Magazine Project

Animal Inside Out at NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Picasso Prints: The Vollard Suite at BRITISH MUSEUM

Crouching over the sleeping woman, the Minotaur is both brutal presence and a tender lover. In 1943 Picasso remarked to his lover Francoise Gilot, to whom he showed the Vollard Suite etchings: 'He's studying her, trying to read her thoughts...trying to decide whether she loves him because he's a monster...It's hard to say whether he wants to wake her or kill her'.

Poblo Picasso (1881-1973)

Minotaur Caresses a Sleeping Woman

18 June 1933, Boisgeloup; plate reworked probably at end of 1934

Drypoint

Signed in pencil. Dated in reverse on the plate: 'Boisgeloup 18 Juin XXXIII'

Hans-Peter Feldmann at SERPENTINE GALLERY

It's not particularly common that Conceptual Art is thought-provoking, aesthetically pleasing and utterly desirable. Much less often does it engage a viewer with a cheeky sense of humour. The fact that the work of Hans-Peter Feldmann covers all of these points makes him a great asset to contemporary visual art.

Like many of his contemporaries (names including Joseph Beuys and Gerhard Richter), Feldmann came to international prominence in the 1970s; his pre-occupation is in the collection, categorisation, organisation and presentation of common, everyday objects. Systematic and thorough re-organisation of photographs of (generally assumed to be) the banal detritus of daily visual culture displayed across booklets, magazines, books, postcards and installation developed Feldmann's continued interest in slowing time down; using the visual tools of the daily grind, chronicled in the most expansive manner.

Feldmann might be seen as a kind of conceptual structuralist whose primary mode could be described as “this is not that.” It’s a strategy heavily reliant on seriality and repetition. If a viewer chooses to imbue a particular image or work with extra meaning, that seems fine with Feldmann.

To some extent, I think Feldmann uses different ways to intrude the original artwork and thus changing the original meaning, which likes my recent photography project but with different medium.

Study Proposal (revised)

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

— VISUALIZING DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES OF PEOPLE AND OBJECTS

RESEARCH QUESTION

With the amazing advancement of the video-saturated and digitally-enhanced society and the development of the individual, the way people think has undergone profound changes related to the past time.  The definition of the feeling, like happiness and safety is very simple in people’s mind during the bygone days, but that kind of happiness and safety cannot satisfy them in the contemporary society.  As a consequence, they are seeking for more things either physical or psychological to make them feel happy or safe.  They cannot be themselves like they were yesterday.  Eventually, some people lose themselves under their huge desires that are not always fulfilled, and meanwhile, they are gradually becoming more and more complicated. The complexity can be reflected in people’s personality.  Not only do split personality mental patients have totally different two personalities, actually the normal persons also have two ones, even multiple personalities.

 

The point that I am exploring will do a great job in evoking people to rethink about themselves and discover their inner thoughts that they always ignore or push aside, so that they can know themselves more deeply and control the personalities properly under different situations.  What’s more, it will exert beneficial impact on seeking the balance between positive and negative personalities in one body or object, and the different ways of seeing.

On the other hand, it is clearly natural that the development of art is intimately bound up with the advancement of the society.  If artwork, as a special mental production in the society, separates from the public, they will be entirely insignificant.  For example, as Perricone (1990) points out in reference to the relationship between artist and viewer, ‘work of art is like a magnet between creators and appreciators that occurs as a sort of connected relationship with attributes just like the things it links together are more dynamic than they been exhibited in isolation.’  Artists express the thought in their work, from which viewers receive the information by appreciating and thinking by themselves. Art is a process of mind communicating between artist and viewer; in which artist collaborate with viewer intangibly through the artwork.  So the way that how to collaborate with viewer effectively is worth exploring.

   

RESEARCH CONTEXT

My original research bases on a quote “Words are unreliable” by Chinese artist Xu Bing, which is the theme for our first two-week project.  I did the work “You make me feel so safe, Jessica” to prove the quote.  From my own perspective, a sentence in different context is totally different. The feeling of safety can be transferred to unsafety, even risk.  Actually, not only are words unreliable, everything around is also unreliable.  Take people as an example: sometimes people do things that goes against the real thoughts of their heart, and then they will confuse why they did that and why the behavior cannot be the same as thoughts on the grounds that people do not know themselves deeply or they cannot control their behavior with a kind of objective reasoning.

