Art & the Quotidian Object: Los Carpinteros

Sofa Caliente/ Hot Sofa, 2001 - powder coated steel

Estuche/ Jewelry Case, 1999 - wood, 87 x 51 x 51


Estanteria III, 2008 - plywood, maple veneer
(Replica of the ubiquitous IKEA bookcase, bowed out on one side as if using the Photoshop 'punch' filter)

Los Carpinteros is a collective group of young Cuban artists who live and work in Havana, Cuba. The artists –Marco Castillo, Dagoberto Rodriguez, and until 2003 Alexandre Arrechea – first began to work together as students in the early 1990s at Havana’s prestigious Superior Institute of Art (ISA) and have since emerged as important presences on the expanding global terrain of art. Los Carpinteros challenge and juggle many basic assumptions about the nature of culture and recent thinking about globalization.

“Our work studies quotidian objects and their functions. Many of our pieces derive from the alteration or the exaggeration of the use of a piece of furniture or another element that we habitually use. We have discovered that, hidden in the functionality of things that man fabricates lie many fissures that betray his thoughts and conduct.” – Lilian Tone quoting the artists in her essay, “Placeless Place”, Los Carpinteros Catalog (USF, 2003)

Links:

http://131.247.128.63/CAM/exhibitions/2005_04_los_carpinteros/los_carpinteros.html
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2008/12/05/miami_1

I have posted this because i dont like it, strange i know but i think the quotidian is often a cheesy way of mediocre design star wanna bes to get in on the art scene with a marketable product.......this dudes work is a good example of that. I would not call it art but apparently that is what he is...................................or is he?

SPRAY TO FORGET is a conceptual and functional product based on the possibility that “a substrate to physical reality exists, and that it can be deterministically altered and influenced by human intention.” – Duncan Laurie, The Secret Art

SPRAY TO FORGET functions as a beneficial editor for one’s consciousness, removing undesired memories from the user’s psyche via supported intent. Reed Seifer proposes that “in order to forget, we must remember something else. Spray to Forget acts as a conceptual sideways-elevator, nudging the unconscious to release a difficult memory and replace it with a more appealing one, or to create a new memory through experience… It also happens to smell quite good.”

While based in concept, SPRAY TO FORGET utilizes well-researched ingredients in support of its function. An aesthetic olfactory experience is provided through a blend of essentials oils selected for their reputed aroma-therapeutic benefits in grounding and elevating the emotions. Herkimer diamonds and black tourmaline, crystals believed to metaphysically assist in the elimination of tension from the body, were steeped for several days in the purified, magnetized water used to create the spray.

SPRAY TO FORGET, handmade in an edition of 500, is available in a 2 ounce (60 mL) glass bottle. The beautiful letterpress label is signed and numbered.

(text taken from artists web site)

ReedSeifer.com

Top Gear Gets Creative: Motor Based Art!

I was watching tonights episode of Top Gear, (which for those who don't know is a British based car show with a humorous spin when it comes to conveying facts and information about cars) and in this episode the guys decide to take over The MIMA gallery in Middlesborough and using nothing but motor based art they attempted to get 30 000 visitors through the door in a single week! You get to see all the different ways they went about creating some of the pieces; one of the guys tried to create a sculpture out of deconstructed car bits that speaks of his emotions and feelings when he is driving a car (this is at 2mins 50secs into the video) and another of the guys goes so far as to try to get the car to become the artist itself! (this is at 3mins 45secs in). I thought it might be an interesting take on the use of an everyday object or readymade within art practice as such! Check out the youtube video, its really amusing...Hoping this would be slightly intriguing within our thematic area this week! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd9V4JLqzLg

Art and the quotidian object - Jessica Stockholder

Jessica Stockholders work is described in Art and today as being 'arranged to bring out relationships between colour and form'. She uses a wide range of materials to create these sculptures. I wouldn't have considered her work very nice to look at and kind of confusing because it seems like just a bunch of objects that are arranged in random ways. However, after reading about her explination of what she would define as the beauty that is in her art it made me think about the kind of impact that society has on the way people view art and appreciate it:

'The works beautiful, but then i step back and think, what does that mean? Some people don't think my works beautiful. I think beauty has to do both biology but also history, culture and fashion. think pleasure is very political. pleasure is a part of what controls people. Advertising is directional and our pleasure and taste is tied to class, hierarchy and social structure.'

