Art & Identity- Momoyo Torimitsu

Miyata Jira performance paris, 2000.

Miyata Jira performance New York, 1997.

Momoyo Torimitsu was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1967. "I was born in Japan during the period of high economic growth in a suburb of Tokyo. Most of my work had tried to reflect the effect of capitalism in our daily life."- Momoyo Torimitsu, www.momoyotorimitsu.com
Torimitsu's work Miyata Jira is a performance piece that involves Torimitsu; dressed in a nurses outfit; helping a robot dressed as a businessman, crawl along the busy streets of cities including New York and Paris.
"The work was a statement on the predicament of the post-1960s economic boom, when individual identity became subsumed into a uniform collective. The artist takes general themes highlighted by Japanese culture and comments on the difficulties experienced when a society is so over stimulated by commerce and fantasy that common values and reality are overlooked."-Installation art in the new millennium:The empire of the senses, The body of audience.

http://www.momoyotorimitsu.com/

Art & The Body- Vanessa Beecroft

VB46.017.dr

VB46.001.dr

VB45.9005.ali

Vanessa Beecroft is a Italain artist who uses naked women as a medium in her art. Her works are not described as performances; they are living sculptures. The women are all dressed in a similar ways as if they where clones of each other. Beecroft's works can be categorised in art and the body because she is using the human body as a medium for her work; by using this medium and dressing all the women in a similar way makes a statement on how the female body is seen in today's media. That it is photo-shopped, changed and the same 'type' of model is used in the media every day. By viewing Beecrofts work you are confronted with these issues and forced to see the 'real' or the world.

"Standing before the public like living pictures, these set-ups are not performances; the figures do not move, they only take up a position. Derived from media images of commodified beauty, these ensembles suspend human communication, emasculating the charm of the erotic interplay." - Installation art in the new millennium:The empire of the senses, The body of the audience.

http://www.vanessabeecroft.com/frameset.html

i have chosen

Joyce Kozloff as the artist for which to present in my presentation on Art and Globalisation.
D.

Art and Spirituality: Mariko Mori

For the thematic area Art and Spirituality I have chosen to research Japanese artist Mariko Mori.

Her work embodies a vision of contemporary spirituality, which fuses high-technology with Japanese religious tradition. It exemplifies the optimistic sense of interconnectedness that the advancement of global communications and technologies has brought about and covers a number of the salient features of the thematic area; her work is at once an exploration of cultural identity, a genuine personal spiritual quest, and an attempt to affect her audience into altered states of consciousness.

In Wave UFO 1999-2002, viewers enter an alien vessel 3 at a time and are hooked up to brainwave monitoring electrodes which generate a light-show from their biofeedback. This is the psychic world of cyberspace and offers its audience an immersive and visually ethereal spectacle, inviting them to momentarily transcend the mundane in much the same way traditional temples and churches do.



Wave UFO 1999-2002, fiberglass, resin, 34 feet long x 17 feet wide x 14 feet.


"Miko no Inori" or the Shaman-Girl’s Prayer 1996, is another of Mori's periodic self-transformations. Shape-shifting into a silver-eyed, silver-haired visionary, Mori dances with a crystal ball to a haunting Japanese song. In Mori's fantasy it is the cyborg which has access to the world of spirit and the unknown, her pearlescent machinic breast plates implying transcendence of the flesh through the purity of the machine.



Miko no Inori (The Shaman-Girl’s Prayer) 1996, video still.

Check out the video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwl6G9L6bk8


Mori’s "Enlightenment Capsule" equips the imagined meditator with everything necessary on their quest for enlightenment, including a system of natural light filtration which removes ultraviolet and infrared radiation. No surprises if this reads like a sales line, the paradoxical nature of this material path to the immaterial, embedded in plexiglass-kitsch, is absolutely apparent. In fact it is a hallmark of Mori’s new religious iconography which forces us to reassess our perceptions of spirituality in light of the increasing technological augmentation of reality in contemporary society.




