Week 9 - Modernism and Post-Modernism

Maggie, (1996), Oil on canvas, 30 x 24"
(76.2 x 61 cm), Photograph by Ellen Page Wilson, courtesy of PaceWildenstein, New York, © Chuck Close 

Self Portrait (1994). Chuck Close. Detail.

Water Lillies (1920) Claude Monet

Water Lillies (1920) Claude Monet.

1 Outline the intentions of each artist

Monet has painted the same scene, but in different seasons. This means to study the performance of the same scene at different times of the year in order to capture a change in color. Impressionism is the main reason colors appear to break the shackles. Claude Monet’s intention was to capture nature more accurately. He achieved this by starting his work outside, before going back to his studio where he completed his work.

Chuck Close had one intention and that was to make art hard for him self. He threw away his tools, which included his brushes. “I chose to do things I had no facility with.” He did this so it would push him to achieve something he’s never achieved before. His work is Super-Realism or Photorealism or New Realism. Super-realism is a photo reproduction, but also does everything possible to avoid the subjective feelings, trying to use an objective to describe the mentality of indifference and even photographs of the real world.

2 Describe the techniques of each artist

Monet's “asymmetrical arrangements of forms emphasized their two-dimensional surfaces by eliminating linear perspective and abandoning three-dimensional modeling.”

Monet used unmediated colours and added tones to his shadows. This brought a vibrant brightness to his work

Close takes the photo first, expands the picture then paints the image onto the canvas. He uses an airbrush and an electric rubber instead of a brush. This is to save time and limit the amount of labor-intensive work to complete his artwork.

3 Find 2 quotes about each artists work, and reference them correctly

Monet:

"They are short-sighted those who call me a master : of good intentions, yes, but that's all."  - Claude Monet (Chuck Oscar Monet, 2011)

"I get madder and madder on giving back what I feel." - Claude Monet (Chuck Oscar Monet, 2011)

Close:

“I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine.. Most of the pleasure is in getting the last little piece perfect.”  - Chuck Close ( Close, 2011).

“I think a painter looking at a painting sees the image, but they also see how the image was constructed.” - Chuck Close ( Close, 2011). 

4 Note 3 similarities of the work of both artists

1, Modernism

2, Formalism

3, Beautiful colours

4, They have found subjects in their immediate surroundings, such as people and places they knew best.

5, Up close, their works are not clear, until you take a few steps back.

5 What are some differences between the artist's work.

Monet would start his work outside in the field and capture nature. Monet produced his work in the late 1800’s and very early 1900’s, so he didn’t have the resources available to him that Close did.

Close would start in the studio and capture the human face either by a painting or a photo. He produced paintings that from a distance were almost 3 dimensional.

6 Describe your response to the work of both artists

I feel both artists produce a very high quality art work. Both artists produce unique work that is different from each other. I can tell each piece of art work is special to the artist. I can also tell that Monet’s work in from a different time than Close’s.

References

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmon/hd_cmon.htm

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2009/09/contemporary_art_legend_chuck.html

http://www.whitecube.com/artists/close/

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmon/hd_cmon.htm
Monet, C. O. (2011) http://www.intermonet.com/oeuvre/nymphea2.htm
Close, C. (2011) http://www.artquotes.net/masters/chuck-close/close-quotes.htm



Week 7-Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

The artists of the late 1800's and early 1900's, in Europe, were influenced by the Industrial revolution.

1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution defined as the application of power-driven machinery to manufacturing. It had its beginning in remote times, and is still continuing in some places. In the eighteenth century all of western Europe began to industrialize rapidly, but in England the process was most highly accelerated. England’s head start may be attributed to the emergence of a number of simultaneous factors.

Britain had burned up her magnificent oak forests in its fireplaces, but large deposits of coal were still available for industrial fuel. There was an abundant labor supply to mine coal and iron, and to man the factories. From the old commercial empire there remained a fleet, and England still possessed colonies to furnish raw materials and act as captive markets for manufactured goods. Tobacco merchants of Glasgow and tea merchants of London and Bristol had capital to invest and the technical know-how derived from the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Last, the insularity of England saved industrial development from being interrupted by war. Soon all western Europe was more or less industrialized, and the coming of electricity and cheap steel after 1850 further speeded the process. (Rempel, 2006).

Both paintings featured on this blog, that are from the early 1900s were painted by Modernist painters from the group called 'Futurists'. The Futurists celebrated the machine, and objects in motion. Their primary objective was to depict movement, which they saw as symbolic of their commitment to the dynamic forward thrust of the 20th century.

2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.

The City Rises (La città che sale) (1910) is an important painting by the Italian painter Umberto Boccioni.

