attempt to explain coursework in preperation for VIVA VOCE

okay i thought my coursework is quite straightforward
but apparently on the submission day
my classmates kept asking me what my artwork meant
and when i told my theme is " HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE"
they replied " WAH! so cheem!" -.-

i actually didn't want my work to be cheem
cause to me, art is SELF EXPRESSION
and since we are not like lucia hartini where we can't express our feelings
i think that art should HELP us EXPRESS what want to express
like things that are hard to expain though words
so i think that art work should be simple and direct
instead of being to cheem and symbolic till the viewers are confused

okay back to my work
sorry that i dont have a picture here
but i have something that lizzy took
CREDITS TO LIZZYBETH!

and this is something i posted earlier

i hope you can try to picture my final work until its being displayed :D

okay so my idea is like a girl with hair ( no picture sorry) stretched upwards and outwards like medusa style with things like: US dollar, lollipop, skull, teddy bear, butterfly and big ben trapped in the hair. and i drew two of them with the main difference being the girl. one is drawn with a smile, while the other is drawn with a serious look and a slight frown. the things trapped in their hair is the same

okay here comes the hard-to-explain part:
i want to show that human beings experience similar things, we all have to experience death, we have to worry about time, we have experienced the wonderful taste of lollipop and all.but yet what differs a happy person from one that is full of worry is HOW THEY VIEW THINGS. like their perspective of life. so here comes my paper cut part. it is supposed to be placed on top of the drawings. and using the holes, different objects are being "circled out" while some are being blocked by the paper. every circle i cut out is planned and has its own purpose.

for the happy girl drawing, the objects being encircled are" lollipop, teddy bear and butterfly" lollipop represents food, how food makes many happy. i asked my friends around me, " what makes you happy" and the answer i got back the most was "food". just watch a little boy on the streets licking a lollipop, you'll realise how happy they are, how satisfied they look, how the wonderful sweet taste spreads across their mouth with every lick :D as for teddy bear, it represents toys, how toys brings us enjoyment and fun. same thing, watch a girl cuddle a teddy bear, how happy and 幸福 they look stroking the soft fur of the bear's tummy :D as for the butterfly, it represents hopes and dreams. i was thinking rainbow at first, but it is nearly impossible to draw with pen which is black and white >< so i chose butterfly, how every girl wishes and dreams that she will be like a butterfly, one day coming out of the cocoon, turning into a beautiful lady. there's a charity organization called butterfly of hope, that where i got my inspiration from. girls hope they'll become a ballerina, boys hope they will become superman, these hopes and dreams keep us alive and going on, a goal we can work hard for.

as for the sad girl, the big ben, a skull and the US note are being shown. the big ben is one of the tallest clock tower in the world and is famous for its reliability to tell time. hence i used it as my symbol for time. people worry too much about lack of time, we rush through our lives, forgetting to stop and relax and enjoy it. we have no time to study, want can't finish our revision, our parents rush for work, rushing to prefect their proposal for their next big project. people also fear aging, how it slowly steals our youth away from us, time seems to always be against us. so we rush and rush and rush trying to keep up with it. this is why i feel that lack of time is what makes people worry and sad. Skull is very direct, the symbol of death. we fear death. perhaps because we dont know what is beyond death, it is like this unknown world to us, we fear the unknown, is there afterlife? is it painful? also , death is connected to health, how people fear to fall sick and get diseases. it sort of slowly drains happiness away bit by bit. hence death is another factor of unhappiness. lastly, US note which obviously signifies money, shows human's obsession with money. economic depression, stock market crash, tax revenue, profits, inflation, trade. money has became a necessity in today's society and people worry about too much about money. but yet money can't buy us happiness, can it?

okay i dont know what to talk about le D:

more explanation:
why hair:
hair is something very personal? very close to us?
i wanted to show how these are things that are in our brain, these are things that we think about. so the hair wraps around these things that we think about. and the hair extends outwards, like how we think endlessly and theres no end to what a human brain and think about? I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN D:

why girl:
i wanted a kid cause i feel that their happiness is something very pure. simple things make them happy and contented. and kids are often happier than adults :D
inspiration: pippi longstocking
i read pippi's book since i was young and i always wanted to be like her. even though her mother died and her dad is no where to be found, pippi is always happy and hopeful. she sort of talks to her mother which she believes looks down at her through a peep hole in the heavens and takes care of her. she believes that her daddy is sailing the seven seas and finding treasures and made an island king. she may seem foolish and weird in the eyes of most adults, but i think that pippi is the ideal kid. she has a strong heart and a strong sense of justice, she is very adventurous, courageous, creative, fun, talented, friendly. i love her :D so i gave my girl in the drawing pippi's hair and freckles :D

why circle for paper cut:
do they look like bubbles to you? if so , GOOD :D cause they are meant to. i read somewhere that bubbles represent the fragility of life, how it seems so perfect and round and beautiful at first, but with a single slight touch, it bursts and its gone. we never know when our lives will end. hence we should treasure it. instead of spending our time worrying most of the time, why not stay happy and live life to the fullest?
afterwards when i told mrs tan my idea, she said something about them being lenses which i thought also coincides with my idea of how people look at things differently and what we focus on leads to a change in our emotions

okay. i can't think of anything else. is this enough to last through viva voce???

