Critique of Elaine's Installation

Aesthetically we appear to enter the installation from 'backstage'. The number 38 on the door piece is back to front and the shoes curve to the opposite side of the space. We are not part of the installation but an intruder to a situation.

A suggestion of time is created with the shoes being positioned in a queue- like fashion. The objects themselves appear to be waiting to exit the imagined building. The formation curves into the wall which gives the impression that the queue begins outside of the space. We are made to feel that this is a section of time, that this situation has occurred before we were here and will continue afterwards. There is something unnatural about the shoes in their pairs, we tend to see this happening when taking off our shoes and tidying them away. The shoes shown here seem to be showing motion, exaggerated by the curve, but static because of the close pairing. This aspect of the work is confusing and slightly odd.

Using latex to create an imprint the artist has picked up the lead detailing and dirt from the original object, it appears to have shed its skin. The fragility of the material and elevated positioning of the piece allows for the surface to flutter in surrounding movement. It appears ghostly and quaint, as though it is in fact a memory.

The installation talks of time and of past memory, which is most successfully communicated through the door piece alone. Upon viewing the separate aspects as part of the same artwork the language seems less convincing. The contrasting physicality is an unsuccessful attribute to the overall piece. It leads us to question why the original door has not been used, or why the shoes have not been represented using latex or a similar material. The colours and weight of the shoes are of this world, they are real objects positioned in an unreal, and unconvincing way. The door piece is a sensitive representation of a real object positioned in a way that creates a more poetic and and subtle narrative on its own.

"Collapse of the Given"

"Man creates or discovers objects and destroys them; he endows them with certain qualities and powers, and assigns them values. Objects are the measure of man's ability to restructure his reality according to his needs. We can see objects, touch them, grasp them and perceive them mentally. They are the immediate physical mediators between man and the world, the means by which he perceives and even attempts to understand the working of the universe."

Finkelstein, H. Surrealism and the Crisis of the Object

Poetry and Dream, Surrealism and Beyond (Tate Modern)

"For the poets and artists of the Surrealist movement, dreams stood for all aspects of the world repressed by rationalism and convention." Matthew Gale, Tate Modern.

This collection of work has inspired me, it has led me to find strong bridges between Surrealism and my artwork. Currently my intention is to strengthen the communication of my work and differentiate between art therapy and fine art. I believe that my answers may lye within the works and artists focusing on Surrealism. I have selected three installations included, and reviewed them as separate bodies along with a background of the artist's intentions.

Jannis Kounellis

Untitled

1979

This installation is the first piece in the collection, we see the space used in a theatrical way merging drawing with object, reality and fiction become one. Here the birds are said to symbolise "the death throes of imaginative freedom", it appears the artist is using the simple line drawings of desolate streets and elongated buildings to express a stale and uninteresting existence, one where the final amounts of creativity are being destroyed. The simplicity and lack of drawing skill involved is intentional and allows a connection between the artwork and the onlooker, as though this scene could be created or imagined by everyone. I feel that this work talks to its audience by allowing this communication to take place.

Robert Therrien

Red Room

2000-2008

Here we see a mixed media installation, the objects within are usual and every day items. The onlooker is invited to peer inside the room but not to enter it. A narrative is created which describes an ownership to the belongings and the actual room itself. According to the artist in this scenario the objects are that of "a Father, a Mother and two small children, all with red hair." I enjoy the idea, in a fine art context, of an imagined ownership to an object, installation or sculpture. It provides a fantastical element to the artwork and allows us to question, is this artwork or reality?

Joseph Beuys

The Pack

1969

Beuys talks of an emergency object "...in a state of emergency the volkswagon is of limited usefulness, and more direct and primitive means must be taken to ensure survival." The back of the vehicle empties multiple sledges onto the gallery floor, positioned in a way that allows the objects to take on living characteristics. The work relates directly to a plane crash where the artist was rescued by nomadic tartars, who saved his life by covering his body in animal fat and wrapping him in felt. Here we see a personal narrative being communicated through the universally appreciated, human survival. Although as the onlooker we may not have experienced a life threatening scenario we can relate to objects as commodity compared to those as necessity.

