Author: Olivia

1

Sandro Botticelli:

The Birth of Venus

, 1485-1486, tempera on canvas, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

2

Susie Hodge,

Art: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Artists and Their Works

(London: Quercus

Editions, 2013), page 30.

3

Norbert Wolf,

Durer

(Hohenzollernring: Taschen, 2016) page 45.

4

Gustav Klimt:

The Kiss

, 1907-1908, oil and gold leaf, Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna.

5

Rene Magritte:

The Lovers

, 1928, oil paint, Musem of Modern Art, New York.

6

Tracy Eire, “Kari-Lise Alexsandra: Wet Works”

Beautiful Bizarre

, August 10, 2017.

7

Lopesi, Lana.

False divides

. Wellington, Bridget Williams Books Limited, 2018. Page 23

Bibliography

8

Avrum Stroll. (1998, July 20).

Epistemology Philosophy: Gnoseology, theory of knowledge.

Britannica.

9

Retrieved May 12, 2022.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/epistemology

19

Roberts Hawaii.

The spirit behind ‘aloha’

. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2022, from

The Spirit Behind ‘Aloha’

11

Aluli-Meyer, Manulani.

Indigenous and Authentic: Hawaiian Epistemology and the Triangulation of

meaning.

In the handbook of critical and indigenous methodologies

.

Edited by Norman Denzin, Yvonna S.

Lincoln, and Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Los Angeles, Sage. 2008.

12

Cohen, Joshua I., “Fauve Masks: Rethinking modern “primitivist” uses of African and Oceanic art, 1905-8″,

Art

Bulletin

vol. 99, Issue 2 (June 2017) page 19, Art & Architecture Complete

13

Sieber, Roy, “Tradition and Creativity in Tribal Art” ed. Daniel P. Biebuyck (Berkeley: University of California Press,

1969), 194-95

14

Marina Abramovic,

Rhythm 0

, 1974, performance, studio Morra, Naples.

15

Catherine Wood, eds.

Rhythm 0

. (Presented by the Tate Americas Foundation, 2017)

16

Kristen Renzi, “Safety in Objects: Discourses of Violence and the Value – The “Rokeby Venus” and “Rhythm 0”’

SubStance #130, Vol. 42, no. 1, 2013: page 120

17

Frederick Engels, “How Capitalism turns air into a Commodity”, Socialist Worker, 17 Jul 2022

2

John Molyneux,” Socialism can work”, Socialist Worker, 01 Jan 2009

18

Timothy J Freeman,

Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus

, University of Hawaii system, 2010.

19

Charlie Gates,

From Amazon to Kiwi gallery

, Press, the, 2022, p11.

20

Gwynneth Porter eds,

Bury the Lede

, (Christchurch Art Gallery, 2022).

https://www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz/bulletin/207/bury-the-lede

21

Charlie Gates,

Rare Amazonian tree rubber features in new Christchurch art show

, Stuff, 2022.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/128162073/rare-amazonian-tree-rubber-features-in-new-

christchurch-art-show

22

Charlie Gates,

From Amazon to Kiwi gallery

, Press, the, 2022, p11.

23

Albert Camus,

The Myth of Sisyphus

, London: Penguin, 2005, p.119.

In the finest manner, this brief forced me to reevaluate my own artistic approach, breaking away from just painting I was able to widen my practice with 3D sculpture. I was able to convey a number of concepts that I had been following in my paintings, but it allowed me to literally bring them to life through sculpture. Finding various uses for discovered objects and adding my own unique perspective to already existing objects was something I really enjoyed doing. Through styles and aesthetic inspirations, I was able to personify objects and play with the idea of their function. Adding more of my own handcrafted sculpture, such as ceramics and more figurative pieces that I’ve created in the wet lab, is something I would have liked to explore more during this brief. Additionally, I believe that giving life to goods that were considered to be “rubbish” gave my pieces greater significance and contributed to the extremely pertinent concept of repurposing objects that would otherwise have been abandoned. I have developed skills during this brief that I will undoubtedly carry over into my future works; working more with sculpture has always been something I’ve wanted to venture into. Overall I have enjoyed this brief and has felt like a great way to finish my first year here at AUT. 

