Saturday 26 May 2012

Landscape and the Sublime

Monolake 2, California (1999) Richard misrach




1.     Define the Enlightenment, including its context (time and place).



The Enlightenment was taking place during the 18th century yet the true start and end point is unknown it was a gradual happening Yet it still played a major role in the visual community, Centred mostly in France but spread through the western cultures. The idea of the Enlightenment was moving on from Religious ideals and starting to understand a more scientific understanding based on human beliefs rather than the sense of belief by the authority i.e. the church. It was when reason was the ultimate truth and experience was the evidence for it. It was the idea of progress into bigger understandings of the things we simply based ‘because it was god’s will’ too. The enlightenment may have ended in the late 20th century called the “Post-Enlightenment” but todays thought, ideas and opinions have been based around this movement. Without this movement we would be still stuck in the idealism of god, whereas the Enlightenment has given us the freedom to explore in both and even more without it being deemed blasphemy against god and his will.




2. Define the concept of the Sublime.



The Sublime in art is something that provokes many emotions and feelings, the overwhelming idea of this ‘thing’ being in front of us right now. It’s hat feeling of being in awe or even terrified of what is in front of you whether it be a great landscape or an oversized building. It is usually something of an epic scale in comparison to the other subject/s which causes this reaction. It allowed the sense of experience to provoke the imagination into dangerous scenarios without having to really experience it.




3. Explain how the concept of the Sublime came out of Enlightenment thought.



The Enlightenment had moved through and continued with the idea of progress. The progress of te importance of the “Hierarchy” of the painting world. The ever growing interest in the back dropped landscapes which were frowned upon previously had come about, because of this “Romantic” idea of how the attention to the detail of the landscape can emphasise largely on the subject, especially in the playful mythological paintings where being immersed in the habitat made them seem more real and you experience their being. With the appreciation of the landscape growing, the landscape became more surreal more open and wide, became never ending to create this sense of illusion for us the viewers, the development of romanticising a subject had moved and the detail onto the landscape was now the main idea. The over powering infinite, enormity or obscurity of the painting was to send the spectators into imagination and relieve certain tensions , it began to  undermine the Enlightenment idea of control, knowledge and being able to reason with the world.







4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Include some quotes from art critics and other writers who have written about his work.



Richard Misrach is among the most influential, prolific, and internationally recognized photographers working      today. Best known for his epic ongoing project, Desert Cantos--an extensive and unique photographic exploration of place--Misrach consistently addresses political and social issues through the adaptation of different photographic strategies, even as he expands notions of traditional landscape practice, and builds a complex and poignant document of American culture. His subjects have included manmade floods and fires, military bombing ranges, mass graves of dead animals, sublime night skies, and details of paintings housed in the museums of the Southwest. In one recent series, On the Beach--which was inspired by Nevil Shute's postapocalyptic novel of the 1950s--Misrach's color photographs deal with the human figure seen at a distance on an unspecified beach or in the water, observed from an unsettling and difficult-to-identify point of view located high above. Misrach's newest publication, Chronologies is a compelling study of the photographer's process over the past 30 years. Stripped of their original context, the photographs--presented in chronological order--illuminate how the photographer thinks and works. Through fits and starts, reiterations and detours, the work evolves and matures, weaving in and out of the series for which Misrach has become known. Side-by-side, classic images and never-before-seen pictures flesh out the photographer's logic and complicate it at the same time. Ultimately, Chronologies is about time: The span of thirty years, the importance of time in each photograph, the chronology of a life within its time, and the book itself as a timepiece. [Misrach] offers a totally convincing sense of place--the Mohave, the California inlands, the Nevada deserts, over which he has roamed repeatedly. His moment of perception is always the present, gritted in by sand ochres and limned by sage green, mauve, and blond hues often emerging into an exquisite bleached depth, though sometimes reddened by dusk or fires. Misrach lives such moments to their sensory brim without standing on any ceremony. He gives us the feeling that what happens out there in the nominal wild happens for him and to him quite in advance of being filtered through any memory of art.[1]



His works deal with the three ideas of The Sublime; enormity, obscurity and infinity. By using these vast and some notably recognisable areas we know how large  and broad the subjects are. We can obviously see the grand scale of the subjects and the overwhelming feeling they create He largely emphasise the landscape and he puts many things into perspective whether it be scale or importance.