METHODOLOGY

Firstly, my research driven by practice in different studios in Camberwell College of Arts, and I will make full use of the resources that are available in school, like Letter Press, Print Making, Digital and 3D Workshop.  Before doing that, I will do some research and analysis on different materials at home due to the fact that the material, like human being, have different features in different situations, and the way how artist communicates with viewer in their artwork. What’s more, my future practice will try to challenge the conventional photographic and sculptural art, and enabled viewer to become aware of the their own identity in the perception of the work. To some extent, it means that I will try to create works that contains the viewer rather than drawing the viewer’s attention towards some concrete external objects and runs contrary to people’s usual experiences and expectations and challenges them intellectually and emotionally, in a sense, can tell them about themselves, about their own obsessions and desires in the past and future. 

Secondly, it is universally acknowledged that London is an international art and design centre and the city is distinctively attractive, so I will visit exhibitions as much as possible regarding to art and design in the UK, especially in London, to expand and complete my design ideas.   Last but not least, the resource in the library is an integral part of my research and it is the major source of theory to support my viewpoint.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andre, S. ed. (2006)  Trace:Installation Artspace Cardiff.  Bridgend：Poetry Wales Press Ltd.

Bee, S. & M. Schor. ed. (2000) Meaning: An Anthology of Artists’ Writings, Theory and Criticism. London: Duke University Press

Berger, J. (1991) About Looking. New York: Vintage Books

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing.  London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books

Bourriaud, N. (2002) Relational Aesthetics.  Dijion: Presses Du Reel

Chunchen, W. (2009) ART Intervenes in Society - A New Artistic Relationship.  China: Timezone8 Limited

Clarrie, W. & W. Andrew. ed. (2011)  Barry Flanagan Early Works 1965-1982. London: Tate Publishing.

David, L. 2011  Narcissus Reflected. Edinburgh: The Fruitmarket Gallery.

Gale, M. & C. Stephens. ed. (2008) Francis Bacon.  London: Tate Publishing

Glenn, A. & P. Jane. ed. (2011)  Postmodernism Style and Subversion, 1970-1990. London: V & A Publishing.

Harrison, M. (2005) IN CAMERA: Francis Bacon - Photography, Film and the Practice of Painting.  London: Thames & Hudson

Hagman, G. (2005) Aesthetic Experience: Beauty, Creativity, and the Search for the Ideal.  Amsterdam: Rodopi

Luhmann, N. (2000) Art as a Social System.  Stanford, California: Stanford University Press

Ritchie, A. ed. (1955) The New Decade, 22 European Painters and Sculptors.  New York: Museum of Modern Art

Wagstaff, S. ed. (2008) Juan Muñoz: A Retrospective.  London: Tate Publishing

Willats, S. (1976) Art and Social Function.  London: Latimer New Dimensions

Zweite, A. ed. (1996) Francis Bacon: the Violence of the Real.  London: Thames & Hudson

Final Show Meeting

• Who do you hope to connect with professionally?

• What do you want to show them?

• What will you do after the final show?

I think the exhibition is the best opportunity to show our talent to the public and who would we invite to the exhibition is very important, because as a student we don’t have social reputation at all and these professional people can help us to report to the public if they appreciate our works.  So I think it is the most effective way to let the public know us, and thus getting more opportunity to find an ideal job.

Firstly, I would like to invite some very famous artists or designer, like Damien Hirst, Gilbert and George, if someone appreciates my works I would have opportunity to be his assistant.  It seems impossible, but actually, at least, we could meet them in London.  Last month, I met Gilbert and George at the entrance of Old Street tube station, but I didn’t have enough courage to say hello, what a pity!  I have seen hundreds of exhibitions in London and attended some lectures spoken by famous artists.  So I have some opportunities to speak to these famous persons.  But in fact, I didn’t.  Maybe I think I don’t have enough strong works to let them care about me.  But in the final show, I will show my best works that can show my unique talent.  So it is the time that I begin to seriously think about how to connect and invite these famous artists to my final show.  Although it is a very hard work and maybe it can’t achieve at last, I should try, try to connect and communicate with them to discuss some professional things, which would be very beneficial for my design career in my whole life.

Secondly, I will try to connect with some famous curators.  Obviously, if he thinks I am gifted and my work is great, my work will be exhibited in other more public and famous places, which means more people could see my work and know me, and more writers and journalists would like to report me.  I think, in the long run, the social reputation is crucially important.  Maybe that cannot let me get more money, but if I have enough social reputation, earning money is only a matter of time.

Clearly, every opportunity based on the strong and potential artwork, therefore I must work more hardly.

Possibilities of the Display of Photography Project

Case 1:

P: Positive Picture   N: Negative Picture

Negative one will be covered with a piece of paper which can be lifted by viewers.

Case 2:

Case 3: