Matthew Schmiemann: The Reconstruction of Nature
Constructions of nature through the representation of time can be found in photography and sculpture. The artists place before us different metaphors of our place in the world, varying in terms of own passive active engagement. The relationship between time and nature focuses on the adaptation of nature when placed in different environments such as a public space or gallery.
Being able to recreate elements of nature in artwork and to express that in a gallery is important for people to understand its function and reasoning behind its creation. The use of nature becomes altered when it is then placed in a gallery space. Immanuel Kant’s believes that, “seeing art as natural and nature as artistic has been developed consistently in current thinking about aesthetics.”[1] What Kant is saying is that its more than just looking at nature as art but understanding the beauty, sublime and comic aspects of its meanings. The viewer is forced to grasp the meaning and critical judgment of the artwork.
The gallery I am creating with these artist is mainly focusing on the art itself as well as its interpretation of nature and its function. The aesthetics of the work is important as it relates to human perception of nature in the exhibition. “Aesthetics could perhaps refer to nature’s aesthetic attraction for other living beings; but even then it would refer to its beauty for someone who has certain possibilities for a sense-guided perception that is an end in itself.”[2]
The idea of reconstructing nature is an important theme when relating to these artists. They all focus in nature as well as incorporate different aspects in which they create it. The four different artists that will be shown in my exhibitions are Woody Packard, Mike Fajita, Ronald Lambert, and Christian Singer. Their works range from sculpture, photography, and instillations.
Woody Packard is a MFA Graduate from 2008 who focused on digital photography as a EIA student. He documented different places around this area of New York. He focuses on landscapes and the erosion of nature through time. He also documented different places and throughout the year which represent time and change in nature. His series “Wide Oak” focuses on a series of images of an Oak tree that he photographed during the year between the months of September to August of 2008.
Woody was able to take nature and its yearly pattern and expose it to the public in his gallery space. Mara Scrupe wrote “The Intangible Trail” about nature and how its environment turned into public parks as well as tourists attractions. This is similar to my theme of nature and different environments such a gallery spaces. By taking Nature and exposing it into a gallery space it changes the perception of what your are looking at. Mara says, “However, the idea of nature as both a symbolic monument and a consumer product won the day, spurring the attendant development of elaborate tourists accommodations, such as hotels, restaurants and roads on park lands, but also fueling the growing national discussion concerning future purposes of untamed lands.[3] What she is say is that by expanding on these ideals of nature and using it as a source of production and growth She is taking nature and giving it structure and function as well as changing the perception of it. This is the same as my gallery in that the context of nature is changing and it is being viewed differently.
While documenting this tree Woody found himself becoming very attached to the area as well as watching it grow and take form throughout the year. Woody also thought that “the natural clock and time shows little change of what can happen over 1 year.” He means that a one year period seems like a dramatic change for this tree but in reality it is not that big of a change because it is occurring every year.
I interviewed Woody and asked him specific questions about his “Wide Oak” series and about his thesis. The first question I asked was, why did you choose this place to photograph? He then replied with, “I have visited that place for over 20 years, that area as well as the tree is a magical place for me.”[4] When I observe that space I start to learn everything about it.” All of the images had different types of lighting as well as different atmospheres so I asked what time of day was the tree photographed? Woody responded with saying, “All the images were taken during the morning because it was important to not of sunlight coming from behind the tree.”[5]He did this because he didn’t want to have the images have different light source. The then asked if there was any reason why he documented a tree over time other than buildings, cities, or homes? He said , “I choose landscapes instead of buildings or cities because all buildings would do is be built then break down and show signs of decay. There is only so much you can focuses on when photographing a city and nature has more movement as well as interest.”[6] I thought that was an important answer because Woody focuses on using nature because it has more to offer than a building which has more decay and destruction construction or destroying it. Nature has more of a beautiful quality and repetitiveness that happens seasonally.
Woody’s analysis is important in how he is able to both document nature and view it as an artist. His interpretation and documentation of nature shows the different changes and presentation of nature during the year. As the environment changes so does the function of nature and how people interact with that place in space.
Ron Lambert is a sculptor who graduated from Alfred with his MFA in 2004. Ron is able to express his idea of “sublime” by allowing the viewer to see the structure, feel a relationship with the elements, as well as the beauty and creation of his representation of nature and its function. His sculpture “the sublime” depicts his interpretation of rain clouds and he reproduces this by using humidifiers to create rain drops that then fall to the ground in the middle of the gallery space. Ron says that, “at times environments remind us of our lives, such as the point at the beginning of a rainstorm when you’re not sure if you feel the water yet or not, in extreme weather when our lives are threatened and also when we encounter something so breathtaking that for a brief moment our lives are taken off course.”[7] I agree that people take things for granted in a sense that just because it has happened before does not mean you can’t enjoy something like it was for the first time.
When talking about art and nature Ron realized that there is not much different in how they are presented and how they can function in specific environments. Nature has to adapt in certain situations just how people have to change how they function in that environment. Art is the same in that people function and have different reactions to artwork in gallery space. Does it become to overwhelming as if there was a blizzard outside in nature or does the work seem very calm and peaceful like a summer evening. Ron’s point is the capability of recreating nature but also using it for people to view it differently as an artistic form. “Art can mimic life physically; it can also mimic the experiences of life, adding interjections to remind us of the place at which we live and how one perceives beauty and the sublime.”[8] What Ron is saying is that art can be represented physically but also create life experiences such as walking in the rain or being outside during snow storm.