Pyrimad lake (at night)(2004) Richard misrach

5. Add 2 new images of his work to your blog.

 Richard Misrach: Untitled, 2007, pigment print on Dibond, 59 by 787⁄8 inches; at PaceWildenstein

Outdoor Dining, Richard Misrach




6. Describe how does Misrach's photography makes you feel. How does it appeal to your imagination?

I find his work amazing, it’s capturing, and it really draws me in. It gives me the sense of adventure it gives me the sense of release as well; my imagination runs wild with all the physical and spiritual ideas. In a physical sense, it’s as if I can feel the snow, or the cold crisp breeze while silently watching the world evolve with me just watching and in the spiritual sense that it is like a release of emotions, takes away or even brings on fear to the over powering notion of the subjects, how it puts us into perspective on how little and insignificant we are compared to nature on its grand scale and how we can easily be drowned out but such things really does make you re-evaluate a situation and wonder if it really is as bad as you think.





7. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.


Frederic Edwin Church.- Painter, Enlightenment      Rainy day in the Tropics 1866


Mark Myer- Photograpgy, Contemporary

Josh Keyes, painter, contemporary






8. Add a Sublime image of your choice to your blog, which can be Art or just a Sublime photograph.


J_M_ W_ Turner (1775-1851)  the distruction of sodom 1805


Ron Mueck and Humanisim

'Baby' 2000
1.    Mueck's sculpture is described as 'hyper-real'. Define the meaning of this term and explain how it is evident in his work.
“Hyper-Realism” is an art movement which is an advancement of photorealism. It is when an art work has such amazing detail and rendering. So it tricks the conscious into defining what actual reality is. Mueck’s work works with hyper reality in the sense that his work is so detailed many who have seen them have question whether they are real or not. His sculptures are very life life-like; every detail can be seen from all angles from strands of hair down to the wrinkles of a new born and it can be equally appreciated for all the work that has gone into them.



 'Baby'   Detail
'Baby' in the "perfection" process



2.    Mueck says he is not interested in making life size sculpture. Find out why he is more interested in working with the scale of the figure which is not life size, and mention 2 works which use scale that is either larger or smaller than life.
Mueck mentioned during an interview that he was “not interested” in doing life size sculptures because it is an everyday event, he is basically saying why create something that we see every day, when we never really par attention to detail anyway. It also falls upon a viewer’s psyche because of the emotions in which his sculptures portray. A lot of feelings whether it is on a small or large scale overwhelm us with such raw and even private situations.

'Untitled' (Big Man) 2000

nearly a seven foot sculture created in four weeks, working to a deadline


'Dead Man' 1996-97

2/3 of a lifesize sculpture of his father lying on his back.
 
3.    Define Renaissance Humanism, and identify which aspects of Humanism can be seen in Mueck's work. Note that the contemporary definition of Humanism is much broader than the Renaissance definition.
 
Renaissance Humanism is a movement around the time between the 15th to 17th centuries, it was when man has moved away from religious and metaphorical points of views and started to celebrate human culture, the human view and live the ideal human life rather than relying on spiritual guidance. Mueck’s works obviously have a connection with this movement. It can be noted with his attention to detail and the emotions in which these sculptures provoke. It is the reality of human existence and the proof we are human and this is life.


4.    Research and discuss one of Mueck's sculptures that you might find challenging or exciting to experience in an art gallery. Describe the work, upload an image of the work, and explain your personal response to the work. Comment on other student blogs to develop the discussion around the variety of our own personal and individual responses to art and design.