“Enlightenment Capsule” 1998, optic fibre cables, glass, aprox 150 by 100 cm.


Mori renews our visions of the sacred, questioning the progress of spirituality within our contemporary context right at its interface with technology. Is it technological advancement which will allow us to transcend the flesh and connect with higher consciousness?

Bibliography

Baas, J. and Jacob, M.J. (eds.) "Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art" University of California Press, Berkeley, 2004.

Cotter,H. "Drawing on a Rich Lode of Shinto-Buddhist Culture; In Brooklyn, a mix of adolescent fantasy, fashion and narcissicism." New York Times, Apr 16, 1999. p. E33 [accessed online: http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/]

Eliel, C.S., "Interpreting Tradition: Mariko Mori’s Nirvana" in Moriko Mori, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Distributed Art Publishers Inc., New York, 1999, p.27-31.

Molon, D., Countdown to Ectasy in Moriko Mori Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Distributed Art Publishers Inc., New York, 1999, p.1-16.

http://www.galerieperrotin.com/artiste-Mariko_Mori-6.html [accessed: 20/08/10]

Presentation - Globalisation

For people doing Art and Globalisation, I've picked Yukinori Yanagi.
Just to let you know so we don't overlap.
Thanks :)

ARTSPACE - 18 Aug

Hi All,

I trust you are all looking forward to our ARTSPACE expedition !

It is not hard to get there... please LOOK AT THE WEBSITE TO CHECK YOUR DIRECTIONS>>>

http://www.artspace.org.au/about_access.php


I cannot stress how important it s to READ THE GUIDELINES (this means directions in this context).

You should all have read through the course outline by now - if you have not yet - please do.

Email me if you have specific enquiries about next wednesday.

Oh and enjoy the weekend!
A.

I for Identity 1st and Art. me 1st and Art 2nd.

Artist at the beginning and everything else ripples out, things like social and cultural critique from the point of view of the self.

Subcultures as well as stereotypes now exist in cyberspace. I wonder what the view of earth from cyberspace looks like? This is going to lead to the inevitable to the rise of global identities that include multiple, symbolic and fractured identities that are non racial. Then there are the trans human and post human issues to be dealt with- discussions about the ethical dilemmas have already begun. Bring it on!

Art & Identity - Jemima Wyman

Jemima Wyman, Combat Drag, 2008 (production still), video, 8:06 mins.

JEMIMA WYMAN- COMBAT DRAG: LESSONS IN UNLIMITED EXPANSION

Combat Drag, 2008, DVD, (Production still)

Jemima Wyman is a current video and performance artist and also creates vibrant canvases. In the 17th Biennale of Sydney, her work Combat Drag (2008) was exhibited addressing the idea of camouflage and disguise - an interesting take on the theme of identity; of hiding behind a facade or a pretense. This topic closely relates to the body in all its physical stature, mental perception of the self and from others. The body is often used as the object, sometimes also the subject, a least in the sense connotations attached to a particular 'identity' or a visual recognition create. Wyman, in this work, looks particularly looks at identity in a consumeristic society, by using head coverings of brightly coloured flannelette material, with painted on features. She fuses the conflict present in the world today with the world of fashion, with the notion of collective identities and individuals through the use of the masks.

http://www.bos17.com/biennale/artist/122

http://www.milanigallery.com.au/artist/jemima-wyman

art and spirituality - yin yang

Brian Chessmar - yin yang

jud turner - spring/sprang

robert arneson (1930-1992, usa) - egg heads

volkswagon beetles - yin yang

"in chinese tradition, the yin-yang symbol represents the contrasting pairs of attributes associated with femaleness and maleness" www.buddhismtaoism.suit101.com/article.cfm/what-is-the-meaning-of-yin-yang-symbol

the different interpretation of the same subject quite interests me. how we can be so different in the way we think, feel, understand and express. and also the intercultural issues. traditional chinese philosophy yin-yang have become almost a global understanding of harmony and balance.

art and identity - daniel edwards

presidential bust of hillary rodham clinton, 2006

Daniel Edwards (b. 1965, Indiana) is a controversial sculptor who often stirs up media with his celebrity depiction and criticism. his subjects includes britany spears giving birth, paris hilton autopsy, nadya suleman (octomum) and her babies, and hillary clinton and her low-cut dress.