goldsworthy and stuff

okay since some people posted their thoughts about goldsworthy, i should too

my very very first impression when mrs tan said "you are looking at his artwork" when watching the video was EH? WHERE? WHAT?

i love how his work interacts, communicates and blends in with nature
his medium is nature
his tools are nature
the colours of his works are nature
the environment his works are in is nature

quoting him
"I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and "found" tools--a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn. "
i love how even his tools are nature
using a piece of hard rock as hammer
using his teeth to chip the icicle
using thorns as nails
it really requires a lot of creativity and also shows that the artist is very observant and sensitive to his surroundings
his mediums are also really cool: rocks, twigs, sheep wool , ice, leaves
like what he said " i need land" it seems that he is dependent on nature and wants to be close to nature, to feel nature, and to experience it.
he also said something like " art to me is a form of nourishment"
and that he hates travelling cause it makes him feel dislocated, uprooted and distant
it gives me this feeling that he feels very attached to land in a way that he may die or perish without land and he feels lost if he is not on land

he talks a lot about energy. i think he was talking about the energy of nature. the power of nature.but dont really get that part about energy in him and energy in land.

another quote
"Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature."
i think it takes a lot of courage to do his kind of art
i mean i'll feel very broken seeing my artwork being destroyed after putting so much hardwork and effort
but he accepts the fact and keeps trying
i feel that he enjoys how nature and its energy changes and alters his art
and how his art reflects the energy of nature
how this energy is so strong that is washes away his art
he challenges this energy and yet fails
and from this failing experience and seeing his artwork being destroyed by nature
he gets to understand and feel the power of nature more and more

okay im talking a bit cheem

anyway i think his ICE works are simply AWESOME





beautiful right?
i guess i like them more as i never had the change to play with ice
as in not the one from our fridge but those created by nature

thats all :D

YAY MORE PREVIEW! my fingers are purple D:

paper cut!

they are killing me

painted black :D

i placed it on mama's painting :D
i think that the effect is quite nice :D

but my poor fingers are suffering badly D:

more final on the way

hello! final work teaser :D

photos taken a while ago:D




and a bit more prep

prep on the way!

DEDE ERI SUPRIA

hello

i think im falling in love with dede's work :D

labyrinth

im simply awed by the details of the artwork
painted so realistically with the intricate brushwork
at first i thought it was an artwork commenting on the working conditions in Indonesia
my guess is not that bad right?
i thought that dede's use of arrows are quite cool
the arrows on the cardboard boxes point in random directions
seems to show that there is just no way out
and it also brings the viewer's eye to the boy in the centre

i was looking at the artwork and i told zhiping that
dede painted this from a atmospheric perspective (am i using the correct term?)
so that the viewer , us, will be able to see the maze completely
and while we know that the maze the forever ongoing with no end
the poor people dont know
and i guess this makes them even more helpless and lost
i had this urge to pick them up through the painting
and lead them to the non-existent exit
cause we are looking from high above
im not sure if this is the artist's intention
but i just had this feeling
pity perhaps?

and i really have no idea what
the spaghetti looking like things at the back represent
anyone any idea?


another artwork by dede :D
cement jungle


again you see his use of red and blue
it sorts of give the idea of danger doesnt it?
like the animal kingdom where colors represent how deadly the animal is?

the artwork is a depiction of a construction site i believe
with all the metal rods and stuff
and the plants are desperately trying to outgrow the metal stuff
perhaps to get sunlight to survive?
but yet it seems that the construction stuff is overpowering
and shadowing the fragile and weak plants
and us being the viewers know that the plants will never make it
poor thing D:


all of the above are my own interpretation
i have no idea if they are correct
anyway, all the best for coursework
and dont die!

more peter callesen

Jukebox

Four hours performance/installation at the opening of The Last Show on Earth,
10th December 1999, London.

