Form Finding - Sound Finding

Further inspiration from the Southbank Centre in this quote from Morton Feldman. His sound finding ==> my form finding (see previous posts of August, September and October 2013): simply replace the word 'sounds' with 'forms':

" Morton Feldman: Patterns in a Chromatic Field for cello & piano
Morton Feldman's epic Patterns in a Chromatic Field is widely acknowledged as one of his finest late compositions. It is profound, enthralling and infused with a melancholic feeling of departure.

Feldman wrote, 'I feel that I listen to my sounds, and I do what they tell me, not what I tell them. Because I owe my life to these sounds.' "

History through Art

Art = a window into history:

The Rest Is Noise @ The Southbank Centre

Tracing human history through the Arts - music/performing arts as well as the visual arts - and history providing a stepping stone for the Art of the future. 

A hugely inspiring festival!

Reith Lectures - Continued

The fourth and last Reith Lecture, delivered by Grayson Perry:

Lecture 4: I Found Myself in the Art World

A very beautiful insight in 30th minute (29.10 to 30.14) into his coping mechanism in what he refers to as the 'corrosive' art world, 'caustic atmosphere', in which that 'artist' part of him is 'vulnerable' and 'delicate': 'irony', 'mischief', 'facetiousness' and 'cynicism'. That explains all then ... and I suppose to some extent counters the 'oversimplification' and 'acceptance' I referred to in my post dated 29/10/2013.
His connection with Central St Martins also explains a lot, I feel.
Not the most informative/best of the lectures.

Some quotes that resonate with me when he talks about what the art world has given him and what being an artist is like for him:
- 'I found myself' ...'the beautiful thing the art world has given me';
- 'a refuge .... a kind of inner shed in which I can lose myself'.
Very nicely put!

And Now for Something Completely Different

A sculpture painting, in its latter stages of completion:

Detail

The Next Batch Ready for Firing

Some more 'form findings', in reverse chronological order. These are all in black clay (yes, trust me) so will fire in a range of blacks:

1: the most recently completed; hopefully this one will come out very black:

2: the penultimate, in a coarser black clay, which I think will turn out a greyer black:

3: the 4th in the series (see the post dated 18 August 2013 for the first three):

And elements of/for a wall installation:

I now need to spend some more time over the next few weeks finalizing how these will all be presented/displayed.

Reith Lectures ...

... delivered by Grayson Perry's (of 'Transvestite Potter, Winner of the Turner Prize' renown), giving a good insight into the art scene here in the UK (although perhaps somewhat too accepting of the commodification and rampant commercialism). I wonder how these lectures would be/are regarded across the water; I find it very interesting and amusing to watch and hear the series unfold. There's something about the English way of saying some very important things in a non-serious way that I find very appealing, although I do still tend - initially - to fall into the trap of then not taking the person very seriously.

I say I find him rather too accepting in these lectures, but one does get a glimpse of the critical every now and then, done in a most humorous way, so perhaps the last lecture will reveal more.
I also wonder whether there is a slight tendency towards oversimplification (or am I not getting that Englishness again?) - e.g. Duchamp's urinal, which I feel needs to be considered more within its art-historical context of the artist questioning what Art was at the time and the design to change people's perception of Art. This questioning and pushing the boundaries is still valid and hugely important today, provided it is done for the purpose of moving Art forward and not solely for shock value and/or commercial ambitions - but, again, perhaps the last lecture will reveal more.


Lecture 1: Democracy Has Bad Taste

Lecture 2: Beating the Bounds

Lecture 3: Nice Rebellion, Welcome In
The Q&A in this lecture is, for me personally as an artist, most enlightening.

The 4th lecture is next week; and will be an other post.

