Artist Influence
Jennifer Halvorson – Artist Talk
Jennifer Halvorson is a glass artist and an assistant professor at the Marilyn K. Glick Centre for Glass at Ball State University. Halvorson’s sculptures revolve around objects that are manipulated and collaged to express emotions that occur within the individual.
I’m really taken by her piece Provision, and other similar pieces; the glass is kilncast and creates a fragile look. The emotion you receive from this piece is one of fragility, almost fear, but also strength with the use of glass. I find it the art of creating replicas of everyday items in glass fascinating, how someone would even start to think to create it. It’s inspiring to see that anything can be done in the art world, and gives me hope for what my abilities can become with gaining more experience.
Choi Keeryong – Artist Talk
I recently attended an artist talk which featured Choi Keeryong and his glass artwork. Keeryong works with the theme of ‘aesthetics of the cultural uncanny’ and how moving country has affected his life. Keeryong explained that he had a language barrier and that it affects him through day to day life; and how he uses his disadvantage as an advantage.
One of keeryong’s pieces that really grabbed my attention was ‘3rd Battalion 11th Company 1st platoon’ (2007). This piece exhibited a set of glass military helmets, all lined up in formation. The glass of the helmets where coloured in basic dark green, but the viewer could still see through the glass. Under the glass where civilian clothing, wrapped in brown parcel paper tied with sting. The reason behind the clothes was because the country where Keeryong was born, they have a tradition that when you graduate through military training, you removed you civilian clothing o transition to military uniform; this transition gives the graduated a new identity while leaving behind the old one. The civilian clothes are then sent to the families of the graduate, to notify the family that they have passed.
I’m very intrigued by this cultural experience, and how Keeryong has displayed it. The clothes representing the person underneath the uniform, and that you can barely see the clothes through the glass. The room in which this piece was exhibited was a small compact room, the reason for the room was to give the viewer the feeling of leading the troops to war, or to give commands. I’m just so intrigued in the cultural difference and the intimate relation of identities.
Artist Influence – Heather and Ivan Morison
The work of the Morison’s is very interesting to me, the architecture, the structure, and the installation of the piece. The piece that caught my eye is ‘I am so sorry, Goodbye’, the structure of the piece is so unique and the idea behind it really pushes what it can be. The concept about this piece is that it’s suppose to look like a quaint little hut out in the forest, but when you get closer and inspect it more, it becomes apparent that it’s a post-apocalyptic home made to help its dwellers survive. Pieces like this intrigue me, it makes me think about if we could actually make something like this after a apocalyptic event. But it’s beautiful in every right, the structure of the piece is mesmerising and its design will inspire me to create my own imaginative structures.
Artist Influence – Tomas Saraceno – Recap/Extended
I have already talked about Saraceno before, but I feel like I need an update.
So for most of my professional practice, I have been influenced by Tomas Saraceno in some way or form. I was instantly drawn towards his ’14 Billions’ piece, I just adored the use of space and how the public were allowed to explore the piece. The amount of information, time, and energy that went into making ’14 Billions’ astounds me.
’14 Billions’ is a great example of architecture, and the structure of how a spider’s web is formed. I’m personally interested by the use of rope, grounding points, and tying methods within the piece. After researching this piece, it lead me to create my own variation of it, and has then gone on to be a permanent feature within my work.
This is where my constant use of string derived from. String is a simple material which used in the right way, can create wonderful pieces of work. If I hadn’t come across Saraceno at the time which I did, I wouldn’t be doing what I do now.
Baltic Visit – Alice Theobald and Atomik Architecture
installation
After a recent visit to Baltic Center for contemporary art, I came across ‘It’s not who you are, it’s how you are’, an architectural installation comprised of performance, music, spoken dialogue, and live video. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the performance part of the installation as I missed the last time, but I do intend on returning to see it. But except from that, the installation is a fascinating combination of media and I found the architecture very interesting, how you can walk through and around the piece, and you suddenly come across a screen which portrays other members of the public walking through with you.
As I’ve mentioned, I have not observed the piece with its full potential, so I will be returning. However, even without the performance, I really enjoyed the space and how you are ‘guided’ through without being told which way to go.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit
A couple of weeks ago, the university had organised a trip to go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The purpose of the trip was to experience artwork firsthand, and to also gather inspiration. The sculpture park is full of works from various artists ranging from Sol Le Witt, to Antony Gormley, to Magdalena Abakanowicz. While there were sculptures placed all around the park, there was also various exhibits within the different buildings at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
One of the exhibits was the Bill Viola. The majority of the Bill Viola work was video and installation, which drew in the public eye and guided you through a pitch black exhibit. I thoroughly enjoyed the work of Bill Viola, and will be using their work as a form of inspiration for my future projects.
