Leila Heller Gallery presents ‘Transition,’
an exhibition by Ran Hwang from Apr. 5- Apr. 27

http://artofthemideast.com/2012/04/03/leila-heller-gallery-presents-transition-an-exhibition-by-ran-hwang-from-apr-5-apr-27/

"Transition will feature eight works made of buttons, beads, crystals, thread, and pins, and will also include a video installation."
"Using common, mass-produced fashion materials, Hwang creates striking works of art that transform and re-contextualize these everyday objects."
"Hwang contrasts the figure’s solid form with a spattering of buttons and beads that fall from the edge of the work into the negative space that surrounds it. This notion of the artwork’s deterioration is common practice in Hwang’s repertoire as she reminds the viewer of the dichotomy of permanence and impermanence, and ultimately the transience of life."

"In the catalogue essay, Barbara Pollack writes: “On one hand, it is an overtly labor-intensive mode of art-making, to the point that thinking about the sheer effort can distract from appreciation of the work. But, for the artist, the task of mounting buttons upon buttons, one pin at a time, parallels a Buddhist monk’s practice of staring at a blank wall for months on end as a path to enlightenment. Her art-making is entirely meditative for Hwang, and she hopes that viewers can share the meditative state evoked by her strongest work.”"

 

 

 

 

Annotated Bibliography:

Pick texts that are shorter and condensed – to the point and there is a definite idea or key aspect of the text that links to me work

Find texts that push beyond what I already know about my art practice  - stretch my ideas and stretch my practice into different areas – like a drop into a pond the rings are the important part – they stem from the original idea/ideas/central basis of my practice and explore different ideas, bouncing off new ideas and coming back.

Can start by making simply writing what I feel, then I will be able to reconsider my first response and build on it. I can modify the writing and focus more on the articulation of my response.

Key words:

·         Transcendence (Web definition: a state of being or existing above and beyond the limits of material experience wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

·         Transition – the in between stage, personal alteration – may understand change or my be intuitive – and later be able to reflect on  work and draw on new ideas that I can see in it after careful reconsideration and further exploration of ideas and experimentation.

·         The Everyday

·         Fragility/temporality

·         Intensity – in terms of installation  - looking at the accumulation of materials and their ability as a collective to push the viewer’s thoughts beyond their original state – whether the materials have been slightly altered by me or just the way they have been constructed and the multiplicity of materials effects how the viewer sees them, and understands ideas beyond. Intensity also talks a lot about time, labour and commitment of the artist.

·         Time – growth, development, unfolding off the work (often have a general idea of what I want to do but the final product cannot be predicted and will unfold over time.)

·         Gesture – choosing a gesture/ method/ technique to go with the materials I have chosen (or choosing a method then materials) is one aspect of my art practice that I can make a definite decision on right from the start and allows me to make these laborious works. Once I have decided on the particular gesture it is easier for me in my practice to then focus on other factors such as time, labour, intensity, control(to a certain extent), chance, intuition.

·         Repetition

·         Material potential

·         Displacement of materials

·         Craft – making a work look good, and evidence of the hand – labour, craft, intensity

·         Innovation – something new or different introduced, new things or methods.

·         Familiar and unfamiliar

Extra notes from midyr review:

• Be aware of small transformations and simple manipulations in your work so you can respond to them effectively.
• An increased awarness of the role 'gesture' plays in the work would be good.
• The idea of rehabilitating objects - you are taking away objectness from an object by the deconstruction process but through making, giving it back.
• The relevance of craft for it's craftiness - hand having visible presence.
• Time, action, labour = value.
• Thinking about the truth to materials' strategy.......considering both the gesture and materials together to create a work where they work together in harmony and play off each other. 
• Getting a work to go beyond itself and not just end up looking like samples.
• Utilising visual conventions - material transformation, lightness of touch, duration, repetition, arrangement (beauty).

