Contextual Studies Assessment task 3

Bibliography

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/twins/

http://www.recirca.com/reviews/2005/trishmorrissey/tm.shtml

O R Croy Croy’s Creative Photography Focal Press London and New York

Electa Fabrica Files Benetton Group Elisabeth Prando

Contextual Studies Assessment Task 3: Major Essay- Two artists who address identity

In this essay I am going to discuss in detail a single piece of work by two different artists whose work addresses identity. I am going to explain what each artist is trying to represent and how these ideas are expressed. I will also discuss how they are made and to what they refer.

The first piece of art I have chosen to write about is a photograph called “Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J 1967” by an artist called Diane Arbus. The second Piece of work is also by a photographer called Trish Morrissey. The picture is from a series of works called seven years.

Diane Arbus is known for her black and white square photographs of surreal or unusual looking people such as dwarfs, giants, transvestites, nudists and circus performers. This photo features twin sisters Cathleen and Colleen Wade wearing dark corduroy dresses. I think Arbus chose to photograph identical twins because they are unusual to look at. The first thing you notice is their eyes staring straight down the camera lens or staring at the viewers, returning your gaze or maybe challenging you. I think this makes you feel quite intimidated and creates a spooky atmosphere but I also think that by looking into their eyes you get a sense of how different they are from each other. Especially because one twin is smiling and the other slightly frowning, giving you an insight into each of their personalities. The fact that they are pulling different expressions shows that they might look identical but they have different personalities. The use of black and white may have helped to convey this because it is easier for your eye to concentrate on the details when there is no colour. I don’t think this would have worked as well if the photo was in colour because it would be less spooky. The black and white adds to the haunting nature of the photo and enhances how freakish looking the twins look.

Arbus photographed people who looked visually different and seemed surreal. She used black and white to make it look haunting but the different facial expressions prove that twins do have their own identity and I think Arbus wanted to refer to the fact that twins have different personalities but are still visually surreal and interesting.

Trish Morrissey’s ‘7 years’ is a series of large scale portraits based on Morrissey’s sister and her, who are seven years apart. The series consists of family memories from photo albums which she recreates. These are mainly childhood birthdays or holidays. I think this is good because it reminds me of my childhood birthdays and holidays which, I think, Arbus wanted when she took the photographs.

When Morrissey shot the series of photographs, 7 years, the expressions on their faces are blank. “In contrast to most family photos, the people in her images rarely smile, allowing the viewer to concentrate on the gestures and body language.”² I think Morrissey wanted to convey the fact that there are hidden tensions within the family. I like this because a forced smile hides a person’s identity and true feelings, whereas if you concentrate on body language you get a sense of what their personality is like, So Morrissey wanted to draw our attention to their body language instead of the false expressions. There are many photographers who also photograph people with blank facial expression. An example would include Thomas Ruff who is a portrait photographer. Ruff quoted that the photographs capture only “the surface of things”. Maybe this means that the expressionless faces are hiding something beneath the surface, such as, emotions or hidden conflicts, similar to Morrissey.

“Morrissey took the photos at her old family home in Dublin. She used old clothes found in her parents’ attic or went to charity shops, to recreate the atmosphere of the seventies and eighties.”² This will bring back memories for a lot of people who look at this picture. “The imagery; the settings and the characters are familiar to us all. The semi-detached, redbrick houses, the white rusting garden gates, the busily patterned sitting-room curtains, the ever-evolving fashions we all love to cringe at.”¹ When shooting the series of photos 7 years, I think Morrissey wanted people to look at the photos and relate to them in some way. Even if you weren’t born in the 70’s or 80’s you are still able to relate to pictures because the scenes are in familiar landscapes, such as the beach or in the park.

I think Morrissey wanted to show how people change over time. You can see how the person was then when the picture was taken. Or I think maybe she wanted to go back to the time when the picture was taken and change things, maybe with her family, because there is evidence of family conflicts. The fact that she is recreating the photos may be showing that she wants to re-live those times.

In conclusion, Diane Arbus uses surreal looking people to convey individual identity. In this photo the twins look strange and surreal because they are so similar. But, you can see that because they are pulling different facial expressions, giving you a sense of their individual personalities, they are actually different from each other and have their own identities. But, like Arbus Trish Morrissey approaches identity but does so in a different way. You can see what the person was like in the 70’s or 80’s instead of who they are now. But, unlike Arbus, she doesn’t use facial expression to convey what they were like. Instead she uses body language to hide emotion. This body language may be hiding family tensions or conflicts. These are usually hidden in family photos by fake or forced smiles.

Footnotes

1 http://www.recirca.com/reviews/2005/trishmorrissey/tm.shtml- Clair Flannery

2 http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2005/11/14/33461.html

word count: 989

Memories and the archive- photography

The theme I chose to develop was memory and the archive. I wanted to reflect on my childhood memories so I found some photos of myself when I was younger. Many of the photos I looked through included me with my twin sister rather than just me on my own. This influenced the idea of including taking a photo of a photo. The photo is the memory left from when we used to go to the place the photo was taken.

I wanted to include the places where my twin sister and I used to spend time as children. When I think back to my childhood what I remember most is when we used to make dens at the park near where I live. So, I chose to photograph the trees where we made the dens. I tried to make each photograph have a meaning or a narrative behind it.

