Week 2 - Post-Modernism - Ai Weiwei and Banksy.

POST-MODERNISM

This week's ALVC tutorial covers Post-Modernism. Use the ALVC texts and definitions from the internet to define the term and answer the following questions;

1. Define Post-Modernism using 8-10 bullet points that include short quotes.

• Reflexivity
• Relativist thinking from others 
• New universalist thinking 
• Irony
• Pluralist 
• Hyper-reality
• Intertextuality
• Mixing of culture

2. Use a quote by Witcombe (2000) to define the Post-Modern artist.(page 24)

“The post-modern artist is 'reflexive' in that he/she is self-aware and consciously involved in a process of thinking about him/herself and society in a deconstructive manner, 'demasking' pretentions, becoming aware of his/her cultural self in history, and accelerating the process of self-consciousness”, Witcombe (2000).

3. Use the table on pages 47 and 48 in your ALVC handbook to summarize the list of the features of Post-Modernity.


- Social and cultural pluralism 
- Focus on playing surface, images or signifiers without considering depth. 
- Hyper-reality, looks more powerful than the 'real'.
- Art as process, not just as object or finish work.
- Play, irony, challenge to official seriousness. 

Use this summary to answer the next two questions.

4. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)
in order to say what features of the work could be considered Post-Modern.


Dropping the Urn offers viewers a focused look at Ai's iconoclastic appropriations of historic clay pots and porcelain vases.In the work "Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo"(1994), Ai transforms precious artifacts—treating them as base and valueless by painting, dropping, grinding, or slapping with a logo—into contemporary fine art.

Through his work Ai addresses issues pertinent to contemporary China,  it is a way of creating work  intertextually to other cultures.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/ai-weiwei-dropping-the-urn-ceramic-works,-5000-bc-ad-2010/

'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994), Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei dropping a Han Dynast Urn.

6. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist
to discuss how each work can be defined at Post-Modern.(Use your list from question 3.)

'Flower Riot', Banksy

Los Angeles (2008), Banksy

Banksy is a british artist who is famous for his political stenciled graffitis. "Flower Riot", which is  one of his most famous work, is considered to be a post-modernism artwork to communicate his own opinion. This work is about a man wear a mask while throwing a bunch of flower forward. Banksy is trying to get viewer think about the war that is not the only useful way to solve problem. This work is linked to the global issues that we face to nowadays.

His work " Los Angeles" looks more funny of  a ape-man taking junk food in his hand. however this also make people thinking. 

http://theworldsbestever.com/2008/02/new_banksy_pieces_surface_in_l.php

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/03/11/how-china-conquered-the-art-world.html

Week 1- Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'

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)

'Experiment' (2009) Venice Biennale

  

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

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

Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. It is the kind of animation that created by taking shots of the sculpture which made of clay or other materials. Each stop frame or picture is recorded on film or digital media and make them played back in rapid succession.  Sometimes they are look more "real" by using the actual material such as clay than just make 3D effect on computer.

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

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

These flowers confront viewers with the complex nature of emotions in a terrifying and artistic way. In my opinion, 'surrealistic Garden of Eden' means, Djurberg made these flowers looks real and organized but intricately and constructed.  The surrealist brought the concept from the true life but make more exaggerated to the effect they want to communicate through the work. And for 'all that is natural goes awry', artist created objects from life but they have different feeling to the viewers from actual life. It looks so different from our traditional concept of Eden and seems like ' out of order" however it is well organized by Djurbery.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nathalie-djurberg

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

Djurberg confronts us with 'complexity of emotions' in her way of creating works. Through Djurberg's work, people can have different feeling or emotions about this work from person to person. some people may feel this dark and weird, but others may find interesting. From my view, I think that she is trying to make some huge visual shock from her works and make us thinking of it.

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

Djurberg play with the ideas of some children's stories in some similar themes and roles, but she made a twist on the stories by creating a strong contrast between innocence and surrealistic. she makes scary eerie feeling to the display of her works creating mixed opinions being either truly weird or inventive and fascinating.

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?

None of the emotion is always pure and simple, it always be a mixture of that. It is also same as the most things people has seen in actual life. The disturbing is not just disturbing, but also has a part of innocent and sweet.

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

Her work always lead the viewer has a deeper thinking, which maybe apart from the traditional concept of the world. I think this was fit the proposal of Venice Biennale.

In my opinion, Djurberg's works are dark and creepy but it is capable of intriguing a wide range of viewers. She make the work very captivating, and evenyone have different feeling about it.

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

Actually I don't like Djurbery's work personally, but it is ture that she has make some exaggerated visual effect in her work，which also communicate her ideas strongly. 

Her way of create things is strange to me. I think it is not the only way to communicate through these weird works, but the work can be also gorgeous and well communication.  

Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

Industrialisation in the late 1800s, and today.

Dynamism of a dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla

RMB City (2007-9)  Cao Fei

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?

According to the wikipedia, the Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times.

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.

From The City Rises, 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.In this painting the naturalistic vision of the previous works is partly abandoned, replaced by a more dynamic vision.

In Giacomo Balla's Dynamism Of A Dog On Leash，we can almost feel the frantic energy of the little dog, it's feet shuffling quickly, it's tail wagging excitedly, and the hurried footsteps of the person trying to keep up. The picture's sense of movement is created out of stark black forms and weird flowing lacey veils. It illustrates the precepts of the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting that, "On account of the persistency of an image upon the retina, moving objects constantly multiply themselves; their form changes like rapid vibrations, in their mad career. Thus a running horse has not four legs, but twenty, and their movements are triangular."