She also talks about her work being meaningful because of the concept of involving the viewer in the arrangement of objects and make them see that because they have relationships with space like the artwork that they are effectively a part of it. The quote doesn't have much to do with that but i thought it was interesting that she said its not just out taste that lets us appreciate art but the conditioning of the our environment, how it's infulence could be more subconcious then we know. This is related back to the beginning to the idea of Duchamps 'fountain', questioning the reasoning behind peoples perception of what was percieved as 'beautiful' and 'correct' and therefore valid as art.

http://www.miandn.com/#/artists/jessicastockholder/

Donald Judd: Annotated Bibliography:

Caplans, John. Don Judd. Pasadena Art Museum June 1971 . In this book John Caplans first gives a critical analysis of Donald Judd’s works. In the second half of the book is a documented interview with Judd himself. In the interview Caplans focus’s mainly on his process and material rather than emotional or aesthetic qualities. This book was useful to my research topic as I was able to get an insight into how Judd’s material work links to conveying the concepts within abstraction and minimalism. I was also able to deduct my own emotional meanings hidden beneath his responses about materials and process. The only limitation I found in this book was that the interview was slightly too focused on the mechanical processes Judd applies in building his pieces, which is not that useful in relation to connecting Judd’s work to our thematic area.

Batchelor, David., Jervis, John., Raskin, David., Serota, Nicholas., Shiff, Richard., Judd, Donald. Donald Judd. D.A.P./Tate; 1st Am. ed. edition (March 2, 2004). This book is a survey in which contributors reflect some of the critic’s different experiences and discussions with the artist over time as well as exploring the conflicts of previous interpretations of Judd’s works. Judd himself also contributes with reflections on fellow artists abstract pieces. This provides interesting depths of views to abstraction and Judd’s involvement as a minimalist. Whereby the previous book was more process and material focused- this book offered a far more personal and emotive vantage point on our thematic area. The only limitation I felt with this book was that it was quite dense and involved a process of extracting the useful points. It was also slightly confusing when it references plates that don’t appear to be near the page it was referencing.

Ovation TV. “Donald Judd’s Marfa Texas” Channel was re-launched on June 20, 2007 online. http://community.ovationtv.com/_Donald-Judds-Marfa-Texas/video/262279/16878.html (filmed 2 years ago). This video starts with a brief comment from critic John Yao, leading next to a brief interview with Judd. I found it very useful as it comes back to this idea of ‘metaphor’ and it was from this video I was able to further research the meaning of ‘metaphor’, within abstraction. This critic focuses on Judd’s anti-representational attitude, commenting on the unjustifiable use of metaphor after all the horrid things that had taken place during the war. The limitation with this critic’s response is that it was very one sided and self assured-making it harder to know whether you should trust in what he’s point of view is. There were a lot of backlash comments noted below the video in response. So you have to be aware that this is a very personal justification to Judd’s work.

Deidrich Deiderichsen, Midori Yamamura, Lily Van Der Stokken. Yayoi Kusama, Mirrored Years. Le Presses Du Reel France 2009 Mirrored Years is partly a biography on artist Yayoi Kusama’s life as well as an account of her major and most recent retrospective “Mirrored Years”, from its showings at Museum Boijmans Van Bouningen, Rotterdam (Netherlands), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (Australia) and City Gallery, Wellington (New Zealand). The book presents a series of critiques on the artist’s work, picture biographies, exhibition histories, lists of exhibited works and an interview with Dutch artist Lily Van Der Stokken. The text offers a comprehensive overview of the retrospective across the three countries. It has a huge selection of photographs of all the works exhibited in addition to some short and some lengthy critical analysis. “Mirrored Years” mainly focuses on the exhibition of the title and its time in the three galleries but also offers insight into Kusama’s life and work previous to 2008/2009. This book proved to be a useful component in my research as I was able to directly relate the critical analysis of the work to the broad array of photographic documentation.

