Week 3 - The Walters Prize 2010

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





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

1. What is the background to the Walters Prize?

The Walters Prize is highly regarded as the most prestigious award in New Zealand contemporary art. It is awarded biennially and is named after artist Gordon Walters. The award comes with the chance to travel to New York to exhibit their work at the famous Saatchi and Saatchi gallery, aswell as $50,00.

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

Saskia Leek's 'Yellow is the Putty of the World' is an oil painting depicting what appears to be a house on canvas.

Fiona Connor's 'Something Transparent (please go round the back)' is an installation set up using plastic wood and acrylic. It is an eerie display almost like a maze of plastic and has a ghostlike feel to it.

Dan Arps's 'Explaining Things' is a series of works using mixed media including newspapers. On a side note, for extra information I watched his interview on the art gallery website, and not only was it unhelpful, this guy was seriously boring.

Alex Monteith's 'Passing Manoeuvre with Two Motorcycles and 584 Vehicles for Two-Channel video' is quite aptly and slightly unoriginally named, as it features as its namesake implies, 2 motorscyclists lane splitting during gridlock public holiday traffic and passing 584 vehicles by traveling between rows at speed. It has both video and performance elements.

3. Who are the jury members for 2010?

According to the Auckland Art Gallery website, the jurors are:

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

( http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/whats-on/events/2010/july/the-walters-prize-2010 )

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

The judge for the 2010 Walters Prize is the highly respected former-director of London's Tate Modern, Vicente Todoli. Todoli's destinguished career includes being the artistic director for The Valencia Institute for Modern Art aswell as successfully curating renowned exhibitions of contemporary artists internationally.

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

Personally I would nominate Alex Monteiths's 'Passing Manoeuvre with Two Motorcycles and 584 Vehicles for Two-Channel video' for the award this year as I believe hers to be the most original and successful of the entries. I really enjoyed watching her interview also as she was by far the most entertaining when describing her work, not trying to make up bullshit to justify secret meanings behind her work anywhere near as much as other contestants (I wonder if its too late to enquire whether we're meant to keep language in these blogs PG? bit late I guess). Her work shows 2 masked nameless motorcyclists riding cycles with the liscence plates blanked out 'lane splitting' during Aucklands famous public holiday gridlock traffic. Having driven through gridlock traffic only to see some smug motorcyclist or scooterist whizzing down the middle of the lanes of traffic is not only infuriating, its an experience almost every Aucklander can relate to. It's like the big bloke cutting infront of you in line at McDonalds, it pisses you off, but the bloke has more muscles then he does brain cells, so theres not much you can do about it, only with cars and motorcycles, by the time you realise theres a cyclist lane splitting, its too late to swing your door out for a last minute clothesline (not that I've ever done that, as my lawyers would have me write here).

As you only really "Get" art when you can relate to it, I believe this is a very strong piece. It's also a very daring performance piece as the danger to these cyclists is very real, with the chance of hitting a car or last-minute-swung-out car door is very high. The riders names have no been divulged, I assume as to avoid prosecution for both riders and artist, which I think is also another strong point, the secretive element behind it all.

6. Comment on other blogs from your ALVC group to agree or disagree with other people,always backing up your answer with clearly stated reasons.

monday, july 26, 2010

http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/whats-on/events/2010/july/the-walters-prize-2010

Week 2 - Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing.

1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) andBurka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? AreAfterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?

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

I must be missing something here, I don't see the 'challenge' in Afterwords. It just seems like the sorta fashion item you'd see on a catwalk. Personally I don't really get nor desire to understand much about fashion, being a male who's dress sense barely outdoes that of a snazzy caveman, it's not really my cup of tea, however looking at Afterwords I don't see anything but a fashion piece. Burka on the otherhand speaks to me almost about the contrast and progression of fashion throughout the ages, or that of western civilisation and eastern civilisation; the scantily clad bikini wearers of california contrasted with the full body gowns of eastern countries. It almost seems like the contemporary art of the fashion world, however the line between fashion and art isnt so easy to distinguish.

