Gallery Visit- Jonathan Jones at GBK

The work by Jones appealed to me due to composition and the positive meaning that I took from it. The information provided after first viewing the work did not change my feelings about its meaning, although it did provide further layers of meaning in giving me a background of what influenced the artist created this work.

Creating an installation with sculptures and drawings on the walls meant that I could walk among his work, completely surrounded. This element of involving the audience means that it can be seen in a different way by every person who visits it. The viewing of the work could therefore be influenced by the individual’s notion of composition. This felt relevant to the meaning of the work because without a clear narrative, the audience is required to make a subjective choice.

The use of light was also intriguing, due to its ability to draw focus to its source, as well as branch out and cover the entire area in shafts of bright white. This effectively brought together the drawings and the sculpture, to create a complete environment. I viewed this work as being like a physical place, in which each of these drawings and sculptures were representations of what existed in another form elsewhere.
Despite the use of angles and lines it still felt organic, possibly because of the light shining off the surfaces on the drawings. Light as a symbol is often associated with life and hope, which was present in this work.
The obtuse angles of these sculptures felt open and relaxed. The space it created was inviting and calm. The sculptures themselves didn’t immediately remind me of a recognisable object until the work was discussed. Until then they could have been a number of organic objects, including trees, rocks or people. The ideas about canoes and light on water fit well with the calm mood emanating from the work.

Knowing that Jones is an indigenous artist, it was easy to see the patterns in his work having a connection to traditional aboriginal art, particularly those shown in the black on white drawings hanging low on the walls. Pattern and contrast are common in traditional indigenous work.
These artistic traditions are visible in this work, although with a change to the medium and without the common use of vibrant, earthy colours.
His work has the appearance of both western and indigenous Australian art, as it has the traditional Aboriginal elements, but also resembles Minimalism because of its simple, stripped back use of materials and lack of pictorial representation.
This I believe shows Jones’s personal connection to, and value of the traditions of Australian Aboriginal art, but demonstrates that he is also accepting and appreciative of what has been created in western art. His work is perhaps a symbol of himself as a contemporary indigenous artist, working within the art world that has for centuries been almost exclusively western artists.

Gallery Visit

>>>Breenspace >>>GBK

Hi All,

We will meet at your Studio tomorrow at 1.30 so we can get to the gallery by 2pm. We cannot wait for those who are late. There are directions to the galleries on the GBK website (link above) please check directions if you are driving tomorrow. (The galleries are located next to one another.)

I left the readings on your desks in the Studio - if you get a chance read through before tomorrow (they are short gallery review's or exhibition essays). It would be great if you had questions.

You will be expected to make a comment on our blog following the gallery visit - so take notes if necessary.

I would like you to choose the exhibition that appeals to you (Jonathan Jones @ GBK or Kate Murphy @ Breenspace).

DUE: 7th APRIL (or before)
In (400 to)500words please comment on your reaction to the work, what you thought were the main themes/ conceptual concerns of the artist.

PLEASE do not simply regurgitate ideas found in the readings I have provided you with. AND remember to back up any ideas with relevant references.

***This is a compulsory pass/fail assessment - this means you have to submit this post in order to pass this course.

Public Transport for Galleries

If you are determined to make your own way there tomorrow - you will need to leave SCA by 1pm in order to leave enough time.

Here are the details - we will meet at GBK first:

285 Young Street
Waterloo, Sydney

Public Transport:

Bus:
#343 from Millers Point via Elizabeth St (fairly sure you can collect this bus from Central) - get off at the stop just before McEvoy Street
#301 and #302 from Circular Quay via Elizabeth St and Bourke Street - get off at the stop just before McEvoy Street

Train: East Hills Line, gbk is 400 metres north of Green Square Station

Annotated bibliography: Arman

Title : Orologi, 0

François Fernandez, Jean Ferrero, The official Arman website: 2008 http://www.armanstudio.com/ (Accessed 19 March 2010)

The official website of Armand Pierre Fernandez consists of the artists biography, which provides a substantial amount of information to gain a thorough understanding of the artists influences. Articles that provide insight into the interpretation of Arman’s work and a chronological and themed gallery of the artists works which allow the viewer with the opportunity to experience the artist work and view the progression of his work.

Title : Coule de Source, 0

Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-alain Bois, Benjamin h.d.Buchloh., art since 1900 modernism antimodernism postmodernism: pg,434-438: United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2004.

A short five pages within the chapter “The neo avant-garde” describe the origins and occurrences of the “Nouveaux Realist movement” which was essentially a take on the historic avant-garde movement. This article was relevant as Arman was one of the founders of the movement; the article underlies the purpose and ideas of the ‘New Realists’ and draws to our attention the importance of various changes in style that occurred within the works of Arman and the group itself.

Lion's Mane, 1976

Eleanor Heartney, Art and Today: pg.40-62 London and New York: Phaindon Press, 2008.

Eleanor Heartney’s ‘Art and Today’ contains an in-depth chapter specifically on ‘Quotidian object’ providing both definition and numerous examples of artists who use the quotidian object in varied ways within their practice. Through the examples of artists sited within the article, I was easily able to choose an artist to focus on for further research. The chapter focuses on Duchamp’s ‘readymades’ as the orientation of the Quotidian object, this interpretation therefore puts forward a clear opinion of what the quotidian object is however I found it to be a particularly one-sided view.

Tim Hawkinson

Shorts, 1993

Extension Cord

Envelope Clock, 1996

From Secret Sync

Malnila envelope and clock motor

Hawkinson has made a series of clocks where a small feature on the object ticks like clock arms

Tim Hawkinson has a fascinating way of working and a unique use of quotidian objects. Although many of his works contain cable ties, plastic sheeting, pens, extension cords, tooth paste tubes ect, he does not seem to be making the same statement duchamp once made about mass production and an ever increasing consumerist society. It is almost like he is embracing mass production and the access to materials and technology that was once only available to industry. Many of his works also contain parts of his own body like hair and finger nails (which is kind of like natural mass production?) which is not quotidian in the same way as fountain but very much quotidian by definition. He uses his body as a subject a lot of the time and uses motors and other types of electronics (all which is self taught) in his kinetic sculptures and in my opinion a relevant artist to contemporary art and the quotidian.

Lachlan Anthony and David Withers

These are 2 mates of mine who were in the last show at firstdraft, and had a show at black and blue in 2008 (the past shows section of the site isn't working at the moment and black and blue's site is also down). They generally alter every day objects to either malfunction or modify aspects of scale or they animate them to behave in new ways.

http://www.strobed.com.au/2010/03/re-opening-show-firstdraft/

Steve Harrison

Over Exposed, 2009

15 x 16.7 x 4.8 cm

Crossfire

Legge Gallery 26 May - 17 June 2009

Looking at everyday objects and how they can changes in value due to a superimposed meaning I came across Steve Harrison. When does a bowl become sculpture? Using a kiln that he himself built and through altering the temperature of the kiln he creates the colour, texture and shape of the bowls. By selecting the rock individually (all within a 25km radius of his workshop) for the clay and extracting the koalin slip for the glaze, when you look at his work, the viewer is taken on a journey, seeing the individual grains used for the clay, the work of firing each individual piece and he the adjustment of temperature changes the nature of the bowl, as well as the colour and shape. Some of the bowls are warped when they come out of the kiln and often the colour is also altered. Another interesting point of his work, when using the bai tunze method of firing the bowls are translucent.

This piece above is very interest because the substance used in the glaze creates amazing affect when fired. It has a chemical reaction to the heat, combusts and drips down to form a puddle in the middle of the bowl, or the side when the bowl is set at an angle. Similarly to the painstaking process he undertakes to create the bowls, the names he gives to the objects gives them an added authenticity and meaning.

I guess this ties into the Quotidian Object as he turns an everyday object into a work of art, turning them into precious objects as an antidote to the consumeristic and materialistic nature of today's society. Also bringing the element of organics and into the object, adopting a radical localism.

I want to also put up a photo of a work I saw in Vienna in 2007, I have searched for the name and artist of the work but have not yet been successful. I saw this just as I was becoming interested in art, so i didn't have the thought to note it down. I was displayed in the Museen Quartier Wien, on the pavement in between the buildings. The visual impact of this work was quite spectacular, As it it quite big and dwarfs the viwer.

annotated biograpy

Lawrence Wechler, the work of Tara donovan, (interview) www.designobserver.com/observatory/entry.html.?entry=7417
design observer@ 2006 - 2010observer omnimedia LLC

This page is an interview by Lawrence wechler with Tara Donovan on the her works such as tooth pick cube and where she cam up with her ideas for it, tranplanted (tar paper) ,
her first shows at a regional fair and about her life and process to her work.
the website has many interviews and information on current show, works and interview also is about the current culture in popular and off mainstream round the world. etc. its about "design, culture, change"


Ace gallery Website
founded in 1961, curator Douglas Christmas, Ace Galleries Los Angeles
www.acegallery.net/artistmenu.php?pageNum_ACE=1&totaltrows_ACE=58&artist=8

This website had been set up by the Art Gallery for people to access when they wat to know about new and up coming exhibitions, which gallery they are in and when and they have links which you can access to see images of the artists work. Also it allows you to check out past exhibitions past exhibitions and all artist that have been exhibited.


www.youtube.com/watch/?v=ErYGD-vxWJ4
Jim Kichherr (interview)
November 2007
This video is from a TV show KETC with Jim Kirchherr where he meets and talk to Tara Donovan about her works and show. this video shows her pricking on making her installations and directing her team of helpers to create her work. It shows the making and the final product and they talk of why she does what she does. They talk to other people as well one lady is from the saint Louis art museum. This Video is about untiled(plastic cups) 2006

Art & the Quotidian - James Angus

James Angus is/was (not that he's dead, but i think he's in New York now) a Sydney based artists, put a MACK truck in AGNSW, painted a rhino fluro yellow, lectured at SCA and is an all round rad dude.


