Tuesday 26 February 2008

Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernest: The Bride Shared

Notes from 'Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernest: The Bride Shared', David Hopkins
(London: Clarendon Press, 1998)
Marcel Duchamp, 'Etant donnés', 1946-66.
Language was ambiguous – ‘technical problems’
Cite ‘technical matters’ as the genesis of his work, not ideas
The ‘sliding scale’ of meanings along the vocational line of artist-artisan-engineer
Industrial aesthetics debate in German- early 1910s.
‘Looking’ in the aesthetic sense, then, meant looking with assistance from literary associations, looking for purely visual pleasure. The addition of ‘the book’, words, text and the process of consulting took the artwork even farther from the beaux-arts realm of the merely ‘retinal’ which Duchamp was in the midst of abandoning

Modern debate concerning the overlapping functions of artist, craftsman and engineer
Conception of his great ‘work’ with its many ‘new technical problems’

In French there is an old expression, la patte, meaning the artist’s touch, his personal style, his ‘paw’.- Calvin Tomkins, ‘The Bride and the Bachelors: Five Masters of the Avant Garde (NY: Penguin Books, 1976) pp. 24
Duchamp equated the artist’s ‘hand’ with the sensual appeal of richly applied paint; and that, in turn, was related to the animal side of human nature and opposed to the artist’s intellectual capacities

Not sought out the mechanical or industrial forms for their intrinsic (i.e. functional) meaning, nor as social commentary on industrialisation, but, rather, for their ruptual value as non-traditional forms within a fine arts context
Incorporated the mechanical into the anthropomorphic for precisely that disruptive (i.e., avant-garde purpose)

Demonstrate the ‘free hand’ or the ‘paw’ of the painter, which Duchamp so abhorred, and the mechanical aspects did not suffice to cover it up- the ‘visceral’ aspect of the bride
Continue to inset machine into flesh at the level of pictorial narrative- ‘mechanically’ painted
‘very precise technique’ of mechanical drawing as ‘a renunciation of all aesthetics’

Art is an outlet towards regions which are not ruled by time and space
Mechanical drawing […- up[held] no taste, since it is outside all pictorial convention
Expressed ‘the most sublime notions of artists- a means of communication and a practical instrument used by the worker-artist and the artisan
Drawing that limited the appearance of things to the naked eye and drawing that revealed the truth of things behind the surfaces of appearance; that is to say, there was perspective drawing and mechanical drawing. Each kept a relation to the object.
The blueprint for production, the working drawing for the commodity. The language base was hardly neutral; it cheerfully ratified the means and ends of industrial production

Striving towards accuracy and precision, no more handwork
Distinct from the mechanical idiom preferred by the avant-garde- new method of mechanical expression
Back to a completely dry drawing, a dry conception of art
The prioritisation of function over appearance- a preference for the language of industry, work and craftsmanship to that of the fine arts
Thus new ‘works’ appeared- all involved with ideas of craftsmanship, new materials, new techniques, new art forms
Moved farther along the line from art to craft
Sewing thread was stitched onto the canvas and a leather label printed with gold letters- ‘Broyeuse de chocolate, 1914’ was glued to the surface
Additions and the matte finish of the paint coupled with the simple design to suggest an object of hand-crafted leather which has somehow been flattened onto the two-dimensional picture place

Several kinds of artisanal endeavours are referenced, particularly those that incorporate sewing and leather working, for example, shoe-making, upholstering and bookbinding.
Sewing thread, paint, canvas, leather labels and gold letters
Chance and measurement became the tools with which the fine artist/craftsman proposed to repair the flawed system of high art
‘cast […] a pataphysical doubt on the concept of a straight line as being the shortest route from one point to another’
Measurement of the boundaries of ‘art’ had as its standard a curved ‘ruler’; one metre was changed from a straight line to a curved line without losing its identity
Alter the fundamental geometry of its definition without entirely disrupting its potential for being recognised as art
Simultaneously were and were not fine art
Materials which had been associated with a modern, industrial aesthetic since the middle of the nineteenth century

Time element- eight years- devoting an extended period to the execution of a work of art, was another technique for shifting the focus away from fine arts towards craft
Large Glass- incorporated most of the handicraft techniques
Painstakingly handcrafted nature and the length of time- on its conception and construction
After Duchamp ‘incompleted’ it