His exhibition “Sublimate” was created using several different materials such as vinyl, steel, humidifiers, acrylic, and aluminum. His sculpture was created to replicate actual rainfall and have the viewer feel as if changing its environment makes them view it differently in a gallery space. The cloud itself was created by using steel rods rounded to form this shape as well as plastic covering to give it the element of an actual rain cloud. The size of the cloud was very large roughly fifteen to twenty feet in length and between four and five feet in width. The large rounded cloud was hung from the ceiling with four small trays placed below the cloud on the floor. The trays themselves were used to recreate how rainfall functions in puddles. By having shadows of the trays on the base of the floor the raindrops would create a visible ripple on the floor. Ron’s intent was the have viewer, “be attracted to the form and display and after the information provided in the materials sets in, I want the viewer to be somewhat repulsed by the futility of the gesture of mimicking the experiences of the natural world.”[9]
Ron was capable of recreating a natural element in nature and by exposing this in a gallery space it gave the viewer a different perception of nature and how it works in a different environment. His reasoning for reproducing nature in art was to create a different gallery exhibition for the viewer to not just understand what was going on but also their reaction to the sublimate sculpture.
What is interesting is how both Ron’s sculpture and Woody’s photographs are so closely related to nature and natural elements. They are very similar because of how relative they are to nature and its function. Woody uses his documentation of a place in nature that changes over time. Ron’s sculpture is created to recreate natural rainfall as for Woody’sphotographs, he is documenting something that is both alive and dead at different stages of the year. With the relationship of his work to the natural world Ron’s “Sublimate” is similar to Woody’s “Wide Oak” because they both become relative in nature and change over time such as the seasons change and the weather changes. Any by having this exposed in the Gallery space both natural elements get viewed differently then if they were in nature.
The way in which Woody’s work is different that Ron is the preparation and documentation of the works presented in the gallery. Woody is actually documenting a period of time in which nature changes its environment because of a seasonal weather patter. As for Ron he is actually recreating an element in nature such as rainfall and displaying it in the gallery space as his creation. Woody wants the viewer to be exposed to the changes over time of places and space and Ron wants your to admire his recreation of a rain cloud and become repulsed that something in nature and so easily be recreated as a part of someone’s artwork.
Michael Fujita is a ceramic artist who graduated with an MFA in 2008. Fujita’s interpretation of his work “Preserve” relates to nature and, “The act of nurturing and keeping something from deteriorating or dying off.”[10] In this case he is keeping the element of nature and preserving it from becoming destroyed and in doing this he created a representation on nature that will always be the same. By doing this he is recreating how nature is viewed and incorporated an aspect of ceramics in his work.
His creation of these ceramic pieces was created in several different steps. The base of his sculpture was created by forming different porcelain pieces together. This created adysfunctional element to his “Garden” sculpture. The other part of the sculpture is the small flowers that are placed at the top of the porcelain figure. These flowers were taken from outside the night before then were processed to stay preserved for a long period of time. The flowers were glazed several times as well as being preserved they were also very fragile. “The irony is, I killed them to save them, and manipulate them so they would live forever.”[11] What makes this interesting is how he took something in nature and physically preserved it so over time nothing changes about the flowers. By documenting nature in time Woody was able to exploit nature and how it changes over time as for Fujita he uses nature in his artwork as being pristine and forced to never change in its environment.
The arrangement of brick like objects and colors overlapping each other is very powerful. This is because of the collaboration that is created between a destructive city and elegant flowers. This creation is described as how over time things needs to evolve in their environment to be able to survive. As for the flowers themselves it shows that things in nature are capable of staying the same for many years if not thousands.
I understand Fujita’s process and reasoning for creating this aspect of preserving something in time such as nature. Its important in his presentation of the work as being both destructive and beautiful at the same time. The flowers themselves are taken out of their environment and placed into another. The structure that he flowers are placed on is very chaotic and not functional in nature. On the other hand the flowers over time would gradually die and then be reborn. Instead Fujita took that aspect of living away from the flowers and they are now displayed as if they were living year round.
Chstitian Bernand Singer is a sculptor who graduate with an MFA in 2003. What Christian does in his artwork that is relative to nature is his construction of moss that is then used as an instillation. For several weeks he is able to grow moss just like people grow grass on their lawn. But for he does this to represent life, death, and life experiences. The reasons for this is the relationship that people have with nature. People grow and evolve over several years then die. Obviously it’s a much longer process than the life of moss but the idea of moss growing is how it can overwhelm a space in nature similar to how people can overwhelm a space I the world.By doing this Christian is, “bringing the work in to the gallery, displacing and reconstrutualize nature in order to say something else remained the primary impetus in making the work.”[12] Christian is able to use the mattress springs as a supporter of the moss and it grows in the space.
The exhibition work is called “initiation” what is created is several metal mattress springs that have moss growing on top of them which is suspended in the war at different heights on the wall. By placing these mattresses inside a gallery space with moss growing on the m changes the perception of nature. By taking something like moss or any other aspect of nature and placing it into a gallery you are changing the way people are supposed to look at nature and now they have to view it as artwork. By manipulating these images the instillation was able to change time and place and create its own individual context. In doing this Christian is able to replicate the growth of moss in nature in an gallery space.
The growth of moss on the mattress springs is similar to Ron Lambert’s “Sublimate” because he was able to recreate natural rainfall just as Christian is using moss to recreate its growth in nature. Both pieces were displayed by being hung from the ceiling in the gallery space. They were able to make something in nature and have the context of their work viewed differently in an exhibition.
Some similarities between Christians “Initiation” and Fajitas “Garden Block” is how they both use elements from nature and place them in a gallery space. Both the moss and flowers can be viewed the same why they are perceived in nature. Also the presentation of these elements in nature are portrayed by non living things such as a mattress spring and the porcelain platform. They have the same meaning because of how the artists wanted them to be viewed the same as in nature.
Some differences that the works have between Singer and Fugita is how they function. Fugita’s sculpture is a deconstruction of a city or small town with flowers growing on top of it. As for Singer’s Initiation it shows elements of nature being able to adapt to an environment. This is because the moss that is placed on the mattress springs is still able to grown and eventually it will die but for the time being it is changing the way it function in nature. As for the flowers that Fujita has displayed he is preserving them from their original color and size and keeping them from gradually dying and withering away.
