Saturday 25 August 2012

Week 6- Anish Kapoor


Anish Kapoor

Cloud Gate (2004), Millennium Park, Chicago
Celebrated for his gigantic, stainless steel Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor is changing the cultural environment with his public works. 

1.Research Kapoor's work in order to discuss whether it is conceptual art or not. Explain your answer, using a definition of conceptual art.
"... Conceptual art seems to be doing is questioning the the condition that seems to rigidly govern the form of visual art - that visual arts remains visual.' The same issue printed Sol LeWitt's 35 ' Sentences on Conceptual Art' which convey a more nuanced and experimental relation to the object of art. " (Norman, Bird. 1999, pg. 5) [para. 1]

Basically Conceptual art is  challenging the formal aspects of visual arts. Challenging the aesthetics,processes and meanings that are usually used and describes in ' art'. Duchamp was one of the most well known artists who challenged those ideas. He become much known as a conceptual artist.

Anish Kapoor also uses the ideas where most of his works are on massive scales which can't be put into a gallery or in ordinary 'artspaces'. His processess and materials differ greatly from materials traditionally used in art, Hid work express for shape, form and the idea than it expressing real contextual/ historical references.


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.

 ' Islamic Mirror'  (2008) is part of Anish Kapoor's works in an ' Intervention on Space'
Installed in a Islamic Palace located inside a Christian Monastery, now a public museum. 'Islamic Mirror' looks at how the public views a 'space' and when it becomes a 'public art space'.
In this space visitors will see multiple images of themselves yet neither of them are reality, it is just a reflection in a religious space causing the mind to think of how we view these types of spaces.
 "Islamic Mirror is a circular concave mirror measuring 2.4 metres in diameter and weighing approximately 80 kilograms"



 Located in Vienna, Austria MAK Exhibition Hall Stubenring ' Shooting in the Corner' 2008/09 .Not much is said meaningfully about this piece but
It doesn't need a big meaning to be felt. Just the scale and colour he has used with the wax shot from a cannon towards a wall is a dramatic and enticing piece on its own. The Viewer can feel a complexity of emotions. The subconscious can relate this to the physical state of the human body. Our body and the fragility of the it when something like a collision can occur.





Located in  Annenberg Courtyard in the Royal Academy 'Tall Tree and the Eye' 2009 is stunning, eye-catching  and memorising. The stainless steel combination of silver spheres is rather hypnotizing in how they have used the same dynamics of a centennial in the middle of a square, but here again we see how Kapoor still plays with the mind and all its mysteries in how we view things.
With the Repetition and Reflectiveness or the space around it, gives the illusion of infinite dimensions.




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



'The Farm' Works this specific site because of where it has been placed and how it has been made to give the 'kaleidoscope' effect. Making both the Foreign and Natural work together, Bringing together the elements of the surroundings.

4. Where is the Kapoor's work in New Zealand? What are its form and materials? What are the ideas behind the work?
'The Farm' is on a 400ha privately owned site outside of Kaipara Bay Art Gallery, made from both Fabric and Steel. Fabric Architecture :
" Thirty-two longitudinal mono-filament cables provide displacement and deflection resistance to the wind loads while assisting with the fabric transition from horizontal ellipse, to a perfect circle at midspan, through to the vertical ellipse at the other end."

Combining these elements together helps enhance the  Kaipara Bay and all it beauty, This piece has been treated as a part of the body and Kapoor says "I am concerned with the way in which the language of engineering can be turned into the language of the body" How these materials to create this imitation and aesthetically feel as if its on with the body, giving you a different and much more complex feel to it.



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?


As I have previously discussed this work, I found this work both aesthetically and conceptually intriguing because of how it constantly reminds me of different things each time I look at it.

From every angle it can be seen differently, and also trick you into what is really there in the actual surroundings. With the distorted view of the surrounding, viewers have been led to see the infinite dimensions that's around them.

As I like the idea of mind manipulation and disruption of space this works well in conjunction with what I am personally interested in, here we see how we cannot just look at this aesthetically because it does play with ideas in the subconscious of the viewer so we can see how ideas stream from just a glance.

So personally this is a work which I most enjoy of Anish Kapoor.


Youtube has some excellent footage on Kapoor-take a look at Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy.

www.royalacademy.org.uk › 
http://www.robgarrettcfa.com/thefarm.htm
http://www.billslater.com/cloudgate/ 
Dismemberment of Jeanne d’Arc- 



Old Municipal Market Building Brighton


References:


Henrichy0205yt. (2011, May 27). Anish Kapoor: Leviathan at Grand Palais Paris 
      [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/12Ni0c4D27Y

UrrozProyectos(2008,Dec. 18). Anish Kapoor, Islamic Mirror. ( Video: Pedro Ortuno)
      [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wz8a1ebOv8

Newman. M and Bird. J , Rewriting Conceptual Art . London, UK. Reaktion Books Ltd


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Thursday 16 August 2012

week 5- pluralism and the treaty of waitangi

Week 5 - Pluralism and the Treat of Waitangi


Pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi

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

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

Caldwell (1999)

      Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and artists as diverse. The cultural 
      context of art is all encompassing in its 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 honours 
      differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities. 
   (p. 51, para.1)


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

In a modern society today, New Zealand has a diverse cultural situation. Meaning the cultures and backgrounds from the cultures here is hard to single out the dominance of just one culture. Here in New Zealand though we have adapted to western culture and with the other cultures (Polynesian, Asian, Other Europeans) immigrating to New Zealand have adapted their Cultures into this society.