Psychology of the relationships between the viewer, object and environment was paralleled in Duchamp’s interest in exhibition design, window display and the complex viewer/object/environment relationships of Etant Donnes

Frederick Kiesler, ‘Contemporary art applied to the store and its display’ (NY: Bretano’s, 1930) pp. 67-8.- ‘He concerns himself no longer, as did the potter, the goldsmith, the weaver, with the materialisation of his drawing; the machine has freed him from this task and does it more exactly, quickly, cheaply, and as beautifully
-union is far from subversive- Kiesler envisions the artist/ craftsman happily benefiting from machine production
Its technique, its materiality and structural foundation

‘Incompleted’ the Large Glass work- stage set for Capek’s R.U.R, produced in Berlin in 1923- designed a huge montage, compiled from the most diverse apparatuses and machine parts (megaphone, seismograph, tanager device, iris diaphragm, light bulb)- some real, some painted.- could produce light and sound as well as project film and create optical illusions with mirrors

Presented technology as a threat culminating in the ultimately sinister discovery of robots
Representation of the mechanical world was full of admiration for a technology that functioned with precision, fully in agreement with the technical aesthetic subscribed to by almost all avant-garde artists of the twenties

Negative look at the industrial age, particularly at that intersection of the mechanical and the human
Duchamp’s Bride and her Bachelors are gasoline-driven, fully-lubricated, piston-fired motors, but they also are erotically charged, love-torn, questing beings- desires are eternally unfulfilled, that all their sparks and gases and rods and cylinders never ignite a roaring engine is one of the most effective statements of an anti-Positivist, anti-functionalist, anti-machine aesthetic ever conceived.
The anthromorphic and the mechanical merge in ways that hardly provide pictorial reassurance about the future of an industrialised society
Smoothly painted, hard surfaces and tightly-coiled springs suggest mechanical models- shapes and predominantly biomorphic and the allusions noticeable sexual
Unquestioningly the assignment of positive cultural values to mechanical forms and processes
Shun of optimistic faith in modern technological progress […] and their belief that through their purified language they were offering a kind of blueprint for the designed utopia of the future
Primitivist myth (freedom, spontaneity, instinctiveness and ritualistic fantasy) and a sense of responsibility to its own time
Elderfield- Duchamp’s machine work exemplified ‘clothing primitivist obsessions in modern dress’
Centuries-old handicrafts as well as the most modern machine technologies
Relevance for commerce and industry
Not its determination to fuse art and industry- makes the gap more stark

Denunciation of many of the techniques, materials and themes ordinarily associated with ‘fine’ arts constituted an outrageous and powerful gesture of defiance
If Duchamp had wanted to put art ‘once again at the service of the mind’ he also wanted to ‘discredit science’
Deny the value of industrial progress than to depict pure sexuality and passion in mechanical forms that are not capable of consummating their desires
Deconstruction of the modernist myth of the artist as specialist through the enactment of the role of bricoleur


Duchamp forced to admit that he had been an artist all along, felt obliged to paint and sculpt it ‘back into the world’- and into art.
Symbolism persists but in a sense the movement has been from the world of veiled allusions and ‘imaginary solutions’ to a realm that relates, albeit at several removes, to the world of Surrealism
Retains its mystery, perhaps because the symbolism is so blatant that in a sense it cancels itself out

Vestigial yet obsessive presence, half phallus, half machine.
Obviously abstracted and symbolised to a high degree

The bride has been brought down to earth with a band, but the Bachelors have been reduced or compressed into a gas lamp, now truly fired with the bridal gas, symbol of desire and tumescent excitement. The liquid, the water, appears to have symbolic attributes that are both male and female; the pond is deep and still, the waterfall restless and incessantly active in its downward thrust- intense physicality

The strong linear element which results in a greater fluidity of form, the feeling of transparency and the austerity of the colour harmonies in what is basically a range of earth colours, browns and sienas

Saturday 23 February 2008

Art in Context: Marcel Duchamp


'Art in Context: - The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even and Etant Donnes'
John Golding (London: Penguin Press, 1973)


Duchamp carefully created The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, working on the piece from 1915 to 1923. He executed the work on two panes of glass with materials such as lead foil, fuse wire, and dust. It combines chance procedures, plotted perspective studies, and laborious craftsmanship.

