Art and Deformation: Rohan Wealleans

"He with Glands of Wasp"

Rohan Wealleans's strange morphemic creations mesh between sculpture and painting. Their appearance is mysitc in 

nature yet have a frankenien-like feeling. It is difficult to ignore the maniacal energy Rohan invests in the creation of his works. Weallean's signature technique involves layers and layers of paint which is then carved, sliced and pinned back to reveal a stratified candy interior. It is his balance between the immature and the highly sophisticated that makes his work so interesting. There is a formal curiosity driving the work, pleasure in making paint behave in spooky and unaccustomed ways. Wealleans has a clear fascination with his material, remarking: “I think a painting is the hardest thing to look at”. His imagined rituals and willful misrecognitions seem generated out of desire to conceive and construct things on the edge of the unknown.

http://stella.net.nz/index.php/written-by/rohan-wealleans/

Art and Abstarction: Dale Frank

'The River, Dettol colour, with depth increasing Molasses consistency, the acid sting giving way to a sweet nauseous caramel detachment. His eyes no longer inward squirting lemons but swollen ripe wet fruit. Peeled back Lychees the size of Grapefruit. The Panadol induced creation of a dead man by circumstance and the fancy of delusions, "floating islands", a primordial soup that was his bilious beginning and bloated undoing. A loud pungent dessert ever present with each bite of each preceding course of his fifty year banquet.'- 2009

In the turbine hall at cockatoo island Dale Frank has a series of 12 abstract paintings that span the space. His works have an abstract style with the use of swirling colour in which the technique he uses of pouring paint onto canvas is a crucial aspect to his practice.  The paint is so thick that gravity has caused  pockets of wet paint under a thick drying. His painting could be described as "lyrical abstraction" rather than the action paintings of Pollok. Although his work seems to represent that of a 'traditional' style (canvas and paint), it is through his application and use of varnish and paint he a achieves a sculptural form. 

 "Dale Frank’s paintings show how far abstraction has come in a matter of forty years, or so. They are impressive canvases which demonstrate the unpredictability of life which in which we take all possible measures to control. His titles for his work may be lengthy and pretentious, but this is an extravagance he can afford. Hs work is a breath of fresh air into not only one sense but his art is something you wish you could also touch taste and smell."

http://www.redbubble.com/painters-in-modern-times/forums/560/topics/6399-dale-frank

Bieanlle trip. Marcus Coates.

When i first entered Artspace the first work that really held my attention was Marcus Coates video installation.  I watched 2 out of the 4 films set up, showing his performance as well as a documentary style film. The largest screen was devoted to his concert 'Elephant and Castle', which was based on a live performance in London. However in his other videos Coates is respinding to a community board in relation to the redevlopment of London's Elephant and Castle area. 

Throughout all of these performances, which the audience doesnt know to take him seriously or not (irrelevant imo), Coats takes on the role of some type of modern day shaman. He has a very dry, booshian humour to his delivery of a mystical story to the council about how small geese make nests under his armpits as walruses perch themselves atop mountain sides. He then relates this experience to the need to keep community plans in perspective of reachable standards.  Coinciding this was his live performance, dressed in the same suit as in the meeting with a horse head on, he achieves a ritualistic style performances. As he speaks in 'animal tongue' Coates mixes genres he enters a trance like state. 

I found both his insights into public problems and issues through a shaman medium not only hilarious but believable, as well as his concert to be enjoyable to watch. I think a work like this could only function in a space such as Artspace as the individual experience of the piece wouldn't be successful in a space such as AGNSW.

Journey to the Lower World, 2004 (still)

2 screen DVD installation, 30 minutes.

art and biennale

I recently went to MCA to check out the biennale there. There weren't very many sculptures. It seemed to be mainly paintings or video works.
I was interested in Louise Bourgeois's works (although I didn't know they were hers at the time). These were a series of bronze and steel statues, although they looked more like concrete to me because of how they were painted. They were jumpers, stretched out. They were standing vertically upright, very long and thin.
For my biennale visit, I didn't want to be reading all the time, so I haven't read into the narrative behind these works (which seem to be present in her other works). However, I was drawn to these works because of the contrast of the materials used and the representational form. As clothing, we immediately have an expectation of texture. We are expecting softness, and something flexible, able to drape or be pulled.
This is in direct contrast with the medium of this artwork. Bronze represents an unbending, lasting strength, devoid of comfort. It is generally associated with its common use in ancient societies. This may have been the reason she has used this material. The lasting qualities of the material over time (ancient bronze items still exist today) and the lasting quality of the ancient society itself over time, may parallel her meaning. Her works are entitled 'echo', and are apparently casts of her old clothing. The concept of capturing time or preserving personal history may be central to these works.
I found the representation interesting, particularly because the items were stretched. This felt as if the tension of the item was trapped within the heavy material of the sculptures.

