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Chapter 31
Chapter 31 Contemporary Art Worldwide The End of the Century: A Messy Ride The final 30 years of the 20th century saw artistic expression taking ever more diverse forms. • difficult to identify movements clearly, as artists feel free to move from one form of expression to another. • sometimes difficult to identify the art per se, as postmodernism sometimes meant that the artistic creation process led to art that existed only p y for a brief moment in time… Kruger’s work often combines text and image in an ironic fashion. fashion •Many artists who have embraced the postmodern •They were interested in investigating g g the dynamics of power and privilege •They focused on issues of gender and sexuality in the contemporary world. ld Untitled (We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard) •Kruger’s works frequently involve criticism of the habits imposed on women by society, and of the negative impact of men running the world… her work evolved from being specifically feminist to being critical of society’s y norms in all areas •Artist began as a graphic designer for Mademoiselle magazine •Words placed in large photos as d i elements, deign l and d to hi highlight hli h a message •Artistic Artistic message often relies on irony BARBARA KRUGER, Your gaze hits the side of my face Social Art: Race, Ethnicity, and National Identity de t ty Faith Ringgold, Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? 1983 •It is a quilt, a medium that is associated with women •Tribute Tribute to her mother but also addresses African American culture and the struggles of women to overcome oppression Melvin Edwards, Tambo, 1993 •Welded sculpture of chains, spikes, knife blades and other found objects that allude blades, to the lynching of African Americans and the continuing struggle for civil rights and an end to racism. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 - 1987) •Basquiat was from a Haitian Puerto RicanHaitian-Puerto Rican American background, and began his artistic efforts early as a graffiti artist, although he quickly shifted over to canvas Untitled, 1985 Horn Players, 1983 •Tribute to two African American musicians •Bold colors, fractured figures, and graffiti to capture the dynamic rhythms of jazz and the excitement of New York. Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (Skull), 1981 • gestural painting on canvas • most often depicting skeletal figures g and masklike faces that expressed his obsession with mortality • imagery derived from his street existence such existence, as automobiles, buildings, police, children's sidewalk, games and graffiti. In 1983, Basquiat befriended Andy Warhol and the two made a number of collaborative works. Often, they discussed and disputed about AfricanAmerican art and literature. They also painted together, influencing each others' work. Political Art David Hammons, Public Enemy, Installation, 1991 Willie Bester, Homage to Steve Biko 1992, Biko, 1992 Mixed Media This is a tribute to a leader off the th Black Bl k Liberation Lib ti Movement, which protest apartheid in South Africa This is a multimedia installation with Theodore Roosevelt flanked by African American and Native Americans as servants servants, to reveal the racism embedded in America’s cultural heritage Krzysztof K t f Wodiczko, W di k The Th homeless Projection, 1986 A projected image of homeless people and their plastic bags filled with their few possessions. Kehinde Wiley, , Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps. “Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them. This is my way of saying yes to us.” – K hi d Wil Kehinde Wiley Historically, portraiture not only creates a likeness but communicates ideas status, status wealth, and power. Substitutes anonymous p y Black man in contemporary clothing; illuminated with baroque or rococo decorative patterns – Modernist reminder that this is a painting. Confronts and critiques historical traditions that do not acknowledge Black cultural experience. Redefines & affirms Black identity, questions history of Western painting David, Napoleon Crossing Saint-Bernard JEAN-AUGUSTEDOMINIQUE INGRES, Napoleon on His Imperial Throne, 1806. In 2005, VH1 commissioned Wiley to paint portraits of the honorees for that year year’ss Hip Hop Honors program. The artists chose poses—taken from Wiley’s personal art book collection—that best suited the personal aspects of their character. Value, in all its meanings, has always played a role in culture. Unlike its precursors— classical jazz classical, jazz, rock rock—which which have since been canonized and given an art-historical time frame and construct, hip hop continues to be seen merely as entertainment. This series of Wiley’s portraits speaks specifically to that juxtaposition and the retooling of importance. Kehinde Wiley, Ice T, 2005, Oil on Canvas, 8’ x 6’ Mark Tansy, A Short History of Modernist Painting •Born in San Jose and lives in New York City parents were art historians so he had an early y introduction to art history y and had a •Both p profound effect on his painting style •He provides viewers with a summary of the various approaches to painting artists have embraced over the years. •Illustrates the ambiguities and paradoxes of Postmodernists' Pictorialism in that it demonstrates the artist’s consciousness of his place in the continuum of art history and also functions as a critique on fundamental art historical premises by creating metaphors of how painting has been addressed during different eras. Mark Tansy The Innocent Eye Test 1981 "In Tansey's painted metaphor for the perception of art, we are the cow, and the scientists want to know how and what we see --- hardly the stuff of Frank Stella's famous dictum "What you see is what you see.