Yayoi Kusama. Phaidon Press Limited London 2000. Printed in Hong Kong. Phaidon’s “Yayoi Kusama” focuses solely on the artist and her life long body of work. The book includes personal interviews with Kusama, her letters, her poetry and her philosophies. The book also includes an extensive range of photographs documenting her work from exhibitions in the past and more recently. Accounts of Yayoi’s performances are recorded and an extra special interview with artstar Damien Hirst. “Yayoi Kusama” provides pictorial information complimented by critical analysis for a portion of the book. A large portion of the information is presented in interview form. The interviewers ranging from Gordon Brown, Jud Yalkut and Damien Hirst. The information related closely to my chosen topic area as it offered such extensive interview material. I had chosen to focus heavily on Kusama’s personality and psychology. The information enabled me to follow my desires for the outcome of my presentation.

Education kit written by Kate Scardifield, MCA Educator. Yayoi Kusama, Mirrored Years. Education Kit 2009. Downloadable PDF. Accessed 10/3/10. The MCA provides this resource for secondary and tertiary educators. It consists of a short but concise biography of the artist, a step by step breakdown of the works exhibited at the MCA and key points to be disused with students. The package offers theories of contemporary art and then matches them with artist work to demonstrate the thematic relevance of the works shown during the exhibition. The information was very useful for my presentation as it is succinct and clearly outlines the topics I was researching.

Art & The Quotidian Object: Fiona Hall

Mourning Chorus (detail)

Fiona Hall - 2007-08 - resin, plastic, vinyl, electronics, vitrine

The use of the quotidian object in contemporary art is a widespread convention. Long gone are the days of the Dadaists and their readymades, now is the time to alter the everyday [object] in order to transform it’s meaning and purpose. Or so, is the common practice.

Fiona Hall’s ‘Mourning Chorus’ is a prime example of the quotidian object being used in an artwork to create various layers of metaphor and significance.

Hall uses the empty bottles of household poisons, such as detergents, drain cleaners, motor oil, bleach and mutates them into birds by adding beaks of resin. Each beak is representative of a particular species of near-to-extinction rainforest bird, every one native to New Zealand. There is a light wired up to each bottle, in turn they flicker and go out one by one. It is as if the birds have been poisoned by these common poisons to such an extent they are now unrecogniseable. A person may look at a bottle of detergent and think it mundane, everyday, quotidian. In this context, the items have an element of danger, due to the fact they are now being closely linked with death.

The display case, although not usually at the height of importance, creates further layers of meaning. For one, it is coffin shaped, another allusion to death as well as being reminiscent of something one might find in a natural history museum (a glass case of taxidermied birds). The glass of the case is engraved with the indigenous plants of the birds’ natural environments. Suggesting that the damage of household poisons occurs within these various habitats.

‘Mourning Chorus’ it’s self, of course, is a pun. A ‘morning chorus’, being that which is heard in the rainforest at dawn as the birds begin to wake and ‘mourning’, attaching a sense of grief and suggesting that this may be a short lived performance for the birds of the New Zealand rainforest.

The quotidian object can be easily transformed to become an artwork with depth and the ability to make significant statements.

Art and the Quotidian Object: Sarah Sze

http://www.sarahsze.com/

Born Boston, 1969
Lives and works in New York

Sarah Sze's sculptures are flowing structures consisting of an accumulation of small-scale household items that respond to and infiltrate the surrounding architecture. Her compositional language takes form by successively linking small pieces of discrete information into a complex network.

