28/12/2017 - Video Lecture 4 - VL4 - Archive to Interview - notes and response

Looking at contemporary artists and the commentary that is made on or about their work. Looking at online resources and issues to consider, review some formal sites for future research.Thomas Schutte Thomas Schutte (b. 1954) - Gerhard Richter was tutor and due to Richters accomplishments in paint, Schutte opted for sculpture as he couldn't say any more (compete?). manipulates scale and materials - googling images means that sometimes names, materials, context, scale etc are lost. search engines will also find 'related' images, people that are influenced by, shown in similar places etc.Thomas Schutte Big Buildings, Models and Views. Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany, 23 July 2010 - Private view with Adrian Searle, art critic for the Guardian, recording of his visit to the exhibition.

Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn http://www.kah-bonn.de/index_e.htm

Model for a hotel - http://www.thomas-schuette.de/ajax.php#/4.04.22.002

huge white room with high ceiling - Model for Hotel - 4th plinth, more successful in gallery rather than on the plinth. modernistic rather than modernist - Ferienhaus fur Terroristen 2007 - chipboard and scrim - colours, you can dimly perceive the outside space, window without being windows. Searle sounds creepy at this point, uncomfortable. The identification of race is unnecessary, the 'angels' that dangle from the ceiling, birds, etc - adds a lot of personal interpretation - 'stupid heads' - judgmental - 'priests in prada' social commentary on work that sways your interpretation of the work, dependant on how you perceives Searles opinions. uses deprecative language, silly, stupid, strange' etc. comparing the works to mundane imagery that could be seen as derogatory. Big Buildings 1989 -

Big Buildings, 1989 - http://www.thomas-schuette.de/ajax.php#/2.01.09.004

buildings whose purpose you'll never understand - is that the point or Searles opinion? feeling like storage - questions on architecture, massively bias commentary. He talks about the space being magnificent, but not the works....philosophising questions - whats real? the claims Schutte is free, and free to do what he likes, but with sadness and joyousness and finally says its magnificent.Angela's encounter with Schuttes website and the watercolours he produces.

Thomas Schutte website http://www.thomas-schuette.de/website_content.php

Model for a Hotel, 4th Plinth, Trafalgar Square - nov 2007 - may 2009Ossian Ward - time out - the sculpture failed to surprise - looks no better than the proposal model that had been shown beforehand. all art is a form of proposition, a proposal of a proposal. Mocks monumentally

Ossian Ward, Time Out, 14 November 2007 http://www.timeout.com/london/art/features/3834/Trafalgar_Square-s_fourth_plinth.html

Richard Dormant - telegraph - Model for hotel, an abstract assemblage of acrylic and galls that looks like it will blow away in a breeze but weighs 4 tons. favours monumentally - light changes the visual experience of the work, each view is complete but also not satisfactory, each is different. its complicated, not possible to adequately describe such a purely visual experience. an invitation, a proposition, to view and create an individual experience - how my work at Mind the gap was, dependant on lighting the viewer would get a different experience. 

Richard Dorment, Telegraph, 7 November 2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3669081/Trafalgar-Square-plinth-beauty-weighs-four-tonnes.html

Kiki SmithKiki Smith (b. 1954) - A curator, a gallery and an art journalFather was sculpture - Tony SmithDifferent perspective so on work.Elizabeth brown, writing as a curator in 1994 - one of the most influential artists of her generation, makes sculpture of and about the body in materials as diverse as bronze, paper and wax.....  overly descriptive, positive spin. doesn't offer meaning, or too much context. From a promotions point of view, she wants an audience for the artist in the museums so will write a wide and overseeing type of text with mass appeal rather than being specific and possibly closing audiences out.

Singer (detail), 2008, cast aluminium, 65 x 27 x 24 in. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/kiki_smith/

Brown, E. (1995) Kiki Smith: sojourn in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara. University Art Museum, University of California.

Mary Ryan gallery website, biography - post - 2001,: classifying Smith as a feminist artist. work is imbued with political significance and undermines traditional erotic representation of women artists by males, and uses metaphor for hidden social issues. Descriptive of the visual aspects of the work, but then goes on to list issues that she has actively debated such as race, gender, aids and domestic violence. Is this evolution of the artist or simply a different type of writing? Being for a gallery website it is for a specific audience, also possibly a commercial audience, investors and collectors if the work is for sale or to generate interest in future works for sale. Collectors tend to have style and subject matter that they support and will be specific in their ideals of artists and contexts of work which allows galleries to be very explicit in the details of artists they represent.

Mary Ryan Gallery, New York,  info at http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide 

Christine Kuan - interview with artist. Reference library, post 2008. collaboration, and public art. paper as material, paper as sculpture, craft, women artist, the body, influence of asian artist etc. Guided by questions from interviewer but gives more balanced view of the artists work.

Christine Kuan interview in Oxford Art online. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/public/page/smith

Is it possible to get a fixed picture in artists work? The aspects of bio coming in for inform an artists work. 

Biography as Art PracticeLouise BourgeoisBiography is her work -Maman, installed outside Tate in 2007room installations - intense and threatening atmosphere, related to her experience of childhood and family histories. drawings are retrospective journal of life as woman and mother.unattributed obituary - nice in tone, biographic - discusses her career, path to 'success' as an artist

Obituary in the Telegraph, 1 June 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/7794878/Louise-Bourgeois.html

Richard Dorment - equipped with intimate knowledge of her life story - the symbolism is easy to understand and is indexible. Academic like to utilise her work for interpretations, becoming a celebrity for what she said about her work than any aesthetic quality of emotional truth it had. Will it last once she is no longer around to discuss it? - suggests she invented 'confessional' art, and that it means little without her personal history to explain it. She has controlled this

Richard Dorment, Telegraph, 1 June 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/7794168/Louise-Bourgeois-invented-confessional-art.html

Siri Hustvedt (earlier piece) - her story is so embedded in the work that it 'seduces' critics into biographical or psychoanalytical readings - its happened naturally. The object and the narrative are inseparable, and that the issue, its purely biographical and doesn't make statements to wider more relatable contexts.

Siri Hustvedt, Guardian, 6 October 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/oct/06/art

Contrasting example of autobiographical work outside the gallery:Bobby BakerPerformance artist Bobby Baker (b.1953) - domestic life, cooking, motherhood and the conflict of work, and work as an artist. Comedic, uses food in her performances, uniform for performance, utensils as props. Works in public, with public - John Lewis and Battersea dogs home.1993 - Kitchen show, - routine tasks of kitchen work. contemplation of tasks on a small scale provokes questions both personal and political - she believes domestic relationships influence world affairs - how we treat each other are symbolic of international relations etc. Mental illness led to time away from performance and she documented the diary in drawings - viewable on the Wellcome Trust website.

Animation on Bobby Baker‘s website http://houseworkhouse.bobbybakersdailylife.com/

Arnold, K. Wellcome Trust 26.2.2009 http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2009/WTX053511.htm

Elaine Aston transforming Women's’ Lives: Bobby Baker’s Performances of ‘Daily Life’. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/24354/1/download1.pdf

Queen Mary, University of London http://www.drama.qmul.ac.uk/staff/bakerb.htm

Turner Prize2010 - Susan Philips - Lowlands - sound piece. Is the Turner prize still cutting edge? Dorment is dismissive - and quite rude!

Richard Dorment 4.10.2010 Turner Prize shortlist http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/turner-prize/8042138/Turner-Prize-shortlist-2010-Tate-Britain-review.html

Richard Dorment  7.12.2010 Turner Prize winner http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/turner-prize/8186053/Turner-Prize-I-loathe-the-kind-of-think-me-sensitive-tuneless-stuff-Ms-Philipsz-sings.html

Jones and Searle are complimentary - link between the political orientations of the broad sheets and the responses of the art critics.

