Anish Kapoor Sculpture

1.Research Kapoor’s work in order to discuss whether it is conceptual art or not. Explain your answer, using a definition of conceptual art.

As defined by Caroun.com “Conceptual art is a contemporary form of artistic representation, in which a specific concept or idea, often personal, complex and inclusive, takes shape in an abstract, nonconforming manner, based upon a negation of aesthetic principals”.

I think Kapoor’s art is conceptual art because there are specific personal ideas behind each piece of his artwork and his work is very explorational. As Higgins (2008) explains Kapoor is interested in such things as negative space which he has explored by making work containing voids and also has investigated this notion by way of his mirror pieces – “a large group of sculptures of varying scale that include concave, circular wall-mounted mirrors several feet in diameter, and the huge Sky Mirror that was mounted near the Rockerfeller Centre in New York in 2006”.

2.Research 3 quite different works by Kapoor from countries outside New Zealand to discuss the ideas behind the work. Include images of each work on your blog.

Kapoor's Installation Dirty Corner 

Dirty corner is a monumental site-specific installation that was created for ‘the fabbrica del vapore’ in Milan. The ideas behind this work is for the visitor of the work to lose their perception of space by entering the sculpture which gets progressively darker until there in no light, forcing the viewer to use other senses to guide them through the tunnel.

Kapoor's Installation Levitation (2011)

Inside Levitation (2011)

Another work by Kapoor is a 35 metre high ball called Leviathan and it’s made of tautly-stretched PVC over a giant metal frame. As Kapoor states (2011) his ambition was to create a space within a space, “people will be invited to enter the artwork to immerse themselves in its colour and it will be I hope a contemplative, poetic experience”.

Yellow Anish Kapoor

Yellow is a work by Kapoor that “questions whether what we perceive is reality or imagination, a misunderstanding between the eye and the mind as one is overcome by a sea of colour, plain curving colour that takes a form outside of formation, hovering between apparition and a surface,” Kehinde (2009).

 3.Discuss the large scale ‘site specific’ work that has been installed on a private site in New Zealand.

The Farm Anish Kapoor

The large scale ‘site specific’ work that has been installed on a private site in New Zealand is called ‘The Farm’ “and it’s the largest permanent outdoor installation to date,” Chu (2010). It is a sculpture, which has been specifically created for Alan Gibbs’ 1000-acre farm just off of the Kaipara Harbour.

4.Where is the Kapoor’s work in New Zealand? What are its form and materials? What are the ideas behind the work?

 According to Fabric architecture (2010) Kapoor’s installation is called ‘The Farm’ and its situated in Kaipara Bay, north of Auckland. “The sculpture is fabricated in a custom deep red PVC-coated polyester fabric by Ferrari Textiles supported by two identical matching red structural steel ellipses that weigh 42,750kg each”.

“The ellipses are orientated one horizontal, the other vertical. Thirty-two longitudinal mono-filament cables provide displacement and deflection resistance to the wind loads while assisting with the fabric transition from horizontal ellipse, to a perfect circle at midspan, through to the vertical ellipse at the other end. The sculpture, which passes through a carefully cut hillside, provides a kaleidoscopic view of the beautiful Kaipara Harbor at the vertical ellipse end and the hand contoured rolling valleys and hills of ‘The Farm’ from the horizontal ellipse,” Fabric Architecture (2008).

The ideas behind the work according to the artist are that he’s interested in “sculpture that manipulates the viewer into a specific relationship with both space and time”, - Anish Kapoor, Tate Magazine (2007).

5.Comment on which work by Kapoor is your favourite, and explain why. Are you personally attracted more by the ideas or the aesthetics of the work?

