Category Archives: Fine Art

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Task 8. Appropriation

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Appropriation of Dana Schutz’s Painting ‘Open Casket’ Showing the Dead Body of Emmett Till- 1941-1955

What Dana Schutz creates intrigues me. Her political and racial fearlessness is something that I aspire to emulate, successfully and creatively delving into topics that cause discomfort when addressed. Her work is characterful and textured in pieces such as ‘Sneeze’, a collection produced after her graduating from Columbia, with layered paint and embodying “
what it feels like to sneeze”. Other work like ‘Self-eaters’, a fictitious group made up by Schutz, who eat themselves and can later revive their missing limbs, is for her stylistically and conceptually more common; she does not normally paint about reality or publicised events.

Held in the Whitney biennial in 2016, Schutz’s ‘Open Casket’ caused an uproar. Black protesters stood in front of the piece so as the white audience couldn’t easily consume the work. Furthermore, a letter by Hannah Black, an artist and writer, was written to the curators of the exhibition stating that the painting should be ‘destroyed’.

Throughout the process of my research I knew that I wanted to work with Schutz’s ‘Open Casket’. However, I decided to bring it forward to the contemporary issues that live on today regarding black oppression and racism. I took four black figures that have been popular in the public eye over the last few decades; BeyoncĂ© Knowles, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Michael Jackson. I used their faces to cover Emmett Till’s, whose face led to so much grief and legal injustice. (Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were acquitted of both murder and kidnaping, later admitting in an interview that they were the killers.)

My final appropriated piece is Emmett Till’s face covered by a pencil drawing of Michael Jackson. Jackson’s determination to remove his racial identity highlights the segregation that still is present in society. Born a black man, he died with the appearance of a white Caucasian male.

 

 

 

 

  1. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/10/why-dana-schutz-painted-emmett-till (last visited 10/11/17)
  2. https://conversations.e-flux.com/t/hannah-blacks-letter-to-the-whitney-biennials-curators-dana-schutz-painting-must-go/6287 (last visited 10/11/17)
  3. http://www.zachfeuer.com/exhibitions/dana-schutz-self-eaters-and-the-people-who-love-them-3/ (last visited 10/11/17)

task 12

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When I thought about making a large work smaller I was inspired to write about an idea I had remembering an exhibition I saw last year at white cube viewing Anselm Kiefer’s work. Kiefer tends to work on a very large scale using lots of different media to create complex textures. In a series of his work you can see cut outs from other canvases suck onto other canvases to create even bigger pieces of work. This creates more detail in his paintings. The idea of cutting up the actual canvas is a very interesting idea to me. I’d like to experiment with this idea with an opposite effect by simplifying and making the work smaller. For example I might choose a piece I had big ambitions for, a painting that was very complex. From a painting like this I could re-work the piece by cutting around the most visible shapes and forms to take away from other complexities within the painting. I would then place this cut out onto a smaller canvas with a background that would contrast with less texture and noise. This would simplify the main aspects of the original painting and also create some interesting negative space.

task 11

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In summary the blog posts have helped me theoretically understand my work along with others. The tasks have allowed me to understand the development of my work and ideas better. In particular the invention of my own mode of practice was particularly useful to narrow down the specific media’s I wanted to work with. Another task I particularly enjoyed was appropriating an image. Before this I viewed using other people’s ideas in my work as wrong. Now looking back I feel like I was being very narrow minded. I wanted to be individual in my work but now I have done this task I can see that you can still make work that is different whilst relating to another’s concept. Task 10 was helpful in thinking about the basic concepts and ideas of my work. The tasks set based on research were also interesting and helpful. The book review was in particular a challenge for me as I chose an in-depth book based on an unfamiliar subject however it was also very rewarding learning about something completely alien to me. I also analysed three pieces of work in depth that I had not looked into before. By far, the task I struggled with the most was comparing texts. From this I learnt to reread over things until you understand them better.

task 10

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Memory, Psychological, Terror, Distortion, Abstract, Experimental, Fractured, Presence, Light, Vibrancy

I selected this image to represent my work as it expresses my current practice and illustrates a number of areas I’m presently interested in. The words selected reflect on areas of my study. The observer is initially drawn toward the lightest parts of the image which in this event is the face. Their eye then observes the brighter hues for instance the purple clothing and green background. The yellow and purple contrast alongside each other, creating a fascinating composition. I’m enormously interested in vibrancy drawing the viewer into my work. I have been particularly involved with the awareness of terror and the mark produced in people’s memories from this. This is a glitched photograph of a painting I made of a woman I had a nightmare of.

