What is Art?

Degree show

So…I have decided for the degree show I am going to go ahead with my wall of quotes. I have been allocated a bigger space then what I was originally working on. Therefore i have to adapt my work to fit the space it is presented in. its funny because usually the space has to fit the work but in my case because my work does not exist, the work has to fit the space.

On my allocated wall I have decided to present my work through the center of it individually. As the viewer enters the presents of my wall they will walk down it reading the quotes that related to them.

Because of the size of the wall, I am going to have to recut all my letters to a slightly bigger scale. What I am going to do though is make the letters, different sizes of different typography. As previously explained this is for an aesthetically pleasing aspect.

I have written out all my quotes and collected a few quotes from my blog. I then counted all the abc… and so on. I thought the best way to do this in the most organized and quickest way was to cut all the a’s out first, with random typography and sizes, then b’s and so on.

It turns out that all together I have 924 letters to cut out!! In one day working from 9-4 I am cutting about 150 letters out. The problem is I need to work faster because 150 a day will take me behind schedule. All I can say is, no one can question my skill, time and effort I have put into my work, that I am presenting on the degree show, even though it doesn’t exists!

List of numbers of each letter that needs to be cut.

A = 83

B = 15

C= 25

D = 30

E = 90

F = 10

G = 8

H = 30

I = 100

J = 1

K = 10

L = 26

M = 18

N = 50

O = 80

P = 25

Q = 0

R = 80

S =80

T= 100

U= 26

V=5

W= 7

X = 3

Y = 22

Z

924

I experimented with the presentation of my words, and put them in an organized order. Refer back to post 24. As a finished product, I find this looks good however it dose not drive the viewer to read it. I find it forces the viewer to look at it as a hole one piece. They are distracted by the presentation and look at the shapes and colour. I want the viewer to read the quotes and respond to the them. I have decided it is better for me to do the quotes separately on the wall as I did before.

I mentioned in my previous posts I thought it will give my work value. This is too much as a contradiction, as now on this board it has become a piece of Art with value. I don’t want to make a piece of Art. To present my quotes on the wall their is nothing physical to take away from it, apart from the thoughts and opinions impacted on the viewer. It will exists within the mind of the viewer.

Hopefully when reading this you have read my hole blog so this will make sense. There is logic behind my madness!

now to prepare for the final degree show!

Reflecting

I started out with the question of what is Art? I questioned why do I need to make Art? when Art all originates from an idea? I felt by making something physical would only be an interpretation of my idea. I felt interpretation was the viewer’s job

As far as other people were concerned I did not exists in the Art world even though I had all these thoughts and ideas. I needed to find a way to exist in the Art world, as an original source and make “Art’ which could be my language. I looked at Sol LeWitt’s series of Wall Drawings as he encapsulates the idea of the idea and removed the Artistic hand to highlight the idea.

The more I thought about the idea the more it turned into something new with out even making something physical. I learned that it was becoming impossible to capture the purity of an idea, as I explained this as a form of Chinese whispers.

I found that language would be the best way to encapsulate these questions and ideas I have about Art. Language does not exist until the viewer has read the words, so because of using words as my Art made my work conceptual but existent. I looked at language and words with examples of Barbra krugger.

Joseph Kosuths is my main influence. He talks about interpretations of Art. He quotes that “A work of Art is a tautology” were he explains that Art can only be a statement of what the Artist thinks Art is. Kosuth claims Art, are different propositions as to what Art is. As a role of a viewer, they are only analyzing the proposition that the artist has presented in a form of Art, as to what Art is. Art with numbers and Glass Bottles were direct references to Kousth although throughout my work I have maintained a relation from the way he talks about Art. I then started to develop into finding answers through making Art about Art, with my orange canvas and my Art canvas, which were tautologies within themselves.

By making physical things, I was answering my questions I have about the Art world. I didn’t want to answer the questions, I wanted to ask the questions. I expressed this phase as “feels like soup”. It made me take a step back and figure out what it is that I want to achieve so I reverted to my words.

While I was producing my quotes, I started to find that there are other elements to be addressed in Art, like presentation and aesthetics. I found this hard to come to terms with as I felt presentation was the death of the idea. It was important for me to bring my idea to exist without killing it through appearance. I decided to use appearance to my advantage and use it to highlight the idea rather then using appearance to represent the idea. I used coloured card and glitter to gain an attraction. I looked at Bruce Nauman, who used neon lights to present his ideas of “One hundred ways to live or die”, Christopher Wool, Jenny Holzer and Bob and Roberta Smith.

