This quarter, the topic of artists’ reactions to war was covered similarly by two different articles. Both give examples of exhibitions for art that show the true pain behind war. One focuses on time in the sense that humans at any time feel similar pain from war (by displaying art from a span of over 200 years that hold similar themes), and the other focuses on it in the sense that pain sticks with the sufferer for much longer than the event itself (by displaying art of the pains of WWI 100 years later.)
I found that the Modern Warfare article took a much less nihilistic view of portrayal of war. In their description of the contrasting portraits of leaders and soldiers, the author included Moorhouse saying that they were all “in it together, trying to make the best of an impossible situation.” It seems to focus more on artists’ impact in the sense of making war personal again rather than making war horrific again. One interesting point I noted in both articles was curators’ comments on photojournalism as war art. In the Horrors article, the curator says that if the photo causes the viewer to feel something deeply and fully, then it is art, regardless of how it was first published. The Modern Warfare article curator, however, says that photojournalism has less intent. The photographs included in that exhibition are part of an artistic project about representing the suffering of a place, whereas photojournalism simply documents an event there. I think this is an interesting topic to discuss in the seminar – does it matter how much intent was put behind the photos for them to be effective “war art”? I found the concluding paragraph of the Horrors article to be a bit confusing. After spending the article talking about the progression of depiction of war throughout history as a very general trend, it concludes by claiming that each generation of artists must reinvent the depiction. Then says “today’s artists are not alone” because past artists have shown them how to portray war through art. I don’t know, I just felt like it didn’t really fit with the rest of the article accurately. But I guess that’s more of a criticism of the article than a discussion of its contents.
3 Comments
Wow! I appreciated the black-and-white color scheme here. I was a big fan of the water maps - the 3 long pieces that looked like marble. It looked beautiful and sleek from afar and then so intriguing from up close.
When I read the materials, I was confused (merged topographic maps? why??) After reading the artist description I am still confused. Artist statements tend to do that - they mention broad themes that the artist addresses but never really "explain" the work. I guess that's up to the viewer, but still. "Pairings of familiar/unfamiliar, synthetic/manmade, public/private, terrestrial/celestial, real/manipulated, analog/digital." I see some of those in her work but some of it not at all (public/private???) I don't know, art is confusing. I liked the paper cutting piece with the shadow. I don't think I would do anything with light like that but maybe I will try paper cutting someday?? Seems hard. I also liked "The edge of nowhere" and its dusty sandy path. I really wanted to play with it like sand, but of course did not. This exhibition did not impact me much but it was interesting to see. After receiving an email with a link to this artist's interview, I chose her for an Awareness artist. The interview digressed a lot, so I mostly relied on the article.
What I got is that she did not intend to be an artist, and didn't like drawing classes at college, but started a project after college where she documented every one of her credit card statements because she was frustrated that she couldn't pay them and wanted to bring money discussion into public posts. She got tired of this and started a daily drawing project where she drew everything she bought every day. I enjoy the simplicity in the work and the fact that it isn't trying to make any big statement. Some of them are very cute, like a doodle of a sweater with a short excited comment. This is what a lot of my doodles in my sketchbook and my notes look like. I don't think I will be incorporating anything from her into my work, though. Overall I don't like it that much. Also, daily drawing challenges are so hard! And she does them for years. I came across this artist on Instagram while browsing Inktober drawings. I love love love her work. The inktober drawings are simple and smooth, and she is obviously comfortable with her subject - each piece looks effortless. All of the inktober drawings are done on white paper with black ink and gold ink, which inspired me to do inktober drawings with gold ink. My plan for day 29 is completely inspired by Yoshitani's work - many of her inktober pieces were contained within implied (or actual) circles. I love this compositional technique, and since my work has been headed in a more geometric direction in terms of the space that the characters are in, I want to explore this. Yoshitani is also skilled with choosing areas of the drawing to fill in with black, which is something I want to become better at.
I realized after exploring her instagram that inktober deviated from her usual work. Though she does these kinds of illustrations sort of regularly (especially for commissions), she also does full-color digital work with more shading. Some of her more complex work includes lots of details, patterns, and more complex compositions. I really like all the types of work she does and hope I can draw from it to create better work myself. Also, I really like her flowers. I finished it at home by inking the leftmost hand, the triangles, gold details, and slight shading via line quality.
For the next two weeks, I sketched and inked the drawing. I used a reference photo of myself in that pose and a reference photo of Kenan and Grace holding hands.
To be honest I didn’t find much substance to discuss in either of these articles. One was very short (which I was thankful for since I was swamped with homework) and the other seemed more focused on statistics and facts about the Guerrilla Girls. I found the in-class discussion more interesting and thought-provoking. One thing in particular caught my attention – one of my questions answered another. I had asked why accessibility was important in the effectiveness of protest art, and also asked what artists can do to prevent “preaching to the converted.” In our seminar, we brought up how making the art accessible to a large, nonspecific audience prevents that.
Another concept I found interesting was the idea that “it’s not always about form and aesthetic, but about the purpose and effectiveness of an object.” To me, that is no longer art. In the seminar, others mentioned that as long as it was created with the intention of being art, then it is still art. To me, though, if it isn’t at all about form and aesthetic but is just about function, then that isn’t art anymore, it’s a tool. The example mentioned in the article was inflatable cobblestones by a group called Tools for Action (not art for action?) to turn violent objects into protection. I guess some would say that’s art because it’s making some sort of statement, but that’s not what the protest was about. (Also, not everything that makes a statement is necessarily art.) I don’t know, the premise of this whole article seemed a bit weird to me. The Guerrilla Girls article, though it was full of statistics, did mention some interesting insight. (Not to dismiss the statistics – I just don’t want to comment on them here.) The author said that the more people are informed of an issue, the more they will want to act on it “(hopefully.)” This is another thing we mentioned in class. Protest art may be helpful for spreading awareness, but it’s hard to see any direct effects of it. I also questioned its importance in my curiosity page this quarter. However, I feel that the Guerrilla Girls are a unique case, since, like in the author’s case, many people were not aware or conscious of the problem the artists addressed. I feel like a lot of protest art protests things that many people know are wrong, but the Guerrilla Girls really brought a new issue to light. I think that this, in addition to their angry attitude, is what makes them an effective group. |
AuthorKristin Hines - Student artist at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School Archives
June 2018
Categories |