Sze's sculptures are essentially installations; they resemble the interiors of rooms, vast landscape s and even galaxys. The found objects that Sze uses evoke memories and thoughts in the audience as well as personalising the piece. Personally many of Sze's sculptural installations remind me of my childhood days of playing with Lego and poly pocket, as well as the universal construction that occurred in Douglas Adams (film) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Sze's use of space is extremely varied in each sculpture she creates: ranging from intricate sculptures filling small closets that one has to peep in through the door to vast spirarlling vertical sculptures that stretch several levels high.

Untitled (Portable Planetarium) 2009 Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France

Untitled (Thessaloniki) 1997 Thessalonoki Harbor, Greece


Things Fall Apart 2001 Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California

Art and the Quotidian Object: Agathe Snow

I chose Agathe Snow for her unique persona in creating a mood within her art that makes you feel somehow connected to what she is doing. She uses a lot of the everyday in her sculptures , but also uses friends and others to help create an atmosphere.

" The dinner parties started because I was a club promoter, and I was just making food for friends. This was back in 1998. Then 9/11 happened, and no one knew what to do, and we were partying all the time. There was that Hole and Passerby [former bars in New York] scene, and I was dancing on the bar every week, just to get the energy going. The whole idea was to go beyond the individual. So that's how the food and dancing became a piece. It was about creating an environment. That's what I love about dancing, too, the endurance part of it. You break down your barriers. You change, dissolve, and decay. "

ITEMS LOCATED: Paper, sand, soil, stone, plastic, glass, photograph, wood and gold

REMARKS: "This first discovery was found like much of the others in and under Chatham Square. It was dug out at 4 feet, which for our sake will be Level 2 as opposed to Level 1 which deals with ground level, and Level 3 which deals with digs from 5 to 10 feet deep and ultimately, Level 4 which spans below 10 feet and up to 15 feet underground. This first "leftover" as we like to call them is named "Hare Jordan", and so

for the obvious lack, although strong suggestion of the presence of a hare. It deals with air, with reaching for air, for life…and if for life then deals with a lot more. What ever happened to science fiction?

Just add a few what ifs and it all becomes way to real, and then you find yourself as if frozen in time and space, as in a Pompei like setup with a lava like substance where all freezes in that last action, that

last gasp and all gets rooted, part of the roots. What happened was clearly established, we were waiting for a finisher, a messiah, it had all been foretold, but it all came too fast. Open your veins it's quicker, and with your blood you renew the world from age to age. The hare did run faster. He probably had to, to be up for his sucky job at 6 am."

more info at - http://slamxhype.com/slambase/agathe-snow/

Joesph Cornell

Joesph Cornell is an American Sculptor, born 1903 and died 1972 aged 69. He makes these nostalgic boxes which contain various objects, often relating to a theme. You can check out his website: http://www.josephcornellbox.com/. These an interesting page on the materials he uses: http://www.josephcornellbox.com/materials2.htm
acessed: 22.03.10

Homage to the Romantic Ballet 1942

Box construction; 4 x 9.94 x 6.75 in.(10.2 x 25.3 x 17.1 cm)

The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Joseph Cornell Collection,

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1982.1854©

The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Cornelia Parker

Cornelia Parker

Its not until you read the title of these works that the subtle humour becomes apparent. Perhaps a little cerebral, but I definitely enjoy it. Particularly what she is saying about our value systems, after all, art and the quotidian has a lot to do with redefining the meaning/purpose/status of an otherwise ordinary or insignificant object. There is a history of irony in this form of art (of course alluding to Duchamp) and Parker definitely adopts this.

Right: Marks Made by Freud, Subconsciously, 2000, Macrophotograph of the seat of Freud's chair, 63 by 63 cm.

