- I have also thought about the curating composition of the organs, where I thought about whether I should hang it or put them down on a surface
- With them hanging in the air, viewers could walk around the soft organ sculptures. However, it could be a bit distant to the viewers, as the viewers will just be examining ‘another’ artwork - With leaving in on a table, viewers could pretend like they are dissecting up a human body, feeling more connection and interaction with the sculpture - Therefore at the end, I displayed my soft organ sculptures on the table
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For my past experiments, I have always separated the threads and the wired yarns while making the soft organ sculpture. However, some organs exists on its own, and I thought it would be weird to have a separate set of organs, because the 'generating interaction' exists along side with the 'overcoming interaction'. Therefore, I came up with 3 different compositions on how I could combine the coloured threads with the wired yarns in the soft organ sculptures.
- I have chose to display it on this wall because I feel like the light pale olive green coloured wall would complement the pink, red and crimson coloured strings
- Furthermore, the strings echoes the cracks of the wall, which then blends well together - Although it is placed in a very obvious place, it somehow blends to the background -> like our emotions, sometimes we know and recognise how we feel, but conceal it within ourselves, and sometimes we might even ignore them -> whereas, sometimes the emotions and feelings might be there, but we don't recognise or know what feeling it is and just move on - I have used cotton fabrics to unify all of the organs, grouping them together as a series
- However, with using the same fabric for each organs, the element that they govern becomes unclear - Therefore, I chose to use different fabrics, with different textures for different elements, and not just changing the colours that are represented by the elements Personal Context- Born in 1954 in Nuremberg, Germany
- Daughter of sculptor Tony Smith - She has spoken often about the tragedies surrounding her life, which has greatly impacted her artistic practice -> 'I grew up in a family with lots of illness. There was a family preoccupation with the body. Also, being Catholic, making things physical, they're obsessed with the body. It seemed to me to be a form that suited me really well - to talk through the body about the way we're here and how we're living" --> Smith's father died in 1980 --> her sister, Beatrice, died 8 years later of AIDS --> her mother, Jane Lawrence, in 2005 - In the late 1970s, she comprised the end of the second wave of Feminist art -> discovered new ways to explore the social, cultural, and political roles of women - She was fascinated by figurative art and became known for her visceral, often disturbing artworks that depict the human body in detail, focusing on themes of women from mythology and folklore, or that reference her Catholic upbringing - During the 1978s, she made her first artworks, monotypes of everyday objects through joining Collaborative Projects, Inc. (Colab), where artists' collective devoted to making art accessible through exhibitions outside commercial gallery settings - She has focused on the themes of 'mortality and decay', focusing on human corporeality due to her father's death in 1980 - In her first solo show in 1982, some of her sculpted female figures look unfinished, depicted without skin, or deformed or disfigured in some way -> - In 1985, she developed an interest in obtaining practical knowledge about the body and studied to become an emergency medical technician -> this experience is greatly reflected in her work Personal Context- Louise Bourgeois is best known for her large-scale sculptures and installations, inspired by her own memories and experiences
- The main influence leading to her art is based on her troubled childhood memories -> especially the layering of emotional responses to the complicated relationship she had with her parents and their relationship with each other - The relationship between her with her parents have led to a fear of abandonment, which is a key theme in her work -> Bourgeois's ill health mother, Josephine, has passed away when Bourgeois was 22 -> her father was unfaithful to her mother, where he had a series of mistresses, including her English nanny that she loves --> instead of hating her father or her nanny, she hates her mother most of all --> she does not understand why her mother would let it happen and not do anything about the affair -> Her parents had very different characters, the opposing qualities of her parents influenced her in creating works that suggest duality --> Her mother - logical and intellectual --> Her father - emotive and passionate - She has made a few spider sculptures, which she thought of as her 'most successful subject' -> The spider symbolises a mother figure, which possess 2 different qualities: both predator (a sinister threat) and protector (an industrious repairer) -> Furthermore, the spinning and weaving of the spider's web links to her own mother, who worked in the family's tapestry restoration business, and encouraged her to take part in - I have experimented with the sculpture hanging on the edge of the pipes to see the effect of it
- I think that the emotion that is being hanged out suits to the placement of the sculpture -> as the threads are yellow and brown in colour, it represents the Earth element, and carries the emotion of pensiveness and worry --> by being hung on the edge, one might get worried that they are going to fall and die Personal Context- Abstract Expressionist
- Strong attachment to parents - Deeply affected by the tragic loss of her mother - Characterised as "insecure" by family and friends - "being an artist means to see, to observe, to investigate. It means trying to understand and portray people, their emotions, their strengths and faults. I paint what I see and feel to express life in all its reality and movement" Personal Context- French Contemporary Artist
