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1 > Final installation before the flowers are added.

2 > Image during opening reception with the flowers added to the bud vases.

3 > Image during opening reception with audience participation.

Critique Reflection 4: Final

With the completion of the installation we realized that it wasn’t really quite complete. There is a portion of this installation that will only be complete after the interactions have happened with the viewers and the flowers have been inserted into the bud vases. Even then, there is a time element that elongates the “work in progress” stage because it will change as the week progresses and the flowers begin to wilt. That passage of time and the fact that it never really is complete is an aspect I did not realize I so strongly enjoyed. In future works, I will consider that effect more and see if there is a way to develop it further.

In previous conversations about the work for capstone, I delved into the idea of identity. It developed into a comparison between heritage and culture and an understanding that my decisions are all made by the interaction of the two. It did come up though that when I present the work itself, I don’t necessarily address the relationship between heritage and culture in either the artist statement or me talking about it even though it does inform how I make aesthetic decisions. This lead into the topic of having a responsibility to address race in my work.

The question that I’ve been considering over the past two days since the critique is this: Do I need to talk about which part of my identity my decisions come from?

Yes and no.

Yes – I like the conversation it starts about how I am not Indian or American. I am Indian American and my art reflects that. It is influenced by both because I am influenced by both. It follows the fact that art is a reflection of the artist.

No – It starts an entirely different conversation about the work itself. The focus is taken away from the idea of creating a new experience and puts it on race. As an individual in a minority group, I think it’s important to educate and inform others, but there is a line that gets crossed when I begin speaking about those aspects. The focus then becomes more about race than it does the actual intent or reason for creating the work.

For this body of work, I am leaning towards no. Again, it is important to address topics like minority groups and representation, but this body of work is aimed at creating a universal experience. I like that there is potential to talk about aesthetic decisions and more specific driving points, but the work is about remember and experiencing and I want the main focus to be on that.

In my opinion, I will speak about representation and racial influence when the subject of my work is representation and race. Until then, the work is about the topic I choose, and unfortunately, once the topic of race is introduced it is no longer accessible to a portion of my potential audience and that goes against one of the main reasons for creating the body of work.

Moving forward though, I want to consider representation and race as the subject of my work. Even though this set of work is aimed at creating universal experiences, I would like to try creating more of a challenge for viewers.

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1 > Steel structure from “Meditation I.” Example for what the structure will look like for “Reflect, Experience”

2 > Example of a traditional sari. Possible clothing option for performance aspect of “Reflect, Experience”

3 > Example of contemporary fashion in the west with influence from Indian culture. Another option on clothing option for performance aspect of “Reflect, Experience.” Maybe not as “high fashion,” but pulling from this form of blending.

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Critique Reflection 3

At this stage, most decisions have been made about the content of the project and what needs to be made for the presentation of the work. Now it is just a matter of creating everything and preparing all the parts for the installation.

The major insight I was able to get from this critique was about the layout of the installation for “Reflect, Experience.” My original plan was to have a singular steel structure open on one end to allow access into the space, but it seemed to plain and obvious. I want it to seem more like an environment that exists separately from the gallery it resides in. For this reason, I’ve been considering creating three structures that would be placed in a triangular form with the entrances to each area open to the center. This way there are three separate spaces for individuals to walk into and experience rather than just being open to the entire public. From the feedback of the class, I will be moving forward with this idea.

For the same piece, the question about performance came up again. I will be performing by interacting with people. Openings are something I look forward to because it gives me a chance to interact with other people interested in art and also gives me the chance to see and speak with people I don’t normally get to see. The focus, therefore, will be on those interactions. I will be talking to people that I know and am familiar with as well as those that I have never seen before, having a conversation, and giving them a flower as an invitation to then walk into the space and place a flower in one of the bud vases. This act is meant to be a way to solidify the memory of the opening into the memory of those attending, but is also a comment on the social atmosphere of art openings where artwork is ironically more difficult to look at and experience.

