Category Archives: Coursework

Watch Richard Serra’s films ‘Hand catching Lead’ and ‘Boomerang’. Familiarize yourself with his work and say why you think he made these films.

Richard Serra is mostly known for his minimalist sculptures that include works such as Tilted arc(1988) and Fulcrum(1987). Serra’s work was often site specific that gave the viewers an experience that was not just visual but physical as well. The placement of Tilted arc, a 12ft tall,120 foot long 15 ton slab of steel, across Federal Plaza in New York altered people’s experience of the space they inhabited. Instead of a sculpture that was looked at from a distance, Serra’s sculptures interacted and immersed themselves with the everyday lives of the inhabitants whilst altering their experience and perspective of that space (Dosh, M. s.d).

During the 1960’s Serra explored the new medium of film to create art. Two of such films were Hand catching lead (1968) and Boomerang (1974) with artist Nancy Holt. By exploring these films it is possible to understand why Serra made them.

Hand Catching Lead (1968) is a short silent 3 minute black and white 16mm film in which an outstretched hand attempts to catch pieces of lead that appear to drop from above. The entire film is focused just on the hand as it opens and closes sometimes catching the lead (then dropping it) and sometimes not. The film records a repetitive and continuous action without any climax (Bukhari, 2017).

Serra was interested in the working processes of creating sculpture, whether by hand or through industrial means, and seems to explore this through film (Clark, M.E s.d. Accessed 31/07/2020). The artist’s 1967 “Verb List Compilation: Actions to Relate to Oneself” included verbs such as “to roll,” “to crease” and “to fold,”. Chayka (2011) explains that ‘the action, signified by the verb, becomes the art, rather than the resultant object.’ In the case of Hand catching lead the artist is focused on the action catching. Other works of this period capture the actions of the verbs splashing and scraping.

In Boomerang (1974) the artist Nancy Holt was recorded by Serra whilst hearing her words repeated back to her after a one second delay through headphones. The effects are quite extraordinary and Holt is able to articulate her experience during the 10 minute video.

Holt states ‘I am once removed from myself’, ‘I have a feeling that I am not where I am,’ ‘words become like things’, and ‘I feel that this place is removed from reality.’ Her thought process becomes interrupted and she starts to experience an altered sense of reality. Her experience of displacement and altered reality mirrors the effects that Serra creates through his sculptures that aim to disrupt and alter the perspectives of the people interacting with it.

It is likely that Serra produced these films to explore the creation of art through a newly available medium. His interests in the processes of creating sculpture are evident in Hand catching lead and the repeated effects of displacement caused by site specific sculpture are reproduced in Boomerang.

List of Illustrations

Fig 1. Serra, R. (1981) Photograph by Susan Swider [steel] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-serra-1923/lost-art-richard-serra (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Fig 2. Serra, R. (1968) Hand Catching Lead [Film still] At: https://lightcone.org/en/film-1326-hand-catching-lead (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Fig 3. Serra, R. & Holt, N. (1974) Boomerang [film still] At: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Richard-Serra-and-Nancy-Holts-Boomerang-1974-9_fig9_325958388 (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Bibliography

Bukhari, K. (2017) Movements of Media in Yvonne Rainer’s Hand Movie (1966) and Richard Serra’s Hand Catching Lead (1968) In: The Internationl Journal of Screendance Vol 8 (2017) At: https://screendancejournal.org/article/view/5366/4641 (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Chayka, K. (2011) Richard Serra Cleans Off Desk, Makes Art At: https://hyperallergic.com/18491/richard-serra-lead/ (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Clark, M.E. (s.d) The Artist and his Work: Richard Serra At: https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/learn/schools/teachers-guides/the-artist-and-his-work (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Dosh, M. (S.d) Richard Serra, Tilted Arc At: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-american-art/minimalism-and-earthworks/a/richard-serra-tilted-arc (Accessed 31/07/2020)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Serra, R. (1968) Hand Catching Lead [You tube video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NBSuQLVpK4 (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Serra, R. & Holt, N. (1974) Boomerang [You tube video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z32JTnRrHc (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Spampinato, F. (2015) Richard Serra: Sculpture, television and the status quo In: Vintage Autumn 2015 At: https://necsus-ejms.org/richard-serra-sculpture-television-status-quo/ (Accessed 31/07/2020)

Take a work of contemporary art and imagine it was not and never had been a work of art.What is the difference? (100 words)

If Tracy Emin’s My Bed (1998) had not become a work of art, it would just be part of someones (in this case the artist’s) personal living space. The clutter around the bed is unique to the individual concerned and their personal experience of life. Every human being has a sleeping space so a bed surrounded by clutter/objects would just be seen as a part of everyday living.