The view which is seen through Kapoor's sculpture

I really like all of Kapoor’s installations but I am attracted most to Kapoor’s work ‘The Farm’ because it offers so much to the viewer and the landscape surrounding it. I think it’s so beautiful and I love how the red contrasts so well against the green landscape and also how it slots into the space. I am attracted both to the aesthetics and the ideas behind the work but I think more so the aesthetics. I would love to view this work up close and I like it how you can look through the centre of the installation to the Kaipara Harbour.

Reference List

Caroun.com. Conceptual Art. http://www.caroun.com/art/conceptualart/conceptualart.html

Higgins, C (2008). A life in art: Anish Kapoor. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/nov/08/anish-kapoor-interview

Fabric Architecture (2010). Anish Kapoor sculpture blends fabric and steel in New Zealand. http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html

Chu, A (2010). New Form at the Farm – Anish Kapoor dismemberment: site. http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Form-at-the-Farm-Anish-Kapoor-Dismemberment-Site-1/173514462671879

Mail Online (2011). The next big thing: Giant PVC sculpture stuns the Paris arts scene. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385590/Anish-Kapoor-Leviathan-sculpture-unveiled-Grand-Palais-Paris.html

Kehinde (2009). Anish Kapoor – Perception and Deception. http://jfkwalks.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/anish-kapoor-perception-and-deception/

Pluralism and the Treaty of Waitangi

1.Define the term ‘pluralism’ using APA referencing.

As Eck (2011) explains there are four main points used to define pluralism. The first is that pluralism is “the energetic engagement with diversity. [Secondly it] is not just tolerance, but the active seeking of understanding across lines of difference. [Thirdly] pluralism is not relativism, but the encounter of commitments [and lastly] pluralism is based on dialogue. The language of pluralism is that of dialogue and encounter, give and take, criticism and self-criticism”.

The concept of pluralism is used for a wide range of issues and is seen to be in the interest of citizens. I think it’s basically a guiding principal that tries to permit the coexistence of many different diverse groups of people peacefully.

2.How would you describe New Zealand’s current dominant culture?

I think New Zealand is a country that can be defined by pluralism, especially through our culture, mainstream ideas and government.

We are seen as a culture dominated by European tradition, knowledge, belief, and behaviours that are dependant on social thought and learning. I also think that New Zealand has successfully interwoven itself with a few Maori traditions as well and is generally accepting of other races, and religions too.

3.Before 1840, what was New Zealand’s dominant culture?

According to the Network of Waitangi (1993) before 1840 New Zealand’s dominant culture was still firmly under Maori control and European residents absorbed Maori values to some extent.

Maori Haka

4.How does the Treaty of Waitangi relate to us all as artists and designers working in New Zealand?

I think the Treaty of Waitangi can relate to us all as artists and designers today because it is our history, our heritage, its part of our culture and it’s New Zealand’s founding document. The treaty is a strong part of New Zealand identity and a lot of New Zealand art has strong links to ‘Kiwi’ identity and culture. It also helps us understand Maori culture as well and their traditional art such as carvings, Ta moko, weaving and painting.

5.How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on regional diversity in New Zealand in particular?

By other countries taking or borrowing Maori Culture and globalising it, it could have a negative effect on some things that are seen to be sacred or hapu. This could also been seen to decrease inter-cultural contacts. Globalization according to blurt it “is all about coming close of the world. It is to make the world closer than ever before”. This may be seen as a disadvantage because cultural traditions could be lost or transformed in a negative way by the merging of different world traditions, and what is seen as uniquely ‘Kiwi’ could be lost along the way.

6.Shane Cotton’s paintings are said to examine the cultural landscape. Research Cotton’s work ‘Welcome’ (2004) and ‘Forked Tongue’ (2011) to analyse what he is saying about colonization and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Cotton’s paintings explore questions and ideas about, colonialism, cultural identity, Maori spirituality, and death. He is known for his paintings that include Maori iconography such as shrunken heads, native birds such as tui and European symbols and items. I believe the depiction and combination of these ideas in his work relate and link his work to colonization and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Shane Cotton Welcome (2004)

Cotton’s painting ‘Welcome’ (2004) is a painting consisting of native New Zealand birds, Jesus Christ and a shrunken Maori head. As Gow Langsford Gallery says “Cotton’s depiction of these ancestors and in referencing their after-life and the heavens, his work can be seen as a way to keep their identity and memory alive”.

