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Introducing Walter Benjamin
Introducing Walter Benjamin
Howard Caygill, Andrzej Klimowski (Contributor)
Publisher: Totem Books
ISBN: 1874166870 DDC: 838.91209 Edition: Paperback; 1994-03-16
"All future is the past. The past of things is the future of the "I" time. But past things have futurity." p23
"A philosophy that does not include the possibility of soothsaying from coffee grounds...cannot be a true philosophy." p.40
Kant = pure reason. Hamann = "not only the entire capacity to think rests on langauge, but language is also the centre of the misunderstanding of reason itself."
BUT what about art!! reason without language!!
Angelus Novus - Klee
Haptic art = egyptian art and hollow relief this makes me think of Braille
Optic art = Greek are with foreshortening, shadows - but "depth" is still restricted
3D art - late roman art - "the space between bodies appears measurable, and although still organised in relation to a plane, the objects have no tactile connection to it. This is achieved by deep shadowing and the objects tend to blur into their environment."
so my question here is the position of the white cube. if art is in a white cube, it cannot blur into it´s environment. Caro puts his work into a field of green (grass, for example). see also the female artist talking about her little people sculptures in an opulent room, rather than a white cube.
p.75 "Graphic art is the art of the applied line. Painting is the art of the emergent line."
so series 2 of Abstract heads creates "emergent lines" between the individual forms on the individual canvasses
"The collector is the saviour of objects that might otherwise be lost." p.77
"The place where the word is most debased - the newspaper - becomes the very place where a rescue operation is mounted." p.131
"a halo of uniqueness and authenticity" p.135
"The unique phenomenon of distance no matter how close an object may be"
"To substitute a plurality of mechanically reproduced copies for the unique original must destroy the very basis for the reproduction of auratic works of art - that singularity in time and space on which they depend for their claim to authority and authenticity." p.137
do I believe that my works of art have authority? do they have an aura? should i give up now?????
The past witnesses of the present (the arcades of Paris)
"Photography which renders traditional painting obsolete will liberate the colour elements of cubism" p.155
"In the ruins of great buildings, the idea of the plan speaks more impressively than in lesser buildings, however well-preserved they are." p.165
Howard Caygill, Andrzej Klimowski (Contributor)
Publisher: Totem Books
ISBN: 1874166870 DDC: 838.91209 Edition: Paperback; 1994-03-16
"All future is the past. The past of things is the future of the "I" time. But past things have futurity." p23
"A philosophy that does not include the possibility of soothsaying from coffee grounds...cannot be a true philosophy." p.40
Kant = pure reason. Hamann = "not only the entire capacity to think rests on langauge, but language is also the centre of the misunderstanding of reason itself."
BUT what about art!! reason without language!!
Angelus Novus - Klee
Haptic art = egyptian art and hollow relief this makes me think of Braille
Optic art = Greek are with foreshortening, shadows - but "depth" is still restricted
3D art - late roman art - "the space between bodies appears measurable, and although still organised in relation to a plane, the objects have no tactile connection to it. This is achieved by deep shadowing and the objects tend to blur into their environment."
so my question here is the position of the white cube. if art is in a white cube, it cannot blur into it´s environment. Caro puts his work into a field of green (grass, for example). see also the female artist talking about her little people sculptures in an opulent room, rather than a white cube.
p.75 "Graphic art is the art of the applied line. Painting is the art of the emergent line."
so series 2 of Abstract heads creates "emergent lines" between the individual forms on the individual canvasses
"The collector is the saviour of objects that might otherwise be lost." p.77
"The place where the word is most debased - the newspaper - becomes the very place where a rescue operation is mounted." p.131
"a halo of uniqueness and authenticity" p.135
"The unique phenomenon of distance no matter how close an object may be"
"To substitute a plurality of mechanically reproduced copies for the unique original must destroy the very basis for the reproduction of auratic works of art - that singularity in time and space on which they depend for their claim to authority and authenticity." p.137
do I believe that my works of art have authority? do they have an aura? should i give up now?????
The past witnesses of the present (the arcades of Paris)
"Photography which renders traditional painting obsolete will liberate the colour elements of cubism" p.155
"In the ruins of great buildings, the idea of the plan speaks more impressively than in lesser buildings, however well-preserved they are." p.165
A Fruitful Incoherence: Dialogues with Artists on Internationalism
A Fruitful Incoherence: Dialogues with Artists on Internationalism (Paperback) (ISBN: 9781899846139)
Jantjes, Gavin
ISBN 10: 1899846131
ISBN 13: 9781899846139
Glossary complied by Rohini Mark and Gavin Jantjes
Boundary 1. Something that indicates a farthest limit, as of an area; border 2. cricket
"A boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognised, the boundary is that from which something begins its presencing" Heidegger
Working definition: An ambivalent space from which ideas emerge and practices begin. A position marking the extremities of the given from which one steps off into the beyond.