Jonathan Jones 4.5.2010 Turner Prize shortlist http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/may/04/turner-prize-shortlist-2010

Adrian Searle http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2010/oct/07/turner-prize-2010-adrian-searle-video

2006 - Tomma Abts - Turner prize - Stuckists protest -

Tomma Abts, Ebe 2005, acrylic and oil on canvas, 48 cm x 38 cm - http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turner-prize-2006/turner-prize-2006-artists-tomma-abts

Interview of artist - no research, starts with nothing, just paint on canvas - form in mind and builds layers, image and object, illusion and being a real thing - an installation of paintings. Paradox, open but finished. Shows a state of mind.Stuckists - 'Tomma Abts paints silly little diagrams that make 1950's wallpaper look profound in comparison' - Ouch! There are thousands of artist that have something relevant to say. They also revealed conflict of interest at Tate.They are painters - believe it should be figurative, artists that don't paint are not artists and art that has to be in a gallery is not art. Success is to get out of bed and paint.Andrew Marr on the Stuckists - agrees with some points of the Stuckist manifesto - funding and support from 'big money' etc, and the access to education in the arts.

Andrew Marr,BBC Radio 4 Start the Week 31.1.11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y288b

Resourceslist of resources:Online resources - UCA online library - gives access to other online library and catalogues for other libraries and museums.Also look at local universities libraries- American university of Sharjah, American University of Dubai, NYUAD - Tashkeel's small library, Barjeel/Maraya centre library, ad Dubai public libraries - project space Art Jamel - Art Dubai etc. enquire about accessOnline Archives: Art Journals online:Academic Journals:JiscmailOnline Seminars and talks:Conferences - arts focus

Something to think about...

In what way do artists' biographies inform or detract from the viewers experience of the work?

What are the implications Ward's assertion that, 'That all art is a form of proposition and anything's possible.'?

If you could only read or hear one view on an exhibition would you chose to hear the artist's view or that of a critic or reviewer and why?

REMEMBER TO READ WIDELY AND MAINTAIN A HEALTHY SCEPTICISM.

Links to the recent reading group tasks on biographic lead art and the death of the author by Barthes, that the work will exisit regardless of the creator, the work creater the author not the other way rounf, they auther does not exisit if the work does not exist, the work birth the auther.http://maraya.ae/index.php?r=exhibitions/view&id=65http://maraya.ae/index.php?r=site/page&id=10 

17/12/2017 - Exhibition - Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah Art Museum

An international line up of artistsQuestion whether its decorative arts or fine arts and does it matter? Are they raising questions regarding political, or social views or creating art for arts sake and pushing the boundaries of technique and artist descriptions?Below are some of the pieces that really stood out for me at the exhibition. I was pressed for time and but was fortunate enough to speak to a couple of the artist that were in the space.

Sara Ouhaddou - France - R3 - 2017, natural ceramic enamelled, dimensions variable.

Above is an image of Sara Ouhaddou's ceramic tiles, the spaces had a variation of these in different coloured glazes. These unglazed installation stood out for me, the lack of colour focused the viewer on to the patterns and the fragmentation, which I am always drawn to in artwork. It felt like a jigsaw I was itching to put together, I am actually tempted to print this image out and reorganise it to find a repeat as I don't think there is one, so it alludes to a broken pattern but actually one doesn't exist.  

Timo Nasseri - Germany - Epistrophe #8, 2017, stainless steel and styrofoam, 217 x 217 x 80 cm.

This piece blew my mind. I had seen it on social media, photos from friends etc and of course been to his solo show at Maraya Art Centre a few days before. I did not realise that the piece was actually concave! It recesses in to the wall 80cm meaning that for installation a false wall has to be installed to hold the piece and bring the illusion to life. Due to the nature of the material it is almost impossible to photograph an capture the recess.

Zeinab Alhashemi - UAE - Metalmorphosis, 2017, steel, mirror, 200 x 200 cm

Alhashemi is a local designer, it's always wonderful to see local artist and designers being included in diverse international shows. The material is familiar if you are living in the UAE as its a common building material that is often discarded in piles around construction sites, it was intriguing to see it in a familiar placement but have it exposed by its reflection as a islamic pattern design. distorting our perception of what we assume we are seeing.  

Toy Studio - UK - In Bloom, 2017, aluminium, 200 x 200 x 200 cm

This piece, In Bloom, created excited shadows and light casts around the space. The byproducts of the artwork were more inspiring that the form itself to me as a viewer. I wanted to trace them, and capture their forms on the surrounding blank walls.    

Elisa Strozyk - Germany - Wooden Textile: Transparent Maple, Transforming Red Reflecting Black, 2017, wood and textile, 350 x 120 cm

The wooden textiles pictured above were both beautiful to look at and frustrating to be around as I desired to play with them, folding the forms and experiment with the shapes and formations they promised to create. I also took the opportunity of the secluded exhibition space to move around the back of the pieces and experience the light shining through the textiles. It occurred to me that this is definitely an important factor to me, something I also use in my own work so need to make this more of a feature or thinking point.  

Natalie Fisher (Artweave Originals) - Australia - Hassan, wool on needlepoint canvas; Fes Cool, wool on needlepoint canvas

Natalie Fisher (Artweave Originals) - Australia - Casablanca, 2015, wool on needlepoint canvas, 950 x 1500 cm

Natalie Fisher (Artweave Originals) - Australia - wool on needlepoint canvas; roving on wire frame.

Natalie Fisher was jumping on to one of her pieces as I turned in to her exhibition space, it was a geometric design made from needlepoint floor cushions, her camera was set up on a tripod with the timer ticking down. We chatted for ages, she was an absolute delight. We discussed process, time and the fact that 10yrs+ of work was hanging on the wall due to the labour intensive nature of embroidery and needlepoint, and how the art scene worked in the UAE. It was her first visit to the region so I gave her some tips on what to see. The half cross-stitch works were expansive, intricate and absorbing, you could capture the mediative aspect of creating simply by viewing the work. I ask the question of my work, and how I can be as dense in practice as these needlepoint pieces but remain transparent?  

Leonardo Ulian - Italy - Technological Mandalas, 2017, mixed media, 280 x 700 x 500 cm

Ulian's installation again bought up the question of transparency, intricacy and sensuality. I wanted to 'ping' the taut wires, brush the diodes with my fingers but at the same time protect its delicacy. Literally fusing technology with ancient geometrics.

John Foster - USA - Truth Ore, 2017, dichro-acrylic, gypsum cement, gold leaf pigment, 90 x 157 x 81 cm

I've seen John Foster's work before; I've been lusting after a furniture piece he created, a table that emerges from these iridescent forms. The allude to the capturing of bubbles, that moment of sparkling wonder until 'pop' it disappears, only with Foster's works they remain in their luminescent glory.

Ben Johnson - UK - The Facade, Sala de la Barca, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 153 x 191 cm (detail)

Ben Johnson - UK - Dome of the Rock, Niche I, 2016, acrylic on polyester linen, 200 x 154 cm; Dome of the Rock, Facade, 2017, acrylic on polyester linen, 220 x 220 cm; Dome of the Rock, Niche II, 2016, acrylic on polyester linen, 200 x 154 cm.

Johnson's work was spell binding, the accuracy and technical craftsmanship in these paintings is a sight to behold. I initially thought, as most audience members do, that they were enlarge photographs of architectural facades, but no, they are photorealistic paintings completed by Johnson. I'm not sure on as to what they bring to the table, copying craftsmanship on to canvas, other than to show of Johnson's technical ability. Perhaps the viewer should be questioning the original crafts people, the ones who created the tile formations, the patterns that Johnson so loving recreates?

Matthew Shlian - USA - RLLR, 2017, paper, 26" x 26" x 1", RLRR, 2017, paper, 26" x 26 " x 1"; Ara 301, 2017, paper, 26" x 26" x 1"

Matthew Shlian - USA - Ara 150, 2015, paper, 26" x 40" x 2"

What Shlian can do with paper is a feat of engineering, again I was familiar with his works before encountering them in the gallery space, they are beautiful, especially Ara 150, a geometric grid structure created from cut paper. By creating these geometries in 3D paper sculptures Shlian changes the way light interacts with the patterns and moves the patterns in to tangible spaces from their usual flat perspectives.