Does not flaunt its mechanical-technological nature
Large Glass revealed its mechanical associations, Etant Donnes conceals its own- ever ‘an orchid in the land of technology’

Close connection with the materials and processes normally associated with handicrafts
Observe painstaking and minute adjustments in Duchamp’s production of his last piece- as demonstrated in the Approximation Demontable.
There is also the manual, handmade quality of Etant Donnes- executed every step of the construction, placed every nut and bolt, brick and piece of wood

Emphasis on spatial relationships within the assemblage also suggests a continuation of Duchamp’s interest in (quasi-) scientific investigations of the fourth dimension
Art, machine, craft, science- Etant Donnes is all four, ironically incorporation their differences as well as their similarities, hinting provocatively at historical relationships while flaunting its own uniqueness within Duchamp’s oeuvre and the history of art, raising endless speculations about authenticity vs. reproducibility and the artist as specialist vs. the artist as bricoleur.
The questioning of traditional values associated with the artist’s ‘hand’, i.e. notions of authenticity and originality, seems to be reversed by Etant Donnes.
Apparent non-reproducibility, its observance of the established forms of originality and ritual constitute what Walter Benjamin called the ‘aura’ of the authentic work of art.
Utilised a compositional technique with strong mechanical and geometrical associations, which he termed ‘elementary parallelism’ and described as ‘linear elements following each other like parallels and distorting the object’.
Newfound interest in the mechanical, attached even more intimately to human aspects
An element of conflict
Earlier works had represented single figures or figures clearly not in conflict

Bride and her Bachelors in a drawing entitled, La Mariee mis a nu par ces celebrataires’- clearly three entities and the threat of conflict is unmistakeable; the Bride stands in the centre menaced by a Bachelor on each side armed with sharp, knife-like weapons.
Hostility he felt towards the artists he had trusted to understand and value his aesthetic risk-taking
Verbal images of abandonment, exhaustion and divorce
Duchamp was not just abandoning his association with Cubism but painting itself
Large-size work- all sorts of new technical problems to be worked out
Notions of ‘occupation’ and ‘technical problems’ were clearly associated- shifting his orientation from that of artist toward that of craftsman.

Tripartite division of sciences, arts and crafts dating back to the sixteenth century
Toward a particularly non-French construction of the artisanal function- pose as a bricoleur rather than a specialist

Deliberate reorientation of his work from painting to craft
Enormous industrial expositions- artistic milieu in Germany was divided by the artisan/engineer question

The collective e semantics that functionalism found in the immanent aesthetics of the machine. Artisans became intellectualised, and for them this was a social elevation: they became conceivers more than makes, equals of engineers more than of workers. But this elevation took place to the detriment of the ‘human’ and individualist values that had been part of their production before division of labour had set in. In moving closer to the engineer, the artisan moved away from the artist. [….] In moving away from the artist the artist at the level of making, of craftsmanship, the artisan moved closer to the artist at the level of creation, of authorship’ –Pictorial Nominalism, pg. 56, de Duve

Marcel Duchamp: Etant Donnes and The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even

Notes from 'Art in Context', edited by John Fleming and Hugh Honour

The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even

Duchamp carefully created The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, working on the piece from 1915 to 1923. He executed the work on two panes of glass with materials such as lead foil, fuse wire, and dust. It combines chance procedures, plotted perspective studies, and laborious craftsmanship.
Does not flaunt its mechanical-technological nature
Large Glass revealed its mechanical associations, Etant Donnes conceals its own- ever ‘an orchid in the land of technology’

Close connection with the materials and processes normally associated with handicrafts
Observe painstaking and minute adjustments in Duchamp’s production of his last piece- as demonstrated in the Approximation Demontable.
There is also the manual, handmade quality of Etant Donnes- executed every step of the construction, placed every nut and bolt, brick and piece of wood