There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination.
Edmund Burke
They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Charlie Parker
I think you always have to find where the boundary is in relation to the context in order to be able to kind of articulate how you want the space to interact with the viewer.
Richard Serra
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Charlie Parker
“Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment”
Maxwell Maltz quotes (US plastic surgeon, motivational author, and creator of the Psycho-Cybernetics, 1927-2003)
“Life is perpetually creative because it contains in itself that surplus which ever overflows the boundaries of the immediate time and space, restlessly pursuing its adventure of expression in the varied forms of self-realization.”
Rabindranath Tagore quotes (Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)
Jantjes, Gavin
ISBN 10: 1899846131
ISBN 13: 9781899846139
Glossary complied by Rohini Mark and Gavin Jantjes
Boundary 1. Something that indicates a farthest limit, as of an area; border 2. cricket
"A boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognised, the boundary is that from which something begins its presencing" Heidegger
Working definition: An ambivalent space from which ideas emerge and practices begin. A position marking the extremities of the given from which one steps off into the beyond.
There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination.
Edmund Burke
They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Charlie Parker
I think you always have to find where the boundary is in relation to the context in order to be able to kind of articulate how you want the space to interact with the viewer.
Richard Serra
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Charlie Parker
“Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment”
Maxwell Maltz quotes (US plastic surgeon, motivational author, and creator of the Psycho-Cybernetics, 1927-2003)
“Life is perpetually creative because it contains in itself that surplus which ever overflows the boundaries of the immediate time and space, restlessly pursuing its adventure of expression in the varied forms of self-realization.”
Rabindranath Tagore quotes (Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)
Making a Memorial - Editions and Production
I have an affinity with Walter Benjamin, for no particular, but several interesting reason. So I am working on a series of works as a "memorial". An Abstract Head, of course, though based on three photos; an AH sculpture, but only with three pieces, the blue forms taken from the triptych. And then a feuilleton, using embossing and printing techniques that I have been developing through Groundworks.
So what is an Abstract Head for? It's a formal piece of enquiry, based on a human head. It's about abstracting from, a rather old-fashioned idea, that quickly went out of fashion as abstract came to mean something quite different. But I rather like the idea that my work comes from the same evolutionary line as Picasso, Braque and Mondrian, though following its own direction now. There are some rules, but they change and evolve over time, rather like a face itself. It's the same face, only different. Some unchangeable rules are:
1. Triptych. The purpose of the triptych is two fold - to give the form of the head space to breath, to adapt within its own space; and to make the spectator move. Not very much, but certainly their eyes have to move, from canvas to canvas. I didn't realise this at the time, but now that I know I have peculiar eyes, I realise this may be because I have difficulty looking at one thing at a time, and prefer to keep my eyes moving all the time.
2. Size and shape. Each canvas is 40x40 cm. The point of the square is that I didn't want to use a rectangle that would be either landscape or portrait. Whilst the human head is not, usually, square, I wanted to ensure that there was no sense of a landscape, nor of a complete human body in the work.
The first series of Abstract Heads was full of colour, the whole canvas being covered with paint. But then I looked at one "unfinished" triptych and realised that it was, in fact, "finished".
This has led to series two, where only some of the forms are used to create the triptych. This, I feel, increases the formal quality of the work, as its basis in a human face is very much less present.
This formality has led me on in my exploration, using devices such as moulding plaster, constructing mobiles, use of wire, curving the flat form into a cylinder, embossing and printing.
My current exploration of Walter Benjamin is guiding me towards the ideas of the flâneur, the feuilleton and fashion; with further forays into Black Swan Theory. And so, I am going to take my sculptures for a walk, create radical and seditious editions of "newspaper" styled artworks, and be thoroughly unfashionable. How much this will work remains to be seen.
So what is an Abstract Head for? It's a formal piece of enquiry, based on a human head. It's about abstracting from, a rather old-fashioned idea, that quickly went out of fashion as abstract came to mean something quite different. But I rather like the idea that my work comes from the same evolutionary line as Picasso, Braque and Mondrian, though following its own direction now. There are some rules, but they change and evolve over time, rather like a face itself. It's the same face, only different. Some unchangeable rules are:
1. Triptych. The purpose of the triptych is two fold - to give the form of the head space to breath, to adapt within its own space; and to make the spectator move. Not very much, but certainly their eyes have to move, from canvas to canvas. I didn't realise this at the time, but now that I know I have peculiar eyes, I realise this may be because I have difficulty looking at one thing at a time, and prefer to keep my eyes moving all the time.
