Ansel Adams

Since photography is my “thing”, I thought I’d take a moment to write about an idol of mine, a man that developed a style of black and white photography that has been unmatched by any other photographers since.  Ansel Adams is a legend in his depiction of the American west; using filters to give his images a dimension, texture, and meaning ~ photos that are recognizable to this day in reproductions on calendars, posters, and books. 

Adams was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1902, and raised as an only child.  He didn't attend college, in fact his education was a mixture of private schools and home schooling; receiving his diploma after completing the 8^th grade in 1917.  Adams love of photography was born when his father gave him his first camera on a family trip to Yosemite National Park in 1916 ~ a Kodak Brownie box camera which he used to take his first photograph.  He was enthralled by the light in Yosemite, writing “the splendor of Yosemite burst upon us and it was glorious… One wonder after another descended upon us… There was light everywhere… A new era began for me.” (1)  Adams expanded upon his photography by acquiring better cameras, a tripod, and learning basic darkroom skills while working part-time for a San Francisco photo finisher. 

Throughout Adams life he honed his photography skills, capturing the beauty of the American west in black and white and gaining notoriety and praise from esteemed artists worldwide.  While Adams did branch into color photography, he didn't enjoy it as much as black and white, feeling he didn't have as much control while shooting in color and that color was distracting to the artist. 

Yosemite Falls 1953
Yosemite National Park

When I look at Adams work, I see beauty in his color photography.  His landscape pictures are what I seek to capture; the blues in the water, red in the sunsets, snow-capped mountain peaks.  But his black and white photos are mesmerizing.  The way he is able to capture so much focus in his depth of field while seizing the many tones of black and white have establish him as a master of his craft.  Most people think it’s easy to capture a shot in black and white but it’s actually quite hard.  When you take out color, you really have to strive to have texture and depth in your photography.  You have to be aware of your exposure time, your depth of field, how the light is playing off the object and how to capture that light to highlight the essence of a scene.  Adams not only achieved perfection in his black and white photography, he set a standard for all photographers to work towards.  It is something I am conscious of when I look at my black and white shots ~ and it is something that is extremely difficult to accomplish.  But it does give me something to shoot towards!

Mt. McKinley and Wonder Lake 1947
Gelatin Silver Print
40 in. x 48 12 in.

Tetons and Snake River 1942
Gelatin Silver Print
15 38 in. x 19 38 in.

Work Cited:
(1) Ansel Adams. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams

James Turrell

James Turrell was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943.  He studied psychology and mathematics at Pomona College, but ended up earning a MFA from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California.  Turrell centers his work in exploring light and space, speaking to his viewers with a spiritual awakening.  By utilizing his studies in perceptual psychology and optical illusion, his work seeks to allow his viewers to see themselves “seeing”.  He accomplishes this in the use of artificial and natural light within the space which enable the viewer to become one with the space.  You are no longer space yourself, but instead one with your surroundings in a realm of pure existence.  You are part of a sunset of color that spans the light spectrum; from bright pinks, to sky blues; from tones in violet, to the deep reds of a fire. 

 His installment at the rotunda of the Guggenheim in 2013 has transformed the organic, curvilinear space into a space that changes from tones of blue, to shades of violet.  The viewer is placed in the space, giving a surreal experience as they intermingle with the color that’s surrounds you. 

Aten Reign, 2013

James Turrell

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC, NY

He also creates geometric spaces such as The Light Side, by placing the viewer in a corridor of color that flows towards the background.  The viewer can walk through the space of blue, violet, or red and find themselves at a spot where you are among the bracket of the piece.  So I wonder what the focal point of the space is.  Is it the space in general?  Or the tone of color placed at the end?  Is it the person who has walked through, bracketing them so they become the focal point while the space becomes the background?  I don’t think I’d know until I can place myself within those brackets… maybe it’s different for each person.

The Light Inside, 1999

James Turrell

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

James Turrell - Roden Crater

James Turrell was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943. He studied Pomona College in psychology and mathematics, but ended up earning a MFA from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California. Turrell centers his work in exploring light and space, speaking to his viewers with a spiritual awakening. By utilizing his studies in perceptual psychology and optical illusion, Turrell work seeks to allow his viewers to see themselves “seeing”.