·        

Contextual statement draft

First draft of my Contextual Satatement:

 “Magic Out of The Ordinary”¹

The world is ready to be engaged with. Throughthe continuous experimentation with objects of everyday life, I have discovered their ability to transcend out of their original state, pushing boundaries and ideas beyond them. My practice and investigation of the everyday is in a constant state of flux, continuously switching between the intensity and fragility of hand crafted installations, and the potential of simple everyday materials.  By bringing everyday objects into conversation with the viewer, their environment and other specifically selected materials,I am forcing the viewer to reassess elements of the everyday that have been displaced from their original state. 

I have a growing interest in experimenting with the rawness of materials. I am fascinated in exposing the characteristics of these mundaneeveryday objects through the use of line, temporary installations and exploring their rhythm and materiality. My practice has an underlying reference to female craft. I do not wish to focus solely on the delicate history of feminine craft, but rather generate conversation about my interaction and manipulation of the everyday to further understand the material qualities of selected objects.

Through paying special attention to the everyday I have focused on the importance of innovation and following my intuition to push the boundaries between the everyday and art. Artist AnuTuominen says, “Everything is still as it was and yet somehow more meaningful than before.”² I will continue to play with the idea of simple manipulation, or total transformation of these objects to consume their original purpose in the everyday, and attempt to heighten their authority as now being considered ‘art.’ The critical theorist TheadorAdorno stated that “if the use value of things dies,” these alienated hollowed-out objects can come to be charged with new subjectivity. While the things become “images” of subjective intentions, this does not erase their thingness: dialectical images remain montages, constellations of alienated things and meaning.”³ 

(After discussing my practice with the lecturers in my mid year assessment one comment that was passed was how this quote by theorist Theador Adorno did not qute fit in with my ideas. Mon J noted that in my practice the use value of these things has not died, but instead I as an artist take these objects through a transition stage where they gain a new purpose, talk about new ideas, and gain value through labour and time. These small transformations are the key to my practice, looking specifically at repeated gestures over time for effect and transforming the purpose of everyday items that connect witht the viewer in different ways bring about new ideas beyond their origional state depending on how the viwer relates to this new representation of a familiar mundane element of the everyday.) 

 

The investment of time and labour is very dominant in my practise, allowing me to further explore the additional value that these qualities provide for my works. I am interested in the artist’s ability to give everyday objects a new life where they can make connections beyond the everyday and create “magic out of the ordinary.”⁴

Mid year assessment notes

Mid year assessment notes:


Overview of my current work and ideas, and discussing what I will work towards bext semester:

·         The Everyday is part of the process

·         Small transformations  - are a key point

·         Taking everyday things through small transformations  - the whole object is used in its functional state and goes through a defunctional state to reach a second stage where I have given it another function.

·         Transporting from one state to another – making my own new representation of the origional thing I selected. – the inbetween stage is important in my art practice.

 

·         Gesture – shifting slightly

·         More about rehabilitation of everyday material

·         Conditions are useful: Setting myself specifc conditions to work under: time, material availability etc.

·         Second contition: rules, has some structure

·         Key factors in my art practise : time, labour, action – this is how I believe I can add value to my work – time and effort makes brilliant work

·         Intensive dramatic things

·         Asking others for material – looking at where I source my everyday materials

·         This way I can look at mass, intensity, scale and the impact of thes factors on the viewer.

·         Where does beauty lie in my work?

 

Idea for works:

·         Series of single works, taking apart whole items from the everyday and rehabilitating them/ giving them a new function.

 

·         Using my wall – hook on the wall and install as I go

·         Think about my choice of gesture

·         Wool – carding (winding), using some kind of format

 

·         Looking at the time spent making and how that adds the wow factor/ value.

·         How many objects/ gestures do I make?

·         What objects do I pick / make?  - not too specific  - need to keep it broader to focus on my interest in the time put into making.

 

Important word: COMMITMENT  

·         Setting rules and goals and sticking with them

·         Staying true to materials

·         Going all out – like Trish Scott and the unwonding of thw whole cottone spool – creates more impact – adds value and the wow factor + my own personal relationship to the work is lifted through my time spent with it and I can feel proud of it.