Woody’s photographs document a place in time and how it changes over a one year span. This is different from Christians Initiation because you are able to view his artwork and it evolves and grows in the gallery space. By placing photographs horizontally across one side of the wall Woody is showing how nature changes in one seasonal year. As for Christian he shows the relationship between living and artificial structures and how they function in a gallery space.
Overall the four artists work relates the theme of my exhibition. They also function well together in the gallery space.
Exhibition
My exhibition “Reconstruction of Nature” is shown in the Fostic Nelson Gallery at Alfred University in New York. The gallery has a smaller room at the entrance connected to a large square room. The four artists that are Exhibiting in this gallery are Michael Fujita, Ronald Lambert, Christian Singer, and Woody Packard.
Before Entering the Gallery on a large black table are refreshments such as cheese, crackers, vegetables, pizza, wine, beer, soda, tea, and coffee. Upon entering the gallery there is a small table to your left with artists show cards as well as contact information. The gallery spaced in painted white and to the left of the the artwork is their names painted in black on the walls. After entering the smaller room walk straight ahead and to the wall on your left is Woody Packards “Wide Oak” series which has seven digitally printed images which are framed with small pieces of wood at both the top and bottom of the photograph. The photographs are placed at eyes level with the first images of the oak tree in may and the last photograph being in march. Directly across from Woody’s photographs in the center of the room is Ron Lamberts “Sublimate” the cloud that he created is suspended fifteen to twenty feet off the ground. Below the cloud is four small trays that have small amounts of water in each of them. Suspended from wire behind Ron’s work is the first of six bedspring mattresses with moss growing on them. The one directly behind Ron’s work is the only one suspended and the others are placed on the wall in an upward direction. These two pieces complement each other in that the cloud is relative to nature and the moss itself is a natural element of nature. And the final piece in the gallery space is to the right of Ron’s “sublimate” which is Michael Fujita’s “Garden Block.” It is placed on a four foot pedestal that is painted white.
Bibliography
Bohme, Gernot. Fur eine okologische Naturasthetik. Frankfurt am Main,1989 Translation
by Cheryl Foster.
Fujita, Michael Y. Preserve. Thesis. Alfred University, 2008. Print.
Gandy, Matthew. "Conceptions of Nature in the Arts." AAG 87.4 (1997): 636-58. Www.jstor.org.
Taylor & Francis, Dec. 1997. Web. 2 Oct. 2009.
Kant, Immanuel. The critique of judgment. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. New York, 1892.
Lambert, Ronald T. Sublime in the American Suburbs. Thesis. Alfred University, 2004. Print.
Scrupe, Mara A. "Public Art Review." The Intangible Trail (2000): 05-06. Print.
Singer, Christian B. MFA Thesis. Thesis. Alfred University, 2003. Print
[1] Kant, Immanuel. The critique of judgment. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. New York, 1892.
[2] Bohme, Gernot. Fur eine okologische Naturasthetik. Frankfurt am Main,1989 Translation by Cheryl Foster.
[3] Scrupe, Mara A. "Public Art Review." The Intangible Trail (2000): 05-06. Print.
[4] “Woody Packard, interview with artist, November 20, 2009.”
[5] “ebid”
[6] “ebid”
[7] Lambert, Ronald T. Sublime in the American Suburbs. Thesis. Alfred University, 2004. Print.
[8] “ebid”
[9] “ebid”
[10] Fujita, Michael Y. Preserve. Thesis. Alfred University, 2008. Print.
[11] “ebid”
[12] Singer, Christian B. MFA Thesis. Thesis. Alfred University, 2003. Print.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Matt Schmiemann Images
Christian Bernard Singer "Initiation" 2003
Michael Fujita "Garden Blocks" 2008
Woody Packard "Wide Oak" 2009
Images Cont.
Figure 6- 'Untitled' Stephen Michael LorsonFigure 7- 'The Rooster' Duncan Chase
Figure 8- 'Arching Woman' Eric Fischl 2005
Figure 9-'Arching Woman' Eric Fischl 2005
Figure 10-'Arching Woman' Eric Fischl 2005
Images
Figure 1- The Willendorf WomanFigure 2- Kleobis and Biton
Figure 3- 'Boy' Ron Mueck 1999
Figure 4- 'Untitled' Pamela Thomas
Figure 5-Woman Bitten by a Serpent
Still Lives: Emotions and Human Behaviors Translated Through Ceramics
Julia LaMonica
The still life can represent many things, but what about when they represent life? Through symbolism, allegory and juxtaposition, this genre can cause the viewer to experience specific emotions, feelings and relate with human behaviors. This is to say that not all art does this directly. This exhibition will focus on still lives that evoke emotional responses toward the issues that make us human. The quality of being human can be conveyed in numerous ways: through form, color, materials and symbols. One could base the thought of humanness on culture, skin colour, emotions or behavior. Several Alfred ceramic sculpture graduates explore these issues of human behavior and identity. These artists specify in different areas; emotions and feelings, identity vs. culture and gender and the pure trait of being human and what that means. The form that they all have in common is the still life. This idea of still life is fascinating because it embodies notions of our humanity but in abstract form. In this study I inquire into the ways in which artists illustrate a moment is frozen in time but also preserve that moment as a doorway or portal to access. The method of stilling human life is where the entry point lies.
Claire Hedden is an Alfred MFA, ceramic artist that uses colours, materials, positions and implied movement to convey a specific emotional response to a particular issue. She creates situations or creature-like forms to covey her thoughts. Her work is her representation of emotions and behaviors, frozen, showing the viewer the climactic point in which the emotion arises in a situation. Although her work is a product of issues she is going through or thinking about, it is not the goal of her work to convey that exact idea that made her create the work, but rather, to convey the raw emotion that is underlying the idea and the piece.