Form Finding - Continued

An interesting lecture, albeit rather philosophy-based and computer-oriented for the purpose of this post, on the genesis of form (morphogenesis), which relates to the 'Form Finding' post of 18 August and in practical terms to the things I've been working on over the spring and summer months.
With this in mind, most of interest in this lecture are what Delanda says about:
- how form comes about; relevant to art/artists more specifically, from 9.10 minutes on the time line;
- at 11.00 to 14.50, the artist being able recognize that materials have creative powers of their own and entering into partnership with the material;
- 54.52 and through to 57.00 and beyond, re. phylum and William Latham respectively, generating potential for form differentiation, which happens in my own 'form finding' process - which, unlike Latham, is definitely and very importantly not computer-generated - in that I consciously facilitate and nurture the potential for a form/movement to come about - places of possibilities - because a movement/gesture in sculpture initiates very early on in the body of that movement. 
- (also an interesting ecology-related comment at 1.00.00.)

  

Delanda on Morphogenesis

   

Saloua Raouda Choucair

Saw her show at Tate Modern recently:

(Not a 100% keen on this video: the introductory bit from the person from the Tate conservation department rather jars with me simply because I have difficulty with the practice of art restoration and the way in which, in my view, it inherently destroys the integrity of the artwork being subjected to restoration [to be discussed at another time perhaps] but I do think the video illustrates her work rather nicely and gives a nice insight into who she is as a person and an artist, her self-containedness in particular):

Really enjoyed the exhibition, particularly her sculpture work.
She's a most interesting woman. Clearly very self-contained, with a great belief 'in the potential of an idea', which she explores relentlessly and deeply.
Two concepts that have lingered with me are the way she explores 'the trajectory of the line', and her modular towers being changeable structures, to be stacked in different configurations, and each module either standing alone or stacked with others.

And, another link, about her retrospective in Beirut, set in a more authentic atmosphere, more alive (and better displayed? 360 degree view of sculptures; not always the case at the Tate, frustratingly):
Beirut retrospective

Food for Thought

Much food for thought in this exhibition synopsis. Unfortunately I haven't been to see it (quite a hike all the way up to  Leeds!).

Points of particular personal interest highlighted in underscore:

Indifferent Matter: From Object to Sculpture

Henry Moore Institute exhibition
25th July 2013 - 20th October 2013
Galleries 1, 2 and 3

'Indifferent Matter: From Object to Sculpture pairs four key twentieth-century sculptures by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-96), Hans Haacke (b. 1936), Andy Warhol (1928-87) and Robert Smithson (1938-73) with a series of ancient objects including Neolithic jades, a yet to be named mineral, fragments of Roman sculpture and a collection of eoliths. Each pairing explores how objects resist the origins, names and histories humans accord to them. Each of these American artists made radical shifts in the understanding of what sculpture might be, using acts of naming and rethinking ways of displaying artworks. The ancient objects, all held in museum collections, challenge boundaries of classification, their histories and meanings ambiguous and unknown.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres' '"Untitled" (Placebo)' (1991) is a gleaming field of silver-wrapped sweets placed on the gallery floor. There is an open invitation for visitors to consume the sweets, and the Institute is tasked with returning the sculpture to its ideal mass at the start of each day. '"Untitled" (Placebo)' is paired with Neolithic jade bi discs and t'sung columns found in burial sites of the Liangzhu (3400-2250 BC) culture in North-Eastern China. Although various ceremonial and symbolic meanings have been ascribed to these objects, their original purpose remains unknown.
Hans Haacke's 'Grass Cube' (1967) is a Perspex box holding a tray of seeded soil that sprouts grass over the course of the exhibition. Like '"Untitled" (Placebo)', this sculpture is dependent on display; it is subject to the light conditions in the gallery space and daily maintenance by the Institute's staff. It is coupled with a recently discovered, and as yet unnamed, mineral species. With no name, a mineral has no position in the classification system. During the course of Indifferent Matter the specimen will be classified by the International Mineralogical Association.
Two Roman marble sculptures by unidentified authors of unknown sitters, a male pair of legs and a female portrait bust from The British Museum are housed within a commissioned display structure by British artist Steven Claydon (b. 1969), surrounded by Andy Warhol's 'Silver Clouds' (1966). These balloons half-filled with helium drift lazily between the floor and ceiling. Claydon's structure deploys materials used by museums for conservation purposes, functional products of little aesthetic or cultural value. Drawing attention to the private cushioning and support mechanisms of these prized artefacts, Claydon's display explores the changes an object undergoes as it passes from storage to the pristine, public space of the museum.
A simple act of naming or misnaming can enhance or diminish an object's cultural value. Robert Smithson's 'Asphalt Lump' (1969) is a piece of refuse from the industrial process of steel production. Smithson called this object a sculpture, claiming it already conveyed the meaning he wanted. 'Asphalt Lump' is paired with a collection of eoliths that, like Smithson's sculpture, reveal how language creates meaning and value. Eoliths are pieces of chipped flint which were the subject of major archaeological debates in late 1890s Britain. Although originally thought to be man-made, over time they were confirmed to be naturally occurring. Now housed within many national collections in the UK, they are still known by their original name, occupying a murky category of part man-made artefact, part natural rocks. While 'Asphalt Lump' becomes a sculpture through naming, the eoliths are stripped of their uniqueness through the advancement of knowledge.