At the time of the visit, the Poppies Wave was installed at the park. This was an extraordinary site to see, as it’s a small part of a bigger picture. I really loved being able to see this as I missed the chance to see the full installation when it exhibited down in London.
And even with all the artwork around the park, I was still enticed by the seasonal change throughout the park. With the weather changing, and the sun shining, the park screamed Autumn. The colours in the wilderness made the experience a lot more enjoyable, and also may have distracted me from looking at some of the artwork. Below are images from the trip. Enjoy.
Artist Influence – Martin Pfeifle
Martin Pfeifle has been a favourite artist of mine for a few years now, with all of his installation works and sculptures inspiring me to create the work that I do. Most of Pfeifle’s work takes up the majority of the room, mainly because it installation, and this inspires me to create my own installations of a similar impact.
I don’t have a favourite piece of Pfeifle’s work, as I enjoy many of his pieces. If I was choose one, I would choose his most recent `rev’. This installation is constantly in the state of movement, and when the viewer walks around the space it creates more movement within the installation.
I use Pfeifle as inspiration all the time when making an installation, but I can never get the same impact or interactivity as he does. It is my ambition to create a piece of work that has a similar impact to how Pfeifle’s work does.
Text above is a mix my own opinion and research of Martin Pfeifle.
Information and pictures found via the sites below:
Artist Influence – JeeYoung Lee
JeeYoung Lee is also another artist who I have recently came across on in art blog, and her work is about creating an installation in her three by six metre studio. Lee fills every square inch of her small studio space with handmade props, backdrops, and set pieces. All of the images of Lee’s studio have not been digitally edited in post-shoot.
What interests me about her work is how she uses the entire of her space to create these installations, and also how these installations look so fantasy-like. The whole point of an installation is to create a world outside of our own, and Lee does this perfectly, she creates a space unlike any other. I will definitely be keeping an eye on what she makes, and maybe tried to decipher how she makes it.
The text above is a mix my own opinion and research of JeeYoung Lee.
Information and pictures found fire the sites below:
http://www.opiomgallery.com/en/artistes/oeuvresphotographe/17/jeeyoung-lee
Artist Influence – Jeremy Miranda
Jeremy Miranda is an artist who I came across on art blog, and their work stood out amongst the rest, so I decided to investigate further. After viewing Miranda’s website, it looks as though the artist only works in paint, if not also in digital media. The interesting part of Miranda’s work is the combination of worlds and transition between the two; the worlds in the paintings are closely related by blurred between the lines.
The piece I’m more interested in is the painting in the image above; the transition between the two compositions is a very blunt but was also smooth as if looking through a window, and the way how everything is related, from the drawings of the ship to the ship in the sea.
Miranda looks as though they are building up their work into a portfolio at the start a career. I will be on the watch any new work Miranda makes, I will draw inspiration from their work and hopefully have the chance to contact them about their work.
The text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of Jeremy Miranda.
Information and pictures found at the sites below:
Artist Influence – René Magritte
René Magritte is a surrealist painter, who is well-known for painting objects in places and situations where they shouldn’t. I’ve been interested in Magritte the past few years now, and I still enjoy going back and looking at his paintings from time to time; the surrealism in each of his paintings defies reality in makes you want to question your own reality.
My favourite of Magritte’s work is his `Time Transfixed,’ where the train is flying out of the fireplace. I enjoy this one for all the reasons that you think, why is the train so small, why is it flying out of the fireplace; these are the questions that Magritte would have wanted you to ask.
Magritte will always be one of the most well-known surrealist painters in the art world, and he will always be a great source of influence for me.
Text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of René Magritte.
Information and pictures found via the content below:
The essential René Magritte
In-text: (Alden and Magritte, 1999)
Bibliography: Alden, T. and Magritte, R. (1999). The essential René Magritte. New York: H.N. Abrams.
Artist Influence – Clyfford Still
Clyfford Still is a painter which in his time was named the most daring artist. I am familiar with Stills method of painting or his style of painting. The reason why he is an artist influence, is for his use of colour; and for me, the way in which his work resembles broken worlds.
I especially like Stills `1957’ piece, which is an untitled painting. To me this painting looks like a world in which is described through colour. The colour creates an environment in which the paint sits in. Many of Stills work are very similar to each other, they all have an abstract feel to them.
The reason I’ve chosen Clyfford Still as an artist influence for me, it’s because of this style of paintings. In the future I will learn more on his reasons were painting in the style in which he did, but that will be a future endeavour for myself.
The text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of Clyfford Still.
