Project 1: Process
ARTIST RESEARCH

Natasha Mercado
Advanced Sculpture 308
Artist Research 1: Ai Weiwei

            Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing, China in 1957 and is considered to be a very outspoken human rights activist. Because of his character and activist actions, Ai was arrested by Chinese authorities various times. Upon his last release, he was prohibited from traveling abroad, engaging in public speech, and was subjected to continuous government surveillance. “He infuses his sculptures, photographs, and publix artworks with political conviction and personal poetry, often making use of recognizable and historic Chinese art forms in critical examinations of a host of contemporary Chinese political and social issues” . In his sculptural works he often uses reclaimed materials (like ancient pottery and wood) in a conceptual gesture that connects tradition with contemporary social concerns. For example, Ai Weiwei’s project Aiflowers (Image 1) is a project inviting everyone to create a flower in memory of the child victims in the devastating Sichuan earthquake of 2008. Although most of his art is highly political and attacks the communist society of China, Ai Weiwei also makes compassionate pieces that aim to bring the community together and find a larger global connection. On another hand, Ai Weiwei is also famous for going against the rules and getting into trouble. In one of his most famous pieces, “White House (1999)”(Image 2), Weiwei states, “You cannot simply give up fundamental beliefs in human rights for a short-term gain…Barack Obama came to China and he is probably the only president of the United States never to mention the words “human rights” in public. You see it in France, with Hu Jintao’s visit last week. How can people be so short-sighted? How can they betray those basic values?” He has taken it upon himself to not only challenge his own government, but to characterize in a straightforward way the craven behavior of Western politicians.

            His outspokenness has gotten him warnings from the Chinese authorities (to the point where he was badly injured by one) but at the same time he was also able to get worldly recognition. Ai seems to be yet another of the architects who, in one way or another, weave art and politics together as they encounter the world. Similarly, Ai tries to employ “sarcasm, juxtaposition, and repetition to reinvigorate the potency and symbolism of traditional images and to reframe the familiar with minimal means” . For example, in his “Sunflower Seeds” (Image 3) sculpture, Ai Weiwei states that he thought art was a good way to bring up new questions into society about society, the media, and politics. In this piece he and thousand of skilled craftsmen created small porcelain sunflower seeds, each unique in its own form, and they all were collected into a whole. In this piece, Weiwei questions the relationship between the individual and the masses and what it means to be an individual in today’s society. The piece also refers back to the mass work production in China which is known for its manual labor and harsh working conditions. This massive scale exhibition speaks to the global public and, like many of his works, becomes very thought-provoking.

Image 1 “AiFlowers Project”

http://aiweiwei.com/

Image 2 “White House (1999)”

http://politicstheoryphotography.blogspot.com/2010/11/ai-weiwei-on-democracy-and-development.html

Image 3 “Sunflower Seeds”

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series-ai-weiwei-sunflower-seeds

 

Works Cited

Ai Weiwei. Projects. WordPress. Web. Accessed January 30, 2014.

Corbett, Rachel. “Ai Weiwei.” Art + Auction 37.3 (2013): 193-196. Art & Architecture    Complete. Web. Accessed January 30, 2014.

Johnson, Jim. “Ai Weiwei on Democracy and Development” Politics, Theory & Photography.   November 2010. Web.

Stevens, Mark. “Is Ai Weiwei China’s Most Dangerous Man?”. Smithsonian Magazine. September 2012. Web. Accessed January 30, 2014.

S. Natasha Mercado
ART 308
02/09/2014
Artist Research: Tara Donovan

            Tara Donovan, born in New York, uses everyday materials such as Styrofoam cups, drinking straws, paper, and toothpicks to create her work. Her work ranges from really light to extraordinarily heavy in mass and her materials always evoke natural forms (ranging from clouds to flowing water). Referring to her labor-intensive processes “she reaffirms the importance of the physical worlds in the creation of sculpture” (Chattopadhyay). Unlike Gabriel Orozco who uses changes or manipulates his material to make it look like an unrecognizable object, Donovan lets her chosen material do exactly what it wants to do. For example, in her piece Haze (1999) (figure 1) Donovan was attracted to the “strawness” of the straw, their verticality and hollow core. She arranged the straws in such a way that the material would comply, allowing the millions of straws to become opaque when placed in a large group.

