1. Define the term 'pluralism' using APA referencing.

Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art of the world’s cultures. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religion, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities.

Reference: Caldwell, B. (1999) Cultural Context. Retrieved 28 Aug, 2011 from Academic Literacies in Visual Communication 2: Resource Book (2011), Lyceum Press for AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand.

2. How would you describe New Zealand's current dominant culture?

Multi-cultural

3. Before 1840, what was New Zealand's dominant culture?

The dominant culture before 1840 was the Maori culture. As this was before the treaty was signed. And before the treaty was signed, the Maori’s were the natives.

4. How does the Treaty of Waitangi relate to us all as artists and designers working
in New Zealand?
It gives us more thought on the heritage that we live in. It makes us, designers, combine

5. How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on regional diversity in New Zealand in particular?

6. Shane Cotton's paintings are said to examine the cultural landscape. Research Cotton's work 'Welcome'(2004) and 'Forked Tongue' (2011) to analyze what he is saying about colonialization and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly.

Intertextuality refers to the way that any one text (written or visual) is influenced, or made up of a variety of other earlier texts. As a result, the notion of intertexuality suggests that whenever we try to make sense of a text (written or visual) we are constantly referring back to our understanding of its influences to help us understand it. - ALVC resource book (2011). intertextuality, p.36

2. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyses how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work.

Wiley produced work mainly of African American people. My thought on his work is that it is based on racism. He represents equality in race by purposely composing African American men in his work by painting them in heroic/posh poses that were “mainly” used by white people in the old days. Intertextuality is demonstrated through the use of African American men posing in heroic/posh poses. Meaning Wiley thought about the history between black and white people and his work emphasizes the fact that black people can be at the same posh/high level as the rich white people.

3. Wiley's work relates to next week’s Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.

Pluralism is when every belief is valid, everything is equal. And in Wiley’s work, he continuously emphasises the fact that everything is even. Blacks and whites are even.

4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview.

Firstly, Wiley paints African American males in his portraits with sophisticated looking backgrounds, something of royalty and elegance that were present in portraits from the past, or when commissioned paintings were at large. He toys with social hierarchies just by placing stereotypical ‘white’ person who are usually present in these positions. With the world changing and new technology and machinery coming in from the European culture, he paints the black males in their normal social apparel, going against the stereotype of black men being thugs by placing in posh poses.

5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that
you have read during your research.

Week 6 - Anish Kapoor Sculpture

1.Research Kapoor's work in order to discuss whether it is conceptual art or not. Explain your answer, using a definition of conceptual art.
Conceptual art is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_art) In other words, conceptual art is when ideas and concepts is what motivates the production work, rather than the aesthetic. Which I think Kapoor describes in his work. He uses his own ideas to create designs and structures which not only does it perform visual pleasure, it becomes its own genre of art.

“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” (S.LeWitt)

2. Research 3 quite different works by Kapoor from countries outside New Zealand to discuss the ideas behind the work. Include images of each work on your blog.

Shooting into the Corner, 2008/09, was a piece from Kapoor. This piece consisted of a cannon a group of engineers helped develop. Shooting out 11 kg’s of wax across the room, this piece is for sure to draw attention. Whereas normally, a bright or big painting would draw your attention in a quiet gallery, Kapoor has manipulated the thought of aggression and noise to draw attention to his work.

Yellow, 1999, a large piece of fibre glass which lies on the wall. A piece that challenges viewers to consider the possibility of flat surface yet with the 3-dimensional vortex. Kapoor uses the bright yellow to draw attention to his work. 

“I am interested in sculpture that manipulates the viewer into a specific relationship with both space and time.” –Anish Kapoor, Tate Magazine, July 2007 (http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html)

Leviathan, 2011, is one of Kapoor’s most recent pieces. It is a 38m tall, 100m long and 70m wide “The sci-fi looking monster, which seems to appear from round the corner to fill the cavernous expanse”(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385590/Anish-Kapoor-Leviathan-sculpture-unveiled-Grand-Palais-Paris.html). My thoughts are that Kapoor used the large scale so that it’ll draw attention. Also allowing the light to shine onto this piece suggests to me, the use of lighting in a museum display cabinet.