"At the opening of a show in a cold and damp basement I made very simple performance with me, my voice and a cardboard jukebox.
I were sitting in the jukebox, only with my head sticking up from the box. People had to put in 10 pence, press a button for the song they wanted to hear, and I would sing it for them. The eight buttons were for English nursery rhymes, one for a Danish children song, and the last button was for random/surprise.

It was interesting to watch how people entered the room. If they were alone, they often got a little scared, and didn't quite know if to relate to me as an object or as a person. Some then got embarrassed and left, while others got curious and got closer. I didn't speak to anyone. The only interaction I had with the audience, was when they chose a song, and I then sang it for them. In order to choose a song, they would have to be a part of the game by pressing one of the imaginary buttons, which I had painted on the box.

Most of the songs were sad or quite cruel song, which ,together with the fantastic acoustics in the basement, created a kind of sad atmosphere in the room. At the same time the situation was funny and absurd, and became almost tragicomic. During the night I began to lose my voice, and I obviously got more and more tired. This added another element to the installation; to a certain degree people would have to let me suffer in order be entertained."

taken from his site

i think this is cute :D
haha. imagine doing it in school :D

peter callesen

he is simply amazing

i really love how he plays around with positive negative space
how the subject and its "shadow" is linked
like living VS dead
hee hee. im in love with his works

i dont think i'll be able to do 3D stuff like him
cause it requires some origami knowledge
which i have none
oh well

for more : http://www.petercallesen.com/text/text.html
http://www.petercallesen.com/index/index2.html

Artists have a social responsibility to uphold.

First and foremost, what is social responsibility? I feel that it is duty of one to either benefit the society or simply avoid harmful acts.

I believe that art is a way of speaking without words. It is the way of communicating for some people, as perhaps, words are not their thing. So I was thinking, since people should be responsible of what they say, so how different is it from speaking through art?

Regarding whether or not artists have a social responsibility to uphold, I feel that it sometimes depends on what type of art they create: private or public.

For public art, the artists definitely need to have social responsibility as the art is placed in the public where anyone and everyone can see and comment. The impact is great as it is readily available to all to experience at anytime and no one can control the audience of the artwork. The artist, when creating the artwork, would have to realize that people of all ages, races, culture would view the work, and hence, the artwork must not be offensive to anyone. The artist has to ensure that the artwork is pleasing to the eye and no one feels uncomfortable viewing it. The fact that the art is placed in the public, the public is indirectly “forced” to view the works. Hence the artwork should not touch on sensitive issues such as religion, gender, race, etc. If these artworks do touch on these issues, they are often abstract, so abstract that the public have no idea what it is about, so as to prevent any public outrage.

Many artists create art as they have things to say about life and yet there are unable to voice it out. An example would be Lucia Hartini works, like “spying eyes”. Due to the society she was in, she was unable to express her thoughts and feeling too directly and hence had to use symbols in her art.



However, I feel that for private art, the artists should be allowed to express their emotions or what they think is right via their artworks. There should not be any restriction to what one wants to create and feel like creating. If the artist created an artwork which touches on sensitive issues, but he or she just keeps it at home, what social responsibility does he or she have to uphold? If not kept at home, private art are placed in galleries or museums, usually seen by people who willingly and voluntarily go and see the art purposefully. These artworks may not always be pretty, some are offensive and provocative. In a way, these people are “prepared to be offended”. I think that a “good” art may not be a “pretty” art; instead, it should be able to express the artist ideas and feelings to the viewer clearly and I believe that people who steps into an art museum should be mentally prepared to be “provoked by the art”.



For example, Marcel Duchamp shocked the public with his work fountain (1917), which is basically just a urinal. He challenged the definition of art and some viewed his work as absolutely absurd. However, in his eyes, that urinal is a piece of art as he himself chose it. He expressed his own definition of art via that urinal and it resulted in a huge uproar. People now have gradually gotten used to this work, or have they?

As I looked through the numerous artworks which people named as “offensive”, I was thinking, who are they to decide whether or not the art is offensive? Perhaps, it is the society itself which has a responsibility to uphold. Everyone feels differently towards what is hateful, unethical or not morally upright, so the “offensive art” actually shows a society’s thinking and perspective. Perhaps, it is not the wrong of the art, but how the person actually views the work?

I feel that some artists are just looking for trouble in a way that they touched on very sensitive issues like religion, mutating the forms of the gods, depicting them in provocative ways. Some examples found here: http://www.thesharkguys.com/lists/top-10-offensive-religious-art-pieces-part-one/
Perhaps the artists did them on purpose, but I do think they are slightly overboard. But then again, that is my own point of view.

this is really cool

his works sort of reminds me of han sai por
doesn't it?
smooth smooth surface
random shapes that makes no sense
hee hee
enjoy