Project 1: Process
ARTIST RESEARCH

The works of Tara Donovan and Gabriel Orozco are those that exemplify process in sculpture. Their works are focuses of process: investigation and the exploration of material properties.

Tara Donovan

Tara Donovan is an artist based in New York City whose work consists of the repetition and accumulation of a single object into a larger, more remarkable structure. Much of these items are everyday objects, such as plastic cups, toothpicks, straws, etc., collected and glued together into structures “that suggest the wonders of nature.” (Carol King) For example, in her work Bluffs(2007), Donovan glued and stacked single white buttons a small layer at a time until the repeated buttons became reminiscent of the tall mountains in ancient Chinese art. (Oriane Stender)

          
Bluffs (2007)                        Bluffs (Detail)

In determining how a new material will be structured, Donovan says that her “investigations with materials address a specific trait that is unique to each material.”  It is in using these specific traits that moves her to create sculptures like Untitled (Plastic Cups) created in 2000.

Untitled (Plastic Cups) 2000

This work, complied of millions of simple plastic cups stacked together into a large grid, create an undulating piece that suggests the movement of waves on the ocean. Because the cups are simply stacked together, this piece can easily be deconstructed and rebuilt, or expanded or reduced to fit in any space.

By taking everyday objects and placing them in these forms, she motivates the viewer to look beyond an object’s simple form and more into their structural possibilities, allowing the viewer to interpret what they see as they see fit.

“I assemble units that I reproduce and collect in various ways to discover how they will behave visually in a population.” –Tara Donovan

Gabriel Orozco

Gabriel Orozco is a Mexican artist who uses the investigation of properties and materials in his sculptural works. He is known to have worked with clay, painting, photography, bone, and numerous items he found lying on the streets. With everyday objects, he moves to “twist conventional notions of reality and engage the imagination of the viewer.” (art21)

Such is found in Orozco’s work Black Kites (2001), a human skull with a graphite-drawn checkerboard pattern. The pattern emphasizes the shape and volume of the skull, while removing the reality of what we perceive as bone. Orozco has a pechant for the geometric, which appears in other works.

Black Kites (2001)

In his work My Hands Are My Heart (1991), Orozco has been photographed as he presses a lump of clay between his hands before presenting it, which appears as an abstract form of a heart. In this piece, he explores the versatile abilities of the clay and emphasizes the process in which the clay is altered.

       
My Hands Are My Heart (1991)

In addition to his sculptures, Orozco has produced photographs of dozens of everyday items (such as discarded items on the street) and paintings. Orozco’s work is an investigation into the materials and how they can be altered, rather than the product of the final piece.

“The way the work is produced affects the final result – not just the politics, but also the aesthetics.” –Gabriel Orozco

References and Images:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/arts/design/28kino.html

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/stender/stender4-3-06.asp

http://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/2008/09/tara_donovan?currentPage=1

http://www.art21.org/artists/gabriel-orozco