“it is a building of extraordinary scale. The difficulty of the space is its scale - when you are inside and enclosed, it’s almost bigger
than being outside! Somehow one has to deal with this volume, which is both horizontal and vertical. The verticality is the problem,
and the light is what makes the verticality a challenge”
Anish Kapoor

3.Discuss the large-scale 'site specific' work that has been installed on a private site in New Zealand.

4. Where is the Kapoor's work in New Zealand? What are its form and materials? What are the ideas behind the work?

The Farm, 2004, is a 15m long tube, which sits quietly between the windy hills in the Gibbs farm sculpture park in Kaipara Bay. This long tunnel is fitted with ellipses, where one is orientated vertical and the other horizontal. The clean crisp red-PVC coated tunnel-like piece stands out from the green hills and the clear blue sky. Which I think is an attention seeker, visual pleasurable site. When viewing “The Farm”, it suggested two worlds. In sequence with the “Leviathan”, the sci-fi genetic-look, it was as if the two were a series of pieces, which is/was probably design for teleportation. Looking through the tunnel from one end would be a different view from what you’d see when viewing from the opposite end. Which completes the vision of “two worlds”

“I am concerned with the way in which the language of engineering can be turned into the language of the body,”

(http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html)

5. Comment on which work by Kapoor is your favourite, and explain why. Are you personally attracted more by the ideas or the aesthetics of the work?

When researching on Kapoor, “The Farm” was the first piece I saw of his. After looking through a series of his pieces, I have grown to find visual pleasure every time I look at this piece. The big scale and the opposite orientated ellipses draws me into looking through the tunnel. And when looking through the tunnel from one end, you wouldn’t get the same view as you would when looking from the opposite end. I think this piece was ideologically driven. As looking through his pass pieces similar to this, you get the feeling/instinct that he has 3-dimensional, sci-fi, bloody rage genre. When looking at a painting, you could only experience ‘visual pleasure’, but when in the midst of Kapoor’s “Farm”, you also get the interactive playfulness feeling from his work. 

http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/6532

http://www.monumenta.com/en/2011/medias/view/19/yellow-1999

http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html

http://www.robgarrettcfa.com/thefarm.htm

http://bickersteth.blogspot.com/2009/11/anish-kapoor.html

http://www.nzcpr.co.nz/great-day-out/artworks.html

http://www.gibbsfarm.org.nz/kapoor.php

1. Define the 17th century 'Scientific Revolution', and say how it changed European thought and world view.

The 17^th century ‘Scientific Revolution’ was a “series of changes in the structure of European thought itself: systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification, the abstraction of human knowledge into separate sciences, and the view that the world functions like a machine” (Hooker, 1996). During the revolution, medieval scientific philosophy was abandoned and replaced by new methods put forward by Descartes, Bacon, Galileo and Newton.  “the importance of experimentation to the scientific method was reaffirmed; the importance of God to science was for the most part invalidated, and the pursuit of science itself (rather than philosophy) gained validity on its own terms” (Kent, 2010). This changed the world view heaps as scientific reasoning became more and more evident and religious views became more of a choice than a lifestyle.

2. Give examples of how we can we still see evidence of the 'Scientific Revolution' in the world today.

The ‘Scientific Revolution’ is seen in today’s world a lot; our world has evolved from the scientific philosophy said by Descartes, Bacon, Galileo and Newton. Knowing that the world revolves around the sun rather than “God” is most probably has a lot to do with the influences of the “Scientific Revolution”. The world lives off of technology in order to live and work well, without it we probably wouldn’t have the capability to work by ourselves as human beings, “our infrastructure, weapons, medicines, and knowledge of the Earth would not exist” (Brewer, 2010).

Research Pipilotti Rist's video installations to answer the following;

Still from 'Ever is Over All' (1997)

Ever is Over All (1997)

3. From your research, do you think that the contemporary art world values art work that uses new media/technology over traditional media?

I think that the contemporary art world values both traditional and new media/technology, they would be bias to say that one is more superior then the other. Traditional media is still used today but with advancement in technology it’s become easier and more enjoyable to create. The impossible is made possible which allows artists the freedom to do out-there pieces of work.