www.dedeceblog.com/2010/05/24/biennale-of-sydney-2010-louise-bourgeois/

art and biennale -Liu Jianhua

(yet to visit c.island)

maybe its this year's theme "the beauty of distance - songs of survival in a precarious age" or maybe its the renovating agnsw. either way i found many works and exhibition layout quite confusing and  stiff. anyhow, other than that, some individuals stood out to me.

 

Container Series, 2009

Liu Jianhua (b.1962 china)

procelain and glaze

one of them were Liu Jianhua's Container series which is being exhibited in the agnsw. i think most of us couldn't figure out whether the red material was liquid or glaze. it was so deep, like looking into a deep ocean. but in red which gave me a chill, it looked almost like a pool of blood. interesting how we recognise and relate colours. red can also be flowers, passion, love, fire, sun and many more. but i end up thinking of it as blood. the title is so simple, "container series". but perhaps it does represent blood shed in reference to the political history of the artist's heritage. it had both harmonious ceramic vibe and emotion. 

http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artwork_Detail.asp?G=&gid=424891678&which=&ViewArtistBy=&aid=9014&wid=426023123&source=artist&rta=http://www.artnet.com

art and deformation - nathan sawaya

Nathan Sawaya the "Brick Artist" is a new york based artist who works with lego bricks as his main medium. to many lego are just childhood toys but Sawaya extends his creativity with the bricks to create large-scale sculptures, playfully and beautifully, transforming them into something completely different and unexpected.

he often use humans physicality as his main subject, life size and real like, but in a very absurd way. many of his people pieces appear almost like supernatural being who can have fun with their features, almost human but not quite.

Sawaya also appears to be colour obsessive. legos are very vibrant and primary in its colour and Sawaya uses it to his favour. this also reduces the human likeness, making them appear like aliens with (commonly perceived as) perfect masculine body - friendly than scary.

more than 1.5million coloured lego bricks are stored in his NY studio!

http://www.brickartist.com/

Art and Deformation

What is deformation?

Deformation: [mass noun] the action or process of deforming or distorting. • the result of a distorting process: the deformation will be temporary. • [count noun] an altered form of a word, especially one used to avoid overt profanity (e.g. dang for damn ).

Oxford reference online, (2010), http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/views/SEARCH_RESULTS.html?q=deformation&ssid=21871522&scope=global&time=0.149995565504895, (accessed June 4 2010)

deform - To distort or change form.


Artlex, (2010) http://www.artlex.com/, (accessed June 4 2010)

to deform or destort means to change, or alter, however does this mean that all art is deformed?
I would say quite possibly. When duchamp created his fountain in 1917, he distorted a pre concieved idea. The definition of deformation has endless possibilites, with almost anything and everything is able to be categorised under the topic. If the object, shape form is not deformed then maybe the concept behind it is. We are so regually taught to question things, to not trust everything we hear or say. But have we ever thought that by doing this, there will never be a clear definition of a word or concept. Is it really deformation or is he/she saying it is? Does deformation exsist, if everything has the ability to be looked at as if it has been deformed.

Annotated Bibliography: Art and Deformation

Louise Bourgeois

Edited by Frances Morris. Louise Bourgeois, London: Tate Publishing, 2007

This book titles Louise Bourgeois is a edited by Frances Morris and published in 2007 by Tate Publishing. It mainly consists of a glossary of writings, some produced by Bourgeois, and her art and a short explanation or analysis of each piece of work. It also contains many short essays written by critics interested in her works, such as “Feminism: Is she or isn't she.” It is easy to read through and contains many high quality images of her artwork. It is well referenced and would recommend this book for people interested in her work.