Task 12 – Ambition: scale, texture and complexity in practice

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The picture shown above is a quick sketch to illustrate my plan of making Hungarian Forints printed over with the face of George Soros taken from the infamous posters made by the Hungarian government to make Soros the boogie man of Hungary.

Continuing my work on the Soros posters made me curious about how further I could develop this project as I could clearly see more potential in this. Keeping the theme of having him present in our every-day life through political propaganda all the time and having him present in any space in Hungary I started to think about where to reuse his “iconic” image. I chose money because it is an object that is similar to advertisements and posters in that it is present in our every-day life. What’s more, we are forced to use money on a daily basis unable to escape it making it similar to the Hungarian government’s aggressive hate campaign in that context.

Having him present on Hungarian currency is especially ironic considering the fact that the government is demonizing him because of his status as an oligarch. By putting his image on Hungarian forints I put him on an imagined pedestal with other Hungarian people such as Count Istvan SzĂ©chenyi who has been presented with the title of The biggest Hungarian of all-time for his generous charities to develop and modernize Hungary in the 19’th century.

Despite all the criticism George Soros is the second biggest benefactor of Hungary till today. Next in line right after Count Széchenyi.

REFERENCES

444. (2017). KözlemĂ©nyt adott ki a Fidesz Soros György vĂ©delmĂ©ben! – 444. [online]
Available at: https://444.hu/2016/05/26/kozlemenyt-adott- ki-a- fidesz-soros- gyorgy-
vedelmeben [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Kovåcs, Z., Woods, J., Kovåcs, Z., Kovåcs, Z., Kovåcs, Z., Györgyi, B., Kovåcs, Z., Lajtai-
SzabĂł, G., ErdƑ-BonyĂĄr, K., Mezei, L., News, D., BĂ©ni, A., Mezei, L., News, D., News, D.,
ErdƑ-Bonyár, K., Kovács, Z., ErdƑ-Bonyár, K. and News, D. (2017). DK: Orbán, Hungary
have lot to thank to Soros – Update – Daily News Hungary. [online] Daily News Hungary.
Available at: https://dailynewshungary.com/dk-orban- hungary-have- lot-to- thank-to- soros/
[Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Task 11 – Summarise your blog and reflect on what you have learned from the process

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My blog has become a platform for celebrating diversity through art and liberation from alienation through self-representation and encouraging to break out of the boxes through creativity.

My goals are clear. I believe in art’s power to shape society and I also believe in social engagement. I want to urge a shift in social-paradigms and to replace the material and consumerist value with intellectual cultural and personal value.

I want to create an art space that is free of class, race and gender inequality and that is encouraging people to start to think freely and becoming more sensitive to socio-political problems and to start to shape the world around them so that our society can be a more fair place to live in.

Through my work on this blog, I learned valuable skills from the process. It was a nice experience teaching me how to collect materials around me and where to look for information to represent my ideas. I still have a lot to learn through but I became more confident in my skills in collecting ideas and resources and reflecting on them.

Task 10 – Encapsulation: Statements/Presentations/Exhibitions

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#Bills #Debts #Waste #Burial #Alienation #Consume #Collect #Own #Beurocracy #Capitalism

Most of my present practice includes collecting materials that usually has no artistic value but are strongly connected to our identity and often tells a very intimate story of who we are.

In a capitalistic state apparatus what we own is often more important what we know or who we are, so the lack of materialistic possessions, lack of money and being indebted is also a very important factor that can play into our alienation burying and suffocating us.

Collecting these materials and rearranging them into art-works offers a very intimate self-representation while also liberating from alienation.

Task 9 – Philosophy and Theory and Politics

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Guerilla Girls is an artist-activist group founded in 1985 in New York dedicated to fighting sexism and racism in the art world. The group was made up of anonymous women artists wearing gorilla masks and using pseudo names of deceased women artists namely Kate Hollwitz, Alma Thomas, Rosalba Carriera, Frida Kahlo, Julia de Burgos and Hanna Höch.

The group began in response to the exhibition International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture in MoMA. The exhibition claimed to display the era’s top artists from 17 countries but the roster only included 13 women and even fewer people of color and none of them were women. To add salt to the injury Kynaston McShine the show’s curator commented in interviews that “Any artist that wasn’t in the show should rethink ‘his’ career.”

It was started as a protest against the exhibition with little success but they later started to look for other methods for protesting through the use of street art, posters, prints, and actions.The girls naturally gained popularity and gradually became an embraced part of the art world.