3. Before 1840, what was New Zealand's dominant culture?
The dominant culture was The Maori,  when the treaty was signed Maori had outnumbered Pakeha by 50 - 1 .

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

It relates to every part of us as artists and designers because of the major impact it has had historically in New Zealand. So many things could be expressed through art, talking about the histories of us as a nation. Even other cultures who don't identify themselves as Maori or 
Pakeha can still use this history as an expression of their newly found 'sub-culture' and how they identify themselves in this society and how without the treaty could this be different.

5. How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on 'regional diversity' that leads to a 'homogenized world culture' in New Zealand in particular? (ALVC2 handbook page 52, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/globalization)


According to Rouse (2007):

      Globalization is the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread 
      throughout the world, or the process of making this happen. The global economy is 
      sometimes referred to as a 'globality', characterized as a totally interconnected 
      marketplace, unhampered by time zones or national boundaries. (para. 1)

New Zealand has an unique culture and lifestyle. The effects on globalisation and how it possibly can ruin our economic system and culturally our traditions,values and ideologies have been exploited through the use of tourism and also the " foreign" market has found that New Zealand culture( also Polynesian) is a symbol of Strength, Fair and Power. Using these notions help their market grow because of how these factors are seen in society. It has become a symbol of Wealth.


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


 
'Welcome' (2004) Shane Cotton 
http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/catalogues/work/52293/shane-cotton-welcome.aspx
                                                                               
            'Welcome'  is the combination of both sacred and spiritual symbols. On top we have Jesus who is the symbol of Spirituality in a Western culture, whereas below we see the Head of an Ancestor which represents, Heritage, Sacredness and identity. The fantails have a sacred and spiritual meaning in Maori culture, and here it signifies how the values and respects are the same even though we may respect and acknowledge different things and people we are in a society still using those same values.

  

'Three Quarter view'(2005) Shane Cotton

http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=149998 

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/shane-cotton-paintings-examine-cultural-landscape-126412


' Three Quarter View' Consists of both European and Maori influences. This picture was actually an etching of Barnet Burns. He was a flax trader who fully immersed himself into the traditions of Maori culture.
Here we can see how Cotton has used this painting technique to greatly emphasise the Maori Moko, Diluting any European features from this man, Only signifier is the Goldfinch, which is the European symbol of Jesus and Christianity.We can see how in the past Burns has given up his culture to embrace another and now see how we cannot help but be immersed in both and equally be in a bi cultural tug, especially if you have both cultures in you.
Here Both Works clearly show the colonisation of New Zealand and show us how The Treaty of Waitangi has influenced his ideas and respects of both parties. 






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

What Albert is trying to convey through is work is not the identity of Aborigines, not the culture, but how the Australian or 'White' community had led everyone to believe these façades of how the viewed the Aborigine people. 
It was February 13 2008 when Prime Minster Kevin Rudd had apologised for the misconstruing approach and portrayal of the Aborigines, Here this work gives hope for the equality and fair trial of them. It gives people the truth and gives the dignity back to this indigenous culture.



8. Define the term 'kitsch'.

"..."No matter how we classify its context of use", says Calinescu, "kitsch always applies the notion of aesthetic inadequacy" ( Faces of Modernity 236). People often say kitsch is sketchy, cheap, that it is artistic rubbish - the very opposite of  chic. " (Kulka, 1996)

 The origins of 'Kitsche' is not certain but it most likely came from the German word 'verkitschen'  Meaning ' to make cheap' .
9. Explain how the work of both artists relates to pluralism.

 Both Artists and their works relate to 'Pluralism' because of their recognition of another culture besides the' white middle class' one that is seen in most westernised smaller countries. Here we see how respects have been made to the indigenous people from their countries, paying respects to the histories,feelings and culture that they share with their communities and tribes. They portray a sense of  connection and how both cultures have worked alongside one another.


                             
References:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6afMy0rlqq8


Kee, V. A. (2010). Jus' Drawn proppanow.
      Retrieved from http://netsvictoria.org.au/assets/Uploads/JusDrawnEducationKit2.pdf?PHPSESSID=hblpkcgeoqg


Nationalgalleryaus. (2010, December 16). 87 149998 - Shane Cotton 'three-quarter view'
      2005 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/CaGKr3YHw9M




AUT University. (2012). Academic literacies in visual communications 2: Resource book.
      Auckland, New Zealand: Lyceum Press for AUT University.