“ From Judi Freeman Mark Tansey Purity Test 1982 ..Indians on houseback gaze down...at Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, 1970. Smithson had sought to create a pure image. The Indians, unware of the spiral's function as a work of art, p to decipher p it as a symbol...“ y attempt From Judi Freeman Mark Tansey Postmodernism in Painting, Sculpture, and New Media • Postmodern artists challenged the Modernist emphasis on originality and creativity • They addressed issues of the copy or reproduction and d the th appropriation i ti off iimages or ideas id ffrom others • Mass culture is a defining g feature of Postmodernism in rejecting the notion that each art work contains a fixed meaning • Postmodern artists are influenced by the ideas of Deconstructivist theorists. (sought to break apart the concept of classical order and space, essentially opposed d th the ordered d d rationality ti lit off M Modernism) d i ) Anselm Kiefer, Nigredo, 1984; Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac, and straw, on photograph mounted on canvas photograph, canvas, with woodcut woodcut, 10’ 10 8 8” x 18’ 18 2 2”. German artist used perspective to pull the viewer into an incinerated landscape alluding to the Holocaust. Jeff Koons, Pink Panther, 1988 The p porcelain sculpture p has an acute understanding of the dynamics of consumer culture. He combines a magazine centerfold with a well-known cartoon character. Jeff Koons Versailles in 2008 exhibition, Balloon Flower from the Celebration Series Series, 1995 - 1999, 1999 9’ 6”. Jeff Koons at Versailles in 2008 exhibition Balloon Dog from exhibition, the Celebration Series, 1994 2000 (10’ orange Balloon Dog sold for $58.4 million in 2013 at Christies Auction) Jeff Koons In the early 1980’s – like Warhol and Duchamp, he exhibited common objects and made no attempt to manipulate the objects – represented commodity as the basis for society at large Koons was actually a commodities broker (Wall Street) before turning to art. He believes postmodern culture is linked to consumerism - Called NeoPop or Post Pop Takashi Murakami, O l Buddha Oval B ddh G Gold ld (2007-2010), at the Palace of Versailles outside Versailles, Paris of the palace and gardens 2010, Versailles. Self-portrait – facial hair in a goatee. References to enlightenment and knowledge – lotus flower, spiral on the frog’s potbelly equated with the Buddhist path to reincarnation and karmic rebirth, frog figurine is often left on Japanese graves as a totem of rebirth or the spirit’s return. Two-faced nature of the figure – reference to the Roman god Janus, whose 2 faces looked into past and future –god of transitions and beginnings. Elephant on base indicates endurance; importance of the gold/platinum leaf finish, marking a turning point; a rebirth or declaration that Mrakami Mrakami’ss work is entering an age of enlightenment. Marisol Escobar, Escobar Self-Portrait Looking at the Last Supper, 1982-1984 This is a tribute to the Renaissance master. It is a sculptural replica of Leonard’s Last Supper, transforming the fresco into an object. The artist is seated as a viewer. Postmodernism and Art Institutions • Postmodern artists have consciously reappraised the processes of art historical validation, validation reassessed art institutions (museums and galleries), addressed the role of these institutions in validating art, and scrutinized the discriminatory policies and politics of these institutions. Satirical ceramic sculpture p Robert Arneson, California Artist, 1982, • Arneson was born in Benicia and graduated from Benicia High School. He spent much h off hi his early l lif life as a cartoonist i for a local paper. Arneson studied at California College of Arts and was a professor at UC Davis. Davis • Robert Arneson was reacting to a negative review by a critic that Californian art was provincial in his self-portrait self portrait known as California Artist. • He revealed his comprehension of the mechanism (art criticism) people use currently to evaluate and validate art. Architecture and Site-Specific p Art • One would be hard-pressed to find a modern building with pediments, pediments Doric columns columns, or flying buttresses; what exists is a display of technology • Most advance change is computers – no longer are blueprints drawn by hand – programs like AutoCAD and MicroStation assist in drawing plans and automatically check for architectural errors • New age technology has produced an array of products that make buildings p g lighter, g , cheaper, p , and more energy efficient. Deconstructivist Architecture •Architects attempt to disorient the observer by disrupting the conventional categories of architecture. The haphazard presentation of volumes, masses, planes, lighting, etc challenges the viewer’s assumptions about form as it relates to function. •Six adjectives that describe Deconstructivist architecture: •Disorder •Dissonance Di •Imbalance •Asymmetry •Unconformityy •Irregularity Gunter Behnisch, Hysolar Institute Building University Building, of Stuttgart, Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Bilbao Museo, Bilboa Spain Bilboa, •Appearance