According to CBC NEWS (www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/08/10/clinton-sculpture-bust.html) 'Edward has said that his intent was to show the 59 years old New York senator "not as a covered up person, but as a woman".'

casted in a classic style of portrait sculpture, to me, clinton seem to have the traditional emotion-less facial expression. Edward, however, describes "with her head held high, a youthful spirit and a face matured by wisdom". the supporting stone marked with the mimic of presidential seal shows that this is not just any portrait sculpture but a political one. clinton, with her sexual powers, pursuing for a turn in american presidency. i find the purpose of this work, and in most of Daniel Edward's work, quite ironic yet true to reality.

Art and Identity - Anne and Patrick Poirier

Il sangue della memoria

1999

On extreme fragility

2004

Anne and Patrick Poirier are a french couple who base their work on an interest in mythology, architecture and archaeology. They take inspiration from the ruins of Rome saying they are interested in the 'gaze' that has been preserved in the stony eyes of roman statues for over two thousand years. Their installations and sculptures connect the past and present, creating a dialog between the two and show a collective identity of Italian culture and of other cultures. 'La morte di ephialtes' is dedicated to the victims of the genocide in Cambodia, another example of this feeling of a collective identity. 'On extreme fragility' is a homage to Blaschka, a master glass blower charged by a 19th century botanist to reproduce, in the form of glass models, the entire flora of North America which took his entire life to complete and was continued by his son when he died. Similarly to the first work 'One extreme fragility' gives a greater voice to someones experience. What interested the Poiriers was the fragility of the glass flowers which they reproduced. As they put it: "At any given moment, in any given life, all can be jostled, shattered, made to disappear. History, as well as our personal histories, cruelly evidence. How explore, how represent such fragility?"

art and body - Jamie McCartney

design a vagina - great wall of vagina

Jamie McCartney’s (b. 1971, uk) bizarre work ‘Design a vagina’ caught my attention. And made me laugh. The artist’s peculiar obsession has invited 360 volunteer female and transgender-man between the ages of 18-64 to contribute to his the ‘great wall of vagina’.

"For many women their vagina is a source of shame rather than pride and this piece seeks to redress the balance, showing that everyone is different and everyone is normal. I hope this sculpture will be definitive and effective in alleviating the anxiety many women feel about their genitals, just as many men do, at the same time as being a compelling and beautiful artwork." Says J. McCartney.

I must say, as ridiculous as his work may appear, I quite like his intentions.

check out more about J.McCartney on www.brightonbodycasting.com/design-a-vagina.php

and the short film clip on www.whiteedge.net/dav. its quite fascinating.

art and identity - Nayland blake

the big one, 2003

"Bunny Group, Two Holes", 1996/7

Graphite and colored pencil on paper
8 Sheets: 12 x 9 inches each


Nayland blake was an artsit i found to show art his identity in each of his works.
his works are decribed in many different ways as disturbing, brutal, hysterical, provocative and tender. Blakes works deal and play with cultural narratives that have been built up and told and that society abides by which he loves to contradict
The Bunny is recurring symbol in his works which is representing several things the artists identity as a gay man and also as a child with parents who were completely against bi, gays and lesbians. he chooese the image and persona of the bunny to represents the "gay promiscuity" or as he puts it "he fucks like rabbits" also the bunny connotes racial denigration.
the bunny also ties in to his African European heritage folk heroes.

Identity - Melanie Bonajo

Are All Cliches True 03, 2007, C-print, 140x120 cm (55x47.2 inches), ed. 5.