The piece Fatty by Claire Hedden is a piece that is a good example of her use of position, colour and other materials to illustrate a specific feeling. This piece is about three feet high, leaning against a wall of the gallery. It is a ceramic sculpture that looks as if it is in five different pieces stacked on top of each other. These pieces combined hint at a fat figure, while the individual pieces illustrate what could be fat rolls on an obese person. The figure itself is not entirely human like. The “head” of the piece resembles the bump a cartoon character would get when getting hit on the head. The colour of the tip of the head speaks further about a bruised nub, because it is a purple reddish colour like a bruise. The colour fades leading into the white of the rest of the head and body suggesting at a throbbing effect. This sculpture has no arms or legs making the “Fatty” seem helpless. It is sitting on a board that protrudes out from underneath the sculpture about four feet. There is something rolled up and red underneath the board acting as a fulcrum for the board. This fat being is too heavy for this board to be balanced, so it remains helpless and injured against the wall. Its fat rolls seem like a hindrance to it getting up, if it wanted to. The colour on the head of the piece gives the understanding that this thing has been injured and perhaps a bit confused due to the injury on its implied head. Due to the positioning of the figure, I feel like the figure is conveying the feeling of being too depressed to move. The mass of the figure without arms and legs and the slope of the board seems like it is struggling with itself, waiting for something to put it back on its feet.
Alec Schramek is also an Alfred MFA that focuses in ceramics. For Alec’s MFA show, he created realistic male figures. His work focuses on the idea of romanticizing the human experience. His work depicted what we would think of as simple human behaviors. Part of the drive for this depiction seems to be an interest in the human behavior, but also an interest in how cultures interpret different behaviors. How can one find their identity in a world based on subjectivity?
The series of ceramic figures by Alec Schramek seem to be indicative of human behavior. There are six male figures in a line, and if read left to right, looks as if they are steps of a person getting ready. The first figure is nude, leaning against the gallery wall holding a cup in their right hand. The second is also nude shaving their face and is peering into space as if looking into a mirror. The third figure is sitting on a bed, unclothed and holding a shoe up to his foot as if to put it on. The fourth figure is on a bed also, gripping the edge, gazing at the floor as if thinking, or feeling upset. This figure is the first to be wearing clothing; boxers. This is also where you begin to see a mirroring effect happening with the figures. Three and four are almost back to back facing the figures. The fifth is wearing pants, but no shoes and no shirt. His hand is up to his face, also mirroring figure number two that was shaving his face. The last figure is fully dressed with a cup in his hand, mirroring the first figure holding the cup. Taking a better look at these figures, I realized that the first three have a different face than the last three. This could be telling of these figures being individual, but the mirroring effect shows that they are not, because they take part in this routine of getting ready. They are the same in this aspect. It could be saying that, although individual people can be seen as different, many take part in the same behaviors. It generalized the human experience so we can all relate. A couple of the figures look sad and some look more contented. This just reinforces the idea of these pieces asking questions about themselves and allowing for a mass of people to be able to relate. The behaviors in these pieces make me empathetic towards them as if they were real people and make me feel appreciative of everyday human activity.
Another Alfred graduate; Cristina Cordova, works with ceramics using specific colours as Claire does, but with more recognizable figures. Rather than abstracted forms, Cristina does statues and statuettes of the human form, behaving in specific ways. Her objective is to illustrate cultural issues and issues related with gender or individual identity by using colours and symbols, to convey the issue and in turn, the emotions that come along with a particular situation.
The pieces by Cristina Cordova entitled “ 7 Black Figures in Movement Sequence” are a series of seven black female ceramic figures lined up on a wall in the corner of a gallery. There are four on the left side of the wall and three on the other wall. Each figure is on a small platform that is also ceramic. There is a layering of pieces, first a disk attatched to the wall holding the figure up, then a green striped disk that is thicker than the first, finally, a cloud or sack like “pillow” that the figure is posed on. The first figure is laying outstretched, a bit uncomfortable looking, as if she is in the middle of a movement. The second figure is a continuation of the first figures movement, but is still outstretched, but positioned slightly more upright. The third figure is crouched in a sitting position, no longer outstretched, but her feet have moved under her body. The fourth is starting to stand with more of a determined look on her face. Number five is still crouched, legs bent, but moving into a standing position. Her legs are still bent at the knees and her back is still slightly arched. The sixth figure is standing holding some of the pillowy cloud she was sitting on in her hands. She is looking out at the viewer. The seventh figure is has the cloud like substance now around her waist and she is standing with her hand out, palm down, in an almost dignified way. I have a hard time deciphering this piece’s symbolic meaning, but if I look at it with a purely emotional response, I get the feeling of transcendence. The sequence of movement towards a standing position on a cloud like form causes me to feel transcendence or growth. However, I feel that the race of these figures must be important also. This could be speaking of the African status in our culture or others, or the colour of the figures’ skin could have a different symbolic meaning entirely.
While these artists are working with basically the same material in several different ways, there are similarities deeper than the material that really solidify the theme. All three artist work with figure; Alec is the basis by creating his pretty literal male figures. The texture of the figures are stylized, but they still are quite realistic. Cristina also represents the human. In many of her pieces, the texture of the surface is similar to that of Alec’s work. Although many of the situations and atmospheres the figures appear in are some what fantastical, many of her figures are realistic in proportions and body shape. Claire works with figure in a different way than the other two artists. Claire’s figures are not necessarily human, but they take on a creature like status in the piece, so you recognize them as being something that has feeling.
Claire works with colours to help convey her point in her work, whether the colours are used to symbolize emotions or create atmospheres. Cristina also works with colours in this way. I feel that Cristina’s pieces are not as straight forward. Claire, although she does abstract sculpture work, she uses symbols that are easy to understand, working more with implied movement and the figure teamed with colour and other materials to convey something that is pretty basic; an emotion. Cristina’s work uses many symbols with colour and situations, but her objective is a bit more complex in content, so to try and talk about the issues of a certain culture through symbols that are a bit ambiguous, could possibly be misinterpreted. Alec does not use colour in his figures, they are monotone beige. This is not preventing conveying his idea; his work does not really need colour. His work is showing basic human behaviors. There is no need for symbols because he is showing them realistically and less abstractly.
