Ai Weiwei

 

Ai Weiwei, ‘Forever’ (2003), 42 bicycles, 275 x 450 cm (overall) [1]

BIOGRAPHY

Ai Weiwei (B. 1957) is a contemporary Chinese artist with a broad-ranging creative practice involving sculptural installations, architecture projects, photography and video. Ai grew up during the time of the Cultural Revolution in China, which has largely shaped his upbringing. As a child, he witnessed his father being subjected to forced labour for being a poet. During this time, Ai also recalls:

“During the Cultural Revolution, every school had a set of parallel bars and a basketball hoop in the schoolyard. We all competed to see what we could do with this piece of equipment that was basically just two metal bars”. [2] 

In 1978, Ai entered the Beijing Film Academy and studied there for several years before moving to the United States in 1981. During this time, he enrolled into the Parsons School of design while supporting himself with various odd jobs, ranging from carpentry, picture framing, babysitting, portrait sketching, and even appeared as an extra in Metropolitan Opera productions. 

“During this period of freedom from any rigorous schedule, he walked around the city capturing interesting moments in daily life with his camera, almost as if to confirm his own existence.He also photographed notable events such as the 1988 riots that broke out in Tompkins Square Park when police tried to remove the homeless encamped there. These photographs capture the diversity and political activism of the New York scene during the period, as well as such intensifying social problems as AIDS and homelessness.” [3]

In 1993, Ai moved back to China when his father was feeling ill. Over the next few years, he would create his Black (1994), White (1995) and Grey (1997) books . The books were distributed amongst China’s growing coalition of underground artists, introducing them to the Conceptual Art movement, and featuring politically oriented content [4].

In 1999, he designed his own studio and residence, Ai Weiwei Studio, in the Caochangdi district near the Beijing Capital International Airport. The studio received critical acclaim and notoriety across China due its innovative design, and as a result Ai was commissioned to work on several more architecture projects over the next few years. 

Considered one of his biggest architectural projects, Ai collaborated with Herzog & de Meuron to design the Beijing National Stadium in 2007. (pictured below)

Beijing National Stadium [5]

As a number of his works have drawn attention to human rights issues in China, Ai has been closely monitored by the Chinese government. In 2009, Ai was beaten and detained by Chinese officials in his hotel room, an incident that resulted in a head injury that required him to receive emergency surgery. Later on in 2011, Ai was arrested and confined for eighty-one days for apparent tax evasion.

Ai continues to advocate for human rights and freedom of speech, both through his art practice and political activism. The artist frequently updates his Instagram account with documentation of his work, as well as his political activism working with refugees and migrants. In recent years, he has given exposure to the migrant crisis in Europe, documenting camp sites and the arrival of new migrants on boats.

“I take photos everyday, which, to me, is just like drawing. It’s an exercise about what you see and how you record. And to try to not use your hands but rather to use your vision and your mind.” – Ai Weiwei [6]

 

BODY OF WORKS

 

Sculpture & Installation

 

Aerial view of ‘Sunflower Seeds’ (2007) at the Tate Modern. [7]

‘Sunflower Seeds’ (2010), porcelain. (close up) [8]

“Ai Weiwei’s Unilever Series commission, Sunflower Seeds, is a beautiful, poignant and thought-provoking sculpture. The thinking behind the work lies in far more than just the idea of walking on it. The precious nature of the material, the effort of production and the narrative and personal content create a powerful commentary on the human condition. Sunflower Seedsis a vast sculpture that visitors can contemplate at close range on Level 1 or look upon from the Turbine Hall bridge above. Each piece is a part of the whole, a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. The work continues to pose challenging questions: What does it mean to be an individual in today’s society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?” – Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern [7]

 

‘Snake Ceiling’ (2009), backpacks, 40 x 90cm. [9]

‘Snake Ceiling’ (close up) [10]

“Approximately 90,000 people were killed or went missing in the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many school buildings collapsed, killing many children and leaving their backpacks scattered across the quake areas. This work, which is hung from the ceiling and resembles a giant snake, is formed from commonly used student backpacks in various sizes (representing children from elementary school through junior high) laid out as a requiem for the souls of those died in the disaster.” [11]

 

‘Coca-Cola Vase’ (2007), Vase from the Neolithic age (5000-3000 BCE) and paint. 28 x 25 cm. [12]

