FINE 319: Kennedi Cole @thatoneartcritic-blog - Tumblr Blog

Elaborate staged photographs find themselves in this weird place between reality and a painting. This is because, like a painting, they are completely composed and put together specifically for the purpose of looking good. But unlike a painting, they are a captured image of something real; they include real objects and real sets and sometimes real people. Not to say that some paintings aren’t of real things, but that a photograph is as close to a captured image of what the brain sees as we can get. Such is the case for Jeff Wall’s After “Invisible Man.” The photo is a scene from a novel written by Ralph Ellison that depicts the Narrator’s living space from the book. Without that context however, the image reads as a fantastical place. Light bulbs aren’t inherently whimsical on their own but when grouped together they bring reminders of Christmas, which is an inherently magical time of the year for many. The concept of light alone also alludes to magic, as light is associated with weightlessness and often otherworldly means, giving it that sense of mystery. The colour palette is warm as well, keeping with this idea of light and creating a harmonious humble mood. In regards to composition the work follows the rules of thirds by keeping the focal point, that being the protagonist, to the side ultimately making it more pleasing to behold.

(Word count: 231)

https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2003/hammer-projects-jeff-wall/ - image source

The outlash against Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc is probably one of the largest examples of first world problems in human history. The work is a massive 120 feet long wall that was commissioned by the Art-In-Architecture program is New York city to go in front of the Federal buildings. The wall is fairly simple, likely because it’s purpose is to force every day workers to think about their place in the space and how the work changed as they moved. It is less about the aesthetics and more about the interaction. The issue that plaza-goers had with the work was almost ironic, as many found it an inconvenience to walk around the sculpture to get to the buildings on the other side rather than a pleasure to experience when they did so. People were so inconvenienced by the work that they couldn’t actually appreciate the purpose of it. It forces you to move and to change your daily routine up in some way, something that you would think New York office workers would apreciate. But alas, change is aparently the devil’s brew.

(Word Count: 191)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/54184001742146611/ - image source

Katharnia Grosse’s installation works are something to behold, and deffinatly something to be experienced. Her paint application resembles that of graffiti, yet when applied to a work such as this one, they turn the scene into a sort of warzone, one that has seen countless battles between various colours of paint. However, the scene still creates a sense of tranquility as if this said battle has long ended. This is likely because of the combination of the dirt and the paint together; it makes it look like a field after an unusually destructive display of India’s Festival of Colour. Colour also stimulates both the brain and the eye. The spectrum of visible light, like all light, is in the form a wavelength that the eye picks up. When the eye picks it up it vibrates, so the more colours the human eye perceives, the more excited the eye gets, literally. This is likely Grosse’s intention; she wants viewers to feel these works. Because they are spaces that surround viewers, and because they incorporate so much colour, they become easily felt.

http://punkwasp.com/katharina-grosse/ - source. I coudn’t find the name of this work anywhere... nor could I find a proper source for the image. I did my best though.

There is something inherently funny about Christian Marclay’s Telephones. This is likely do to the fact that the piece consists of multiple cuts of famous actors on the telephone, seemingly with each other because of the way it is constructed. The simultaneous cuts of the actors shown next to each other give the impression that they are all speaking with one another, in one big long, endless conversation. This is funny to begin with, but Marclay also changes up the pace as the film goes on by choosing select parts of the films to include in which the actors say other things as well. In doing so Marclay creates a commentary on how the telephone is handled in cinema – he brings to light just how simple of a medium cinema is in the sense that meaning is often derived from quick sequences of images. By altering the scenes from these films and placing them in the way he does, he makes it clear how easy it is to change the meaning of what we are seeing.

(Word count: 176)

I think it is safe to say that Tony Oursler’s Guilty is probably one of the most disturbing works of art available to view. Although, it is difficult to pinpoint why that is. Could it be because of the subject matter, that of a girl seemingly stuffed under a mattress? Could it be because of its candidness, considering the way it makes you feel as if you have just happened upon the scene? Or perhaps it could be because of the way the work confronts you, as it shouts as you as if you were the one that wronged it. These are all qualities that contribute to that disturbing nature, the artist has managed to engage the viewer so well in the work that they are made uncomfortable by it. The clothing and head of the female are displayed in a venerable position, as if the artist is taunting the viewer, daring them to do something. “I can read your mind! ... I know what you want to do!”” She screams, validating this even further. Yet despite the venerable position and the allusion to a tragedy, the viewer does not help. They cannot, because the work blames them, it yells at them as if they were the culprits. The most remarkable thing about Guilty is that it is literally able to create that emotion, even without the title.

Source above.

Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party is widely regarded as an icon of 1970s feminist art, and rightly so. The work depicts a series of 39 dinner plates and cups, with each space commemorating important women from history (Slacker). The piece is incredibly visually pleasing for something that is so large and so mundane as well. The fact that the table is a triangle for one thing makes it immediately striking. The corners are sharp and dynamic and they do well to grab attention, and they hold that attention by being a closed shape. The viewer is compelled to follow the table all the way around, as if to give themselves the sense of completion. In terms of feminism, the table again is a representation of the feminine: that idea that a kitchen is the women’s place and that a dinner table is her product. The suggestion and depiction of female genitals is the strong point of the piece however. Putting such ‘sensitive’ material on something as mundane as the dinner table normalizes the female genitals and makes a bold statement about women in art as well as women in everyday life. (Word Count:189)

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/dinner_party -image and information source.

http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/ugoretz11/2011/12/21/invited-to-the-dinner-party-at-the-brooklyn-museum/ -image source.

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View ‘s deep shadows and dynamic composition make it feel as if it is more than just a few simple objects hung from a ceiling; they make it feel as if it is a moment. And it is in fact a moment, the moment of a shed exploding, according to the artist. Cornelia Parker uses what is more of a central, circular composition in regards to this work, but because of what it is she places in the center it becomes more radiant than that. In the middle of all the pieces and debris is a singular light bulb. This light bulb is the only source of light used in the work, but because of the way she has constructed the surrounding debris, the impact it has becomes more effective. The singular bulb casts stark and powerful shadows around the room that the work is placed in, adding a form of real dynamism and movement that otherwise would not be present. (Word count:166)

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/parker-cold-dark-matter-an-exploded-view-t06949- Link to image source as well as the Tate Gallery’s page on the work

There is something really organic and free about Lynda Benglis’ work, much like many other post-modernist artists, and it is very likely that this can be attributed to their use of gravity. Benglis’ piece entitled Wave of the World is one such example. This organic and realistic quality is probably also a product of the work’s general similarity to mud thanks to its heavy dripping forms and colouration. The fact that the work is a fountain also assists this idea and pushes it further, as it is placed directly in a natural spot. The most peculiar and perhaps the most interesting thing about the work is the fact that it has such a large emphasis on gravity; it appears as if it is frozen liquid suspended in the air, but because it is just that, suspended, it creates a perfect juxtaposition. We are so intrigued when we look at a form like this because it looks as if it is a natural formation, but it is not something we would ever see in nature because it would have happened too quickly for us to catch anything more than a glimpse.

(Word Count: 190)

http://www.art21.org/videos/short-lynda-benglis-the-wave-of-the-world -link to the image source, as well as a short video about the work in case anyone was interested.

#01/27/16 #art #lyndabenglis

The perplexing thing about minimalism is the fact that the artists who practice it claim that the work is intended to be completely literal, yet time and time again we see minimalist artists titling their work and accomplishing the opposite of their goal. The struggle of minimalist art is in the fact that they strive to do something that is impossible in the art world; if one is going to call an object art, they have already given the object meaning. As soon as an object is given that label, it automatically becomes something more than just what it is. Such is the problem with works like this one, Sol le Wit’s Incomplete Cube.

Without any context the work reads as a strange form of frame; perhaps something that is currently in the works. It is only until one sees it in the space of a gallery does that it really become art, and because of this the viewers immediately demand a title and context – removing any connotation of it being ‘just a frame’ and giving it more meaning. Perhaps this is part of the charm of minimalism, the fact that the movement is infused with irony, or perhaps it is not. One thing however is certain; minimalism is all about interpretation, and that is one thing Incomplete Cube allows for.

(Word count: 220)

https://www.pinterest.com/aarone0365/sol-lewitt/ -image source

Wrapping one’s head around the concept of contemporary art is undoubtedly a difficult thing to do. Yoko Ono’s Walking Piece is a work that makes the movement a little easier to understand, simply because of the sheer uniqueness of it. It is the opposite of a traditional work of art, as the only visual medium present is text. That text is however is pleasing to view; not only it is a font with seraphs, but it has appropriate capitalization and is centered accordingly. Each of these aspects of the work would have you believe that it is a page of a book, that of which it is, yet the actual subject matter is far from that.

Walking Piece, much like many of Ono’s other works, is unique because it only becomes a complete work once a participant has followed through on the instructions. The instructions are strikingly child-like, which I find to be a good way of understanding the movement of contemporary art. It is almost as if the artist once said to herself, “wouldn’t it be fun to follow in someone’s footsteps” and then did so, but immediately became sad that there was no one near by to witness it, and so, Walking Piece was born. (Word count: 207)

https://twitter.com/yokoono/status/560917812554629120 -image link source

#yoko ono #Fine319 #UwaterlooArts

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

FINE 319: Kennedi Cole