I became intrigued in Turrell’s work when I saw that his objective is to place viewers in a realm of pure existence, and he accomplishes this task with his use of light within the space. His work seems to span the light spectrum, from bright pinks, to sky blues; from tones in violet, to the deep reds of a fire. His work gives me the feeling of a sunset, with all the glorious colors that one can experience for that brief moment of time. While he has many pieces of work that illuminate color and light within a space, I became awestruck when I stumbled upon Roden Crater. Roden Crater isn’t your typical piece of art, instead it is a monumental structure that Turrell started in 1972, and is still working on it today. Sitting on the southwestern edge of the Painted Desert in Northern Arizona, from the exterior it looks like a mound in the desert, albeit a big mound in the desert. Within this crater, Turrell has constructed a series of chambers, pathways, tunnels and openings which will allow the viewers to enter and experience celestial events with their naked eye. Depending on where you are within the structure, you can either witness the beauty of the sun as it rises, or the sun as it sets. You can witness the illumination of the night sky, and measure time by the movement and shifting of the constellations. Roden Crater’s objective is to give the ability to see the sky and time, not represent it. Which in turn gives the viewer the ability to experience our understanding of the universe, and ponder our place within it.

Crater's Eye

Roden Crater

East Portal - Inside

East Portal - Outside

North Space (under construction)

South Space (under construction)

Alpha East Portal

Sun/ Moon Chamber

Bruce Nauman

Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in December of 1941. He received his MFA from the University of California for his work in film products after studying physics, mathematics and art at the University of Wisconsin in the early 60’s. Nauman creates his work by using science and technology, and sees his work as more of an activity and less of a product.  While Nauman has worked in a multitude of mediums, it’s his use of lighting either to create or within his pieces that captivated me.

In this day and age, neon lights are everywhere; advertising any and everything available to a society. Nauman has taken the neon media and placed it back where it originally came from ~ sex. Neon sold sex; from the fluid movement of the images of girls dancing on poles, to the words “SEX” illuminating in the dark; sex was advertised and sold by the bright flashing lights dancing in the dark. Nauman has utilized neon tubing in his naturalistic representations of the male nude in various sexual positions in his Mindfuck exhibition. Between the erotic action of the piece, and the enormous size, the viewer is engulfed in the sexual act before them. Sex and Death/ Double ‘69’ has a staccato action playing out in front of the viewer, with each portion of the male nude engaging in a homosexual act with another male. While the pictures placed online only portray the piece in a 2D version, I can imagine that viewing the piece in person could be quite erotic to some, and uncomfortable to others.








Sex and Death/ Double '69', 1985
Neon tubing on aluminum monolith 227 x 134.8 x 34 cm / 89 3/8 x 53 1/8 x 13 3/8 in
Private Collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth









While I enjoyed the work that Nauman created using the neon tubing, I’d have to say my favorite piece of his is Green Light Corridor. This piece is very minimalistic, by illuminating a brilliant green color onto the interior walls of the piece. There is very little space between the walls, but the viewer is able to squeeze themselves into the piece, becoming one with the work. I’d imagine that each viewer would be able to take something different away just by placing themselves inside of the work. Does the constricting space minimize you? Does it make you feel larger than life? Does it evoke panic or peace? You really wouldn't know until you've put yourself into the space and experienced what your mind and soul speak while you stand there and ponder it.

Green Light Corridor), 1971
Wallboard, green fluorescent lights
10 x 40 x 1 ft.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Panza Collection, Gift, 1992

Maya Lin

Maya Lin was born in Athen, Ohio in 1959, and studied architecture and sculpture at the prestigious Yale University where she received her Bachelor’s degree in 1986.  While a student, Lin submitted a minimalistic design into a national contest for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that was being built in Washington, DC.  Though her design was quite controversial due to the material and color it was picked as the winner!  Since then, she has worked on monuments and pieces placed in parks around the nation giving individuals a place to seek out memorial within the landscape that surrounds. 

