Cindy Sherman

Untitled #188, 1989

http://www.kultur-online.net/files/architecture/04_698.jpg

Cindy Sherman’s constructed scenes such as untitled #188 talk about how females have traditionally been seen by men.. Her work influenced mine as her photographs have a sense of mystery by her staged settings and how she challenges stereotypes. In my photographs by using everyday domestic objects and changing the way they are placed in a domestic scene I am also challenging stereotypes of how things are supposed to be which makes the images appear odd and possibly confusing.

In Cindy Sherman’s photograph "untitled #188" the work is a response to world situations and therefore have international significance in their expression of contemporary issues.

Her artwork deals with the way females have been traditionally seen and treated by males, questioning the essence and appearance, expressing the malleability of identity. The images in her photograph is of women (note that all her work don’t include males)

In post modernism terms Cindy Sherman works with the notion of contradictory messages known as \\\'double coding\\\'. She confronts representation and reality of the world.

The doll in her photograph \\\"untitled #188\\\" is partly hidden amongst human debris which is a surrogate symbol of the violence that men inflict on women. Its pointy breast represents the dolls sexuality. The way the body is positioned and the smearing of lipstick on the dolls face show sexual activity. The opening mouth and the staring eyes reminds us of the \\\'demoiselle in distress we see in those old movies were the lady is tied to a railway track. The diagonal positioning of and the smoothness of the plastic adds drama. The doll has been abandoned and no longer in use.

  The artwork questions our perceptions of reality while challenging us on social and gender issues of everyday life. This artwork isn’t just an image of horror but of also humor - since this is only a girl’s plaything

http://essayfarm.com/view.php?id=24491&title=Cindy%20Sherman

Peter Fischli and David Weiss

http://www.spruethmagers.com/artists/peter_fischli_david_weiss@@viewq17

Fischli & Weiss are a Swiss artist duo that have been collaborating since 1979

These images grounded my idea of traces of traces and allowed me to move from constructing a mess as a part of a performance to constructing something more thought of, odd and interesting. I was influenced to make more simple creations in my room with everyday domestic objects arranged in odd and unexpected ways as part of my performance. There is mystery is these images because they seem peculiar with the way they are carefully balanced and constructed. They are exciting because the photograph is the only thing that has documented the beautifulness of the balanced objects before they collapse.   

“The Equilibres photographs are images of household objects and studio detritus arranged to form tenuously-balanced assemblages, and it is from this moment of passing equilibrium that the series takes its name. The group includes both color and black & white photographs and takes as its subtitle the phrase, “Balance is most beautiful just before it collapses.” To this end, the emphasis in these works is on the beautiful, playful, transitory arrangement of the objects in space, where chairs and brooms, cheesegraters and wine bottles are choreographed into moments of delicate suspension. The assemblages do not simply look temporary; once photographed, they were disassembled, and today these photographs are the only record of their existence.

The Equilibres photographs developed into the artists’ celebrated film, The Way Things Go, from 1987. This film records the epic chain reaction of a series of household objects like the ones found in the Equilibres assemblages, such as string, soap, garbage bags, plastic pails, balloons, and mattresses. Over the thirty minutes of the film, the viewer watches the hypnotic chain of kinetic energy pass from one object to the next, and the sculpture itself is consumed.” - Matthew Marks Gallery

http://ilikethisart.net/?p=7739

Ideas on how to exhibit my final project...

In my current theme of traces of traces being constructed mess and close ups of the mess inside that, I wanted to have an interesting and relative way of showing my final images.

I thought of having something mess related like storage boxes, where I could make my own mini pilled storage units.

http://www.dezeen.com/2011/12/11/aesop-at-i-t-hysan-one-by-cheungvogl/

 http://www.cherryandmartin.com/exhibitions/96/22

Also for an alternative idea I thought of freezing an old sheet with starch spray or pva and creating a feel of movement and its in relation to my bed images. I then could have the pictures placed in the sheet crevices.

This sort of made me think of a sheet and maybe with my sheet idea for exhibiting my images, I could project them onto a sheet whether they are on the ground or on the wall

http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2013/07/souvenir-at-perrotin/matteorubbi-07012013/

I have looked at a range of online sources of inspiration and found some of the following images.

This image made me think of ideas like a washing line, even though it is an exhibition for a menswear collection it is a unique way of displaying clothes.

http://www.stilletto.co.uk/our-work/london-collections-men-ss13/

 Again this is has a washing line aesthetic but is a funky way of showing polaroid like images or snap shots.

http://lewoandwe.blogspot.fr/search?updated-max=2013-05-04T12:30:00%2B02:00&max-results=50&start=11&by-date=false

The framing of the images is nice and clean with the wire, reminds me of my clothes horse which is tipped over and on my bed in some of my images. I could display my images in a more formal way linking back to the idea of me being a tidy person but creating a mess for a performance to show my traces in one pile.
http://formelledesign.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/borjan-pa-en-moodboard_08.html

Techniques I have learnt…

I thought that photograms were rather interesting and some of mine were successful such as the photogram with see through textured fabric, however I cant see how I could make photograms work in my finals because it doesn’t have the aesthetic I am going for. I am looking toward my artist models shown below for inspiration for my finals and my topic.