Found objects that are prevalent in everyone’s day-to-day life. These objects give the impression of the presence of human life. I chose found objects that had a sense of decoration or to be used as an ornament, but still have a function in a household. These objects don’t just provide a job like lighting up a room, but they also show the styles, art forms, and art movements like the Edwardian-style lamp I found. Placing a plaster cast of a human face lets the human form become part of the decorativeness of the piece. I carried this idea by placing a mirror on one of the lamps, the viewer themselves becomes part of the work. with this idea, I also wanted to link it back to the idea of human presence. When looking at this piece, you become aware of your own presence and also have the potential to make eye contact with someone walking past the mirror.

I wanted to use objects that primarily are used for producing sources of light, and the light is often protected within these objects, whether it be glass or plastic casing, or even just a lampshade. by personifying these objects, it has the theme of privacy or even surveillance, something hiding or watching you. Starting this brief, I liked the idea of using found objects rather than making my own sculptures with the intention of using personification to give an artistic quality to my work. as humans, we often do find ourselves, giving human qualities to inanimate objects, even decorating in style so that the objects reflect our own tastes. Even placing the lamp on the shelf that I’ve made to look homemade or worn, reflects the idea of taste of preference within a home environment. When you walk into someone’s house for the first time, the first step you take, and you are immediately showing what type of person they are, by the choices of decoration, colours, or how the house has been lived in. Another interesting part of these ideas is the fact that these are all found objects that people wanted to get rid of or were abandoned.

In week 12 I focused on collecting ideas and found objects to fit my theme and concepts I developed while researching artists. While continuing my idea of human connection to objects I started to follow this idea with privacy or surveillance. The objects I had researched other artists using invoked the idea of human presence but I also wanted to see if I could include protection by encasing something or something watching you with the impression of something hiding or with a face staring at you in plain sight.

Objects I found to utilize my ideas were three lamps, all with different styles and in different conditions. The first black lamp I found was in perfect condition and the other two had signs of rust and wear, especially the outdoor white one I found which had paint chipping off of it. I also had an old mosquito net – one to hang above a bed – I thought I could create a veil over one of my objects or one of the plaster faces. Thinking of my final installment I went to the 3d lab to create shelves and a small plinth for my sculptures, I thought that this could also lean into recreating a home ornament since all my objects reflect that idea.

Doris Salcedo:

This idea was inspired by the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo with how she used common objects to step in as a person and represent their presence or absence. Instead of continuing to build a function, the object’s purpose subsequently develops to symbolize a person. Salcedo used the chairs to appear for the amount of deaths and war victims by using thousands of chairs to represent their absence that displayed an overwhelming number to the viewers. The chairs where placed within a huge ally, contributing to the overwhelming size. This isn’t the only time Salcedo has utilized negative space in her work, in one of her gallery exhibitions she used furniture such as book cases and cabinets to fill with concrete. She then deems these objects useless and the viewer feels blocked and disconnected from this work as she declares these objects shut off  in terms of their original use, with a forced disablement to anyone who could use it in the future.

I want to continue Salcedo’s concept of suggesting a person’s relationship to an object’s use. Finding functional objects, adding items to them, or completely removing them from usage to illustrate the connection or separation of a person with the object.

Ann Veronica Janssens: 

Janssens places mirrors often with a colour or iridescent tint within exhibitions that becomes interactive with the viewers of the exhibition. The reflection of the viewer or others in the room are literally reflected with in the work, you become apart of the work by just standing next to it. You are compelled to stop, gaze, and engage with her work because it physically contains the viewer’s or the other people in the room’s reflection.

In order to continue the idea of connecting people to an object, I want to employ this similar concept to make use of someone’s own reflection. A mirror may seem mundane, but when it is displayed in an exhibition, you become the piece, which is the artist’s objective. It can make you stop and wonder why this was the artists intentions and way your own physical appearance is relevant to the connection of this piece.

Moving into the second phase of the ‘What is Movement’ brief I took some of the concepts and ideas I had outside the studio. I’ve used wire and decorative items in studio to fashion gold wire into vines and floral designs. Taking these concepts outside, I experimented with the concept of an “industrial fungus,” looking for a worn-out building to utilize and considering how I would apply my concept to a decaying wall.

For my site-specific work, I crafted wire and beads as well as other decorative items I had and turned them into vines and steams. I found a wall that had layers of paint chipping and its plaster wall breaking from the corners. To create the “industrial fungus,” I embedded my sculptural vines into the crumbling wall and made it appear as though it were sprouting from the surface.

