Bibliography for Oral Presentation

“‘Drip’ and ‘Emoter’ Tim Hawkinson.” art21, Nov. 2011, art21.org/read/tim-hawkinson-drip-and-emoter/

 “Family Resemblance Tim Hawkinson  Exclusive.” Art21.org, 10 Jan, 2011. art21.org/watch/exclusive/tim-hawkinson-family-resemblance-short/

“Art in the twenty first century,” season 2 Episode “Time.” 17 Sep. 2003.

“Zoopsia: New Works by Tim Hawkinson.” J.Paul Jetty Trust, www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/hawkinson/

“Mobius Ship.” Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2017. www.collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/75563/

“Tim hawkinson.” www.artseensoho.com/Art/ACE/hawkinson99/h3.html.
“Tim hawkinson.”www.artseensoho.com/Art/ACE/hawkinson99/h2.html

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Art is a diverse range of activities that express artist’s imaginative and emotional power. Art can be existing in many different forms such as painting, sculpture, music, drama, earthwork, metal work, graphic, illustration, photography, printmaking, sand art and such. Graffiti art is a form of a contemporary visual art that started in east cost American cities during late 1960’s. Graffiti art often refers as decorative imagery on a public urban environment. Graffiti artists make their artwork using spray paint, color markers, spray cans, stickers and industrial paints. Graffiti art is considered as vandalism and punishable as a criminal offense because of its nature. The documentary film called “Exit through the Gift Shop” is about Los Angeles based Frenchman, Thierry Guetta, who was obsessed with filming, and his journey to becoming an artist. Thierry Guetta’s obsession of filming made him to carry his camera everywhere and video tape everything. After watching his cousin, street artist knows as Invader, doing a street artwork, he got an idea to video tape underground street art movement. He has been filming and helping various street artists such as Zeus, Invader, Seizer, and shepherd Fairey. Then eventually he met the street art icon, Banksy. Banksy who is a camera shy artist let Thierry record him and his work under his conditions. Banksy realized that Thierry is not a real filmmaker; he is maybe “someone with mental problems who happened to have a camera.” However, Banksy discovers that Thierry Guetta is a very interesting character and suggested him to make his own art. Later on Thierry became an artist and called himself Mr. Brainwash as known as MBW. He held a grand art exhibition at Los Angeles in 2008 which sold out thousands of dollars worth artwork. This documentary film end with Banksy questioning the blurred line between what real art is and what is not.

A piece of artwork is stand out from something else because of its ability to express feelings and emotion, change general perception and values and, begin a discussion regardless its form or material. For example, Banksy’s elephant artwork in his 2008 Los Angeles show which is a camouflaged live elephant along with the white card given to visitors that says “Elephant in the room. The problem that we never talk about” represents the English language metaphorical idiom “elephant in the room.” Banksy’s this artwork supposed to symbolize how the problem of world poverty is ignored. However, according to the documentary film, American media could see only what right in front of them. The “Death of a Telephone booth” was a Banksy’s public installation which done in Soho, London 2008. The red telephone booth was crooked and had an axe attached to its middle area looks like somebody attach the telephone booth. Red painting drip from where the axe hit the telephone booth. People assume that this artwork represents the death of the telephone communication. Banksy’s this artwork established a conversation in two group of people; people who were amazed by the artwork and others who consider this as an act of vandalism.

Modern Art - Cubism and Surrealism

Cubism is one of the principle innovation that happened in early 20^th century which has been considered to be among most influential art movement in modern art. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque invented the Cubist style combining their shared ideas and influences. Cubism derived its name from comment made by one critic; critic said that the paintings were made out of little cubes. The cubist style emphasizes the flat, two dimensional space, complex negative and positive space, and multiple perspective breaking the visual world down to basic geometric shapes. Cubist painters emphasize their pictorial composition over their personal expressions.