Heartney, Eleanor. Art And Today, London: Phaidon, 2008

This book would be considered scholarly because the author Eleanor Heartney is a respected cultural critic, an Art in American editor and also a lecturer. The text begins by discussing how our ways of thinking have changed, in terms of deformation and the idealized body like Michelangelo's David. It also outlines the possible causes of this change and the political influence on this theme. It descibes terms often used when talking about deformation in contemporary art such as grotesque and carnivalesque and then lists many artists associated with deformation, giving a little description of each artist. I found this article to be very easy to read and helpful because it gives a good overview for this topic. I would recommend this text as a starting point for anyone interested in deformation. It is well referenced and includes high quality images.

Kay Larson. Women by a Woman http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0ucCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA74&dq=Louise+Bourgeois&as_brr=1&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Louise%20Bourgeois&f=false Retrieved 30 June, 2010

This is a magazine article from New York magazine and talkes specifically about her as a feminist artist, and her Quarantrania work. It also gives a biography on her life and how the effects of her childhood has influenced her works. It is quite easy to understand and would recommend this to people interested in feminism and how she relates to it.

Gallery Visit Blog Posting:Kate Murphy

The first step into the exhibition, the surrounding colour of white clean, fresh and empty feelings. The exhibition space were so empty, as if some works were missing. There was arrange of the artworks displayed on the walls. Before I started to observe the Murphy’s works I could hear someone singing and talking continuously. Since I was more interested with noise rather than silence, I straight went into the curtain. The video installation behind the black curtain, (The only dark space within the exhibition), the large screen and close-up shot of the video invited me into the scene. Where a woman is standing and singing along the lyrics that Murphy have wrote. One of the music that performance sang in the video was called ‘suicide song’, something that was confronting,and weired. What kind of person write a song about suicide? That was first thought.

The lyrics was very personal, the name and events that happened in her life, that she tries to remember. The interesting about this performance was that the audience was faced with back side of the performer, as if she already disappeared from the world. Most of the songs were about her lover, family, friends and her life experiences. For some reason I just can’t forget the title of the song ‘suicide’ such a strong word that I almost can imagine someones death. Not the word that I'd like to hear at all. The other works that was displayed on the wall, the pieces of notes/composed music with the lyrics. It kinda creates the contrast
between two art medium. One with words and note without any sound, other with no words to read but hear the sound.

I'm not sure whether she intended to created different effect of using two medium. I was personally more interested in Kate Murphy's works rather than Jonathan Jones. Because I enjoyed sitting down in front of the video installation and listening to the woman singing (Interested with Opera type musics~) Overall ,the visit to gallery of both artist were excellent, I was wished that there were few more works to look at.

Art and Deformation

Louise Bourgeois

Seven in a bed.

This installation sculpture displays her interest in the fame body particulary. It involves the viewer in ways which it is disturbing aand shocking. Louise has always been ocupied with themes of childhood, trauma and sexuality.By doing so she questions the conception of sculpture as a high art which utilises an expensive material and idealizes the body. The art of sewing, traditionally seen as a craft relegated to the woman's sphere, is remade and revised in Bourgeois' sculptures.

Art&Narrative: Fernando Mastrangelo

Felix,2008-2009

Fernando Mastrangelo was born in 1978 and raised in the United States,Mexico, and Argentina.From his earliest work, MNastrangelo has explored narrative sculpture and relationships to contemporary politics, ancient history, philosophy, and environment.

'My work over the past two years has focused on the use of such materials as media which I use to create cultural objects that propose a narrative of commodity production and the invisible labor force behind it."

I love the work ';Felix,2008-2009', the way Fernando Mastrangelo installed his sculpture. The glass floor the way its being positioned and dark room, it all comes together so well!.

If you'r interested click onto his website http://fernandomastrangelo.com/recent.html

Art&Deformation:Lucy and Bart

Germination Day eight:

Go for gold

Very interesting couple!!

Lucy and Bart is a collanoration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low-tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.

I think they works are most based on the idea of the fashion, with using unsual materials or elements...pretty interesting~!

Art&Nature:Lee Gil Rae

Lee-Gil-Rae is an Korean artist. His works are based on creating sculpture with welding metals together to create tree based installation. Lee Gill Rae's work presents a possibility of post-sculpture, while maintaining an aesthetic of traditional sculptures. His work presents a form that lacks massiveness, has a structure wherein the inside runs through the outside, and a pictorial situation. Through all of this, his work maintains a dual-tension relationship with traditional sculpture, and there the distinctive chracter of Lee Gil Rae's work begins. He has been consistently pursuing inherent or original forms of nature, and his subject matter has included such things as a lost castle,archeological excavations, creation, cohesion and recently he mad his tree series.