Below: Brontean Absract (Anne Bronte's stained handkerchief), 2006, C-type colour print of scan, 38.1 by 27.9 cm, framed

www.frithstreetgallery/artists/works/cornelia_parker/2/

Cong Lingqi - The White Rabbit Gallery (Quotidian)

I really wanted to mention Cong Lingqi even though I can't remember (or find) the name of the artwork that I saw. I still thought it was worth mentioning, as I found it very intriguing. I can't seem to post a photo, so here is an accurate description I found on a site when searching for the illusive image.

"Comprising 210 hand-made miniscule objects from a flyswatter to a drill, they are suspended in a blackened space, their shadows caught in the beam of theatrical light. It has a galactic quality to it and yet, as silhouettes they are cast as memories soon to be outdated by a newer model."

www.artguide.com.au/highlights/art-month-sydney/

I'd recommend visiting the gallery. It is showing a number of works from a variety of contemporary chinese artists.

Art and the Quotidian Object: Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen

Claes Oldenburg is a sculptor. He collaborates with wife, Coosje van Bruggen and creates large sculptures based on everyday objects. 

Spoonbridge and Cherry (1988)

Stainless steel and aluminum painted with polyurethane enamel
29 ft. 6 in. x 51 ft. 6 in. x 13 ft. 6 in. (9 x 15.7 x 4.1 m)
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 

The site http://oldenburgvanbruggen.com/largescaleprojects/spoonbridge.htm contains the artist's statement. Interesting description as to why they chose that specific object at the site. 

Flying Pins, (2000)

Steel, fiber-reinforced plastic, foam, epoxy; painted with polyester gelcoat and polyurethane enamel
Ten pins, each: 24 ft. 7 in. (7.5 m) high x 7 ft. 7 in. (2.3 m) widest diameter
in an area approximately 123 ft. (37.5 m) long x 65 ft. 7 in. (20 m) wide
partially buried pins: #1: 18 ft. 5 in. (5.6 m) high; #2: 13 ft. 2 in. (4 m) high
combined pins: #3a/b: 26 ft. 7 in. (8.1 m) high; #5a/b/c: 28 ft. 7 in. (8.7 m) high
individual pins: #4: 21 ft. 8 in. (6.6 m) high; #6: 20 ft. 8 in. (6.3 m) high; #7: 17 ft. 9 in. (5.4 m) high
ball: 9 ft. 2 in. (2.8 m) high x 21 ft. 12 in. (6.7 m) diameter
Intersection of John F. Kennedylaan and Fellenoord Avenues, Eindhoven, the Netherlands 

http://oldenburgvanbruggen.com/largescaleprojects/flyingpins.htm

“In public sites, our sculptures reflect both the surroundings and their context, but through our imagination and selective perception – which is what makes them also personal. We feel free to use all the approaches that come naturally to our non-monumental works: variations in scale, similes, transformations, a wide range of materials, and, of course, our use of familiar objects. We want to communicate with the public but on our own terms, even if the images are stereotypical.” - C. Oldenburg

Amanda my chosen artist is "Arman" for this weeks topic. Art and the quotidian object

Art & The Quotidian Object- ERWIN WURM

Fat Car (2001)

Styrofoam Polyester, Car.

Fat House (2003)

Truck (2005)

Mixed Media

There is a small amount of information on this artist on the MCA website, just search Erwin Wurm.
You can also find more examples of this work at the http://www.balticmill.com/ website, there is also some information about the artist.
Again just search the artists name.

"Both works transform everyday objects into sculpture with humorous investigation."
That was a small part of the information given about Wurm on the balticmill website. I thought that this small quote summarises Wurm's works, and show the relation between his works and this weeks topic, Art & The Quotidian Object.

Annotated Bibliography

Grosse K. Katharina Grosse. http://www.katharinagrosse.com/ [Accessed 12th March 2010]

Katharina Grosse's personal website is almost a database of work more so than just a portfolio or retrospective. Apart from an expanse of images you will find a list of exhibitions, Bibliography and for a small price of divulging your email address you can download short writings and interviews. Although somewhat difficult to navigate, if you have the time you are bound to find what you are looking for. The interviews and writings were especially useful for me, as this artist is still fairly up and coming the volume of useful or perhaps trustworthy information was limited.