Hussein Chalayan, Burka, 1996

Hussein Chalayan, Afterwords, 2000

2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

Just like you could say there are artistic elements in fashion, I believe it would be fair to say that you can have artistic elements in advertising. While some would say it detracts from the meaning of the piece that it was paid for and collaborated with by big companies, I think that ultimately that is better then the piece not having the funds and ending up not getting the message across. To me its like someone handing you a new fancy paintbrush and saying in exchange, make me a picture. I think to an extent however much art can be used to advertise products, I don't want to see it head in a direction that TV and Movies similarly have, in that to be able to finance the final outcome, product placement has been littered around the piece itself. Could you imagine the Mona Lisa holding a can of coke?

3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?

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

The first image that came to my mind from "caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA" was some form of CSI:Clothes, that the mistreatment and abandonment of these previously loved clothes was something of a crime and the previous owners are being tracked down forensic style. Even the image seems like it, with the clothes lieing on an operating table and someone peering in anxiously, so you could almost say her work had been influenced by the recent pop culture boom in shows such as CSI and Law and Order, with forensic work and crimes and the such. However in terms of art movements, you could say its almost like a surrealist work, the idea of clothes being treated like people in an ECU seems like something I would dream of, something crazy and nonsensical from the back of my mind.

4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

I personally think there is an importance in the artist actually making the work themselves, its one thing to create an idea, but not actually creating the piece yourself doesn't seem right in my mind. Art to me is an expression, and its not the same if someone else is expressing it for you. Especially in the cases of Hirst where even though often the only contribution to a piece he has is signing his name to it, and all the credit of the piece goes to him because "he came up with the concept" I believe is compelete bullshit. Personally I think the artist is the one that creates the work, the person who thought of the idea has almost nothing to do with it, more like a starting point for the real artist.

wednesday, july 7, 2010

Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'.

Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg's intricately constructed claymation films are both terrifyingly
disturbing and artlessly sweet.

The new works created for the Venice Biennale explore a surrealistic Garden of Eden in which all that is natural goes awry.

She exposes the innate fear of what is not understood and confronts viewers with the complexity of emotions.

Nathalie Djurberg was awarded the silver lion for a promising young artist at the Venice
Art Biennale 09.

(http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6886/nathalie-djurberg)

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

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

Claymation is the term given to animation made through the use of clay models. These models often have interchangeable parts such as different arms/eyes/ears etc to depict different actions or emotions. The models are repositioned for every frame of a shot, so that when all the frames are compiled together and played as a film, it shows movement. It is similar in nature to 3D animation.

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

The term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden' implies the land is a paradise, as in the bible the garden of eden was seen as a utopia, however the garden in Djuerbergs work is quite odd or dream like, almost like something you'd see in a Lewis Caroll novel. 'All that is natural goes awry' refers to the oddities in her claymations, the strange disturbing distortions that carry on in her films.

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

Does 'disturbing' count as an emotion? Djurberg's work seems to confront the viewer with several emotions, among which sexuality seems to appear quite heavily. The scene depicting Adam and Eve's first meeting where Eve strips Adams skin off down to the wire/bone before embracing him is a good example of this. There's almost a Fear-like aspect to her work, there's so much strange and unknown things going on, its impossible not feel uneasy.

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

As mentioned earlier, the sexuality element added to innocent children's stories takes the innocence right out of the work. Children's stories are seen as these happy, perfect stories with happy endings and morals, whereas exposing a child to Djurberg's work would likely result in heavy emotional scarring, like giving a child a teddy bear then ripping its head off in front of them.

5. There is a current fascination by some designers with turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing. Why do you think this has come about?

I think it stems somewhat from what is often referred to as "sheeple", the idea that everyone these days in society are bland, dull and far too similar to each other. Artists and designers try to be unique, to break the norms, to make something different that makes people stop and think, and I think. Taking something sweet and innocent that you remember from your childhood then distorting it into something ugly is almost like growing up, as a child the world is perfect, you're the center of the world and can be anything you want, however as you grow older, you realise the world is anything but perfect, its ugly and corrupt, its painful and harsh.