            Donovan understands how her material functions and how it wants to be manipulated. One of her special techniques is improvisation instead of intention because she rarely sketches a plan and she lets the material construct the final form. Donovan aims to use these surrounding materials, materials that would usually be discarded, to create organic biomorphic shapes which are created by the structures of her materials. She develops systems based on the “physical properties and structural capabilities of a singular, accumulated material” (IDLM) to reproduce and multiply shapes assimilated over the progression of time with the help of many hands. Her material is handled in a certain way to discover how it will become aesthetically within the mass of the same product, within a “visual population”. In her piece Styrofoam Cups (2008) (figure 2), Donovan demonstrates how she uses multiple cups of the same material to create amorphous shapes by using the edges and natural shape of the cups. In her installation, Donovan glues the cups together one by one on the ceiling and lets the object and materials create its desired shape. Altogether, the cups become one piece of art in this new environment and “the final form evolves organically from the material itself via its innate properties and structure. Installed specifically for each exhibition space, these forms function as fields of visual activity” (Tara Donovan). They create a visual landscape where the singular cup no longer has the same value or function. Similarly, her Untitled 2008 (figure 3) piece made out of polyester film investigates into the properties of the material and “addresses a specific trait that is unique to a given mass-produced material” (Tara Donovan). Donovan would call the interaction of the film in creating organic shapes within a closed setting “site-responsive” to describe the affiliation of the material to the way it interacts with the surrounding. Aside from the twisting and turning of the film multiple times while being compacted together, other elements also take a huge part in the presentation of this piece and, in fact, in most of her work. The polyester film here fills a geometric shaped hole cut in a gallery wall while allowing “natural light from the Boston Harbor to filter in and emit an amber glow” (Miller). Whether Donovan uses natural light or enhanced electric light, her pieces suggest a dependence on the architectural elements and other lighting conditions of a given space that “environmentally impact” her work in terms of size, setting, and movement.

            Tara Donovan’s work is very process oriented in that each of her sculptures “address a specific trait that is unique to the mass-produced material” (Tara Donovan) by using the art or repetitive hand labor and gestures (stacking, bundling, heaping, etc.) to create a large environment out of the same material. Donovan argues that the materials available to consumers have progressed, increased, and advanced at such a fast pace that they have become readily available and welcomed in the art world. Donovan argues that “the idea that art can be manufactured or that it can radically complicate the standard notions of value attached to mass-produced objects is no longer a pint of serious contention in contemporary debates” (Denovan) and that her work and practices “capitalize on the iconic identities of commercial and industrial materials by pressing them further into the realm of abstract seduction” (Denovan). Her Bluffs (2006) (figure 4) piece made out of buttons and glue portrays the Donovan’s process making with the emphasis on repetition. Each transparent button is placed on top of one another over and over again from bottom up to create long algae-looking shapes. Buttons are largely purchased by today’s society as an everyday need and are also very likely to be discarded after being used. Millions and millions of buttons are produced everyday and in her work, by stacking each button one by one, Donovan is manually repeating a hand gesture (labor process) and gluing each button together to create art, only, Denovan does not manipulate her objects to create a specific final visual; instead, she lets the shape, color, and structure of the material she is using create its own art. She is the maker and the helper within her process making while letting her materials have a mind of their own.

Figure 1
http://www.acegallery.net/artwork.php?pageNum_ACE=2&Artist=8

Haze (1999)
Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws
12’7” x 42’2” x 7 3/4”
Ace Gallery New York

Figure 2
http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/111/tara-donovan

Untitled (Styrofoam Cups) 2008
Styrofoam cups and glue
Installations dimensions variable

Image 3
http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/111/tara-donovan

Untitled, 2008
Polyester film
Installation dimensions variable

Figure 4
http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/111/tara-donovan

Bluffs, 2006
Buttons and glue
46-3/4" x 45-1/2" x 31" (118.7 cm x 115.6 cm x 78.7 cm)

Works Cited

Chattopadhyay, Collette. “Rules for Growth: A Conversation with Tara Donovan”. Sculpture. December 2005. Vol. 24 No. 10. Print. February 9th, 2014.

IDLM. “Tara Denovan” I don’t like Mondays. Us. N.p., Web log post. 14 Mar. 2009. Web. February 9th, 2014.

Miller. Francine Koslow. “Tara Donovan”. The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Artforum. October 10. Print. February 9th, 2014.

PACE. Pace Gallery. Web. February 9th, 2014
 
“Tara Donovan”. Nyfa.org. New York Foundation for the Art, n.d. Web. February 9th, 2014.
 
.