Romina Khanom - UK - Untitled, 2017, laser cut rugs, dimensions variable.

Pattens: layered, cut, fragmented and hung, to be experienced from different angles as you move through the space. Traditional Persian rugs with the atypical floral motifs sliced through with the harsh, clinical geometries from islamic architectural features. It would not be unusual for these two features to be in the same place but not so inter-related as this. Is the rug still functional as a rug after being cut? Does it now have another function? window dressing? screen/divider, art piece?

Gabby O'Connor - Australia - All the Colours, All the Light, 2017, steel and plexiglass, dimensions variable.

Gabby O'Connor is an artist/researcher, working with scientists in the Antarctic. Why she was included in the Islamic Art Festival I do not know. Thats not to say her work wasn't beautiful or captivating to it's audience but the simple use of geometric shapes, in my opinion, dos not preclude automatic inclusion, this troubled me. I am grateful that she was included as I think her research in the Antarctic is fascinating and her light pieces are very inspiring to me as someone obsessed with pattern and transparency.

Hitoshi Kuriyama - Japan - 0=1 - Reflections, 2017, mirrored glass, fluorescent light, 240 x 240 x 260 cm.

Kuriyama is inspired by infinity.. and apparently the arabesque patterns in the domes of mosques, however I find no other record of this islamic connection in any writing on his work or the artists own website. Does that mean it was manipulated for inclusion? Does that matter? I'm not sure how the artists were selected for the exhibition, whether it was open call or invite but I do question what artists working with Islamic inspired art pieces were overlooked. 

17/12/2017 - Exhibition - Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist, Sharjah Art Foundation

http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/hassan-sharif-a-retrospectiveDue to time constraints I revisited Sharjah to complete my visit to the Hassan Sharif exhibition at Sharjah Art Foundation. Al Mureijah Square is a collection of buildings that have been renovated and specifically built as exhibition spaces. The retrospective is divided and the viewer is guided through the spaces in a specific order, the gaze is controlled, ordered.Gallery 6 - Hassan's Atelier- an uncomfortable space, it felt like an intrusion to be inside without his express permission. It is clearly staged, presented in the way it was set up in his home but clearly out of context. (Links to the Brian O'Doherty Text 'Studio & Cube', must finish reading.) My question was why? Why did they feel the need to place a representation of his working space inside the gallery, did it provide validation? Proving that he was, in fact, an artist? It questions whether we need to see or know of an artists process to validate the work, is the research more important or the time taken to create? The time taken to consume the art is also variable and does or should the time things are created in impact the time it is consumed in? Can you dictate how long people take to consume the work?

Hassan's Atelier

  

Email, 2009, Mixed media, variable dimensions, Homage to Jos Clevers.

Email (2009) stuck me due to the contrast of the print plates, displayed as works in themselves, and the black prints in the perspex display box. The texture and colour variations of the copper, creating depth and mood; the sterile nature of the prints, somewhat reminiscent of the virtual mail they are named after. Perhaps harking back to the time of hand written letters, the mood and personable aspects of mail penned, sorted and delivered by hand.Gallery 5 - I'm an object maker

Visible from right to left: Spoons, 2015, copper tube, cable and spoons, 210 x 47 x 62 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Harp, 2014, bicycle wheel and iron wire, 105 x 58 x 62 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Hammer, 2014, hammer and wire, 115 x 58 x 30 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Artificial Leg, 2014, crutch and wire, 152 x 56 x 48 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Buffet, 2014, stainless steel and copper wire, 104 x 56 x 25 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (located on the floor). Spare parts, 2016, spare parts, copper wire and stainless steel wire, 210 x 325 x 20 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Copper, 2016, copper wire, 132 x 165 x 14 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (on facing wall opposite Spare Parts). Praylady 555, 2007, stainless steel and copper, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Simmer Ring, 2015, simmer rings and wire, 220 x 120 x 88 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (located in centre on photo on rear wall). Broom, 2016, broom and copper wire, 1070 x 315 x 10 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. 555, 2016, aluminium plates and copper wire, 320 x 320 x 240 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (partial view).

Visible from right to left: 555, 2016, aluminium plates and copper wire, 320 x 320 x 240 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Broom, 2016, broom and copper wire, 1070 x 315 x 10 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Video: Cotton, 2013, single channel HD video, colour, no sound, 8min 26 sec, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Jelly Fish, 2011, iron, papier-mâché, acrylic and glue, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Ladies and Gentlemen, 2014, ready-made sandals and shoes, rubber cable, cotton rope, papier-mâché and acrylic paint, 275 x 460 x 45 cm, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York. Printer No. 1, 2015, wooden plinth, printer, cotton rope and photocopied paper, 475 x 190 x 200 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (hanging in centre).

Installations of repetitive artefacts bound, collated, ordered and arranged.I felt like they were maps of time, labour was intrinsic in the materials that are used and the process of construction. Sharif utilises the everyday object and subverts it in to art, reclaiming or perhaps simply claiming, the mundane in to the fine art.  

Jute, 2016, jute and cotton rope, 170 x 240 x 30 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

Jute (2016), this mass of knots drew me in to it. It feels intense, like time captured in a format. The repetition of knotting and binding, and also the visuality of space taken alongside the time.In terms inspiration this work moves me to a place of making, I want to bind and tie, to build a geometry from fibres that are not conducive to rigidity and linear forms. I want to physically create the sensual layers that ask to be touched and allow for movement in the sense that persons move around the city in the cyclic elements of routine. To embody the routine in a bound sensual way, to experience the touch of routine in the way that routine seems to touch us in the ethereal sense.Gallery 4 - Performance is goodThis gallery has images of performance, photographs, scripts and texts, so you are struck by the monumentality of the paper and yarn/string structure that hangs in the corner: Dictionary (2015). Pages from Arabic/English dictionary, taken and bound. So much of Sharif work involves binding together, in a messy, overwhelm, engulfing the spaces and the forms that originate.  

Dictionary, 2015, glue, dictionary pages and cotton rope, 385 x 170 x 65 cm, courtesy of gb Agency.

  

The Mail, 1983, ink and pin holes on tracing paper on cardboard; pen and pencil on paper mounted on cardboard, 56 x 38 cm each, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

Then I stepped around the quiet gallery, to be confronted by a wall of framed subtle pieces that depict lines, drawn or scratched from mail opened: The Mail (1983). The pieces are so reminiscent of the fractures I create in my sketchbooks, I try to photograph them but my reflection in the work hinders my collecting, metaphorically implanting myself in the work that I have just jumped in to. The repetition of the routine activity, opening letters, that create marks from the tools that are used to complete the task.

Trees - Walham Grow Road - London, 1983, paper, photographs, ink and pencil mounted on cardboard, 90.3 x 66cm, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi collection, artist copy.