The cubist painting called “Women with Pear” by Pablo Picasso is one of the several portrait painting of Fernande Olivier done by the artist. It is a size of 36 1/4 x 27 7/8 inches oil painting on canvas. He painted this painting during the summer of 1909 in native Spain where he spent time with his companion, Fernande Olivier. This painting is a basically a women’s above the shoulder portrait in an indoor environment. Two out of three of the picture plane is covered by the female figure. There is a green color curtain in the right side of the background. There is a table and pears on top of the table in the left side of the background. Picasso broke down Fernande’s face into a collection of geometric shape and radically reassembled it to show sense of human characteristics. The whole painting is a collection of pointy sharp geometric shape except for the pears on the table. The pears painted as round shaped objects contrast to the rest of the painting. Picasso chooses less saturated color or muted colors to paint this painting. He used geometric shapes and darker shade of colors to create shadows in the background.  Use of relatively warm color (yellow/brown) with green and shades of grey balance and unify the whole composition.

Surrealism is cultural movement which began in the mid 1920’s by a group of artists who were opposed to the direction of European culture. They proclaim the importance of unconscious mind, dreams, fantasies and hallucinations. Surrealist paintings featured element of surprise, desire to pushing out of boundaries and strangeness. This style emphasize on the mysterious, marvelous, mythological and irrational in an effort to make art. Surrealist artist used this style to express their uncensored basic desires and feeling in a dream like setting.

Giorgio de Chirico is famous for his enigmatic paintings and his influences for the surrealism movement. His painting “The Anxious Journey” is an oil on canvas painting.  The dimension 29 1/4 x 42 inches of this painting was made in 1913. Chirico arranged series of architectural arches in the space according to linear perspective. The middle part of the architectural structure painted in a right angle. Even though these arches set up according to linear perspective, its pathways don’t make sense. No one can see where these leads to because almost every one of arches filled with shadows. However, the archway to the left and right side of the picture plane show what is happening beyond them. Very little part of the wall and looming sky shows through the right archway.  The train engine which is running toward the brick wall at the left side gave a physiological and emotional tension. Chirico’s choice of colors is really interesting; because he uses the same color pallet for all of his work. This painting is a beautifully exemplifies the key characteristics of a surrealist painting.

Katharina Grosse and her work

          Katharina Grosse is a German artist who brilliant at painting and sculptures/installation art.  Her artworks vary from paper based paintings to 3D sculpture paintings. She grew up in an art friendly background and her mother’s influence helped her to become an artist. Her artworks are the results of her obsession of scale and colors. 

The public installation artwork called just the two of us is the biggest artwork done by Katharina Grosse. It’s a series of massive multi-colored acrylic on glass-fiber reinforced plastic sculptures installed in Metro Plaza Commons, downtown Brooklyn during the time period of October 2013 to September 2014. This is 18 piece sculptures which were created in the studio then reassemble at the MetroTech commons plaza. The inspiration behind this sculpture is the fascinating power of natural iconic images such as trees, soil, and landscape. This artwork looks like a volume floating through the forest at distance. The way colors painted on the sculpture gave a sense of motion around the strict inactive trees.  Those tall trees and big building gave a certain scale to the sculpture.  Colors, shape, and scale of the sculpture gave am eye popping feeling in the relatively dull environment.

 This beautiful massive sculpture was at Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas in 2013. She wanted to do an artwork that not uses the display space in the sculpture center. This sculpture was sitting against the wall in the negative space. Major part of the sculpture sitting inside the museum and the other part of this sculpture moving out of the space through the glass panel. One will see this sculpture as a massive movement of various colors from a distance.

Name of this painted sculpture is “I Think This Is a Pine Tree.” Katharina Grosse used acrylic on wall, floor, tree trunks and roots to make this artwork. She chooses unmixed colors to match accordingly with the quite dark space. She says that yellow color was important to her. Yellow color on the front of the artworks and yellow color on roots are completely different. Grosse took an object that everybody knows and turn it to a something else that has a feeling of mystery. During the interview Katharina Grosse explains how she came up with this artwork; she says, “Something has happened to the trees. We don’t know what it is. But they are not where they normally are.”

Photo-montage Assignment