Bringing the ‘taken for granted’ out of its functioning position and placing it within a gallery setting isolates it in a way that allows us to observe this private living space openly and in a new way. By being a work of art, we have been given permission to scrutinise the objects scattered around the bed and deduce the character and state of mind of the individual who inhabited it.

If this installation was not in a gallery it would not be seen as art. In a gallery where it can be viewed and analysed it now becomes art.

Reflections

I think that Emin’s work becomes a piece of art in the gallery due to the symbolism associated with the objects surrounding the bed and how they represent the emotional state and experiences of an individual over a period of time. Would this art installation work if Emin was not in emotional turmoil at the time? Probably not.

List of illustrations

Fig 1. Emin, T. (1998) My Bed  at the Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Gallery, London, 1999-2000. © Stephen White At: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-tracey-emins-my-bed-ignored-societys-expectations-women (Accessed 24/07/2020)

Bibliography

Cohen, A. (2018) Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ ignored society’s expectations of women. At: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-tracey-emins-my-bed-ignored-societys-expectations-women (Accessed 24/07/2020)

Access a summary of Kant’s Critique of Judgement and select three key points that you should then further summarise in approximately 50 words each.

Judgements of Beauty/Taste (Aesthetic judgements)

A judgement of beauty/taste is based on an individual’s feelings. The object is perceived by the subject so the judgement is therefore subjective. Kant explains that this judgement is ‘disinterested’ as it has no purpose and is an end in itself. A flower is just ‘beautiful’. Aesthetic judgements are universally felt (sparknotes, accessed 12/02/2020).

Judgements of the sublime

The experience of the sublime goes beyond the limits of human comprehension and holds an air of mystery. Experiences of the sublime are never negative and are usually attached to nature. For example, the movement of clouds or mist on a river. Experiences of the sublime are also subjective, universal judgements. Kant argues that the sublime rests in the realms of reason and not in the object itself (sparknotes, accessed 12/02/2020).

The critique of Teleological judgment

The concept of Teleology is concerned with the ‘explanation of phenomena in term of the purpose things serve rather than of the cause by which they arise.’ (Lexico, Oxford online, accessed 12/07/2020). Kant argues that this is useful in scientific study but that the principles are not at work in nature. Organisms must be viewed in teleological terms as ‘natural purposes’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 12/07/2020).

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_Judgment#:~:text=The%20Critique%20of%20Judgment%20(Kritik,the%20German%20philosopher%20Immanuel%20Kant. (Accessed 12/07/2020)

https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/kant/section3/ (Accessed 12/07/2020)

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-aesthetics/ (Accessed 12/07/2020)

Apply the dialectic diagram to Barr’s. What would count as a thesis, an antithesis and a synthesis. You will need to refer to images of art works for a persuasive answer.

By studying Barr’s chart, it can be shown that at the beginning of the 20th Century Cubism acts as a thesis whilst Fauvism acts as an opposing antithesis. The emergence of Orphism can be seen as a synthesis of both of these two movements, being influenced by and using elements of both. To demonstrate this synthesis, the fundamentals of each movement will be discussed and art works indicated.

Cubism (Thesis)

Cubism was invented around the year 1907 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Analytical cubism gave way to synthetic cubism as the artists developed their ideas. Picasso and Braque developed a new form of realism that abandoned the traditional single point perspective form of representation. Instead they created a new form of realism to convey form and structure more accurately and convincingly. Inspired by Cezanne, who constructed forms out of different planes, Analytical Cubism used multiple viewpoints that created an experience of three dimensional objects in space and time. Movement is continuous as the viewer constructs, not just through sight but through thought as well, the suggestion of an object (Dempsey, 2002:85). Objects were reduced and fragmented to depict volume and mass in space.

Mandora (Fig 3.) illustrates the new perspective explored in analytical cubism. Overlapping planes, fragmented form and structure give the illusion of a more realistic depiction of subjects in space and time (Tate online s.d. Accessed 20/05/2020). It reflects our experience of life that flows through movement in time rather than exists in a static state.