Indifferent Matter: From Object to Sculpture explores how matter can be both indifferent and contingent on encounter, exploring the malleability of meaning and the ways in which objects are accorded cultural and historical value.'

Did go and see the Saloua Raouda Choucair exhibition though, but that's for the next post.

Form Finding

I have been working on fine-tuning my technique for creating three-dimensional, air- and light-filled forms straddling ceramics and sculpture, i.e. creating fired clay pieces using ceramicist hand-building techniques whilst holding to sculpture's principles and language of form. I am combining the (Gutai inspired) principles of artist / material interactions with the concept of form finding, i.e. letting the form shape itself; working in partnership with the material, homing in on the properties and behaviour of the material - clay - and so calling form into existence. (See the posts dated 21 and 26 August 2012 and 24 September 2012 for further insight into Gutai)

This is the third form, achieving the 3-dimensionality I am seeking (below are 1 and 2, which illustrate the progression during the fine-tuning of the technique. These started out simply as forms about flow [as per the previous post], but gradually became part of a process towards greater 3-dimensionality): as yet unfired

1: fired



and 2: as yet unfired

And another 'form-finding' piece, which will become part of an installation about negative space - or at least that's the plan at the moment. This form came about through pure chance, which will be the founding principle of the installation (to be explained further in due course): as yet unfired

And a möbius strip, which I made as part of the work towards perfecting my understanding of form for use in my form-finding work. 'Simplicity is very complicated'- see posts dated December 2010:
also unfired as yet

The Latest Firing

Some of the things that came out of the kiln earlier this week: four more spheres for the 'spheres' installation; a small coiled form (centre back), the first in what will/might become an installation about gesture; a flowing form (centre front), in more detail below; and some twisted coiled forms which are about achieving a dynamic twist in an organic coiled form. Further explanation to follow in a subsequent post.



 

 

 

The first of what I'm referring to as 'flowing forms' for the moment (water forms?), inspired by the flow of water - I was in Cornwall recently and spent many happy moments watching the sea and clear water streams and rills. Water and how it flows has been a fascination for me for as long as I can remember. I grew up by the sea ...

Using a different technique, which, unlike with the coiled forms, is not about the process as such, so the process is not left visible. These flowing forms are more about movement and purity of line/language. Both sides shown:

 



 

 

The second in the flowing forms series. Not yet fully dry, in its leather-hardness state, so this will still be refined. Both sides shown. The clay is dark brown when wet and fires black (interestingly, a slightly different black than the black coiled forms, which are made using the same clay):

 

 

The Beauty in Working with Clay

Bernard Leach at work with what is for me a poignant, inspiring commentary:

On the Japanese Aesthetic - 2

And then there's the language of course: the writing - first and foremost - but also the sound, and in this case also the content:

