My interview with Paul Wandless was awesome yesterday. I ended up just hanging out in his studio for about five hours chattin it up. He gave me a lot of good advice for how to survive in the art world and ceramics. He also gave me some great suggestions about how I can talk about my work. Today I went to the Chicago Art Institute and had a wonderful time! I got to check out the new wing, which is very nice. I saw some of the famous paintings that I never looked at last time I was there. Also got to see some really nice prints. Didn't look at much clay stuff haha. I looked at what clay stuff they had last time I was there, and they also had a Tashiko Takaezu show there last time I was there.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Artists I Like (Forgive me, this is long)
I said that I was going to be posting some ceramic artists I like and dislike and why, so this will be the first installment. First I want to explain how I went about picking these artists. The majority of this work was chosen because I feel that it meets many of the qualities that I feel contemporary art should possess. Obviously these are personal choices and my opinion of what makes art interesting to me. The work should address technology, either during the creation process or in its content. It should try to blur genre definitions, although I only think a couple of my selected artists are really creating work that may be difficult to define. I enjoy a clever use of appropriation, whether it is a direct copy or referencing another artwork. I am by no means a traditionalist, and in fact, really find myself wanting to pretty much reject everything about traditional ceramics, except the material, although, maybe that is next. Well, I could go on and on about this stuff, maybe I will elaborate more later, but if I don't want this to be twenty pages, I better get to the artists. I do not want to put images of other artists' work on my blog and worry about pissing them off, so I will just provide links if you are unfamiliar with the artist. These are in no particular order...
Richard Notkin http://www.artaxis.org/ceramics/notkin_richard/richard_notkin.htm
Richard Notkin is an artist that really influenced my journey to the "dark side" of content driven artwork. I like the fact that he is referencing the Yixing teapots, which, according to Notkin, contain a great deal of symbolism. This is obviously a logical choice then for Notkin, because his work contains his own visual language that he uses to address contemporary issues. His work is finely crafted, and although I don't believe that great art needs great craftsmanship, I think it does in his case because he is referencing pottery with a history of fine craft. After reading about his work in undergrad, I started to work on creating my own visual language, although with results that were not always successful.
Grayson Perry http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/grayson_perry.htm
I've seen his work before. But, only after Jennifer Allen had suggested to look at his work did I revisit it and realize how much I was drawn to the imagery. Now, I'm not going to adopt his transvestite lifestyle, and I didn't have such a troubled past, but I enjoy the fact that his work is so deeply personal. The imagery on his pots is aesthetically what I am attracted to. Layers of imagery and text with a juxtaposition of hand drawn images and images appropriated from advertising and other sources. The density that is created from the layering is wonderful, and it plays that edge of being too much. He's referencing the tradition of narrative with these pottery forms. I think it's great, too, that he didn't go through the traditional education system and made his work in a community pottery center.
Chad Curtis http://chaddcurtis.com/
I really think that he may be my favorite ceramic artist right now. But, before I get to that, I want to address a statement I made that sort of led to this whole thing. I said that I don't really like ceramic sculpture, or something along that vein. I explained that I thought it was too static and boring, and I basically go the response, "Well what do you want it to do? Dance?" Thinking back to that, I have to say that it wouldn't hurt. I am always thinking of ways I could incorporate robotics and technology into my pieces so they can become more dynamic, and more than just an object that you can look at for 15 seconds and move on. Chad Curtis creates work that does utilize technology, both in the finished piece and in the creation process. In the creation process, he is using a homebrew CNC milling machine to carve foam pieces (more on these topics later). He's using light, and water pumps, and fans, all of these components make his work dynamic. I enjoy the blending of materials. He has pieces that contain clay, corn, foam, water, wood, plexiglass, etc. This makes the work more engaging, because there is this mix of textures and surfaces and colors that just work well together. The fact that all of the cables and wires become part of the piece is also great. His work is very conceptual and heavy on content from all aspects of the art making process.
Guy Michael Davis http://guymichaeldavis.blogspot.com/
Again, an artist whose work I greatly admire, and one of the reasons I wanted to go to Ohio State so much (the great faculty was the main reason). Anyway, he creates his work utilizing 3D scanning and printing technology. Gasp! He doesn't hand make his work from start to finish you ask? No, and he probably ends up spending more time on his work than most people do. He has to make his prototype on the computer (or fix up the 3D scan), he still has to make a mold from the prototype, then he has to cast the pieces, and then assemble, glaze and fire his work just like everyone else does. He was part of a group called the Nonfiction Design Collective, although now they have split up into two groups, and he is part of the subgroup called Future Retrieval with Katie Parker. A lot of his work is juxtaposing historical western porcelain figures ,that they scanned when they were in Dresden, with rats and taxidermy animals that they have also scanned. As you've noticed before, I really like it when artists reference and remix parts of ceramics history to make them contemporary (this is why I am so interested in lithophanes). I'm drawn to this work because of the technological aspect, but I also think that his work is hilarious. This is of course hilarious in a good way, as I think that is his intention.
