Art in Theory: Mid Term

February 26, 2016

1.

When Marcel Duchamp first displayed his readymade, he was adding upon earlier, pre-Modernist conceptions of a painting as thing. The major new idea Duchamp added to the art world was that everyday things (such as a shovel in this case) can become art by simply putting it a place where one would expect to find art, such as museums and galleries. This caused the art world to reconsider what they considered art, based on the location of the piece (MoMA learning). Duchamp purposely wanted to disrupt this validating context people had established a work’s identity as art as entirely a matter of convention. What Duchamp did, which was brilliant in its own right, was he simply assigned an exhibition value to what was typically a use value object such as shovel or a urinal. The de-contextualization of objects by scrambling their semantic association, as the shovel or the urinal became a non-functioning referent (as we spoke about in class) through his choice and its appropriation.

What Duchamp wanted to get back to was that art should be made to express the idea, not to provoke aesthetically pleasing results. His goal was to run from the Modern approach of thought, then action, as he preferred instead a delay in the onlookers mind, before considering whether something is art or not. That though provoking characteristic is what Duchamp was after, not the overall aesthetics of it. Duchamp decided to eliminate the three succeeding movements of initiation, termination, and repetition by engaging the onlooker with art that will make the viewer constantly think and ponder.

One of the inevitabilities Duchamp struggled with once he developed his readymades was the difference between the intention of the piece versus its realization which the artist may not be aware of at the time. This gap, (this issue) represents the inability of the artist to properly express his full intention, this difference between what he originally sought out to realize versus what he did realize is called the art coefficient (which we spoke about in class) that is in the work. We learned that the art coefficient, according to Duchamp, was an arithmetical relation between the unexpressed but intended and the unintentionally expressed. Therefore, the art coefficient increases based on the proportion to the difference between what the artist intended to realize versus what the viewer realized.

2.

If I am to describe Joseph Kosuths’s work, One and Three Chairs, I would make the following description: an actual (physical) chair is placed between a photograph of a chair and the definition of the actual word ‘chair’ that is printed and hung next to the other chairs. Just like the purpose of Conceptual art, One and Three Chairs makes the viewer of the work question what exactly constitutes the word chair – is it the physical object, the idea, the photograph, or is it the combination of the three? Kosuth’s work, One and Three Chairs denies the hierarchical distinction between an object and a representation, just as it means that conceptual art can be a representation in different forms or an object (Art Through a Time). His work also makes the object and the idea behind the object the important aspect of the artwork, rather than the representation that had been earlier proposed by Rene Magritte. Magritte was a Surrealist who developed the work called Treachery of Images, which was the picture of the pipe that was over the phrase, Ceci n'est pas un pipe (Art Through a Time). The painting itself is not actually a pipe. The painting of the pipe is merely an image of a pipe. Thus, the description of “this is not a pipe” is derived.

3.

Taking one at a time, the village shoes represent a story or a journey. It is up tot the viewer where the shoes have been and who they belong to. However, one thing is for certain, and that is that the goal of the village shoes is to make the viewer think. A possible interpretation is that Van Gogh decided to capture a pair of shoes with its laces untied and drooping to the floor (Spirituality & Practice). I believe Van Gogh wants us to make the connection that maybe the shoes have just been taken off the person who was wearing them during a long hard days work doing some type of manual labor. Different then other still life’s, the shoes have been places, those same places where the owner of the shoes has been and in my opinion, depicting struggle (Spirituality & Practice). The also think the worn leather on the shoes themselves along with the worn soles represents either a tough life on behalf of the owner or a long journey was completed.

The composition, Diamond Dust Shoes, is of footwear that is typically worn by women placed directly on top of a black background. The shoes are arranged as if they’d been spilled or thrown onto the black ‘floor’ with their toes pointing to the center of the picture. I believe that this represents a play on repetition, one theme that (as mentioned in class) Warhol is known for (Diamond Dust Shoes). The diamond dust that is present, even more so exudes the theme of glamour, fashion, fame and money, all of which are important to Warhol. Based what I learned in class, I feel as though these shoes created by Warhol have been created for what many artists (like Marcel Duchamp) would consider the wrong reasons, these reasons being fame, money, and the ability to hang ‘art’ on a wall.