Shane Cotton Forked Tongue (2011)

These ideas are also explored in Cotton’s painting ‘Forked Tongue’ (2011). Which as Daly-Peoples (2010) says the painting “features a cliff face, a fantail, some Maori designs and a tracery of red lines these symbols or metaphors become starting points for an elaboration on the links between the physical, historical and spiritual landscapes.”

7.Tony Albert’s installation ‘Sorry’ (2008) reflect the effects of colonization on the aboriginal people of Australia. Research the work and comment on what Albert is communicating through his work, and what he is referring to. Describe the materials that Albert uses on this installation and say what he hopes his work can achieve. Define the term ‘kitsch’.

 Abert’s work ‘Sorry’ (2008) “is a work made up of big letters spelling out the word, with each letter covered in what he calls Aboriginalia: stereotyped and kitsch portraits of Aborigines from a time it was considered quaint to beat into copper an image of a man standing on one leg with a boomerang or to paint an idealised bare-bosomed maiden on black velvet,” Sorenson (2009).

Kitsch is defined as something of art or design that is considered to be poor taste because of sentimentality but it is something which is still appreciated in an ironic way according to World of Kitsch (2003).

As Albert says his work ‘Sorry’  is made up with “uncollectables, and they play such an important role.” Through his work he has come to a new realisation, “I’ve always thought of myself as an Aboriginal artist, now I’m an Aboriginal person and a contemporary artist”. 

As Queensland art gallery states, “Sorry commemorates the apology on 13 February 2008 by the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, to Indigenous Australians who have suffered as a result of ‘past mistreatment’ by the Government of Australia”. As the gallery goes on in saying Albert’s work takes this apology on face value with his installation until real changed is observed. He has done this through ‘his army of kitsch faces’ that makes up the word ‘Sorry’.

8.Explain how the work of both artists relates to pluralism.

Both these artists can be related to pluralism because their ideas of coexisting in a diversely cultural country are the same whether it is New Zealand or Australia. I think these ideas can be seen in their work and also how they approach art in general.

Reference List

Eck, D (2011). What is pluralism. http://pluralism.org/pages/pluralism/what_is_pluralism

Network Waitangi (1993). Treaty of Waitangi questions and answers.

Blurt it. What are the pros and cons of globalization? http://www.blurtit.com/q392054.html

Gow Langsford Gallery. Shane Cotton. http://www.gowlangsfordgallery.co.nz/editions/shanecotton.asp

Daly-Peoples, J (2010). Shane Cotton paintings examine the cultural landscape. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/shane-cotton-paintings-examine-cultural-landscape-126412

Sorensen, R (2009). Curios of the contemporary. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/curios-of-the-contemporary/story-e6frg8n6-1111119151528

World of Kitsch (2003). A guide to kitsch: part 1. http://www.worldofkitsch.com/about/definition.html

Kehinde Wiley and Intertextuality

1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly.

As Kilbride (2011) explains, “at its most basic level intertextuality acknowledges the fact that no text is an island. All texts are intertexts in so far as they refer to, recycle and draw from other pre-existing texts”. From this definition and others I gather that intertextuality means that the reader gives the text meaning and that the meaning does not reside in the text. The meanings behind the text can be filtered through many different forms of literature that the reader has read beforehand which all comes together to help give the text definition to the reader. I also think this means that all text is correlated and is somehow intertwined.

Kilbride goes on in saying “the theory of intertextuality recognizes that all texts are reliant on prior traditions and literary forms”. I believe this means in order to get more understanding of certain texts a reader should always be expanding their literacy knowledge.

