Friday, 23 November 2012
Notes on talk: Ivan Seal & Carl Freedman
Seal, I and Freedman, C (2012). Artist's Talk Ivan Seal [talk]. Spike Island. 20 November.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Poster ideas
These are some of the initial poster ideas for my essay, working within the brief given to us. I have taken a formal, monotone and quite minimalist approach to these designs. My idea in these was to reflect an act or position of looking, whether that be through the physical distortion of the text, or the illustrations of views within a gallery space.
I wanted the poster to have aspects of relational art itself when stuck to a wall. The main body of the text is at a different line of perspective to the actual piece of paper, inviting the viewer to move around the poster to read it. The design of these posters also comment on the conditions within an ideal gallery space; its even distribution of lighting, the elimination of distractions, focus on artwork and formality of fonts and text.
I am also considering working on a 3D poster, incorporating the L Beams and text into a more sculptural wall composition.
-Also realised that the title Conditions of Display was already used for an exhibition in 2007.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Chosen cultural text and discourse
Robert Morris, Untitled (L Beams), 1965, Fiber glass and steel, 8 x 8 x 2ft
A few notes on critical approaches
Monday, 12 November 2012
Bibliography for essay
Berger, J (1972). Ways of Seeing - Episode 1: Psychological Aspects. available from: http://www.ubu.com/film/berger_seeing.html [accessed 27 December 2012].
Bishop, C. (2005) But is it Installation art?, Tate, 1 January, available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/it-installation-art [accessed 14.11.12]
Bois, Y A. (2004) Art Since 1900. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc.
Bourriaud N, (1998). Relational Aesthetics. English Edition. Dijon, Les Presse Du Reel.
Claydon, S. (2012) Talk: Steven Claydon, UWE Fine Art/ Art in the city lecture series, [lecture], Arnolfini, 17 October.
Fried, M, (1998) . Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews. Edition. University Of Chicago Press.
Karp, I and Lavine, S D (1991). Exhibiting Cultures, the Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Paper Edition. Washington, Smithsonian Books.
LeWitt, S. (1967) Paragraphs on Conceptual Art. Artforum Vol. 5 No. 10. June.
Lewis, B (2004). Art Safari - Relational Art: Is It An Ism?. available from: http://www.ubu.com/film/relational.html [accessed 6 November 2012].
Marincola, P. (2007). What Makes a Great Exhibition?. Edition. Chicago, Reaktion Books.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge Classics). 2 Edition. London. Routledge.
Morris, R. (1966) Notes on Sculpture, Part I. Artforum Vol. 9, No. 6. February, pp42 - 44.
Morris, R. (1966) Notes on Sculpture, part II. Artforum Vol. 5, No. 2. October. pp20 - 23
Morris, R. (1967) Notes on Sculpture part III: Notes and Nonsequiturs. Artforum Vol. 5, No. 10. Summer. pp24 - 29
O'Doherty, B, (2000). Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Expanded Edition. California, University of California Press.
O'Neil, P (2012). Relational Aesthetics, Golbalism and Self Organisation [lecture]. University of the West of England, Bower Ashton Campus. 25 October.
Rothkopf, S. (2011) Singular Visions: Robert Morris, Untitled (L-Beams), 1965. Whitney Museum of American Art, Youtube [video] 27 October. available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Y6LkZblTk [accessed 13.11.12].
Sawyer, M. (2010) The Wizard of Odd, The Observer, The New Review. 18 July, pp 18 - 29
Seal, I and Freedman, C (2012). Artist's Talk Ivan Seal [talk]. Spike Island. 20 November.
Steinmeyer, J. (2006). Art and Artifice: And Other Essays of Illusion. 1 Edition. Boston, Da Capo Press.
Stiles, K and Selz, P (2012). Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles). 2 Rev Exp Edition. University of California Press.
Tate, (2004) Untitled 1965/71: Display caption. Tate Collection online. available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/morris-untitled-t01532/text-display-caption [accessed 14.12.12].
Bishop, C. (2005) But is it Installation art?, Tate, 1 January, available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/it-installation-art [accessed 14.11.12]
Bois, Y A. (2004) Art Since 1900. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc.
Bourriaud N, (1998). Relational Aesthetics. English Edition. Dijon, Les Presse Du Reel.
Claydon, S. (2012) Talk: Steven Claydon, UWE Fine Art/ Art in the city lecture series, [lecture], Arnolfini, 17 October.
Fried, M, (1998) . Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews. Edition. University Of Chicago Press.
Karp, I and Lavine, S D (1991). Exhibiting Cultures, the Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Paper Edition. Washington, Smithsonian Books.