of asymmetrical exterior with outside walls giving no hint to interior spaces •Irregular masses of tit i titanium walls ll •Sweeping curved lines •Deconstructionist architecture •Good example of how computers can help architects render shapes and meaningful designs in an imaginative way Interior Leoh Ming Pei, Grand Louvre P Pyramide, id Musee M d L du Louvre, P Paris, i France, 1988 Egyptian stone architecture inspired Pei’s Pei s entryway to the Louvre Louvre. The transparent tent serves as a skylight for the underground extension of the museum. MAYA YING LIN, Vietnam Veterans Memorial •V-shaped monument cut into the earth with 60,000 casualties of the Vietnam War listed in the order they were killed or reported missing •One arm of the monument points to the Lincoln Memorial, the other to the Washington Monument •Black granite as a highly reflective surface so that viewers can see themselves in the names of the veterans; black is an appropriate somber color for the memorial •Strongly influenced by the Minimalist movement Site Art, Earth Art, or Earthworks 1970s to today •D Dependent d t on it its llocation ti tto render d ffull ll meaning i • Often works of Site Art are temporary and other times they remain but need original environment intact in order for it to be fully understood such as earthworks Christo & Jeanne-Claude Keith Haring - Graffiti and Mural Painting Tuttomondo, Sant’Antonio, Pisa, Italy, 1989 • Haring burst onto the New York artt scene as a subway b graffito ffit artist ti t and quickly gained an international reputation. • His Pisa m mural ral feat features res his signature cartoonlike characters and is a hymn to life. • He died of AIDS the year after this was completed He began doing chalk drawings on blank d ti i b d IIn th b advertising boards the NYC subway system while at art college Untitled, 1983 Keith Haring In 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retail store selling T-shirts, toys, posters buttons and magnets bearing his images. posters, images Haring considered the shop to be an extension of his work. The shop was intended to allow people greater access to his work, which was now readily available on products at a low cost cost. The shop was criticized by many in the art world, but Haring remained committed to his desire to make his artwork available to as wide an audience as possible possible, and received strong support for his project from friends, fans and mentors including Andy Warhol. Post-Modernism: Video Art and New Media Nam June Paik, Megatron, 1995 • video art is a subset of artistic works which relies on "moving pictures" and is comprised of video and/or audio data. •despite obvious parallels and relationships, video is not film. Nam June Paik • involved with the post neo-Dada art movement, fluxus Fluxus: is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s, The movement, which still continues, played an important role in the opening up of definitions of what art can be b • considered the “father of video art” • "Without Without electricity electricity, there can be no art art." (ca (ca. 1976) • his work frequently combines sculpture with video and/or computer programs • explores the contrast between the traditional and the digital in society • effect of digital world on society Techno Buddha, 1993 Bill Viola Vi l Bill Viola, Vi l The Th Crossing, C i 1996, 6 Video/Sound Installation • With two channels of color video projection • Bill Viola uses digital video to encourage introspection and to explore spirituality. • Video projects use extreme slow motion, contrasts in scale, shifts in focus, mirrored reflections and editing g to create a dramatic sensory experiences Tony Oursler, Mansheshe HOLZER, Untitled, The Living Series, 1989 This installation consisted of electronic l t i signs i created t d using i LED technology. It is a continuous display of text around the interior ramp p of the Guggenheim Let’s Switch Blue You, 2006 Video samples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aqIk_ynVak&feature=related http://www youtube com/watch?v=8aqIk ynVak&feature=related https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTG1oxBo-3o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhbFnPaDZdU Chapter p 31: Contemporary p y Art Social Art: Race Race, Ethnicity Ethnicity, and National Identity Faith Ringgold, Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? 1983 Question • Analyze how the artist’ss choices of artist imagery and medium address the social issues of race and gender. BARBARA KRUGER, U titl d Your gaze hits Untitled, hi the h side of my face , Question • Analyze A l how h Kruger uses image and d text t t and d appropriation to convey meaning i iin this work. 1. Compare how these works reflect and draw on the works on which they are based. 2. Contrast the way these two artists used different media to create their works of art in regard to the originals upon which they are based. Kehinde Wiley, y, Napoleon p Leading g the Army over the Alps, 2005. Bronze. Marisol Escobar, Escobar Self-Portrait Self Portrait Looking at the Last Supper, 19821984. Contemporary p y Art 1. Thinking back to the beginning of this class, how do you think the field of Contemporary Art is different from other historical periods? 2. The World Wars of the 20th century were impactful for art. Discuss the ways that the wars have impacted and influenced art? What other key events in the latter half of the century have influenced Contemporary Art.
