Richard Orjis-02, Oct., 2009

Captured from the magazine during the lecture.

Richard Orjis – 2, Oct., 2009

Richard’s works are varied from people, nature, still life and art photography. Mainly focuses on the element of people. Using the real visual image to create a mysterious atmosphere from his created fiction world. A series of photographs with the American Gothic boys in the wheat field, relate to the religion and sexuality. They are hiding somewhere secretly to play a game with sexuality only belong to their own world. Despite the metaphoric meaning behind the image, the composition and colors combination with an extraordinary aesthetics from the artist. I really like these art works which he created in 2004.

A male figure faces the camera. He is heavily festooned with flowers – orchids mainly. Orchids have long been known as “the sexiest flowers on earth” . Artist have exploited it as a symbol of sexual metaphor to make the art forms with different mediums. Richard uses Photoshop to do editing for the flowers and collages on the portrait. I am wondering he uses the way so boldly. Living in this century, artist might have more flexibility to utilize the scientific technology into the contemporary arts and it has become more common. The head this portrait is spreadly smudged with grey mud. The wreaths of orchids is beautiful, but with the mud-head and dark background highlights the effect of mysterious emotions. An idol as a representation of a God used as an object of worship. The emerged dark space from the origin. It means the beginning, the source of world also with the hint of “ there’s something else going on”. It inspires my curiosity about Richard’s Empire of Dirt. This image widely reproduced within 3 years only. Overall, Richard’s works might seem like working with many different things. But everthing seems come from the same source and the same concerns around him. It’s all related to the nature, cult, myth and the gothic.

Richard Orjis’s works present in both places of galleries and magazines. The art can be viewed in the magazine or advertisement become a public art and get wide range of audience. And the audience also get more benefits from the reviewing from the convenient source. The longer I looked at the images the deeper I felt addicted and enchanted into the fiction world which Richard have created. For my future pactice on my art work, I will try to exploit the methods broadly including tradition or new technology to combine my imagery into the art. Experiment and find the new way to express and display my works.

Ribecca Ann Hobbs, 25, Sep., 2009

Rebecca Ann Hobbs-25,Sep, 2009

In the beginning of the lecture, Rebecca talked about the apparatus, a still camera, and some images of art works, how the ideas interest and amuse her. “Yves Klein, Leap into the void “ 1960-it’s quite a visual things and the idea related to the subject in movement. I once read an article introduction before from an art magazine about this work. Yves Klein leaps from window into the blue sky because he likes the blue and wishes to catch and engaged himself into the blue. He created a blue which was especially known as Klein blue. The camera captured the temporary action to feeze it becoming a drawing forever. It’s the magic of photography. A series of self-portraits in 2001 in which Rebecca pictures herself with a range of creatures from different species. The photographs have been digitally manipulated to intensify the color. “The Complex Social Group”, “Flight into the Mouth”.... The isolated subject sitting in the center wearing old clothes with a certain stylish awkwardness. The chaos v.s order, things in control or out of control. The relationship between the blurred blue of pigeons and the still image of subject presents an extraordinary weird atmosphere. The series of images, a human and another species-birds, possums, a dog, a squid, a stuffed fox, snails and a spider, inspires my imagination with its metaphoric potential meaning, it’s related to a philosophy issuing-misunderstanding.

The role of research in the process of Rebecca’s work is very significant. Find the context , research and try to understand who is your friend (context) from the visual sign-art. From a starting point with arbitrary to present your idea and represent it. To construct a mind map from a point to another point. The research makes a clear pathway more in depth and more critical to her work. From research to think of the tangents and strategies and plan her art work. During the making and experiment to do the resolution. The resolution in terms of the inside/outside, imagined/real, past/present, still/moving...., to negotiate the space between these observed binaries in a celebratory manner. Aesthetics is important to her works as well. “The Continental Aesthetics Reader” by Clive Cazeaux inspired her and has made a big influenced on her cocept about the beauty. She spent a few years to get it from the book and still likes to make image with beautiful.

The final video with a black man spraying water in a green house. The Dolly moves around the subject with continuity editing. The audience travels and follows the movement of camera and subject. She spent 4 months to organize the film and 6 people to hit it with collaborative work. I can not imagine how can spent such a long time to organize a short film. She is an art worker with very careful manner to organize and proceed her work. At the moment, most of my works create by instinct or randomly. The process of her practice suggests me to make a further development more in depth and broadly. Some times I felt lost during the research for lots of tangents. Just like her talking in lesson, must constantly ask if this relates to my artwork. This is I have to do and develop from more practice and experience.

Dion Hitchens

The Brooklyn Museum

Banksy was captured by musem video camera(hang on the drawing)

View the drawing

Pick up his drawing for hanging.

