Advanced Sculpture, 2014

Project 2: Place
ARTIST RESEARCH

Andy Goldsworthy

Everything from leaves, flowers, stones, feathers, icicles and even the ever-changing flow of the river are a part of Andy Goldsworthy’s pallet, medium and tools for creation. Working outdoors with natural materials, Goldsworthy is sometimes portrayed as ‘a modern Druid; really he is much closer to a latter-day Impressionist (Lubow).’ Like those 19th-century painters, he is obsessed with the way sunlight falls and flickers, especially on stone, water and leaves. By creating sculptures made of all natural materials and constructing them in their original environment, Goldsworthy is able to observe the effects of time in nature. He lets nature work on its own, without the intervention of any instrument. Even in the winter, he might be found ‘soldering icicles’ (Lubow) into loops, starbursts, and curving lines using water as his solder and flux and, his bare hands to put it all together. Time and the notion of being temporary are aspects of life that the environment and every human has in common.

As stated in the essay, Intertwined Through Time: Andy Goldsworthy and His Masterpieces by Sheri Binkly, ‘Goldsworthy aims to help people notice nature once again and ponder all of its magical mysteries (Binkly).’  His notion of time and the temporary aspect of life play in to the concept of place because each of the places has its own conditions, advantages and disadvantages (Binkly). Using the natural outdoors as both a canvas, workspace and medium creates a scene where you may never know what Goldsworthy may come up with. Many artists struggle with how to convey an incidence in the real world and how to translate that into a canvas. Its two-dimensional nature and the specific materials that can be used to create on it, limit the use of a canvas. Goldsworthy skipped to using the real world as the materials and canvas, and in doing so, “he can illustrate aspects of the natural world—its color, mutability, energy—without resorting to mimicry (Lubowsky).”  Andy Goldsworthy’s creations profile themselves as artificial figures against a natural background. Lines, cracks, zigzags, spirals, chessboard patterns, star-shapes, spheres and eggs: these are all compositions that can be found in nature, but when applied to other materials in other contexts this is creating this juxtaposition. By maximizing what he has around him available in the place Goldsworthy is about to create these very intricate or simple, but minimal compositions.

When Andy Goldsworthy begins to create a body of art he doesn’t just pull out his pencil and pad of paper or power tools to construct a large sculpture, rather he uses his place as the supplier and canvas for his work. He attempts to blend his works in with the environments to create a visually aweing piece that assimilates with nature. Goldsworthy’s works are not always permanent but rather all subject to the elements of weather and of course time. The place and space in which Goldsworthy creates his bodies of work is very important to him being that he was influences by agriculture is whole life and has a deep connection with the earth.
For example his piece titled Snow Circles, created from building up and carving out a bull’s-eye like pattern keeping in mind how the sunlight will illuminate each of the rings. This sculpture is a prime example of how Goldsworthy using his place to influence his work and work on a strict time restriction. It is also known that eventually the sculpture will melt which is all too part of the process of creating this work of art. Place influences this piece of work in that the artist is working in the moment of the physical place rather then bringing materials with him or taking them back to the studio. Thus Goldsworthy just creates using what he has right there.

Probably most famous are Goldsworthy’s creations from stone. Strangler Cairn, one of his egg shaped creations is an example of the more permanent pieces made from carefully stacking and balancing gradient and slate rocks.  This piece was commissioned by the Department of Environment and Resource Management of Conondale National Park to create a "not-to-be-missed attraction (Shorten)." Although a controversy over the costs of the sculpture Goldsworthy used granite and slate from a local quarry, rather then rocks from the sight specifically and created it in hopes that it would eventually blend into its environment when a strangler fig grows over it (Shorten). Although the materials to create this sculpture were not from the sight one could argue that going a lot with the idea of ‘place’ he kept in mind how to blend and incorporate the natural elements together so that they would synthesize.  In other examples of these eggs Goldsworthy explains how he creates them as a gift to nature. He wants them to exist in this place, stand in the place and fall down in the place.
Finding the balance between the materials and the place of pure nature is what makes these bodies of work so awe inspiring that not can nature but man can also create them from nature directly

Images

Snow Circles, snow
http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Goldsworthy.html

Strangler Cairn, (granite and slate),Conondale National Park
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rock-art-by-andy-goldsworthy-worth-700000-built-in-remote-section-of-queensland-national-park/story-e6freoof-1226459300134

Citation:

  Lubow, Arthur. "35 Who Made a Difference: Andy Goldsworthy Read more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/35-who-made-a-difference-andy-goldsworthy-114067437/#WE1ohKA2jTi6d0Ch.99." History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian. Nov. 2005. Smithsonian. 28 Feb. 2014 <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/arts-culture/35-who-made-a-difference-andy-goldsworthy-114067437/#ixzz2uw5bePNy>.

Lubowsky, Susan. “Three Cairns.” Passage. New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishing, 2004. pgs. 93-125.

