temporary artwork, and an exchange between two sites. This is reminiscent of atttributes to the functional site. Unlike the functional site however, the sites destruction and absence pursued Serra to ask for money as compensation, becoming a commodity in itself. This undermines the main aim of site specific works suggested by Meyer, which by being site specific, was to critique and criticise the commodity of galleries ‘homeless’(25) artworks.
Another two examples of artworks that evoke neither literal site or functional, is Auguste Rodin’s Gates of Hell and his statue Balzac. Rodin was also commissioned to make site specific works which also became temporary and mobile. Rosalind Krauss suggests that the 'failure of these two works as monuments is signalled not only by the fact that multiple versions can be found in a variety of museums in various countries, while no version exists on the original sites'.(Krauss, 34) These examples suggest that maybe artworks can fluctuate between both the literal and functional site.
References:
James Meyer, “The Functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site-Specificity,” in Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art, ed. Erika Suderberg, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000, 23-37.
Krauss, Rosalind, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”, October, Vol.8 (Spring, 1979), pp.34.
Within the essay “The Functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site-Specificity”, James Meyer discusses the exploration of ‘site’ in art in the 1960s and 70s, and how the transformation of site specificity in turn critiqued institutional frameworks and commodities of the art gallery and museum. Meyer makes two distinctions of site; a literal site and a functional site. A literal site is a singular area in a precise location; it 'is thus a kind of monument, a public work commissioned for the site’.(24) On the contrary, a functional site ‘may not incorporate a physical place…it is a process, an operation occurring between sites’.(25)
Meyer uses Richard Serra’s artwork Tilted Arc as an example of the monumental literal site. What is interesting about this example of Tilted Arc as a literal site (a permanent work for a specific place), it undergoes a change and gains rather similar characteristics I would think to that of the functional site. In 1981, Tilted Arc was installed in Federal Plaza. Its sheer gigantic size caused much controversy which eventually to lead the sculptures abolishment. Through this process of its destruction, it becomes a temporary artwork, and an exchange between two sites. This is reminiscent of atttributes to the functional site. Unlike the functional site however, the sites destruction and absence pursued Serra to ask for money as compensation, becoming a commodity in itself. This undermines the main aim of site specific works suggested by Meyer, which by being site specific, was to critique and criticise the commodity of galleries ‘homeless’(25) artworks.
Another two examples of artworks that evoke neither literal site or functional, is Auguste Rodin’s Gates of Hell and his statue Balzac. Rodin was also commissioned to make site specific works which also became temporary and mobile. Rosalind Krauss suggests that the 'failure of these two works as monuments is signalled not only by the fact that multiple versions can be found in a variety of museums in various countries, while no version exists on the original sites'.(Krauss, 34) These examples suggest that maybe artworks can fluctuate between both the literal and functional site.
References:
James Meyer, “The Functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site-Specificity,” in Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art, ed. Erika Suderberg, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000, 23-37.
Krauss, Rosalind, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”, October, Vol.8 (Spring, 1979), pp.34.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Jean-François Lyotard, “Answering The Question: What Is Postmodernism?"
Jean-François Lyotard born in 1924 was a French philosopher and literary theorist, best known for his highly influential writings on postmodernism and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition.
Within ‘The Post Modern Condition’ Lyotard suggests that ‘photography did not appear as a challenge to painting... any more than industrial cinema did to narrative literature’(74). I share this opinion in that photography is not a threat to painting, alike cinema to creative writing, simply because they are different artistic mediums. One medium cannot ‘challenge’ another medium as each has different materials, processes, and techniques, and therefore produces an entirely different aesthetic, which can logically not be compared fairly against the other.
Lyotard continues to discuss this presupposed challenge in relation to time and efficiency, suggesting ‘the challenge lay essentially in that photographic and cinematographic processes can accomplish better, faster, and with a circulation a hundred times larger than narrative or pictorial realism’(74). I would also agree with Lyotard that photographic and cinematographic processes can produce faster results and can be dispersed more rapidly to an audience, because of their technically advanced quality in comparison to more traditional processes such as painting and literature. For example, a film can illustrate an entire narrative within minutes yet a book with the same narrative may take hours to conceive. However, when considering a work of art, ‘faster’ may not always be a positive attribute. Sometimes the awe and admiration of an artwork can be the length of time injected into a piece, its essence revealed in the countless hours dedicated to the artistic endeavour. Such as art works that have obsessive qualities and repetitive actions, although a machine could have achieved the same results and in half the time, it would produce entirely different readings and would not carry the same potency.
Furthermore Lyotard states ‘that the mechanical and industrial should appear as substitutes for hand or craft was not in itself a disaster – except if one believes that art is in its essence of an individuality of genius assisted by an elite craftsmanship’(74). This solely relies upon personal preference. Would one favour the hand-made product or the same industrial made product? Personally, there is something more persuasive in an artwork that exhibits human touch which is superior to me over mechanical processes.