2. Size and shape. Each canvas is 40x40 cm. The point of the square is that I didn't want to use a rectangle that would be either landscape or portrait. Whilst the human head is not, usually, square, I wanted to ensure that there was no sense of a landscape, nor of a complete human body in the work.
The first series of Abstract Heads was full of colour, the whole canvas being covered with paint. But then I looked at one "unfinished" triptych and realised that it was, in fact, "finished".
This has led to series two, where only some of the forms are used to create the triptych. This, I feel, increases the formal quality of the work, as its basis in a human face is very much less present.
This formality has led me on in my exploration, using devices such as moulding plaster, constructing mobiles, use of wire, curving the flat form into a cylinder, embossing and printing.
My current exploration of Walter Benjamin is guiding me towards the ideas of the flâneur, the feuilleton and fashion; with further forays into Black Swan Theory. And so, I am going to take my sculptures for a walk, create radical and seditious editions of "newspaper" styled artworks, and be thoroughly unfashionable. How much this will work remains to be seen.
Taking Up Space
I love this phrase. It seems to sum up what sculpture is all about. There may be more thoughts on the subject later.
ILLUMInations 54th International Art Biennale 2011 - An interview with Bice Curiger - artreview.com
ILLUMInations 54th International Art Biennale 2011 - An interview with Bice Curiger - artreview.com: "ILLUMInations 54th International Art Biennale"
Jawlensky
9069181355
Alexej von Jawlensky
Museum Boymans - vanBeuningen Rotterdam 1994
On Abstract Heads p. 220
It was only logical that he could only represent the harmony he had ben seeking for years, by dint of constant practice, in the human face, for only there do inside and outside, man and world, nature and soul meet, where "religion", in the truest sense of the word, takes place.
"And then I found it necessary to find a form for the face, because I had come to understand that great art can only be painted with religious feeling. And that I could only bring to the human face. I understood that the artist must express through his art, in forms and colours, the divine inside him. Therefore a work of art is god made visible, and art is "a longing for god"".
On Meditations p.249
In 1934 the seventy-year-old painter addressed the theme once more. In his series of "Meditations" the human face is reduced to the barest essentials.
The picture plane and the face are identical. Eyes, nose and mouth are little more than a few lines of paint, joined into a cross. This - Russian Orthodox - cruciform stands out against the ground, which is built up with elongated, parallel brushstrokes. The expression is largely determined by the painterly action. Ill-health had forced Jawlensky to devise a new technique...Out of sheer necessity he painted with outstretched arms, clutching the brush with both hands.
At a time when [some American artists] were exploring the artistic possibilities of repetition, Jawlensky´s series came as an absolute revelation.
The young Cage, who was so impressed by the meditations that he bought one, addressed Jawlensky as "mein Lehrer" in a letter.
Alexej von Jawlensky
Museum Boymans - vanBeuningen Rotterdam 1994
On Abstract Heads p. 220
It was only logical that he could only represent the harmony he had ben seeking for years, by dint of constant practice, in the human face, for only there do inside and outside, man and world, nature and soul meet, where "religion", in the truest sense of the word, takes place.
"And then I found it necessary to find a form for the face, because I had come to understand that great art can only be painted with religious feeling. And that I could only bring to the human face. I understood that the artist must express through his art, in forms and colours, the divine inside him. Therefore a work of art is god made visible, and art is "a longing for god"".
On Meditations p.249
In 1934 the seventy-year-old painter addressed the theme once more. In his series of "Meditations" the human face is reduced to the barest essentials.
The picture plane and the face are identical. Eyes, nose and mouth are little more than a few lines of paint, joined into a cross. This - Russian Orthodox - cruciform stands out against the ground, which is built up with elongated, parallel brushstrokes. The expression is largely determined by the painterly action. Ill-health had forced Jawlensky to devise a new technique...Out of sheer necessity he painted with outstretched arms, clutching the brush with both hands.
At a time when [some American artists] were exploring the artistic possibilities of repetition, Jawlensky´s series came as an absolute revelation.
The young Cage, who was so impressed by the meditations that he bought one, addressed Jawlensky as "mein Lehrer" in a letter.
01. maj 2007: Thomas Hirschhorn - Arndt & Partner
I saw this book lying on my normal desk at Tapies Foundation Library, and read this apology for his work. Interesting reading for the "Mapping the Territory" task.
01. maj 2007: Thomas Hirschhorn - Arndt & Partner
01. maj 2007: Thomas Hirschhorn - Arndt & Partner
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