On Thursday, Rosie showed us a presentation showing many artists who do gallery instillations. Not being a very arty person, I struggled to see the relationship between the artists shown and our project 'maps and journeys'.
Most of the artwork shown was very conceptual which for me, wasn't a great start. I feel quite lost with what direction I should move forward in for my project. I want to understand the meaning behind artwork like this, as this seems to be a theme that keeps cropping up along the duration of the course so far. As the presentation went on, alarm bells started to ring. How am I going to keep up when I'm more technically interested in film when so far, this seems to be focused on the art side?
Keeping in high spirits, I decided to research some artists online that appealed to my more practical mindset. I also managed to visit the Tate Modern over the summer holidays, unfortunatly this didn't help me much either as far as underling but viewing the instillation art there gave me a little peak into what's to come.
Although this all really isn't my cup of tea, I want to keep open minded about the potential to truly understand the depth of installation art.
Artists:
Zbigniew Rybczyński - Tango
The first film shown to us was called 'Tango'. Out of the whole collection of artwork shown to us this defiantly was my favourite, mostly because of the technical aspect of course.
The fact that this was shot entirely on film and layered together in post really impressed me. The time and precision put into this is very commendable.
I'm not great at seeing the meaning behind conceptual films, but if I had to think of the meaning behind this, I would say it could be about peoples lives intertwining and how the things we do, effect others subconsciously. This is a really powerful message and can really make you think about how the most minuscule thing could impact something else greatly.
Damien Hirst - The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living
An artist that stood out to me was Damien Hirst, his bold statement piece really appealed to me because of it's simplicity. It consists of a tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine. The fact that his piece was more visual than conceptual appealed to me.
Art is subjective and it doesn't always need a deep and meaningful message to be good. I think this is a perfect example of this. The fact that he took a shark and stuck it in a gallery in London is such a simple idea, yet truly effective for it's audience. Ironically, this is the piece he is most known for as it appealed to such a large audience.
I think understand the meaning behind it. Roberta Smith
writes for the New York Times, “the shark is simultaneously life and death
incarnate in a way you don’t quite grasp until you see it, suspended and
silent, in its tank. It gives the innately demonic urge to live a demonic,
deathlike form.” That is to say, the most shocking part of this work is that
the shark is dead.
When Hirst first put his shark on display, he was confronted by
critics who questioned whether it was art at all and said, “Anyone could have
made this.” To this, he simply and elegantly responded “But you didn’t, did
you?”.