These artists also relate because they are all trying to make the viewer understand their message through a narrative of symbols or sequence. More importantly, these pieces seem to relate more to the viewer through empathy than a literal, concrete message. With Claire it is important to her that she allows the viewer to understand some important facets of her work so that they can feel what she felt or wanted them to feel, readily in her work. Alec has an underlying objective, but it is the feeling of the figures you feel and the comparison created there that hint at what he was thinking. In Cristina’s work, she uses these figures to convey her theme, but in the end, what I am left with is an emotion or feeling based on colours and expressions that I pull out of the work that hints at the underlying issues when looking at her pieces.
An artist I feel relates to the theme these artists are striking is Paul Cadmus. His pieces “The Seven Deadly Sins” relate to the theme of conveying human nature, however, he does an extreme, grotesque portrayal of the seven deadly sins in which humans commit. He does this with images of each sin in an extreme way to illustrate the horrific nature of each sin. I feel this relates to the commonality of allegory and the illustration of human tendencies.
Claire’s work is really the basis for all the other work to relate. In many cases, especially seen in Fatty, Claire’s main goal is to illustrate a particular feeling or emotion. Her work is made for people to understand the raw emotion, not necessarily the real situation that cause her to make this work. That is not the point as with art in many cases. It is not uncommon for artist’s main goal to be to alleviate themselves of feelings and tell the viewer about their particular situation. Claire’s work stands apart for this. When I interviewed her, she said she wishes for people to be able to empathize with each other and she wants to help inspire this in people. She feels that if someone can find these feelings through her work and discover compassion inside themselves they can grow to find compassion for each other. In her thesis, Claire states :
“I ask these questions of identity, aspiration, limitation and truth in my work to convey the struggles that shape our lives. Looking within enables the capacity to look outward with comprehension and empathy, inspiring a will to change.”[1]
She said in her piece, Fatty, her thoughts underlying the outcome were that of being “uninspired, stuck, trapped, helpless, defeated and waiting for something to propel me out of it, like in the cartoons when a character jumps on one end of a board and makes the other character go flying through the air.”[2] I feel her piece was very articulate in the point; however, I’m sure that there are some other interpretations of her art. Perhaps some one could see her work on a purely sculptural and aesthetic level, or maybe even humorous. It is plausible that “Fatty” could read as a cloud in some sort of other scenario. Her work consisting of mainly these “characters” could bring someone to a completely different story based on their own creative mind.
Alec’s figures were made following his main question “Can we value our individuality as truth when it is based on a romantic notion of human experience?” He is interested in the complex issue of the idealized human experience. A big issue he brought up was questioning cultural meanings behind different behaviors and practices that we would think of as normal everyday things. The stances of the figures, the general positions, were supposed to be mirrored. In the interview he spoke of his interest in the differences between cultures and what and an “identity” in one culture could be a completely different identity in another culture. He said that the line drawn where his pieces were “mirrored”, if looked at as one entity, hints at his main question.[3] I feel that if these pieces are read as a separate entity, they also get to the point. His use of figures as a narration on cultural issues relates to the work of Kara Walker. Kara uses silhouetted figures to illustrate the aspects of human behavior that lean more towards the dark and morbid side. She creates these figures with expressions and actions that are all to clear of their meaning. Her work is very much about the roles different people play in different areas of the culture. She draws this theme from her role as an African American woman. Alec’s work is more on an aesthetically realistic side, however, his work also talks about human behavior and uses distinct body language that is easily readable. In comparison, he draws his themes from his role as an American male. What that really means is his main question.
I feel as if the work of Cristina is more allusive than that of the work Claire and Alec. In Cristina’s MFA thesis paper, she talks a great deal about her interests in gender identity and the way that culture plays a role in the way one identifies themselves. Also, she has a great interest in cultural issues and prejudices. All the pieces I have looked at of hers are extremely intriguing. There are clearly specific elements of the piece that colours are used in an intentional, symbolic way. There are obvious cultural and racial references. Facial expressions vary, trying to convey something, but still remaining mysterious. In her thesis, Cristina spoke of female forms having faces that could either be male or female, with no hair, as a narrative on gender identity.[4] This is apparent in her work, but I have a hard time moving past the aesthetic aspects. In her thesis, she also spoke of using colour symbolism and her underlying intention to talk about cultural issues and identity. I think it is obvious that she is trying to convey something along these lines, but I feel that there is an ambiguity that keeps the real meaning beyond arms reach. This is not necessarily a negative thing; it just leaves me with my initial emotion. I just keep fantasizing about what could be going on in each of her pieces, and they just leave me with different emotions to base the story off of.
In the book Still Life with Oysters and Lemon by Mark Doty, he talks about still lives as:
“…an art that points to the human by leaving the human out; nowhere visible, we’re everywhere. It is an art that points to meaning through wordlessness, that points to timelessness through things permanently caught in time…”[5]
He speaks of the intimacy between a human and a piece of art. How one can feel the emotion therein, and yet remain somewhat distant. He says that being human is to be both here and gone. Our identity lies in culture, emotions and things, but we feel we must look inward to find ourselves. This directly relates to the theme of the exhibition.
In Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art by Jill Bennett, the author starts out by saying that when we recall feelings that we have had in the past, they are not the actual feelings, but a representation. She goes on to say that trauma has resisted representation and can continue to be felt.
“Up until now, theorists of trauma and memory have paid relatively little attention to the visual and performing arts…In almost a concrete sense, much of the visual and performing arts evokes the possibility-for both the artist and viewer- of ‘being a spectator of one’s own feelings’.”[6]
She refers to emotions in art as:
“Sense memory operating through the body to produce a kind of ‘seeing truth’, rather than a ‘thinking truth’, registering the pain of memory as it is directly experienced, and communicating a level of bodily affect.”[7]
This is to say that we actually experience the feelings represented in some art, not as a thought but as a real emotional response. She uses Dennis Del Favero’s work “Parting Embrace” [8] to back up her claim. The images give the viewer a sense of confusion because there are images that are soft, that reflect passion, and then there are some that obviously traumatic and highly pornographic. These images are meant to convey the trauma of a young boy being sexually abused and they succeed in making the viewer feel the trauma.
