Tricia Cline

Tricia Cline, The Exile on the Path of the Mouse Arrives,
2004 porcelain 8'x16'x21' 

I like Tricia Cline figures. Her small sculptures represent a strange fantasy world. They also narrate something about their world. Her current exhibition Exiles in Lower Utopia represent humans that are searching for something, pope like figures and dieties. All the figures have Cline’s face and most are with certain animals such as The Exile on the Path of the Mouse Arrives. The girl in a late 1800s farm dress with boots sniffs the ground searching for a mouse while carrying one on her back. Cline makes this figurine have a lost enhanced sense of animalistic qualities. Her media is usually porcelain. Many of her current statues are fired clay with an off white or light gray color. They appear unglazed so it won’t rob the pieces in its narrative roles. Cline uses her face and body to make most of her works. Her blank gaze gives a signature mark in her statues. I’m also very fascinated with Cline works and how some of her pieces are comparable from ancient civilizations. The nude statues have qualities of Greek or Roman statues depicting the statue as this ideal youthful body. But the position in which Cline creates these pieces is her own style with the theme of pilgrimage or animal behavior

Tricia Cline, Herself, Former Indras All
2008 porcelain 20'x10'x6'

In her piece, Herself, Former Indras All, Cline uses this fired porcelain figurine of herself sitting in a throne like an Indra would do. There are faces of her stacked on top of the first main head. These cut heads gradually become smaller with half of an outline sun attached to the first big head to the smallest.  The Indra a mythological character coming from ancient Sanskrit myths was once considered the highest god controlling the sun, weather and war. He was similar to Zeus at one point. In Hinduism, his role is more of a diety or a minor god compared to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. In her piece, Indra (usually a male) takes the figure of Cline and displays the heads of other Indras who also are in other worlds in the void. It can also be interpreted as former Indras that always take the appearance of Cline’s face.             

Tricia Cline, Exile and the Manticore,
2008 porcelain 13x12x5

Another piece, Exile and the Manticore, has a mythical beast a Manticore behind a girl which also has Cline’s facial features. The girl is heavily dressed as if in an expedition with the Manticore as protection in this fantasy like narrative piece. The origin of this mythological beast comes from ancient Persia. It was considered as a man eater like a lion but with a human face and legs or tale of a lizard. It is also similar to an ancient group before the Persians, the Assyrians. The Assyrians created the Lamassu a winged human-headed bull as protectors of their gates.

 Hiliad and Waloogn, are two figures with the bodies of young women. Their heads, however, are from birds like a raven or crow. They are black with the dull fired porcelain. They remind me of Egyptian artworks found throughout their temple walls, high reliefs, and papyrus scrolls. Horus god and son of Osiris (god of the dead) appear as a falcon or a man with a falcon head. Cline positions her two figures with animal behavior by the two heads tilting to one side like a curious bird.    

Her fairly small pieces are fascinating. They do focus on telling a narrative about the world. I like her use of unglazed porcelain and various colors she paints the humans, animals, and beasts.

Kiki Smith

 Kiki Smith, Mary Magdalene, 1994 Cast silicon bronze and forged steel.

I mentioned Kiki Smith in previous assignment, but I want to go into more details about some of her works. The media she uses varies. Throughout her long extensive career she has used various types of medium such as paper such as blue Nepal paper, glass, bronze, paper mache, aluminum, etc. Her art works varies if she wants it to be a narrative, conceptual, or something she felt like making. A lot of her art works are meant to be examined carefully because they usually have a message. Some of her works are meant to evaluate society’s perception about women, the human body, life and death, resurrection, religion, society and her life in general.

Donatello, "The Penitent Magdalene", c. 1453-55,
Wood with polychromy and gold

Her sculptural works are not traditional as the ideal figure like Greek sculptures viewers tend to consider as art. Many look like normal women with large hips, thighs, and abdomen. Some look like self-portraits, but they don’t have the hyper realistic characteristics. She goes deeper into the religious viewpoints perceived by societies by creating works such as Mary Magdalena which gives this relationship with the mythological or religious and biological. The medium is cast silicon bronze and forged steel. It depicts a life size replica of Mary with a chain on her feet and what appears to be flayed skin. In an interview, Smith sculpture was placed outside of a German museum. It was supposed to be considered hairy like the wild men of what is now Germany. Mary is looking up in a slouched almost exhaustive manner as she takes another step. The piece is very interesting because the face, breast and abdomen are smooth compared to the rough texture of the other skin. The work can be comparable to Mary as a hermit (after the passing of Jesus) in Donatello’s wood piece The Penitent Magdalene.