However, I do not disregard professional assistance or the use of industrial processes to create an artwork if this is the aesthetic the artist wants to achieve, or perhaps the using of industrial processes is part of their concept. As ultimately the plans of the artwork are still created by the artist, despite the actual execution.
Walter Benjamin is his essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of the Mechanical Production’ states ‘Around 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public; it also had captured a place of its own among the artistic processes’(Benjamin, 50). Artists began to make use of mechanical and industrial processes which became an integral part of their practice and concepts.
Such as Minimalist artists who employed industrial processes to remove the hand of the artist in order to create more immediacy; they challenged this conception that an artist must personally manufacture a work of art.
References:
Jean-François Lyotard, “Answering The Question: What Is Postmodernism?”, trans. Régis Durand, in The Post Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1984, pp.71-82.
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, reprinted in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas Kellner ed.s, Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, pp.48-70.
Within ‘The Post Modern Condition’ Lyotard suggests that ‘photography did not appear as a challenge to painting... any more than industrial cinema did to narrative literature’(74). I share this opinion in that photography is not a threat to painting, alike cinema to creative writing, simply because they are different artistic mediums. One medium cannot ‘challenge’ another medium as each has different materials, processes, and techniques, and therefore produces an entirely different aesthetic, which can logically not be compared fairly against the other.
Lyotard continues to discuss this presupposed challenge in relation to time and efficiency, suggesting ‘the challenge lay essentially in that photographic and cinematographic processes can accomplish better, faster, and with a circulation a hundred times larger than narrative or pictorial realism’(74). I would also agree with Lyotard that photographic and cinematographic processes can produce faster results and can be dispersed more rapidly to an audience, because of their technically advanced quality in comparison to more traditional processes such as painting and literature. For example, a film can illustrate an entire narrative within minutes yet a book with the same narrative may take hours to conceive. However, when considering a work of art, ‘faster’ may not always be a positive attribute. Sometimes the awe and admiration of an artwork can be the length of time injected into a piece, its essence revealed in the countless hours dedicated to the artistic endeavour. Such as art works that have obsessive qualities and repetitive actions, although a machine could have achieved the same results and in half the time, it would produce entirely different readings and would not carry the same potency.
Furthermore Lyotard states ‘that the mechanical and industrial should appear as substitutes for hand or craft was not in itself a disaster – except if one believes that art is in its essence of an individuality of genius assisted by an elite craftsmanship’(74). This solely relies upon personal preference. Would one favour the hand-made product or the same industrial made product? Personally, there is something more persuasive in an artwork that exhibits human touch which is superior to me over mechanical processes.
However, I do not disregard professional assistance or the use of industrial processes to create an artwork if this is the aesthetic the artist wants to achieve, or perhaps the using of industrial processes is part of their concept. As ultimately the plans of the artwork are still created by the artist, despite the actual execution.
Walter Benjamin is his essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of the Mechanical Production’ states ‘Around 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public; it also had captured a place of its own among the artistic processes’(Benjamin, 50). Artists began to make use of mechanical and industrial processes which became an integral part of their practice and concepts.
Such as Minimalist artists who employed industrial processes to remove the hand of the artist in order to create more immediacy; they challenged this conception that an artist must personally manufacture a work of art.
References:
Jean-François Lyotard, “Answering The Question: What Is Postmodernism?”, trans. Régis Durand, in The Post Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1984, pp.71-82.
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, reprinted in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas Kellner ed.s, Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, pp.48-70.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Krauss, Rosalind, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”, October, Vol.8 (Spring, 1979), pp.30-44.
Rosalind Krauss is an American art critic, professor, and theorist. Krauss explores the historical, theoretical, and formal contexts concerning modernism art.
The online dictionary Answers.com defines ‘historicism’ as ‘a theory that stresses the significant influence of history as a criterion of value’. Within the essay ‘Sculpture in the Expanded Field’, Krauss addresses this concept of ‘historicism’ with consideration to the context of art.
Krauss suggests that historicism ‘works on the new and different to diminish newness and mitigate difference’(30). Furthermore, we ‘are comforted by this perception of sameness, this strategy for reducing anything foreign in either time or space, to what we already know and are’(30).
I am interested in the word ‘strategy’ that is used to describe this process of historicism for ‘reducing anything foreign…to what we already know and are’, and would like to suppose that to ‘historicise’ is almost like human nature.