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

I think Djurberg's work is so interesting and was chosen for the Venice Biennale because of just how disturbing her work really is. It makes you feel uneasy gazing around at the eerie plants and sculptures in her display, then watching the disturbing videos completes the total uneasy feeling of it all. It makes people both simultaneously want to stop and watch, and want to run and hide, which I think is quite hard to achieve.

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

I think Djurberg's work is very disturbing, watching videos of walk-throughs of her display as well as the claymations themselves, its almost like something is trying to get into my head, something trying to eat away at the small innocent child locked away somewhere in the depths of my mind. Watching her work I find it incredibly interesting, especially after my previous animation course, however fighting the urge to close the window gets a bit hard after a while.

'Experiment' 2009 Venice Biennale

'Turn into Me' 2008

How can we categorize Banksy's work -graffiti or murals?

Research Banksy's work to attempt to answer this question.
What are some of the differing opinions about Banksy's work?
How does his work sit in relation to consumerism? Can his work be sold?
What are some of his attitudes to the sale of Art?
Who is Banksy? Do we know his true identity?
Upload 2-3 images of Banksy's work that you find interesting, and comment
on the ideas behind the work.

Well first of all to start off with. Wow. Just, wow. This is by far and above the most appealing artwork to me out of all the artwork we have had to research for this Blog. Perhaps it’s a generation thing and most of his works are still relevant, but wow Banksy’s work is incredible.

Banksy’s work is very political, featuring police men frolicking through fields of flowers, supreme courts filled with chimpanzees and cops protecting a donut van to name a few. They’re very thought provoking, offering an insight into the true going-ons of this modern age. His work consists mainly of graffiti art which I think is a very big part of the impact, randomly popping up in public as a display, almost as a protest against the things they depict. Because of their spontaneity and their vandalism nature they cannot be controlled in what they’re about, by that I mean they’re free to depict anyone or anything in any nature they please, true unconstrained artistic freedom. Banksy’s work is often satirical in nature, which is probably what makes it so appealing to myself. The work often pokes fun at its location or subject matter in a way that both deals seriously with its nature but is also humorous. This is best depicted I believe by the picture of the police men frolicking through a field of flowers.

In terms of consumerism, Banksy’s work is not for sale. It is often put onto t shirts and canvases by third parties but this is never endorsed nor profitised by Banksy themselves. A quote taken directly from Banksy’s website “Products not actually included, serving suggestion only. All images are made
available to download for personal
amusement only, thanks.

Banksy does not endorse or profit from
the sale of greeting cards, mugs, tshirts,
photo canvases etc. Banksy is not on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or Gaydar.
Banksy is not represented by any form
of commercial art gallery.

Banksy does not do commissions and has never been given the keys to Kate Moss's house to paint her kitchen.”

This I believe helps to secure the anonymity of Banksy’s identity. While there has been much speculation as to the true identity on Banksy, an official quote on Banksy’s website stated “I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me.”

One of the ways Banksys art is often sold is through street auctions. Neither endorsed nor beneficial to the true mysterious Banksy, these works are often sold with the method of removing the work being left up to the buyer. A building in Liverpool, England reportedly sold for 114,000 pounds because a Banksy art was drawn on the side of it.

My 3 pictures I have chosen are

Riot Coppers, a scene depicting fully geared out Riot police frolicking through the flowers. This is a start contrast to what Riot squads actually do, sort of like this is what would happen in a perfect world.

Donut, A picture depicting police bikes surrounding and protecting a donut van. To me this piece says that the police only protect what is important to them, while I don’t necessarily agree with that, that’s what I see.