The City Rises is a monumental painting that depicts the construction of an electric power plant. In this idealized scene, the structure being built is overshadowed by the workers whose activities fill most of the canvas.

Buildings in construction in a suburb can be seen with chimneys in the upper part, but the most of the space is occupied by men and horses, melted together in a dynamic effort. Boccioni thus emphasizes some among the most typical elements of futurism, the exaltation of human work and the importance of the modern town, built around modern necessities. The painting portrays the construction of a new city, with developments and technology. Suburbs, and the urban environment in general, formed the basis of many of Boccioni's paintings, from the capture of the staccato sounds of construction in Street-pavers to the riot of sound and colour offered to the observer of street scenes, as typified by The Street Enters the House.

Dynamism of A Dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla

This painting shows A lady is walking a dog; a widow and her pet. There are many legs, tails and strings to show the movement. The lady has roughly 15 feet, variably solid and see-through. The dog has eight countable tails, while its legs are lost in flurry of blurry overlays. Four swinging leads go between them. The idea of breaking down a movement into separate positions wasn't unknown to our ancestors. But between medieval and modern art, the trick is kept out of painting. The picture's sense of movement is created out of stark black forms and weird flowing lacey veils. (Lubbock, 2009)

Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) refers to China's recent rapid industialisation and urbanization.
(www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/cafeintopia.asp)

3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9)  in order to comment on this work in more depth.
i.e what images has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and why has she used these.

She used China’s flag, panda, Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Tian an men gate, Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Chinese characters, which tell us it’s in China. The crane, skyscrapers, wheels, flyovers show the development of Industrial Revolution at full speed and great and earth-shaking historical changes have taken place in China in the 20th century.

Named after Chinese money, RMB City shows a perverse view of Beijing—a blend of communism, socialism, and capitalism. Like Beijing itself, it is constantly under construction, candy-striped smoke stacks suggest continuous industrial production and ships move goods swiftly in and out of port. A giant shopping cart, filled with skyscrapers and religious monuments, floats nearby; and Tiananmen Square has been converted into a swimming pool. (Artspace, 2009)

4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia. Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.

RMB City is not a real exist city. It has been created by Cao Fei’s avatar China Tracy as an experimental utopian world for the 3D online virtual community of Second Life. Institutions and investors have been invited to buy buildings in RMB City and program events and activities within them where other Second Life users can participate. Thousands of young people in Asia and around the world are embracing Second Life as a “parallel universe” on the Internet.

RMB City will be the condensed incarnation of contemporary Chinese cities with most of their characteristics; a series of new Chinese fantasy realms that are highly self-contradictory, inter-permeative, laden with irony and suspicion, and extremely entertaining and pan-political. China’s current obsession with land development in all its intensity will be extended to Second Life. A rough hybrid of communism, socialism and capitalism, RMB City will be realized in a globalized digital sphere combining overabundant symbols of Chinese reality with cursory imaginings of the country’s future.

5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital work have emerged from different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not already researched it.

There are many similarities between Modernist painting and the contemporary digital work:

1, Expressing own incenter feeling.

2, Transform incarnates in many ways and implicates enormous spirit connotations. Analyzed form idea to the spirit connotation, and compared from landscape orientation to portrait, in which many objects are applied, such as psychology and receive aesthetics theories and so on.

3, The culture significances are revealed deeply.

4, Expression in multiple viewpoint, interlaced spatio-temporal illusory.

5,  Pursuit new ideas and display mechanical beauty.

References:

Artspace, （2009， June 18）.  Cao Fei – Utopia. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0906/S00212.htm

Lubbock, T. (2009, September 4). Great Works: Dynamism of A Dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-dynamism-of-a-dog-on-a-leash-1912-giacomo-balla-1781174.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_Rises_(Boccioni)

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/boccioni.html

http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/173/index.html

http://www.douban.com/event/10228289/

http://turbulence.org/blog/2008/02/27/live-stage-cao-feis-rmb-city-nyc/

http://www.lw23.com/lunwen_213884927/

Week 6 - Landscape and the Sublime

 'Wanderer in the mists' (1818) Caspar David Friedrich'Untitled #2" (2002) Richard Misrach'Untitled # 394-03' (2003) 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?

The Enlightenment is generally described as taking place during the 18^th century and is centred in France. The values and ideas that developed during the period of the Enlightenment are described as having a major influence on current ways of thinking in the West and therefore the production of contemporary Western visual culture. It was the creation of a new framework of ideas about man, society and nature, which challenged existing conceptions rooted in a traditional world-view, dominated by Christianity.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

“Sublime” defined in 1756 by the British statesman and political theorist Edmund Burke. His believed the life of feeling and spirit depended on a harmony within the large order of the universe.

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

The sublime was the ultimate experience of divinity, a mixture of awe, fear, and enlightenment produced by the contemplation of powerful, terrifying nature.