In all three examples a relationship seems to take place between the artwork and the onlooker, as though we imagine ourselves as part of the created reality. The nature of the work allows us to surrender to a narrative, the story becomes convincing and realistic. For example we do not believe that Red Room belongs to a family, however on a level we allow ourselves to make believe the scenario as part of the poetic fairy tale.

Critique of Jackson's Work

The reality of participating in a critique of work that is still in process can make for a more interactive discussion with the artist rather than with the work itself.

Using repeated screen prints allows an immediate manufactured and cloned quality, which in turn encourages ideas in consumerism and mass production. The skulls had an obvious pop art feel to them, comparable in presentation to Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe prints.

I felt the three times repeated imagery was a classic way to make something, or should I say, anything, look like 'art'. Through history it has become a significant number for portraying words, images or objects in an aesthetically pleasing way. The effect this had was that we were more trusting of the work as a finished piece rather than something in progress.

The artist described how the images move from the simple representation of the skull to an adapted version. There seemed to be a strength in this idea, the skull being a symbol relating to death, something that perhaps should be respected, was being mutated much like the design for a cartoon or computer game character. I also liked the relation back to pop art, that something as popular in fashion as the skull was being shown as a portrait, almost like the new celebrity icon.

The Turner Prize 2009

The Turner Prize is arguably the most prestigious art award of our time. It is now celebrating 25 years and has always encouraged an active opinion from the public. This year the four shortlisted artists are Lucy Skaers, Richard Wright, Enrico David and Roger Hiorns.

Lucy Skaer often uses found photographic imagery which she removes from the original context and translates into what she describes as 'another language'. She aims to slow down our comprehension in what we are looking at, and this is evident in her piece "Leviathon Edge" 2009. This work shows a whale's skull suspended and contained within a space and segregated from the rest of the room. The viewer can only see the skull through purposeful gaps in these walls. The effect of this is that we are made to look at the object in sections but rather than cutting the skull into pieces we are still aware that it exists as a whole. This noticeably changes the way we look at it. Her work stems from reality but is transformed into something both familiar and unfamiliar at the same moment in time. I found her work predictable and tame. Work that is asking you to question how you physically look at things is dull in my opinion.

The work of Richard Wright responds directly to the space in which they are situated. He creates subtle and exquisite paintings that focus on the temporary nature of art. He says "space is a work already begun" and that he can "feel the air". He wants to "open up a visual world of the unseen". These beliefs that are evident through his practice make his work magical and 'special', unique to the particular situation he is in. He paints directly on the walls of the space, and questions the value of art, knowing that his paintings will not exist after the show. His piece "No Title" 2009 is created using gold leaf, upon entering the room you are faced with a delicate yet magnificent painting.

"No Title" 2009, Richard Wright.

Enrico David, a contemporary surrealist, is perhaps one of the most perplexing artists in this years show. He creates unsettling and disconcerting imagery through drawing, painting and sculpture. His work focuses on the human body and an awkward fit into the world. This is not merely a response to self consciousness, more a production of a paranoid nightmare. "Absuction Cardigan" 2009 is something comparable to an obscure shop window display. The oversized limbs of a human figure are draped over the scene linking different objects within the piece. It expresses a physical and emotional crisis, concerned mainly with gender and sexuality. I feel that his work is therapy on the self, I was left unsettled and intrigued about the artist himself rather than the artwork.

"Absuction Cardigan" 2009, Enrico David.

The most publicly favored artist to win this year is Roger Hiorns, he uses organic materials allowing the element of chance into his work. As he states, he becomes "an objective viewer of his own process". The artist combines unusual resources to create powerful sculpture and installation. "Seizure" is the most extravagant of all the pieces. Hiorn flooded a London flat with a copper sulphate solution which he then left to cool and crystalize. The end results are beautiful but this is not the half of it, when the process is considered this work becomes powerfully exceptional. "Untitled" 2008 is an atomised passenger plane, the final product, a very fine grey dust, is displayed on the floor of the show. This piece challenges our faith in technology and the entropy of all things. Concepts aside the art of Richard Hiorn is truly epic.

"Seizure" Richard Hiorns.

Serpentine Gallery - Gustav Metzger -"Decades 1959- 2009"

The first piece upon entering the exhibition is a collection of newspapers that the artist has obtained since 1995. It is an interactive installation where the viewer is encouraged to comment on the news within them. Titled "Eichmann and the Angel" the piece along with his other works explores political and environmental issues, he focuses on the destructive powers of the 20th Century society. The participative aspect and content of the work allow exploration and communication between the public and this is what makes the work so successful rather than the impact of the archive of newspapers in the space.

The section focusing on historical photographs was particularly effective. Metzger displays large prints of World War 2. He uses the viewer's sensitivity towards child suffering to create high impact works. The images alone would prompt a melancholic response but this is exaggerated by the techniques he has used to show them. Or rather hide them. One particular piece was set on the floor, it was covered by a green piece of fabric. The viewer was invited to lift the material and crawl underneath to view the image in a completely unusual way. I participated in this and felt an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia, the fabric on top of me was heavier than I had expected and it took, what felt like, a long time for me to crawl from one end to the other. When the top of the image is reached a line of Jewish children is revealed. It is really quite powerful. Another woman took part in this act and as I watched her I felt that the work viewed with the involvement of the moving body, was just as, if not more significant to what is experienced when in it yourself.

I thought the variation of works in this exhibition made for a really interesting show. The artist's focus on the human experience is portrayed in a relevant, informative and active way, which in turn allows for major thought and questioning.

Critique of Andrzej Ford's Video Piece.

As a group we questioned the patience required to appreciate video art, it is an experience that requires a more controlled amount of time. Even though, with this example, the video is on an everlasting loop, there is still a strong aspect of time. The repetition of both the sound and the projection had the effect of being stuck in that space of existence, it was mesmerising. The pace of the recordings were fast but the speed could not be described as overly frantic. There was an element of panic to what was being witnessed but not one of urgency.

We follow the audio recording through a narrow corridor and turn a corner before viewing the projection. The sound loops contain recordings of what appear to be movements of something mechanical, and a sampling of a woman's voice. The distortion gave an unsettling feeling in the stomach. The artist has used a 'sandwiching' effect enclosing the viewer not only in the surrounding walls but having the projection on one side and the sound coming from the opposite. We are physically trapped in this ongoing moment until we decide to come back through the way we came. This is a very powerful technique and not something that usually occurs when viewing video art. However maybe it is made too obvious, that the viewer is literally forced into this space and then held there by the blockage of people through the narrow space. But for those of us to lazy to allow video art to make an impact maybe this is the only way.

This piece prompts you to feel emotion, it is not informative it is not entertaining, it is purely to allow the viewer to be in touch with the experience. We are made to feel sensitive from the beginning. The mixture between the familiar and the unfamiliar strengthens the surreal pace of the recordings. This is clearly a representation or manipulation of something that exists in reality. As the viewer trapped in this situation we begin searching for rhythm, pattern and order, whether these things can be predicted or whether we are left in a situation that is completely unknown, completely out of our hands. The repetitive vertical lines and gradient colours that appear in the projection have an aesthetic quality about them, comparable to a moving painting. This idea is supported by the unusual size of the image, we are viewing something that is a portal or insight into something else.

In conclusion I feel that this piece has the potential to be a success and with fine tuning it would not be out of place alongside other similar works. I do however find it hard to feel the any kind of inspirational or sensory impact from such work because there is an element of force involved. The process of recording and distorting is a controlling aspect in itself. The feeling of motion feels fake rather than controlled.