'Spooning Couple' 2005 1/2 scale
His work ‘Spooning Couple’ I find it amazing, even on its small scale it still gives off this intimate and embarrassing situation you may face while in bed with your lover. The idea of no longer being connected to them, it’s a sad scene, no longer do they feel they want to embrace but it’s just become a duty; something you just do. As a viewer you are drawn to their faces, they seem upset, the women gazes down and the man looks as if he is taking a quick glimpse at us who are viewing. It is as if we are interrupting. It is unsettling in a sense though, it makes you think about how one day you too may also not connect with your lover, or even if you experience it now so what do you do? Continue like normal or do something about it. The everyday situation that we are or could be faced with has been put in front of us in such a realistic way it’s hard not to relate one’s own personal issues with it.


Resources:

Damien Hirst "For the Love of God"




Damien Hirst 2007 "For the Love of God"


1. Describe the work, giving details of the form and materials.

Damien Hirst’s “For the love of God” is a cast of a human shaped skull studded with various sizes and shapes of diamonds with the use of the original skulls teeth. It has been made up of 32 Platinum plates, 8,601 Diamonds which weighs 1,106.18 carats. There are 14 varied sizes of the Diamonds plus 1 outstanding one in which theses smaller various sized ones circle it’s around the centre of the skull.


2. What does the work mean? What is Damien Hirst communicating in the work?

Hirst is out to communicate this idea of death, How in certain places it is embraced and even celebrated where as in the other places it is turned a blind eye to because it isn’t what we want to see what we really are, he beautifies this idea of death with diamonds to emphasise that what we do not like what we see so we change it to suit ourselves. Glorifying what we know and how we react to it, the ideas of diamonds convey the aesthetic value of these diamonds in comparison to life and how one and the other can connect. How we weigh our lives on this idealistic view of pure aesthetic qualities.

3. How does Hirst's diamond encrusted skull relate to Mercantilism and to conspicuous consumption?
Mercantilism is this idea of wealth and glory, Hirst communicates this with the diamonds. How the diamonds are often seen as the wealth of today and the aesthetic value of diamonds are worth more than a life, is the idea of how ones wealth is shown through possession.
The industry for diamonds is harsh, out for the kill. Many lives are lost for this insignificant “piece of glass” the worth comes from all the work it takes to acquire it. Death is unthought-of in the eyes of the hungry consumers who want these diamonds to expand their riches.

4. How much did the work cost, and how much was it sold for, and who bought it?

To make this Hirst (who had paid for it himself) around $UK10-15 million pounds, the forehead alone is worth around $UK4.2 million. It has been prices between $UK50-100 million, but official reports say it is worth $UK99 million. He’s has yet to find a final buyer for the skull, but the temporary group have offered around the $100 mill asking price, and he refuses to let their identities to be known. There is still paperwork to be sorted relating this deal. But at this time Hirst still owns the skull, sits in the White Cube Gallery waiting to be sold.

5. What are some of the differing opinions of the journalists in the newspaper and blog articles?
What did they think of the work?

There are many differing opinions about Hirst’s work both being negative and positive. Many find this to be an “unprecedented” piece of work where as many other do not class this as art at all. Private collector Richard Polsky went on to say “The sale keeps Hirst in the news, reinforces the demand for his work and makes everyone who spent money at White Cube feel good about their investment … This is all about investment, not about art collecting” He’s saying Hirst isn’t about creating a collectable piece of work, he’s out there to spend big bucks to make even bigger bucks.  Yet there are others such as writer from the TIME Specials Ishaan Tharoor has stated “Damien Hirst is not the world's greatest current artist. But he's probably its savviest” He carries on to say How Hirst is somewhat of a genius to create these works in which the public reacts to, even in the negative ways, he still gets us as viewers to think and discuss his work.

6. Based on your research, what is your opinion of the work, as an object or a work of art?

 I enjoyed this artwork and all its controversy. Hirst has caused a fiasco with media and art dealers from around the globe with what may seem as outrageous ides. But Hirst really makes you look at his work, inspect it from all angles to confirm whether it is real or not, the closer and closer you inspect the more real it becomes, and then BAM it’s in your face whether you like it or not. This idea of death and glorifying it in the aesthetic world is like putting make-up on a pig; No matter how much you try and cover it up it is still a pig. It’s if you can accept reality or not that’s what he wants to show you.
















 

Resources:

Fiona Hall and the Kermadecs.