My pinhole camera was not successful, it was light tight but I think I let my photos expose for too long. I think that it might be a lengthy process to get them right and because there is not that much time to perfect it, I think I might leave it.

Re-looking at my assignment

After spending a while shooting and learning other photographic techniques I forgot about what I was focusing on and my subject matter was getting a bit boring.

I took a look back on what key words popped out that I was originally interested in..

‘make my own scene’

‘before and after shots’

‘mystery’

I have taken pictures of my bedroom with a pile of mess on my bed, which was constructed by me but did not take any before and after shots, and only took images of one pile of mess where as, originally I was going to arrange the mess multiple times.

I had another idea of taken close ups of the mess because what exciting things were hidden in that mess for the viewer to look at? I thought it would be interesting having a scene shot, and some close ups for the series. Or just close ups of textures that show traces.

Ideas for assignment...

I want to explore my own personal traces, and where better to explore that than my flat! I spend a lot of time at my flat I eat and sleep there among other things. 

I am wanting to document my own traces around my flat because I feel that it is interesting working on something that is personal and is interesting for the viewer. I always find it interesting going to open homes where people allow you into their personal place where they have lived, slept and ate in it has a strange but exciting feeling like looking at photographs of history (maybe its because I am a curious person). 

I was thinking initially starting to look at ways of showing my traces such as dishes and a messy bed, however my traces aren't that obvious because I am a tidy person. I make my bed, have my room orderly and never leave dishes out.. so getting the feel of my traces would seem fake to me as the artist if I were to take pictures of stacked dishes etc. However what is so bad about creating scenes such as Jeff Walls destroyed room...

I could create my own scenes to seem like someone had been there.. I can picture scrunched sheets and pilled dishes, which are all white in my house; it could have a cool pattern feel to it and an organised mess... I could have zoomed tight framed images. 

I am also interested in Schneemann’s performance art and I feel like that way of working and making art is familiar to me and I have done similar things before and found it fascinating, it is like letting go and releasing your subconscious to be free.. 

I had an idea of turning my room into a performance piece and making my room a mess just re arranging things, piling things on top of each other creating a mess, which is sort of like Jeff Wall did in ‘The Destroyed Room’ where it was actually carefully constructed to reference Eugène Delacroix’s 1827 painting, Death of Sardanapalus. Maybe if I had something to reference like that it might give me some clarity?

The end could be a series of different ways I have organised mess.. To make it more cohesive I could use a tripod and have in the same position each time. Also I could attempt to use studio lights for a similar feel in each picture if I wanted the series to have a studio and organised feel? Could be a nice juxtaposition with the mess to formally, cohesive formatted pictures.

I chose the following images from the book 'Art and Photography'

I feel like this series shows how I could do a series of something being altered and documenting it, without having to have the same position of each picture to be interesting.. its actually more interesting having different angles.
It gives another take on traces, more of a literal take..

I chose this image because i thought it could be inspiration for chaotic mess and shows another way of taking images.. such as it has been taken up close and has a tight frame, which sort of make the mess of the food feel overwhelming... even more close up could turn into something completely different and abstract. 

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin

My Bed

1998

http://blogs.elpais.com/.a/6a00d8341bfb1653ef01a73dce9fa5970d-pi

Emin is a storyteller and displays that in her artwork, as she engages the viewer with her honest exploration of universal emotions. Her artwork has been described as ‘confessional’, which you can tell, by her statements and by her work, which shows and tells explicit details of her life, brutal honesty. She has an ability to merge her life and work together, which establishes intimacy with the viewer.

‘My Bed’ is Emins actual bed, with ‘all its embarrassing glory.’ It displays empty alcohol bottles, cigarette butts, stained sheets, worn underwear and ‘the bloody aftermath of a nervous breakdown.’

‘By presenting art, Emin shares her most personal space, revealing she is as insecure and imperfect as the rest of the world.’

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/tracey_emin_my_bed.htm

Tracey Emin has been one of my favourite artists for a long time and when thinking of the idea of traces of traces her 'My Bed' artwork definitely registers in my mind as her 'traces.'
It is such a personal piece of art and again has that mystery feeling to it, because it doesn't have her inside the bed or any obvious things like that. There has been many events in the installation before it came to be an artwork at Tate. It feels like it has been really lived in through the rubbish and untidiness of it. It has traces of late nights, rough days and normal days and nights which sparked ideas of how i live and how i leave traces around my own enviroment.. such as after a big night i might not make my bed in the morning or leave my dishes out leaving ideas of laziness, or traces of routine such as making my bed every weekday...etc