When confronted with a new art-object, whether it be an image, sculpture or a painting. Initially one tries to immediately decipher and decode this new object, in order for one to make sense of this new experience and interpret it on some level. Wonder and awe provoke questions about the new foreign object we are confronted with, and we construct our own answers upon the object for the want and need to understand. This will be primarily based on what ‘what we already know and are’, for example what we have seen before, and what we have previously experienced, using this strategic tool of historicising. Memory is triggered and we naturally familiarize art objects than contain characteristics reminiscent of other objects in accordance with our visual library of past experiences as a strategy for us to identify. I can think of uncountable times people have used the phrase ‘This work reminds me of……(example)’ in an art critique. Simply trying to make sense of the new object by drawing relationships and making connections to comprehend and organize our thoughts in a way that is comfortable and rational. Although we can see these connections of the new object and history, we can still distinguish individuality and the ‘newness’ of the contemporary art object.
Which makes me question whether to historicise is sufficient to understand meaning? According to Wikipedia it states ‘a large number of thinkers have embraced the need for historical context, not because culture is self-referential, but because there is no more compressed means of conveying all of the relevant information except through history’. This view is said to be rooted in the work of a recent historian Benedetto Croce in the context of 20th Century philosophy.
In this case I believe that historicism should be embraced as the need for historical context, background and culture are essential for the need to make sense of the world around us.
References:
Krauss, Rosalind, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”, October, Vol.8 (Spring, 1979), pp.30-44.
Anwers.com, The world’s leading Q & A site. 7 April 2009. Answers Corporation. Retrieved 7 April 2009 http://www.answers.com/topic/historicism
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 7 April 2009. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 7 April 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicism
The online dictionary Answers.com defines ‘historicism’ as ‘a theory that stresses the significant influence of history as a criterion of value’. Within the essay ‘Sculpture in the Expanded Field’, Krauss addresses this concept of ‘historicism’ with consideration to the context of art.
Krauss suggests that historicism ‘works on the new and different to diminish newness and mitigate difference’(30). Furthermore, we ‘are comforted by this perception of sameness, this strategy for reducing anything foreign in either time or space, to what we already know and are’(30).
I am interested in the word ‘strategy’ that is used to describe this process of historicism for ‘reducing anything foreign…to what we already know and are’, and would like to suppose that to ‘historicise’ is almost like human nature.
When confronted with a new art-object, whether it be an image, sculpture or a painting. Initially one tries to immediately decipher and decode this new object, in order for one to make sense of this new experience and interpret it on some level. Wonder and awe provoke questions about the new foreign object we are confronted with, and we construct our own answers upon the object for the want and need to understand. This will be primarily based on what ‘what we already know and are’, for example what we have seen before, and what we have previously experienced, using this strategic tool of historicising. Memory is triggered and we naturally familiarize art objects than contain characteristics reminiscent of other objects in accordance with our visual library of past experiences as a strategy for us to identify. I can think of uncountable times people have used the phrase ‘This work reminds me of……(example)’ in an art critique. Simply trying to make sense of the new object by drawing relationships and making connections to comprehend and organize our thoughts in a way that is comfortable and rational. Although we can see these connections of the new object and history, we can still distinguish individuality and the ‘newness’ of the contemporary art object.
Which makes me question whether to historicise is sufficient to understand meaning? According to Wikipedia it states ‘a large number of thinkers have embraced the need for historical context, not because culture is self-referential, but because there is no more compressed means of conveying all of the relevant information except through history’. This view is said to be rooted in the work of a recent historian Benedetto Croce in the context of 20th Century philosophy.
In this case I believe that historicism should be embraced as the need for historical context, background and culture are essential for the need to make sense of the world around us.
References:
Krauss, Rosalind, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”, October, Vol.8 (Spring, 1979), pp.30-44.
Anwers.com, The world’s leading Q & A site. 7 April 2009. Answers Corporation. Retrieved 7 April 2009 http://www.answers.com/topic/historicism
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 7 April 2009. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 7 April 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicism
Meg Cranston with Nico Israel,“Running On Light Feet”,from Hot Pants In A Cold Cold World: Works 1987-200,Acukland: Artspace and Clouds,2008, pp.6-21.
Meg Cranston born 1960 is a practicising Californian artist who has exhibited internationally since 1990. She is currently a professor at Fine Arts at Otis College of Art and Design.
In an interview between Meg Cranston and Nico Israel in 2008, Cranston rejects the idea that artists should develop a signature style what she calls a ‘trademark image’, describing it as ‘unethical to brand yourself’(7). Cranston’s diverse artistic practice which ‘encompasses object making, writing, performance, theatre, and even curating’(7), promotes an artistic career that is full of diversity and to some extent a bit generalist, is just as credible as those who are specialists in one field. Detailing that she found ‘having a particular style seemed hokey in a way and doing the same thing over and over, which had been considered a virtue’(7) became highly suspicious to her. Cranston’s explicit disinterest in establishing a recognisable style gives confidence to artists who also engage in various processes, and mediums like myself.