Fiona Hall's recent project The Kermadecs focuses on issues around the Pacific ocean. Research this project to summarize the importance of the area and upload an image to your blog for discussion.


Fiona Hall and her recent joint project with many other south pacific artists, Explores the idea of this uncharted territory, The Kermadecs as being a source for marine life which is in danger of being polluted with the commercialistation of countries which wish to use this area aswell as the Raoul islands to grow their industries i.e commercial fishing and mining of the volcanic and fossilised trenches. This area is one of the largest trenches and has alot of volcanic activity with volcanoes reaching aboutt he height of Mt. Ruapaehu, The idea to conserve this area is to protect not only the occupants of this area (sharks, whales and other marine life) but to also proctect the history for later generations of scientists to be able to discover what lies further beneath what we already know, This image shows how the destruction of these natural resources for our comercialisation of nations will destroy any chance of discoving further information and further study into this place which hold the key to ancient marine life. Also shows how the ship and submarines used this trench, how they would "pass through" some even capsizing.

Fiona Hall and Mercantilism

Mercantilism played a major role in the economic system during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was seen as the way to a nation’s wealth and power with the collection of bullion (large amount of precious metals) and the increasing the exportation of goods whether it be  domestic or foreign, from smaller colonies in which the exploitation of their natural resources were traded for the benefit of the “ mother country” so they could grow economically. The warfare during the 1500-1800's needed this trading method to help maintain the expanding costs of the government, so with the discovery of these trades the increasing interest in the precious metals (bullion); particularly gold, were in huge demand as it was the " ready means" of trade to be able to attain the other goods that were in demand at this time. To accumulate the bullion of a nation, by mercantile law they sought out to buy less and sell more. Money was power and power was in control over the economic life mainly because of all the trading companies, which was secured in the foreign markets as these companies were able to produce high quality goods at the low costs, mercantilism was the fundamentals in which has shaped the way our modern day economic system has been developed.



"Leaf Litter" 2000 Fiona Hall

Fiona Hall’s series of works "Leaf Litter" explores this idea of consumerism and the destruction of natural resources due to commercialisation. She uses bank notes with either endangered or extinct plants from the notes country of origin to help emphasise this idea of how consumerism has affected the natural world and the stabilisation of plants. The bank notes and plants have been placed together to remind people that money is made from paper and paper is made from plants. It's a cycle she clearly communicates and wants to put forward of where this money has come from. It may seem random to put these two subjects together so how she links the contrasting subjects together is the uses of gouache to help create transparency to form this link that money and plants are one.

  "Tender"  2003-05
"Tender" 2003-05 (detail)



In Hall’s work “Tender” 2003-05 it creates a sense of curiosity. The curiosity to see what these nests are made out of, which of course is the American one dollar bill. She emphasises this idea of a natural habitat of a bird (which creates their homes from things that are just lying around) just how we identify money in our culture today. Something we live by. The consumerism of this money has led to destruction of natural habitats as the globalisation of products is increasing more and more. Also with this idea of how birds create their homes with things that are lying around can signify that the one dollar bill is also something just lying around, how today we see insignificance of the small things even though they can impact on an environment drastically with how it takes so many trees to create this insignificant bill and with the disappearance of these trees comes the disappearance of natural life i.e. birds. Proving that her idea that the making of money and the destruction on natural life work side by side without the knowledge of its consumers.
I reckon her ideas and thoughts well communicated with the idea of how a development of a countries wealth are greatly impacted with the growth of the natural world, it’s like saying we cannot have one without the other. The growth of a nation cannot grow if we concentrate on the impact it has on the natural world and the natural world cannot prosper if we continuously expand and deplete these natural resources. So her ideas have been carefully thought of to help us as consumers and viewers to take into consideration that this is what’s happening and what we are using to help our species survive is the destruction of many other species just to satisfy the consumer commodities.



Resources:
ALVC Handbook, Page 34:
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. (2005), Mercantilism.

http://www.createx.com.au/artist-of-substance-fiona-hall/
http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/846/
Fiona Hall secondary Kit PDF, Page 5