2.Research Wiley’s work and write a paragraph that analyses how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley’s work.

Kehinde Wiley (2007). Acting in accordance with chairman Maos instructions means victory

Wiley’s work is, paintings of African American men rendered in a realistic style. His paintings are very colourful with ornately decorated backgrounds, bold in both style and colour and also larger than life with conations of power heroicness. The men painted in his work are often dressed in street clothing and are posing in a heroic manner, which gives reference to old paintings of Renaissance masters. As Deitch Projects (2005) says Wiley “incorporates a range of art historical and vernacular styles in his paintings, from the French Rococo to the contemporary urban street”. His paintings are very individual and history and style are very relevant concepts behind his contemporary paintings.

I think his work is very intertextual because it is a fusion of many styles and ideas, and each viewer brings a different definition to his work, which is very relevant to the definition of intertextuality. The combined periodic styles ranging from French Rococo, Islamic Architecture, West African textile design and urban hip hop also make his work very intertextual. Without having previous knowledge of these different ideas and periods the viewer would not know this about his work and also if Wiley did not have this knowledge about other artistic movements and styles his work would look very different to how it looks now.

3.Wiley’s work relates to next weeks postmodern theme “PLURALISM”. Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.

Kehinde Wiley Support Army and Look after People, 2007 oil on canvas, 258.4 x 227.3cm

I think that Wiley’s work relates to the theme of pluralism because pluralism as Merriam-Webster sums up is a system that honours differences within and between equitable groups. Wiley’s work deals with the ideas of pluralism as he has placed black men in traditional Western Renaissance style settings. By doing this in his paintings he is taking away the boundaries created earlier on in society by culture and hierarchy. Another way we can see the ideas of pluralism in his work is how he has overlapped these different cultures and ideas by using intertextuality in his work and combining many different cultural styles. As the artist says he did it because he wanted to see people who looked like him and in doing this he has had “a lot of young black kids come up to [him] and say they are grateful to look at this monumental mega painting with someone they can relate to,” Wiley (2005).

4.Comment on how Wiley’s work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies, colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview.

I think Wiley’s work raises questions about hierarchies, colonization, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview simply by painting black men wearing street clothing in settings which are normally associated with traditional Renaissance style affluent white men of hierarchy. By doing this, I believe it has a very powerful effect on the viewer and these ideas are automatically raised and questioned. As Sean Kelly Gallery states, “his heroic paintings evoke a modern style instilling a unique and contemporary manner, awakening complex issues that many would prefer remain mute”.

As Miller (2007) discusses Wiley raises many questions with his mirror reflective paintings. Ideas and questions are raised about the old meanings and the search for new meanings about race, masculinity and above all by saying “another world is possible”.

5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that you have read during your research.

I think art such as Wiley’s is very important to research in contemporary culture because it brings forth questions about the Western history of art and how dominated it is by one small minority (others seem to be overlooked), and how exclusive art sometimes seems to be. Artists like Wiley are important for the evolution of art movements and also to help engage a wider audience to art and its history. 

Reference List

Kilbride, L (2011). Byatt: Intertextuality. http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/cambridgeauthors/byatt-intertextuality

Deitch Projects (2005). Kehinde Wiley. http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11 

VAEA 2009 Presentation, (2009). http://www.slideshare.net/lknichols/vaea-2009-presentation

Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pluralism

Sean Kelly Gallery. http://www.skny.com/artists/kehinde-wiley/

Miller, S (2007). Kehinde Wiley’s new world portraiture. http://www.realitysandwich.com/kehinde_wileys_new_world_portraiture

Hussein Chalayan

1.Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996), are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?

Hussein Chalayan, Burka, 1996

I find these works very thought provoking. For example a burka is normally a full body garment worn in such countries as Afghanistan by women for cultural reasons. It’s meant to protect women from unnecessary attention to their bodies from men. I also find Chalayan’s work challenging because I’m not used to seeing a burka worn in this way. It still manages to hide all the women’s identities like burkas are intended to do but modesty which comes with wearing a burka is taken away with the different lengths of burkas Chalayan has created. In a way Chalayan has sexualized the burka.