·         Generating!!  - over time – eg. Making one of something everyday for a certain period of time

IMPORTANT:  NOW!!

·         Now is time to create a knowing – understand my practise and commit to ideas and works

·         Create works that tease out my ideas

·         Think about the space  - a space of its own making

 

 

Artists:

 

Trish Scott: lecturer at AUT University

 

·         1km of thread layed down on he floor

·         She picked a specific gesture which was repeated until the whole reel of thread had finished.

·         There was some level of control in this piece – Scott would have some knowing of the outcome of this chosen gesture, but each action would result in a slightly different outcome to create this ver delicate pile fo thread over time.

·         She made decisions/ followed specific conditions – she chose to use the whole spool, pick a specific gesture

·         There is a strong sense of commitment in this work

·         The repetitive action is everyday!

·         This gesture was easy to perform but would take time – it was crafted by a simple gesture

·         Scott made sure the lightness of touch was the main feeling present in her work

·         Her work floated

·         Visual equivilance

·         Beauty

·         Looking good – choice of materials, evolves over time through love, commitment and specific choices.

 

Germaine Koh:

http://rsuntop.blog.com/2013/02/08/knitting-at-large/

Germaine Koh, "Knitwork," 1992, Unravelled used garments reknit into growing object

·         working with the ideas of time – operates across time

·         “Canadian artist Germaine Koh who has been working on the same knitted piece “Knitwork” since 1992. It’s a constantly developing piece and is made from hundreds of unraveled sweaters that are re-knit into a continuously growing object. In Koh’s words “As it records the ongoing passage of time and effort, the work becomes a monument to the artifacts that comprise it, to mundane activity, and to everyday labour. As a visual record of the passage of time, the details of the piece incidentally register variations in my process, and through these one can retrace a history of decisions. Although the slow accumulation of layers of obsolete goods might recall geological processes, the limits of the piece are actually human; the work will be finished when I cease (to be). It is both sublime and resolutely absurd, both excessive and banal, both rigorous and formless; in other words, it is a practical test of the imagination. ”

·         Knitting this much by hand, as Koh does, is certainly remarkable. When knitting machines are put into the equation, with dozens of different artists working together, the scale changes to absolutely collosial. Such as the case with Liz Collins’ “Knitting Nation,” a series of knitting installations performed in various public spaces. In Collins’ words “Knitting Nation is a performance and site-specific installation project. It reconfigures textile fabrication and apparel manufacturing in relation to the human labor behind it, with performance and collectivity as mediating forces. The project functions as a commentary on how humans interact with machines, global manufacturing, trade and labor, brand iconography, and fashion.” There were 10 separate phases or performances, each fascinating and unusual in its own way. These were done over a series of several years and look like they are continuing to evolve. As well as the sheer size, it’s intriguing to see how much physical strength and stamina is involved as well as the jarring, distinctive sounds of the machines. They concern a variety of issues, including major historical events and political commentary.

 

Last Sydney Bienalle:         Artist – Tiffany Singh

http://www.whitespace.co.nz/news/tiffany-singh-sydney.aspx

 

Tiffany Singh, “Knock On The Sky Listen To The Sound,” 1000 Indonesian bamboo wind chimes from rainbow-coloured ribbons

 

 

· Community based

· Participation

In a work bridging Pier 2/3 and Cockatoo Island, Knock On The Sky Listen To The Sound(2012), artist Tiffany invites visitors to decorate 1000 wind chimes and transport them to Cockatoo Island. There, they will be reinstalled as a collaborative work with the public.

 For the third time, Cockatoo Island will be a major exhibition venue, following record attendances during the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010). Subtitled Stories, Senses and Spheres, Cockatoo Island is the last stop in the art walk and immerses the visitor in the sensory experience of the exhibition. Seventy-two (72) works by 55 artists will be spread across the atmospheric island.

 

another description: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/chimes-ring-in-art-biennale/story-e6frewt9-1226405537507