The rabbit inside the cave, 2002, C-print, 60x70 cm (23.6x27.5 inches), ed. 8.

Waiting for something beautiful to happen, 2002, C-print, 60x70 cm (23.6x27.5 inches), ed. 8.

Melanie Bonajo statement -
My work is an irregular impulse of experiences and aesthetic enjoyments stemming from the questions I have and the things that I know. I am not interested in a particular truth or a common reality, but I do have to understand and embody my truth, which I find from looking within. Although these things might be universal, consequently, questioning myself leads to the act of questioning you. Nothing should control the spirit.

Reference: http://www.fette-gallery.com/artists/melanie_bonajo_add.php

Melanie Bonajo explores identity through the medium of photography. She presents an inward view of oneself, whilst demonstrating how the worlds possessions and situations are orchestrated into reality by ones own mindset. She believes this to be the process of us illustrating our identity.

Body - Gilbert and George

Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, 1972

"Being living sculptures is our life blood, our destiny, our romance, our disaster, our light and life. As day breaks over us, we rise into our vacuum and the cold morning light filters dustily through the window. We put on our shoes for the coming walk. Our limbs begin to stir and form actions of loseness, as though without gravity they bounce about for the new day. The head afloat on top levels on the horizon of our thought. Our hearts pound with fresh blood and emotion and again we find ourselves standing there all nerved up in body and mind. Often we will glide to this frame of light. Our mind points ever to our decay....... We are just down at the river feeling around. As the shades of night are falling around our neighbourhood we stroll because we know full well that another sculpture day is over."


Gilbert and George explore the physicality of our body as a navigating structure of moving biology.

The mental realisation that the outside world moves and turns is related to our own survival in it and the way we make sense of every little thing within it.

Meg

Reference: Vergine, Lea. Body art and performance: the body as language / Lea Virgine. Milano: Skira, 2000.

Art and Identity

Some would argue but I feel Tracey Emin deals with some of the more confronting and contentious issues of our Identities. Her work primarily focuses on her sexuality and her sexual experiences. To really gather an understanding of this I recomend perusing her work.

www.tracey-emin.co.uk

Dadang Christanto - Art & Identity

They Give Evidence, 1996-1997 - 16 standing figures holding clothes, terracotta powder, resin, fibreglass and cloth.

"Dadang Christanto (1957) is an Indonesian born artist who sees his role as an art activist. Dadang's professional creative life grows out of his experiences in Indonesia and in Australia, and encompasses the deepest levels of human experience and identity. Often his work is in response to the suffering of Indonesians persecuted for the political and religious beliefs or their ethnicity, primarily during the Suharto regime. Christanto was only eight years old when his father was arrested and soon after killed during this time of civil distress. This has been a strong influence throughout Christanto's artmaking, as he continues to reinforce his identity and experience his native history through his sculpture and performance works. Dadang feels that people who live in a difficult, repressive places, develop a different concept of identity and that individuals who are forced to show only their public, official facade are also in danger of losing their private identity. Now reciding in Australia, Christanto is able to embrace his identity and share his concepts behind this ideo with the artworld."

Heads from the North, 2004 - installation, 66 bronze heads

I'm attracted to Dadang's work personally, as I too like Dadang have Indonesian heritage. Because my family are 7th generation Chinese in Indonesia, the concept of Identity has always been an important concept in my family as our Chinese identity overtime has been lost through the generations in Indonesia. Up until recently, I had always thought of myself as being Indonesian because it is the culture which I identify most with. However, my father told me a couple years ago that we are infact originally Chinese and that we have a 'made-up' surname because Chinese immigrants were made to change their surnames to avoid racially motivated abuse/discrimination in Indonesian society. So really, I am of Chinese, Indonesian and Dutch background, first generation in Australia; an individual who identifies with 4 different cultures! I think the more the merrior, race and identity seem so heavily integrated. When I was young I didn't really understand or appreciate my cultural diversity, but today it's something that I'm very proud of :-)


http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/multicultural_art/artists/construct_ourselves/co_art3_dadang.html

Art and Identity

I know its not sculpture, but for a topic like art and identity I can't help thinking about the graphic novel 'Persepolis'. Its been made into an animation too and is definitely worth checking out. It is the story of a young girl growing up in Iran, forging her own identity in circumstances of violence, political volatility, and increasing religious fundamentalism.