LeWitt, S. (1967) Paragraphs on Conceptual Art. Artforum Vol. 5 No. 10. June.
Lewis, B (2004). Art Safari - Relational Art: Is It An Ism?. available from: http://www.ubu.com/film/relational.html [accessed 6 November 2012].
Marincola, P. (2007). What Makes a Great Exhibition?. Edition. Chicago, Reaktion Books.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge Classics). 2 Edition. London. Routledge.
Morris, R. (1966) Notes on Sculpture, Part I. Artforum Vol. 9, No. 6. February, pp42 - 44.
Morris, R. (1966) Notes on Sculpture, part II. Artforum Vol. 5, No. 2. October. pp20 - 23
Morris, R. (1967) Notes on Sculpture part III: Notes and Nonsequiturs. Artforum Vol. 5, No. 10. Summer. pp24 - 29
O'Doherty, B, (2000). Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Expanded Edition. California, University of California Press.
O'Neil, P (2012). Relational Aesthetics, Golbalism and Self Organisation [lecture]. University of the West of England, Bower Ashton Campus. 25 October.
Rothkopf, S. (2011) Singular Visions: Robert Morris, Untitled (L-Beams), 1965. Whitney Museum of American Art, Youtube [video] 27 October. available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Y6LkZblTk [accessed 13.11.12].
Sawyer, M. (2010) The Wizard of Odd, The Observer, The New Review. 18 July, pp 18 - 29
Seal, I and Freedman, C (2012). Artist's Talk Ivan Seal [talk]. Spike Island. 20 November.
Steinmeyer, J. (2006). Art and Artifice: And Other Essays of Illusion. 1 Edition. Boston, Da Capo Press.
Stiles, K and Selz, P (2012). Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles). 2 Rev Exp Edition. University of California Press.
Tate, (2004) Untitled 1965/71: Display caption. Tate Collection online. available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/morris-untitled-t01532/text-display-caption [accessed 14.12.12].
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (week 5)
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Film Theory and criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44.
Psychoanalysis noun
a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.
Patriarchal adjective
of, relating to, or characteristic of a system of society or government controlled by men : patriarchal values.
Scopophilia noun
pleasure from looking, seeing other people as objects. sense of power from looking.
In psychoanalytic terms, the drive to look and the general pleasure in looking. Freud saw voyeurism (the pleasure in looking without being seen) and exhibitionism (the pleasure in being looked at) as the active and passive forms of scopophilia. The concept of scopophilia has been important to psychoanalytic film theory in its emphasis on the relationship of pleasure and desire to the practice of
looking.
"To begin with (as an ending), the voyeuristic-scopophilic look that is a crucial part of traditional filmic pleasure can itself be broken down. There are three different looks associated with cinema: that of the camera as it records the pro-filmic event, that of the audience as it watches the final product, and that of the characters at each other within the screen illusion. The conventions of narrative film deny the first two and subordinate the them to the third, the conscious aim being always to eliminate intrusive camera presence and prevent a distancing awareness in the audience."
We are encouraged to forget the choices of camera angles and cinematic techniques - seeing it as natural.
Deliberacy in cinematic choices.
also-
-John Berger, (2009). Ways of Seeing (Penguin Modern Classics). Edition. Penguin Group(CA).
-Natural Born Killers (1994) [DVD]. Directed by Oliver Stone. USA: Warner Bros.
Psychoanalysis noun
a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.
Patriarchal adjective
of, relating to, or characteristic of a system of society or government controlled by men : patriarchal values.
Scopophilia noun
pleasure from looking, seeing other people as objects. sense of power from looking.
In psychoanalytic terms, the drive to look and the general pleasure in looking. Freud saw voyeurism (the pleasure in looking without being seen) and exhibitionism (the pleasure in being looked at) as the active and passive forms of scopophilia. The concept of scopophilia has been important to psychoanalytic film theory in its emphasis on the relationship of pleasure and desire to the practice of
looking.
"To begin with (as an ending), the voyeuristic-scopophilic look that is a crucial part of traditional filmic pleasure can itself be broken down. There are three different looks associated with cinema: that of the camera as it records the pro-filmic event, that of the audience as it watches the final product, and that of the characters at each other within the screen illusion. The conventions of narrative film deny the first two and subordinate the them to the third, the conscious aim being always to eliminate intrusive camera presence and prevent a distancing awareness in the audience."
We are encouraged to forget the choices of camera angles and cinematic techniques - seeing it as natural.
Deliberacy in cinematic choices.
also-
-John Berger, (2009). Ways of Seeing (Penguin Modern Classics). Edition. Penguin Group(CA).