Dion Hitchens
28, 07,2009
Choose an example of public art from the class and discuss how you think it relates to the public domain, how is it successful and unsuccessful?

The wall is the domain for graffiti artists. Banksy is one of my favorite graffiti artistsl. Nobody can make certain about his real name. He is commonly believed and has been widely reported, Robert of Robin Banks. He was born at 1974 or 1975 and raised in Bristol in England. His street art combines with graffiti writing and distinctive stenciling techniques. Last term, I once researched one of his work “Naked Man on the wall of a sexual health clinic 2006”. The street art made by stencil with a striking and humorous image. He purposely pained it on the wall of a sexual health clinic in Bristol city of England to draw everyone’s eye. Of course, it caused a lot of argument between the public and city council. The controversy makes the public discussion to decide whether it should stay on the side of a building or be removed. However the graffiti still stays on it and more controversial discussion about the graffiti can be considered as an art or a vandalism. How did Banksy's graffiti become legitimate from subversive? What's the boundary between main stream art and street art?
In August, 2005, Banksy painted nine images on the Israeli West Bank Barrier, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall. The wall was constructed by Israel during the occupied West Bank and forced
thousands of Palestinians out of their home. During the contextual lesson, we were introduced a series of his graffiti in 2007. He , as an anti-war hero, has struck again in The Holy Land. A series of his stenciled works on the security wall in Bethlehem. With six new images including a big dove wearing a flak jacket and a solder being
frisked by a young girl…. The wall separating Israel from the Palestinian West Bank is controversial. Supporters argue that the barrier is necessary to protecting Israel civilians from Palestinian terrorism. The construction is illegal.
Banksy hides his identity to doubt the unfair around our environment in the world. He struggles and attacks against the political policy, the system of museum at an unique interesting way with his brush without knife and gun. People feel more curious about him because his personal uncertain indentify make him more mysterious. I am sure his art works combine his concept and his personal philosophy is a great accomplishment. He insists the spirit of graffiti-tag, announce, space and judge. His works couldn’t make an enormous effect immediately for the policy decision, those still have change people’s mind to have further thinking to doubt the existed fact and occurred big reflection from the public. Where is his next target?
I wish one day his art work will appear in Auckland!

Ref: http://beardude.com/801

Steve Lovett

David Wojnarawicz 1991 Photostat one day
Mother and Daughter by Steve Lovett

Millennium Walking 2000 by Steve Lovett

Steve Lovett
21, Aug., 2009
Aspects of an artist identity can define their practice. Discuss how the role of identity is important in the practice of Steve Lovett and then how it might be important in your own art making.

Steve is a visual arts practitioner and art educator with considerable and broad print-based knowledge His practice compacts his thinking related to the role and identification in the society.Viewing a series of slides introducing the process of his development about his print works. Some artists who inspired him and made him extend and explore different ways to his art works with extraordinary mediums.

As an art educator who are struggling to acquire new skills. Continually adventured the unfamiliar conceptual and mechanical field into the connection between tradition and new technologies of image-making. His work adds an additional focus of how new imaging technologies impact on more traditional print making practices. Much of his work is printed. Printed images are nomadic by nature. They are about recording, processing and transmission information.

His research are primarily concerned with questions of time , transition, loss and the narratives of location and displacement. Exploiting the techniques of audio and typography with the images to imply the conflict and emotion between his identification with the society, culture even the politics and history.

Glenn Ligon, Glenn Ligon, October 27 - December 8, 2007; No Room (Gold) #13, 2007
Around the time of the Million Man March in Washington DC ,the American painter Glenn Ligon observed that the way that painting looks in on itself was no longer enough. There was a need use something other than paint to make an image. From that time on Ligon has used language and photography to respond to the world.
By early the early 1990s the impact of HIV AIDS on his world was that painting was set aside for something more able to report events from the world. Maybe not more truthful, but certainly more direct.

David Wojnarowicz 1991 Photostat One Day
Wojnarowicz makes his social and political circumstances, his sexual orientation is the center of his work.

It’s a life © Steve Lovett 1992

Formally some concerns with the voice of the subject becoming present in the work. This piece is perhaps the first work where narrative becomes expressed through patterns of speech. Narration being means to metabolize the world and our experience of it.

Millennium Walking 2000. commissioned by the Tautai Trust .
Vinyl billboard 2.8 m X 48 m. © Steve Lovett.
The work is the transcription of a series of interviews and conversations with people in the immediate area, The piece developed a visual solution - looking for a typographic solution for the spoken word. The collaborators introduced their mates to volunteer a story to the archive-it make the work became a network, it's a kind of social activity.
The Millennium Walking piece deployed a similar visual solution - looking for a typographic solution for the spoken word.

