Ten Inspiring Artists: 1-5
(wanted to finish this post even though I missed the due date)
Artist 1: Graham Hudson
United Kingdom, b. 1977
www.grahamhudson.com
Graham Hudson creates raw, unstable and haphazard installations made from everyday, found materials. He defines his aesthetic as "minimalist maximalist" and his sculptures are often on the brink of collapse. Hudson incorporates scaffolding and unfinished structures into his work. He describes scaffolding as "utilitarian – it expands like a beehive to accommodate what you put in it. I’m attracted to it because it’s not a real thing, it’s a non-object. There’s no value to it as sculpture if you can rebuild it with different stuff each different time. It moves throughout the cities as an emblem of time. It’s viral - springing up in response to buildings falling apart and people deciding to build them up again." His approach to using readymade materials gives a freshness and spontaneity to his work. The materials point to their original uses in industry, commerce and construction, but gain a new life in Hudson’s installations. Hudson describes his sculptures as sketches-in-materials and strives for simplicity in his works.
2:1 Chair, 2009. Timber, plastic, wicker and paint.
On Off, 2008, scaffold, pallets, 20 x turntables, on off timer, and lights.
Trauma Monument, 2008, 4 x cardboard boxes, 2 x tape measure.
Artist 2: Simon Gush
South Africa, b. 1981
www.simongush.net
Simon Gush does not follow a preferred medium or specific style in his work, but rather focuses on multi-media, photography, performance, and found objects. Gush is interested in facilitating and constructing a way of speaking around politics and how we live as a society… “for me, there is a lot of space for different kinds of investigation, and my practice has always been linked to a feeling of responsibility to be part of or to stimulate some dialogue.” His appropriation and reconfiguration of found objects, and experiences of everyday life "reflect on the way in which power and politics operate through the quotidian."
The Railway Maintenance Workers… 2008. Paint on wall.
In the Company of, 2008. Video still, single-channel HD video, ten-channel audio, 32 mins. 27 secs.
"In the Company of (2008), a football game is played between teams of immigrants in Belgium. The game is located across a set of railway tracks, creating an almost impossible game. Here the intersection of elements creates a metaphoric and physical clashing of sport, transport and the politics of globalization." - Chad Rossouw
Other interesting works: Serenade, Perfect Lovers (after Felix Gonzalez-Torres)
Artist 3: Darren Almond
United Kingdom, b. 1971
http://whitecube.com/artists/darren_almond/
Darren Almond's works deal with evocative meditations on time and duration as well as the themes of personal and historical memory. Almond is interested in examining different structures and perceptions of time. Almond's installation Terminus (2007) relocated the original socialist-era bus shelters of the town of Oswiecim (formerly Auschwitz) to make a moving installation about historical loss. They constitute a unique kind of waiting room, either for freedom or death. It is as if the historic experience of collectively waiting had been condensed and preserved within them. A key questions posed by Almond's oeuvre is 'how does the extreme become routine?'
Terminus, 2007. 14 bus shelters, aluminum, steel, wood, fibreglass, PVC.
Meantime, 2000. Steel sea container, aluminum, polycarbonate, computerized electronic control system and component. 9.6 x 8 x 40 feet.
Artist 4: Marlene Dumas
South Africa, 1953
http://www.marlenedumas.nl
Marlene Dumas is known for her oil, watercolour and ink portraits and renderings of the human figure. Her work often turns to representations of death, violence, religion and motherhood. Dumas' close cropping decontextualizes her subjects and suggests an unsavoury mugshot. Her works are often grisly in content but are beautifully executed. Her technique is both provocative and disturbing.
For Whom the Bell Tolls, 2008. Oil on Canvas.
Artist 5: Olafur Eliasson
Denmark, b. 1967
http://www.olafureliasson.net
For Olafur Eliasson, research is an integral part of his art. It takes blueprints and models before an Eliasson installation can be realized. His dramatic, large-scale works challenge the viewer's perception of how to deal, in phenomenological terms, with space, vision, light, colour and at the same time, with his expectations of art in everyday experience. Nature in a man-made world is a central topic of Eliasson's art. The Weather Project used an artificial sun, a ceiling mirror and steam to turn the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall into an illusionistic realm of experience. His ability to make his audience question their perceptions and their environment and Eco Art is something I am very interested in pursuing.
Ice Watch, 2014. 100 tonnes of ice.
ICE WATCH:
"Twelve large blocks of ice, cast off from the Greenland ice sheet, were collected from a fjord outside Nuuk and shipped to Copenhagen, where they were presented in a clock formation in City Hall Square, from 26 to 29 October 2014, to mark the publication of the UN IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change. The pieces of ice, which had not completely melted by the end of the three days, were donated to schools around Copenhagen.
Ice Watch was a physical wake-up call: the ice is melting. Sea levels are rising. Temperatures are increasing. Climate change is a fact."
http://olafureliasson.net/icewatch
Waterfall, 1998. Installation view.
The Weather Project, 2003. Mono-frequency light, foil, haze machine, mirror foil, scaffold.
"Seeing yourself Experiencing/Seeing yourself Seeing"