He has two works that I absolutely quite like, AND they fit in with Art & the Quotidian so that’s a freebie. The first one is Bugatti Type 35 (some references included 'Accident at the end) and is a recreated 30's style race car (the Bugatti Type 35 to be specific and redundant) that is skewed 30 degree's to the right. A car is, I would argue THE MOST QUITODIAN object of the all the quotidian objects, so if this blog was (and i suggest it should be) a competition, I would obviously win.

It's interesting for it's simple complexity, the idea of skewing a car 30 degree's to the right is quite simple, but his actually materials practice becomes mind boggling complex, every circle becomes an ellipse, every square and rectangle, every right angle becomes obtuse. He didn't buy a Bugatti and distort it, that would be expensive. He completely recreated every visible section of the car (I assume he didn’t build a skewed engine which would then be hidden). He did the 3D modelling on all the parts, he had the fabrications of the parts outsourced and then he assembled them with help.

This work clearly makes reference to early 20th century photography and That 70's Show. I like his confident artistic bravado of suggesting "Ok, how about a car, 30 degree's... to the right", rad.

The other work I'm going to include is Soccer Ball Dropped from 30, 000 feet, another of his seemingly spontaneous situation suggestions (alliteration, YES!) where he thinks I wonder what a soccer ball will look like if i drop it off an aeroplane, so he asked a friend of his to create a mathematical model that would input various variables and would come out with a 3D model of a what a soccer ball would like at the exact point of stoppage, where it's hit the ground, it's compressed and it's no longer going up or down. What happened was nothing, there was a small bump on the bottom but essentially nothing happened. I just like that clever sort of anti-climactical result of a ridiculous situation where I was expecting shards of soccer ball to ripple out and explode, but no... so yes, rad,

Art & The Quotidian - Lee Bul

Noh, SK.1999 The Korean Pavilion: Critics – La Biennale di Venezia 1999, Lee Bul (online)
http://www.korean-pavilion.or.kr/biennale/english/lee-bul-critic-e.htm [accessed 20 March 2010]

This website run by The Korean Culture & Arts Foundation is a Korean website has both English and Japanese translation, thus was very useful as I needed to look up a Korean artist Lee Bul. It provides information about five hundred different Korean artists in practice today and has a special collection of Korean artists featured in Venice Biennale since 1996 as well as a critic reviews and analysis. It appears to have more detailed facts of the artists and their work then other foreign websites, but lacks concentrated information on visual analysis.



Kent, R. Lee Bul. Sydney: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005.

Written by a curator of MCA Rachel Kent, this book is very useful in gaining knowledge on Lee's works in chronological order. It contains vast range of quality photographs and photographic documentations of the artwork which its hard to get hands on online, so ill be using it to "present" artworks during my presentation. It also contains Lee's biography towards the end which is helpful in studying Lee's progress. I think it would've been better if it had an actual interview transcript between the Lee and Kent.



Kantor, J. Artforum International - New Museum of Contemporary Art. (Review).(Lee Bul) 2002, (journal)

http://dd8gh5yx7k.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Lee+Bul&rft.jtitle=Artforum&rft.au=Jordan+Kantor&rft.date=2002-10-01&rft.issn=1086-7058&rft.volume=41&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=156&rft.externalDBID=IAFO&rft.externalDocID=212933181 [accessed 20 March 2010]

this journal concentrates on Lee's "live forever" series, its thematic and aesthetic representation as well as the artist's intention and audiences response. its cautious descriptions on visual, functionality and process allows the reader to experience the artwork quite thoroughly despite our passive interaction. the journal written about only one work has its positive and negative aspects, but the quality of the photograph could have been better.

Doris

Doris Salcedo

She uses domestic materials in her works. In 2003 she completed this installation which she filled the space between two buildings and piled up 1550 chairs. The jumbling chairs which became a metaphor for the helpless entanglement of war.

Tom Friedman

Tom Friedman was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1965. He is a conceptual artist who uses EVERYDAY MATEIRALS in unusual ways, often imbuing mundane objects with new significance, such as toilet paper, chewed gum, and spaghetti. Friedman's work is fleeting, ephemeral or visually unspectacular, and it is often executed on a small scale.

Untitled (toothpicks)-1995 A starburst construction made with thousands of toothpicks.

"Friendman's works are sometimes accompanied by a kind of mythical backstory that adds gravity to their material presence"Hot Balls (stolen balls)-1992 About two hundred balls, stolen from shops by the artist over two years of period, are arranged on the floor.

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/