Kiki Smith, "All Souls" (1988), Screenprint on thirty-six attached sheets of handmade Thai paper.

Her sketches and prints are an extensive part of her career, as well. Many are related to fantasy, the function of the body, life and death, society, etc.  The piece All Souls, is a large rectangular screen print made from many Thai white paper. It depicts numerous baby fetuses in a pattern ranging from scale of small to large. She also displays the images like in a heavy black outline providing further meaning to the work. She made this piece to force viewers to see this disregard we have over the young or population. The medium she uses is Thai paper which enhances the meaning.

Kiki Smith, Virgin Mary, 1992  
beeswax, microcrystalline wax, cheesecloth, and wood on steel base
 67 1/2 x 26 x 14 1/2 in

Many of her works can be considered sinister. It is creepy in my opinion to view Virgin Mary nude but with the same blessing or welcoming pose with the gesture of her arms and hands. Her skin seems to have large gashes to display the muscles throughout her face and body except the breast. She is a full size figure made of microcrystalline wax. I like her pieces even if they are flayed or dissected. It can be sinister or can show the beauty of the body and how it functions within us.

Smith’s career has given an entire array of artworks it’s difficult to put in any blog. I like most of them. Her sculptures and installations are definitely inspirations for younger artists.

Aaron Douglas

I’m very fascinated with the works of Aaron Douglas from the Harlem Renaissance. I like Aaron Douglas works because he depicts the African figures in his paintings as strong and grand. His vision (in my interpretation) was to display African American heritage in a sculptural not completely abstract manner in his paintings than African American artist before him such as Henry Tanner realist paintings of The Banjo Lesson. His works are comparable to synthetic cubism by the transparency found in his works and angular planes of his figures and environments. He depicts this false illusion of depth by adding large things in the foreground and smaller things in the background. The hues in his composition are relatable to one another in the color wheel.  

Noahs’ Ark ca. 1927 Oil on Masonite 

In his work Noah’s Ark, Douglas hues are violet. The figures and animals closer to the foreground are a dark violet.  The figures heads are in profile showing a strong African feature. Douglas gives them a minimal design by not finishing the man’s arm in the ark pointing at the ominous storm behind them. Sharp linear angles are emphasized from unknown light above the clouds and the lightening coming down.

Into Bondage 1936

Oil on canvas, 153.4 x 153.7 cm

This hard edged style is also found in Into Bondage. The composition is about African men with shackles on their wrist being led from the green dark jungle to the ocean. Two slave ships are seen to the left of either the sunrise or sunset.  Again, the men have this purple and blue color to them, but with orange cuffs for their chains. Douglas places several men closer to the foreground of foliage looking up to the sky. Intentionally placed for the viewers, they would interpret the message of injustice that occurred during the 1500s from the Spaniards and Arabs until 1865 in United States and later in other countries.  The others somberly walk ahead where their horrible fate awaits them. The painting has a curvilinear hard edged quality with the leaves, African men, and choppy waves in the distant, but it is also geometric by the transparent sun and rays hitting the picture. Each circle in the rays changes the color or transparency within its diameter. It gradually reaches the foreground until its dark like the jungle  

Another work, Slavery through Reconstruction, Aspects of Negro Life Series display the history of African Americans in a minimal form. Cotton plants are in the forefront and what appears to be the capitol in the background. Douglas uses brown and green hues once again changes from the African figure. I like Douglas break into this clean minimal design.

Aaron Douglas, Slavery Through Reconstruction, Aspects of 

Negro Life oil on canvas, 84" x 96".Series, 1934

Noahs’ Ark ca. 1927 Oil on Masonite

Minimal Structure

I would like to go over a monument that is minimal in design. These simple forms are meant to provoke an emotional exploration about the piece and what it represents. There are different emotions and perspective when reacting to these works. Color such as black can be interpreted negatively to biased viewers because it represents sadness, death, and fear. Black is a powerful neutral hue that can dominate the whole structure or any composition if it’s the main hue. It is also able to capture a person attention that they would want to explore it.      

