Jeff Koons

I figured I would eventually write a blog about Jeff Koonz and here it is.  Being the most pronounced and profound contemporary artist of today, his works are currently the highest in demand.  His works are also extremely controversial, seeing that he does not craft them himself!  Koonz is unique, not only in his strange subject matter and blunt portrayal of popular culture, but in his process of creation.  He simply designs his projects and hires a staff of artists to do the work for him.  Whether or not he has any artistic skills, I am not sure, but many people are offended by he calling himself an artist, seeing that he only directs the progress and completion of his works.  The question arrises, if he does not craft his works... then are they truly his?

I believe that they are.  Artistic skill and personal craftsmanship is only part of what creates art.  Since art is open to such a wide interpretation, I would consider him an artist in that he has vision and intent in his "works" and aims to create a reaction in his viewers (whatever that might be).  But while I consider him an artist, I don't exactly hold a lot of respect or fondness for his works.

With the exception of the giant balloon dogs, I think that most of his works are ugly!  And rightly so.  Koons's works are often suggestive and gaudy, cheesy, and "over the top." They bluntly examine aspects of popular culture and portray themes such as irony, fantasy, and cultural stereotypes.  His works strongly remind me of Andy Warhol due to his wide variety of subject matter and again, his works' relation to pop culture.

Like Damien Hirst, I think a lot of Jeff Koons works are accomplished and created... because they can be due to their artist's wealth.

Damien Hirst

I learned a bit about Damien Hirst in my Art History 102 class last Friday.  Damien Hirst is an English multimedia artist.  His works often deal with the concept of death.  In fact, his most famous series of works feature various dead animals which have been preserved in formaldehyde.  This is a controversial form of art.  Some see it as hardly art at all!  In my opinion, when you are as loaded as this guy, you can obtain anything and turn it into art.  Even if that process is as simple as sawing an animal in half and preserving the halves in separate tanks, side by side.

 

There is a definite sense of death with these works.  While the bodies of these animals have been preserved and some kept intact (not sawed in half) their eyes remain lifeless and cold.  The windowed encasements remind me of a casket or even more so of a tomb.  This series of works is both eerie and fascinating.  Accompanying the feeling of death and coldness, the aesthetic of formaldehyde and a massive, class encasement gives the works a scientific feel.  This is especially so with the five-legged calf.  And the encased "unicorn" pony.  I am strongly reminded of butterflies pinned in a shadowbox.  I would not be surprised to find a wooly mammoth among this series of works.  The clean edges really allow the viewer to focus solely on the subject being exhibited encased.  

The most famous of his formaldehyde encasings is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (above).  While the long title creates an ambiguous and unresolved meaning to the work, this 18 foot long Tiger Shark encased is, in my opinion, quite blunt in appearance, not to mention daunting and eerie.   To the right is another of his shark encasements.  Why this one is not as popular, I'm not sure, but I feel that it is an ultra effective way to portray the coming of death!  It is ironic that this dead and preserved creature is still wild and terrifying at the angle of this photograph.

Stepping away from his formaldehyde series, my favorite of his works is mind boggling.  It is called For the Love of God.  It is my favorite mainly because of its title.  It was inspired by his mother who exclaimed to him, "For the love of God, Damien, what will you do next?"  

I like to think that Damien Hirst has an outrageous sense of humor, due to him creating this work as a response to that comment.  While the 8,601 flawless diamonds covering every surface of the skull, costing roughly $14 million is incredibly shocking, what shocked me the most was that this is an actual human skull thought to be from a European who lived between 1720 and 1810.  I immediately thought, "Who's Skull!?"

While this piece, too, has a relation to death, I feel that the themes behind this work are mostly according to shock value. While I appreciate the craftsmanship that went into constructing this work, I laugh to myself and marvel at the power of wealth, which I feel is a theme behind this work, due to the nature of it's making.

Jean Luc Cornec

I don't know much about Jean Luc Cornec or much about his other works.  I can't even recall how I came across his work... But I have to include him in my blogs because of the brilliance of his 2006 installation in the museum of telecommunication in Frankfurt.  It is being called Telephone Sheep on the web.  Whether that is the real name of the installation or not, I am not sure...  Despite my little knowledge of this work, a lot is "communicated" to the viewer by this work. 