Barnaby Barford http://www.barnabybarford.co.uk/image_gallery/index.php
Okay, last one. Now, I don't know if this technically qualifies as a ceramics artist, but the work is mostly comprised of ceramic objects. I don't really even care if he is a ceramics artist, because he makes great work that is absolutely hilarious. As you will see, he mostly collects and alters post consumer ceramic figurines. He's using all of this stuff to address contemporary issues in a very satirical manner with an air of irreverence that is quite splendid. Once again, he is referencing that history of the ceramic figurine, and actually using ceramic figurines. He utilizes a mixing of materials. It's kind of hard to define where he fits into the overall scheme of things. Is he a sculptor? Ceramist? Well, he meets most of my criteria. The only area where he may be lacking is technology, although he addresses it in some of the content. But the fact that he is utilizing objects that have been already made is good enough for me.
Richard Notkin http://www.artaxis.org/ceramics/notkin_richard/richard_notkin.htm
Richard Notkin is an artist that really influenced my journey to the "dark side" of content driven artwork. I like the fact that he is referencing the Yixing teapots, which, according to Notkin, contain a great deal of symbolism. This is obviously a logical choice then for Notkin, because his work contains his own visual language that he uses to address contemporary issues. His work is finely crafted, and although I don't believe that great art needs great craftsmanship, I think it does in his case because he is referencing pottery with a history of fine craft. After reading about his work in undergrad, I started to work on creating my own visual language, although with results that were not always successful.
Grayson Perry http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/grayson_perry.htm
I've seen his work before. But, only after Jennifer Allen had suggested to look at his work did I revisit it and realize how much I was drawn to the imagery. Now, I'm not going to adopt his transvestite lifestyle, and I didn't have such a troubled past, but I enjoy the fact that his work is so deeply personal. The imagery on his pots is aesthetically what I am attracted to. Layers of imagery and text with a juxtaposition of hand drawn images and images appropriated from advertising and other sources. The density that is created from the layering is wonderful, and it plays that edge of being too much. He's referencing the tradition of narrative with these pottery forms. I think it's great, too, that he didn't go through the traditional education system and made his work in a community pottery center.
Chad Curtis http://chaddcurtis.com/
I really think that he may be my favorite ceramic artist right now. But, before I get to that, I want to address a statement I made that sort of led to this whole thing. I said that I don't really like ceramic sculpture, or something along that vein. I explained that I thought it was too static and boring, and I basically go the response, "Well what do you want it to do? Dance?" Thinking back to that, I have to say that it wouldn't hurt. I am always thinking of ways I could incorporate robotics and technology into my pieces so they can become more dynamic, and more than just an object that you can look at for 15 seconds and move on. Chad Curtis creates work that does utilize technology, both in the finished piece and in the creation process. In the creation process, he is using a homebrew CNC milling machine to carve foam pieces (more on these topics later). He's using light, and water pumps, and fans, all of these components make his work dynamic. I enjoy the blending of materials. He has pieces that contain clay, corn, foam, water, wood, plexiglass, etc. This makes the work more engaging, because there is this mix of textures and surfaces and colors that just work well together. The fact that all of the cables and wires become part of the piece is also great. His work is very conceptual and heavy on content from all aspects of the art making process.
Guy Michael Davis http://guymichaeldavis.blogspot.com/
Again, an artist whose work I greatly admire, and one of the reasons I wanted to go to Ohio State so much (the great faculty was the main reason). Anyway, he creates his work utilizing 3D scanning and printing technology. Gasp! He doesn't hand make his work from start to finish you ask? No, and he probably ends up spending more time on his work than most people do. He has to make his prototype on the computer (or fix up the 3D scan), he still has to make a mold from the prototype, then he has to cast the pieces, and then assemble, glaze and fire his work just like everyone else does. He was part of a group called the Nonfiction Design Collective, although now they have split up into two groups, and he is part of the subgroup called Future Retrieval with Katie Parker. A lot of his work is juxtaposing historical western porcelain figures ,that they scanned when they were in Dresden, with rats and taxidermy animals that they have also scanned. As you've noticed before, I really like it when artists reference and remix parts of ceramics history to make them contemporary (this is why I am so interested in lithophanes). I'm drawn to this work because of the technological aspect, but I also think that his work is hilarious. This is of course hilarious in a good way, as I think that is his intention.
