Jarrad Tait: May 2012

The artists of the late 1800's and early 1900's, in Europe, were influenced by the Industrial revolution.

1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial revolution was a period in time in which major changes occured in industries such as agriculture, textile and metal manufacturing, transportation, the social structure and economic policies. It is named "revolution" however it isn't completely appropriate to name a certain time as a revolution, especially industrial-wise due to the fact that we are constantly improving manufacturing and such. The time it began is hard to say accurately, although 1760 is generally the time it began.

Both paintings featured on this blog, that are from the early 1900s were painted by Modernist painters from the group called 'Futurists'. The Futurists celebrated the machine, and objects in motion. Their primary objective was to depict movement, which they saw as symbolic of their commitment to the dynamic forward thrust of the 20th century.

2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.

"Rises" By Boccioni (1910)-

the subject matter consists of horses, workers, and a construction site in the background. It appears to show the horses are jumping around as if they are startled or worried, and there are by the looks of it men trying to control the horses. When i first looked at this i was very confused, as everything is appeared to be moving around, or blurred out. I can definately see that there is a brown horse that is mainly centered in the painting, and appears to be knocking down the construction workers, or some of them anyway. The horse appears to be angry at the workers, and this may be because the industrial revolution brought apon the first car; maybe the horses are rebeling against the human in anger because they are in a way being replaced?

In , "Dynamism of a dog on a leash" by Balla (1912), the painting shows a lady walking her dog, the movement is shown clearly and easy to interpret because the legs of the dog, the dog itself, and the womans feet are blurred out. The dog itself isn't incredibly detailed, like you would expect to see in a painting of a dog, which shows that the dog is really moving. The dog looks like its trying to move faster than it can, its legs are moving alot faster than its body can keep up with which is making it look humorous but enhances the idea of movement in this painting. This could easily relate to the Industrial Revolution; improvements in technology and manufacturing, it would generally be hard for the public to keep up with all these changes in everyday society. Im not sure why the lady is not in the photo, only her feet are shown, possibly to create a feeling of smallness, once again against the idea of vast improvements in technology.

Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) refers to China's recent rapid industialisation and urbanization.

(www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/cafeintopia.asp)

3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) in order to comment on this work in more depth.
i.e describe the images that has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and explain why has she used these images.

Named after Chinese money, it shows a perverse view of Beijing, a blend of capitalism, communism and socialism. And Like Beijing, it is always under construction, things such as candy-striped smoke stacks in the piece show continuous industrial production development, followed by ships moving out of the harbour. In Beijing also, everything is very clustered and very close together, almost like there are to many buildings in the city. Cao Fei has shown this by placing everything in the work very close together and centered, to make it seem that this one town of Beijing is almost like five towns in one. There are many cranes and futuristic looking buildings, in a video i watched on Youtube, the video shows many of the same things used in this piece; a clustered, busy and full-of-buildings city. When this was being designed, they firstly made a list of things that they wished to bring apon into existance. She then chose many factors that different cities in Beijing had in common, and fused them together in a way to create the RMB City.

4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia. Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.
A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics,
laws, customs, and conditions.
Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and
the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic,
technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated
worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or
political system.

Simply put, a Utopia is a place, condition or state that is perfect in every aspect of politics, laws, and conditions. This means that a Utopia, could also mean a perfect world. A world that had no issues or problems, there were no problems that could arise or had. Dystopia is a word used that describes a imagined, dream-like universe," in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control."

RMB City is exactly that - a world that is perfect. it has everything everybody needs, its layout resembles a dream like world that would consist of no problems, no issues, and if problems and issues were to arise, they would be controlled in a neccessary manner. After all, Cao did have a list of things that were factors of a perfect world, and include them in her work, RMB City.

5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital work have emerged from different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not already researched it.

industrialism is still shown in rmb city. workers in painting would be "working" at the sites in this rmb city. shows change.

I couldnt find many similarities, although a few do stand out and the first is that in RMB City, signs of the industrial revolution are shown. For instance, when the Industrial Revolution began, there may have been cranes and large buildings, but they are nothing compared to what we have in this world today. the Industrial world is constantly changing and improving, and signs of that are definately shown in RMB City. Another similarity is that in "Rises" By Boccioni (1910), there are workers and a busy area/subject matter shown in the painting. in RMB City, there are buildings, and cranes, and a boat, and a plane and an archetectual building, none of these could have occured if it wasn't for the workers that built them. Its not a perfect similarity, but in ways it does have a connection. And last of all, it shows change. As i said, the Industrial revolution is constantly improving and changing. In "Rises" By Boccioni (1910), there are horses going wild and scaffolding in the background and workers running around, this shows a change in the society. In RMB City everything looks very futuristic, which could easily represent what Cao believes that will happen over time to the society.