Emphasis on spatial relationships within the assemblage also suggests a continuation of Duchamp’s interest in (quasi-) scientific investigations of the fourth dimension
Art, machine, craft, science- Etant Donnes is all four, ironically incorporation their differences as well as their similarities, hinting provocatively at historical relationships while flaunting its own uniqueness within Duchamp’s oeuvre and the history of art, raising endless speculations about authenticity vs. reproducibility and the artist as specialist vs. the artist as bricoleur.
The questioning of traditional values associated with the artist’s ‘hand’, i.e. notions of authenticity and originality, seems to be reversed by Etant Donnes.
Apparent non-reproducibility, its observance of the established forms of originality and ritual constitute what Walter Benjamin called the ‘aura’ of the authentic work of art.
Utilised a compositional technique with strong mechanical and geometrical associations, which he termed ‘elementary parallelism’ and described as ‘linear elements following each other like parallels and distorting the object’.
Newfound interest in the mechanical, attached even more intimately to human aspects
An element of conflict
Earlier works had represented single figures or figures clearly not in conflict

Bride and her Bachelors in a drawing entitled, La Mariee mis a nu par ces celebrataires’- clearly three entities and the threat of conflict is unmistakeable; the Bride stands in the centre menaced by a Bachelor on each side armed with sharp, knife-like weapons.
Hostility he felt towards the artists he had trusted to understand and value his aesthetic risk-taking
Verbal images of abandonment, exhaustion and divorce
Duchamp was not just abandoning his association with Cubism but painting itself
Large-size work- all sorts of new technical problems to be worked out
Notions of ‘occupation’ and ‘technical problems’ were clearly associated- shifting his orientation from that of artist toward that of craftsman.

Tripartite division of sciences, arts and crafts dating back to the sixteenth century
Toward a particularly non-French construction of the artisanal function- pose as a bricoleur rather than a specialist

Deliberate reorientation of his work from painting to craft
Enormous industrial expositions- artistic milieu in Germany was divided by the artisan/engineer question

The collective e semantics that functionalism found in the immanent aesthetics of the machine. Artisans became intellectualised, and for them this was a social elevation: they became conceivers more than makes, equals of engineers more than of workers. But this elevation took place to the detriment of the ‘human’ and individualist values that had been part of their production before division of labour had set in. In moving closer to the engineer, the artisan moved away from the artist. [….] In moving away from the artist the artist at the level of making, of craftsmanship, the artisan moved closer to the artist at the level of creation, of authorship’ –Pictorial Nominalism, pg. 56, de Duve

Friday 22 February 2008

Notes on Constructivism and Marcel Duchamp

'Critiquing Absolutism: Marcel Duchamp's 'Etant Donnes' and the psychology of Perception' by Linda Louise (Michigan: Yale University, 1995) pp. 1-173.

Overtly sexual theme- did so by resorting to mechanical analogues
The spectators themselves must ‘decipher and interpret’ a work of art, ultimately contributing as much to its meaning as the artist
Manifests a mechanical function as well as an elaborate demonstration of the material and technical skills practiced by many different types of craftsmen and engineers
Electrical systems design and wiring, bricklaying, metalworking and carpentry, as well as more traditional artistic functions such as photography, painting and sculpting and architectural design
Machine aesthetic and craft techniques
Initiated a remarkable strategy to distance himself from the traditional function of ‘fine’ artist, which involved posing ambiguously as artist, craftsman and engineer
Particular set of ideas circulating around the Deutsche Werkbund Movement in Munich 1912
Defy classification as a work of art: is it a painting, sculpture, photography- comprised of characteristic elements of all of these- blur to the point of meaninglessness and add considerably to the viewer’s disorientation and discomfort
Use of scientific and quasi-scientific jargon, concepts and methodology reconciled with his pervasive scepticism
In terms of complexity, size and length of execution
Determination to address the notion of the social construction of gender

In ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, Walter Benjamin observed that in the modern era ‘what one is entitled to ask from a work of art’ is ‘an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment’- ‘the sight of immediate reality has become an orchid in the land of technology’[1]
Careful orchestration of spatial relationships and attention to every detail in the design and construction

Motor driven apparatus (motor, circular-metal disc with punched holes, fluorescent lamp cook’s box, frosted Scotch tape, various wooden supports and metal attachments) provides the illusion of a moving waterfall.
An example of mechanical-technological art? It ‘functions’ through the power of electricity. The motor turns the metal disk which creates the waterfall effect, the electric lights contribute enormously to the viewer’s perceptions of space and mass
There is even a ‘switch’ to turn the whole apparatus on and off: namely, the viewer, who activates the electrical power by stepping on the mat outside the door
There are clean analogies with the cinema at work here: the spectator peering through the dark space at a bright illusionary scene, the spectator’s view controlled through a lens (peepholes) and, even the light projected through film to produce the waterfall effect.