These sheep sculptures are wonderful examples of recycled art.  They are made out of old, obsolete rotary telephones.  While the phone on the cradle makes a great representation of a sheep head, I feel that it is also a smart move to clearly identify what the sheep are made of.  Like a title to the work.  The bent telephone heads perfectly resemble knobly knees, legs and hooves in one fluid piece.  Cornec did a fantastic job crafting the musculature and form of the animals.  The various positions and placements of the telephone sheep make them a herd and seem to give them life.  It's as if this installation is a still frame of them living and reacting to each other and their surroundings.

While the playful Telephone Sheep could be simply fun representations of life from an inanimate object, the fact that these are made from recycled objects provokes deeper thinking.  Telephone Sheep seems to communicate (pun unintended...) the relationship we have with objects that were once manufactured, used and eventually discarded with the emergence of new technology.  This installation urges the viewer to think about the our shifting views on the function of materials.

While this could be considered "green art,"  I feel that the prevalent message (another pun!) is the shifting views I described.  I also think the simplicity of this work is important.  We, as modern viewers with excelled technology,  would view the both the subject matter and the medium as something simple and plain by themselves.  But when combined together, modern viewers will see value and intricacies.

Haroshi

I "StumbledUpon" japanese skater/artist Haroshi...  his artistic style and media form is unique.  He recycles old skateboards (decks, trucks, wheels, everything) and makes sculptures with a wide range of subject matter.  Most of his works seem to show the personality of a skateboarder, which I think is fun.  The subject matter behind is works is often fun, ironic, or silly.  When you look at his works, you can see how much he loves skateboarding!  

Since his early teens, Haroshi's passion was skateboarding.  He always felt bad just throwing away old and broken boards.  While some people make benches or chairs out of old boards, Haroshi makes moose heads, skulls, popular cartoon depictions, every day objects and abstract works of art. 

While his works are fun and unique, they are amazing because of the master wood-working craftsmanship and the wide range of ways he "plays" with his unique medium.  Some of his works are stacked, some are carved.  He also plays with wooden mosiacs and the idea of dots and pixels.  

What is more amazing is his familiarity with his medium!  Being unfamiliar with skateboards, non-skaters and I would assume that skateboards are fairly flat and similar in shape and materials... But we are mistaken! Apparently, skateboards' structures vary according to brand, style, factory, and popular skaters' signature models.  There are manufactured in different sizes, shapes, densities, and materials.  Haroshi is familiar with all of these variables and characteristics.  He can defferentiate between thousands of used boards...what they were used for and more importantly, how they can be used, stacked, shaped, or carved in his works of art.

His attention to detail is immaculate.  

But Haroshi's work doesn't stop with creativity, style, unique flare, and craftsmanship.  Inside each of his works is a broken or deteriorated piece of a skateboard that is specifically chosen by Haroshi.  This small piece within each of his works is the most important to him.  While most people would consider these objects as useless junk from a failed "Big Make" attempt, Haroshi thinks of them as the heart or "soul piece" of the work.  To me, this is a beautiful and personal connection of himself to his works.

Five Artists

Rebecca Horn is a german artist who regularly does performances and installations.  Her works (above) mainly relate to the human body by creating or portraying extensions of the body.  These extensions explore themes like touch, sensation, communication, protection, and imperfection.  With in the picture above, on the far left is her work Körperfächer or, White Body Fan, which was part of a performance done in 1972.  The work resembles both wings and a cocoon.  I am reminded of the tale of Icarus and his desire to fly and be free, but also of the delicacy of his wings and his ignorance of such.  In the center is a still from two of her performances. Unicorn, done in 1972 and 1973 is probably her most popular work, portraying her interest in both modern and mythical subjects.  Above and to the right is an image of her work Finger Gloves, from another performance done in 1972.  While the fabricated fingers don't actually have sensation, strength, or fine motor skills, as they touch the object on the floor, in her mind and the viewer's mind there is a connection made that she is touching the object on the floor.  Such a thought is actually false and simply an illusion.

