Week 5 - Pluralism and the Treat of Waitangi

1. Define the term 'pluralism' using APA referencing.

The theory of Pluralism is a multitude of groups, not the people as a whole, that govern the United States. These organizations which include among other unions, environmentalists, trade and professional associations, business and financial lobbies, civil rights activists, and formal and informal coalitions of like-minded citizens which have influenced the making and administration of laws and policies.

According to Caldwell (1999), Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and artists as diverse(para1). It is emphasis on a single social and cultural group mixing by contemporary visual culture from other cultural and social groups.      


2. How would you describe New Zealand's current dominant culture?

Throughout its time New Zealand, in the beginning, was firmly under Maori control, laws and culture. The current and past New Zealand government, tried to obtain most Maori tradition and give Kiwis the best possible resources. Wars in New Zealand are in the distance past, and everyone who lives here feels proud to be living in such a great country. New Zealand has become one of the world's top tourist attractions. There are two first languages, which are taught and spoken in schools. Although New Zealand did start off with native Maori, the european have dominated New Zealand. However I have noticed that in the past few years, there has been a huge effort to highlight the Maori culture and get the public more aware and involved.  



3. Before 1840, what was New Zealand's dominant culture?

In 1840 The Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which was an agreement which formed contract or covenant between the Crown and Maori hapu, through their chiefs. According to JMR Owens, the cultural framework of New Zealand in 1840 was still essentially Polynesian, all European residents absorbed Maori values to some extent. However, some Europeans were incorporated, a tribal structure and the basic social divisions were coming into show. The treaty was signed to keep the Maori peoples rights. So in my opinion before, 1840 the dominant culture would have been the Europeans. The history of these years is of tribal societies interacting with each other and with European societies still being traditional but undergoing major cultural change(p.29).


4. How does the Treaty of Waitangi relate to us all as artists and designers working
in New Zealand?

Before the Treaty of Waitangi Maori had their own traditional art totern and Dance. It came as a culture shock for the artist and designers working in New Zealand at that time. Everyone respects their own culture and past, and how the culture changed and developed. I think the treaty influenced  designers in two ways. Some would have been so upset about this treaty, they would be so focused on keeping their work pure to their people. And other designers would want to try merge the two cultures and create a whole new art era.  


5. How can globalization be seen as having a negative effect on 'regional diversity' that leads to a 'homogenized world culture' in New Zealand in particular? (ALVC2 handbook page 52, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/globalization) 


To start off with, New Zealand is not an economic power country, national geographic position is different with the limited material and resources which led to the slow economic growth situation. For example, the globalization of the luxury product LV not everyone can afford, the main aspect should be Mass Market. On the other hand Globalization potentially causes New Zealand to lose Maori culture, instead of changing social morality. Nowadays, the younger generation prefer to watch American dramas and reality tv shows. Many people in New Zealand are unable to afford to live a 'luxury' life, but they still continue to follow the trends, due to the globalization change.


6. Shane Cotton's paintings are said to examine the cultural landscape. Research Cotton's work 'Welcome'(2004) and 'Three quarter view ' (2005) to analyze what he is saying about colonialization and the Treaty of Waitangi.


 

 

'Welcome' (2004) Shane Cotton 

                                 http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/catalogues/work/52293/shane-cotton-welcome.aspx

  

'Three Quarter view'(2005) Shane Cotton

http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=149998 

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/shane-cotton-paintings-examine-cultural-landscape-126412



Landscape references in Cotton’s early paintings recall the symmetry of Maori carving and the work of Colin McCahon. Simple images, sepia-coloured and scaled metaphorically, derive from nineteenth-century Maori Folk Art, which Cotton perceives as signifiers of Maori culture cleverly veiled within a Christian context. The works he did above tried to combine Maori and Pakeha sources to form a hybrid poetic painting that shows the shared experience of the two cultures within New Zealand.  He questions the notion of cultural identity and the space between Maori and Pakeha perspectives. 

The piece welcome by shane cotton is made up of very symbolic imagery. It is seen as a presence of death or "the goddess of death" in the Maori culture. In the piece 'Forked Tongue', Cotton uses very dark colours and imagery. This may reflect death and the blood that was spilt throughout the colonization between the Maori and the Europeans.



7. Tony Albert's installation 'Sorry' (2008) reflect the effects of colonization on the aboriginal people of Australia. Research the work and comment on what Albert is communicating through his work, and what he is referring to. Describe the materials that Albert uses on this installation and say what he hopes his work can achieve.


Tony Albert has captured this outpouring of emotion. He introduces us to a forest of faces, each sharing elements of history with those stolen from their people, land and culture. Each represents a false identity, manufactured black faces made to fit white society.