 

 

An even more striking example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3-rlolB94I&feature=related


And then a glimpse into another side of Japanese culture, in the artist Aida Makoto, who exposes the contradiction, the continuous friction between tradition and the modern-day, very much part of the Japanese psyche:

Makoto overview webpage

Makoto Google Images

Tokyo

An illustration of the Japanese aesthetic that inspires me (Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo):

"Ken Mihara (1958- ) is one of the most sought-after Japanese ceramists today. Hailing from Izumo, home to mystic landscapes that gave birth to the great majority of Japan's legends, Mihara's works call to mind the spiritual aesthetics of ceremonial vessels such as ancient bronzeware. Yet at the same time, his ceramics embody a deeply introspective and zen-like tranquillity that encapsulates Mihara's very own artistic state of mind.
The aesthetic qualities of serenity and the sublime coalesce within Mihara's work. In essence, these qualities are the scents of Japan, a culture which has traditionally searched for beauty within wabi-sabi austerity, spiritual simplicity, and the cherishing of patina. The natural landscapes of his high-fired stoneware facades were borne through multiple and extremely difficult kiln-firings, with each firing revealing a new element to a work's clay flavour. His new forms exhibit a stark, bulb-esque minimalism that are, in essence, a window into the mind of the artist. ...His deeply spiritual works poignantly strike at the heart, and his new works exhibit the artist leaning further towards minimalistic simplicity."

 

FUKAMI Sueharu (Porcelain with Celadon Glaze)

"Kyoto artist Sueharu Fukami (1947- ) wishes to reveal the 'space' that lies beyond the supple curves and sharp silhouettes of his abstract porcelain works, lusciously drenched in the delicate translucency of celadon's pale-blue glaze. The triumphant arches and totems borne from his starkly minimal forms represent what cannot be superficially seen: a perpetual circularity of life and the continuity of space itself. Fukami's conceptual and deeply contemplative ceramics have shed all preconceived dependencies on the notion of functionality, and as eloquent displays of art for art's sake, stand alone to remind the viewer that perfection in porcelain can be conveyed by soaring forms far removed from traditionalism. 

...The horizontal work, entitled Tenku (Heaven ), is a rare piece in that it was made through hand-formation, which Fukami attests to be 'two times more difficult than slip-casting.'" 

 

ICHINO Masahiko (Tamba Stoneware)

"Masahiko Ichino (1961- ), a ceramic artist who manifests the duality of romantic post-modernism borne from traditional reverie, is credited for reviving the medieval glories of Tamba, one of the famed Six Old Kilns of Japan.

Ichino's recent works appear round and organic, soft and plush. In fact, the voluptuous stoneware sculpture may strike a viewer as bulky. On the contrary, each separate ceramic part is hollow, and thus unbelievably light. The artist achieves this unique characteristic through an ingenious use of both hand-pinching and ventilation. ...Ichino further applies black slip or the traditional Akadobe red slip of Tamba, and fires again repeatedly, alternating between oxidation and reduction. The resulting work is a sculptural object that is imbued with Ichino's unique post-modern aesthetic."

 

NAGAE Shigekazu (Slip-Cast Porcelain)

"Shigekazu Nagae (1953- ) is unquestionably one of the leading pioneers of porcelain slip-casting and firing techniques in Japan. Casting is commonly associated with the mass production of functional porcelain wares, yet Nagae valiantly transcends this stereotype, ultimately elevating this technique to the avant-garde. In fact, the intensity of his kiln fires help mould, shape and curve his delicate white porcelain, thereby giving birth to sleek yet unpredictable silhouettes not found in works by other artists and previously unimaginable in the context of porcelain clay.