Finally as I round the end of the exhibition in this gallery space I encounter photographs of London taken by Sharif, as a pieces, documenting activity. The date is my 1st birthday, I would have been a short drive away from this spot, across London. The images (Trees-Walham Grow Road-London, 1983) are familiar as I have similar ones in the albums at my parents house, they are unframed, composition is not addressed, they are taken as record not as art or for display, simply to record and account of a happening. They are filled with nostalgia for me personally, of childhood and times past in a location that is familiar but no longer has that familiarity.Gallery 3 - I'm loyal to colour  

Image 1, right to left: Slippers and Wire, 2009, slippers and copper wire, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Zip Fastener No 2, 2016, zippers and cotton rope, 245 x 322 x 12 com, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Electrical Cable, 2016, electrical cable and cotton rope, 1200 x 65 x 25 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Cable No 3, 2015, cable and cotton rope, 181 x 70 x 8 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

Image 2, right to left: Playfulness No. 1, 2015, toys, papier-mâché, wire, cardboard and acrylic paint, dimensions variable, courtesy of gb Agency, Paris. Colours, 2016, cotton rope, acrylic paint and copper wire, 240 x 535 x 10 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Slippers and Wire, 2009, slippers and copper wire, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Zip Fastener No 2, 2016, zippers and cotton rope, 245 x 322 x 12 com, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

  

Image 3, right to left: Zip Fastener No 2, 2016, zippers and cotton rope, 245 x 322 x 12 com, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (partial view). Electrical Cable, 2016, electrical cable and cotton rope, 1200 x 65 x 25 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Cable No 3, 2015, cable and cotton rope, 181 x 70 x 8 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Slippers and Wire, 2009, slippers and copper wire, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Combs, 2016, ready-made plastic combs and copper wire, 275 x 200 x 70 cm, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York (partial view). Rug 6, 2014, rug, tempera, glue and copper wire, 304 x 195 x 32 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

Image 4, right to left: Plastic Cups and Coir, 1999, plastic and coir, 170 x 150 x 80 cm, courtesy of gb Agency, Paris. Slippers and Wire, 2009, slippers and copper wire, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Playfulness No. 1, 2015, toys, papier-mâché, wire, cardboard and acrylic paint, dimensions variable, courtesy of gb Agency, Paris.

Images on Tracing Paper, 2015, tracing paper, cotton thread and cardboard, 7 x 86 x 33 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

Combs, 2016, ready-made plastic combs and copper wire, 275 x 200 x 70 cm, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York (detail)

Upon entering the gallery aptly named 'loyal to colour' you are confronted with masses of accumulated goods, curated in to large mass sculptural forms filling the spaces. Interesting that the colours evident in the pieces are actually quite restricted, whether this is a conscious decision made by the artist I'm not sure, but the effect is quite affronting. Perhaps it is simply a reflection on the limited dyes available for plastic manufacturing in the region - but it remarkably creates a unified presentation of apparently single work pieces.Gallery 2 - My little tiny boxThe smallest of the galleries, filled with what felt like trinket works, experiments that perhaps never expanded in to larger pieces or due to the ethics of the artist were held back in to single works.  

Left: Cotton Rope No 6, 2012, cotton rope and notebook, 43 x 59 x 10 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Right: Book of Dresses, 2016, dresses and cotton thread, 16 x 48 x 30 cm (closed), 13 x 78 x 30 cm (open), courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

The knots and materials, binding books, physically containing the information, the way words bind narratives in to archives.

Left: Sewing Notebook No 1, 1983-2006, notebook and jute rope, 22 x 16 x 10, Sharjah Art Foundation Collection. Right: Sewing Notebook No 2, 1983/2006, notebook and jute rope, 22 x 15.5 x 10 cm, Sharjah Art Foundation Collection.

Sandpaper, Pencil, Sharpener, 1982/2007, photographs mounted on cardboard, 59.5 x 42.5 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Sandpaper, Pencil, Sharpener, 1982/2007, plastic bags containing sand paper, pencil shaving, pencils and steel sharpeners; cardboard, cloth, glue, jute rope, cotton thread, cotton rope and marker, 130 x 60 x 8cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

Art Map, 2012, cardboard and varnish, dimensions variable, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

The books are all closed, containing the contents, if there is any, from the viewer, alluding to the journals of teenagers, or secret files of governments.Gallery 1 - ...so I created a semi systemThe last gallery felt like the most overwhelming. Monochrome works filling the walls, they look like the inner workings of an designers brain, pages from a sketchbook. Repetitive designs for geometries that were pushed through in to motifs created in to wooden structures or, my personal favourite, woven in to rugs

Iching, undated, ink and pencil on paper, 59.5 x 42 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

January 2013, 2013, ink and pencil on paper; acrylic on canvas, 59.5 x 42 cm each; 60 x 30 x 4 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate (partial view).

The shear volume of work was impressive and a visual reference to the dedication Sharif put in to amassing his work.

Squares No. 1, 2014, carpet, 188 x 68 x 1 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

  

Image 1: Rhomboid Forms, 2012, ink and pencil on paper, 59.5 x 42 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Image 2: Movement of Square's Side, 1985, ink and pencil on paper, 32.5 x 49.9 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

  

Eight Points Angular Lines - Part 2, 2013, pencil on paper; wood, glue and nails, 59.5 x 42 cm; 90 x 58.5 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

  

Lines, 2010, ink and pencil on paper, 59.5 x 42 cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate. Lines No. 2, 2014, carpet, 234 x 66 x 1cm, courtesy of Hassan Sharif Estate.

The translation from fragmented forms in to clean woven rugs. The technical construction done by commissioned parties, some of the linear aspects of the geometries are lost to the fluidity of the fibres.The scale of this retrospective is intense, Sharif is a 'Local Legend' and it feels right to have this exhibition here in Sharjah, I do wonder how far his reach will go though, I hope he won't be lost to the larger names in the global art scene. 

14/12/2017 - Exhibition - Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist, Bait Al Serkal.

Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist

Exhibition - 4 November 2017—3 February 2018

Al Mureijah Square and Bait Al SerkalThis landmark retrospective will include Hassan Sharif’s diverse body of work from the early 1970s to 2016.In the making for several years, this landmark retrospective will include Hassan Sharif’s diverse body of work from the early 1970s to 2016. On view in Al Mureijah Square and Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square, the exhibition will encompass Sharif’s early newspaper caricature and comic strip drawings, ‘semi-system’ works, performances, paintings and ‘urban archeology’ objects.

This retrospective is the culmination of Sharif’s long and storied history with the Emirate of Sharjah, where he first began staging interventions and exhibitions of contemporary art. He pursued this interest in earnest when he returned to the UAE from London after graduating from The Byam Shaw School of Art in 1984. Moving between roles as an artist, educator, critic and writer, Sharif not only sought to encourage Emirati audiences to engage with contemporary art in exhibitions but also on the page, through his Arabic translations of historical art texts and manifestos.His work also included the founding or co-founding of the Emirates Fine Arts Society, Sharjah (1980); Al Mareija Art Atelier, Sharjah (1984); Art Atelier in the Youth Theatre and Arts, Dubai (1987) and The Flying House, Dubai (2007)—all organisations that have supported interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary art in the Emirates through mentorship and exhibition.This exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director, Sharjah Art Foundation.http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/hassan-sharif-a-retrospective  

Copper No 33, 2015, copper tube and copper wire, 310 x 145 x 90 cm

Objects in the Ground, 2007, ink and pencil on paper, 42 x 59.5 cm

  

Metope, 2007, ink and pencil on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm,

  

Funnelled Paper, 1985, paper, glue and carton box, 50 x 70 x 35 cm

Images above are a brief overview from the part of the exhibition of the Hassan Sharif retrospective by Sharjah Art Foundation, in Bait Al Serkal. This section of the show is separate from the main exhibition and I viewed it before I experienced the rest of retrospective. What was interesting was how perfectly the pieces fit the space, they seemed to to planned for the areas, some of the accompanying sketches appeared to illustrate the actual areas the pieces were installed. The rooms in Bait Al Serkal are not 'white cube' gallery spaces, it is a traditional building that has been converted in to exhibition spaces, lighting is dim and relies of spotlights, the interior courtyard is glazed off letting in natural light which does cast shadows and reflections over the work, it would be a consideration to conservators due to sun exposure as can be seen in some of the images above.The exhibition felt like walking through a collectors home, pieces tucked in to recesses and hung in clusters. The works are typical of Hassan Sharif, obsessive to the point of exhaustion and then abandoned on completion, moving on to the next fascination. Calling the exhibition "I am the Single Work Artist' as a title Sharif claimed for himself, a falsehood, displayed in the walls of the building by the repetitive nature he collected and clusters objects and creations. It almost feels like Sharif was fascinated by life, by the mundane and how he could claim those fascinations, the fleeting moments for himself. I am intrigued to consider the addition of compulsion to my work, I thought it was there but on reflecting these works I can see that I have not exhausted the possibilities.

