Fields and Frames Introduction to Artists and Artwork

Even though I think I will be producing a Dane Video final outcome this fields and frames project has still shown me some interesting ideas, artwork and artist I find interesting so I wanted to look into them further to see what I can learn:

This project is all about looking at the history of experimental art practices that have laid the foundations for our modern practices and using this to create our own piece of experimental art in new mediums if we choose to.

We then spoke about abstract film which as I have spoken about in other project is something that does interest me especially Surreal film. Abstract film is exciting to me because it is all constructed but for reason other than just a story so normally they will be non-linear and focus on more of a meaning and I always like to have meaningful messages to my work. It also comes very much about the medium used to create the work as well as the work itself. Mediums used in art are much more important than people sometimes realise and they can actually say a lot more about a piece. Marshall Mcluthan (media theorist) said 'The Medium is the message' and this is a very interesting perspective to take when making artwork. Each medium has its own framework  and conventions when making art so therefore is much more embedded in the message because it is specifically chosen for a reason. It is also the medium which creates the experience required for the art to portray the message.

Looking at the medium of film (which I have already experimented with in a previous workshop) when film first came about people used it to watch the real everyday action but due to its tactile nature people instantly started to experiment with what they could do with it. This practice took place majorly in the 60's and 70's however you still get people experimenting with film now. Here are some experimental pieces we were shown but I have chosen some to go away and analyse them in terms of what they were aiming to do:

'Reel Time' - Annabel Nicolson (1973)

This was an experimental film and installation piece which consisted of a sewing machine, projectors and a long loop of film. She sat on the sewing machine which was postponed inferno too the screen so that the projector cast her and the shadow of the sewiwgmachine onto the screen. She then sat and sewed the loop of film punching holes into it on this machine and this would keep the loop of film winding through the projector so the images on the screen slowly got more and more disrupted as the film when through the sewing machine more and more. I just fin her use of mediums for this piece amazing especially the though that went into it. She used the reel action of the sewing machine like a film projector and combine the images from the projector with her and the sewing machines silhouette. The message I read from this piece is very powerful, I feel that it is all about women involvement in the film world. Obviously when this was made in the 70's women rights were being fought for and here she creates a film piece of work as a strong women but incorporates an item, sewing machine, which typically stereotypically represented women in the society at the time. The way she is working the sewing machine herself and slowly destroying the film seems like a statement she is making about how powerful women can be. Looking at how other people have viewed her work I have found that other people also felt it was a feminist piece. However it has also been said by critics that it was a comment on the medium and questionable future of film. Thereby creating this unpredictable performance which eventually ends in the destroyed film you could say she is questioning how long this medium will last which is interesting to look back on now that we have seen how long it lasted and know the answer. I like this piece a lot and feel like it really says a lot technically and conceptually.

'Lapis' - James Whitney (1966)



This piece really interests me because I personally really like this style and the use of pattern is so mesmerising. You see a lot of these patterns today like mandalas in everyday life used for many different purposes such as fashion etc but is nice to see original ways that eastern and western cultures began to combine in this way through artwork. He was interested in these cultures himself and especially by the idea of meditating to gain awareness of of yourself and life. That would then explain why he has made this such a relaxing and calming piece to watch almost like you could meditate to it. It is enhanced further by the traditional indian cultural music which makes us even more involved within the piece. This piece is also very psychedelic and came about in a time when some of these psychedelic drugs were legal. Artists were not only experimenting with their art form but also with themselves and their bodies by taking these drugs in order to see what kind of artwork they could create which led to pieces like this. This obviously raised a lot of political issues with in the artwork and this is much less common now but I just like how even though this piece seems simplistic if you think about the backstory behind it and the time in which it was made it has lot more more to it conceptually and again technically. I just really enjoy this piece.

This next piece I am looking at is a current piece of work from a collective and I wanted to analyse it more just because it is so strange and I was quite taken back by it...

'The Feast of Trimalchio' - AES+F Collective (2010)


There pieces take you back visually because of how they have made it so hyper-realistic which is actually very disconcerting to watch after a while. It is almost like everything has been made to look shiny and perfect like in adverts. This particular piece was very surrealist in the actions being very representational as well as the visuals and almost leaves you trying to work out what is real and what isn't. I felt like the story of the piece was to do with the theme of 'Otherness' in particular the 'Exotic Other' and how it has led cultures to be lost of merged but not necessarily in a good way. This is a very current issue and I feel like thats why it is even more powerful because they have used very modern and current high end technology to make the piece. That could almost be thought of as very ironic. I just feel very uneasy almost watching why is happening at times and I can't quite wrap my head around the weather I like the visuals or not but I certainly like what they have tried to do conceptually by tackling a current problem with current technology.

Looking at these artworks has really helped me understand the kind of conceptual experimental pieces we could make for this project and even if I choose not to I still find learning about these artworks very interesting.