What is art?

This article reminded me of our puddle discussion the other day...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312504575618773234909064.html

The Flood Is Coming

It's coming.

The end of everything as we know it.

We are currently making plans to brace the oncoming change.

Find us on Ankeney in the weeks to come.
You will understand.
You will know what we mean.
You would be wise to consider similar tactics yourselves.

Peace be with you,
Flotsam and Jetsam

installation: see Kanye

check it: kanye west's short film/long music video/ hiphopera extravaganza-- a tantalizing piece of commerical art.

as i watch it, i enjoy thinking about individual still frames as being installation pieces (real life, in real time).

oh, the possibilities of unlimited budget.

http://kanyewest.com/

the film is titled "Runaway" (appx 30 min in length, don't be distracted, commit to the whole thing). Best watched with volume on LOUD.

Wrestling: formalism vs. representation, and a vent

Hey friendly fellow-sculptors,

Here I want to present my thoughts on our current Fabricated Item project and to spit out my frustration in a constructive, challengeable, and response-provoking way. These ideas are meant to be rough, and they do not support a unified thesis statement I am asserting to be true.

[I should note that I don't mind expressing my strong thoughts, even if they brazenly conflict with others'. I should also note that I know many of my thoughts might be biased, narrow-minded, or yet to be enlightened. Since we ourselves and our minds morph every single day that we live, we cannot comprehend any timeless, universal truth. This is to say: these thoughts are today's thoughts. I invite anybody to wrestle with the beliefs I will present and challenge them. Please, in the pursuit of understanding, inspire and enlighten me to see things your way!]

What is abstract, non-representational art capable of conveying? (By this I mean forms, lines, colors, and shapes that, when they are arranged, bear no discernible resemblance to a visual truth with which we are familiar. As in, a painting, sculpture, drawing, building, etc. on which people cannot agree: "That is supposed to be chair!" or "That looks like a rainbow!" or "That must be Noah's Ark!" or "That's a human!" or "It's imitating a mountain!".) When a work or part of a work is a mass of lines and colors, can it convey a complex idea? Can it convey emotion? Where does it fall short/what realm of meaning, if any, can it not access?

These are the questions I have been asking myself while trying to translate ideas for sculptures into non-representational, abstract art in my head. I have decided that this kind of art cannot convey specific, complex ideas. It is not barred from conveying generalized, simple emotions (which, I grant, are ideas), nor is it incapable of eliciting an emotional response in its viewers. However, any reaction which a viewer might have will be reactionary and basic. For instance, upon seeing a sculpture of a solid blue cube which occupies the entirety of a large room, ceiling to floor, wall to wall, a viewer might feel overwhelmed at the mass of the object. He might feel oppressed by its size, or confused at the relationship of its size to its color, but he will not be able to mine out from the piece any discernible idea. The piece could not reasonably be said to be about the French Revolution, or any aspect of gender roles, or about our mortality, or anything which requires us to use mental capacity. The positive function of this art is to engage our involuntary, animalistic responses. It can confuse us, scare us, overwhelm us with chaos, draw us in with mystery, and calm us in with its harmony of elements.

Making sure that my animalistic, level-1 thought processes are in working order is all well and good, but, as long as this is the desired goal of a piece, I don’t believe that art’s potential is being maximized. Art is capable of invoking the deepest emotions and intellectual curiosity, and for us to focus on creating pieces which don’t demand that messages are actualized in the language of the piece (as in, they don’t convey real thoughts through our manipulation of the wood and metal), is us missing the point. I understand that studying how separate components in a piece create meaning will invariably make us better artists, and I understand that this assignment forces us to develop our formalistic skills (such as woodworking and welding) more than the previous project did, but I do not think that any of our results can be meaningful. I feel more like we are practicing our construction skills so that we may, later on, make art which is richer. And, although thinking about unrealized potential makes me salivate, I am sad that I must now invest ample thought and hours of labor into a piece which cannot offer a thoughtful experience to its viewers.

all creative work is derivative!!!!!

Nina Katchadourian

This is a work by Nina Katchadourian. Her work was part of the Time Based Art Festival I attended this weekend in Portland. I love this piece, in which she actually finds spider webs and tries to "mend" them with string. The spiders are generally nonplussed by this, and immediately attempt to rid their webs of her interventions. To me it's about the tension we've been describing between nature and culture, a fraught relationship indeed!

You may see more of her work at her website here: http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/

"The Representation of Man"

This piece interests me both for what it symbolizes and for its aesthetic qualities. It is called "The Representation of Man", carved from wood by Rudolf Steiner almost 100 years ago. The prominant figure in this sculpture represents humankind. He is taking part in a constant balancing act in which he must resist the demon (Ahriman) beneath him, who constantly urges him to fall into a total and inescapable despair, while simultaneously resisting the temptations of the figure above him (Lucifer) who means to convince him to live so lightly and freely that all earthly affairs cease to hold any amount of importance to him. I am intrigued by this reminder of the fragility of our states of being on a day to day basis, and at the same time the display of humanity's utter strength of will, and humanity as a bearer of a potential so strong that we hardly realize it within ourselves. On a more technical and physical level I am impressed by the ways in which Steiner manipulated layer upon layer of flat wooden boards, giving the material an incredible amount of fluidity and three dimensionality while still retaining some of its original woodblock-like qualities. This piece is about as tall as a two story house, so I also have a lot of respect for how much time and effort he put into it.

The images I used came from this page:

http://www.rudolfsteinerweb.com/galleries/Steiner_Sculpture/index.html