Often when considering my own artistic practice I frequently have this concern to develop a signature style, or that my works needed to develop coherently or logically. Cranston’s thought-provoking attitude challenged my former way of thinking that erratic variation from artwork to artwork and delving between varieties of mediums shouldn’t be perceived as amateur as it is commonly considered. Cranston reveals her ‘unclassifiable’ freedom, stating ‘I don’t discredit artists who go deep, but I go broad’(7), making me realise that essentially sticking to one style or medium is limiting and restrictive. Another multi-disciplinary artist who enjoys employing and utilizing a number of mediums, methods and ideas is German artist Gerhard Richter. Richter delves in between painting, photography, sculpture, writing and performance. Linda Weintraub in her essay “Inconsistency”, describes Richter as an example of an artist who “engages in a multitude of formats and mediums, thus rejecting the assertion that exalted artists to originate a distinctive style”. (Weintraub, 7)
Cranston’s lack of concern in asserting her uniqueness was also inspiring, claiming ‘I’ve tended to use myself as the subject not because I feel I’m unique, but because I’m similar to others’ (7). In regards to my own practice time, and again I would strive for uniqueness within my artworks having this want and need to produce an original work of art, whereas Cranston enjoys the relationship of being similar to others and exploits her similarities and differences as a subject for making art.
This interview encourages artists to step out of their comfort zones and exceed their boundaries. Cranston’s advice being that ‘someone once taught me that you should take the worst comment about your work and base your next show on that idea’(17). With her example of writing a play, something she had never done, suggests that inexperience of mediums can also be a positive methodology for making art.
References:
Meg Cranston with Nico Israel,“Running On Light Feet”,from Hot Pants In A Cold Cold World: Works 1987-200,Acukland: Artspace and Clouds,2008, pp.6-21.
Weintraub, Linda, Athur Danto and Thomas McEvilley. “Art on the edge and over: searching for art’s meaning in contemporary society, 1970s-1990s” Litchfield, CT : Art Insights, 1996.
In an interview between Meg Cranston and Nico Israel in 2008, Cranston rejects the idea that artists should develop a signature style what she calls a ‘trademark image’, describing it as ‘unethical to brand yourself’(7). Cranston’s diverse artistic practice which ‘encompasses object making, writing, performance, theatre, and even curating’(7), promotes an artistic career that is full of diversity and to some extent a bit generalist, is just as credible as those who are specialists in one field. Detailing that she found ‘having a particular style seemed hokey in a way and doing the same thing over and over, which had been considered a virtue’(7) became highly suspicious to her. Cranston’s explicit disinterest in establishing a recognisable style gives confidence to artists who also engage in various processes, and mediums like myself.
Often when considering my own artistic practice I frequently have this concern to develop a signature style, or that my works needed to develop coherently or logically. Cranston’s thought-provoking attitude challenged my former way of thinking that erratic variation from artwork to artwork and delving between varieties of mediums shouldn’t be perceived as amateur as it is commonly considered. Cranston reveals her ‘unclassifiable’ freedom, stating ‘I don’t discredit artists who go deep, but I go broad’(7), making me realise that essentially sticking to one style or medium is limiting and restrictive. Another multi-disciplinary artist who enjoys employing and utilizing a number of mediums, methods and ideas is German artist Gerhard Richter. Richter delves in between painting, photography, sculpture, writing and performance. Linda Weintraub in her essay “Inconsistency”, describes Richter as an example of an artist who “engages in a multitude of formats and mediums, thus rejecting the assertion that exalted artists to originate a distinctive style”. (Weintraub, 7)
Cranston’s lack of concern in asserting her uniqueness was also inspiring, claiming ‘I’ve tended to use myself as the subject not because I feel I’m unique, but because I’m similar to others’ (7). In regards to my own practice time, and again I would strive for uniqueness within my artworks having this want and need to produce an original work of art, whereas Cranston enjoys the relationship of being similar to others and exploits her similarities and differences as a subject for making art.
This interview encourages artists to step out of their comfort zones and exceed their boundaries. Cranston’s advice being that ‘someone once taught me that you should take the worst comment about your work and base your next show on that idea’(17). With her example of writing a play, something she had never done, suggests that inexperience of mediums can also be a positive methodology for making art.
References:
Meg Cranston with Nico Israel,“Running On Light Feet”,from Hot Pants In A Cold Cold World: Works 1987-200,Acukland: Artspace and Clouds,2008, pp.6-21.
Weintraub, Linda, Athur Danto and Thomas McEvilley. “Art on the edge and over: searching for art’s meaning in contemporary society, 1970s-1990s” Litchfield, CT : Art Insights, 1996.
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