The Medici: Makers of Modern Art - Part one

Noor Fa'eezah Binte Mohd Jalal : William Anastasi : 60 minute, 1987

 

RESEARCH ON "60 minute"

Time is an interesting concept; people try to give their lives a sense of order and try to exercise some control over their lives. "Out of Time" was a well-orchestrated group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, 2006. The exhibition raised the issue of the relationship between time and people. The show focused on variations on the theme of time. It was poetic and political.

 

For example, in William Anastasi's 60 Minutes, time was used as an element of physics; it is rigid and linear.

Reference link
http://seungaekim.blogspot.com/2008/03/william-anastasi.html

My reflection
Personally, upon my first view of the artwork by William Anastasi, the artwork itself got me thinking on what it is actually presenting. The pencil works allow the reader to interpret it differently. Upon my first look at his artwork, to me, it looks like a whole long stretch of hair strands.

As for the way he created the artwork is basically to draw or some might call it scribbling on the paper with a pencil without lifting it off the paper for 60 minutes. This reminds me of my childhood in which I remember clearly, I used to scribble randomly and asked my families and friends on what they can spot or see in the end product of the scribbling.

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Ng Jingge Jeanne - Vincent Van Gogh - The Starry Night

About Van Gogh

Birth Year : 1853
Death Year : 1890
Country : Netherlands

Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.

information taken from: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/bio.html

Reflection on The Starry Night, 1889

There is the night sky filled with swirling clouds, stars ablaze with their own luminescence, and a bright crescent moon. Although the features are exaggerated, this is a scene we can all relate to, and also one that most individuals feel comfortable and at ease with. This sky keeps the viewer's eyes moving about the painting, following the curves and creating a visual dot to dot with the stars. This movement keeps the onlooker involved in the painting while the other factors take hold.

Below the rolling hills of the horizon lies a small town. There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our own warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies. The center point of the town is the tall steeple of the church, reigning largely over the smaller buildings. This steeple casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion.

 To the left of the painting there is a massive dark structure that develops an even greater sense of size and isolation. This structure is magnificent when compared to the scale of other objects in the painting. The curving lines mirror that of the sky and create the sensation of depth in the painting. This structure also allows the viewer to interpret what it is. From a mountain to a leafy bush, the analysis of this formation is wide and full of variety.

Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in an Asylum at Saint-Remy in 1889.

During Van Gogh's younger years (1876-1880) he wanted to dedicate his life to evangelization of those in poverty. Many believe that this religious endeavor may be reflected in the eleven stars of the painting. In Genesis 37:9 the following statement is made:

• The stars in the night sky are surrounded with their own orb of light.
• The Reflection of artificial light (new to the time period) from Arles in the river makes the one's eyes move around the painting; thus keeping the viewer visually involved.
• There are structures in the distant lit up in a warm glow of light

• The Stars are barely consumed in their own light.
• The bright yellow wall draws in ones attention rather then assisting to move one's eyes around the painting.
• There is a sense of balance attributed to the dark cityscape silhouette to the right of the painting (Contrasting the bright yellow wall).

- Ng Jingge Jeanne Class 1A

Candice Lee, William Anastasi, 60 minutes, 1987

William Anastasi, 60 minutes, 1987

Research on artwork:

William Anastasi (American, b. 1933) created 60 Minutes (1987), a pencil drawing mounted on canvas, in exactly one hour.

Resource: http://www.kunstaspekte.de/index.php?tid=24035&action=termin

 Research on artist:

Born in Philadelphia in 1933, Anastasi embraced what he calls Duchamp's recipe-like approach to art-making and in the Sixties and early Seventies did four exhibitions at the Virginia Dwan Gallery, famous for championing Conceptual and Minimal art.

In the first of these shows Anastasi presented "Wall on the Wall," a set of large lithos on canvas of a photograph of the very gallery walls on which the canvases were hanging. His installations, sculptures, and images (painting, drawings, photographs) vary greatly in material and form - arguably one of the reasons for his relative obscurity is that he did not develop a signature style. But certain threads run through and unite Anastasi's work, among them chance and indeterminacy, site-specificity, self-representation and self-reference, seriality and repetition, the use of ready-made and industrial materials, and of text as visual material. Anastasi's work is being increasingly recognized and reappraised, most recently with an exhibition at the Drawing Center in New York (Spring 2007) of some of his earliest sculptures and drawings.

Drawing has long been important to Anastasi. Since the 1960's he has been making "blind" and "subway" drawings, done without looking on paper in his pocket, or in his lap while riding the subway. Part I of this multi-part portrait of William Anastasi is about "Drawing Blind."

Resource: http://www.newarttv.com/William+Anastasi%3A+Drawing+Blind

Personal Reflection:

Upon exploring the virtual MoMA website, I have learnt a new art term, Conceptual art. Art is not created just for beauty and pleasure, but to also allow the viewers to think about its underlying meanings. I like the way William Anastasi uses chance and his spontaneous movements to create art. Somehow, his artworks created relates to things he do in his everyday life. I like his choice of medium, the pencil. It is something simple yet powerful when drawn in large scale.

Anastasi’s concept and notion of the pivotal importance of meanings in every artwork made is very inspiring to me. I love it!

-Candice Lee, class 1A

Polly Apefelbaum

Lim Hui Chi : Polly Apfelbaum : Blossom

MY RESEARCH

This large, circular, floor hugging work, inspired by the popular animated cartoon The Powerpuff Girls, is part of a group Apfelbaum calls "fallen paintings" in reference to their irreverent position on the ground. Works in the Powerpuff series―like the cartoons on which they are based―are highly controlled and painstakingly put together while still articulating the delirious thrill of topsy turvydom. This piece is an abstract portrait of Blossom, the invincible red haired and pink eyed leader of the Powerpuff trio, whose mission is to save the world from evil before bedtime. Apfelbaum espouses superhero comic characters as legitimate catalysts for change. Discussing the rise of girl power, the artist notes, "I liked the idea of a strong somewhat promiscuous female role model, the slightly out-of-control quality of these cartoon characters."

REFERENCE LINK

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A8328&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

MY REFLECTION

I feel that this piece is very interesting as it is placed on the floor and not on the wall. It makes us think about what art really is. Does it need to be framed? Does it need to be painted on canvas? Can it be made of cloth? Can it be placed on the floor? Also, the colors are very vibrant and attractive to me. I like the circular shape. It makes me feel like I am bring sucked into the art work.