Assemblage with found objects

Wood Sculptures

Compare/Contrast

Compare

-Ordinariness of materials (they both use nails technically)

-Consistent use of materials

-Cleverness of their transformation

-Abstract Expressionism

-Flow of rhythm and gestures

-Visually appealing

-Conform to their space

-Overwhelming with size

Contrast

John Bisbee

-works with power tools more as a black smith

-likes to work with his hands and lets his subconscious control

- being from the U.S has given him a better art environment

Henrique Oliveira

-more culturally influenced

-has a style that he also shows in his abstract paintings

John Bisbee

JOHN BISBEE

John Bisbee was born in 1829 in Maine. He received his B.F.A from Alfred University in New York. At Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, Bisbee is a lecturer in the visual arts department. His goal is to invent a new visual language

JOHN’S EXHIBITIONS

• solo museum exhibitions

•  Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY

•  Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri

JOHN’S ART

• “Dumb chunks of steel” is what John Bisbee refers to as his work

• His most recent exhibition is called “Tons” in which every piece is made out of one ton of nails

• Raided an abandoned home which was vacant for decades (the bed was rotted out, ceilings caved in)

• Bisbee kicked over a bucked of nails which were still intact because they had oxidized and conformed to the shape of the bucket

• Instant inspiration and fascination with nails

• Bisbee idea was that his nails will look like real objects in the real world

• His work consists of a diverse array of sculptures from nails that display rhythm and unique gestures

• He started with small sized nails and gradually worked towards 12 inch ones that are the largest commercial available nail

• First he would roast the spike until cherry red and then twists the nail until he gets the shape that is desired

• Bisbee does not decide the configuration until it is time to be installed

• Taking a neumatic power hammer he then flattens them

• The overall scale of his work has become expansive

JOHN’S LEGACY

“The iron man”, John Bisbee’s angle toward nails is the factor to his recognition. His sculptures consist of welds, cuts, hammers, forges, and bends of nails and spikes to create art. Overturning a five gallon bucket of rusted nails fused together sparked his fascination.

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/specials/012008bisbee/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87808787

http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/2196.shtml

Henrique Oliveira

HENRIQUE OLIVEIRA

Henrique Oliveira was born in 1973,in Ourinhos, Brazil.  He grew up in Brazil and a student of art originating from São Paulo, Brazil. Henrique received his B.F.A in painting in 2004. In 2007 he received a Masters in Visual Poetics from University of São Paulo.

HENRIQUE’S ART

• The title of his most recent exhibition is called “Tapumes” (also referred to as tridimensional or 3D)

• The wood "Tapumes" or fencing serves as enclosures and barriers for various sites in Brazil.

• Choice of medium as he began installations was inspired by a plywood fence outside his window that began to peel and fade into different layers and colors.

• These wood pieces are affected by city life, and he utilizes those aesthetic elements in each of his works.

• First he experimented with the surfaces of his paintings by gluing newspaper onto a canvas and scraping it or mixing sand with the paint.

• When the fences are dismantled, he salvages the remaining wood pieces that are splitting and decaying, then uses them as materials for his senior show Issues of perception and decay are visible in his sculptures.

• PVC piping are used as skeleton curls of scrap wood and establishes bends and tucks and then builds up on top with painted plywood

• The plywood is arranged on the works like a brushstroke.

• Swirling, bulging peels of wood layered onto hallways and walls..

HENRIQUE’S LEGACY

Known for creating art on “Tapume”, Henrique is inspired by his culture. By allowing nature to take its course and seeing beauty through such a rotting element is why he is successful. In his exhibitions, the once decayed and soiled fencing became sculpture. A vast collage of swirling, bulging peels of wood layered onto walls and hallways was his idea.

http://www.henriqueoliveira.com/biografia.html

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/03/14/eco-art-urban-peels-henrique-oliveiras/

http://www.ricegallery.org/new/exhibition/tapumes.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ4t-RKBsvg

Sculpture in the Age of Doubt

Chapter 1: Summary

When I first dove into reading Sculpture in the Age of Doubt by Thomas McEvilley I was confused on what this book was going to be about. There were so many philosophers and historians talking about whether over the years doubting was a positive action and what will happen if we do not doubt.

English philosophers Francis Bacon and John Locke believe that doubting will "clean away the under brush of superstition on the way toward truth." That if you doubt fully, you will awaken fully. Hakuin explains that doubting is like renewing and purifying yourself. "To bring before yourself the great doubt is to experience the great death and feel the great joy." In

Christian or islamic wars about dogma, it is true that nothing at all is more important than the correctness of the opinions one holds. That everyones opinion matters. The Pyrrhonists believe suspended judgment on all questions refusing to declare whether something might be true or untrue. 

Ages of certainty and ages of doubt have altered with a slow rhythm. Like modernism, universals were being realized in history. Science became "more or less entirely theory- centered." Rationalism came to worship the irrational, which is reconciled as a hyper-rational. Enlightment ideals started tiring into sublime. Ideals began turning into ecstatic suicide.  

"Absolute freedom" was driving the western world and its idea of progress. Though the alteration between ages of certainty and ages of doubt seems inherent in the makeup of western civilization, it seems also to be linked to contact with outside cultures. Boucher and Fragonard trace the path of sublime in paintings, reflecting on what is happening at the time. Portraiture and landscape paintings form into abstract. Mondrian portray the sublime, abstract paintings that are not the figure but focus on the ground. Abstract was said to be the art of the end of the world. 

Post-modernism is a new culture and social formation that needs new cultural and social forms. It is a novel stage of history and novel socio-cultural formation which requires new concepts and theories. Post Modernism seems new but it is an end of an age of irrational dogma and communal folly. 

Chapter 2: Summary

There were more witnessed radical changes in both practice and theory than in any other historically visible period for tens of thousands of years. It was a specialized existence of the end of the age of certainty in a new age of uncertainty or doubt. A re-direciton was taken place not only in art but in the social world. 

Heinrich Wofflin claimed there were two roots in art. It was either visual and internal or  social and external roots. A series of reversals had taken place. New aesthetic is in place- post modernist. more social and external root is used. The everyday world took over art world and the last abstract expressionism was in the age of certainty. This was a diminished period for painting.

Sculpture and painting conveyed the same ideological spiritual values. The Renaissance thought of the painter as a aristocrat and a sculptor to be a proletarian but are both mutual supporting modes of representation. Sculpture became mathematical and particular. Portraying the soul not the figure with ratios. Abstraction was a radical shift showing spirituality and the passing scene, not the figure. Painting showed non- illusionistic objects. The hierarchy was telling painters to sculptorize there work because sculpture was becoming more popular. 

After the war there was a turn toward sculptural performance. Where painting and sculpture became opposites. Anti sculpture and anti painting were introduced. Which meant they were reactions against the traditional paintings or sculptures. At the end of this time, Duchamp displayed his everyday items as a soulist approach to art. There was a break through in what was considered "art." Sculpture became the primary medium of at least the first generation of the age of doubt. 

Metal Sculptures

Anish Kapoor

I am from Chicago and have seen this "bean" in person. Many people go there to take pictures of there reflections and post them on myspace or facebook. I find this sculpture very cool because of its size and the fact that it shows your reflection!

Mark De Suvero

This tall red sculpture is visually interesting and I think the texture is interesting. The bright color pops with the green in nature. 

David Harber

Is a a sleek design and simplistic with its organice shapes. It reflects the water nicely and the size of it is overpowering. 

Imogen Stuart

I like the worn texture of this piece (the bronze quality). It is a formally stylistic piece. 

Donald Judd

This is a minimalists piece that deals with its color and lighting reflection. 

Eduardo Paolozzi

Juan Munoz

Bill Woodrow

I do not think this is visually pleasing but the concept is interesting. The fact that it was placed in front of  what looks like a school and the size of the piece makes it funny. 

Richard Hunt

Richard's piece is a nice visual piece but it is not interesting enough. Along with the high rise buildings, it fits in.. which could be a bad or good thing. 

Damian Ortega

I enjoy this piece a lot. Damian uses sculpting tools and suspends them to form a target in the middle. It is very interesting to look and would be even better in person! The concept is not straight forward but that keeps the viewer interested. 

John Buckley

This piece is funny, the fact that it was placed on a roof of a house is hysterical because you do not normally see sharks out of water. 

Do Ho Suh

The craftsmanship on this piece is amazing. Since it is all made of metal tags makes it so compelling to look at. 

Jeff Koons

I am not a fan of Jeff Koons's work but these pieces are magical. The proportions were played with and they look so REAL. 

Jeff Koons

Michel De Broin

Louise Bourgeois

Tony Cragg

I love Tony's sculptures just for the fact that he places them in nature. They conform very nicely to their surroundings. He uses organic forms on both of the sculptures above and below. The bronze and turquoise are nice accents in these pieces.

Tony Cragg

Henry Moore

John Bisbee

For my first metal project I was thinking about working with nails.. John works with nails in an interesting way. He thinks about the shape and textures of them and it works nicely with the figures that he chooses. 

John Bisbee

John Bisbee Demo I found interesting