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. describe the images that has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and explain why has she used these images.

In Cao Fei’s work RMB City, she uses the images of Tiananmen Square, CCTV new building, Shanghai Pearl TV Tower, Panda, single wheel, schedule, villages and other reality scene. RMB City is a platform for experimental creative activities, one in which Cao Fei and her collaborators use different mediums to test the boundaries between virtual and physical existence.

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

The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society.Utopia described in the dictionary means, an ideal and perfect place, especially in its social, political and moral aspects of the problem.  however dystopia exactly the opposite, in the extremely harsh living conditions ofdeprivation, oppression, or terror, a country. In Fei's work RMB city, it describe the fast development of China now,  but on the other side it bring the serious pollution problem and decrease the life standard.

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.

In my opinion, there are many similarities between Fei's work and Modernist paintings. RMB city use modern technology to communicate, but the idea about "celebrate" and "furture" are same as many modernist paintings.

References:

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

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

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

Ron Mueck's sculpture and Humanism

Mask II (2002) Ron Mueck

A girl (2006) Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck has become internationally recognised for his unique sculptures, which replicate the human figure with unrivalled technical skill. His work has a powerful psychological range, focusing not only on universal experiences like birth, life and death but on emotional states such as isolation, fear and tenderness. His startling manipulations of scale are key to our experience of each work.

Mueck's work showed at the Christchurch Art Gallery from the end of 2010 through to January 2011. Research Mueck's sculpture in order to answer the following questions;

1. Mueck's sculpture is described as 'hyper-real'. Define the meaning of this term and explain how it is evident in his work.

In painting and sculpture , the word "Hyperrealism" describes a photorealistic rendering of people, landscapes, and scenes. Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph. Mueck's work focuses much more of its emphasis on details and the subjects, faithfully reproduce the minute detail of the human body, but play with scale to produce disconcertingly jarring visual images.  Mueck's lifelike sculptures are scaled much larger or smaller than life and finished in incredibly convincing detail through the meticulous use of polyester resins and multiple molds.

2. Mueck says he is not interested in making life size sculpture. Find out why he is more interested in working with the scale of the figure which is not life size, and mention 2 works which use scale that is either larger or smaller than life.

 According to Sculpture Magazine article，Mueck says “It makes you take notice in a way that you wouldn't do with something that's just normal.”  Above all, Mueck is a master at orchestrating tensions that both attract and estrange.His figures invite close-up inspection of blemishes, hairs, veins, and expression, taking you on a psycho-topographical journey.If you stare long and deeply enough, you experience a horrific beauty. Mueck's works command an uncanny ability to amaze with obsessive surface detail and intense psychic discharge.

Youth (2009),Diminutive figure (65 cm high) of black youth, holding up his T-shirt to examine a wound in his belly.

Mask III (2005),Huge (1.5 metre tall) face of a black woman.

3. Define Renaissance Humanism , and identify which aspects of Humanism can be seen in Mueck's work. Note that the contemporary definition of Humanism is much broader than the Renaissance definition.

Humanism (the philosophy that people are rational beings) became quite popular during the Renaissance.The dignity and worth of the individual was emphasized.

Mueck's work reproduce the minute detail of the human body who didn't wear any clothes to present  the nature way that human beings are exist in the world. 

4. Research and discuss one of Mueck's sculptures that you might find challenging or exciting to experience in an art gallery. Describe the work, upload an image of the work, and explain your personal response to the work. Comment on other student blogs to develop the discussion around the variety of our own personal and individual responses to art and design.

References:

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

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

Damien Hirst's work 'For the Love of God' and Mercantilism

For the Love of God(2007) Damien Hirst

Research Damien Hirst's work For the Love of God(2007) in order to answer the following questions;

1. Describe the work, giving details of the form and materials. 

It consists of a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds , including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead, over a platinum cast, cover the entirety of the skull, with the exception of the original teeth of the skull.

2. What does the work mean? What is Damien Hirst communicating in the work?

The life and death.

The Diamond covered skull by Damien Hirst is a continuation of the artist's exploration of death and the way we react to it.

3. How does Hirst's diamond encrusted skull relate to Mercantilism and to conspicuous consumption?

Conspicuous consumption means buying expensive services and products in order to flaunt your wealth.In my view, the skull with diamonds didn't have any practical function but the symbol of "wealth", which relate to the concept of Mercantilism and conspicuous consumption.

4. How much did the work cost, and how much was it sold for, and who bought it?

It cost $20 million to make the skull (diamonds and fabrication)，and sold for $100 million dollars, a record price for work sold by a living artist. 

According to the gallery a group of anonymous investors purchased the work.

5. What are some of the differing opinions of the journalists in the newspaper and blog articles?What did they think of the work?

The New York Times magazine states "the dazzle of the diamonds might outshine any meaning Hirst attaches to it" suggesting the writer sees strong "conspicuous consumption" ideas behind the work, however he later goes on to say that "Its value as jewelry alone is preposterous."

6. Based on your research, what is your opinion of the work, as an object or a work of art.


In my opinion, "For the love of God" looks beautiful, but is not an "artwork". I think the wealth of this work is make more profit than communicate the ideas of life and death.

www.telegraph.co.uk › Culture › Culture News
www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/.../01/hirstsskullmakesdazzlingde
boingboing.net/2007/06/02/damien-hirsts-diamon.html 
www.gagosian.com/artists/damien-hirst/