14/12/2017 - Exhibition - Night was paper and we were ink, Barjeel Collection

Works on paper from Barjeel collection - 28/10/2017 - 04/02/2018Drawing, painting, printmaking from mid-20th century to presentText from website:In this exhibition we survey a selection of works on paper from the Barjeel collection that include drawing, painting and printmaking from the mid-20th Century to the present. The works traverse a range of approaches, dealing with everyday encounters, documentation of historical events, and explorations of poetry, identity, and gesture.The mid-20th Century saw the emergence of a number of avant garde movements and moments that allowed for a great variety of expression. Artists responded to what they observed in the world – which was often rapidly changing and in conflict – in subjective and innovative ways. They also turned inwards and developed new visual languages to explore more introspective themes: abstraction, language, memory, and spirituality.The use of paper, itself an ancient vehicle of carrying both text and image, allowed for a sense of immediacy and freedom for artists. Paper has long been the medium of choice for sketches and informal works, as well as a surface for complex and labour-intensive printing techniques. Deeply linked to the act of writing, paper is a material utilised by visual artists and poets alike.Drawn from the opening line of the poem “The Beginning of the Road” by the poet Adonis in his book of love poetry The Book of Similarities and Beginnings (1980), a brief dialogue between lovers begins with “Night was paper and we were ink”.http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/exhibitions/night-was-paper-and-we-were-ink/

Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Symbols, 2008, Indian ink on paper, 115cm x 115 cm.

Screenshot take from website to show detail http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/collection/symbols-mohammed-ahmed-ibrahim/

Emirati artist Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim (1962), lives and works in Khorfakkan, UAE. He uses leaves, clay, paper and glue in a lot of his works, also opting to create land art in his early career.I love this piece, I think because I have a personal interest in the artist after attending a studio visit in his home in 2017 and have since interacted with him at various art events. He is very humble but passionately devoted to creating and to growing the art scene. He recollected a story about him burning his back catalogue of work, due to a disagreement with a studio space! He was extremely close friends with the prominent Emirati artist Hassan Sharif which is evident in his work in the manner of the constructions and its repetitions.The piece is so dense with these small pockets of black ink, scattered but also balanced within the piece, and the scale of the symbols doesn't alter, it is maintained throughout. As with the Timo Nasseri drawings in the previous post, the dedication to complete is inspiring, devoting hours to repetition and filling of space. The physicality of creating the same movements over and over to draw the symbols, how the muscles ache, did he get blisters? how many bottles of ink, what did he lean on?  

Lulwah Al Hamoud, Untitled 1, 2008, Ink on paper, 118 x 87.5 cm & Untitled 3, 2008, Ink on paper, 118 x 87.5 cm

Untitled 3 (detail), 2008, Ink on paper, 118 x 87.5 cm

Lulwah Al-Homoud (1967) born in KSA, lives and works in UK. She uses arabic letter to create complex patterns; Al-Hamoud learned the mathematical codes behind the Arabic Alphabet and then used these to break down the letters in to the building blocks for geometrical designs. Almost the reverse of Time Nasseri's work, who used mathematical codes and star charts to build geometrics in to letters. I have seen these works or perhaps similar ones from the series in exhibitions in the region before, the elements of breaking down an existing 'thing', in this case letters, to create geometric repeating patterns is similar to the process I employ for my work. There is comfort in finding artists that have comparable ways of working, a validation in technique and enquiry.

Kamal Boullata, Sizain, 2002, blind embossing on Arches paper, 65 x 50 cm

Kamal Boullata (1942) born in Jerusalem, Palestine, lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He is known for his colourful silkscreens and paintings that incorporate Arabic letters and islamic Kufic script in to geometric abstractions. Frustratingly I have been unable to find information on these embossings, how they came about and what the context is behind them. They are very different from his usual body of work.

Sizain (detail), 2002, blind embossing on Arches paper, 65 x 50 cm

They are rigid, constrained but somehow sensual. I wanted to touch them and experience the textured the geometrics create.The works in the exhibition varied between illustration and abstraction. I was drawn automatically to the geometric pieces, like a comfort blanket. Although being in the middle east the geometries are ever-present, so perhaps it is more to do with conditioning than captivation? 

14/12/2018 - Exhibition - Timo Nasseri: All the Letters in All the Stars, Maraya Art Centre

Text taken from website:Timo Nasseri: All the Letters in All the StarsCurated by Laura Metzler14 December, 2017 – 23 February, 2018 (extended until April 2018)VENUE: Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba, Block (E), Third Floor (Maraya Art Gallery)Maraya Art Centre is collaborating with Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival to present "Timo Nasseri: All the Letters in All the Stars". The show will be the artist's first solo show in the U.A.E. and its starting point is his take on the story of Ibn Muqla, a 10th century calligrapher who claimed to have found four missing letters in the Arabic language. The works are a combination of new and older pieces, which highlight the different mediums of his practice while putting them all into a larger conversation between fragmentation and order, in the pursuit of the infinite.http://maraya.ae/index.php?r=exhibitions/view&id=67

One and One #26, 2011, Ink on paper, 104 x 148 cm, courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation

These pieces are hand drawn on black paper using white ink, like a blueprint. I later found out at a talk given by the artist in discussion with the arts writer Kevin Jones that that is exactly what they are, blueprints of the sculptural pieces made from mirrors. The equations for the angles of the triangles were written on for reference but the artist realised that there was an elegance to the pieces themselves. Only four types of triangle are actually used in the pieces and the circles are guidelines for the points of each piece.I am envious at the repetition, I myself want to recreate them, in the way I like to colour in books of pattern, borrowing the meditation from the person that originally created it. Wallowing in their soothing predictability.  

Detail of One and One series                    -                 One and One #38, 2014, Ink on paper, 108 x 108 cm, Courtesy of the collection of Butheina Kazim & Mishaal Al Gergawi, Dubai (I think thats the correct label, it could also be #39)

Wall detailing research by artist on geometries.

In the talk mentioned above, the artist explained that he researches extensively on the origin of the geometries. The image above shows images of the complex and mesmerising architectural geometries of ceiling vaults he encountered in Iran. Beginning with the simplest of elements, every step of the process is one that the artist himself has calculated.  

Florenz - Baghdad, 2016, Acrylic mirror and wood, dimension variable.

Florenz-Baghdad is an installation piece, it has been shown on a flat wall previously but installed in Maraya Art Centre as a room within the exhibition space. Using the same 4 types of triangle that are evident in his drawings, Nasseri constructs a space that reflects everything and nothing, fracturing the surroundings infinitely.The space left me in a contemplative awe of finding myself reflected in the artists work both physically and metaphorically. It's rare that I would find an artists work that leaves me with envy and inspiration as well as the want to simply replicate to gain access to the feelings that generating the work promises.The chaotic patterns of the light reflected on the floor were a work in themselves, I pondered how many people stepped over their surplus beauty while trying to claim the perfect Selfie in the fractured infinite.  

I Saw all the Letters, 2017, Ink on paper, 59 x 84 cam each (54 pieces)

It was the methodological repetition of creating that really inspired me in the exhibition. The felling of producing, but with context deeply embedded. Enough research had been done that the work could be organic.

Unknown Letters, 2015, wood on steel table, 162 x 162 x 42 cm (4 pieces)

Unknown letters - these caused confusion, I overheard conversations at the exhibition and it came up at the talk as well. These are fictitious, created by ht e artist, a proposition of sorts, a 'what if'. In look at the way language is created and translated, the elements of 'missing' letters that appear in one language but can not be created in another and also the research of star maps to create shapes, the artist has 'found' letters. He doesn't actually give them names, or sounds but due to the way it is explained some audience members have read them as actual letters he wants to add to the alphabet.Notes for my work:Considering breaking the work down in a scientific aspect: angles, lengths, reoccurrence - separating the work down to angles, movement or instructions of creations - 1cm vertical diagonal line, from top of page measuring 9 cm long at an angle of 12degrees - in a room of 27degrees C facing NW 217 etc.Considering protocol, bodies relationship to the gesture of doing, the politics of making/creating/ownership, - control, dictatorship, offering of work for others to createsemiotics, intervention, signs, symbols.Nasseri, T, Lepton, 2017, steel, wood, latex strings, 17.5 x 90 x 28 cm, inspiration for installation or construction. 