In both Braque’s Mandora (Fig 3) and Picasso’s The Accordionist (Fig 4) the subject matter is similar. The two artists focused on neutral subject matter (still life) and completed their images in a subdued and monochromatic palette. This ensured that the whole of the viewers’ attention was focused upon the structure of the form and the density of the image.(Tate online s.d. accessed 20/05/2020)

In Synthetic Cubism (Fig 5), the artists started to flatten the image rather than breaking it down into multiple viewpoints. Experiments with collage, textures and patterns in their art helped to achieve this, alongside large blocks of colour (Dempsey, 2002:85).

Fuavism (Antithesis)

Fauvism was a movement that existed between 1905 and 1910 and included artists such as Henri Matisse and Andre Derain. After an exhibition at the salon d’automne in Paris, in 1905, the critic Louis Vauxcelles labelled this group of artists Les Fauves (wild beasts) due to their use of bold colours and wild brushstrokes . Unlike the cubists, who focused on realism of form, depth and structure through movement and time, the belief amongst this group of artists was that art should evoke emotional sensations through form and colour. The artists primarily expressed themselves through the use of bold, unnatural, strong colours which served to create atmosphere (Dempsey, 2002, 66).

Matisse’s Joy of Life (Fig 6) illustrates the Fauvist’s strong use of colour which creates a warm, inviting atmosphere. The curving simple lines create the forms of bodies reclining and relaxing amongst nature. The expression through colour and the simplified forms evokes sensations of pleasure and physical delight (Dempsey,2002:66). Similar to the cubists, the fauvists rejected traditional three-dimensional space and used flat areas of colour and spontaneous brushwork to flatten the surface of the canvas.

Scientific colour theory was important to the Fauvists and they paid particular interest in the 19th Century colour theories relating to the effects of complementary colours (Essaulova, s.d.). In Bridge to Charing Cross (Fig 7), Derain uses complementary colours to heighten the scene and allow the contrasting colours to heighten the impact of the painting.

Orphism (Synthesis)

The thesis (Analytical cubism) and the antithesis (Fauvism) act in opposition to one another. Cubism focuses on the structure of form and mass through time and space whereas Fauvism focuses on the expression of emotion through the use of colour and simple forms. Both movements reject the traditional forms of representation and flatten or give depth to the image. The synthesis for these two art movements is that of Orphism.

Orphism, that evolved from about 1912, included artists such as Frantisek Kupka, Robert Delauney and Sonia Delauney. These artists were highly influenced by the cubist and Fauvist movements taking elements from each. Fig 8. illustrates Delauney’s Red Tower which shows the representation of the subject matter from multiple viewpoints but also shows some Fauvist qualities by introducing a more striking subject matter and the use of bright bold colours.

As Orphism progressed, they started to move beyond reality into pure abstraction. There was a mystical and spiritual element to their paintings through the use of colour and shape. Like the Fauvists, colour theory became very important as they learnt the interrelationships of colour, light and movement and applied it to their work. Contrasting colours, colour harmonies and rhythms create expression that gives depth, form, movement and an emotional content (The art story, accessed 20/05/2020).

In the later stages of Orphism we can see a fusion of pure abstracted forms and an expressive interplay of colour (Fig 9. Prismes electriques) (Tate online, accessed 20/05/2020). The result is an expressive form of abstract art that draws attention to the flat surface of the canvas.

Orphism is a synthesis of Analytical cubism and Fauvism. Both movements rejected the traditional representation of three dimensional reality pushing them both towards near abstraction of form and a flattening of the image. The Orphists expressed themselves through bold bright colours based on colour theories of the time (Fauvism) and embraced the multiple fragmented viewpoints of cubism that ultimately led to pure abstraction.

Reflections

This was a very interesting exercise and it was fascinating to see how two movements could influence artists of the time. There seemed to be more opposing forces between Fauvism and Cubism than similarities, yet the two movements seemed to inspire the Orphists to create one of the earliest approaches to complete abstraction.