Maya Ying Lin Vietnam Veteran Memorial
Washington D.C., 1981-1983

A famous structure that uses black is Maya Lin’s minimalist landscape architectural piece or the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Her design for the memorial was picked from jurors who happened to be architects, sculptors and landscape architects. Located at the Constitution Gardens in Washington D.C. it varies greatly with all the massive white monuments hundreds of yards away such as the Washington Monument.

Maya Ying Lin Vietnam Veteran Memorial
Washington D.C., 1981-1983

The wall is shaped like a wide angle like the letter “V” which starts at ground level that descends 10 feet in the initial point of the wings. The wings or the magnitudes from the initial point are 256 feet long. The monument is below the grassy landscape because it is suppose to be a reminder of the many soldiers who are also buried under the living world. Because it carves into the earth, it is also a violent act on the grassy slope surrounding it because it is suppose to leave a scar on this ordinarily green living environment for everyone to view. She achieved this by adding the black glossy granite panels for the wall contrasting greatly with the landscape. It can also be a reminder of the consequence of war with the 58,175 names from casualties and missing. The ocean of names is engraved in white to be a distinction of the black polished granite. The black granite plane has the qualities of a mirror making it a greater impact for the viewer. It shows the reflection of oneself isolated with many names penetrating ones reflection.

Three Soldier Frederick Hart 1984 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Washington D.C.

Some people didn’t understand Lin’s monument because it wasn’t the idealized or realistic. The Three Soldiers from Frederick Hart was supposed to silence the negative comment coming from other Vietnam veterans. People believed at the time of construction that Lin’s wall with its minimalistic form undermined the efforts of the Vietnam War. Three life size bronze soldiers one representing the marines, and two others the army. They are distinguished by clothing and weaponry to represent the two branches that mainly fought the war. They have a realistic approach to them because the uniforms and weapons were standard at the time of the war, but they are the idealized version of warriors for the Vietnam War. The soldiers face the wall so one can see their reflection hundreds of yards away.

For myself, it can be interpreted as a counter monument of two governments and ideological power struggle and the immense sacrifice people have to do to protect the main power. I’m glad Lin put the names of casualties and missing in action to make people remember that winning or losing a war are only achieved by the enlisted.  

Emil Alzamora

Emil Alzamora
Abrazo
126" X 48" X 18" Bronze, Edition of 3,
10.5 ft.H x 4ft.W x 1.5ft.D

Emil Alzamora
Masochist, 2004Gypsum
Lifesize

The human figure is frequent in Emil Alzamora work. Alzamora has based his artistic career through sculpting the human figure. His works varies with use of medium such as bronze, marble, bonded aluminum, and gypsum. Some of his figures have the Greek idealism of the youthful body, but he blends it with a strange contorted appendages. His conceptual works displays an emotional or psychological expression through the figures position as closed and somber. Some of his figures have a defeatist look with their heads looking down while others have their face covered with a blank expression.

Emil Alzamora
Water Changes Everything
Bonded Aluminum
16 x 9 x 9"

He mutates the appendages of his pieces to alter the human form. Water changes Everything is a hybrid between an abstract and a natural human form. Alzamora created the piece to have the lower form of a human body with hips, legs and feet. The lower body is welded together as one symmetrical piece; the upper torso are based on the hips which opens out into waves like many appendages. The bonded aluminum heightens the water effect of flowing curvilinear shapes with this form. Another piece exaggerates the arm or neck by making them long like his bronze piece Abrozo. Masochist displays a twisted deformed figure with one hand as a foot and one foot as a hand. The leg with the hand latches on the neck as if to pull the head apart. The expression on the figure face appears determined to do its dark intent.

Emil Alzamora HTFOW 2010 Life Size Steel Resin Iron

His use of material helps give a dark meaning to his works. HTFOW sculpture stands outside by beautiful lake. The rust from weather gives the life size sculpture great contrast as its slouches above a blue lake.  It has a hunched closed form and is interpreted as a sad piece because it’s looking down. From afar, the sculpture appears to be hovering by the lake like an apparition, but it standing on its toes which is welded to the ground. 