The piece for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial portrays this landscape use around it, as you can see when you view the piece from above.  The landscape is level to the top of the wall, which forces the observer to step down into the piece.  To me this portrays a metaphoric meaning of the piece, aligning it with a low time for our country; sullen, depressing, and horrific.  But Lin uses the beauty of the material to pair it with the beauty of the landscape, beauty that was present in the souls of the lives that were lost.  Lin’s piece for the Vietnam Veterans memorial is quite large scale, not only horizontally but also vertically.  The piece is comprised of a long, rectilinear gabbro wall that consists of two 246 ft. 9 in. sections, and stands at 10.1 ft. at its highest peak, tapering down to 8 in. at the ends.  The geometric shape is constructed of a black, reflective stone which shows the viewer their reflection as they view the names of the servicemen who lost their lives.  I would imagine that standing in front of the piece would bring a cloud of sorrow, not only from what the names etched into the stone represent, but also due to the amount of names etched that would create a wall so vast in size.  Each name represents someone that lost their life in the war, which would become more ominous to the viewer as you walk through passing name after name.  This piece represents a sorrowful day in our nation’s history, and the way Lin is able to connect the viewer to the sorrow that happened so long ago makes this memorial powerful while giving beauty to the lives etched in stone. 

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982

Stone

493 ft. 6 in. x 10.1 ft. (highest peak)

Washington, DC

Body Project Artists Journal Entry

1.  Jana Sterbak

Remote Control I and Remote Control II show Sterbak’s interest in the body and how you can restrict a female while taking away her power.  Created in the form of an 1800’s crinoline, the piece holds the female in a rigid position where she is suspended while her feet can’t touch the ground.  The piece is placed on wheels with a remote that guides the piece and the wearer around a space.  By placing yourself into the piece you are giving up control of yourself to whomever holds the remote.

Remote Control II

2.  Matthew Barney

Barney created a series called CREMASTER cycle; an 8 year project documenting his artist exploration of cremation.  Using video, Barney perfects the sculpture position, lighting, size and shape; documenting the transformation he has created to his body and others for the end product of sculpture.  His use of the body involves dressing it in clothing appropriate to the vision of the person as well as morphing the face into creatures that resemble anything from mythical to an animal.  The people as props range from a Satan to a female cheetah, dressed to covered nakedness, erasing of the genitalia, or just projecting the genitalia into something different.  His work was pretty creepy to me with a surreal and eerie feeling, almost demonic.

CREMASTER 5   

3.  Janine Antoni

Antoni is a contemporary artist who has been known to use parts of her body as tools in the creation of her work.  In her past pieces, she’s used her eyelashes, mouth, hair, and even her brain with the use of technological scanning.  Her piece Butterfly Kisses was comprised by using her eyelashes as the tool, fluttering mascara marks onto a canvas in an abstract pattern.  In Loving Care she uses her hair as her tool, dipping it into a bucket of Loving Care black hair dye and mopping the gallery floor from her hands and knees creating more of a performance art.  Her pieces convey power, femininity, and an abstract form, but you can definitely say it’s not static.

Butterfly Kisses

4.  Paul Thek

Paul Thek explores the body in his work by creating hyper realistic body parts out of wax.  His pieces in Relics consist of cast versions of his own body parts, such as an arm, encased in Plexiglas.  Thek also created pieces that resembled the body from the inside like organs or muscle.  My thoughts on Thek’s work is that he was trying to show the healthiness of the body ~ parts that weren't sick from the AIDS disease that attributed to his death.  I think he wanted to show himself as more, more than the disease, more than the artist.  A person with individual limbs that were strong and healthy, and organs that could sustain the disease, even as they weren't sustaining him within his own body.