Flower Chucker, a picture of what seems to be a terrorist or rebel of some kind, taken mid throw of a rock or brick or glass bottle, but replacing the weaponry with a bouquet of flowers, this is similar to the Riot Coppers piece in that it’s a start contrast to what actually happens, sort of like an utopian view of the world.

http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/flowerchucker.html

http://www.banksy.co.uk/index.html

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

http://whoisbanksy.co.uk/page/2

http://www.babelgum.com/4023670/banksy-robbo-its-war.html

http://www.google.com/images?q=banksy&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMY_en-GBNZ353NZ353&tbs=isch:1&sa=N&start=18&ndsp=18

'Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam'(2001)

'Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam- 'Towards the Complex-For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards', (2001) is a video project by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba.

Research this project to identify the ideas behind the work. Can you connect some of the concepts and ideas from the renaissance, Enlightenment or Modernism with the work. Discuss your answer.

Discuss how do you think the title of the work reflects

the artists' intentions?

The ideas behind Jun Nguyen-Hatushiba’s ‘Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam – ‘Towards the Complex- For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards’ (2001) are mainly centered around cyclo’s and their drivers. A cyclo is a sort of bicycle taxi that was once extremely popular in Vietnam. Today, cyclo’s are more of a tourist attraction than anything else as more and more streets are banning the use of cyclos, aswell as other forms of transportation such as taxi’s become more popular. Nguyen-Hatushiba seeks to capture the spirituality behind the cyclo, as several cyclo drivers make their way underwater to the pilgrimage site of several mosquito nets placed throughout a rocky, possibly coral reef.

Nguyen-Hatushiba has been interested in cyclo’s and their drivers since 1994, when they first arrived in Vietnam. The work was originally going to have Nguyen-Haushiba pulling a cyclo around a large watertank, however the work quickly evolved into the video work it finally became. As Nguyen-Hatushiba stated in an interview “Honestly, it happened by chance. I was planning to do a performance in which I was going to pull a cyclo suspended in a large water tank. To make a long story short, that idea developed into my directing and shooting this video [Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex—For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards] under the sea. It was the right medium to turn my idea into a reality.”

The work could almost be said to be about modernism, with the decline in the use of veitnams unique transportation device, the cyclo, Nguyen-Hatushiba seeks to immortalise the vehicle in their work. Like a statement against Modernism, saying that progress is not necessary in some cases and if it continues at this rate, Vietnam could lose an important cultural icon.

I think the title reflects the artists intentions of immortalising the cyclo, in the line “towards the complex” is a reference to the complexity of new technology compared to the simple cyclo. The Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards could also be a reference to the accessibility of the cyclo, and that anyone can use one. I think to Nguyen-Hatushiba, remembering the past is a very important thing, which is evident even within the artists name, as they said in an interview “I had two complete names: one in Japanese and another in Vietnamese. I decided to combine them to make things simple. Thus, two last names come from my two names. I decided to hyphenate to show who I am and to respect both of my backgrounds.

http://sites.asiasociety.org/arts/nh/excerpts.html

http://www.parish-without-borders.net/cditt/cambodia/dailylife/cyclo.jpg

http://sites.asiasociety.org/arts/nh/interview.html

'Untitled' (2002) Richard Misrach

Richard Misrach's photography reflects the concept of the Sublime, from the Enlightenment.

Research Misrach's work by reading about his intentions, and also by looking at the work. Then answer the following questions;

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?

A good definition of the enlightenment is “ 'The Enlightenment' has been given many differing definitions but it was, at its broadest, a philosophical movement of the eighteenth century which stressed human reasoning over blind faith or obedience and was thus in contrast with much of the religious and political order of the day, while also encouraging 'scientific' thinking.”(http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/referenceencyclopedia/g/glenlightenment.htm). The enlightenment was centered around the 18^th century.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

The theory of the “sublime” was defined in 1756 by the British statesman and political theorist Edmund Burke. Burkes belief was that “the life of feeling and spirit depended on a harmony within the larger order of the universe. The sublime therefore, was the ultimate experience of divinity, a mixture of awe, fear and enlightenment produced by the contemplation of a powerful terrifying nature.”