A series slides with detailed introduction about Steve’s works. Steve as an open gay man tells his own stories through his print works. The shift s of the process on his works into the exploration about the issues of identity. The identification about his sexual orientation, and his then and now. It’s related to “who you are?”, where are you from”, and “how did you grow up?”, “What’s majority culture?”.
The identification of himself impact on his works. It’s not only an art work but an social, political issues. The art became an accused tool to tell his own story over grief in the public. The art is public, it belongs to the audience.

As a Taiwanese in New Zealand, sometimes I feel isolated from the majority society where I am now .There are many contradictions between my cultural background and the surroundings around me. I might experiment to depict indigenous images into my practice from my culture, like the motifs from Taiwanese Mountain People (There are 13 tribes of the native people in Taiwan). I would be mostly based on the visual imagery rather than the thinking of identification. The work I intend to focus on the impact of the visual effect instead of the implied meaning of identification.

Deborah Crowe

1)Bridge riley Chant 2 1967

2)Tokyo Ito Blurring Architecture 2001

Discuss the idea of containment in relation to Deborah Crowe’s work.
14, Aug, 2009

Deborh Crowe has always been fascinated by the construction and lines from the architecture. She talked about one of her fascinating building “Forth Railway Bridge”, North Queens Ferry, Scotland while her childhood. It interns of –how it constructed? How the intersection of lines form the sense of geometry?
The organized brainstorm self training with a scientific way is very helpful for her development and exploring into her art works. She thinks herself as a 'practitioner' rather than as an 'artist' to point to the range of practices she engages.One of her proposal for The Public Art Gallery, Dunedin-try to make moving image. What’s it looks like between night and day.”Shift 2000 all part of one world”, the viewers experiment the three dimension form and their shadow drawing. Shadow drawings create an environment which presents a series of contradictions. A spacious yet crowed environment where light woven form have a heaviness to them.She creates the space between the art works and viewers ,to regenerate the contradiction by the light and shadow from the inspiration of architectures, textiles.

She also works around the restrictions of the body and how the body can be contained in many different ways. A collaborative fashion work , “fashion for the future “. People must feel horrible to wear a cloth like a construction with heavy copper material. The containment with 3 D internal and external space. Her work is like and constructed building mounted on the body of model. A clothing on the body restricts the movement of the body. The containment of her using way with contradiction on the work. It makes me feel quite different visual view to her work. Not only the effect of visual and space about an art work. It’s related to the thinking about an installation work on the stage.
During the lecture, I am very interested to know the introduction about some artists inspiring to Debora’s work.

Researching and thinking in depth is very important to compact to the process of Deborah’s work. Overall her habit for the practice way to her work that I would follow the way into my work. The way to regenerate and develop a work is very scientific proven.

Bridget Riley’s work On Chant 2, 1967-No painter, dead or alive, has never made as more aware of our eyes than Bridget Riley.-said by Debora.

Toyo Ito-Blurring Architectur, 8/8 ~8/9, 2007 Sydney, Australia
“Since the mid 1970s, Toyo Ito has been one of the world's most innovative and influential architects, creating new concepts for life in modern cities, searching for an architecture appropriate to our electronic, image-oriented consumer society. Ito describes his latest project, the Mediatheque (media and culture centre) in Sendai, northern Japan, as the culmination of his quest to fuse the physical and virtual worlds. Its unusual function and radical steel-tube structural system have forged new approaches to spatial definition, building services, circulation and construction. Its floors hang on penetrating conduiting masts. Just opened, the Mediatheque is innovative at every level. The centre piece of Blurring Architecture will be a spectacular four channel data projection, where building plans and schematics for the Mediatheque are overlaid and animated, with a soundtrack by electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda.” (From http://www.artspace.org.nz/exhibition%20/2001/blurringarchitecture.asp)

Naham Tevet-Seven walks, Dundee 2004
(http://www.tevet.net/)

Julius Shulman (October 10, 1910 – July 15, 2009) was an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph "Case Study House #22[1], Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." The house is also known as The Stahl House. Shulman's photography spread California modernism around the world. Through his many books, exhibits and personal appearances his work ushered in a new appreciation for the movement beginning in the 1990s. His vast library of images currently reside at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. His contemporaries include Ezra Stoller and Hedrich Blessing. In 1947, Julius Shulman asked architect Raphael Soriano to build a mid-century steel home and studio in the Hollywood Hills.[2]Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
http://www.juliusshulmanfilm.com/about-the-film/

Researching and thinking in depth is very important to compact to the process of Deborah’s work. Overall her habit for the practice way to her work that I would follow the way into my work. The way to regenerate and develop a work is very scientific proven.

Mary Curtis

2009/8/21
Mary Curtis

Artists working in contemporary jewellery and crafts use a wide range of methods for presenting their works. Use some of the example we looked at in class, from Object Space, and say how you think their presentation helps create meaning and helps the audience understanding the ideas/conceptual side of the work.