Italian Futurists’ devotion to ‘man multiplied by the machine… [a] new mechanical sense, a fusion of instinct with the efficiency of motors and conquered forces’, and, particularly, of Boccioni’s sculpture manifesto, which advised the artist:

‘Refuse to accept the exclusive nature of a single material in the construction of a sculptural whole insist that even twenty different types of materials can be used in a single work of art in order to achieve plastic movement. To mention a few examples: glass, wood, cardboard, iron, cement, hair, leather, cloth, mirrors, electric lights etc.’ Umberta Boccioni, ‘Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture’ (1912), in Appollonio, Futurist Manifestos. Pp. 65

Russian Constructivists’ also raised the issue of the use of mechanical and technological materials and processes for the creation of art. For example, Tatlin wrote, ‘the task… is to find a single form, simultaneously architectonic, plastic, and painterly, which would have the possibility of synthesising the separate forms of these or other technical apparatuses.
[1] Walter Benjamin, ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, ‘Illuminations’, trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Schcken Books, 1969), pp. 233-234.

Monday 18 February 2008

Choice from America: Modern American Ceramics

'Choice from America: Modern American Ceramics' by Arthur C. Danto and Janet Koplos

- C21st ceramics- enlargement or extreme minimisation, multiplying or else reducing- rendering the work banal or sublimating
- Clay- early 1980s- art was battered/ stabbed/ smashed/ distorted
- Craft refers to pre-industrial methods of producing objects of use and of embellishment
- In identifying oneself as a crafts person one implicitly took a stand against the culture of the Machine- declaring an allegiance to earlier and less alienating forms of life
- The hand-loomed, the hand-wrought, the hand-woven, the hand-made, the hand-blown, the home- spun
- Same domestic functions as their mass produced counterparts
- Craft- partly moral and partly aesthetic
- Critically dismissive term, like 'decorative' or 'literary' or 'illustrational'

- In the 'Critique of Judgement', Kant distinguished between free and independent art- the latter 'is ascribed to objects which come under the concept of a particular purpose'
- Dissociates free art from the category of purpose- Kant characterises beauty as 'purposive without any specific purpose'

- Hegel, in his 'Lectures on Aesthetics', claims craftwork can be art but never at its 'highest vocation'- only in its freedom alone can fine art truly be art

- However it is not only art historians that take this narrow-minded view. Richard Serra famously said that 'as soon as art is forced or persuaded to serve alien values, it ceases to serve its own needs'- Therefore claiming that to take away art's uselessness was to make it other than art

- Therefore modern ceramists seem to be attempting to challenge this time-held viewpoint, atleast to a certain extent, by mirroring the movements of modern art. For example when the American Abstract Expressionists began to gesturally handle their paint, ceramists began to leave overt hand marks in their clay.

Friday 15 February 2008

LoVid

- LoVid are based in NY and started up in 2001
- Their work is semi-narrative- documentary/ electronic music
- Circuit bending- take electronic device and bend wires- touch differents parts of the circuit- make things do something they weren't originally planned for
- Often uses archaic devices- old mixers/ drawing machines- to create experimental video
- New media- not traditional- web-based work/ concepts and themes that relate to technology

- 'Video Wear' 2003- patching different commercial devices- feeding them back and forth onto 14 different LCD screens embedded in protective sports wear to add a seemingly dangerous look to their work
- Breaking signal/ using glitchy signals- static equipment is always breaking down so play on its own nature
- Interested in how electricity if regulated- set of constraints- physical nature of the electrical signal
- Narrative- parralel universe- media is a tangible thing- play on the idea of 'wireless' technology so to create 'wirefull' works
- Not smaller but larger technological equipment- they use a lot of fabric and 100sft wire (working electrical veins)- used in live video feeds
- Dematerialised into a video world- textile, wearable thing- series of photographs- body and electronics interacting
- Collages and drawings- play with organic and technological world
- Body as an extension of technology
- 3D prints are also used as part of the process
- Aggressive vs tender/ Hardware vs software
- Romance and spirituality- they use technology as the metaphor

