Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Uncanny

Freud” The Uncanny”
In the story “Sand-man” written by Hoffman, a little boy is told that if he does not go to sleep the sand-man will come and take his eyes out. Several nights he observes his father and an eerie man doing experiments. One night the visitor sees him and his father has to come to his rescue or the visitor will remove the boy’s eyes. Several evenings latter the father is found dead, killed by an explosion. When he is older he buys a spy-glass and observes a silent and motionless young woman named Olympia and falls in love with her. He one days see her eyes being removed (she is really a doll or robot) and goes insane. After he recovers he is about to marry and then see the very same man who has removed Olympia’s eyes and goes once again insane and jumps to his death.
For Freud, being robbed of your eyes or some type of a frightening event from your childhood will lead you back to what is known and familiar. Freud feels that the fear of losing one’s sign is often a substitute for the dread of being castrated

Friday, September 25, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

Whitney Museum
September 17, 2009
Liz Marchuk
In Dan Graham’s ‘Triangular Solid with Circular Inserts v.e. 1989-2007’ we watched with amazement as we walked around the structure, our viewpoint changed. The glass felt as though it was moving in each panel. At one moment you were outside then you were looking in. The sculptor was beautiful in shape to look at yet felt eerie to interact with.

In one of the many Abstract paintings painted by Georga O’Keeffe, I was drawn to one which she used a wide range of blue. In the paintings upper 3rd was a series of arks that curved towards the top of the canvas. The uses of many shades of blue, blue-green, and white were blended. There was a feeling of movement almost like the sun rising. In the middle 3rd section of the painting it changed to a color pallet of deep purple-red- pink. There is a cloud like shape. In the lower 3rd the color pallet has changed back to blue. There is a large blob form that takes on a skin or flesh like fell. Now that being said, was it a life form or might it just be a landscape instead.

In Sadie Benning instillation ‘Play Pause’ she uses video projected on two simultaneous running screens. The information on the screens is wealth of years of fragmented figures and abstraction. The two screens appear to be unrelated to each other. One could be color dotes and the other childlike drawings. The experience reminds me of watching old film projected on a wall. The room is very dark and has just one bench forcing you to stand or sit on the floor making you feel as though you do not belong.

In Lucinda Childs’ instillation playing on the white museum wall, is a beautiful film of a small dancer. You are invited to watch a choreographed slice of her day. She floats across the stage with ease. The stark contrast between the large white wall and the black projected film with the little dancer is magic.

In Photo Conceptualism, I was interested in the study Adrian Piper did in a series of gelatin silver prints. ‘Food for the Spirit’ a series of self-portraits, she has photographed herself in different stages of undressing. The photos are mysterious with shades of gray, almost foggy in nature.

Whitney Museum

Monday, September 14, 2009

External Inspiration

External Sources
Using his insight Scott Grieger designs forms and symbols which are products of chance encounters of his day to day life. Grieger feels that one person in a corporation can assign values which can then change the thoughts of many. Using a well known brand of sneakers as an example, he observes a student’s behavioral changes after wearing the brand. He is disappointed by the students’ new persona. He is able to use external sources like this to inspire new work.
William Kentridge, like Scott Grieger is inspired by externally by his day to day life. Although his inspiration is a product of the emotionally charged country he is from, and its’ turmoil of social unrest.
Chris Ofili sometimes tries to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes using sexual references and often using animal dung in his paintings of well known subjects, he offends many groups of people. He swings between artistically correct and politically incorrect. His external inspiration is part hip-hop culture and using a little of everything out there. It is a patch work of materials and subjects that blend to a work of art.
Hubert Duprat is inspired by Historic precedents. He examines when history altering innovation happens. Looking back before cave paintings, he imagines cave people creating silhouettes of animals on the wall.
Thomas Joshua Cooper draws from both internal and external inspirational sources. Cooper photographs seascapes. He shots horizon images excluding the sky, amassing information on the geographic and climate.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Inspiration
A mysterious component of the Artistic process, inspiration or spark where does it come from? Inspiration can lead to exploration and then creativity can come from external sources around you or from internal pulse that emerge from inside of you.
Jan Harrison’s’ inspiration is not a prerequisite for initiating a work of art, it is her destination. Journeying into her deep imagination, traveling some fearsome places Harrison draws from this type of experience to create. Great advice from her interview,
Art is not a popularity contest
Try to witness yourself
Do not put people on a pedestal and do not put yourself on a pedestal
If you are true to yourself, you will be special in your own way.
Harrison has a connection to animal/human interface in art.
It relates to the human psyche.
She speaks in a language she calls “Animal Tongue”
Pipilotti Rist
Rist is inspirited by her emotional turmoil’s, frustrations, disappointments, disillusionments, and regrets. She re enacts these situations in instillation and videos, describing a failed relationship from her past. She often falls into the trap of what a perfect love would be only to be disappointed. She is a fane of Pippi Longstocking and Mother Nature, both influencing her work.
Now a mother and married, will the past still influence her work or will she find a new happy emotional state?
Julian La Verdiere
La Verdiere inspiration is a steady, continuous flow weither working on a creation or thinking of the next project. He believes in an inspired state of mind as a norm. Drawing from History, he explores people who have not been celebrated. He did a tribute in lights to the 9-11 World Trade Center Victims.