I really like his work, the way he structured the sculpture in the exhibition space, the images of his works are amazing. The details of the works are interesting. Lee's interest in nature hits a turning point in the combination between the inner vitality of nature and the sensusous shapes of nature.

Old Pine Tree1-Copper welding 262,5 x 116 x 294 cm 2008
Annual ring 1- Copper welding 247 x 247x4cm 2007

art galleries fact sheet

here is something ive come across doing some research for my essay and found it quite interesting/funny. wanted to share it with you guys. happy writing essay :)

- from "arts and culture in australia : a statistical overview, 2008
- Australian Bureau of Statistics

HOW MANY PEOPLE GO TO ART GALLERIES?

The ABS report, Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events, Australia, 2005-06 (cat. no. 4114.0) found that approximately 3.6 million people, or nearly one quarter (23%) of all people in Australia aged 15 years and over, visited art galleries in the 12 months before interview. Most of these people (63%) had visited an art gallery just once or twice in the 12 month period.

According to Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4901.0), 995,200 children visited a museum or art gallery outside of school hours during the 12 months prior to interview in April 2006. The rate of attendance was similar for boys (38%) and girls (36%) and the same for children aged 5 to 8 years and 9 to 11 years (40%). Older children aged 12-14 years were less likely to attend art galleries, with a lower attendance rate of 31%. Data for children's attendance at art galleries alone was not available.

As reported in Museums, Australia, 2003-04 (cat. no. 8560.0), there were 11.5 million admissions to art museums in the 12 months prior to interview, with the majority of these (87%) being free admissions. Admissions to art museums accounted for nearly two fifths (37%) of total admissions for all museums.

It is important to note the difference between the number of visitors as reported by the Attendance publication and the number of visits as reported by Museums, Australia. Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events, Australia, 2005-06 (cat. no. 4114.0) reported that 3.6 million people visited art galleries, while Museums, Australia, 2003-04 (cat. no. 8560.0) reported that there were 11.5 million visits to art museums. These figures are vastly different because the Attendance publication reports on data collected in relation to 'visitors' while Museums, Australia reports on number of 'visits'. For the Attendance publication, data are collected about whether each respondent has visited a selected cultural event or venue in the past 12 months and, if so, how frequently they have visited. Regardless of how many times a respondent has visited a selected cultural venue or event in the 12 month reference period, they are counted as one visitor. This differs from the Museums, Australia publication where a visit can count the same visitor returning numerous times. So, one person visiting art galleries 10 times in 12 months would be counted as one visitor in the Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events publication, but as 10 visits in Museums, Australia.


ARE SOME PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO VISIT ART GALLERIES THAN OTHERS?

The Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group published a report entitled The Social and Demographic Characteristics of Cultural Attendees in 2006 using data from the ABS' 2002 General Social Survey. This report found that the following characteristics were associated with art gallery attendance:

- Females in every age group except 18-24 year olds were more likely to visit an art gallery than males.

- Likelihood of attending art galleries increased with age, with people aged 45 years and over more likely to visit art galleries than those aged 18-34 years.

- People living in Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory were more likely to visit art galleries than people in New South Wales.

- People born in Australia were more likely to visit art galleries than those born in a non-main English speaking country.

- People without children were more likely to visit art galleries than families with dependent children.

- Part-time workers (1-34 hours a week) were more likely to attend art galleries than those who worked full-time (35 hours or more per week).

- People living in areas that were less disadvantaged (according to SEIFA) were more likely to attend art galleries than those living in more disadvantaged areas. However, among those who attended art galleries, people living in the most disadvantaged areas were more likely to attend frequently than those in the middle SEIFA quintile. More information about SEIFA is available from Information Paper: Census of Population and Housing -- Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, Australia, 2001 (cat. no. 2039.0).

- More highly educated people were more likely to visit art galleries.

- Those who had a computer at home were more likely to visit art galleries.

- People who were able to raise $2,000 for an emergency within a week were more likely to go to art galleries.

- People who felt safe or very safe at home alone after dark were more likely to attend art galleries than those who felt unsafe or very unsafe or who were never home alone after dark.

- People who stated that they were in excellent health were more likely to attend art galleries than those who said they were in poor health.