I think Chalayan’s work is more art than fashion because it is thought provoking like good art is and I can’t imagine any of his burkas coming into fashion any time soon or anyone wearing them.

Other works of Chalayans like Afterwords (2000) is also very much the same as designboom says it looks like “wearable architecture”, which to me makes his designs more art than fashion because its not the type of clothing you would seen worn around town.

Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion?

I believe like Fashion and Art sums up fashion is something that follows and echoes the trends of the art of its time. Fashion is constantly changing to follow the seasons and the latest trends that are set by popular culture and influential designers.

2.Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

Hussein Chalayan, The Level Tunnel (2006)

I think this impacts the nature of Chalayan’s work because his work becomes more of collaboration because other people’s opinions and ideas are involved when deciding on the designs and final outcome of his work. His work becomes less about his personal response to art and it’s more of a response to someone else’s ideas. I don’t think the meaning of art changes because art is used all the time to sell products but I think it can be better described as design than art. It might change in the respect that it used to sell you a product other than a idea which is popular at that time.

3.Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approached?

Still images from Chalayan's film, Absent Presence  (2005)

 I think you can see the influences of industrialism in Chalayan’s work because his fashion is mechanized and it depicts power, strength and energy. Science and reason is also relevant in his work because of the technology used behind Chalayan’s  film Absent Presence which makes the work seem very fantastical. I also think the social status of the artist is also relevant in his work because the work is very innovative with its intellectual ability. Lastly I think humanism because of the system of thought that is behind the work which uses DNA (this shows a system of thought which considers human beings).


4.Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

Chalayan's Echoform, (1999-2000)

 

I believe it is important that the artist or designer credited for the work has come up with the ideas behind the work but I don’t believe it’s that important anymore for the artist to have personally made the work. Artists have been known even in the period of the Renaissance not to have made all their work as they have had workshops and apprentices to help produce art for them. I think just as long as people know that the artists have had some help in producing their work then it should be fine. If artists and designers didn’t have extra help sometimes in making their work then a lot of the artwork which is highly considered and sort after wouldn’t be around today.

Reference List

Designboom. (2009). Hussein Chalayan at the design museum. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5209/hussein-chalayan-at-the-design-museum.html

Fashion and art. http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu/514/story/fashion_art.html

Post-Modernism, Ai Weiwei and Banksy

1. Define Post-Modernism using 8-10 bullet points that include short quotes.

“Postmodernism was an attack on what had come before; it was an attack on modernism”, Adamson (2011).

It’s about the disillusionment of modernism.

In a Post-Modern world nothing has essential meaning anymore

It is suspicious of all truth claims because they are seen as attempts to control people.

It is against the idea of one grand narrative.

Relies on concrete experience over abstract principals.

It’s extremely sceptical of explanations and instead focuses on relative truths of each individual.

Social constructivism is another postmodern idea. One version of this idea is that “reality is created by social reality”, Saugstad (2001).

“Postmodernism is associated with relativism. Relativism is the idea that ‘anything goes’”, Saugstad (2001).

“It can be described as a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyperreality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning,” Aylesworth (2010).

2. Use a quote by Witcombe (2000) to define the Post-Modern artist

“The post-modern artist is ‘reflexive’ in that he/she is self-aware and consciously involved in a process of thinking about him/herself and society in a deconstructive manner, ‘demasking’ pretentions, becoming aware of his/her cultural self in history, and accelerating the process of self-consciousness”, Witcombe (2000).

