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Phyllida Barlow (1944- )
‘Dock‘ 2014. Duveen Galleries, London. Tate Britain Commission.
For over four decades, Barlow has made imposing, large scale sculptural installations using inexpensive, everyday materials. The commission for the Duveens‘, entitled, ‘Dock’, involves seven enormous sculptures; these include a collection of polystyrene boxes covered in a cement wash and suspended from the ceiling. I admire Barlow’s work which embrace a precariousness; embracing mess, absurdity and chance. The notion of chance and improvisation is a continued element of my creative practice. The gargantuan scale of Barlow’s work make it recognisable and distinctive. The work often seems too big for the space; instead of complementing it’s architectural setting, as a sculpture conveniently does, it overwhelms it.
”a bish-bash-bosh person” -Richard Wentworth.
Anish Kapoor (1954- )
‘Sky Mirror’ 2001. Wellington Circus, Nottingham; Kensington Gardens, London; Rockefeller Center, New York.
Perhaps most famous for public sculptures, Kapoor manoeuvres between different scales, form and engineering in his conceptual artwork.
Concave or convex mirrors attract and swallow the viewer; carved pigmented recesses in stone disappear.
These voids summon up the physicality of space and difference of,
presence and absence, inside and out, positive and negative. An area of exploration in my project.
Richard Serra (1938- )
From the film ‘Hand Catching Lead’ 1968.
Time was an active principle in Serra’s work and he therefore made several short films, such as ‘Hand Catching Lead‘ (1968), in which repeated images of a hand attempting to catch a falling piece of lead create a hypnotic rhythm, making the spectator conscious of the filmic process. This three minute film, like others produced by Serra in the same year, related to a famous ‘verb list’ which he compiled in 1967-8. The verb involved in this instance is ‘to grasp’.
Serra’s move from the object arts of painting and sculpture, into the medium of film, advance our understanding of what is at stake aesthetically when boundaries of media are dissolved, transited, or displaced.
Tony Oursler(1957- )
Installation view of Tony Oursler ’Number Seven Plus or Minus Two’. Gallery Faurschou, Beijing. 2010.
A contemporary multimedia and installation artists, Oursler explores the psychological and social relationships between individuals and visual technologies. Applying humour and irony to his work, Oursler hones in on the effects of media on human consciousness.
Oursler’s installation works are immersive dark-room environments with video, sound, and language mixed with colourful constructed sculptural elements. Oursler experimented with methods of removing the moving image from the video monitor using reflections in water, mirrors, glass and other devices.
I admire the potential of new technologies and uniqueness shown in Oursler’s work and how the installations exhibit humanity that can easily engage us.
More artist’s research and relevant books are on individual Blog posts.
Books....Reference....
Cartiere, C; Zebracki, M; ‘The Everyday Practice of Public Art: Art, Space an Social Inclusion’. 2016. Routledge. Oxon.
Hopkins, D; After Modern Art 1945-2017. Oxford History of Art. 2018. Oxford University Press. London.
Ingledew, J; The A-Z of Visual Ideas: How to solve any create brief. 2011. Laurence King Publishing Ltd. London.
Malpas, W; ‘Land Art, Earthworks, Installations, Environments, Sculptures’. 1997. Worcestershire: Cresent Moon. London
Hoffmann, Jens, ‘Show time: the 50 most influential exhibitions of contemporary art’. 1972. Thames & Hudson. London.
Eliasson, O; ’The Weather Project’. 2003. Exhibition Catalogue: Tate Modern. London.
O,Doherty, B; ‘Inside the White Cube’. 1999. University of California Press. London.
Crimp, D; ‘On the Museum’s Ruins’. 1993. The MIT Press. London.
Barlow, P; ’Objects For and Other Things’. 2003. Black Dog Publishing Ltd. London.