The group has a clear feminist agenda and later expanded their focus to include racism as well becoming the self-proclaimed consciousness of the art-world by heavily criticizing its sexism and racism. They started to do projects outside of New York as well enabling them to address sexism and racism internationally too.

Through their work, the girls have witnessed many positive changes and brought attention to the sexism and racism in the art-world on an international scale and influenced a more inclusive approach from the part of curators and art-dealers.

REFERENCES

The Museum of Modern Art. (2017). An International Survey of Recent Painting and
Sculpture | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2220
[Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Tate. (2017). Who are Guerrilla Girls? | Tate. [online] Available at:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/guerrilla-girls- 6858/who-are- guerrilla-girls [Accessed 7
Dec. 2017].

Sparkmovement.org. (2017). SPARK Artists: The Guerrilla Girls and activism as art | Spark
Movement. [online] Available at: http://www.sparkmovement.org/2014/09/09/spark-artists-
the-guerrilla- girls-and- activism-as- art/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

task 9

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Antony Gormely’s contemporary sculpture entitled “Bed” was made in 1980 using hollows of eaten layers of sliced white bread. A key theme in this piece is destruction of matter through consumption of solids transferring to liquids and gasses. Theoretically this could convey religious belief of the body’s ability to transform into spirit. Contrastingly Robert Rauschenberg’s piece “Bed”made in 1955 uses everyday found objects meanwhile Gormely’s materials are bought to construct the art. There is a similarity between the two pieces in that they both depict human form and are very intimate. Gormely’s piece is intimate as the volume of the artist’s body is represented by empty space. Rauschenberg’s piece is intimate too in as it’s a self portrait that uses items that belonged to him used in his daily life. Another personal piece that relates to the of a bed focal point is “My Bed” by Tracey Emin’s made in 1998 with Mattress, linens, pillows and objects. Although this work doesn’t depict human form it is still alike in that there are intimate details of the artist’s life which engage the viewer with ideas of universal emotions. The idea of universal emotions is similar to Gormely’s work in which he believes his work is universal as it refers to the inevitable obliteration of all substances through consumption and furthermore the universal philosophical notion of God’s existence. The main concept for Gormely’s piece is depicting an intimate self portrait that relates to ideas of universal philosophy.

Task 8 – Appropriation

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In terms of appropriation, I was mostly interested in the everyday pictures we see on a daily basis like advertisements, posters, and political advertisements and turning them into pieces of art-work.

For my work, I chose the Hungarian government’s propaganda campaign against the Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros. While it might be unheard in the UK, but the figure and especially the face of Soros became kind of iconic or anti-iconic in Hungary due to the current government’s attempt to demonize him through an excessive poster campaign and also trying to shut-down the Central European University founded by Soros in 1992 and passing legalizations to force non-governmental organisations to declare themselves “foreign-funded” making a very xenophobic atmosphere in the country.

The poster campaign includes the face of Soros printed on a poster with a text saying “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh!” The posters themselves are put in metro-stations, or the walls of buildings as giant posters, and even on the floor of busses, metro-trains, and trams often more than one next to each other, just to illustrate how un-subtle this campaign is.

The Hungarian government is targeting Soros because he spent a lot of money on open society foundations and on civil organizations to help reduce the poverty in Hungary and in other post-communist countries in eastern-Europe.

Understandably many Hungarian Jews are upset and find this very anti-semitic mainly because Soros has Jewish roots and the posters are often becoming the targets of Anti-semitic vandalism and graffiti, and the posters on the floors of Budapest trams were deliberately placed so passengers would have to tread on Soros’s face which brings back many disturbing memories in holocaust survivors.

For my work, I took the face of Soros from the posters and printed it on different colored papers influenced by Andy Warhol’s prints of Marilyn Monroe to illustrate how much it pushed into people’s face and everyday life and how un-subtle this campaign is.

REFERENCES

BBC News. (2017). How a university became a battle for Europe’s identity. [online]
Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39780546 [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

BBC News. (2017). Hungary vilifies financier with posters. [online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe- 40554844 [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Herszenhorn, D., Baume, M., Ariùs, Q., Ariùs, Q. and Bayer, L. (2017). Hungary’s Freudian
political fight: OrbĂĄn vs Soros. [online] POLITICO. Available at:
https://www.politico.eu/article/hungarys-freudian- political-fight- orban-vs- soros/ [Accessed 7
Dec. 2017].