 

 

Photography & Performance 

 

‘Dropping a Han-Dynasty Urn’ (1995), C-type print, each 150 x 166cm. [13]

“The act of dropping a Han Dynasty urn to the floor and thus destroying 2,000 years of cultural tradition and legacy expresses the notion that new ideas and values are produced through iconoclasm, The three photographs that record the artist’s performance form a work of conceptual art that captures the moment when tradition is transformed and challenged by new values.” [14]

 

‘Ai weiwei in the elevator when taken into custody by the police’ (2009), colour print. [15]

 

 

‘Fairytale People’ (2007), C-type prints, 100cm x 100cm (individual) [16] 

“Ai weiwei’s Fairytale-1001 Chinese Visitors entailed sending 1,001 Chinese to Kassel, Germany during the Documenta 12 exhibition in 2007…The masses often obscure the individual in the densely populated nation of China, and with this work and his choice to involve 1,001 people, the artist was calling attention to the one, the individual, amongst the 1,000, emphasising the importance of a single person among the group”. [17]

 

PRACTICE 

Ai Weiwei discusses how ‘Sunflower Seeds’ is made 

 

Ai Weiwei ‘Fairytale’ with English subtitles 

 

Ai Weiwei detained. Here is his Ted film 

 

 

ACTIVITIES

1. Explain how Ai Weiwei’s creative practice can be considered innovative and daring? (Practice) 
2. Describe the materials Ai uses in his work, and expand on their significance. (Structural Frame) 
3. Consider how you would engage and interact with the work ‘Sunflower Seeds’ if you were a member of the audience. (Subjective Frame) 
4. How does Ai challenge the notion of the art object as a highly valued and precious artefact? Refer to at least two artworks in your response. (Postmodern Frame)
5. With reference to a number of artworks, what can be ascertained about the artist’s political stance? (Cultural Frame) 

 

REFERENCES

[1]  http://www.flickriver.com/photos/88974125@N00/3800565628/

[2] Ai, W., & Horowitz, D. E. (2012). Ai Weiwei: According to what? Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. p.16

[3] Ai, W., & Horowitz, D. E. (2012). Ai Weiwei: According to what? Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.p.11

[4] https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/printout/category_works/ai_weiwei/

[5] http://www.britannica.com/sports/Olympic-Games/images-videos/The-National-Stadium-also-known-as-the-Birds-Nest-the/115927

[6] Smith, K., Obrist, H. U., Fibicher, B., & Ai, W. (2009). Ai Weiwei. London: Phaidon. p.16

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

[8] http://file-magazine.com/features/ai-weiwei-sunflower-seeds

[9] http://partnersinart.ca/projects-and-events/snake-ceiling-2009/

[10] https://earthsciencesociety.com/2013/04/20/the-2nd-sichuan-earth-quake-in-5-years-why-we-need-more-art-in-science-communication/

[11] Ai, W., & Horowitz, D. E. (2012). Ai Weiwei: According to what? Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. p.120

[12] http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/ai-weiwei-what-is-to-be-done-6-2-11_detail.asp?picnum=1

[13] https://artblart.com/tag/ai-weiwei%E2%80%A8-dropping-a-han-dynasty-urn/

[14] Ai, W., & Horowitz, D. E. (2012). Ai Weiwei: According to what? Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. p.89

 

[15] https://paddle8.com/work/ai-weiwei/20017-ai-weiwei-in-the-elevator-when-taken-into-custody-by-the-police-sichuan-china-august-2009

[16] https://www.magasin3.com/aiweiwei/fairytale-people/

[17] Ai, W., & Horowitz, D. E. (2012). Ai Weiwei: According to what? Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.p.110

 

 

David Hockney

 

David Hockney, ‘A Bigger Splash’ (1967) [1]

BIOGRAPHY

David Hockney (B. 1937) is an English painter, printmaker, photographer and stage designer. His early artistic training began at the Royal College of Art in London where he studied for several years, before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s.