11/12/2017 - 500 word text relating to practice and reflections.

Initial thoughts on choice: Ben Highmore, Michel De Certeau, Henri Lefebvre, Rita Felski, Eran Dorfman - the repetition, meditation, excitement, quotidian, the city, the invisible, class. Subjects that stimulate me mentally in to producing the repetitive fractured work I feel pushed to make.The Text:Felski, Rita. Doing Time : Feminist Theory and Postmodern Culture, NYU Press, 2000. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/warw/detail.action?docID=865460.Accessed here: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/literaturetheoryandtime/ltt-felski.pdfThe Invention of Everyday Life - Felski, R. p81-82Repetition:Everyday life is above all a temporal term. As such, it conveys the fact of repetition; it refers not to the singular or unique but to that which happens “day after day.” The activities of sleeping, eating, and working conform to regular diurnal rhythms that are in turn embedded within larger cycles of repetition: the weekend, the annual holiday, the start of a new semester. For Lefebvre, this cyclical structure of everyday life is its quintessential feature, a source of both fascination and puzzlement. “In the study of the everyday,” he writes, “we discover the great problem of repetition, one of the most difficult problems facing us.”10 Repetition is a problem, or as he says elsewhere, a riddle, because it is fundamentally at odds with the modern drive toward progress and accumulation.Lefebvre returns repeatedly to this apparent contradiction between linear and cyclical time. Linear time is the forward-moving, abstract time of modern industrial society; everyday life, on the other hand, is characterized by natural circadian rhythms, which, according to Lefebvre, have changed little over the centuries.11 These daily rhythms complicate the self-understanding of modernity as permanent progress. If everyday life is not completely outside history, it nevertheless serves as a retardation device, slowing down the dynamic of historical change. Lefebvre resorts at several points to the concept of uneven development as a way of explaining this lack of synchronicity. Because of its reliance on cyclical time, everyday life is belated; it lags behind the historical possibilities of modernity.Time, writes Johannes Fabian, “is a carrier of significance, a form through which we define the content of relations between the Self and the Other.” 12 In other words, time is not just a measurement but a metaphor, dense in cultural meanings. Conventionally, the distinction between “time’s arrow” and “time’s cycle” is also a distinction between masculine and feminine. Indeed, all models of historical transformation—whether linear or cataclysmic, evolutionary or revolutionary—have been conventionally coded as masculine. Conversely, woman’s affinity with repetition and cyclical time is noted by numerous writers; Simone de Beauvoir, for example, claims that “woman clings to routine; time has for her no element of novelty, it is not a creative flow; because she is doomed to repetition, she sees in the future only a duplication of the past.”13 Here, repetition is a sign of woman’s enslavement in the ordinary, her association with immanence rather than transcendence. Unable to create or invent, she remains imprisoned within the remorseless routine of cyclical time. Lefebvre’s perspective is less censorious: women’s association with recurrence is also a sign of their connection to nature, emotion, and sensuality, their lesser degree of estrangement from biological and cosmic rhythms. As I have already noted, Julia Kristeva concurs with this view in seeing repetition as the key to women’s experience of extrasubjective time, cosmic time, jouissance.14

10. Henri Lefebvre, “The Everyday and Everydayness,” Yale French Studies, no. 73 (1987): 10.
11. Henri Lefebvre, Critique de la vie quotidienne, vol. 2 (Paris: L’Arche, 1961), 54.
12. Johannes Fabian, Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), ix.
13. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (London: Picador, 1988), 610.
14. Lefebvre, Everyday Life in the Modern World, 17; Julia Kristeva, “Women’s Time,” in Feminist Theory: A Critique of Ideology, ed. Nannerl O. Keohane, Michelle Z. Rosaldo, and Barbara C. Gelpi (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982). See also Frieda Johles Forman, ed., Taking Our Time: Feminist Perspectives on Temporality (Oxford: Pergamon, 1989) for similar arguments.

Word Count: 474

ReflectionsThat although we are all influenced differently there are similarities that can be drawn from the texts. Aspects that may not be relevant to those actually sharing but are to others, texts that may not have been accessed by all or things that may have been 'out of radar' so to speak. There is also the elements of interpretations.In response to Paula's text from Touching The Void: accepting where you are and allowing you to move on - better decisions - links to art, the struggle, and consuming nature. Often faced with difficult decisions that we can't go back on. The idea of not looking and taking risks.Art to justify existence, the reason we are here, give purpose. getting over our fear - make the comparison.

09/12/2017 - Video Lecture 3 - VL3 - The Neo-Avant-Garde – Response

Graham Witman's notes - grey - accessed and added after viewing and own notes made.

Personal notes in pink made while viewing and as discussionThe Neo-Avant-Garde

What is the avant-garde?

o   1825 socialist Henri de Saint-Simon Literary, Philosophical and Industrial Opinions

“We, the artists, will serve as the avant-garde: for amongst all the arms at our disposal, the power of the Arts is the swiftest and most expeditious. When we wish to spread new ideas amongst men …we inscribe those ideas on marble or canvas…We aim for the heart and imagination, and hence our effect is the most vivid and the most decisive.”

Avant-Garde - 1825 - Socialist writer Henri De Saint-Simon (?) - initially military term - new ideas - use art as political was of communicating

Gustave Courbet The Stonebreakers 1849

o   end 19th century, understanding ‘avant-garde’ as critique of controlling socio-political system had given way to focus on aesthetic innovation e.g. Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, et. al.

Gustave Courbet - Stonebreakers - 1849 -  in terms of avant-garde - unrepresented subject - making a statement to the /opposing conventions of the time - socialist message of painting the underclass, the lack of direction/future/depression and discrepancy between classes.

Paul Cézanne Grounds of the Château Noir 1900-04

•  avant-garde synonymous with modern (unconventional, new, innovative)

Cezanne painting 1900-04- avant-garde used as modern - not subject matter challenging but technique 'radical' technique - challenging conventions - against the grain -

o   in charged political climate after WWI, socio-politically critical avant-garde re-emerged

•  overtly political

George Grosz Fat Cats 1920 (ink)

•  challenging conventional artistic practices meant challenging socio-economic-political system that upheld them (bourgeois capitalism)

Hugo Ball at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich 1916 (reading/performance)

Sophie Tauber Arp Dada Head.1920 (painted wood, glass beads on wire)

Meret Oppenheim Object (Fur Breakfast) 1936 (fur covered cup, saucer and spoon)

Salvador Dali Rainy Taxi 1938 (car, mannequins, lettuce, chicory, snails, water, shark skull, etc.)

between the wars - political avant-garde resurfaces - anti capitalism, left wing commentary. Both the technical radicalism  and the radicalism of subject matter meld together. particularly in Dada - (ref, Vic reeves documentary on Dadaism on BBC )- stretching the boundaries of what is accepted as art. Surrealism - avant-garde, challenge of conventional art, practice and then also challenging the controlling systems that support and perpetuate the forms -

o   on other hand, there was modern art (also given appellation avant-garde) apparently preoccupied with form and autonomous from concerns of social life

contemporary art now- installation etc is the 'norm' - no longer avant-garde, but derived from it.

Henri Matisse Harmony in Red 1908

o   Matisse 1908 “A work of art must be harmonious in its entirety … What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity, of serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.”

a painting about painting - composition, line, texture, colour etc - subject not that important to Matisse. a work of are must be harmonious, soothing, comforting, providing relaxation from fatigue, not using harsh or troubling imagery, art to escape life. Having an aesthetic response that you cannot get from life.I haven't looked at matisse like that. My art education has been biographical regarding art and artists. I feel like so much meaning is lost in arts education before Undergraduate and postgraduate reading. Have I done my past students a dis service in not educating them about the meaning o art but rather the history of the artist lives, is it really that relevant. Does it matter how the artist lived, or were they lived or their parents occupation? Does that translate in to the work visibly or is it put there after?

Modernism and the neo-avant-garde

o   after WWII, certain works/artists promoted and subsequently elevated to canonical status

Questioning whether the form of art is more important than the subject. Rodger Fry and Clive bell - critics, 'significant form' - Clement Greenberg - art for art's sake.

Jackson Pollock Lavender Mist 1950

o   influence of Greenberg’s ideas

•  value/meaning of art inherent within formal characteristics distinctive of the medium –painting, two-dimensional surface, shape, colour –undisguised use of materials

•  good art operates exclusively within unique characteristics of its medium

Mark Rothko Black and Maroon 1958

•  good art values form over content – aesthetic effect over social meaning, political message (“subject-matter or content becomes something to be avoided like the plague”)

•  art should produced rarefied experience, different from experiences of everyday life and concerns of society

post-war - Pollock - painting about painting. the formal elements, Rothko as well, interpretation calls for discussion about colour shape etc in abstraction.

Robert Rauschenberg Erased de Kooning Drawing 1953 (ink and crayon)

o   given the above, how do you view Rauschenberg’s work?

Robert Rauschenberg Canyon 1959 (oil, paper, card, metal, stuffed eagle, string, pillow, etc.)

o   neo-Dada

simultaneously - Rauschenberg - 'dadaist' stand point - radical in comment, radical in its discomfort, challenging the art of the moment (abstract expressionists) "Neo-Dada'Neo-Avant garde - applied later on retrospective.

o   Greenberg: art for art’s sake, art concerned with aesthetic expression

Anthony Caro Early One Morning 1962 (painted steel and aluminium)

•  as opposed to

Ed Kienholz State Hospital 1966 (bed, fibreglass, goldfish bowls, bed pan, electric light, etc.)

Anthony Caro - sculpture about sculpture - Edward kienholz - subject matter - considered neo-avant-garde, critical, causes discomfort, challenging the viewer. social and political.

o   art should be autonomous and medium specific

Kenneth Noland Changement de transmission (Trans Shift) 1964 (acrylic)

•  as opposed to

Daniel Spoerri Kishka’s Breakfast No.1 1960 (chair, wooden board, coffee pot, china, glass, egg cups, cigarette butts, cans, etc.)

Kenneth Noland - painting and exploiting the medium, pushing it but not changing it ie: - watering down the medium-sculptural paintings, big no-no to Greenberg

o   art should be protected from mass culture (kitsch)

Morris Louis Alpha Epsilon 1960

•  as opposed to

Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Cans 1962

Greenberg argues that art should be gallery based - high art - should be in a special place. Detached from everyday life, or 'Kitsch', commercialism, mass-communication - keeping art 'High' - Andy Warhol - Nemesis- using Kitsch and Mass media, not quite neo-avant-garde but thinks in a similar way.

Neo-avant-garde practice

o   ideas of Greenberg and followers at odds with many pre-war artists

Claes Oldenburg The Store 1961 (paint, plaster, cardboard, muslin, display stands, other materials)

o   1961 Claes Oldenburg rented shop East Second Street, Manhattan, amongst others selling cheap and second-hand items

•  crudely modelled/painted cardboard, plaster and plaster-soaked muslin replicas of clothes, food, small objects from, displayed and sold

•      not gallery specific, disputes skill, not aesthetic, transient – like happenings

Claes Oldenburg and Patty Muschinski Snapshots of the City 1960 (performance)

•  no script, narrative, characterization; performed in non-theatrical settings to small audience

Oldenburg 1962:  “Theatre is the most powerful art form there is because it is the most involving…I no longer see the distinction between theatre and visual arts very clearly”

Robert Whitman American Moon 1960 (performance)

o   New York happenings influenced George Maciunas, who conceived Fluxus in early 1960s (organized concerts, Fluxfests internationally)

Neo-avant-garde practice - Claes Oldenburg - art leaves the gallery - challenging the ideas of what art 'should be', taking it out of gallery, making it accessible to wider audience, and challenges the technical skill of classical artists. Happenings - now known as performance pieces - non-scripted, activities/actions - no characterisation etc. bringing theatre and visual art together.

Nam June Paik Zen for Head 1962 (performance)

Shigeko Kubota Vagina Painting 1965 (performance)

Fluxus - activities, music, concerts etc: Nam June Paik, performing a painting - music provided from another artist, so creation of art becomes the work... both the action and the product is art: are they the same piece or different pieces? Shigeko Kubota - vagina painting - underclothes?

o   central to Neo-avant-garde practice – idea of art as what the artist does

•  pastiche of  conventional art (by association, of supportive socio-political structures)

Vito Acconci Trademarks 1970 (performance)

Bruce McLean Pose for Plinths 3 1971 (photograph)

Bruce Nauman Self Portrait as a Fountain 1966-67 (photograph)

•  by 1970s this strategy used by artists responding to gender politics

parody of art - Bruce McLean - comedy of art, mocking the art world, Bruce Nauman - fountain - ref to Duchamp fountain - photograph - what is it achieving? the artist is the work of art.

Ana Mendieta Untitled (Rape Scene) 1973 (photograph, originally a performance)

Carolee Schneemann Interior Scroll 1975 (performance)

Martha Rosler Semiotics of the Kitchen 1976 (video performance)

Feminist art works, Ana Mendieta - performance of rape scene - photograph, 1973 - Carolee Schneemann - interior scroll - radical because of spectacle, what is the message? body as object, statement of women in art, perpetuating the form of women in art, nudes. Use of films, performance, domestication, aggression, stereotypes of women's place, parody of expectations - expectations of art, do we now expect art to make a statements, to shock us - The Shock of the New - book

o   destruction as creative process

Saburo Murakami Passing Through 1956 (performance)

•  Gutai (concrete) group – ‘beauty’ of destruction

Gustav Metzger Demonstration of Auto-destructive Art London 1961 (fabric, metal frame, acid)

o   “Auto-destructive art is an attack on capitalist values and the drive to nuclear annihilation” (Metzger Auto-Destructive Manifesto 1960)

Hermann Nitsch 4. Aktion 1963 (performance)

•  Viennese actionists took part in 1966 Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS), London organized by Metzger

Destruction as technique/work  - creativity in destruction. Vienna Activists - is it politically or socially critical? shock and awe, provocative, but not necessarily linked to a direct challenge to control or politics. Is non-conformist to expectations of art world, and the systems that support the art world, sponsors, gallery's, state supporters etc.

Yoko Ono Cut Piece first performed 1964, repeated at DIAS 1966 (performance)

John Latham Skoob Tower ceremony: National Encyclopaedias 1966 (performance/action)

o   National Encyclopaedias, Laws of England, etc. burnt outside Law Courts, British Museum, University of London Senate House.

Problem with Neo-avant-garde, means that once its been done it become accepted - more contentious, more shocking etc- forever pushing the boundaries, where does it stop - artist that cut himself and bled down the catwalk - Yoko Ono having clothing cut off - Marina Abramovic (?), John Latham Skoob Tower ceremony, symbolistic burning of law books etc, what is acceptable by art world and general public.