3. Use the grid on 42 and 43 to summarize the list of the features of Post-
Modernity.

I believe like many others that postmodernism is an attack on modernism because it undermines the manipulative ideologies of modernism by rejecting truth claims and grand narratives. This is seen in postmodern artwork where the artificiality of style is exposed and it is not used to convey ideologies. Instead postmodern artists believe that viewers should add their own personal interpretation for the work to be meaningful. Postmodern art still integrates elements of other art movements but art work does not try to elucidate its viewers with authority or interpretation.

As said in the ALVC resource book (page 43) postmodernism is a disruption of dominance and it is a mixture of cultural forms. Postmodern art is seen as a process, performance and production. It recycles culture, text, identity and is authenticated by the audience. Postmodernism is a play, it is ironic and it challenges seriousness. Anything goes with its hybridity of promiscuous genres, recombinant culture and intertextuality. Postmodernism sets no clear boundaries and makes anything possible.

4. Use this summary to answer the next two questions.

5. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)
in order to say what features of the work are Post-Modern.

'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994), Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei dropping a Han Dynast Urn.

Ai Weiwei is commonly described as a “postmodern Renaissance man”. As noted on WordPress (2011) he is known as China’s most politically vocal contemporary artist. His art questions communist authority and basic human rights.

The features of the ‘Hans Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo’ which makes it postmodern is how it questions the grand narratives of China’s culture and ideologies, its disruption of China’s culture by adding the well known Coca-Cola logo and also how it challenges the thoughts of the viewers. Ai Weiwei’s is also a postmodern artist because his work is diverse and he uses many mediums. An example of this diversity is how he created a performance piece by smashing an old urn and documenting the process of his disruption with photographs.

6. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist to discuss how each work can be defined at Post-Modern

'Flower Riot', Banksy

Los Angeles (2008), Banksy

Banksy is a seemingly unidentifiable but well heard of English street artist and is described as “a pioneer of the postmodern project,” Betbeze (2010). As Betbeze goes on to say his work is “embracing irony and surviving on an anarchic, law breaking process, he’s stretching the boundaries of genre and form while appearing to disregard them all together”. I think this statement sums up Banksy’s street art well and also shows us why he can be defined as a postmodern artist.

I think Banksy’s work ‘Flower Riot’ can be defined as postmodern art because it’s conversational and since it is ‘street art’ the work participates in the real order and it engages the viewer’s thoughts well. Work such as this and also Bansky’s graffiti of a cave man with McDonalds brings up important ideas of irony and hypocrisy in society. As Banksy (2006) is quoted “graffiti is not the lowest form of art... it’s actually one of the most honest art forms available... there is no elitism or hype.” These are all ideas of postmodernism and also show us why Banksy can be described as a postmodern artist.

Reference List

Banksy. (2006). Banksy wall and piece. London, England: Century.

Saugstad, A. (2001). Postmodernism: What is it, and what is wrong with it? http://goinside.com/01/1/postmod.html

Witcombe,C (2000) Modernism & Postmodernism. http://witcombe.sbc.edu/modernism/modpostmod.html

Brown, M. (2011). Postmodernism? London's V&A museum attempts a definition. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/feb/28/postmodernism-retrospective-london-v-and-a

Aylesworth, G. (2010). "Postmodernism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/postmodernism/

WordPress. (2011). Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour, a BBC Documentary. http://designbento.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/ai-weiwei-without-fear-or-favour-a-bbc-documentary/

Betbeze, B. (2010). Banksy: a postmodern pioneer.                                 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/culturefashion/arts/art/banksy-a-postmodern-pioneer/

Nathalie Djurberg's Claymations

1) What do you understand by the word ‘claymation’?

I associate the word ‘claymation’ with children, fantasy and the popular animations of Wallace and Gromit. My understanding of the word claymation is that it’s a form of animation which uses clay figures moulded into different positions for each stop-motion frame.

Still from Wallace and Gromit

2) What is meant by the term ‘surrealist garden of Eden’ and ‘all that is natural goes awry’?