Nickas, B. Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2009.

Painting Abstraction profiles 80 of todays abstract painters and is an overview of the most contemporary of abstract painting. Full page images of artists and put together by New York curator Bob Nikas. This book was very helpful with my research in abstraction (despite being a book on abstract painting). There was an interesting text on Katharina Grosse which mentioned how she works with sculpture and space. The bulk of information on Katharina that I came across was mostly padded out with images and it was interesting to hear an opinion from a source apart from the artist herself.

Chambers, N. Katharina Grosse: Picture Park. Queensland: Queensland Art Gallery, 2007.

This book is a brief catalog of one particular exhibition held at the Queensland art gallery in Queensland. A thin but slightly larger than A3 Full colour boasts beautiful images of the installation, a text by the curator, and an interview with Katharina. The full size images allow you to appreciate the smaller complexities of Katharinas work and an insight into how she works, with lots of images taken at various intervals of the initial set up. Most of the text in this book was irrelevant to the bigger picture of this weeks topic of art and abstraction but was interesting to hear Katharina talk about her thoughts and work.

FYI Katharina Grosse

Her work is currently on exhibition at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art as part of the UTOPIA series:

http://www.arken.dk/content/us/exhibitions/utopia/read_more_about_utopia

"UTOPIA is a three-year project with shows by three international artists creating total installations for ARKEN’s Art Axis. Each installation examines, and adds facets, to the concept of utopia today. The focus of the UTOPIA exhibitions, and the events and educational efforts under the UTOPIA project, is on the “good life” and developing the museum of the future. "

ART & ...

A gentle reminder - the BLOG postings that do not relate to the weeks discussion topic cannot be counted for assessment- this ultimately means you will need to make more than one posting.

Thank you for those who are making contributions on a weekly basis - the weekly discussions are all the more interesting if you are thinking about the topic area and making considered contributions. At the very least read the ART & Today chapter and post your thoughts.

For those who haven't 'appeared' online yet - next week will be the 3rd week for contributions. 3 is the magic number, as they say, after 3 missed contributions you will begin to have marks deducted from your overall participation mark.

So get active - it is ultimately your responsibility to engage with the material.


ALSO, the Annotated Bibliography needs to be posted by the end of the presentation week. For those presenting next week - you need to indicate which artist you will be focusing on. Email me this information or post it here.

A.

Jason de Caires Taylor

Man on Fire

Taylor is a artist I found a couple of weeks ago, I found his works amazing and i hope some of you do as well. I dont know how many people would have seen these i hope not many.

Taylor created the world's first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, WestIndies. He creates his sculptures so they engourage marine life to grow and live near by. Over time some of his sculptures blend in with nature.

Grace Reef

More of his works can be found on this website- www.underwatersculpture.com there are also some videos on youtube of his works so you can see nearly a full 360 degree view of the works. There are also a couple of videos that just show photos of the works from when there where first placed underwater then like 6 months later and so on. It is really cool to see how they change.

I guess this artist could relate to the subject ART & TIME, or maybe ART & NATURE AND TECHNOLOGY. I couldnt wait till a related subject to blog about this artist I just think he is so cool that everyone had to see his works. :D

Enjoy.

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1946.

Marina Abramovic was instrumental in the genesis of Performance Art in the 1970's and is particularly known for addressing pain and bodily endurance. She both pioneered Performance Art and completely redefined it, collapsing its barrier with reality through genuine pain and bodily harm.

"Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDg_KWJh1g8&feature=related

This video has images of Marina Abramovic's artworks in another language. IF YOU HAVE 10:15MIN THEN CLICK ONTO THE WEB AND WATCH IT.

www.judyhintzcox.com/