Emil Alzamora, Mother and Child I
Ceramic 2009. 18" x 20" x 12"  

Mother and Child I is made from the white porcelain found in dishware. It can be interpreted as humorous because the medium is porcelain, but it also has a dark appearance. It is a bust of a mother and child with their face covered in a floral pattern. They look like a dark fantasy character from a Guerillmo del Toro movie even though they are made of white glossy porcelain. Viewers could find this piece strange because porcelain figures are innocent and pure like angels, but they one can view the stern mouth and chin and the rest it covered in this design. The white and hint of pink glossy finish enhances the viewers’ attention toward the unexposed faces.

• Emil Alzamora, Shift, Gypsum, 200832 x 18 x 14 in. (81.3 x 45.7 x 35.6 cm)
• 
  

                They also bring out a uneasy perception such as his statue Shift. Made from gypsum, the piece is like a stop motion sculpture of a head moving from right to left. Alzamora displays the rapid motion of the head from left to right. It stands out from it outside grassy location.  His works are beautiful and unique in their figure. They draw attention to their despondent appearance. 

Assignment

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman Untitled Film No. 92, Chromogenic color print, 24 x 47 15/16" 1981

Cindy Sherman is famous for her photography. Her subject is mostly herself but she has used mannequins in her work. Although, she doesn’t consider herself a feminist her photographs focuses on women and their role in society. In her project Untitled Film Stills, she portrays herself as a woman that viewers already have a typical conception because of her role.  She is both director and actress in her black and white and color film stills. She dresses into a typical female role that Hollywood and other media have portrayed. They are not portraits of herself but a depiction of her control of this stereotypical role. The best example (in my opinion) is Untitled Film Still number 92. Sherman appears in a night scene or a dark basement as an exhausted female student who has fallen or tripped. An unknown light source focuses on her frightened expression as an unknown assailant is coming toward her from the right.  

Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith Untitled 1990.  Beeswax and microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands: female figure, 73 1/2 in. high; male figure 76 15/16 in. high. 

Smith has worked with a variety of media such as screen prints, sculptures, sketches, and in and outdoor installations. Her works depict the body in its natural form such as Untitled. These two large figures around six feet in height are made from wax and take the naturalistic biological form and function of the female and male body. They are suspended and display excreted fluids such as the female excreting milk from her breast which flows down her body and the male figure penus is excreting sperm which has trickled down his legs. Her topics vary from biological, religion, mythological, political and society. Most of her works involves herself or the female figure.

Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendiata, Flowers on Body, 1973, Color photograph

             

   In her early works, Ana made short films focusing on abused women as a performance art.  Her films involved writing in red in the wall or displaying the bruised and bloody woman. Her later works before her death took a different aspect. It involved the relationship between the body and the environment. Her subject involves herself or a female silhouette placed in a certain environment.  Her media involved flowers, mud, sand, anything relatable to her earthwork. In her work Flowers on Body, she laid nude inside a burial like setting and places white flowers with long stems on her face, the middle portion of her upper and lower body only exposing her arms, legs, and feet.  A rocky natural wall surrounds her body. She would camouflage herself into the surrounding or engraving her silhouette on the ground. Her series “Silueata” displays the spiriutal and ritualistic attributes of the body and landscape.

Louise Bourgeois

 

Louise Bourgeois 1997 Maman bronze cast 94 x 94 x 84 inches

Louise Bourgeois The Couple 2003 Aluminum 

Louise Bourgeois is known for her sculptures like her large steel and marble spider Maman  which represents her loving mother. Her sculptures are both abstract and natural; it represents the form of the human figure but psychological perspective of troubled figures who want protection from the human environment. Her medium includes wood, bronze, marble, aluminum and plaster. Her works have a strong sensual presence such as “The  Couple”. The piece is made of aluminum and depicts two figures intertwining each other and hanging from a rope. The aluminum gives it a soft curvilinear appearance. Many of her works refers to her childhood and the relationship with her father having an affair and her loving mother.

Nick Cave

Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2009; mixed media; 97 x 26 x 20 inches 

Not only does Nick Cave make fabric statues, he makes sound suits. His suits are attributed from African tribal influences. These outfits visually display storytelling of tribal history or events. It involves dance with the movement relating to their costume and music. He uses various found objects and materials both natural and synthetic like his first piece which involved twigs he collected from a park. His exhibitions are both interactive performances and statues.