Trial Exam post-mortem II: Looking at Essay Question 6, Janet Laurence & Antony Gormley

Quick review of Janet Laurence DVD : Life World. Janet Laurence, Water Veil, installation in CH2 Building Melbourne, The CH2 building is an internationally-renowned green eco-building in Melbourne. It recycles most of its water and is very economical with heating, cooling, electricity usage etc. Laurence was commissioned to create a site-specific installation for the front of the building. Glass and various materials produce a layered and ‘veiling effect’. She collaborated with architects to create this piece. It is a characteristic of much contemporary artwork that the audience is involved in a more active way. Elizabeth-Anne McGregor (Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art): “ The role of the artist is to make comments about the world; to engage the audience with ideas that they can express in a certain way.” Note also that Laurence (like Koons and many other contemporary artists) uses a lot of technical assistance and collaboration with her work.

She is interested in people interacting physically with her art. Water Veil, like In the Shadow at Homebush Bay; Veil of Trees in the Domain (pictured below); and Edge of the Trees at Museum of Sydney, all involve matters of scale, and the viewer often moves through the installation and the work involves other senses. This serves to involve the viewer’s whole body, rather than just eyes. Interested in the idea of alchemy, that is, of transformation. What could we say that she changes? She transforms spaces…in the case of Water Veil, it’s the window between the foyer and the outside world. She also describes the transformation of ‘black water’ (dirty, un-usable water) back into clean water in her artwork, using colours and text. The text is the chemical formulas for the toxins that are removed from the water to make it usable. She is transforming these toxins into something beautiful and mysterious in her work. Tony Bond’s comment on Public Art Installations: ‘it can be very postmodern…all about READING the art. You don’t read art – you look at it.’ He is commenting that art has to look good. It’s not enough, says Bond, to challenge the audience with ideas, text, etc. Veil of trees, installation at The Domain, Sydney, 1999 Some of us may agree.

Joseph Kosuth (U.S. b. 1945), Titled. Art as idea as idea (water), Photocopy, mounted on board, x cm. An example of Conceptual Art – raising questions about what an art object is; precisely WHERE it is (in the artist’s brain? In the audience’s brain? Duchamp, Fountain, Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1951 (remade from the original, 1913.)

Sol LeWitt, Wall drawing #146, 1972 Andy Warhol, Untitled, from Marilyn series, Screen print, 1967

Kruger, Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face), photocopy, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Umbrellas Japan & USA, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, The Gates, installation Central Park NYC, 2005

Imants Tillers (Australian, b. 1950) The nine shots, 1985 Michael Nelson Jakamarra, Five Dreamings, 1984

Resources ABC clip on relationship between art/artists/audiences in Tasmania: effect/ ?section=entertainment effect/ ?section=entertainment Hand-out on recent sale of Andy Warhol artwork : 06/warhol-collection-to-go-under-the-hammer/ ?section=entertainmenthttp:// 06/warhol-collection-to-go-under-the-hammer/ ?section=entertainment Antony Gormley video ‘Waste Man’, 2006, on Gormley’s website: Janet Laurence DVD available in library: Janet Laurence ‘Life World’, DVD /LAUR709.94/LAUR