Caroline Broadhead is an artist from England who began as a a jewelry artist.  After a visit to East Africa in the late 1970's her works became dedicated to jewelry-art that responded to the form or body of the wearer.  An example of this work is shown to the left called, Alternative Jewelry Neckpiece, done in 1978.  Being made of silver, wood, and nylon, one can easily see how the nylon strands within the ring would form around a wearer's neck.  Within a decade, her focus turned more towards clothing and installations.  Her garments tend to deal with communicating the personality and inside of the wearer.  Which is ironic because clothes are worn on the outside of a person.  Her clothing works intrigue what is the wearer trying to hide beneath the garment?

 An example of this intriguing theme is shown to the right.  This is my favorite of her works which is called Exchange of Views.  Its is an installation made of intricate mirror cut-outs that resemble a net-curtain or some sort of lace.  As a viewr, I can choose to look at the intricacy of the design and allow my eyes to be guided about whimsically or to focus on myself fragmented in the mirror pieces reflection.  I love how this installation not only involves the viewer to see him/herself but also the room which he/she is standing in, glimpses the window of the gallery and what is going on outside and around the viewer.  I find it interesting that she chose to place the mirror pieces on a white wall, instead of black (which would have made the design more prominent).  I think the white wall was a good choice for presentation so the viewer has a harder time discerning between the wall, the design, and him/herself reflected and the viewer has to choose which to focus on.

Tim Hawkinson is an American multi-media artist.  He works with drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and film.  He 3D works often involve sound or portray sound in a scientific or inventive sense.  My favorite of his works is Sweet Tweet.  A simple fiberglass sculpture done in 2004, of a sweet young girl figure who is portrayed walking and singing with her eyes closed.  Out of her open mouth, five little birds sit on her elongated tongue, as if it were a branch.
I love the tenderness about this work.  I feel that the the birds on her tongue are an effective way to create an illusion of sound, or song.  As if the little girl's voice is an extension of her body.  I, as a viewer, look at this piece and hear sweet music.  I marvel at the phenomenon that while that this really is just a still, lifeless fiberglass object, I feel it is alive and interacting with me.

 

Ana Mendieta is a Cuban/American (mainly) performance and multi-media artist who developed her own form of art which she called "Earth-Body Art."  Earth Art and Body Art were both two forms of art which were popular in the 1960s. Most of her works are a combination of these styles.  She uses her own body as both the subject and the media in her works to explore the characteristics of gender and identity and explore relationships between cultures.  The pictures above are a part of her work, Silueta Series.  It is my favorite of her explorations.  As I looked through the various siluetas, I found myself thinking of where else could she do a silueta?  How else could her body be portrayed by the earth?  I love the unlimited possibilities behind the siluetas.  It is a effective way to extend her body and play with the idea of a presence by portraying it's simple and feminine form in various settings, sizes, and elements.

Jana Sterbak is a Canadian multi-media artist.  Her works deal with sexuality, power, and control as well as the relationships created between humanity and the technology.  My favorite of her works is Remote Control.  A metal frame designed to represent the bottom of a large, "poofy" dress.  It also has a strong resemblance to a cage or a prison with the way it suspends Sterbak so her feet hover daintily above the ground.  I feel like this work suggests that with high fashion (since this frame represents an 18th century dress), a woman becomes less human and more of a product of popular culture.  If I understand correctly, while the mechanical frame with which she is encased in is remote controlled, she has no control over the object or where she will go.  I feel this is a powerful message of identity.  While this mechanical cage-frame-dress is an extension of her body to the floor, it is also an extension of someone else, controlling her body.  An ironic thought....

Xu Bing

This artist came to me as I was sitting in my art history 102 class when my professor mentioned a man by the name of Xu Bing.  He is shown to the left presenting one of his works where historical words are printed on pressed tobacco leaves.  While I'm not sure what he is intending for this particular work, Xu Bing works with typography and often plays with the idea that meaning is communicated through language (be it words or writing).  His works usually show how words and/or their meanings can be manipulated.  Xu Bing also works with printmaking and calligraphy.  Below are a few of my favorite works he has produced in which he manipulates the characters of two different languages he is familiar with.  A viewer needs to look very carefully to see and understand what he has manipulated.  I didn't "see it" at first.  But now I wish I knew how to read chinese!  I wonder if they would portray a different meaning to me if I was bilingual as he is.