Contexts of the neo-avant-garde

George Maciunas Fluxus Manifesto 1963 (collage of photostat text and hand-written text)

o   associating old and new cultural modes with the political

o   burgeoning discontent (with establishment control) reached head 1968

•  manifest in hostility to USA

Grosvenor Square protest, London, 17 March 1968 (photograph)

Social and political contexts - Fluxus Manifesto - George Maciunas - his understanding of fluxus - purge bourgeoisie sickness, political language, left wing, marxist, communist manifesto - although directly related to art - using art as political 'propaganda' (?) or statement/support for views - a way of releasing views and ways of thinking.1968 - assignation of Martin Luther King, anti american protests, - 60yrs ago

o   escalation of Vietnam War and growing opposition to it

Martha Rosler Balloons from the series Bringing the War Back Home 1969–72 (collage)

•  anti-Americanism

Cildo Meireles Insertions into Ideological Circuits: Coca Cola Project 1970 (bottles)

Paris riots, May 1968 (photograph)

o   Alain Jouffroy What’s To Be Done About Art? (1968)

“It is essential that the minority advocate the necessity of going on an ‘active art strike’ using the machines of the culture industry to set it in total contradiction to itself. The intention is not to end the rule of production, but to change the most adventurous part of ‘artistic’ production into the production of revolutionary ideas, forms and techniques.”

o   counter-culture – youth, leftist politics, anti-capitalism, nuclear disarmament movements, equality movements: women’s movement, civil rights

Martha Rosler - photomontage/collage - middle class bourgeois and Vietnam atrocities -paris 'unrest' revolution- V for vendetta film, just watched this weekend - seems significant - timeline is current for film. Neo-avant-garde were the forerunners of these interactions.

Joseph Beuys The Revolution is Us 1972 (screen print)

Can anyone be an artist? - Joseph Beuys -

Neo-avant-garde interpretations and meaning

o   1974 Peter Bürger Theory of the Avant-Garde considered ‘neo-avant-garde’ ineffectual as means of critical opposition to the controlling political and cultural élite because it repeated failed strategies used by interwar avant-garde (e.g. Dada/Surrealism)

Yves Klein Untitled Anthropometry (ANT, 123) 1961

•  moreover, some ‘neo-avant-garde’ work purchased by museums/collectors, so it was institutionalized by the élite with which it sought to take issue

Yves Klein Anthropometries of the Blue Epoch 1960 (performance)

Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint-Phalle, unidentified man Shooting 1961(action, using firearms, pigment in sacks, plaster, assemblage of objects on board)

Niki Saint-Phalle Shooting 1961 (plaster, objects, paint)

Piero Manzoni Artist’s Shit 1961 (tin can, label, excrement)

John Latham Still and Chew 1966-69 (leather case, book, letters, photostats, labelled vials filled with powders and liquids)

o   therefore, do you think neo-avant-garde most effective using strategies that cannot be easily assimilated into mainstream?

interesting to discuss whether it was 'successful' or 'failed' as it is thought. We can only reflect as we are looking back and did not experience it of the moment. The aspect of the neo-avant-garde being embedded in the cultural/social commentary they are attempting to challenge and become part of the establishment. It is the reflection that gives value and weight to the work, the writing and commentary, the attention it garners that makes the work important and gives it statement value. so can any work of art now actually be critical as it is embedded in the establishment. Even street artist now are commercial and create murals for commissions - is Banksy one of the few that do it for the political voice - do we know that for sure as the path to the works is secretive. 

Hans Haacke MoMA Poll 1970 (participatory installation)

o   New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, member of MoMA trustees, planning to run for President

•  Question: Would the fact that Governor Rockefeller has not denounced President Nixon’s Indochina policy be a reason for you not to vote for him in November?

Answer: If ‘yes’ please cast your ballot into the left box; if ‘no’ into the right box

Stuart Brisley You Know it Makes Sense 1972 (performance)

o   1972 PM Heath, claimed to have banned notorious torture methods

•  performance over several days, with no re-enactment of alleged torture techniques

•      performance created atmosphere suggesting use of violent torture

Chris Burden Trans-fixed 1974 (performance)

o   nails hammered into hands; car pushed out of garage; engine revved for 2 minutes; pushed into garage

There are artists that are genuine - Hans Haacke - MoMA poll 1970 at museum of modern art - makes a statement to the board of trustees that Rockefeller was on and the bombing a supporting nixon - trustee - so risky and attacking the establishment that its in. Stuart Brisley - performance of 1972 - suggestion of torture - indirect - looks like a Bacon painting.

Hannah Wilke Through the Large Glass 1976 (performance)

o   Brooklyn Museum caption

“Dressed in a fedora and a man’s white satin suit, she strikes a series of poses evoking the style of 1970s fashion photography and then strips, cleverly suggesting bride and bachelor simultaneously. In her self-conscious affectation of a fashion model, Wilke wilfully uses her own image and her sexuality to confront the erotic representation of women in art history and popular culture”

o   if neo-avant-garde is a ‘true’ avant-garde, how far do such works contest ruling socio-economic-political system that upholds and perpetuates conventional art?

•  Bürger believed neo-avant-garde was ineffectual as a critical opposition because it merely replicated failed strategies of Dada and Surrealism

•      what if new strategies are adopted?

Margaret Harrison, Kay Hunt, Mary Kelly Women and Work: A Document on the Division of Labour in Industry 1973-75 1973-75 (photographs, charts, tables, photocopied documents, film loops, audiotapes)

o   sociological study of women’s work in Bermondsey metal box factory

•  photographs, typewritten texts, photocopied punch cards, pay rates accounting for 150 women in relation to recently passed Equal Pay Act

Margaret Harrison, Kay Hunt, Mary Kelly Women and Work: A Document on the Division of Labour in Industry 1973-75 1973-75 (photographs, charts, tables, photocopied documents, film loops, audiotapes)

o   recorded gap in wages between men and women

•  raised issue of domestic labour, as many women worked when they got home

o   presented as documentary/sociological research

•  no obvious aesthetic intention

Victor Burgin Possession 1976 (poster)

•  posters on streets of Newcastle using advertising to critique system it endorses

Jo Spence Hackney Flashers 1978 (photographs and text)

o   “to document women in Hackney, at work inside and outside the home, with the intention of making visible the invisible, thereby validating women’s experience and demonstrating women’s unrecognised contribution to the economy”

Hannah Wilke - Graham 'whitman - is dismissive of feminist art work? - preferring sociological study style - rather than 'obvious' depictions of women - but in feminist artwork is could be argued that a lot of it is obvious - depicting domesticity etc - is that because women are less accepted in the art world (or were) and there fore have a harder time being taken seriously as meaningful artists so work has to be contrite and blatant to be seen in institutions. Large majority of artists in this lecture are male - because of dominance or because of exclusion form the art world.

is this the future?

o   Artist Placement Group (APG) founded by Barbara Steveni and Latham 1966 (also 1966 similar US manifestations: Experiments in Art and Technology, NY; Art & Technology Program, LA)APG in Germany 1970 at left: John Latham, Ian Breakwell; centre: Barbara Steveni

•  art in social context

•      artists placed in companies/organization (first 1969)

•      paid as worker, but retained artistic autonomy

Stuart Brisley Hille Piece 1970 (chairs)

o   various artists produced films, photographs, texts, installations

•  criticism of APG supporting private enterprise

•  after Arts Council withdrew funding 1972 (because “the APG is more concerned with Social Engineering than with pure art”) placements in public sector

Stills from Ian Breakwell The Institution 1978 (film)

o   Department of Health and Social Security placement at Broadmoor and Rampton hospitals

•  resulted in film and report, co-written with architects, recommending significant changes at Rampton

o   neo-avant-garde proposed that art has radical effect outside itself

•  i.e. that it can impact on and influence social, political, economic life but how far might this be true?

Artist placement group- using artists to give a different view point - the power of a creative mind, the act of creative seeing things from a different point of view and having different solutions to problems that may or may not have been identified. become more embedded and they inform accepted ways of working now. Its no longer spectacle or surprising - is it harder to make a statement now? is it expected to make a statement now? is work valued different with relevance to whether it is is making a statement about art or a political sociological statement? Are there trends regarding the statements people want to read ie: middle eastern art and refugees crisis, or african commentary on slavery and colonialism? North atlantic commentary of climate change? South american commentary on border controls ?