Duane Hanson - Art & The Body

Queenie II, 1988 - polychromed bronze with accessories

"Duane Hanson (1925-1996) was an American artist whose primary interest was in recreating the human form, and well known for his lifecast and realistic works of everyday people. Hanson uses a range of materials including polyester resin, fibreglass, bondo and bronze. He first began representing the human body at age 13 in 1938 when created a 3 dimensional wood rendering of the figure in Thomas Gainsborough's famous portrait 'The Blue Boy' (c. 1770). Hanson's earlier sculptural works include a carving of his mothers broomstick, which he made into miniature representations of the human form."

The individuals which Hanson has chosen to represent appear to have the stereotypical appearance of Americans, especially the uniform of the janitor and the holiday outfits of the tourists. What interested me the most however, are the blank expressions and motionless stances of the individuals. The certainly don't appear to be enjoying themselves, doing it is whatever they're doing. Because the invidual's roles in society are so easily identifiable, and their expressions so plain; I feel that Hanson is attempting to comment on the routine of everyday life and perhaps the inability to escape routine (of a job for example).

Traveller, 1988 - autobody filler, fibreglass and mixed media with accessories

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/duane_hanson.htm

Art and Identity - Latifa Echakhch

Latifa Echakhch's art practice is strongly influenced by her experience as a Morrocan immigrant living in Paris. She explores themes surrounding the individual and the state, reflecting on her own heritage, cultural differences, social phenomena and the socio-political issues surrounding immigrants within the West. Her work incorporates culturally defined objects such as Morrocan tea glasses and rugs as well as national symbols, legal documents and common, everyday objects such as carbon paper, sugar cubes, and rubber tires. Echakhch removes these articles from their original context and deconstructs them, without completely altering their form so that viewers can witness the objects in a broader, more significant light within the gallery space. This gesture enables the viewer to contemplate the stereotypes and socio-codes that are embedded within these materials.

A Chaque Stencil, une revolution, 2008

A4 carbon paper, glue, alcohol

Coutesy the artist and Tate Modern, London

Fantasia, 2008,

Wooden flagpoles, metal wall brackets, Courtesy the artist and Tate Modern, London

Erratum, 2004, Broken tea glass, Dimensions variable
Courtesy the artist and The Studio Museum in Harlem

Frames, 2000-2008
Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Francesca Kaufmann, Milan

Art& Identity: Sabi Van Hemert

Very INTERESTING SCULPTURESSS~!!!!!!!!!!! SMALL ALIEN BABIES~~:) LOL


untitled, 2007, leather , synthetic materials.

untitled 2007, synthetic materials, wood, lacquer

Untitled 2009, leather, synthetic material, pins

Sabi Van Hemert is an Ductch artist who creates strange figures. The fusion between the baby and alien. I guess, the way the artist doesn't create the faces, questiones the audience about their identity. What are they, what kind of emotion are they carrying inside and so on. The way each sculptures are positioned/ the body shapes are weird but kind of dipicting the movements of the babies.

"For weeks, with greate patience and discipline, I cut and paste or prick, following self-imposed rules such as "all forms in same rhythm" or "all lines continue onward". This, precision, and the particular materials I choose, help to give my work its alienating yet sensual , tough yet vulnerable charater"

The artist mentioned about creating vulnerable character = the baby

IF YOU'R INTERSTED PLEASE CHECK OUT THE WEB PAGE :

www.sabivanhemert.nl/index.html