The artist also revels in the sense of irony in the work, with the impetus of such a momentous and joyous event being an apology. On yet another level, Albert presents us simply with a word — bold letters on a wall — indicative of an Indigenous Australian response to the apology. While it was an important symbolic gesture, many Indigenous Australians are waiting to see real change within society before fully accepting the Prime Minister’s apology and speech as more than words.It means four letters can mean all the difference in a moment of forgiveness. 



8. Define the term 'kitsch'.

Kitsch is art (whether or not it is good art) that is deliberately designed to move us, by presenting a well-selected and perhaps much-edited version of some particularly and predictably moving aspect of our shared experience (Solomon, 454).


9. Explain how the work of both artists relates to pluralism.

                                       Tony Albert | Australia b.1981 | Girramay people | Sorry 2008 |
                                               Found kitsch objects applied  to vinyl letters | 99 objects :    
                                               200 x 510 x 10cm (installed) | The James C Sourris Collection.
                                               Purchased 2008 with funds from James C Sourris through the 
                                               Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art of the world's cultures. They each use a combinations of cultures to display colonization and the issues that arise when two cultures collide. 




References:

Solomon, Robert. "On Kitsch and Sentimentality." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 49 (Winter 1991): 1-14. http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/collection/indigenous_australian_art/tony_albert

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/new-zealand.html
http://qag.qld.gov.au/collection/indigenous_australian_art/tony_albert

http://www.wallaceartstrust.org.nz/
http://eyecontactsite.com/2010/07/pondering-the-marks-and-symbols-of-shane-cotton

Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

1. Untitled (2009)

2. Untitled(2009)

3. Kehinde Wiley Count Potocki, 2008 oil on canvas, 274.3 x 274.3cm

4. Kehinde Wiley Support Army and Look after People, 2007 oil on canvas, 258.4 x 227.3cm

Kehinde Wiley is a Gay American based painter born in Los Angeles, who has an international reputation. Wiley lives and practices between Beijing and Brooklyn.

1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly. 

"Intertextuality, the condition of any text whatsoever, cannot, of course, be reduced to a problem of sources or influences; the intertext is a general field of anonymous formulae whose origin can scarcely ever be located; of unconscious or automatic quotations, given without quotation marks” (Barthes, 1981).    

The relation each text has to the texts surrounding it, we call intertextuality. Intertextual analysis examines the relation of a statement to that sea of words, how it uses those words, how it positions itself in respect to those other words. As a result the works of many postmodern visual communicators disscuss the notion of intertextuality itself or are explicitly intertextual in nature. It's the links between one literary work and another or others, it refres to the way that any written or visual text is influenced  or made up by a variety other texts. 

2. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyzes how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work.

Intertextuality is an important issue in postmodern theory, it suggests that whenever we try to make sense of a text we are constantly referring back to our understanding of its influences to help us understand it. The definition linked to Wiley's work that we can make sense he created melds a fluid concept of modern culture, ranging from French Rococo to today’s urban landscape. 

Wiley creates a fusion of period styles, it is ranging from French rococo, Islamic architecture and West African textile design to urban hip–hop and the "Sea Foam Green" of a Martha Stewart Interiors color swatch. His painting realised classical combine hip hop modern style especially when Hip hop culture meets The Renaissance deeply gives the viewers strong visual effect.

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 51 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.

According to Caldwell (1999) pluralism in art refers to the nature of art forms and artists as diverse(para1). It relates to Wiley’s paintings because he often blur the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation. He creates a fusion of period styles, ranging from French Rococo, Islamic architecture and West African textile design to urban hip hopand the "Sea Foam Green" of a Martha Stewart Interiors color swatch. As a result Caldwell emphasizes Art can communicate multiple identities within one culture as well as make cross- cultural comparisons. Artistic processes and products may also show cultural mixing( para4). It is shows into Wiley's paintings, also his work mentioned individuals of differing ethnicities, genders and economic status. 

4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview. 

Wiley's portraits initially depicted African-American men against rich textile or wallpaper backgrounds whose patterns he has likened to abstractions of sperm. Personally he created a new way to represent his thinking, made himself a brand therefore everyone are getting to familiar with this artist. This is how Globalization changed by increasing his social status. When the artists break the stereotypes and created something new and eye-catching. the viewers will easily remember the artists because postmodern art work always gives audiences strong visual effect. 

5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that
you have read during your research.

Kehinde Wiley has become one of the most dominant figures in the New York art scene in recent years. His large scale oil portraits of contemporary urban men, shown in poses quoted from works by some of art history's greatest masters, are now internationally well known. True to the photographs they are realisticly and complexly rendered, while their highly decorative and ornamentative qualities and formidable scale make them doubly impressive. As the works shows above, they contains strongly Renaissance style also combined with modern fashion people,Once glance at this works told me made by Wiley because they are so unique.