As Regine (2009) says Djurberg’s installation ‘Experimentet’ is “an installation recreating a Garden of Eden from hell”. Her garden is described this way because of the larger than life crazily distorted creepy clay flowers and plants which gives it this feeling that the garden has indeed gone awry. The clay sculptures also dwarf the visitors of her exhibition, making it seem very surreal and dreamlike as well.

Photo take of Djurberg's Garden of Eden

3) What are the ‘complexity of emotions’ that Djurberg confronts us with?

As Ryberg (2005) points out the stories behind Djurberg’s claymations deal with such topics as violence, sexuality, sadism and assault, these are all a part of the darker side of the human soul. Anyone who views her work will be exposed to a ‘complexity of emotions’ because the topics are often feared by society. With the confrontation of these topics society’s perception of right and wrong are toyed with and a variety of emotions surface while viewing Djurberg’s work. Such emotions as shock, horror, fear, confusion, disgust, intrigue and many more may also be experienced.

Still from Djurberg's work where a girl is being dismembered

4) How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children’s stories, and innocence in some of her work?

Ways in which Djurberg plays with these ideas of children’s stories and innocence is with the use of claymation (normally associated with children and innocence), the imaginative fairytale/dreamlike settings of her claymations and also how remote everything is from reality.

As Yablonsky (2010) states while first viewing Djurberg’s work you may be mistaken in believing it could be the start of a children’s fairytale because of its sweetness in the beginning but the story quickly dissolves into grisly sadism. I think this all helps make her work very interesting because you are caught by surprise and left unaware of what will happen next.

Still from Djurberg's work We are not two, we are one.

5) There is a current fascination by some designers with turning the innocence and sweet into something disturbing. Why do you think this has come about?

I think this has come about because there aren’t really anymore restrictions on what is and isn’t acceptable in a lot of creative industries and lots of artists and designers like to push the boundaries further by exploring in areas which haven’t been explored and their want to create original work.

This current fascination of turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing is met with viewers as well. I believe it’s because it’s something new and hasn’t been explored as extensively in other eras of. Another reason could be as Regensburger (2011) points out, “it’s a way for artists to say, ‘here’s this thing you know and understand, now consider it in a different way’. The effects, when it’s done right, can be surprising and jarring”.

6) In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg’s work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?

I think her work is found to be so interesting and was chosen for the Venice Biennal because of the reasons I gave in question 5. For example her work is original, previously unexplored and there is something sweet and innocent about it which quickly turns into something disturbing and macabre. These are qualities which make her work so enchanting in a gruesome way. As Regine (2009) observed on three separate occasions her video installations were always “jam-packed with people drooling over her animations and taking photos”. I think this shows us the fascination with something new that people always seem to have. Also I think like Ryberg (2005) says her films seem to give an “existential feeling of suspense and uneasiness” which also is very captivating.

7) Add some of your own personal comments on her work

At my very first glance of her work I thought it was very incongruous but after viewing a few interviews with the artist I changed my mind. She deals with fear a lot in her work which is something everyone has but all of her puppets/clay-mates seem fearless in there gruesome acts which I find quite weird and I think this also makes her work so intriguing. I’m glad that her work is made out of clay because it makes it a little less real and easier for me to watch because I normally can’t stand watching scenes like these which I feel belong in a horror movie.

Reference List

Yablonsky, L. 2010. Clay mates. NY times.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/t-magazine/22talk-yablonsky-t.html?pagewanted=2

Ryberg, H. 2005. Disturbing clay animation. Art news.org.

   http://artnews.org/artist.php?i=1211

Regine. 2009. Venice Biennale: Nathalie Djurberg.

   http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2009/10/nathalie-djurberg-who-won-the.php

Regensburger, J. 2011. Human behaviour: Nathalie Djurberg with music by Hans Berg. Columbus underground.

   http://www.columbusunderground.com/human-behavior-nathalie-djurberg-with-music-by-hans-berg