Francis Upritchard:

Francis Upritchard is a New Zealand artist who makes a series of bizarre ornaments by modeling the human body and figure. Additionally, she works with clay, fabrics and ceramics but im looking into her works that incorporate objects into her sculptures. Upritchard incorporates furniture like cabinets and tables for her pieces to interact with, that gives the impression of unique home art, giving a sorted placement and reference to her ideas.

Her figures’ placements and decorativeness allow the human body to stand in for an ornament; the skin of the figures is frequently painted with designs of patterns and bold colors, giving each figure a distinct personality and identity. Giving it this home setting applies the idea of individualism of ones personal taste and choice of decorating.

When I went to see Upritchard’s Paper, Creature, Stone exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery earlier this year, I was struck by the way she used the human body with various elements, including stones and exquisitely detailed fabrics. Her art emphasises using used resources to make something new and combines political critics of capitalism through the utilisation of manual labour and repurposing disgarded materials. 

I wish to apply the same concept of employing ornamentation or the human body as a display of individual style and personified household items to my own work, working with found objects and decorative styles. 

Suji Park:

The New Zealand-Korean artist Suji Park uses the human body and ceramics to produce surreal decorative pieces, much like Francis Upritchard. Using a plastic plinth to accommodate her sculptures, Park has previously experimented with the idea of using ceramic pots, plants, and other earthy materials to be incased in colorful blocks.

In her work, Park uses a wide range of materials, including detailed ceramics, soil, plants, and miscellaneous objects. Her use of colour and items inspired me to produce something similar when I saw her work in the Auckland Art Gallery this year. By evoking earthy materials and emulating her use of incasing, I hope to produce a more industrial interpretation of Suji Parks’ concepts with found objects rather than ceramics.

Wet lab: 

This week in the wet lab we made slip molds from our plaster casts. I made three molds that came out cracked and full of air holes, I decided to carve into these imperfections to make them unrecognizable as fruit, hoping to create something I could use in studio. My wax molds come out a lot better than I expected and I loved the foggy off-white colour they had. I made most of my molds with plaster and wax to create objects that I could coordinate with the found marble lamp I found. We also made pinkysil casts of a small object of our choice, I choose a small figure of a skull. I made a series of skulls, experimenting with ways I could carve and combine wax and plaster.

Sculpture drawing: 

I used the experiments I made in the wet labs as drawings inspired by Rachel Whiteread as starting ideas for my main sculpture work. I played with the concepts of fabric or plastic textures and hand marks. I also incorporated wire, beads, and marbles to create a floral or industrial fungus. This gave me ideas of jewelry or found objects to create relationships with materials and objects that already have a specific purpose.

On Tuesday we were introduced to the ‘what is movement?’ sculpture brief, and the following afternoon we had a cast-making workshop introducing us to working in the wet labs.

Wet lab: 

In the wet lab workshop, we learned how to make a mold of either a fruit or vegetable starting with encasing half of the object with clay to make a sealed dome for the plaster. After making two sides of the plaster cast, we now have a mold to make a detailed replica of our fruit/vegetable. I think this is a beneficial skill and look forward to casting more objects for my sculpture works.

Found objects: 

To help with ideas for our future sculpture project, we went to Super Trash to collect items to work with. I picked up two lamps, one was an Edwardian-style outdoor lamp, and the other was a marble bedside table lamp that also has an old English style. These lamps gave me a series of ideas and following the verb list I wanted to “remove” or “replace” and play around with the concept of light.

Verb list video:

On Wednesday we were asked to make a video of us acting or creating a chosen verb with either material or performing them, I decided on the verbs “replace” and “dismantle”.

Reflection:

During this painting brief, I explored many different ways to use paint to form expression and mark-making. In the beginning, I focused a lot on dripping and layering watery paint to build up textures and patterns. When I started using oil paint, my work turned into thick blurred textures that I focused on blurring as a form of mark-making. Throughout this brief I paid attention to colour and how cool and warm tones could work with or against each other.

The brief was about mark-making and I think that I struggled with what that could look like when starting a painting. With painting technically, everything is a mark with a brush or tool to make an image, so I struggled with how to translate the brief’s meaning into my practice.

Overall I am pleased with my work, I really enjoyed this brief I felt I learned a lot about how the devil is not in the detail when it comes to making a painting with expression, you can create a very expressionist piece with just the right choice of shapes and colours.