- 'Experimental TV Centre (2003)- used an old analog video system- continuous yet fragile electronic signal
- A whole room was turned into an instrument
- A patch was connected to the electrical equipment- very reminiscent of video art in the 60s and 70s when one would make their own instruments and not use internal editing
- Analogy- political/ nostalgic
- Also heavily anti- Consumerist- decided to not play with new 'toys' - created personal restrictions and restraints
- Have to enforce very tight manifestos nowadays to make your work seem personal
- The couple commissioned a 3m wide, 1/2m tall table, the length of the room, so to build their own electronic models into it
- Also added suface etchings onto the table's surface around the modular sncyronisers
- Kept 'wirefull' idea by exposing the wires by using clear acrylic around the equipment
- By creating your own electrical equipment- they believed you were able to know the sounds and colours produced by the instruments on a deeper level

Saturday 9 February 2008

Pavilion Photography Competition


Dear Mr. Duncan,

I would like to submit my work to the editors of Source and to Pavilion for their review, as I would love the opportunity to have my images published. Please see below a description of my work and attached six images.

I look forward to hopefully being able to tell you more about my work on the 23 February.

Yours Sincerely,

Sarah Baumann

'At the core of my practice as a visual artist is an ongoing fascination with the remnants of history, the signs of decay and erosion, and the intricacies of colour and fragility in aged structures, which reveal the process of gradual deterioration. I utilise Leeds’ industrial heritage by appropriating salvaged and reclaimed materials using contemporary, photographic compositions to capture and reinvent the physical traces of the city’s historical past from institutionalised places. This has instigated a sustained engagement with the textural qualities of industrial artifacts, be it the multi-layered fabrics created during the worsted process, or the mechanical surfaces of the machines, or even the subtle renderings of transience on abandoned constructions.

The chosen images are characterised by their ability to harbour a memory of the structure’s transcended usage before being absolved. The multi-sensory experience is greatened by the camera’s subtle explorations of the surface and patina, which detach and abstract the subject from its original context, allowing access to a more metaphorical pictorial language of abandonment, loss, transience or impermanence.'

'The Craft and Art of Clay- A complete potter's handbook'

The Craft and Art of Clay- A Complete Potter's Handbook (London: Calmann and King Limited, 1995)

- Craft means skill- deliberate sense of hand- adds individualism/ show the original softness of the material- textured surfaces
- Engobe- Engobes used on the raw clay and fired on in bisque- firing will be visible in some measure under almost all glazes
- Decorative effects can be obtained by wedging powdered metallic colouring oxides or liquid coloured clays called engobes into plastic clay
- Mid-60s- pottery became the voice of social and political conscience- emergence of the message pot/ uniformity of romantic ideals blunted by a contemporary recognition of artistic multiplicity
- Medium's versatility and challenges- also very accessible
Jerry Rothman, b. 1933 in New York:
- Made Constructivist sculptures till 1961
- Sensual, excessive Postmodern style with the inherent tension of the Classical style
- Penchant for debunking accepted attitudes- typical of his work- embodies him as the ceramic artist as social commentator
- Uses a technique in which pigments surface after firing through the top layer of clay to create shapes of muted colour
- Blurs the distinction between sculpture and vessel

'Sky Pot', 1961, stoneware, unglazed.



'Covered Jar', 1981, Thrown and Constructed Vessel.

Wednesday 6 February 2008

Against Nature: The Hybrid Forms of Modern Sculpture'

I went to the opening of 'By Leafy Ways: Early Works by Ivor Abrahams' and 'Against Nature: The Hybrid Forms of Modern Sculpture' tonight. The exhibition had so many good artists; Louise Bourgeois, Jacob Epstein, Julio Gonzalez, Max Ernst, Hans Arp etc. but somehow it didn't seem to make much of an impression with me.

Tuesday 5 February 2008

Exhibition Proposal


Exhibition Proposal:


We came together as a group because all our work plays and negotiates with issues of texture and form. Many of our pieces also engage with the surrounding space, by utilizing the walls and floors of our studio, which is why we decided to exhibit our work in the archetypal white gallery as our work would then be in command of the space.