“From the age of 16 to the age of 20, all I did was really draw, because I was at the art school in Bradford and in Bradford you could be in the school from nine in the morning to nine at night, because as a full-time student, you could go in the evenings and you’d have a life class then. So I drew for four years.” – David Hockney [2]

The subjects in his paintings are often portraits of significant people in his life, including his parents, friends, studio assistants and lovers. Despite working within a fairly conservative era, Hockney has consistently explored his identity as a queer artist in his practice; featuring gay couples in domestic scenes and portraying the male nude as a desirable object within his paintings. [3]

Hockney’s vibrant depictions of relatively mundane landscapes oscillate between the natural and man-made. The artist is best known for his paintings of swimming pools and their surrounding architecture, produced in California during the 1960s, using a signature technique that emphasises the flatness of painting. However, after receiving critical acclaim and notoriety, the artist became dissatisfied with this iconic series and began to deviate from that style and subject matter; which is one of the reasons why he decided to experiment with other mediums such as photography, lithography and costume design at the beginning of the 1970s.

The artist’s unusual and playful approach to representation is evident within his photographic practice, which offers a fragmented viewing experience of his subjects. Referred to as joiner images, these photographic works are assembled from multiple polaroid photographs. This technique often alludes the viewer to the functionality and limitations of a photograph; as a partial empirical record of the physical world. Hockney stumbled upon this technique accidentally while taking photographs of a living room as a form of reference for a painting.

Nowadays, Hockey resides in California and continues to produce portraits of his friends and colleagues. He continues to experiment within his artistic practice, for example, in a recent exhibition he presented a series of landscape ‘paintings’ produced digitally using a painting tool on an iPad. [2]

“The mood you are in always comes out in your work. Actually, if I’m very down and unhappy, I don’t work at all. That’s not that often. Mostly, I work seven days a week, that’s all I do now. I’m what, 77, and I feel I’m just still exploring things and I’m exploring perspective in some new way at the moment.” – D.H [2] 

 

 

BODY OF WORKS

 

Portraits 

‘Portrait of Mother III’, (1985), lithograph on paper, 51.2 x 43.5cm [1]

‘Doll Boy’ (1960-1), oil on canvas, 122 x 99 cm [9]

‘My Parents’, 1977, oil paint on canvas, 182.9 x 182.8cm [4]

“In this work, painted a year before  his father’s death, Hockney’s style has shifted towards a closer study of human behaviour. His mother poses, attentive and graceful, while his father, who fidgeted during sittings, was painted reading Aaron Scharf’s book Art and Photography. A book on Chardin draws a parallel with intimate domestic scenes of the past, as do the volumes of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past visible on the shelf. Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ is reflected in the mirror, forming a triptych with the two figures.” [4] 

 

‘Portrait of an artist (Pool with Two Figures)’, (1971), Acrylic on canvas, 214 x 304.8 cm [5]

‘Jean-Pierre Gonzales De Lima’ (2013) [2]

“I just started that painting of JP,” says Hockney. “We were very down, very down. We were down because of what had happened in England and we had just come back here. Things were going on then, but I started these portraits and that was it. I just painted 50 people, they are all in the same chair, the same position. They took three days each really, about three six-hour sessions, and I enjoyed them. I had people come and sit there and I said, ‘It’s an 18-hour exposure, not the fifth-of-a-second one.’”

“[In 2013], one of his studio assistants, 23-year-old Dominic Elliott, died in his house in Bridlington after drinking household drain cleaner while high on ecstasy and cocaine.” [2] 

 

Joiner images 

‘My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, Nov 1982’, (1982) [4]

“Photo collages such as ‘My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, Nov 1982’ (1982) are remarkable and original images…The resulting fractured images, which recall the post-Cubist experiments of his photocollages of the early 1980s exaggerate the imposing physical presence of the figures and call their attention to the way that their personality and identity are conveyed as much through their manual gestures as through their physiognomy and facial expression.” – D.H [5]

 

‘Christopher Isherwood Talking to Bob Holman, Santa Monica, March 14, 1938 # 3’, (1983), photographic collage, 42.5 x 64.5 inches. [6]

 

Landscapes 

‘Garrowby Hill’, 1988, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 in. [7]

 

‘A closer winter tunnel, February – March’, (2006), oil on canvas, 6 panels, 190.5 x 381 cm overall, 91.5 x 122cm (individual panels) [8]

 

‘The Arrival of Spring in Woodgate, East Yorkshire’, (2011) 

“..on an iPad you can draw for ever and you can’t on a sheet of paper. And on an iPad you draw a bit differently, but that’s all you do. Drawing is 50,000 years old, isn’t it? I think it comes from very deep within us actually.” – D.H [3]