The Object Space on Ponsonby Road, one of the leading gallery spaces supporting contemporary jewellery and crafts practice. Mary involved the establishment of Object Space for 3 years from start to open. Being an organized contemporary object artist, she had very purposely contributed into it for the need of the social community, the artist, objects and the audience.
An art work placing in the space of a gallery is related to the relationship of the art work, the space, gallery and the viewer. How to place the work in the space to present the artist ideas and help the viewer understanding the concept and the power from the art. To build up the atmosphere from the work and space to fascinate the viewer and create the imagination by the audience.
6th Sep. 2008 – 4th Oct., 2008
Material : Various materials
Lisa Walker-Unwearable
All the small art works with various materials –unwearable, putting on the colorful prints. Is it a maze? What is the game ? It’s a provocation for unwearable of jewelleries. It’s an exciting and innovative installation for the object and space. Being unwearable, each small object putting on individual print with different bright color looks more confident on its location. It’s not related to the function of wearing on the body. They bring to mind jewellery experiments which liberate the common concept to the jewellery. And draw the view’s attention to the object itself.

Numbers one to Eleven
Maker: Tony Bond
Material : Ceramic, wood, enamel paint, installation works.
Tony is a Christchurch sculptor, Tony Bond works occasionally with ceramics. He describes Formuchculae as, “decorative objects for the twenty-first century. The pots as a everyday life homeware put on the wall with the function of decoration. Make the focus on the decoration instead of pot’s’ usual function. Put all stuff together and they look similar but can see the differences between them.

I found it’s very interesting to know different way for the installation and the concept about arts presentation from different artists in the space of gallery. It’s a further thinking about the installation related the meaning of artwork itself. That’s why Mary needed spent 6 hours to do to put the layout of tiny objects in the cabinet in the exhibition of “stuff” in fingers gallery 2001.

Frances Hansen

Week 18 31, July


Materials are important In Frances Hansen's practice. Say something about the materials she works with and reasons for choosing them, how does this relate to the idea of Gleaning? You can extend this by discussing the exhibitions we visited this week and the work of Judy Darragh. Go on to write about the materials you choose for use in your studio practice. What are they and why do you choose them?

It’s very interesting that Frances uses many varieties of material in her collection from the environment in her everyday life. These material including the package, wrapping paper, recycled bread tags, notes with text, canes, bottles, letter box, card board, bed post and board. She collects the recycled material and exploits those into her art workings. The combination of her thinking and imagination putting into her art works to recreate and renew the life of recycled material. This is a project about dissolution and re-materialization.
Sometimes the nothing-material became her source of objective images on her drawing. The process of painting, arranging and composing these images on the panel. Simplify the composition with clean images and spacing in simple color tones. Her drawing in the library looks like an un-finished work with simple composition which can make me feel very peaceful. It’s absolutely very suitable to hang in the library.
She collects the leftover stuffs randomly after shopping and hopes those can be used into her art works in the future. The process of collected bits and pieces, brought together by selection into the art works are very French practice of gleaning. She still continues and enjoys collecting what’s leftovers after using and shopping because it can amuse herself.
The work I practice on art must include the elements of my thinking, illustration and aesthetics. In contemporary art, it has became more flexible for artist to explore more and more mediums in it. I don’t mind what kind of medium on my works, but the works should be based on visual aesthetic. I prefer to collect some stunning decorated porcelain because I am used to do China Painting on porcelain. Toys and DVDs collection already became our family activities.

The Gleaning that means taking what’s left, gathering and revalue nothing into something. In Agnes Varda’s film Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse(The Gleaners and I)
The Gleaners François Millet (1857) . In the beginning of film, In this depiction of the rural life of nineteenth century France, we see three female figures gathering the leftovers after the harvest. It is known as gleaning. The un-shaped potatoes, some comes with heart are discarded by the farmers can be undertaken by the poor after harvest. The gleaning is still existed in modern society in French. It’s a kind of social issuing in French.

Judy Darragh ‘s exhibition at Two Rooms Gallery, Newton until 1, Aug. 2009. Judy’s art practice has been distinctive as she consistently works on the margins, railing against conventions and expectations. From early works in the late 1980s made from op-shop materials and ready made material. She uses cheap material to DIY and remake into colorful objects with luxury visual effects. It’s quite different to the simplicity style with France’s although they both use non-valued material to make something from nothing. Judy reflects that “The maxim of the Bahaus, which I loved studying at school, was ‘less is more’, So when I started out I took the opposite approach of ‘more is more’ and embarked on making things with a passion, teaching at secondary school during the day, getting up at 5am on a Sunday to go to the markets and plugging in the glue gun at night.”

“Art news New Zealand, autumn 2009”
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~waste/timeline/story-pic1.html