We all use a wide variety of materials to propose various concepts within our work so a site specific space would hinder and obscure the individual reasoning, whereas a Modernist gallery would allow our work to transform the space, not visa versa.

The neutral colouring and smooth linear surfaces of the space will also emphasise the materiality of our work, which is the uniting motif of our exhibition.

We hope to present a collection of mixed media work with some pieces even edging towards craft. By choosing to present our work within such a traditional twentieth century setting, we hope to assist in helping craft and mixed media artworks get the recognition and reputation they deserve.

By forcing craft and mixed media artworks to be exhibited within the art world's most accredited environment perhaps we may challenge the notion of what is to be expected when visiting a small, independent gallery. Furthermore we believe all art forms should have a chance to be displayed in this sanctimonious, fake atmosphere.


Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space

Brian O'Doherty

The white cube, un-shadowed, white, clean, artificial, an evenly lighted ‘cell’, was crucial in making Modernist art appear to be art.
The increased value of certain artworks can be charted alongside the evolution of that artistic space.
A lasting trait of Modernism is that the space is now seen before the art.
The white, ideal gallery subtracts from the artwork all cues that interfere with the fact that it is 'art‘- perfect for craft and mixed media work!
Work is isolated from anything that would detract from its own evaluation of itself

- Connotations of the white: sanctity of the church/ formality of a courtroom/ the mystique of the experimental laboratory- all seem foreign to the definition of craft and mixed media

- The object is placed as the medium through which these ideas are manifested and proffered for discussion

- Post-Modernism- context becomes content- so the reasoning behind the exhibition space is of vital importance

- The object introduced into the gallery 'frames' the gallery

- Art is free 'to take its own life‘- mounted/ hung/ scattered for study

Places the audience in a limbolike status- presence of your own body seems superfluous, an intrusion- craft and mixed media work is very approachable and familiar therefore it will add a greater distance

Constantine Brancusi
Muse 1912.

Brancusi took a neutral plinth and sculpted it to relate to the sculpture. The Plinth becomes as much part of the piece as the sculpture itself. Brancusi draws attention to the connotations which a plinth holds.

Roselyn Crousse refers to sculpture as being ‘intrinsically monumental’ and self contained. However during the 19th century site specific artwork emerged which relates to its space.

Institution Versus Own Gallery

Institution


Positives:

The institution has an already established reputation.Assistance with promotion, invitations, curation.Ready made gallery space.Little cost?Professional help.Other establishments/ people already aware of the gallery.

Negatives:

Lack of flexibility regarding dates.High costs of exhibiting?Specific themes imposed- not suitable.Restriction imposed on the space.Competition from other artists.Work has to be deemed good enough.

Own Gallery


Positives:
Total control on the space chosen. Control over costs.Flexibility on exhibition dates.No restrictions on the quality of work.No rental costs to the institution.Control over how curated.No competition from other artists.
Negatives:
High costs in renting/ buying a building.A lot of work needed to make space suitable- costs and time.Lack of professional help.Lack reputation.Need to do own promotion/ invitations/ curation.Lack of connections.

Why we would like to exhibit in a small gallery space:

-A small gallery space will reflect the intricacy of our work.

-Small galleries can also give the impression of being less successful than larger galleries, with less visitors and less money- an exact reflection of mixed media and craft art work in the industry.

-Some smaller galleries can also create a more unique and individual atmosphere within the space, which can help the exhibition to be more memorable.

-Smaller galleries also do not carry the same quantity of ideological baggage

Monday 4 February 2008

Proposal for Thursday

Jenni- Plinthes and site specificity
Sarah- Ideology of the white gallery
Alex- Gallery size- implications
Amanda- Transforming environments of space
Helen- Multi-media and found in the gallery space
Catherine- Institution vs. Individual gallery

Saturday 2 February 2008

Visit to Leeds City Gallery

I went to the Leeds City Gallery today to see if I could gain more inspiration for my project, as I feel so far this term my work does not seem to have the same impetus and steady direction. I was really pleased with my afternoon as I came across three works which really caught my attention.

The first one was Naum Gabo's 'Construction in Space: Soaring', 1929-30, which was made out of brass, plexiglass and wood. This sculpture was part of his ongoing attempt to promote a utopian vision of the world which opposed the Surrealist outlook. His clear, metal and plastic sculptures have architectural overtones, which look like they could be pioneering buildings. Gabo belonged to the Soviet Constructivists and this work clearly displays their fascination with airports and flight, as both were archetypal symbols of modernity.