- She researches the relationship of the outer skin of things and their interior - Inspired by the old traditions, primitive beliefs and votive practices -> the multiple dimensions, naturalism and symbolism interact with each other through a common language: white. A tribute paid to the spirit-body union - Combining Science and Art -> Anatomy, Biomedical Science, Cardiology, Forensic Medicine - Interested in the mysterious human body -> especially the complex form and function they possess -> aims to explore and discover it by rebuilding parts of it - Explored with soft, flexible materials, creating soft, gentle forms, which eventually led her to work with textile sculptures - Makes white sculptures out of old white fabrics, that depicts human body and organs - She found that anatomy possesses a hidden dimension that connects us to an invisible, ideal order of things and also to a secret, dreamlike reality - A few years ago, my mother has been studying the tradition of Chinese Beliefs, that incorporates the idea of the Chinese five elements
-> When she got home after class, she would share the knowledge she learnt with me, which heightened my curiosity and interest in knowing more about the Traditional Chinese Beliefs - During this Summer, I have learnt ‘Chinese acupoint massage theory’, where I got the knowledge of how certain points in our hands, arms, shoulders, legs and feet leads to our organs, stimulating them to increase and strengthen their energy and activity - Therefore, I had the idea of incorporating the Chinese culture into a ‘Western’ Contemporary art piece; where I link the organs with the emotions and the Chinese five elements together - For the first week of the term, I don't really know what I want to do for my art practice
- I only thought about using some juxtaposition techniques and incorporating some surreal elements to my piece, because I have always been interested in these two qualities in the art history Click here to read to full article. - 'In order to truly heal and address an issue or disease we are facing which is manifest in a physical symptom or complaint, we must also heal the spiritual and mental disturbances which gave rise to the problem in the first place, otherwise it will simply reappear in another form'
- 'the Chinese Medicine Tradition has been meticulously documenting this relationship for millennia and has developed a highly sophisticated, comprehensive system of understanding the relationships between the mind, spirit and the physical manifestations of these aspects of the self' Personal Context- Contemporary American Artist
- Known for innovative use of weaving and sculptural installations -> testing the limits through weaving --> from creating anti-form, gravitational hangings of wool thread; to balled organic bundles made from linen; to painterly fabric-wrapped panels; and even handmade rugs stacked in configurations that leave open any final form - Blur distinction between fine art and craft - She stated that "Textile had been relegated to a secondary role in our society, to a material that was considered either functional or decorative, I wanted to give it another status and show what an artist can do with these incredible materials" - "There is a lot of cultural symbolism on the meaning of certain fibers, textiles, and threads that creep into your life- and at what point in your life. They tend to get talked about at birth and at death" - "Textile is a universal language (...) In all of the cultures of the world, textile is a crucial and essential component... There's a level of familiarity that immediately breaks down any prejudice" -> recognise difference with dialogue and connection, rather than division and isolation in her work -> forges a link between human beings - In shaping her projects, she studies not only the specific features of the site, but also the characteristics of viewing public - Creates colours which are rarely found in nature -> using her understanding of how colours are perceived in a subtle manner -> she invents original mixtures by associating unexpected tints, textures and light - In this installation, it shows the historical pharmacy, where pigments and medicines are displayed side by side
- These rocks, plants and other raw materials are used by artists and patients -> not only can these materials be used in medicines, but they are also used to make pigments -> each of these materials have their own healing properties, and by preparing them in different ways, they could create different beautiful pigments that are used to colour some of the more remarkable manuscripts - Some of these substances are poisonous, and some are still used today - Holzer is a feminist American neo-conceptual artist
- The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces - She has described her aims: -> 'I wanted a lot simultaneously: --> leave art outside for the public --> be a painter of mysterious yet ordered works --> be explicit but not didactic --> find the right subjects --> transform spaces --> disorient and transfix people --> offer up beauty --> be funny and never lie' - She belongs to the feminist branch of a generation of artists that emerged around 1980, looking for new ways to make narrative or commentary an implicit part of visual objects - Her art takes many forms, including stone benches, projections, signs, posters, paintings, plaques and textiles - She focuses on working with words, from pasting them on wall, flickering from an electronic sign, carving them in granite to stitching them in wool - Early in her career, she delivered messages on posters and T-shirts so they would be seen in everyday places rather than in museums and galleries - Her work addresses the information overload and multiple perspectives we read daily - Her texts can be forceful and apparently simple, but may contradict one another - She presents statements that can provoke strong responses - Her works asks us to consider the words and messages that surrounds us, no matter if they are words we see on city streets or the ones in art galleries - Minimalism emerged in New York in the early 1960s among artists who were self-consciously renouncing recent art they thought had become stale and academic
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