Information and pictures found via the content below:
Clyfford Still, 1904-1980
In-text: (Still and Kellein, 1992)
Bibliography: Still, C. and Kellein, T. (1992). Clyfford Still, 1904-1980. Munich, Germany: Prestel.
Artist Influence – Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky is an abstract painter who is believed to have painted the first purely abstract works. From the research I’ve done to the information I know, Kandinsky used music to create his abstract works, where he painted what music would look like.
I don’t completely believe this to be related to my work, the idea of illustrating one thing as another is what I’m relating to my work. In my work I want to translate the reality in my head into methods of creating artwork; whereas Kandinsky was creating paintings using music, thus creating the abstract work which is highly known in our world.
The piece I find most interesting of Kandinsky’s is `Composition VIII,’ the variety of colour and use of line, creates a composition in depth to the painting, which would be difficult when trying to paint music.
Text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of Wassily Kandinsky.
Information and pictures found via the content below:
Kandinsky
In-text: (Grohmann, n.d.)
Bibliography: Grohmann, W. (n.d.). Kandinsky.
Artist Influence – Salvador Dali
`The specialised sciences of our times are concentrating on study of the three constants of life: the sexual instinct, the sentiment of death, and anguish of space-time.’ Salvador Dali, In `Dali,’ Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1968. This is a quote from the famous Salvador Dali, an artist who specialised in the style of surrealist painting.
I’m not completely familiar with Dali’s work, but from the brief amount of research which I have done, I can see that most of his work is being painted through surrealism. Dali created many surrealist paintings, most of which are illusions depicting world’s which he has created through paint. What I think when I look at Dali’s paintings, he wanted the viewer to question reality of his paintings, and maybe wanted to question where the idea for these came from.
My work that I’m currently working on, has a similar concept in the way of creating a surrealist world; Dali’s work is more extreme in the surrealism than mine is, but the idea of creating my own reality is similar to what Dali’s work depicts (that’s why gather anyway).
The text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of Salvador Dali.
Information and pictures found fire the content below:
Dali
In-text: (Dalí and Larkin, 1974)
Bibliography: Dalí, S. and Larkin, D. (1974). Dali. New York: Ballantine Books.
Artist Influence – Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is one of the famous names in the art world, and is recognised for his role in the avant-garde. Picasso is another artist who forged the way for future artists, with his many methods of painting and styles of paintings.
One of Picasso’s paintings which I really enjoy is his portrait of the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, which Picasso painted in his Cubism style. The reason which I enjoy this painting is the way in which Picasso tries to deconstruct/fragment reality while keeping the form of the human figure. This is similar in what I’m trying to do in my own project, which is to twist reality in creating my own form of it; which I believe is what Picasso was trying to do with Cubism.
Picasso created Cubism to show the world a different way of viewing reality, in which he created many paintings which included a cube style, hence Cubism. Picasso and the other members of the avant-garde, created many different forms of painting, styles of painting, ways of how to paint, and ways of how to look at reality as well as paintings.
The text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of Pablo Picasso.
Information and pictures found via the content below:
Picasso
In-text: (Elgar, Maillard and Scarfe, 1956)
Bibliography: Elgar, F., Maillard, R. and Scarfe, F. (1956). Picasso. London: Thames and Hudson.
Artist Influence – Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest men in art, and one of the greatest inventors of his time. Even after hundreds of years, da Vinci’s fame has lived on throughout the years and his work is still celebrated amongst the artist world. Leonardo paved the way for inventors alike, and set the path of the inventions we make today. Numerous amounts of da Vinci’s paintings and notes are held around the world to educate the masses on how this man paved the way forward in the advances of technology and also the art world.
From the knowledge I have to information I’ve read, da Vinci was always interested in making the world a better place with his inventions, to even making machines that can allow men to fly. Personally, I’ve always known that da Vinci was a great man and a great painter, but I never truly understood how his work influenced our lives today and that the inventions he created were the blueprints to our life today.
The reason the project I’m working on currently relates to da Vinci’s work (mainly da Vinci’s inventions), is I want to show a world of my own creation through which can only be shown by prototypes and models. I want to create a world which is non-fiction in my own mind, but can become reality through new inventions.
Via the research I’ve done, I cannot locate what Leonardo da Vinci’s influence on him was. I assume it was the intention of making life easier for not only him but for others, but also to understand how the world worked.
The text above is a mix of my own opinion and research of Leonardo da Vinci.
Information and pictures found via the content below:
Leonardo da Vinci
In-text: (Leonardo, 1989)
Bibliography: Leonardo, (1989). Leonardo da Vinci. New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the South Bank Centre.
Railston Artworks 