4. How has Pipilotti Rist used new media/technology to enhance the audience's experience of her work?

Rist has used new media/technology to enhance the audience’s experience of her work, “Ever is Over All” (1997) by the two video’s playing alongside each other. They both are of different projections so having a cityscape next to a landscape is very contradicting – the contrast between both video’s as well as the music and sound effects makes the work more of a feminist dreamscape.

5. Comment on how the installation, sound and scale of 'Ever is Over All' (1997) could impact on the audience's experience of the work.

The work “Ever is Over All” (1997), takes up most of the wall space in the gallery making the audience interested at first sight. Because of the large scale work she produces the audience has not choice but to watch the installations. The gallery becomes almost a theatre of close ups and different camera angles of certain objects and people.

6. Comment on the notion of 'reason' within the content of the video. Is the woman's behaviour reasonable or unreasonable?

I find the woman’s behaviour unreasonable because in normal society her actions would have consequences. Skipping down a road smashing windows is an offence and she would be charged, the part that really gets to me is that she is addressed by an officer who walks on by like what she is doing is perfectly normal. “As the vandal gains momentum with each gleeful strike of her wand, an approaching police officer smiles in approval” (Museum of Modern Art, 2010). Also we all know that a flower cannot smash a window, its impossible.

7. Comment on your 'reading' (understanding) of the work by discussing the aesthetic (look), experience and the ideologies (ideas, theories) of the work.

I think this work is interesting because Rist makes the audience feel apart of her works. Its different to traditional works where there hung on the wall, put into frames or sculpted and put in the middle of a room. These works are projected along the walls at large scales giving the gallery that theatre feel.

claud monet_vs_chuck close

 Both Claude Monet and Chuck Close were exploring paint, color and human perception. Research the work of both artists in order to;

1.       Outline the intentions of each artist.

In Claude Monet’s “water lilies”, I assume his intentions were of capturing the peaceful atmosphere around the quiet scenes and painting in a way to show emotion rather than what he sees

Whereas Chuck close would produce portraits of famous people, or his family and friends if not exactly as he sees it, an impression or maybe better.    

2.       Describe the techniques of each artist

Claude Monet: “There are two common misnomers about Monet. The first is that, as an Impressionist, Monet's paintings were done spontaneously. In fact, Monet studied his subjects intently, planned his paintings, and worked hard to achieve his results. He often painted a series of the same subject to capture the changing effects of the light, swapping canvases as the day progressed.” (http://painting.about.com/od/oldmastertechniques/a/Techs_Monet.htm)

Chuck Close: “Close paints strictly from photos, transferring the photo on to canvases that are typically three meters high. He uses grids to transfer images from photographs to the canvas, enhancing details along the way to create a shockingly lifelike image. His earlier work captured the photographic feel. He even went as far as to blur out things farther away from the face the way the lens blurs out the background in a photo.” (http://library.thinkquest.org/C0118063/time/close.htm)

Claude Monet demonstrates a free expressive painting style. Seen with the brush strokes & the calm colors on “Bordighera". But Chuck Close demonstrates a style of painting which seems decorative. Girding or blurring a face. An early Photoshop edition?

3.       Find 2 quotes about each artists work, and reference them correctly.

"As for the colors I use, what's so interesting about that ? I don't think one could paint better or more brightly with another palette. The most important thing is to know how to use the colors. Their choice is a matter of habit. In short, I use white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, madder, cobalt blue, chrome green. That's all." - Claude Monet

“One day Boudin said to me, "Learn to draw well and appreciate the sea, the light, the blue sky." I took his advice.” - Claude Monet

“I did some pastels and I did other pieces in which there was just basically one color per square, and then they would get bigger and I could get 2 or 3 colors into the square, and ultimately I just started making oil paintings.” - Chuck Close

“I think most paintings are a record of the decisions that the artist made. I just perhaps make them a little clearer than some people have.” - Chuck Close

4.       Note 3 similarities of the work of both artists.

The main similarity was of there fine eye for detail. Both Monet & Close demonstrate such technique. Also the interest in there subject matters. Claude Monet was also ex-caricaturist. A person whom does portraiture like Chuck Close. And also the similarities between there use of color.

5.       What are some differences between the artist's works. (at least 3)

The style of painting is of different uniqueness. Also there subject and specific process of production. Monet paints via emotion whereas Close would produce Photoshop like pictures.