Barnaby Barford http://www.barnabybarford.co.uk/image_gallery/index.php
Okay, last one. Now, I don't know if this technically qualifies as a ceramics artist, but the work is mostly comprised of ceramic objects. I don't really even care if he is a ceramics artist, because he makes great work that is absolutely hilarious. As you will see, he mostly collects and alters post consumer ceramic figurines. He's using all of this stuff to address contemporary issues in a very satirical manner with an air of irreverence that is quite splendid. Once again, he is referencing that history of the ceramic figurine, and actually using ceramic figurines. He utilizes a mixing of materials. It's kind of hard to define where he fits into the overall scheme of things. Is he a sculptor? Ceramist? Well, he meets most of my criteria. The only area where he may be lacking is technology, although he addresses it in some of the content. But the fact that he is utilizing objects that have been already made is good enough for me.
Chicago
This weekend I will be going to Chicago to interview Paul Andrew Wandless for the Shoptalk article in my graduate seminar. It's going to be a good time! Not the best timing, but that's how life goes. I will post an update about the interview and my visit when I get back.
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Challenge...
Over the next few days I will be posting some ceramic artists that I like and some that I don't and why that is the case. I haven't done this in awhile, and I have never actually done it with just ceramic artists so hopefully I will gain some clarity from going through this experience. Even thinking about doing this, I know my reasoning will probably be full of contradictions! More soon...
Friday, February 12, 2010
A little humor for Friday...
I saw this video on The Ohio State Univeristy's ceramics blog. I've never seen this commercial, it's pretty great haha.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
New Tests
We had a visiting artist that past couple days so it has been nice to watch how someone else works. Her name was Jennifer Allen and she makes some nice pots with decorations. I fired my cone 6 work this past weekend and tried some fiberglassing as well. The fiberglass was interesting, although I don't know if my initial ideas or creating images similar to lithophanes is possible, or at least the way I am going about it.
These are some of my best examples from my cone 6 tile firing. The translucency wasn't as good as the low fire tests I did before, but I still got a decent amount that could be useful in certain applications. Jennifer Allen particularly liked the third one down with the Merrill Lynch bull. I do think there are some nice compositional elements as well as satire in that piece. I don't know if the layering works as well with this clay body, although the images in the back are faded out nicely. The image on the bottom was the cone 6 casting slip I used last semester for my lithophanes. I assembled a small piece out of one of my lithophanes imaging putting a light inside and having it viewed from the outside, but I think it had a very nice effect looking through that small hole. There's too many possibilities! I just need to figure out what seems most urgent to complete right now I guess. More to come soon...
These are some of my best examples from my cone 6 tile firing. The translucency wasn't as good as the low fire tests I did before, but I still got a decent amount that could be useful in certain applications. Jennifer Allen particularly liked the third one down with the Merrill Lynch bull. I do think there are some nice compositional elements as well as satire in that piece. I don't know if the layering works as well with this clay body, although the images in the back are faded out nicely. The image on the bottom was the cone 6 casting slip I used last semester for my lithophanes. I assembled a small piece out of one of my lithophanes imaging putting a light inside and having it viewed from the outside, but I think it had a very nice effect looking through that small hole. There's too many possibilities! I just need to figure out what seems most urgent to complete right now I guess. More to come soon...
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Clay or Fiberglass...
I always seem to stumble upon interesting possibilities for solutions to the problems that I am facing in my current work. However, these solutions often suggest that clay may not be the perfect media for me to be working with to achieve my goals. For our graduate seminar class, we are reading Eyewitness by Jed Perl, and we are supposed to check out any artists that we are unfamiliar with. I just so happened to look up one of the sculptors and found some amazing work by Robert Taplin called "The Five Outer Planets." Unfortunately, I can't download the images from his site, but they can be viewed either by going to his site www.roberttaplin.com (if you want to check out his other work) or directly to those images http://www.roberttaplin.com/robert_taplin_five_outer_planets.html . They are quite remarkable, and I guess I never made the connection that these effects could be achieved with fiberglass and light. More important is the large scale of this work. Because of the nature of the translucent clay, it is also very prone to slumping, so the scale of the pieces that I make have to be on the small side to survive the firing. Upon further research, I found that in industry, images are sandwiched in between layers of fiberglass to create translucent wall screens. I am just imagining, it could be possible to make a "lithophane" the size of a wall...
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