 

PRACTICE

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITIES

1. Identify the signs and symbols which appear in Hockney’s portrait of his parents. What is suggested through the inclusion of these visual devices? (Structural Frame) 
2. How is colour used in David Hockney’s practice to evoke feeling and emotion? Refer to at least two artworks. (Structural Frame) 
3. Is David Hockney a traditionalist or an innovator? Consider and discuss the conventional and unconventional aspects of Hockney’s practice. (Postmodern Frame) 
4. How does the artist draw inspiration from his world? (Conceptual Framework) 
5. In what ways can David Hockey’s work be considered political? Justify your response with reference to at least two artworks. (Cultural Frame) 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

[1] http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-hockney-1293

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/16/david-hockney-interview-i-feel-like-picasso

[3] Melia, P. & Luckhardt, U. (2007). David Hockney. Munich: Prestel.

[4] http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hockney-my-parents-t03255

[5] https://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hockney/

[6] http://www.shootingfilm.net/2013/01/joiners-polaroid-collages-by-david.html

[7] http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=2256

[8] http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/239.2007.a-f/

[9] https://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordshire_church_photos/galleries/72157622644276786/

 

Polixeni Papapetrou

 

The Mourner (2012), Pigment inkjet print. 105 x 106 cm. Edition of 6 [1]

BIOGRAPHY

Polixeni Papapetrou (b. 1960) is a contemporary photographic artist from Melbourne, Australia who explores issues of identity, childhood, masking and performance. Her subjects have included eclectic characters from Marilyn Monroe impersonators to body builders and Elvis Presley fans. In her more recent works, children and adolescents have served as both the inspiration and model for her shoots, which have taken place both in the studio and within the natural landscape. In other body of works such as ‘The Ghillies’ (2013) and ‘Between Worlds’ (2009-2012), demi-humans and faceless creatures appear in the lush Australian landscape.

 

 

“Photography has the ability to freeze a moment in time, to capture reality and transform it to memory. I think that this type of insight happens after the photograph is made and you are not conscious of this in the process of making the picture. When you make a photograph, you are in that moment rather than how that moment will be remembered in ten or one hundred years time. However, when photographing children you are reminded of the passage of time as children change so rapidly, but their child form is memorialised by the still image.” – Polixeni Papapetrou [1] 

 

BODY OF WORKS

‘The Dreamkeepers’ (2012)

The Mender 2012 Pigment ink print 105 cm x 105 cm edition of 6

The Wave Counter 2011 Pigment ink print 105 cm x 105 cm edition of 6

“I’m interested in liminal and transitional stages in life such as childhood, adolescence and old age. In ‘The Dream Keepers’ (2012), my idea was to collapse the idea of youth and old age into one body. The whole point about being a child is to grow and with that growth eventually one can become old. We carry the germ of ageing within us. Similarly, when you reach the end of your life, childlike traits can emerge as you let go of worldly concerns and enter the space of your mind and imagination.” – Polixeni Pxpapetrou [1] 

 

 

‘Between worlds’ 2009-2012.

The Harvesters 2009 Pigment ink print 105 x 105 cm edition of 8

The Visitor 2012 Pigment ink print 70 cm x 105 cm edition of 8

 

“In late 2007, I finished making the series ‘Games of Consequence’ (2008) when I received the diagnosis of cancer. After the news and during the treatment, I made the series ‘Between Worlds’ (2009) where I portrayed the children as animals. It was about this time that my style was changing. Prior to this, the work that I made was based upon pre-existing narratives. Whether I was restaging Lewis Carroll’s works in ‘Dreamchild’ (2003) and ‘Wonderland’ (2004), or looking at the experience of children in colonial Australia in ‘Haunted Country’ (2006), there was an element of narrative in the work. After the diagnosis, I began making pictures in a more intuitive way, relying less on literary narrative and allowing my unconscious to feed my ideas.” – P.P [1] 

 

‘Melancholia’ (2014) 

Melancholia 2014 Pigment ink print 150 cm x 100 cm edition of 4

 

“I had considered ‘Melancholia’ as a title for a future series even before I was sick, but it feels more necessary now. I think that there is a certain pathos in being human and the clown is symbolic of that pathos and melancholy. Clowns may appear happy on the surface, but we sense that the happiness is a façade. Even though my clowns wear a mask, the face in the mask is unpainted, as if paradoxically exposed and unmasked.” – P.P