For the performance portion, the question of presentation came up. I considered wearing traditional clothing from India, but it seems fake to do so? As of now, I want it to seem completely genuine to how I present myself regularly. I might consider how to take influences from traditional Indian dress and incorporate it into how I dress for opening receptions seeing as this body of work is based off of this idea as a way to show the blend of my culture and heritage. In fact, I have been doing this in other areas, so it would seem both genuine and experimental. This aspect is still a work in process though.

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REFLECTION: The Art of Modern India, 1947-1980

The main conversation seems to be about the redefinition of the stylistic and artistic culture in the country after British control was over. One of the main conversations that takes place in this book is the idea of modernity, how it’s defined, and how the change took place in India.

Post-British colonialism, the country was left partially industrialized and partly taken advantage of. The Industry that Britain was able to set up allowed for India to become part of the modern market, but because of the exploitation of resources it was also left without structure. That lack of structure left a country that continued to grow and develop technology fairly quickly, but also left it with excessive amounts of poverty and governmental issues. Throw in the conflict between countries like Pakistan and India with the religious differences, the countries were left in a state of strife.

Despite that, there was a sense of nationalism in India that drove artists in the country to find a way to define themselves now that the reign of Britain was over. Because of the influence of a European Britain, a portion of the population was also practicing Christianity. This began to show up in the artworks and is a major point of importance. The three religions now in the area – Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam – began to influence what the visual culture was like since each has its own set of icons and emphases. Hand signs and figures began to cross the boundaries of the cultures, taking on a more universal representation of the spiritual views in the area rather than just a single position.

I think this is important to the region because it shows the blending of faiths. Additionally, it is a representation of the ideas and thoughts of the area, showing the history of the region. I say this because it includes the changes in power. The shift from the Mughal empire – mainly Islamic – back to Hindu leaders – to the British empire and their push for Christianity to Gandhi, who rose up against the British and brought back a focus to the Hindu faith. Having artwork that represents all three religions is an homage to the blending of thoughts and histories to acknowledge rather than ignore.

On the topic of acknowledgement, many artists in the area post-colonialism began considering what was left behind. When the British returned power back to the local community, what remained was a partially industrialized country – seen as a move towards modernity and progress – with phenomenal amounts of poverty because there was no attempt to create a structure for the country while the British occupied the area. Rather, they created a structure that was purely British, they retrieved what they needed, and then they finally returned the land and power back to the people; the problem being that the people had no outlet or understanding of what their country was now that they had it back.

This idea is represented in the artwork post colonialism. There was a resurgence of tradition from the Hindu faith, but also a comparison between how it existed now versus how it existed before British colonialism. Contrasts between modern structures and a sense of claustrophobia began to show up in the artworks as a representation of the progress being made compared to this sense of being stuck or unsure of how to move forward.

The idea of returning to the humble village became a way to show how tradition and modernity were conflicting with one another. Tradition continued to persist, but modern thought – which includes being influenced more by secular reasoning and science instead of religion and spirituality – was beginning to push communities farther into a sense of loss and confusion. Oftentimes, showing how areas would get stuck in poverty and lack of structure.

On the other hand, artists were also able to create representations that were inspiring and encouraging in their blend of past and present. Architecture became influenced by the geometric stylization and simplification commonly seen in Western cultures with hints from both Islamic and Hindu traditions. This was based on the revivalist style that aimed to bring back spirituality from the Hindu faith back into their visual landscape.

Because there is an attempt at the redefinition of the style and identity of art in the region, a question comes up about what is modern and what is primitive. The connotation associated with primitive is that those aspects associated with that word are “behind” or “not yet developed.” This stigma seems to find itself as an opponent to the nature of spirituality seen in Asian cultures – generally describe as primitive. My question is, how is it different from embracing spirituality in Western religions? After reading this book, I think it comes down to the fact that one nation is taking over another. There is a sense that Western nations saw themselves as more intelligent or progressive, so the split lent itself to saying that they were also more powerful. This separation found itself in what is considered primitive vs sophisticated because it is a representation of who places themselves in power. It is primitive because it seems less sophisticated.