The first Xu Bing work I saw was shown to me in my Art History class.  My instructor showed us the installation below.

This work is called Tian Shu which translates to Book From Heaven.  This work was compiled in 1988, after three years in the making. While the hanging sheets of paper resemble scrolls of the chinese culture, there are also bound sets of books on the ends of this installation which resemble traditional chinese books. Most interesting to me, Xu Bing hand-carved over two thousand pieces of wooden type to print what looks like a type of chinese characters.  While he rearranged elements from real chinese characters,  apparently, none of these characters which he created can be pronounced or understood!  What is most confusing is that there is not a lot of meaning connected to this work.  Or at least, there is no intended meaning.  Xu Bing claims to specifically avoid meaning in his works, allowing the viewer/reader to incorporate their own meanings.  Again, this is an example of how he plays with language, literacy, and meaning.

While there are many other intriguing Xu Bing works which I could share, perhaps one of his most beautiful installations is The Glassy Surface of a Lake.  Which is shown below.

According to an article attached to Xu Bing's official website, "The Glass Surface of a Lake (formerly titled Net) is inspired by a passage in Henry David Thoreau's 'Walden," a mediation on the profound purity of an utterly still lake.  In the passage, the famous naturalist writer inverts his viewpoint to envision the lake hovering overhead so 'you could walk right under it to the opposite hills.'"  The words (formed by wire-linked aluminum letters) in this passage now stretch across a gap of space, like water would fill a divide.  I love how this installation involves a viewer from different viewpoints and perspectives;  being above the "lake's" surface and below it.

Overall, I love how Xu Bing intertwines meanings and interpretations between two cultures and their very different linguistics until the has confounded these meanings and created a different way to communicate.

Henry Moore

Henry Moore (1898-1986) was born in Yorkshire, England and is a world-wide accomplished modern sculptor.  He is famous for his large bronze organic sculptures as public works of art.  He is particularly known for his abstractions of the human body.  Often his works depict mother and child figures, as well as almost sensual female representations. In the 1950's, he went through a phase of depicting family conglomerates and figures.  Many of these are reclining, however some represent standing figures, some sitting, and a manner of all other appropriate human-related actions/positions.

While the picture of him above gives a better idea of the mass of his works, I think this photograph is so cute!  Here, he is pictured working with his daughter.  He, himself, came from a large family, but had a sound childhood.  He originally became a teacher, due to his parent's objections to sculpting.  But after WWI, he went back to school to become an artist.

To the right is a beautiful example of one of his organic, abstract bronze masses.  It is called Oval with Points (1968-70).  This particular picture is interesting to me, due to the angle from which it was taken and the clarity of the horizon.  In the background, you can see another one of his bronze sculptures.  Oval with Points appears to be a garden or courtyard of some sort.  When thinking about the work, itself, Oval with Points, despite the figure eight hole in the middle, is a very unified piece.   The surface is smooth and makes me want to run my hands all along it in order to feel the subtle curves and dips of this mass.  I am intrigued by the soft edges that forms on the lower right side of the mass.  My favorite part, however is the very nearly connecting points in the middle of the center.  That focal point adds a lovely delicacy to the piece.  In whole, Oval with Points is a tranquil and curious work.

This work, Family Group, done in 1950, is a prime example of one of his bronze works that depict a family.  Again, this piece has an organic and even alive feel to it.  The contour of the entire work flows consistently as all the forms are interacting and touching.  The potential energy of the humanoid forms are focused towards the center where the child is.  The way Moore portrayed the mother figure is stylistically similar to ancient Mesopotamian works that depict women.  This is shown in her frontal knees and feet and especially in the lack of clothing depicted on her upper torso, and the evidence of clothing folds around her knee.  I like how Henry Moore draws on ancient styles from ancient cultures yet adds his own modern flare.

Henry Moore is unique in his style and artistic contributions.  A famous quote from him: "The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration."