The broad, yet not definitive meaning of art leaves
so many questions as to what art really is. The two artists Liu Dao and Michael
Snow are two artists that I’ve chosen to write about not to define what art is,
but to demonstrate how complex and diverse the art world can be. From the
permanent installations by Michael Snow to the paper collages done by Liu Dao, all
are forms of artwork that represent much transmission of the old creations of
art progressing into the modern stages of art.
Liu
Dao happens to be a group of six in which is how their name is derived (Liu
Dao, meaning Island Number 6 in Chinese) from Shanghai, China. The members are
Zhang Deli, Wang Dongma, Rose Tang, Cai Duobao, Bing Bing, and Kong Mosha. They
all work together on majority of their projects, but also have their own
individual works. This group was founded in 2006 by Thomas Charveriat, director
of Island 6 Arts Center. When working together, they all are to adhere to the
director in trying to collaborate on conceptualizing different art pieces which
is what I use to reference to a previous reading that I’ve done (Participative
Systems). [In reading about participative systems, the terms interaction, collaboration,
and participation are very frequently used and elaborate on how the different
artists collaborate and agree on projects. When artists collaborate, they have
to work off of a concept willingly and the when contributing their physical attributions,
they are to conceptualize in relatively the same manner so that the piece
becomes prideful and successful in all of the contributing artists’ views.] Some of Liu Dao’s work that caught my
attention was the “Vigilance”, an LCD display with decorative black and shiny
glass tile to surround the left and right of the animation screen. The frame is
completely made of steel which added more preservation to the piece. Another
that I was well interested in was the “People, Birds, and Beasts” piece because
they have a classical method of using wood framing in this one and there’s more
to their digital presentation. I think this also showed that they are complex
and not just stuck to one set aspect of art, even though they specialize in
digital art. I also like the idea of them holding onto their signature style of
framing their work which sets a totally different mood.
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| Vigilance |
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| People, Birds, and Beasts |
My next chosen artist was Michael Snow. He is an
installation artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, jazz musician, and
filmmaker. Born on December 10, 1929 in Toronto, Snow matured into being a jazz
musician as a young man. It’s not really odd for great artists to start in
other directions before actually pursuing art as their later career. Snow is
very well rounded I would say because he definitely does not stay constant in
one area of art, but he continues to expand in other areas he doesn’t really receive
as much credit for. His works are most viewable inside of exhibitions in North
America and South America, and Europe. His beginnings to becoming a full blown
artist started when his first exhibition in 1957 alone took place. Even though
I was interested in one of his earlier films, “Wavelength” made in 1967, I was
to pay attention to his more modern films and “Corpus Callosum”, made in 2002
happened to be the better judgment since it was made after 1980. I noticed
there was more popularity particularly in this film mainly because it received the
Independent/Experimental Film and Video
Award from LA Film Critics
Association Awards. In this film, I watched as he played with the human’s mind
be zooming in and out, distorting different images, and creating illusions in a
fascinating manner as he filmed office workers and formal dressed people walking
around and socializing. He has much fun with this film, but it is definitely
evident that he edited each and every part of the film from panning to zoom, to
digitally rendering certain images, etc. This film seems to have taken much
time to film, let alone edit. Another piece that I came across by Snow was the “Red,
Orange, and Green” sculpture. I assumed there was a more symbolic meaning to
this piece because it was made of all silver material and had no other color so
I was very curious as to why he titled it “Red, Orange, and Green”, if it had
none of those colors involved. I gave an educated guess that this sculpture, in
the shape of a tree was supposed to symbolize the colors that weren’t there
especially in the shape of the leaves that were engraved in the tree. There
were different shapes of different trees as well I think to help differentiate
the different seasons in which the color of the leaves change into when the
seasons transition. This kind of mind boggling in an art project also leaves me
to reference back to a past reading (Tactical Media). [In reading about
tactical media, the central message is how artists stay “intact” whether it is
in purpose, modern relevance, complexity, etc. Snow tries to keep his purpose
intact by keeping the audience guessing on the meaning, but not confusing them
on what it may be. He’s sure of his plan and executes in a manner that is
viewable to everyone. He also tries to stay relevant in the way that he constructed
the sculpture (clean metal).]
Corpus Callosum
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| Red, Orange, and Green
In comparing and contrasting the two groups of
artists, I chose moderately distinct works of art from both sides. Liu Dao had
a very unique, yet simplistic work called “Squeezed Identity”. Michael Snow has
a very complicated and rather large work called the “Flightstop”. The reason I
chose to compare and contrast these two works are because they are two drastically
different forms of art with different sizes and shapes, yet they share the same
significance in the art world. I feel that each and every purposeful work of
art that is showcased, or not is significant in our culture and attracts an
audience of some sort whether it is negative or positive attention. The fact
that it grabs attention is what claims the artworks’ significance because it
was successful in gaining popularity or even a reaction from an audience. Liu
Dao’s “Squeezed Identity”, what conjured my reaction was that it was so small
and compact, but was sizable enough to fit an LCD screen inside of it. Their
signature in the framing only leaves more of a brand in a positive way. They
continue to change add to and alter the definition of modern art. The title
only made it 10 times better because it helps the audience get what the message
is. Humans on earth all have a different conception of works like this, but I
think the general conception is that one’s identity is squeezed from an outside
source. This outside source is not exactly depicted or told by the artists so
it is up to the audience what the outside source is. In Michael Snow’s “Flightstop”,
he was successful at making this permanent installation. It is very spread out and large in size which
creates an illusion of being in a wildlife scenario that the audience should
feel. It created an emotional reality for the audience and the fact that he took
this installation to a very public setting (the Eaton Centre inside the mall)
made it so much more fascinating. This is one work that seemed to help capture
the moment where shoppers or tourists are astounded by what they see and the
happiness in the building. I feel this is one project that Snow wanted to make
very public, not only to those who study art, but to those who are living everyday
life. This work was very complex and looks to be quite difficult in the
sculpting and setup of it. Altogether, both Liu Dao’s and Michael Snow’s both
had an illusionistic effect on their audience. I enjoyed just seeing the photos
and examining their technique through those photos. Seeing them in person would
be a lot grander than just photos. The messages in both are still portrayed successfully
and are very successful in grabbing the attention of the public.
 Squeezed Identity Flightstop
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