Binkly, Sheri. Intertwined Through Time: Andy Goldsworthy and His Masterpieces. Diss. South Dakota State University, 2009.

Shorten, Kristin. "Rock Art by Andy Goldsworthy worth $700,000 Built in Remote Section of Queensland National Park." Couriermail.com. N.p., 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 1 Mar. 2014. <http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rock-art-by-andy-goldsworthy-worth-700000-built-in-remote-section-of-queensland-national-park/story-e6freoof-1226459300134>.

Thomas Demand

Thomas Demand began as a sculptor and took up photography to record his short-lived paper constructions. Demand takes sites that have been glorified with their own stories about what happened in this place and makes their ‘fictional aura’ a literal one (Frank). The German artist creates weightless paper replicas of environments with social or political meaning.
He captures them on camera and then destroys them completely with nothing left but a photograph. In the photographs, their medium is clearly visible, preventing the models from looking fully real despite their meticulously detail. Some sources report the dioramas are life-sized but most are unsure since they are destroyed after. All that remains are ‘phantom images of ‘crime scenes’ of missing events (Greenneonlights Blog)’ which often appear just as familiar to us as they are mysterious.  Demand then exhibits, as his work, a large-scale photograph of the model. In the course of his practice, the artist invites us to understand what we are looking at, and in turn to become conscious of our process of understanding (National Gallery of Canada). Photographs can seem ‘convincingly real or strangely artificial (Marcoci).’ The works of Thomas Demand achieves an unsettling balance between the two.

At first sight, the subjects represented in Thomas Demand’s photographs seem like a common or familiar place to the viewer, but often they relate to scenes of cultural or political relevance, which have come to our attention through the mass media. Unlike Andy Goldsworthy who uses the environment or place to influence the work of Demand are exact replicas of an actual place.   Demand engages with the space by simply reconstructing out of paper. Demand’s artistic process and chosen subject matter suggest that there is something more is at stake in his photographs beyond  a simple photograph and the ‘photograph’s claimed indexical association (Weintraub) ’ with the real.
For example Kitchen (2004) based on soldiers' snapshots of the compound near Tikrit where Saddam Hussein was captured (The Telegraph). When you first look at the original photograph and the one created by Demand it is hard to see the difference. His pain staking work to recreate the image is very apparent and the amount of time and effort put in to creating his diorama is very apparent in the craftsmanship. You are almost transported to the place just as much any photograph would.
            Another example is Demand’s Junior Suite (2012) based on a photograph that was originally posted on the celebrity news website TMZ shortly after Whitney Houston’s death (Vogel). It depicted the singer’s last room service meal in the Beverly Hilton Hotel (Vogel). The death of Whitney Houston was a tragedy for many people because she was an icon. Thomas Demand’s attraction to these popular scenes allows him to engage with what it might have looked like. When you look at a photo you cannot get inside of it physically know what its like to be there. Demand discovered a way to almost jump in to the photograph with his dioramas.  Imagine if you got to see the hotel room of where the iconic diva, Whitney Houston died and had her last meal and hours what kind of emotion or mood that would put you in.
The last thing Demand wants to do is simulate reality. His pictures have no intention of deceiving viewers; rather, they give them the choice of taking part in the illusion themselves (Ruby). Illusion is not an act of deception; it is play. Demand explained in an interview about his piece Poll (2001), based off an image of the vote recount in Florida in the 2000 presidential race, that he doesn’t use paint to color any of his paper. He wants the viewer to be able to assimilate with the colors with something that they have already seen in the store. This way you can almost feel at home in the image (MoMA Multimedia).

Images

Küche (Kitchen), 2004

Junior Suite, 2012

Poll, 2001

Citation:
 
"National Gallery of Canada." Thomas Demand. The National Gallery of Canada, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. <https://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=27095>.

RUBY, ANDREAS. "Thomas Demand Memoryscapes." Parkett 62 (2001): 2-9. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.

"Thomas Demand." Web log post. Greenneonlights Blog. N.p., 6 Apr. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. <http://greenneonlight.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/thomas-demand/>.

Thomas Demand. Poll. 2001. New York: MoMA Multimedia, 2005. MP3.

Weintraub, Max. "On View Now | Thomas Demand’s Photographic Memory." Art21 Magazine. Art 21, 7 June 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. <http://blog.art21.org/2012/06/07/on-view-now-thomas-demands-photographic-memory/#.Ux87FnlbTwK>.

Frank, Priscilla. "Artist Spotlight: Thomas Demand's Paper World Photography (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/thomas-demands-paper-worlds_n_1724244.html>.

Marcoci, Roxana. "EXHIBITIONS: Thomas Demand." MoMA. MoMA, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/116>.

The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3675254/Thomas-Demand.html?image=3>.

Vogel, Carol. "A Remade Tabloid Image of Houston’s Last Meal." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/arts/design/image-of-whitney-houstons-last-meal-at-matthew-marks.html?_r=0>.