The works I’ve selected for this exhibition stimulate the mind and body to experience emotions and feelings that are being conveyed in regards to human issues of culture, behaviors and internal struggles. The ways in which the artist go about reflecting these issues may vary, but they are all tied together with the medium and the form of still life. Although the artists go about conveying these feelings in differently, they all have an interest in identity and what it means to be human. This common ground is what sets these works apart from other still lives that are more geared towards looking at the beauty of everyday objects. In this case, the everyday object is the human experience and these artists create the still lives bring the viewer to the core of that experience. The still life in this context embodies an instance of human existence, timeless, yet limited to one moment. The area that surrounds the still life is a void; death. In this way, not only so these still lives show us our humanity, but they show us our mortality. This is the lesson of the still life;
“Still life. The deep pun hidden in the term: life with death in it, life after the knowledge of death, is, after all, still life.” [9]
Perhaps realizing this and the emotions evoked by these artworks can lead us to empathizing more with each other. We all share the human experience, and we are all tied to it, perhaps by living the lessons taught by these works, we can begin to appreciate life and empathize with others.
Bibliography:
Hedden, Claire. Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2007.
Cordova, Cristina. Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2002.
Doty, Mark. Still Life with Lemons and Oysters, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001.
Bennett, Jill. Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, California: Stanford University Press, 2005.
[1] Claire Hedden, Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2007.
[2] Claire Hedden, email message from artist, November 13,2009
[3] Alec Schramek, email message from artist, November 14, 2009.
[4] Cristina Cordova, Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2002.
[5] Mark Doty, Still Life with Lemons and Oysters, (Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001), 66.
[6]Jill Bennett, Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, (California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 23.
[7]Jill Bennett, Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, (California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 26.
[8] Jill Bennett, Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, (California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 28.
[9] Mark Doty, Still Life with Lemons and Oysters, (Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001), 69.
The still life can represent many things, but what about when they represent life? Through symbolism, allegory and juxtaposition, this genre can cause the viewer to experience specific emotions, feelings and relate with human behaviors. This is to say that not all art does this directly. This exhibition will focus on still lives that evoke emotional responses toward the issues that make us human. The quality of being human can be conveyed in numerous ways: through form, color, materials and symbols. One could base the thought of humanness on culture, skin colour, emotions or behavior. Several Alfred ceramic sculpture graduates explore these issues of human behavior and identity. These artists specify in different areas; emotions and feelings, identity vs. culture and gender and the pure trait of being human and what that means. The form that they all have in common is the still life. This idea of still life is fascinating because it embodies notions of our humanity but in abstract form. In this study I inquire into the ways in which artists illustrate a moment is frozen in time but also preserve that moment as a doorway or portal to access. The method of stilling human life is where the entry point lies.
Claire Hedden is an Alfred MFA, ceramic artist that uses colours, materials, positions and implied movement to convey a specific emotional response to a particular issue. She creates situations or creature-like forms to covey her thoughts. Her work is her representation of emotions and behaviors, frozen, showing the viewer the climactic point in which the emotion arises in a situation. Although her work is a product of issues she is going through or thinking about, it is not the goal of her work to convey that exact idea that made her create the work, but rather, to convey the raw emotion that is underlying the idea and the piece.
The piece Fatty by Claire Hedden is a piece that is a good example of her use of position, colour and other materials to illustrate a specific feeling. This piece is about three feet high, leaning against a wall of the gallery. It is a ceramic sculpture that looks as if it is in five different pieces stacked on top of each other. These pieces combined hint at a fat figure, while the individual pieces illustrate what could be fat rolls on an obese person. The figure itself is not entirely human like. The “head” of the piece resembles the bump a cartoon character would get when getting hit on the head. The colour of the tip of the head speaks further about a bruised nub, because it is a purple reddish colour like a bruise. The colour fades leading into the white of the rest of the head and body suggesting at a throbbing effect. This sculpture has no arms or legs making the “Fatty” seem helpless. It is sitting on a board that protrudes out from underneath the sculpture about four feet. There is something rolled up and red underneath the board acting as a fulcrum for the board. This fat being is too heavy for this board to be balanced, so it remains helpless and injured against the wall. Its fat rolls seem like a hindrance to it getting up, if it wanted to. The colour on the head of the piece gives the understanding that this thing has been injured and perhaps a bit confused due to the injury on its implied head. Due to the positioning of the figure, I feel like the figure is conveying the feeling of being too depressed to move. The mass of the figure without arms and legs and the slope of the board seems like it is struggling with itself, waiting for something to put it back on its feet.
Alec Schramek is also an Alfred MFA that focuses in ceramics. For Alec’s MFA show, he created realistic male figures. His work focuses on the idea of romanticizing the human experience. His work depicted what we would think of as simple human behaviors. Part of the drive for this depiction seems to be an interest in the human behavior, but also an interest in how cultures interpret different behaviors. How can one find their identity in a world based on subjectivity?
The series of ceramic figures by Alec Schramek seem to be indicative of human behavior. There are six male figures in a line, and if read left to right, looks as if they are steps of a person getting ready. The first figure is nude, leaning against the gallery wall holding a cup in their right hand. The second is also nude shaving their face and is peering into space as if looking into a mirror. The third figure is sitting on a bed, unclothed and holding a shoe up to his foot as if to put it on. The fourth figure is on a bed also, gripping the edge, gazing at the floor as if thinking, or feeling upset. This figure is the first to be wearing clothing; boxers. This is also where you begin to see a mirroring effect happening with the figures. Three and four are almost back to back facing the figures. The fifth is wearing pants, but no shoes and no shirt. His hand is up to his face, also mirroring figure number two that was shaving his face. The last figure is fully dressed with a cup in his hand, mirroring the first figure holding the cup. Taking a better look at these figures, I realized that the first three have a different face than the last three. This could be telling of these figures being individual, but the mirroring effect shows that they are not, because they take part in this routine of getting ready. They are the same in this aspect. It could be saying that, although individual people can be seen as different, many take part in the same behaviors. It generalized the human experience so we can all relate. A couple of the figures look sad and some look more contented. This just reinforces the idea of these pieces asking questions about themselves and allowing for a mass of people to be able to relate. The behaviors in these pieces make me empathetic towards them as if they were real people and make me feel appreciative of everyday human activity.