I researched Kehinde Wiley's interview from internet and I really appreciated that he talks about ideas more important than just painting.
   
Wiley said: "My work is driven by an idea, more than a marketplace, or how many people want paintings. If I have a great idea that's going to take a very long time to actualize I don't hesitate to do it, because I think what makes for a great work of art is a constant vigilance on that work, rather than the people who consume that work. In that sense I'm doing the viewership a favor, by ignoring it."



Reference:

Cadwell, B. (1999) Cultural context. Retried 18 Aug, 2012
from: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~design/ART/NAB/PluArt.html
http://www.art-interview.com/Issue_009/interview_Wiley_Kehinde.html
http://www.cretique.com/archives/4012
http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11
http://www.thinkcontra.com/kehinde-wiley-on-current/ 

http://www.cretique.com/archives/4012

http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11

http://www.thinkcontra.com/kehinde-wiley-on-current/

Week 3- Hussein Chalayan and Post-Modern Fashion

Hussein Chalayan

Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing
.

1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwordsand Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?

Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion? (Research some definitions  for these terms.)

Hussein Chalayan, Burka (1996) (99

6

                                                                 Hussein Chalayan, Afterwords, 2000

 Hussein designed "cloth" for Muslim women, which is something I personally liked. This being the obvious art work that could be linked to Post-Modern Fashion. As we can see that similarity happened at both Chalayan's fashion and Aiweiwei's Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo. This is designed to shock the viewers, and take the advantage of the dominance of high culture by popular culture. This is creating a new form by mixing the contrast. 

The custom of Muslim is extremely special, as women cannot reveal too much skin in public, so wear a bachelorette to protect their face to avoid strangers from seeing there face/skin. However Hussein Chalayan break the rules. This is a new valuation of hybrid culture forms, which cancel the "high/Low" categories. According to Kreis (2000) by 1990 artist start have their own mind in their art. They tried to visually represent what could not yet be given verbal expression(p.251). Artist begin to destroy the traditional meaning. But Hussein used his own way to express's feeling about what fashion means to him.

I think Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996)  are genuine fashion because Chalayan's clothing not only can give people a visual show, they also involve the real world through their work. Afterwords(2000) was an amazing fashion show, he used different textures which nobody else had used before. For example metal gives the feeling of the restoration of ancient ways combined with modern fashion, showing a huge difference in the styles.

So what makes Chalayans fashion fashion? I think his works are often expressed using a vital and meaningful concept. He constantly keeps a consistent design style and develops clothing that other designers have not designed before. Relative to fashion, he chose a pragmatic, relative to luxury, he chose to design. Therefore I do believe his clothing can be called fashion.

2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

Chalayan does have strong links to industry. He put his wild idea associated with business and balance across, creating market clothing which has hit the market trend like a storm, and have become extremely popular. He jump into 3D design work, which was extremely different from his clothing design, but he successfully made valuable industry work, and continues to sell them at an affordable price. As he said : "My work is about ideas. If I had to define my philosophy in just a few words, it would be about an exploration, a journey, and storytelling – it is a combination of these things with suggestions and proposals at the same time" There is no limit for art so every visual thing can be defined as art.

3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?

The Absent Presence is an enigmatic story based on identity, geography, genetics, biology and anthropology. It opens the argument on how certain identities can or cannot adapt to new environments. And in turn be able to generate a research based narration for Hussein's cross-disciplined installation with filmic images and sculptures.

Some of the ways they may have inspired Chalayan’s approach, which was his project for venice biennale last year- being a strong experience for the viewers and the one before that, called 'Place to Passage', which he toured with, was a film. His collections are always challenging and

he gained a lot out of them. Everyone of the projects have a different impact on him. He makes a Large effort to push himself as far as possible to achieve the highest results for the viewers.

by m

Hussein Chalayan, still from Absent Presence, 2005 (motion picture)

4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) andBefore Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

Im my opinion it doesn't matter when and or why it is important if the artist personally made the piece or hired other people to make it, in the end all we talk about the piece and the ideas it brings to our mind. Its really about how the artist created an idea and how he came about it, that is how it makes audience interested and it becomes their intellectual property. In reality it is credited by them, no matter how much they personally crafted it.

‘The Tangent Flows’ was a concept based on his experiment, and trying out un-usual ideas: It is part of his creative process, a method that keeps him interested in fashion design. After all his design concepts have a tremendous influence on the public. His success is purely due to his emotions, and every time he creates clothing he is not happy with the 'finished' standard practiced. For him it is a huge part of the process to produce the work by himself completely. For Chalayan, fashion is an applied art in as much as it represents the employment of an artistic sensibility to create functional objects: function over beauty.

http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/home/

http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/chalayan.html 

http://www.husseinchalayan.com/blog/