About the Works Nagae's latest works test the limits of his porcelain casting techniques, and are the culmination of his extensive experiments into the qualities of both clay and fire. After a work has been slip-cast with liquid porcelain, dried, and bisque-fired, the separate pieces are suspended mid-air within Nagae's kiln using a self-made stand, and are further attached together through the glazing of its joints. As the glaze melts and turns to glass through the kiln fires, the separate parts are conjoined as one. More surprising is the fact that seductive curvature is a result of natural kiln effects that serendipitously drape and tape the porcelain into organic sheets. The resulting work is a virtuosic symphony of differing parts that unite to form a unique and intriguing whole."



Nishikata Ryota (Metalwork)

 

And some more - photographs taken at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo:

From Viewer to Participant

Viewer/onlooker becoming participant.

With paintings more clearly than with sculpture, the viewer is either an onlooker, invited to look at the scene, or a participant, invited to enter the scene, become immersed in it and become part of it.
I am currently really enjoying creating a setting in 2D format - a colour-scape - with oil paints and pigments that does the latter.

In sculpture, installation turns the viewer into a participant more readily than presentation of a finite form.

What happens if you combine a finite form with a painted colour-scape as a backdrop? 

Abstract Non-objective Concrete Minimal

As per the previous post, and my statement 'My language is the abstract form' on 'The Constant' page on the roposculpture website: http://www.rosemariepowellsculpture.co.uk/Now.html 

Abstract in the sense of 'works of art which, though they may start from the artist's awareness of an object in the external world, proceed to make a self-consistent and independent aesthetic unity in no sense relying on an objective equivalence'; 'the construction of works of art from non-representational basic forms (often simple geometric shapes); 'spontaneous, free expression'; 'with the implicit notion that the work of art exists in its own right, and not necessarily as a mirror of reality'.
Here, therefore, in the sense of NOT derived through abstraction.

Non-objective, 'usually but not always geometric and inspired by Plato, who believed that geometry was the highest form of beauty; may attempt to visualize the spiritual and can be seen as carrying a moral dimension, standing for virtues like purity and simplicity --> Minimal'.

Concrete, 'abstract art entirely free of any basis in observed reality with no symbolic implications'.

Minimal/Minimalism, 'extending the abstract idea that art should have its own reality and not be an imitation of some other thing. ... works in very simple geometric shapes ... works that explore the properties of their materials. ... offers a highly purified form of beauty. ... representing such qualities as truth (because it does not pretend to be anything other than what it is), order, simplicity, harmony'.

In reference to He Wenjue: 'there are two important things in contemporary art: intellectual content and emotion'.

2013

The things that inspire for 2013 clay white black process visible process process visible material respect honour material otherwise why work with it the spiral the sphere delicate fragile inner space grouping spaces between light and dark light and shade plaster texture gravity delicate chance interact with chance enjoy chance invite chance beware of artifice fine balance fine line clay black white coils spheres figures of 8 extending from spheres Merete Rasmussen Grégoire Scalabre Anne Marie Laureys Edmund de Waal throwing pots that feeling when you're pushing out the clay with your thumb to form the wall the side and pulling up the clay between your fingers what a feeling! delightful bliss Japanese pottery simplicity imperfection imperfect because beyond perfection is destruction can objects hold memories today's obsession with objects objects have a story a life your material has a life your art-works have a life a story of importance painting colour blue sky our Blue Planet Planet Earth space infinity black cosmos white purity clarity minimal light raw umber earth monochrome paint thick and thin Einstein on the Beach pushing the boundaries finding the essence finding the essence to push the boundaries Philip Glass Arvo Pärt music inspires work work inspired by music re-awakening our connection with the cosmos Mevlana Dervishes whirling the spiral contraction expansion right-handed spiral left-handed spiral descending ascending clockwise anti-clockwise expansion contraction we are part of the cosmos survivre la difficulté d' être the human condition la condition humaine the fragility of life that moment that split second when a person's life changes for ever I'm interested in that moment fragility of life l' élégance du hérisson what is life what is art survivre la difficulté d' être what is art Muriel Barbery Edmumd de Waal Bernard Leach truth to materials Abstract Non-objective Concrete Minimal