Another Alfred graduate; Cristina Cordova, works with ceramics using specific colours as Claire does, but with more recognizable figures. Rather than abstracted forms, Cristina does statues and statuettes of the human form, behaving in specific ways. Her objective is to illustrate cultural issues and issues related with gender or individual identity by using colours and symbols, to convey the issue and in turn, the emotions that come along with a particular situation.
The pieces by Cristina Cordova entitled “ 7 Black Figures in Movement Sequence” are a series of seven black female ceramic figures lined up on a wall in the corner of a gallery. There are four on the left side of the wall and three on the other wall. Each figure is on a small platform that is also ceramic. There is a layering of pieces, first a disk attatched to the wall holding the figure up, then a green striped disk that is thicker than the first, finally, a cloud or sack like “pillow” that the figure is posed on. The first figure is laying outstretched, a bit uncomfortable looking, as if she is in the middle of a movement. The second figure is a continuation of the first figures movement, but is still outstretched, but positioned slightly more upright. The third figure is crouched in a sitting position, no longer outstretched, but her feet have moved under her body. The fourth is starting to stand with more of a determined look on her face. Number five is still crouched, legs bent, but moving into a standing position. Her legs are still bent at the knees and her back is still slightly arched. The sixth figure is standing holding some of the pillowy cloud she was sitting on in her hands. She is looking out at the viewer. The seventh figure is has the cloud like substance now around her waist and she is standing with her hand out, palm down, in an almost dignified way. I have a hard time deciphering this piece’s symbolic meaning, but if I look at it with a purely emotional response, I get the feeling of transcendence. The sequence of movement towards a standing position on a cloud like form causes me to feel transcendence or growth. However, I feel that the race of these figures must be important also. This could be speaking of the African status in our culture or others, or the colour of the figures’ skin could have a different symbolic meaning entirely.
While these artists are working with basically the same material in several different ways, there are similarities deeper than the material that really solidify the theme. All three artist work with figure; Alec is the basis by creating his pretty literal male figures. The texture of the figures are stylized, but they still are quite realistic. Cristina also represents the human. In many of her pieces, the texture of the surface is similar to that of Alec’s work. Although many of the situations and atmospheres the figures appear in are some what fantastical, many of her figures are realistic in proportions and body shape. Claire works with figure in a different way than the other two artists. Claire’s figures are not necessarily human, but they take on a creature like status in the piece, so you recognize them as being something that has feeling.
Claire works with colours to help convey her point in her work, whether the colours are used to symbolize emotions or create atmospheres. Cristina also works with colours in this way. I feel that Cristina’s pieces are not as straight forward. Claire, although she does abstract sculpture work, she uses symbols that are easy to understand, working more with implied movement and the figure teamed with colour and other materials to convey something that is pretty basic; an emotion. Cristina’s work uses many symbols with colour and situations, but her objective is a bit more complex in content, so to try and talk about the issues of a certain culture through symbols that are a bit ambiguous, could possibly be misinterpreted. Alec does not use colour in his figures, they are monotone beige. This is not preventing conveying his idea; his work does not really need colour. His work is showing basic human behaviors. There is no need for symbols because he is showing them realistically and less abstractly.
These artists also relate because they are all trying to make the viewer understand their message through a narrative of symbols or sequence. More importantly, these pieces seem to relate more to the viewer through empathy than a literal, concrete message. With Claire it is important to her that she allows the viewer to understand some important facets of her work so that they can feel what she felt or wanted them to feel, readily in her work. Alec has an underlying objective, but it is the feeling of the figures you feel and the comparison created there that hint at what he was thinking. In Cristina’s work, she uses these figures to convey her theme, but in the end, what I am left with is an emotion or feeling based on colours and expressions that I pull out of the work that hints at the underlying issues when looking at her pieces.
An artist I feel relates to the theme these artists are striking is Paul Cadmus. His pieces “The Seven Deadly Sins” relate to the theme of conveying human nature, however, he does an extreme, grotesque portrayal of the seven deadly sins in which humans commit. He does this with images of each sin in an extreme way to illustrate the horrific nature of each sin. I feel this relates to the commonality of allegory and the illustration of human tendencies.
Claire’s work is really the basis for all the other work to relate. In many cases, especially seen in Fatty, Claire’s main goal is to illustrate a particular feeling or emotion. Her work is made for people to understand the raw emotion, not necessarily the real situation that cause her to make this work. That is not the point as with art in many cases. It is not uncommon for artist’s main goal to be to alleviate themselves of feelings and tell the viewer about their particular situation. Claire’s work stands apart for this. When I interviewed her, she said she wishes for people to be able to empathize with each other and she wants to help inspire this in people. She feels that if someone can find these feelings through her work and discover compassion inside themselves they can grow to find compassion for each other. In her thesis, Claire states :
“I ask these questions of identity, aspiration, limitation and truth in my work to convey the struggles that shape our lives. Looking within enables the capacity to look outward with comprehension and empathy, inspiring a will to change.”[1]
She said in her piece, Fatty, her thoughts underlying the outcome were that of being “uninspired, stuck, trapped, helpless, defeated and waiting for something to propel me out of it, like in the cartoons when a character jumps on one end of a board and makes the other character go flying through the air.”[2] I feel her piece was very articulate in the point; however, I’m sure that there are some other interpretations of her art. Perhaps some one could see her work on a purely sculptural and aesthetic level, or maybe even humorous. It is plausible that “Fatty” could read as a cloud in some sort of other scenario. Her work consisting of mainly these “characters” could bring someone to a completely different story based on their own creative mind.