 

 

‘Elvis Immortal’ (1987-2002) 

Rebecca Gully at home with Elvis shrine Melbourne 1988 selenium toned silver gelatin print 100 x 100 cm edition of 6

Mark Elvis Impersonator paying his respects at the Elvis Memorial Melbourne 1992 selenium toned silver gelatin print 100 x 100 cm edition of 6

 

“Before I started photographing children, the people I photographed came to me with their own props. The drag queens wore their elaborate evening gowns, make-up, wigs, and false nails; the Elvis Presley fans wore 1950s rockabilly gear, the wrestlers wore elaborate capes and masks and the body builders arrived bearing their oiled and sun tanned bodies. They helped me to understand the importance of dress and appearance in constructing identity, roles and gender.” -P.P [1] 

 

PRACTICE

[2]

 

 

ACTIVITIES

1. Explain how Papapetrou’s works can be viewed as ‘playful’ and ‘imaginative’? Refer to at least two artworks. (Subjective Frame) 
2. Assess how effective the artist has manipulated formal elements of colour, background and space in her artworks. (Structural Frame)
3. What ideas and beliefs about popular culture are explored in the series ‘Elvis Immortal’ (1987-2002)? (Cultural Frame) 
4. “In 1991, I decided that I should have my first overseas trip. I opened an atlas with a map of the world and thought that I would go to the place on the page where my finger landed. That place was Nepal and I went there via Bangkok. I took my Hasselblad camera and it was the first and only time I photographed overseas. In Thailand, I photographed drag queens at the Calypso Cabaret, where I somehow talked my way into photographing the drag queens backstage. In Nepal I photographed children and holy men.” – P.P [1] 

With reference to the above quote, analyse how chance and discovery play a role in the artist’s practice. (Practice) 

 

 

REFERENCES

[1] http://www.polixenipapapetrou.net

[2] https://www.youtube.com/user/artinfo2005

 

Destiny Deacon

 

Oz Games – Under the spell of the tall poppies, 1998/2003. Light jet print from Polaroid original. 100 x 80cm, Edition of 15 [1] 

BIOGRAPHY

Destiny Deacon (b. 1957) is an Aboriginal artist who uses film and photography to explore Aboriginal politics within contemporary Australian society. Deacon’s work is often driven by political activism, revealing the overt and unspoken ways Indigenous Australians are discriminated against. Using black humour and irony, attention is drawn to the insidious nature of casual racism; where humour masks underlying racist values.

 

“I came to being an artist late, working as a teacher of Australian literature and culture first. Becoming an artist was the last bastion for an umemployable girl.’- Deacon [2] 

“Calling herself an ‘old fashioned political artist’, comedy is the basisfor Deacon’s politics and tragic laughter. By telling jokes, Deacon irreverently exposes vulnerable attributes. For her, there is ‘a laugh and a tear in every photo”. – Natalie King [2] 

 

 

BODY OF WORKS

‘Forced into images’ series (2001) 

‘Baby love’

 ‘Where’s mommy?’

“Deacon has purposefully avoided the hype around high-end digital media in preference for a relatively straightforward, low tech, and ‘el cheap’ method. Her images are shot on Polaroid then transferred to laser, bubble or light jet prints primarily to offer scope for shifts in scale…

[Her] vast collection of Aboriginal souvenirs is used as props or encased in vitrines while her living room is a stage for theatrical arrangements. Deacon doesn’t have a studio; instead her home in Melbourne becomes the place for her work, which is invariably an extension of her domestic life”. – Natalie King [2]

‘Protecting Paradise’

“I mainly got engaged with it because I felt sorry for the objects and wanted to rescue them, bring them up another level. A lot of its derogatory. It’s expensive ‘Australiana’ now. There’s a lot of junk around as well with today’s Australian ‘Aboriginalia’ tourist market knick-knacks and souvenir items being mostly functional and made overseas.” – D.D [2] 

 

‘It’s playblak time – a neighbourhood watch in 15 acts’ series (2009) 

 

“Dolls are essentially used as transitional objects, in other words, a soothing source of comfort during absences from parents. When we see a doll alone, it represents loss, suggesting that there is a child somewhere feeling bereft and distressed.” – Natalie King [2] 