When comparing the two images of the shoes, Jameson is essentially making comments regarding society. On one end of the spectrum, Warhol made Diamond Dust Shoes to make art just for the make of making it and hanging it on a wall. The idea behind the art is lacking and there is not much depth present (in terms of art condition and the idea behind the art work itself). Warhol made the piece to make money, not to create an art condition (Diamond Dust Shoes). This is quite the opposite case of The Village Shoes, which I describe above. The Village Shoes have an idea, and an art condition reflected in it. It makes the reader think and feel a certain way, whichever way that may be; this is why art should be created, to make the viewer feel and think about the idea behind the piece. In my opinion, Warhol’s image does not provoke much thought or idea (Diamond Dust Shoes). Andy Warhol and other Modernists are ruining the tradition of art by making it for the sake of selling it, instead of for the rich story, idea, and thought-provoking feeling the piece should provide.

Jameson’s attempts to describe postmodernism according to that of late capitalism that was present in the later part of the twentieth century, where aesthetic production today has become integrated into commodity production. Unfortunately, in contemporary society, art as a commodity is what has become important, not the actual meaning behind it (Diamond Dust Shoes). Jameson uses Van Gogh’s peasant shoes, which is an example of high modernism, and uses it as a vibrant painting to transform poverty and oppression to take the viewer into a utopian sort of state. This artistic realm thus constitutes itself as semiautonomous space, which we mentioned in class, as part of some new division of labour in the body of capital, one that does not simply replicate capitalism’s tendency toward specializations but which enables Utopian dreams to emerge out of the fragmenting pressures of the modern world (Spirituality & Practice). The Peasant Shoes is meant to identify with city dwellers, working lower class individuals that are living in an age of industrial revolution and technological stimulation. This can all be contrasted with the phony glamour and glitzy flatness (and frankly depthlessness), the deathly whiff of simulacra, the hermeneutic emptiness and sense of political inertia that (supposedly) surrounds Warhol’s mass-produced piece called Diamond Dust Shoes (Spirituality & Practice). The comparison between Van Gogh’s painting of The Peasant Shoes and Andy Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes as a means to demonstrate the vast shift that has occurred between high modernism and postmodernism (Diamond Dust Shoes).

The Scream, as we spoke about in class, is one of the most well known pieces of art in art history. The scene of The Scream was based on a real hill located on a hill in Norway. On this hill was a path with a railing, as is depicted in the piece of art itself. In the background seems as though there is a city of some sort. It was believed that Edvard Munich ha a sister who was kept in a madhouse near by, as well as there being a slaughterhouse in the area (Edward Munich: The Scream). Apparently, one that was standing on the bridge depicted, could hear the scream coming from animals and patience in the insane asylum. As for the person being depicted on the bridge, it seems like the person is battling inner demons himself. It has been said that The Scream came from a memory when Munch was walking at sunset down the bridge, and he began to feel an extreme sense of tiredness, therefore he stopped to rest and leaned against the railing, with a chaotic environment of orange, reds and yellows in the background (Edward Munich: The Scream). What gives the viewer chills upon looking at the image is that the person is screaming with their mouth open wide, with the persons hands on the sides of his face, and one can see that scream is continuing on into the distance (which I believe is key when attempting to unravel meaning in the piece). At this moment when he is next to the bridge, I believe the main character in the image (I believe Munch himself) felt very anxious and let out a scream that resonated through out nature; however this scream gets lost, much like the small city painted in the distance (Edward Munich: The Scream). Why he felt anxious is left up to the viewer. It can be because of inner turmoil and stress he is feeling at the time, as well as a possibility of the fact that he is worried about his future or the future in general.

The Scream had a monumental impact on art and influenced the Expressionist Movement itself. The raw emotion that is portrayed in The Scream, represented a radical shift from the art tradition that was present during his own time, and thus is credited with jump starting the expressionist movement that spread across Germany and then the rest of the world.

Works Cited

"Diamond Dust Shoes - Andy Warhol." Diamond Dust Shoes - Andy Warhol. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. .

"Edvard Munch: The Scream | MoMA." The Museum of Modern Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. .

"8 / Writing." Art Through Time: A Global View. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. .

"MoMA Learning." MoMA. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. .

"Spirituality & Practice." Interpretations of Vincent Van Gogh's A Pair of Shoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. .