 

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

Pyramid Lake (at night), (2004) Richard Misrach

Battleground Point #8 (1999) Richard Misrach

Battleground Point #3 (1999) Richard Misrach
All three photos have people in them with nature in the background. The first photo shows a man, with large mountains in front of him. He is obviously up high, because of the clouds below him. The second and third photos show a person at the beach. I feel amazed when I see these two photos, because they must have been taken from up high, because the person can just be seen.

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


Virginia Mak and John Martin.

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

I feel great when I look at Misrach’s photos because it makes me look at life from a different perspective and realize that I shouldn’t worry about small problems, because they aren’t really important. Yes, these photos appeal to my imagination because I realize the world is such a big place and me as an individual can only achieve a certain amount.

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

Hidden Nature 10 , Virginia Mak

The Assuaging of the Waters (1840) John Martin

Reference:

Extract from: Hamilton, P.. (1992). The Enlightenment and the birth of social science, in Hall,S. & Gieben B. (eds.), Formantions of Modernity. Cambridge: Open University Press (p.23)

http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thenineteenthcentury/a/enlightenment.htm

http://www.enotes.com/history-fact-finder/eras-their-highlights/what-was-enlightenment

http://www.artnet.com/artists/virginia-mak/

http://www.lux-aeterna.co.nz/johnmartin.htm



Week 5 - Science and reason- Video art by Pipilotti Rist

1. Define the 17th century 'Scientific Revolution', and say how it changed European thought and world view.

Of all the changes that swept over Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the most widely influential was an epistemological transformation that we call the “scientific revolution”. It was a series of changes in the structure of European thought itself: systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification, the abstraction of human knowledge into separate sciences, and the view that the world functions like a machine. The scientific revolution which resulted in new systems of understanding the physical world.

2. Give examples of how we can we still see evidence of the 'Scientific Revolution' in the world today.

Nowadays, computer science, Artificial Intelligence, nano technology, systems bioscience etc. are the latest scientific revolution. We can see it from Damiem Hirst’s art works. His creative company based in the London studios of Science. (Self, 2007, p.10)

In The Savage Mind Levi-Strauss says of magical thinking that: 'Like a shadow moving ahead of its owner it is in a sense complete in itself, and as finished and coherent in its immateriality as the substantial being which it precedes.' That substantial being, being science, or in Hirst's case: Science. (Self, 2007, p.13)

Research Pipilotti Rist's video installations to answer the following:

3. From your research, do you think that the contemporary art world values art work that uses new media/technology over traditional media?

Though the art works which use new media or technology bring us new ideas and visual impact, I still like the traditional media. The fresco or painting on the wood panel can show the beauty of manpower.

4. How has Pipilotti Rist used new media/technology to enhance the audience's experience of her work.

Pipilotti has used a digital movie which has is being projected by 2 projectors onto the corner of 2 walls. If the viewer is standing in the same position as the camera, the picture on the right hand side appears to get larger. She has also used sound, which adds to the excitement. The majority of people viewing her work will feel a sense of fear when they hear the car window being smashed.

5. Comment on how the installation, sound and scale of 'Ever is Over All' (1997) could impact on the audience's experience of the work.

The installation was well thought out, how it was projected into the corner of 2 walls. The sound was interesting. It starts off with the woman walking down the street with a flower stick as peaceful music plays, with the sound of birds. Then all of a sudden you are shocked into the sound of a window being smashed. The music stops briefly and you have a sense off panic. Then the piano continues playing and she walks and smashes another window. You then see her with a smile on her face and start to wonder what this is all about. The scale is a good size, not to big, not to small.

6. Comment on the notion of 'reason' within the content of the video. Is the woman's behaviour reasonable or unreasonable?

I feel the woman’s behaviour is unreasonable. I think she has had a fight with a man and she is angry at all men, because cars are generally associated with men. On the other hand, she looks so peaceful walking along with a beautiful dress, big smile and a flower in one hand as she smashes the car windows. What surprises me is the police woman when smiles at her after watching her smash the car windows. Does this mean woman are taking over the world?

7. Comment on your 'reading' (understanding) of the work by discussion the aesthetic (look), experience and the ideologies (ideas, theories) of the work.

Overall I think it is a very powerful statement. The video is positioned well in the room and is the correct size. Does this video symbolize the relationship between a man and a woman and the continuous battle for power? In this occasion, I feel the woman has the power however there are no men in the movie. Is this because they have all parked their cars and are at work making money for the woman?

Reference:

Self, W., Fuchs, R., Obrist, H. U. & Hirst, D. (2008). Beyond Belief: Damien Hirst. London: Other Criteria/ White Cube.

http://artintelligence.net/review/?p=443