-Natural Born Killers (1994) [DVD]. Directed by Oliver Stone. USA: Warner Bros.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Paint the Upper Right Hand Corner Black
Oil on primed, coarse grain paper
10 x 14''
2012
"The Higher Powers Command: Paint the Upper Right Hand Corner Black!"
Artnet, Jerry Saltz, (2010). THE DAZZLER. available from: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/saltz/sigmar-polke6-16-10.asp [accessed 04.11.12]
The indiscipline of painting.
The indiscipline of painting: International abstraction from the 1960’s to now.
Tate St Ives, 8 October 2011 - 3 January 2012
I visited this exhibition whilst on a trip to Cornwall last year. Curated by Daniel Sturgis, the exhibition focused on the visual and conceptual connections between works rather than on chronology or a specific theme. The comprised works of 49 British, European and American artists, show the innovation and diversity abstract art can have. I also found that it highlighted a variety of applications for painting in contemporary art and design.
Most of the paintings were made by hand in a controlled or orderly way, using the media itself to represent or portray meanings and ideas, where few of them displayed a gestural or self expressive handling of paint. The paintings throughout the exhibition might have initially come across as having no relevance to one another at all, but each piece of work had its own context and language of abstraction. Even without knowing anything at first glance, you could still find them visually intriguing.
‘Electronic surveillance’ (1989) by Tim Head. Contemporary artist using pattern to obscure rather than decorate, interested in hyper real codes and languages, this piece is a recreation of the pattern taken from the inside of a payslip envelope, magnified onto a large canvas, and is something miniscule and innocuous that everyone comes across once a month.
‘Chronochrome set 3’ (2010) by Cheney Thompson is a technologic abstraction, painting process where he records the amount of light coming into a space, which is then composed using a certain colour theory, ordering the light into individual formatted dates on a calendar. The idea of visually representing a record of light, monitoring data over a period of time interested me in this piece.
also - Triming, L. (2012) An Uncomfortable Armchair, Abstract Critical, 24 January. available from: http://abstractcritical.com/article/an-uncomfortable-armchair/ [accessed 17.11.12].
Tate St Ives, 8 October 2011 - 3 January 2012
I visited this exhibition whilst on a trip to Cornwall last year. Curated by Daniel Sturgis, the exhibition focused on the visual and conceptual connections between works rather than on chronology or a specific theme. The comprised works of 49 British, European and American artists, show the innovation and diversity abstract art can have. I also found that it highlighted a variety of applications for painting in contemporary art and design.
Most of the paintings were made by hand in a controlled or orderly way, using the media itself to represent or portray meanings and ideas, where few of them displayed a gestural or self expressive handling of paint. The paintings throughout the exhibition might have initially come across as having no relevance to one another at all, but each piece of work had its own context and language of abstraction. Even without knowing anything at first glance, you could still find them visually intriguing.
‘Electronic surveillance’ (1989) by Tim Head. Contemporary artist using pattern to obscure rather than decorate, interested in hyper real codes and languages, this piece is a recreation of the pattern taken from the inside of a payslip envelope, magnified onto a large canvas, and is something miniscule and innocuous that everyone comes across once a month.
‘Chronochrome set 3’ (2010) by Cheney Thompson is a technologic abstraction, painting process where he records the amount of light coming into a space, which is then composed using a certain colour theory, ordering the light into individual formatted dates on a calendar. The idea of visually representing a record of light, monitoring data over a period of time interested me in this piece.
also - Triming, L. (2012) An Uncomfortable Armchair, Abstract Critical, 24 January. available from: http://abstractcritical.com/article/an-uncomfortable-armchair/ [accessed 17.11.12].
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Autonomy, Abstraction and Unism
Strzemiński
"Abstract art constitutes a laboratory of research in the formal domain. The result of this enters daily life as definitive components."
"A real = autonomous existence in the plastic arts: when a work of art is plastically self-sufficient; when it constitutes an end itself and does not seek justification in values that subsist beyond the picture. An item of pure art, built in accordance with its own principles, stands up beside other worldly organisms as a parallel entity, as a real being, for everything has its own laws of construction of its organism. When we build one thing, we cannot do it according to the laws and principles belonging to another thing."
-principle of unism
"Composition rests on a rhetorical model. Any composition stages a drama (thesis/ antithesis) whose resolution (synthesis) must be convincing."
Autonomous = Self governing
Bois, Y-A. (1991). Painting as Model (October Books). First Edition Edition. Massachusetts, MIT Press.
Piet Mondrian
Neoplasticism is the belief that art should not be the reproduction of real objects, but the expression of the absolutes of life. To the artists way of thinking, the only absolutes of life were vertical and horizontal lines and the primary colors. To this end neoplasticisist only used planar elements and the colors red, yellow, and blue. The neoplastic movement happened in the 1910's and the two main painters of this movement where Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.