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/industrialrev/a/indrevoverview.htm

http://dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions.asp?d=203

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0906/S00212.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi_jrNGa9RM
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson926/DefinitionCharacteristics.pdf

RMB City (2007-9) Cao Fe

Dynamism of a dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla

"Rises" By Boccioni (1910)

1. Define the Enlightenment, including its context (time and place).

The enlightenment was the new concept of ideas about life in general - man, society, etc. it challenged the original concepts of the world view, being dominated by christians. These ideas that were new to the world changed/brought change to many forms of art and such. It started around the 17th century, but we still in a way live in it as there is still a world view of thought based on the idea of the enlightment itself.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

The Sublime existed for two main reasons, as a "picturesque setting for some more important, human drama, and as a topography, or a quasi-scientific reconstruction of the land masses of a particular area". In order to be educated artistically, you would have to be able to walk before you could run. So if you wanted to paint, you would need to be able to draw first. The sublime was a concept that basically said that instead of being told to do by churches, you were told by government what was considered more important in terms of status and wealth, and what was not. It was an era in time in which a Hiearchy known as "The Salons" dictated which subjects were considered more important and most wealthy, for example history and religious subjects topped the list, while still life painting - something very challenging and difficult to produce was left near the bottom of the list.

3. Explain how the concept of the Sublime came out of Enlightenment thought.

The Enlightenment developed a clearer world view of the arts and subjects taught. The concept of the Sublime was formed out of the Enlightenment by Higher-Ups making an order in which the subjects and arts were classified in a list of importance. The new world view of these subjects etc were placed in an order of importance and wealth, therefore leaving people in a position which basically told them that if you wanted to do well in life, you would have to study the subjects that were at the top of the list of importance, a new world-view of subjects and arts depicted this. All in all, the Sublime is a quality of greatness, whether it be i art, mathmatics, knowledge, etc.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Include some quotes from art critics and other writers who have written about his work

He has taken these photo's in a way that gives the viewer a feeling of being directly above the subject matter, as if we are looking at these people from a birds-eye view. I did some research and discovered that why he does this has something to do with the 9/11 tragity, he was "influenced" by images of people falling from the towers. So he may be trying to show us what the people in those towers saw the outside/ground like; looking out of the building and seeing paradise waiting for them at the bottom, as horrible as that sounds.

"In this body of work he uses a gorgeous, slowly shifting color palette gleaned from changes in depth and tide; abstract patterns of waves and rippling water, and beaches both empty and cluttered. Throughout the series, Misrach carefully balances the minutiae of human gesture against the massive scale of the sea. In some images, a lone figure floats in a liquid field of brilliant turquoise--or in others, lies beached and partially buried. The details in the images are frequently ambiguous. Are the figures relaxed or drained of life?"

In his works, in terms of sublime, he is editing his photos to produce as much brilliant colours and detail as possible to produce magnificent photography. Sublime, after all, is a quality of greatness; Misrach uses this to the furthest extent and it brings out the beauty in his photography. "As Misrach says, the work is "suffused with a sense of the sublime, but it also begins to expose our vulnerability and fragility as human beings.""

5. Add 2 new images of his work to your blog.

See bottom of this post.

6. Describe how does Misrach's photography makes you feel. How does it appeal to your imagination?

Misrach's photography feature very bright and happy colours, they give the feeling that there is no such thing as problems or stress or emotional issues. It gives me this idea of paradise, not having any worries or anything to consider an issue; just myself and the environment that surrounds me which would be anything but if i was in the subject matters situation. There is alot of space in these works which give this feeling of being alone in a big open area, which could be very peaceful, yet very spooky at the same time.

7. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.

Nicolas Poussin was a artist from the Enlightenment era. His work featured such things as clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant "Baroque" style of the 17th century.

8. Add a Sublime image of your choice to your blog, which can be Art or just a Sublime photograph.
9. Reference your sources (books and websites).