Edward Wadsworth's 'Composition on a Red Ground', 1931, made of tempera on wood is also mechanistic nature. The still life seems to be a play on mechanical drawing, which I also share an interest in. The description of the work in the gallery states that he was an avid subscriber to 'L'Espirit Nouveau', which was a magazine which promoted machinery and design. The influence of this in his work is pretty blatent.

'Dazzle Ship in Drydock' by Edward Wadsworth, 1919:

Susan Hiller's (b. 1931) 'Monument 1980-1: Colonial Version', mixed media, was also really interesting and emotive. The work was concerned with the fragmentation of contemporary culture. Hiller seemed to be attempting to return forgotten or lost remnants of history to mainstream attention, which parallels my idea. However she seems to take on an archaeologist role much more than I do. This is revealed in her belief that art should 'reveal, hidden, undisclosed and unarticulated codes within a culture', which is a viewpoint I have a lot of respect for but I do find it rather limited. The work was a massive series of photographs showing plaques that commemorated forgotten hereos of the last century who gave their own lives to save others. I found the work pretty impressive and I felt almost ashamed admitting to myself that had this work not been in a gallery environment, I may have walked on past it.

I was also really impressed with the gallery's bronze and copper & brass sculptures because they managed to look mechanic even when the artist's hand had obviously dented the surface. I like how the artwork combined a rusty metallic, machine-like appearance alongside a human touch.

Descartes' Dualism

I find Descartes extremely interesting. Cognito ergo sum. I think therefore I am. I remember that from school. Caecilius es in horto scribet. The other extent of my Latin knowledge- if only Caecilius is writing in the garden cropped up more often...

My recent work, handmade machine parts from clay, brought Descartes' Dualism theory to my mind. I began creating machine parts in clay, as I did not like the inflexibility of wood and having to try and find metal parts that may suggest a part of a textile machine. However I am finding it impossible to create seemingly hard-edged, machine- casted parts and then it occurred to me... why would I want to? Craft and the hand-made are returning to the forefront of design and the art world, so by producing parts with an obvious individual quality, I am merely commenting on the art industry. The V&A's craft exhibition, Out of the Ordinary, is a perfect example of this Post Modern trend and the rising price of individual designs is also a clear indication.

The making of machine parts has a peculiar paradox to Descartes' Dualism, as his theory suggested that the body works like a machine, that it has the material properties of extension and motion, and that it follows the laws of physics. Therefore by making the body create machine parts, you are constructing another physical form of yourself. The imagination, the mind, is then the nonmaterial entity that controls the body, though according to Descartes the irrational can be controlled by the body, as is the case when someone acts out of passion. Previous to this theory, most accounts of the relationship between mind and body had been uni-directional. I think this theory is really interesting as humans are so fascinated by technical advancements, especially robots. Perhaps we are merely trying to recreate ourselves. This explanation surely fits the work of Stelarc and Orlan...

Developing our Exhibition Proposal for Thursday

Following our seminar with Richard Bell, when he suggested our group wanted to exhibit in the Tate Modern, I sent this email to the John Martin Gallery. The email slightly bends the truth but hopefully they will send us some images of the gallery space and the outside, to show in our presentation for Thursday! This gallery is our ideal; great location in the heart of the West End, one large ground storey, large front windows to attract passers-by, an amazing PR team to design and create promotional material for the exhibition. None of us wanted the Tate Modern, may be in the future you will see our work there, but for now we want intimacy.

To the John Martin employees,

I used to work for Citco, a Hedge Fund Company, along Albemarle Street before changing careers. I am now involved in promoting American art, especially artists who are based in the southern states, and this is where hopefully you can be of some assistance!

Would it be possible for you to send some images of the outside of your gallery space and a few of the inside, as I am proposing to curate an exhibition in London? After visiting your gallery many times during my lunch hour, I now envision the John Martin Gallery when discussing the idea of whether to present in the West End. I would be eternally grateful if you could send a few images of the gallery and its context as it is relatively difficult to communicate a space without visual aids.

Yours Sincerely,

Sarah Baumann

Fingers crossed!!! Lying is bad...