3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?

Before the enlightenment, landscape paintings were not considered ‘true’ art, merely something to put in the background behind ‘real’ art. As mankinds knowledge expanded and the vastness of the world shrunk, the sheer size and formidability of nature became more apparent.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Add some more images.

Misrach’s work often has a political edge to it, showing pollution and other such scars mankind has inflicted on nature. One could also say it deals with technology in a similar light to how nature was once regarded; that the sheer vastness and potential is both awe and fear inspiring.

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

Zaha Hadid deals with the ideas around the Sublime in her work, in that she creates big awe inspiring buildings made to look natural and lifelike, but at the sametime static. These giant structures are almost like a venture into the unknown in themselves, attracting people to visit simply to find out whats inside.

6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?

Misrach’s work is both beautiful yet sometimes sad. The serene colours appeal very much to my imagination, almost like there is a story behind each image. Truly the work of a master photographer, Misrach's photos are almost unreal, showing the beauty of this world that's often overlooked.

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

I added “Wanderer in the Mists” (1818 – oil on canvas) by Caspar David Friedrich. Although it is in our handout, I do really love this image. The strong figure standing peering out over a serene landscape just waiting to be explored or conquered, the wonder of exploring the unknown which is somewhat lost in today's world with things like satellite imagery and GPS.

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=353715

http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/referenceencyclopedia/g/glenlightenment.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_(philosophy)

http://www.edelmangallery.com/misrach.htm

Week 4- Damien Hirst and the diamond skull.

As we will be at Noho Marae at Awataha in week 4, this blog question is for week 4 and week 5.
Research the art work of Damien Hirst, in particular his work 'For the love of God'(2008), a diamond encrusted skull.

Discuss how Hirst's persona and work relate to the Renaissance concepts of Mercantillism and the (increased) status of the artist.

Born in Bristol in 1965, Damien Hirst is a very well known British Artist. His work (often controversial) deals with the ideas of mortality, which is seen clearly in his most famous series of work, "The Natural History", featuring various animals (including sheep, cows and a shark) preserved and suspended in formaldehyde in lifelike poses. His work 'The physical impossibility of Death in the mind of someone living' which features a 14m long Tiger Shark suspended in formaldehyde is considered the iconic work of 90's British art and the symbol of Britart world wide. His work also includes ‘spot’ paintings and ‘spin’ paintings.

One of the main controversies behind Hirst’s work is that he rarely does the work himself. Hirst has been quoted as saying "The real creative act is the conception and as progenitor of the idea, I am the artist."[1] Seemingly treating his artwork like that of a factory or brand, Hirst employs over 100 artists and fabricators to create artworks for him at a starting wage of just 9 pounds. Artists were reportedly paid around 600 pounds to create an artwork that would be sold for over 600,000, making Hirst almost like a mercantilist nation in his own right; importing resources such as paints and canvases, paying workers to create around his ideas, and then selling the creations for massive profit. This method of acquiring wealth through export and limited import has made him an extremely rich man, as of 2007 he was the richest living artist of all time.

The ultimate example of this is Hirst’s ‘For the love of god’, A 50 million pound platinum skull studded with diamonds. Created by London jewellers Bentley & Skinner out of 6 platinum plates shaped to look like the skull and 8601 diamonds, the estimated price of the jewels is said to be about 10 million pounds and it has been called the most ambitious piece of British jewellery since the crown jewels. The work reportedly got its name from Hirst’s mother, who once said to him “For the love of god, what’re you going to make next?”. The skull has received very mixed media, some calling it the most ambitious art piece of recent years, others labelling it an attempt at getting money, one things for sure, that’s one expensive artwork.

References: [1] http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23410356-inside-damien-hirsts-factory.do

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hirst.html

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

http://www.leninimports.com/damien_hirst.html

http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2367

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23410356-inside-damien-hirsts-factory.do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g49gGKV7Epc

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[1] http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23410356-inside-damien-hirsts-factory.do