 

‘Postcard from Mummy’ series (1998)

 

 

“I wish I went with Mummy to these Queensland regions of her youth. When I finally took the journey, from ‘Cooktown to Brisbane’ to explore the placements in Mummy’s early life, I got to see that everything she said about the Land she spent her early life in was true, and I found out something about why she became so strong and independent.” – Destiny Deacon from Roslyn Oxley9 Press Release. [4] 

 

PRACTICE

Destiny Deacon’s artist talk at the AGNSW (2008) 

 

 

ACTIVITIES

1. Identify the found objects used in Deacon’s practice. Write down any values or ideas that are associated with these objects. (Structural Frame) 
2. Is there an underlying political stance embedded in Deacon’s artworks. Refer to and discuss one specific artwork. (Cultural Frame) 
3. Discuss the ways Destiny Deacon challenges mainstream artistic values in her artist practice. To what extent is this deliberate? (Postmodern Frame) 
4. Speculate how an audience may respond to the artwork ‘Under the spell of tall poppies’ from the series Oz Games. (Subjective Frame) 

 

 

REFERENCES:

[1] http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/2/Destiny_Deacon/profile/

[2] Deacon, Destiny. Destiny Deacon: Walk & Don’t Look Blak. Sydney, N.S.W.: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004. Print.

[3] https://www.mca.com.au/media/uploads/file/2012/01/11/Media_Release_-_Destiny_Deacon.pdf

[4] http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/news/releases/2003/03/19/47/

 

 

Maurizio Cattelan

 

 

Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (2001). Wax, pigment, human hair, fabric, and polyester resin, 150 x 60 x 40 cm.

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Maurizio Cattelan (born in 1960, Padlova, Italy) is an Italian conceptual artist whose works challenge the traditional notion of the artist as ‘maker’, as well as beliefs and values that we ascribe to art. Cattelan often claims that he is not an artist, as he hires professionals to produce his sculptures. Cattelan’s hyper-realistic sculptural installations have been known to cause controversy, for example his work ‘La Nona Ora’ (1999) depicts Jean Paul II being struck by a meteor. Other works evoke a light-hearted and ambivalent response from the audience, such as Untitled (2009) and Tarzan and Jane (1993). In the latter work, Cattelan had asked two gallerists to dress as lions for a month. [2]

“Cattelan’s youth in the Italian city of Padua was marked by economic hardship at home, punishment at school, and a string of unfulfilling, menial jobs. These early experiences instilled in him an abiding mistrust of authority and a disdain for the drudgery of labor that haunts much of his early production.” – Guggenheim [1] 

 

 

BODY OF WORKS

 

‘Tarzan & Jane (f)’(1993). Color photographs, aluminium (Worn by Umberto Raucci and Carlo Santamaria, Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Naples)

 

 [2]

‘Untitled’ (2007). Taxidermy horses.

 

 

‘La nona ora’ (The ninth hour), (2001) , installation view. Wax, clothing, polyester resin with metallic powder, volcanic rock, carpet, glass, dimensions variable. [4]

“It is as if an act of God (who else?) had just plunged the rock through the rose window of a large cathedral during high Mass. (The work’s title, which translates as “The Ninth Hour,” refers to the time that Christ died on the cross.)” – New York Times [3] 

 

PROCESS

Time Lapse of exhibition installation at the Guggenheim 

 

An interview with Maurizio’s Cattelan’s double

 

 

ACTIVITIES

1. Make a list of values and beliefs pertaining to the role of an artist. Consider the following: What do artists do? How do they do it? Do they work alone? Are they an unsuccessful artist if they sell no work?
2. By focusing on two or more prominent works by Cattelan, discuss the ways the artist challenges the beliefs and values we ascribe to artists and artworks. (Postmodern Frame) 
3. How is humour, irony or paradox employed in Maurizio Cattelan’s artworks? Refer to at least two examples. (Postmodern Frame) 
4. Discuss how the work ‘La nona ora’ (2001) can generate mixed emotions from the audience. (Subjective Frame) 

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

[1] http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/3961

[2] https://www.perrotin.com/artiste-Maurizio_Cattelan-2.html

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/arts/design/maurizio-cattelan-at-the-guggenheim-review.html?_r=0

[4] http://codylee.co/2014/06/maurizio-cattelan-la-nona-ora/