Skill was another element i found hard to deal with because its hard to make sure the viewer dose not appreciate the skill. By using the process of cutting out every single letter individually, brings an element of skill and hard work into my work discreetly and not as an obvious thing to be appreciated. For example when viewing a painting, there is a danger the skill of the Artist, like how they applied the paint to the canvas, being appreciated rather then the idea and purpose of the painting.

I have now come to a mutual point and used skill and aesthetical pleasing elements without existing. Not to exist as a piece of “Art” was my original aim. I find this very important and something I feel is a driving point to my work. The reason it does not exists is because the viewer has to read the words for the work to exists, so basically I addressed Artistic elements by not existing?

Referring to post 2. please read or refer to post 2 first, Glass Bottles

I wrote ideas, the date and time that I had on to individual piece’s of rizzla, one idea per bottle. I then screwed the rizzla up and placed it inside a glass bottle. The idea is that the bottles contain ideas. I feel that an element of Art is presenting ideas and propositions to the viewer. To contain the ideas in the bottles and present them as a form of “Art”, it takes this idea literally as a physical act.

My main influence of this way of thinking is Joseph Kosuth, who I have previously mentioned. Kosuth claims Art, are different propositions as to what Art is. As a role of a viewer, they are only analyzing the proposition that the Artist has presented in a form of Art, as to what Art is. He quotes in “Art after Philosophy” from 1969, “A work of Art is kind of proposition presented within the context of Art as a comment on Art. We can go further to analyze the types of ‘propositions.” This quote brings my glass bottles into context.

I used black pen to right onto the rizzla so that it socked through the paper. As a viewer when looking at the bottles you can see the ideas but not what they are. This is a representation of Joseph Kosuths quote. As a viewer you do not necessarily know the reality and truth behind the Art, but as a viewer you are viewing the idea in the form of a piece of Art, therefore as a viewer you conclude your own realities and that is when the Art is formed.

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Week commencing 1^st April

This week im focusing on experimenting more on the presentation of my words. I went and brought a thick piece of white card about A1 size. I had an idea to put a paragraph of words on to the white card rather then the wall. I felt like it would give my word some value. When I say value I mean it will give it value as a piece of work, even though I’m still adamant to maintain my idea of the idea I don’t think the white card will distract to much from that. the white card will give portability so I can look at more areas for me to present my work because im finding my wall is restricting me. im also finding the wall is taking my into the installation realms of Art. This is not what I want from my work as I feel it adds extra complications, which are not relevant to the purpose of my Art.

My next steps to proceed is to decide which quotes will go together. The quotes being presented so closely together, will make each quotes meaning reflect of one another. This is a good thing as it will encourage the viewer to maintain the right idea of what I’m doing.

i just need to decide what quotes to put together.

heres a list of quotes from my sketchbook.

some need some work, to change the words used into something more interesting and some i am finding may be to bold and need to stand as its own piece.

QUOTES

Art is not fact

Phony, Fake, Art

Skill vs. Idea

Show me the rulebook, ( manual)

Trade with Integrity

Brain -> idea -> vision -> reality -> the birth

The Chinese whispers of Art

Who said Art is a Talent

Art about Art

Art is telepathic

Just do it

Contradiction

This is Art because I said its Art

Is it Art

Is this Art

Aesthetics Original grabber
problem of satisfying

Reproduce form here

Point the fingers inwards

The Artist is making money from your subconscious

Bung it in a frame

Do you really care?

Beauty does not exists

Can you see the gold chains

You got fooled

Art is a head fuck

Art is self-reflective

Who put Art in Artist

Don’t shoot the messenger

Y bother?

What’s more important the Artist intention or what it actually is to the viewer?

I have the power cos I have the pencil

I liked the idea

Nothing is fixed

Pretentious

Forced Art

Who put Art inartificial

Art is shit

Wat is the point

Wat is good Art

U can’t judge Art

Its Art cos I said so

The worst Artist in the world

Impress or impression

Is it Art now, now is it Art, is it now Art

Are you the Art metaphor?

Another idea from a previous idea and now the previous idea is now an old idea.

Make Art with no integrity

Free therapy

Lucky Art

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