For this project I explored the theme of memories and the archive. I started by looking at photos of when I was a child and developed my idea further by photographing places I used to go to when I was younger.

conceptualising your own work

Conceptualising your own work

Anna Heard

Matt Moseley

In this essay I am going to reflect on the details of a specific piece of work by one artist who has influenced my ideas and work. I will discuss what the artist is trying to communicate through visual means, how they use materials to communicate these ideas, describe what it is about the artist’s work that interests me and I will give an example of my own work and the artist’s work. The artist I think has influenced my work is Kurt Schwitters who is famous for his collages, also known as Merz pictures. I have chosen to write about a collage called Das Undbild which was made in 1919, just after the First World War.

Most of Schwitters’ collages have a connection to the world around him. He uses his own rubbish in his house to make sense of the world which, he believed, had gone mad. He used materials such as cardboard, scraps of metal, old furniture, leftover objects found in bins and items from his friends. Also travel tickets, wood and fabric. These are all part of everyday objects which are incorporated into his work. This is a good idea because it makes his work different from other artists. On the other hand this could be bad because it might not fit in with the formal characteristics of art. I think Schwitters is trying to communicate what the everyday life was like after the war, because of the economy, political and military, and how much things had changed and he is trying to make sense of it by using objects used in everyday life. A quote from Schwitters is "Everything an artist spits out is art". He used anything he could find to form his collages.

I think the materials used could portray the instability of the economy, the way they overlap making the collage look chaotic could resemble the economy after the war. Schwitters has used his own rubbish to form the collage to maybe give the viewer an insight into his own life. For example, I have noticed there is a horse shoe maybe because he wants good luck, and also travel tickets showing where he has been and newspapers he has read.

I find Schwitters’ work interesting because I like how he has turned his rubbish into an abstract collage which form a composition made up of texture, form, colour and print. I think this makes his work unique. In my opinion the collage is quite rhythmical because the layers cause the edges to form lines which your eye follows. But whilst I think the overlapping was considered, the lines formed by the overlapping aren’t. These lines make your eye follow the lines continuously. I also like how his collages have an old look to them.

Overall, Schwitters’ collages are formed from objects used in everyday life. He creates depth and texture by layering these up. In my collage I have tried to do this by using receipts and bus tickets which are part of everyday life. I have tried to get an old rustic feel to my collage as well.

Word count: 524

Essay

Analysing and Comparing a Set of Images

Anna Heard

Tutor: Matt Moseley

In this essay I am going to analyse a set of images, considering what they represent, how they are made and to what they refer. I am also going to discuss what I think they mean and any elements/ ideas they may have in common.

The set of images I have decided to analyse are Boccioni “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” 1913 and Giacometti “La Foret” 1950.

The purpose of Boccioni’s “Unique Forms of Continuity in space” is to reflect society and culture. 1913 was the beginning of constructivism meaning simple geometric shapes were used in art. Artists aimed to portray the dominance of machines. Your attention is drawn to the movement of the legs, striding forward, representing power. Movement is shown from draping around the legs and the fact that the sculpture is smooth makes it look windswept. You can see that the sculpture has no arms or face but at the same time it is realistic. The dimensions are 111.44cm which maybe resembles the bulky machinery being used. The sculpture was made in plaster and wasn’t put in bronze until 1931.

At the end of the 19^th century arts movement, Europe was less about industrialisation and more about craftsmanship. Modernity changed how people lived, art became more romantic and was no longer about Christian teaching. Art opened up early 20^th century. Artists like Picasso and Cezanne were interpreted as shocking. I think Boccioni’s sculpture refers to modernism and how formalism was focused on geometry and technique and how artists like Eadweard Muybridge, worked on tracing movements of the body. Boccioni ignored the traditional sculpture techniques.

The meaning of “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” is that the use of machinery dominated society. It shows this by the bulky structure and the movement in the sculpture.

The purpose of Giacometti “La Foret” is to reflect society. This was just after the end of WW2 when 72 million people died. Also 6.2 million people died from the holocaust. Your immediate attention is drawn to the fact that the sculptures are thin and fragile. You can see that they are naked making them vulnerable and exposed. They remind me of trees. Maybe this is why it is called “La Foret”, meaning The Forest. The dimensions are 57x61x49.5cm and the statues were modelled from clay instead of sculpted. Maybe done deliberately showing marks to show they were damaged.

By 1950 traditional sculpture methods had been replaced by the abstract teachings of the Bauhaus with the use of geometric shapes and exaggerated sculptures. Using these methods seemed. I think Giacometti’s “La Foret” refers to post WW2 when there were images of the holocaust everywhere. I think he was responding to the reality of poverty and despair during this time, especially with the amount of deaths from the holocaust.

When Giacometti made “La Foret” many people were devastated by the destruction of WW2 and also the Holocaust meaning people were living in poverty and despair. He shows this through the tall gangly figures which are misshapen.

Both of pieces of art are human like figures, although one is showing power and the other is portraying weakness. Also, both are abstract.

In conclusion, Boccioni portrayed the use of machinery by showing power and movement. This refers to modernism and how formalism was more about geometric shapes. Sculpture was about tracing the movements of the body. Giacometti’s “La Foret” shows the devastation of WW2. Abstract methods were used because of the teachings of the Bauhaus which, in my opinion, adds to the effect of devastation and portrays vulnerability post WW2.

Word count: 595

Pastels

Pink