Alec’s figures were made following his main question “Can we value our individuality as truth when it is based on a romantic notion of human experience?” He is interested in the complex issue of the idealized human experience. A big issue he brought up was questioning cultural meanings behind different behaviors and practices that we would think of as normal everyday things. The stances of the figures, the general positions, were supposed to be mirrored. In the interview he spoke of his interest in the differences between cultures and what and an “identity” in one culture could be a completely different identity in another culture. He said that the line drawn where his pieces were “mirrored”, if looked at as one entity, hints at his main question.[3] I feel that if these pieces are read as a separate entity, they also get to the point. His use of figures as a narration on cultural issues relates to the work of Kara Walker. Kara uses silhouetted figures to illustrate the aspects of human behavior that lean more towards the dark and morbid side. She creates these figures with expressions and actions that are all to clear of their meaning. Her work is very much about the roles different people play in different areas of the culture. She draws this theme from her role as an African American woman. Alec’s work is more on an aesthetically realistic side, however, his work also talks about human behavior and uses distinct body language that is easily readable. In comparison, he draws his themes from his role as an American male. What that really means is his main question.
I feel as if the work of Cristina is more allusive than that of the work Claire and Alec. In Cristina’s MFA thesis paper, she talks a great deal about her interests in gender identity and the way that culture plays a role in the way one identifies themselves. Also, she has a great interest in cultural issues and prejudices. All the pieces I have looked at of hers are extremely intriguing. There are clearly specific elements of the piece that colours are used in an intentional, symbolic way. There are obvious cultural and racial references. Facial expressions vary, trying to convey something, but still remaining mysterious. In her thesis, Cristina spoke of female forms having faces that could either be male or female, with no hair, as a narrative on gender identity.[4] This is apparent in her work, but I have a hard time moving past the aesthetic aspects. In her thesis, she also spoke of using colour symbolism and her underlying intention to talk about cultural issues and identity. I think it is obvious that she is trying to convey something along these lines, but I feel that there is an ambiguity that keeps the real meaning beyond arms reach. This is not necessarily a negative thing; it just leaves me with my initial emotion. I just keep fantasizing about what could be going on in each of her pieces, and they just leave me with different emotions to base the story off of.
In the book Still Life with Oysters and Lemon by Mark Doty, he talks about still lives as:
“…an art that points to the human by leaving the human out; nowhere visible, we’re everywhere. It is an art that points to meaning through wordlessness, that points to timelessness through things permanently caught in time…”[5]
He speaks of the intimacy between a human and a piece of art. How one can feel the emotion therein, and yet remain somewhat distant. He says that being human is to be both here and gone. Our identity lies in culture, emotions and things, but we feel we must look inward to find ourselves. This directly relates to the theme of the exhibition.
In Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art by Jill Bennett, the author starts out by saying that when we recall feelings that we have had in the past, they are not the actual feelings, but a representation. She goes on to say that trauma has resisted representation and can continue to be felt.
“Up until now, theorists of trauma and memory have paid relatively little attention to the visual and performing arts…In almost a concrete sense, much of the visual and performing arts evokes the possibility-for both the artist and viewer- of ‘being a spectator of one’s own feelings’.”[6]
She refers to emotions in art as:
“Sense memory operating through the body to produce a kind of ‘seeing truth’, rather than a ‘thinking truth’, registering the pain of memory as it is directly experienced, and communicating a level of bodily affect.”[7]
This is to say that we actually experience the feelings represented in some art, not as a thought but as a real emotional response. She uses Dennis Del Favero’s work “Parting Embrace” [8] to back up her claim. The images give the viewer a sense of confusion because there are images that are soft, that reflect passion, and then there are some that obviously traumatic and highly pornographic. These images are meant to convey the trauma of a young boy being sexually abused and they succeed in making the viewer feel the trauma.
The works I’ve selected for this exhibition stimulate the mind and body to experience emotions and feelings that are being conveyed in regards to human issues of culture, behaviors and internal struggles. The ways in which the artist go about reflecting these issues may vary, but they are all tied together with the medium and the form of still life. Although the artists go about conveying these feelings in differently, they all have an interest in identity and what it means to be human. This common ground is what sets these works apart from other still lives that are more geared towards looking at the beauty of everyday objects. In this case, the everyday object is the human experience and these artists create the still lives bring the viewer to the core of that experience. The still life in this context embodies an instance of human existence, timeless, yet limited to one moment. The area that surrounds the still life is a void; death. In this way, not only so these still lives show us our humanity, but they show us our mortality. This is the lesson of the still life;
“Still life. The deep pun hidden in the term: life with death in it, life after the knowledge of death, is, after all, still life.” [9]
Perhaps realizing this and the emotions evoked by these artworks can lead us to empathizing more with each other. We all share the human experience, and we are all tied to it, perhaps by living the lessons taught by these works, we can begin to appreciate life and empathize with others.
Bibliography:
Hedden, Claire. Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2007.
Cordova, Cristina. Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2002.
Doty, Mark. Still Life with Lemons and Oysters, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001.
Bennett, Jill. Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, California: Stanford University Press, 2005.
[1] Claire Hedden, Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2007.
[2] Claire Hedden, email message from artist, November 13,2009
[3] Alec Schramek, email message from artist, November 14, 2009.
[4] Cristina Cordova, Master Thesis, New York State College of Ceramics, 2002.
[5] Mark Doty, Still Life with Lemons and Oysters, (Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001), 66.
[6]Jill Bennett, Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, (California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 23.
[7]Jill Bennett, Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, (California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 26.
[8] Jill Bennett, Empathetic Vision: Affect, Trauma and Contemporary Art, (California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 28.
[9] Mark Doty, Still Life with Lemons and Oysters, (Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001), 69.
Friday, December 4, 2009
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