Research on Five Artists - Report Example

of the of the Visual Arts & Film Studies Submitted Research on Five Artists Man Ray The fame of the artist known as Man Ray (1890-1976) has only increased in the years after his death. He was born as Emmanuel Radnizsky, the eldest son of Russian Jewish emigrants who moved to from South Philadelphia to Brooklyn in 1912. It is evident that his mother’s tailoring shop was an early influence on his work, since many of his earlier collages and painting techniques borrowed elements from tailoring like flat irons, needles, pins and threads. However, Ray was fully able to explore his artistic talents only after he enrolled at the Ferrer School in 1912 (Coleman 25). While his parents did not like his decision to pursue art as a career, they nevertheless rearranged their living space so that he could maintain and live in one room as a studio. He was influenced by the avante-garde techniques of the Masters and collaborated with Marcel Duchamp in taking out the first issue of New York Dada in 1920. He was influenced by the movement’s new emphasis on including mechanistic and photographic methods in capturing movement as is reflected in his Self Portrait (1916) and Rope Dancer (1918) for which he used a combination of spray gun technique on a pen drawing (Man Ray &Gruber 17). Aerograph (1919) has been done with airbrush on glass, while Enigma of Isidore Ducasse used a flat iron as a hidden object wrapped in cloth and suspended by a cord. Man Ray followed this period with a dedication to photography and cinema and produced techniques like solarisation and rayographs (Man Ray 12). Works Cited Coleman, A.D. "Willful Provocateur", ARTnews, May 1999. Print. Man Ray. Self portrait. London: Andre Deutsch, 1963. Print. Man Ray & Gruber, L. F. (1963). Portraits. Gütersloh, Germany: Sigbert Mohn Verlag. Print. The Misunderstood (1938) A Night at Saint Jean-de- Luz (1929). Le Violon d’Ingres (1924) John Cage The artist known as John Cage (1912-1992) was an avante-garde composer, choreographer, writer and philosopher as well. He became known for his support of the anti-art movement and revolting against the established themes and norms. For instance, his 4’33 composition of silence has been criticized for its absence of sound, yet Cage maintained that no two performances were alike since the sounds generated at each performance venue would be different- from the sounds of the wind blowing about to that of the unique and quirky sounds generally associated with the members in the crowd as they whisper their incredulity and amazement at this even being considered a piece of serious art (Dillon 1). Towards the last decade of his life, Cage collaborated on a project by Kathan Brown in which he produced a number of prints in which he used burning newspapers and Japanese iron teapots to scorch the surface. Cage is also remembered for his series of drawings of the Ryoanji Garden in Kyoto, Japan’s most celebrated Zen garden, comprising fifteen stones arranged in five mossy islands against a ground of raked gravel (Held 1). Here too his fondness of randomness was not forgotten, as Cage changed the position of the stones in every new drawing. Another of his works along similar lines is called Rolywolyover which was more like a circus than an art show. For much of his work, Cage referred to the I-Ching, a book of 64 symbols presented to him by a student Kurt Wolff in 1950 (Pritchett 1). Works Cited Dillon, Brian. The Visual Art of John Cage. The Guardian, July 10, 2010. Online. Pritchett, James. What silence taught Cage: the story of 4’33. Online. Accessed on 03 May 2012 at http://www.rosewhitemusic.com/cage/texts/WhatSilenceTaughtCage.html Held, John Jr. Interview with John Cage at the Dallas Public Library Cable Access Studio, Dallas, Texas in 1997. Online. Plant Watering Instructions (undated) R3 (R=Ryoanji) (1983) New River Watercolour, Series IV # 4 (1988) On Kawara On Kawara (born 1933) is a visual or conceptual artist mainly known for his time and place series. Born in Japan, Kawara has settled in the USA since 1965, with New York City as his chosen place of residence in between his many travels across the world. In one year alone, he sent postcards from 28 cities. Starting in 1966, Kawara began his Today series, in which he paints simply the date in white on a darker solid background. Kawara has used eight different sizes of canvas and began with Sans Serif letters but has now progressed to Futura. In painting this series, the artist uses the date convention of the place where he is painting from. If he is not able to complete the painting on the day he started it, he destroys it. If not exhibited, the painting is kept in a custom made cardboard box lined with the local newspaper of the city in which it was made (Wood 1). Other series started by the artist include I Went and I Met, which consist of postcards with the date and time made, I Got Up with the rubberstamp of the time he awoke that day and One Million Years is about the passage and marking of time. Kawara is also known for his unique marking system on a hundred year calendar. A sample of paint used, date and time of painting, and red, yellow or other colour markings indicate the time since the artist’s birth date, January 2, 1933 (Cook 1). Works Cited Cook, Lynne. Om Kawara, Long Term View. Web. Accessed on 3 May 2012 at http://www.diacenter.org/exhibitions/introduction/86 Wood, James. Om Kawara. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012. Web. "On Kawara." Contemporary Artists, 5th ed. St. James Press, 2001.Print. A painting from the Today Date Painting Series Theatre Location, 1965 Robert Smithson Robert Smithson (1938-1973) was an artist known primarily for his Land Art. He was born in New Jersey and studied art at the Art Students League in New York City. After earlier dabbling in Pop Art, Smithson emerged as a Minimalist in 1964, using glass sheet and neon lighting to experiment with works concerning the mirroring and refraction of light. Eventually he was enamoured by the concept of dystrophy and applying mathematical principles to landscape architecture. He was a fan of the Structures Movement comprising other artists like Sol Le Witt, Nancy Moms and Victoria Holt (Busch 22). He later joined the Dwan Gallery with the support of its owner Virginia Dwan. While Smithson did not appreciate abuse and neglect of the land, he did view the continuing changes in the landscape as necessary for progress. He also sought to make process art out of these changes; for example in The Pond that was part of Central Park, Smithson was interested in the changes that resulted from the dredging operation. He regarded as picturesque the deformities on land mass that had been caused by nature, socialization or technological changes. For him it was the ongoing process that was important (Smithson et al 45). He defended the criticisms against landscape artists that were directed towards the ‘cutting and gorging of the land like Army Engineers’, maintaining in contrast that natural calamities and social and technological changes were the real culprits. His works include Partially Buried Woodshed (1970), Spiral Jetty (1970) and Broken Circle/ Spiral Hill (1971). He died in a plane crash on 20 July 1973 while surveying sites for his Amarillo Ramp in Texas, USA (Kimmelman 1). Works Cited Busch, Julia M. A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960s, Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1974. Print. Smithson, Robert; Flam, Jack D., ed. Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Print. Kimmelman, Michael (2005-06-24). "Sculpture From the Earth, But Never Limited by It", The New York Times. Web. Spiral Jetty, USA Spiral Hill, Netherlands Broken Circle, Netherlands Yoko Ono The artist known as Yoko Ono (born 1933) has endured fame, ridicule, shame and ignominy at different times of her life, yet her interest in art and world affairs has endured. Born into a high class Japanese family with impressive credentials and lineage on both sides, Yoko followed her father to the USA after he was posted there by his employer. She was returned to one of Tokyo’s most prestigious schools before they came back to New York in the 1940s. They moved back to Japan and were affected by the nuclear bombing that signalled the end of the Second World War. Her father was imprisoned in Saigon as a POW (Anonymous 1). After this they moved to Scarsdale, New York and Yoko attended St Lawrence College, where she befriended artists and longed to live a bohemian lifestyle, much to the consternation of her parents. She first married a Japanese composer and then an American Anthony Cox. Her famous relationship with John Lennon of the Beatles resulted in him divorcing his wife Cynthia after a one night stand following a research appointment on avant-garde art (Monroe & Hendricks 23). She gave Lennon the son he wanted Sean and she was also on hand at the time of John’s infamous murder by the stalker Mark David Chapman. As regards her artistic contributions, Yoko Ono is known for her work called Wish Tree in Japan (1966). She regarded John Cage as a strong artistic influence and also performed with him playing the piano while she lay across it. In Cut piece the audience were invited onstage to cut off her robes till she lay naked. It was regarded as performance or conceptual art, a happening. Her Wish Tree Project at the Museum of Modern Art in New York has received contributions from all over the world (Wilks 1). Works Cited Author Unknown. Biography of Yoko Ono. Web. Accessed on 3 May 2012 at http://www.biography.com/people/yoko-ono-9542162 Munroe, Alexandra & Hendricks, John. YES YOKO ONO. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 2000. Print. Wilks, Jon. "Yoko Ono interview". Web. Accessed on 3 May 2012. 1. Wishing Tree for Washington, 2007 2. Take a Piece of Sky, Baltic Centre for Art 3. Wishing Tree Installation, Pasadena Read More