Kulka. T (1996). Kitsch and Art,  USA : The Pennsylvania State University Press.
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Saturday 4 August 2012

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

Kehinde Wiley

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







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


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

1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly. 
"Notwithstanding the origins of the term in post-structuralism, intertextuality has now come to be used as an umbrella term, grouping together approaches which share common assumptions.I will suggest below that there are three common features which typify an intertextual approach:

  • textual creation - texts are a "mosaic" of quotations of other texts;
  • textual meaning - meaning comes from a "dialogue" between texts;
  •  (textual)  hermeneutics  - a readers role in the production of the meaning. "                         ( Stead, 2009)


This definition here clearly states  the dynamics in which intertextuality can be defined as. In simpler terms Intertexuality is the use of one(or more) texts that has a direct ( and obvious) link to another text. Text in intertexuality isn't just limited to physical writing texts but also relates to film, painting, sculpture and anything which can be 'seen' . To break down the three main points
  • Textual Creation : Using Other peoples words,quotations and  phrasing to relate or directly link your point clearly and accurately
  • Textual Meaning : Texts have a direct link with one another exchanging of methods,processes or ideas
  • ( Textual) Hermeneutics: us as viewers being able to subconsciously identify and relate the text to something we know or have seen.

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. 
Napoelon Crossing the Alps Artist                                                    Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps Artist: Kehinde Wiley         
 Jacques-Louis David Year: 1800                                                           :Year: 2005  Oil-on-canvas Dimensions: 9’ x 9’ Location: 
 Oil-on-canvas Dimensions: 260 cm × 221 cm (102⅓ in × 87 in)                 Rumors of War at Deitch Projects, New York, NY
 Location:Château de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison 

 The Three Graces Artist: Raphael Year: 1500-1505                                            The Three Graces Artist: Kehinde Wiley Year: 2005 
 Oil on panel Dimensions: 17 cm × 17 cm                                                  Oil and enamel on canvas Dimension: 8' x 10' 
(6.7 in × 6.7 in) Location: Musée Condé, Chantilly                                               Location: Hort Family Collection, Los Angeles, California

"By using subjects who come from underserved communities, creating a global conversation around who has power, who deserves to be seen in the great museums throughout the world, I don't think I'm throwing any systems" (Wiley, n.d)

Wileys portraits clearly show Black american ' gangsters'  in a new limelight. Giving them a Chivalry;  adding beauty to the typical view of these men.

 To make sense of his work would mean you would need to have seen or know about the works or "texts" he has referenced to because of the obvious relation we see here by both portraits and their poses the the ones from that of the Masters work. To identify this as intertextuality would mean the mind subconsciously recognises these poses and content from something the have previously known or seen. Without any sense of the ' original' pieces the viewer would just see this as an elaborate and controversial painting.

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 51 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.


Defining Pluralism is simply  the inclusion of all histories,backgrounds,cultures, genders and anything which is ' not ideal'  going against the ideal view of the white, male and middle class culture. Pluralism is looking at things in a different light in a sense, It is grabbing the ideas of visual culture and interpreting the indigenous histories onto it and displaying to a group of people who can find a relation of themselves in it.
According to Caldwell (1999):

" Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and the artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art in the world's cultures. Inclusion of individuals of different ethnicities, genders, ideologies, ages, religions, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalties, (para.1) "
His works identify the black american culture and given them a sense of power. By incorperating both the ideas in on work has him accepting and identifying past idealogies and recognising how they are today in his dominant culture, yet not forgetting how western influences have changed its as a whole.



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


Wiley takes this stereotypical view of the 'Black American Gangster' and put them in a common Neoclassical style of work, raises and question the hierarchies of the black man who has always been seen as a 'slave' and shows 'equality' how he replaces the figures with those from the ghetto. The clothing identifies these figures also in a stereotypical view because of the aggression and 'low class' take of presentation of themselves by a western society. So Wiley putting them in this classy and " Expensive" outlook but they are in 'their ' culturally identified garments expresses the nature of their society and where they fit into the western points of views in the society today.

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


Personally I feel his works are identifying issues that need more understanding and recognition not just in an american society but in all minority cultures of the world. How globalisation has affected cultures and how they have been portrayed and identified. Coming from a multicultural background myself has helped me identify these problems in his work and how identities have now become a stereotypical view of what is seen not necessarily what's really inside. His skills also show the delicate nature and patients he has, he takes great care in his works so he can fully enhance the meaning of his paintings, utilising this skill has greatly helped the ideas to be conveyed because it helps us directly relate them to a Neoclassical style painting even if you haven't studied them you would be able to recognise the style as an "old" one.

References:
http://www.cretique.com/archives/4012
http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11
http://www.thinkcontra.com/kehinde-wiley-on-current/
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/w/kehinde_wiley/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19454025
http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303513404577352152061211214.html
http://www.rizzoliusa.com/book.php?isbn=9780847835492
http://www.artnet.com/awc/kehinde-wiley.html
http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/kehinde-wiley/#slideshow_39.1
http://www.skny.com/artists/kehinde-wiley/
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/paintings.html
http://www.kehindewiley.com/an_Economy_of_grace/Dacia_Carter.html

Chandler D., Semiotics for Beginners. p. 44, Academic Literacies in Visual Commuinications 2, 2012






Stead, M . (2009). The Intertextuality of Zechariah 1-8. London, New York: T & T Clark International
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