Warrior's Arm

5.  Robert Gober

Like Thek, Robert Gober is known to replicate body parts for his installations.  His realistic representation of the male leg shows the leg, typically protruding from a solid space such as a wall lying on the ground with the foot pointed up.  The leg is created from beeswax, with a pant leg that partially covers the leg enabling you to still see the sock and leg hair that is created from real human hair.  As a final touch to the leg, Gober places a shoe on the foot, a dressier style shoe worn in a professional setting.  Opposite to his leg installations, the work that includes the male torso is more random.  In the leg installations, the leg always has a sock and shoe placed on them, and almost always has a pant leg (the exception is Untitled (Man Coming out of a Woman), where the leg is between a woman’s thighs, alluding to it coming from the womb).  Sometimes the torso is covered in clothing (pants, socks, and shoes), and sometimes it’s not.  The solid space the torso protrudes from can be a wall, antique sink, even a bathtub with the knees bent and the feet resting on the bottom.  While Gober does have other pieces of work showing other parts of the body, I felt that his work with the leg was something that he recreated over and over.   

Untitled (Man Coming out of Woman)

Rebecca Horn

Rebecca Horn is a German Visual Artists who attended the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts for one year, pulling herself out when she came down with a severe case of lung poisoning due to working without a mask.  While in recovery, she lost both her parents causing her to feel isolated, and due to her weakened state had to change the medium that she produced her art in.  The shift in her art resulted in Horn turning to creating sculptures using cloth and balsa wood, and started producing pieces that helped her explore her surroundings while bedridden.  These sculptures became what she is best known for ~ extensions of the body.  In addition, her isolation pushed her into creating cocoon like sculptures, exploring the way she fit within the space that was around her.  It’s said that she may have also needed an outlet to protect her from bad things around here, hiding herself away in her cocoon. 

White Body Fan, 1972
Fabric and metal

The Feathered Prison Fan, 1978

Feathers around armature











While her pieces are quite interesting, and watching her work with them is truly amazing, I’d have to say I’m drawn to her rendition of her cocoon which represents “images of confinement—cocoons, swaddling, bondage, prostheses”.  The Feathered Prison Fan looks warm and inviting to me, a place to shut out the world.  It seems like a safe place, a quiet place, a place where you can just be within yourself and your own mind and not have to worry about the cold, harsh reality that is outside of the soft feathers.  The light color seems peaceful, like placing yourself inside would be meditative to the mind, body, and soul.  After reading about the life Horn encountered, I can understand why she would want a place that is all hers, a place where no one or nothing can get to her.  And with the daily stresses of life, I too would love a cocoon to crawl into, a place where I can shut the world out and just be. 

Body Extension Journal Entry on Jana Sterbak

In reading about Jana Sterbak, I was enlightened on her take of obstruction of the body, and the pieces that she has created to highlight the human bodies’ obstruction.  She pulls from what she labels a “colonized identity” to involve “awareness of the limitations such dependency puts on both personal and collective self-determination” into her work.  She also utilizes her pieces to get her audience involved, transforming them from mere viewers into full-fledged participants. 

In Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, Sterbak is able to poke fun at the fashion industry while shedding light onto the aging body.  The dress which is comprised of 60lbs of raw flank steak decays while hanging in exhibition, but before that time it is worn in photographs by your typical, slim model.  The ‘meat dress’ evokes

“…the discourse of fashion, in which the female body is offered as the speculator object of the male gaze.  Because the image of the fashionable woman is one of youth, slimness, and vibrant good health, Sterbak’s piece, with its association of aging, death, and decay, shows the workings of, but also offers resistance to, the disciplinary force of fashion”. 

The piece is said to be a memento mori, which is a metaphor for the aging human body reminding the viewers of their own impending death and decay.  The Vanitas dress is perfect for the metaphor, as the dress being comprised of a dead animal meat that slowly decays as it’s exhibited, we too will all one day be a dead with a decaying corpse. 

In addition to her meat dress, Sterbak has created other pieces that not only entangle the female form into something that is uncomfortable and subjective, but also place the female into a piece that is controlled by another person.  In Remote Control I and Remote Control II, Sterbak constructs a metal crinoline that is motorized with wheels and batteries.  This skirt is reminiscent of the skirt garments that women wore in the 1800’s; very stiff and puffy which restrict the wearer to standing the entire evening.  Remote Control I and Remote Control II restrict the wearer by placing them inside the aluminum frame where their feet cannot touch the ground, and the wearers movements are controlled by a remote control.  While the wearer can control the remote, typically the wearer is controlled by someone else.  First of all, the wearer of Remote Control I and Remote Control II cannot enter the crinoline by themselves, instead relying on 2 men to lower the woman into the devise.  Second, the apparatus suspends the wearer off the ground, keeping the torso in a constrained, rigid position.  Lastly, having someone else control your every move can be quite demeaning to the wearer, which Sterbak designed to be a woman.  This apparatus metaphorically represents a power play; the wearer isn't the one in power (the female), but instead the power is given over to the person who holds the remote (man).  This loss of power explores the typical notion of the female ideal where woman aren’t in “control” of themselves, and seems to highlight that we live in a male dominated where men still hold the power and women are considered powerless without a man at their side.  For example:  a 30 year old single man isn't even blinked at, but a 30 year old single woman is considered “weird”, or people wonder what is wrong with her.  Why can’t she keep a man?  I feel that Sterbak was trying to pinpoint the misogyny in society, but I just don’t see it.  I feel that being able to give the remote to someone gives the wearer all the power.  Needing help to get into the apparatus puts the wearer IN power, because it is their own choice to enter the devise.  I guess I feel opposite about Sterbak’s piece than she does. 

While Sterbak created context of women’s power with the remote in Remote Control I and Remote Control II, she also created power context with the electric current that runs through Seduction Couch.  While Remote Control I and Remote Control II suggests the giving away of a woman’s power, Seduction Couch establishes the “buildup of sexual attraction” with the use of electric currents received from the generator.  This piece is tantalizing, yet revolting.  When the viewer touches the piece, they are given an electric shock which should be repulsive to them.  But they know that they will receive that shock prior to touching the piece, yet they choose to touch it anyways.  It’s the age old tale of attraction to what you shouldn't/ can’t have.  It’s taboo ~ which makes you want it all the more.  It represents sex and sexuality, and how desire stimulates “the injunction to know”.  It’s also been said that Seduction Couch “addresses the role of the domestic space of seduction, the boudoir, in the production of gender”.  While I can agree that placing a woman on Seduction Couch gives the male ample viewing of the reclining female form, I feel that this piece gives the power to the woman.  Sterbak “draws associations between the chaise lounge and the production of docile female bodies through visual representations”.  I guess I see it as the opposite.  While the female body is given to the observer for visual representations, the female is not docile as she lays there.  She is in control, control of herself, her viewer and what they can and cannot see; she holds all the cards. 

Looking at the work that Sterbak has created to show the sexuality, powerlessness, and control that the female embodies, I feel a sense of sadness for Sterbak.  While I loved her pieces, I feel that she is stuck in the mindset that females have no power, and creates pieces to highlight that point.  While I agree that we still live in a male dominated world, I think when it comes to sexuality we all have only as much as we want to have.  If we want to be sexual creatures, we can.  Just because someone holds the power doesn't make the other person powerless.  Sometimes the one that seems powerless is actually the one who holds all the power.         

Works Cited:

McLerran, Jennifer.  DISCIPLINED SUBJECTS AND DOCILE BODIES IN THE WORK OF CONTEMPORARY ARTIST JANA STERBAK. Feminist Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Autumn, 1998).  Received February 26, 2015

Tim Hawkinson

Tim Hawkinson is an American artist that was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1960.  After graduating from San Jose State University, he transferred onto the University of California where he received his MFA.   Hawkinson creates pieces that range in scale from large to small, and uses his re-imagining of his own body for the source of many of his pieces, from transforming his ideal of his self-portrait to using  something his body creates like hair or fingernails.  In addition to using his body for his installations, Hawkinson is also known for using music and the passing of time; highlighting his theme through the material, technique, and the process he uses.  While the work may seem simple to the audience that observes it, it’s actually anything but simple, instead comprised of a complex system entailing such things as mechanics through hand-crafted electrical circuitry. 

An example of piece that Hawkinson re-imaged his image is Pentecost.  This massive piece was created by arranging cardboard tubes into the shape of a giant tree, and placing robots on the branches and floor under the tubes.  The robots are actually replicas of himself, and he programmed them to beat out hymns at irregular intervals.  Pentecost adheres to Hawkinson’s theme of creating self-portraits in a fictional sense, while applying music and programming to finish the piece.

Pentecost, 1999 
Polyurethane Foam, Sonotubes, Solenoids, Found Computer Program & Mechanical Components
Dimensions Variable
Ace Gallery

On the other size spectrum is Bird, a 2 in. skeleton representation of a bird that is comprised solely of Hawkinson’s fingernail pairings.    Due to the details and precision of the skeleton of Bird, Hawkinson has created a minute piece that actually looks like a skeleton and not at all like fingernail pairings.  In fact, I feel that the skeleton looks more like something ancient, a very naturalistic form that embodies that of a bird skeleton even in color.

Bird, 1997 
The Artist's Finger Nail Pairings
2"(H) x 2 1/4"(W) x 2"(D)
Ace Gallery

Bird, 1997 
The Artist's Finger Nail Pairings
2"(H) x 2 1/4"(W) x 2"(D)
Ace Gallery

When looking at Hawkinson’s work, I can admire how he likes to push the boundaries of his own body, showing his body and what it creates in ways that transform it into something new.  His exploration into his own body must give him an outlet to know himself intimately, while giving viewers an enlightening experience through his use of mechanics, separating himself from your typical “body project” artist.  

Nicola Constantino

Nicola Costantino was born in Rosario, Argentina November 17, 1964, and attended the School of Fine Arts, National University of Rosario where she was introduced to the art of working with silicone molds, which eventually became the basis of her work.  During her education, Nicola took classes from the sculptor Ennio Yomi, while also learning taxidermy and the embalming of mummified animals.  She spent some time in America for additional training and schooling, and eventually became a professor teaching others the craft that she acquired from those that I see as her mentors. 

Nicola’s work seems to center around the body, transforming it, using it, and applying it to the everyday objects.  Her piece Winged Nicola places her in the middle of the action.  From a small picture view, I thought this piece had her standing on a stool with large wings placed behind it.  She reminded me of The Winged Victory of Samothrace, a 2^nd century Greek goddess.  But upon closer inspection, the wings are actually the skinned body of an animal, possibly a pig (several different images of her has her staged with a pig).  Nicola’s stance is the same as the marble statues of Greek goddesses, but the juxtaposition of an animal’s body bring new meaning to the piece.  I’m unsure of the exact title of the piece, one site I found had it named Winged Nicola while another had a title of Venus com Asus.  Because the bulk of the information written about Nicola’s work is in another language, the translations I found didn't seem correct (referring to her as a “he”).  Due to the loss of translation, I am unsure what the meaning of the piece is, and can only conjure that she is placing herself as a Greek goddess, but without knowing what the animal is I am unsure on what the meaning of the piece can be.  But I still thought the piece was interesting, all the same.

Winged Nicola, 2010

Injected Print (Photograph)

68 1/8 x 53 1/8 in.

Another installation of Nicola’s work that I enjoyed is Peleteria Humana (Human fur Boutique).  This collection of work represents different woman’s apparel items, along with accessories.  While that sound pretty simple (and somewhat plain for sculpture), Nicola really ups the ante by covering each piece in human hair and colored latex cloth that has the pattern of nipples.  The material is a naturalistic representation of skin, making the viewer think that the bags, shoes, corset, and dresses are covered in nipples, real nipples.   While some people recoiled in disgust at the vision of nipples on women’s accessories, I feel that the installation is amazing.  It’s said the meaning is to “play with notions of the natural and the artificial, ideas of identity in a consumer society, and the materialism of the human body in contemporary times”.  Women’s identity seems to align with what they wear; they are feminine if they wear heals and carry designer bags, but more masculine if they are in tennis shoes and t-shirts.  The idea that our clothing or accessories define us is absurd, and once society sees that then women can break away from the adage of what society sees women as, and become who they are ~ themselves. 

Peleteria Humana, 1998

Human hair, colored latex cloth

Human Furriery, 1999-2006

Human hair, colored latex cloth

Transformation Journal Entry - Bric-a-Brac: The Everday Work of Tom Friedman

While I’d never heard of bricolage and broconnage before, I had her the term bric-a-brac.  So it was interesting to me to find out exactly what they meant.  Bricolage means “do-it-yourself”, but it is also associated with recycling.  I didn’t quite understand how do-it-yourself could translated into recycling until I read the article titled Bric-a-Brac: The Everyday Work of Tom Friedman by Jo Applin.  Applin explained that Friedman uses everyday objects that are always available or on-hand, and recycles those objects into new and unusual way where the object moves from one piece into another.  She calls it “a continual procedure of recycling” and explains “…the leftover remnant of one work provides the building blocks to generate another, suggesting a process less of renewal than of making do”.  This is evident in in a lot of Friedman’s work, where he turns the boring recycled material into something extraordinary (here is where the do-it-yourself and recycling seem to coincide with each other).

Braconnage, on the other hand means “poaching”, or borrowing.  Basically, this translates into taking a piece of art from another time and place, and using the theory to establish your own work of art with your own interpretation.  Applin attributes this to Friedman where he “exploits through various strategies of recycling and appropriation or borrowing articulate a model for thinking about art’s relationship with it’s past”. 

Placing this all together gives you art that is recycled and borrowed, made from everyday objects based out of the past and placed into the future.  This is evident in the work Friedman comprised when he erased all the ink from a Playboy centerfold picture, and placed all the eraser shavings from the centerfold in a circular pile on the floor.  This redefined the object as a “sculpture as leftover”, rather than addressing the removal of the object.  In erasing the centerfold, Friedman was using an everyday object (Playboy magazine) and erasing it just like Robert Rauschenberg’s iconoclastic Erased de Kooning Drawing from 1953, poaching the idea of another artist from the past, but establishing the art in a new sense and time.  

Erased Playboy Centerfold

Eraser Shavings

Work Cited: 

Applin, Jo. Bric-a-Brac: The Everday Work of Tom Friedman. JSTOR Art Journal.  Received September 24, 2013. 

Robert Bradford

Robert Bradford grew up in South London, knowing at a young age that he wanted to be an artist.  He completed his Foundation at Beckenham School of Art, his BA in painting at Ravesbourne College of Art in Kent, London, and completed his MA in film at the Royal College of Art, London.  While he focused the beginning of his career in painting and drawing, he transitioned into film video and photography when he was offered a visiting lectureship at San Diego State University in California.  In 2004, Bradford started working on a series of sculptures where he attached plastic toys onto a wooden armature to transform the plastic toy into objects representing something more.

Toys from Robert Bradford's work

In Dark Sniff, Bradford has taken a collection of toys and turned them into a representational piece of a dog.  The dog is standing on all 4 legs, while his heard sniffs at the ground.  The dog is in the shape of a hound dog, and the action is what hound dogs do ~ following their nose wherever it may go.  The piece is colorful with texture created from the toys that are used to comprise the piece. 

Sniff

Toys and torches on wood

120 x 60 x 45 cms approx

Another piece of Bradford’s is titled Toy Soldier, another wood armature covered in discarded toys.  This piece seems quite amusing to me as Bradford has used discarded toys to create a larger replication of a toy ~ a toy soldier.  Again the colors and textures add to the piece, giving the viewer many area’s to look at, follow, and explore. 

Toy Soldier

Plastic toys on wood life size figure

While Bradford’s work seems to sway on the side of crafty, one thing he noted was that children seem to take an interest in his work.  I can see how utilizing a material that is interesting to children would make them excited to seeing the work.  Hopefully that excitement introducing a whole new generation into the world of art, something that is overlooked in this day and age and seen as less important than Math and Science.  Pieces like Bradford’s may just help bring out the creative side in kids, letting them see objects that are more than the toy they have at the bottom of their toy box, seeing them as a material for something that can touch others.