List of Illustrations

Fig 1. Diagram to illustrate Hegel’s dialectic of subjectivity and objectivity. At https://calmapossawi.tk/113-hegel-thesis-antithesis-synthesis-dialectic.php (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 2. Barr, A.H. (1936) Cubism and Abstract Art. At https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2748 (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 3. Braque, G. (1909-10) Mandora [oil on canvas] At https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/braque-mandora-t00833 (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 4. Picasso, P. (1911) The Accordionist [oil on canvas] At https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3426 (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 5. Gris, J. (1914) The Sunblind [oil on canvas] At https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/synthetic-cubism (Accessed 21/05/2020)

Fig 6. Matisse, H (1905) Joy of Life (Bonheur de Vivre) [oil on canvas] At https://www.henrimatisse.org/joy-of-life.jsp (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 7. Derain, A. (1906) Bridge to Charing Cross [oil on canvas] At https://arthive.com/andrederain/works/323773~Bridge_To_Charing_Cross (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 8. Delauney, R.(1912) The Red Tower [oil on canvas] At https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/1020 (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Fig 9. Delauney, S. (1914)Prismes electriques [oil on canvas] At https://www.tate.org.uk/press/press-releases/ey-exhibition-sonia-delaunay (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Bibliography

Bois, Y-A (2004) with B.Buchloh, H. Foster, R. Krauss. Art since 1900 London and New York, Thames and Hudson.

Dempsey, A. (2002) Styles, Schools and Movements Thames and Hudson Ltd. London.

Esaulova, A. Bridge to Charing Cross At https://arthive.com/andrederain/works/323773~Bridge_To_Charing_Cross (Accessed 20/05/2020)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphism_(art) (Accessed 20/05/2020)

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms Accessed 20/05/2020

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/orphism/artworks/ (Accessed 20/05/2020)

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fauv/hd_fauv.htm (Accessed 20/05/2020)

Say to what extent Giotti’s painting can serve to illustrate the quote be Deleuze. (200 words)

“Let us imagine something which is distinguished – and yet that from which it is distinguished is not distinguished from it. The flash of lightening for example, is distinguished from the black sky, but must carry the sky along with it… One would say that the bottom rises to the surface, without ceasing to be the bottom. There is, on both sides, something cruel – and even monstrous – in this struggle against an elusive adversary, where the distinguished is opposed to something which cannot be distinguished from it, and which continues to embrace that which is divorced from it.” (Deleuze, 2014:361 cited in OCA UVC handbook 2016:105)

In Giotti’s painting ‘The Kiss of Judas’ (1305), we are able differentiate the figure and the background. As there is no use of single point perspective or illusion of three dimensions, there is no ordering of the space (Olkowski 1999:17). This means that the bottom of the painting (or the distinguished background) rises up to the surface of the canvas, just as;

‘The flash of lightening… is distinguished from the black sky, but must carry the sky along with it… One would say that the bottom rises to the surface without ceasing to be the bottom.’ (Deleuze, 2014:361 cited in OCA UVC handbook 2016:105)

The figures in the painting are distinguished from the background yet carry the background with it. Deleuze describes this effect as ‘monstrous’ (Deleuze, 2014:361 cited in OCA UVC handbook 2016:105). Form and representation have been destroyed through the creation of a depth-less surface and a flattening of the image.

The figures in the ‘The King of Judas’ fresco, are static and flattened. They have all been painted form a side on perspective which further emphasises the flatness of the image. This resonates with the Ancient Egyptian art and writing which places the human form in a similar manner. Alongside the figures, the background has risen to the surface. The relationship between background and figure creates an ‘indifferent difference’ (Olkowski, 1999) between contradictory and inseparable entities. Olkowski describes this as a ‘highly differentiated kind of pictorial space[s] that draws attention to the surface of the picture’. Comparisons can be made to Greenberg’s theory on modernist art where the emphasis was places on drawing attention to the flat surface of the canvas.

List of Illustrations

Fig 1. Bodone di Giotto, (1305) The Kiss of Judas [Fresco] Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_of_Judas (Accessed 15/05/2020)

Bibliography

Belshaw, M. (2016) OCA Handbook for Understanding Visual Culture Open College of the Arts

Olkowski, D. (1999) Difference and Organic Representation in Gilles Deleuze and the Ruin of Representation (p.15-32) University of California Press: London At https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xdzqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=difference+and+organic+representation+olkowski&source=bl&ots=OFdeHocgZY&sig=ACfU3U3GI7cLKySlrXjPMjoc3RWJTJO-XQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo3KDd9rXpAhW0uXEKHSBJDt8Q6AEwAHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=difference%20and%20organic%20representation%20olkowski&f=false (Accessed 15/05/2020)