Abstractart, Peter Mackenzie, (2000). Neoplasticism, available from: http://abstractart.20m.com/Neoplasticism.html [accessed 04.11.12]
"Abstract art constitutes a laboratory of research in the formal domain. The result of this enters daily life as definitive components."
"A real = autonomous existence in the plastic arts: when a work of art is plastically self-sufficient; when it constitutes an end itself and does not seek justification in values that subsist beyond the picture. An item of pure art, built in accordance with its own principles, stands up beside other worldly organisms as a parallel entity, as a real being, for everything has its own laws of construction of its organism. When we build one thing, we cannot do it according to the laws and principles belonging to another thing."
-principle of unism
"Composition rests on a rhetorical model. Any composition stages a drama (thesis/ antithesis) whose resolution (synthesis) must be convincing."
Autonomous = Self governing
Bois, Y-A. (1991). Painting as Model (October Books). First Edition Edition. Massachusetts, MIT Press.
Piet Mondrian
Neoplasticism is the belief that art should not be the reproduction of real objects, but the expression of the absolutes of life. To the artists way of thinking, the only absolutes of life were vertical and horizontal lines and the primary colors. To this end neoplasticisist only used planar elements and the colors red, yellow, and blue. The neoplastic movement happened in the 1910's and the two main painters of this movement where Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.
Abstractart, Peter Mackenzie, (2000). Neoplasticism, available from: http://abstractart.20m.com/Neoplasticism.html [accessed 04.11.12]
Friday, 2 November 2012
Notes from talk: Marie-Anne McQuay on 'In Here Stands It'
Marie-Anne McQuay talks about the current exhibition, Ivan Seal: In Here Stands It.
Spike Island, 31.10.12
Spike Island are able to offer solo shows and commissions to artists, inviting them to make use of the large exhibition space. They are interested in artists that haven't/ don't usually show in the UK and invite them to exhibit and collaborate in new/ interesting ways (rare opportunities).
Seal has never done a show of this scale before, and is the largest, predominantly painting show that Spike Island has had. Shows last for 6 - 8 weeks at Spike Island.
Seal has worked with director Helen Legg in transforming the layout of the exhibition, altering the trajectory of the viewing space in relation to the paintings.
"He isn't a 'painter' painter". Ivan Seal considers the installation and sculptural aspects of his painting. "An installational-ly hung painting show." Hanging of the paintings have elements of structure in randomness.
There are approximately 50 paintings in the show (half of Seals work). From selections of his work made by Helen, Seal was able to produce new work with corresponding ideas and techniques.
The layout of the paintings in the exhibition have no narratives, although themes can be seen to reoccur and echo throughout the entire space. Seals career as a professional chef are undermined in some of the paintings, provoking ideas of the temporarity of works and their production.
Seal produces his paintings from memories that may be of a person. Elements such as colour or shape are taken from subject and distorted and isolated.
McQuay, M-A, (2012). In Here Stands It - guided talk [talk]. Spike Island. 31 October.
Fear is the mind killer
There is an artist talk with Ivan Seal on Tuesday 20 November, Spike Island.
Spike Island, 31.10.12
Spike Island are able to offer solo shows and commissions to artists, inviting them to make use of the large exhibition space. They are interested in artists that haven't/ don't usually show in the UK and invite them to exhibit and collaborate in new/ interesting ways (rare opportunities).
Seal has never done a show of this scale before, and is the largest, predominantly painting show that Spike Island has had. Shows last for 6 - 8 weeks at Spike Island.
Seal has worked with director Helen Legg in transforming the layout of the exhibition, altering the trajectory of the viewing space in relation to the paintings.
"He isn't a 'painter' painter". Ivan Seal considers the installation and sculptural aspects of his painting. "An installational-ly hung painting show." Hanging of the paintings have elements of structure in randomness.
There are approximately 50 paintings in the show (half of Seals work). From selections of his work made by Helen, Seal was able to produce new work with corresponding ideas and techniques.
The layout of the paintings in the exhibition have no narratives, although themes can be seen to reoccur and echo throughout the entire space. Seals career as a professional chef are undermined in some of the paintings, provoking ideas of the temporarity of works and their production.
Seal produces his paintings from memories that may be of a person. Elements such as colour or shape are taken from subject and distorted and isolated.
McQuay, M-A, (2012). In Here Stands It - guided talk [talk]. Spike Island. 31 October.
Fear is the mind killer
There is an artist talk with Ivan Seal on Tuesday 20 November, Spike Island.
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