- People with at least weekly contact with family and friends were more likely to visit art galleries than those who had less frequent contact.


http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/featurearticlesbyCatalogue/EC433861A9687905CA2574E9001337FA?OpenDocument#PARALINK8

Another Chapman bros

Its pretty obvious when looking at the Chapman Brothers works they they have a bit of an artistic man crush on Goya an artist who is arguably one of the first to delight in abjection. The work I find so incredibly interesting in regards to deformation is their 2003 body of work "Insult to Injury". Where they had collected arguably one of the most important complete sets of prints in the artistic world and systematically "rectifyed" them, painting clown and puppy heads on those of all the distrested war victims. This act of defacement has become as much of an afront to the many in the art as and the horrors depicted in the orignal prints. Its effects are almost carnvalseque circumventing the usual high reverence for art that has attained a level of historical reverence. I think this is a really clever and brave work it seems in this case the adding abjection to abjection can make for some beautiful ideas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/mar/31/artsfeatures.turnerprize2003

Art and Deformation : Mike Kelly

Hanging Stuffed Animals and Deodorizers
1991

Mike Kelly's work questions 'normative' values, looking at all of the fixed ideas about childhood, sexuality, gender, region, education and so on. He has been influenced by history, politics and underground rock music (he was in a band with tony Oursler). 'Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction' is a collection that features many of these works dealing with deformity. He seems to dislike the ideals of this generation/popular culture so his disfigured sculptures and paintings are him expressing this dislike. He describes himself as an avant-gardist so i think he feels hes stuck in the wrong generation?

"so were living in the post-modern age; the death of the avant-garde. so all i can do now really is work with this dominant culture and flay it, rip it apart, configure it."

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A

Annotated Bibliography

Fluid, 2003.

'All that is solid', 2004.

Sit, 2002.

Bibliography (Annotated):

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist-profile/claire+morgan/238.html

This site is an online gallery which has profiles of it's artists and their work. I found it a useful resource because it reuterated ideas I had previously had about the artist and helped to confirm my theories.

http://www.claire-morgan.co.uk/index.htm

This is Claire Morgan's own site, it contains a full history of her work with descrptions and images and work dimensions. All the images on the site are taken by the artist herself as documentation. This was a good site to source the images I used in my presentation. Also what was useful was extended quotes by the artist about her work, which helped me to further comprehend the meaning of the work as well as the artist's intention.

Heartney, Eleanor. Art & Today. New York: Phaidon Press ltd. 2008. Chapt. Art and Deformation.

This was a useful introduction to deformation in art, but I found that it focus almost entirely of the deformation of the female body in art, in the most obvious sense. This did not help very much because my artist's work references human imperfection and the body in a more symbolic way rather than literal one.

art, nature and technology - jorge roberto lopes dos sants

personally, i fear the rapid development of technology and science. i know we seek and need it for our convenience, i wont be able to live without my mobile phone, internet or my car. but sometimes some projects and products are almost frightening like the development of weapons. anyhow for the topic of "art, nature and technology" i would like to introduce you to Jorge Lopes dos santos. brazilian design graduate of royal college of art in london jorge lopes has developed a way to make physical models of foetuses by employing ultrasound 3D, CT and MRI scans. the project in collaboration with a paediatric cardiologist at imperial college, jorge lopes succeeded in producing a life size and realistic model of an unborn baby has not only astonished the parents anxiously waiting for their child to be born but connecting them like it has never done before especially for those who are visually impaired. it also carries a lot of potential for and medical world.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/16/the-fetus-project-by-jorge-lopes-dos-santos/

art and time - claire healy & sean cordiero

Lifespan, 2009
claire healy & sean cordeiro (australia)

53rd Vennice Biennale

claire healy & sean cordeiro are contemporay Australian sculptors who collaborates to produce works exploring the relationship between creation and consumption, often working with recycled and reused quotidian objects. they also work in solos - claire healy experiments with large scale site-specific installations whilst sean cordeiros work are public and in-gallery installational sculptures. one of the duos recent collection Lifespan, 2009 which represneted Australia in 53rd vennice Biennale was an installation piece which consisted of 195 774 VHS video cassettes arranged into a solid rectangular block. the combination running time for all videos which adds up to 60.1 years represented the average lifespan of a person during the 1976 the year VHS was first produced. it captures ones life in such materialistic product which is quite ironic and witty. your whole life in just a block.

claireandsean.com

Louise Bourgeois, Influential Sculptor, Dies at 98

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/arts/design/01bourgeois.html