Despite the struggle in power, artists are using this as a return to the “primitive” influences from their faiths. No matter if it comes from Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, etc, there is an increase in the use of icons in both a literal figural way and in an abstracted way to be a representation of the spiritual presence. Despite the push towards the secular nature of many other modernizing areas, the return to tradition is a way to recover a sense of identity and history rather than moving away from and removing it. I think doing this allowed the country the chance to reevaluate what has happened to them as a nation and how it has left them. The most important aspect being a blend between tradition and modern ideologies.

I think the most interesting is how modern ideologies is defined. Rather, how there is lack of definition. Despite there being an exclusion of definition, a lot of the traits being associated with “modernity” in relation to how it’s being mixed with tradition is based in European and Western forms of thought processes. This is unavoidable since India was under British control, so the thinking processes are going to be influenced by the visual culture that they brought with them. But, modernity in India is more a representation of what was left behind, and in most cases it was famine and poverty and war brought on by onset of somewhat arbitrary land divisions.

It begs the question from any relationship between first-word countries and their conquered nations about exploration versus exploitation and why we accept certain standards as our definition. Coming from someone that is less attached to spirituality and religion, I am curious as to why a sense of superiority developed in certain countries over others. More so, I am curious as to the relationship that has to faith, seeing as it is oftentimes the driving point for decisions throughout history.

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REFLECTION: Installation Art

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/i/installation-art

Installation based work is something I find myself attracted to because the focus is shifted from the story of the object to the experience of the viewer. Before having read into a concrete definition of the style, I would have considered myself to be an “installation artists” because of the temporary and interactive nature of my work. Although those elements are important in establishing a definition, the style is defined by “large-scale, mixed-media constructions, often designed for a specific place or for a temporary period of time.”

I think I am moving in the right direction towards working in this style, but there seems to be a fine line between interactive sculptural works and installations. As of now, my work is still closer to interactive sculptures, and although there is no problem with that, I want to be able to create spaces that are more universal for experiences rather than being a series of separate, individual pieces. The most difficult aspect to me is creating that universal experience or story without completely removing myself. This is a concern because although I want it to be relatable and understood/experienced by a wide audience, can you consider it art if the artist is detached completely?

Despite how I define myself, I was able to find that there was a reawakening of conceptual art in the 1980s that peaked interest in installation based works. The focus on concept combined with large scale environments is what draws me to the style. It gives viewers an opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the work, as if they are getting a sneak peek into the artist’s brain while owning an experience completely to themselves. It allows the artist to maintain their attachment to the work while letting the viewer create their own story.

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REFLECTION: Minimalism

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/minimalism

Although I have a basic understanding of what minimalism is, I wanted to set a baseline for the definition and to confirm that I understood the stylistic characteristics before moving forward. My understanding was, for the most part, correct, but I found out a handful of details that I did not realize were included in the definition of the style/movement. The following is a summary of my understanding of minimalism after reading this article.

The movement and style features geometric forms that are generally presented as sculptures or installations, but there are a handful of painters that embraced minimalist theories as well. Minimalism was a shift away from abstract expressionism and gestural art. It focuses on the simplification of form and concept to confront what is physically in front of viewers, the medium/material and the form itself.

This simplification and refocusing of thought on the object itself is an attempt to bring attention to the form and the space it embodies rather than the background of the artist. Because of the detachment from being representational, this movement was seen as “representing qualities [of] truth, order, simplicity, and harmony,” encouraging viewers to be conscious of the space the artwork is in and how it interacts with that space.

I am fascinated by this style because of the high levels of detachment and simplification. Personally, I believe that artwork is an embodiment of the artist’s background no matter the intention of detachment. Despite that, I find the style captivating because of the ability of the artists to manipulate space. It brings attention to the object itself and the physical experience in the space rather than holding a loaded message or story. The call to being present and the simplification of form are the main influences I take from this style.

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