There choice of subject: Monet’s work is of mainly nature and outdoors, whereas Close prefers portraits of family and friends.

6.       Describe your response to the work of both artists.

Immaculate painting techniques. Both techniques were of own uniqueness. I liked both the artists work. It was just 2 different artists with minor similarities. Like two different cars. They both got chairs, etc. but then there’s something Monet will have that Close lacks & vise versa;   

Reference list

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ma-Mo/Monet-Claude.html

(http://www.intermonet.com/colors/)

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/chuck_close.html#ixzz1NqSG1wCV

http://www.intermonet.com/oeuvre/bordig.htm

http://www.monetartprints.net/monet_biography.html

Eiffel vs Guggenheim

The Eiffel Tower and the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao have both been described as significant

Architectural constructions of their time. The Eiffel Tower has been described as;

 'a symbol of technological prowess' (www.tour- eiffel.com/)

and the Guggenheim museum has been 'hailed as the most important structure of its time'

(www. guggenheim.org/bilbao )

Research both architectural structures in order to comment on;

-the importance of the design and construction

-significance of the materials

-significance of the designer

-function for which each was built

-function now-has it changed?

Compare the two architectural structures, by noting their similarities and differences.

Gustave Eiffel, the renowned structural engineer responsible for designing the Eiffel Tower. A hounoric symbol thought to commemorate the French revolution in 1889. (http://www.worldgreatestsites.com/eiffel_tower.htm) (http://www.everydayguide.com/importance-of-the-eiffel-tower/) Mass produced from “7,000 metric tons of puddling iron”( https://engineering.purdue.edu/MSE/AboutUs/GotMaterials/Buildings/patel.html), this master piece overlooks Paris like a compass. Initially made in honor of the 100^th year of the French revolution, nobody knew its main purpose until it was up for demolishment. “But its main purpose remains until the present, which is as a radio transmitter. If it was not revealed that it could be a radio transmission tower, the Eiffel may not be around this day.”

 (http://www.everydayguide.com/importance-of-the-eiffel-tower/)

Frank O. Gehry, world famous architect renown for his concept of style which “explores the possibilities &inherent both in the methods of constructing and assembling architecture”, (http://architect.architecture.sk/frank-owen-gehry-architect/frank-owen-gehry-architect.php)  is whom to blame for the discovery of the Guggenheim Bilbao. The titanium skinned orthogonal shapes, alongside the twisted lines is what gives people the Gehry abstract effect that blew away architects and spread visual pleasure world wide. The main purpose of the museum was to “revitalize” the city of Bilbao. Similar to the Eiffel tower, when it was complete, not only did it revive the city of Bilbao but also the Bilbao economy. (http://ijz.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.177/prod.65)

“The composition continues a curvaceous, free-form sculptural style that has become a Gehry signature. The abstract, free-form components of this style were present in the early Gehry House, and a similarly sleek curvaceous cladding was displayed in the sculptural fish of the Fishdance Restaurant”.( http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Guggenheim_Bilbao.html)

Industrialization - To introduce an industry into an area (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/industrialization)

This is relevant nowadays and to the subject, due to the placement of the two buildings into the two areas. This resulted in both the buildings becoming industries within there own right. For example, the Eiffel tower. When production was of completion, restaurants were introduced to maintain the towers income. And the Guggenheim maintains tourism within its grasp to preserve what is said to be “Instantly hailed as the most important structure of its time”( http://www.guggenheim.org/bilbao)

Two different designers, created two different pieces. In comparison, they are merely, “brothers from different mothers”

Reference list

http://www.paris-france-vacation.com/eiffel-tower-history.html

http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/?idioma=en

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bleiffeltower.htm

 https://engineering.purdue.edu/MSE/AboutUs/GotMaterials/Buildings/patel.html

http://www.everydayguide.com/importance-of-the-eiffel-tower/

http://www.magicaljourneys.com/Spain/spain-interest-northern-basquecountry-bilbao-guggenheim.html

http://architect.architecture.sk/frank-owen-gehry-architect/frank-owen-gehry-architect.php

( http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/titanium/overview.php)

http://ijz.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.177/prod.65