Two Principles

Can recontextualized ideas be contemporary?

When a piece of art is made its not the artist ideals that is put upon the page but that of the era, because what is happening around and artist influences their out comes, their ideals and the meanings of their art. For instance the naked body back in the 1900 will be seen as sexual and shocking, how ever a naked body in the 20^th century is seen as empowering and the norm. So even though context in art might be the same from different era’s but the meaning behind the art will be portrayed differently. For example the piece called discount soup can by banksy is a play on the art work done by Andy Warhol.

In Andy Warhol’s piece he was trying to portray the mass made object as apiece of art that everyone has and owns and to make high marketed art more trivial in the process. So there target of his artwork was that of the middle class who can afford expensive art works made by big names. What he also did that aimed it to the middle class was that he mass-produced his own art so that his art can become commonplace as well as the Campbell’s soup. Another area of his work that illustrated the mass market was the fact that he could reproduce his artwork for the masses because of the techniques used to make them (silk screen).

In Bansky’s art he’s basically copied the style of Andy Warhol and the subject, however he’s placed a very different meaning to the image. I think he’s trying to portray the fact that people have become cheap and colourless in are every day-to-day life. He’s done this by using a bland and cheap version of today’s tomato soup. By doing this he’s saying that presently people are only interested in their money and how much their getting for it, as the price and weight are highlighted on the image. The little tare in the corner of the can also illustrates that the quality of what we as a people today made isn’t as good as it once was, because this shows that in the hast of producing and shipping this product it was damaged and still on sale.

These images just go to show how artist who take another style and subject can turn it around to mean something so different. Andy Warhol’s image was headline news and portrays the public in a good light, Bansky’s was not headline news and portrays the public in a negative light.

Notions of Originality

In art industry there isn’t one picture that is original, originality to me is the bending and distorting of and idea and from forms around you. So you can’t be original when painting melting watches (Darli) as you’ve painted a watch that someone else has designed and has then taken a style from a previous version, and this chain can go on and on. Even recreating a tree is copying as mother nature as already designed that tree. The only way you can be original is in your thinking and naming of your creation.

This can be applied to Rachel Whiteread piece ‘untitled’ (free standing bed) by just giving the sculpture no name your giving the audience a choice of what it means to you. So to some it will mean nothing because it’s just a cast of a dirty old mattress. To others this could mean a lot more as when you look at the mattress which looks old but because it worn it must be a good and comfortable place to sleep. However as it’s a plaster cast it’s hard and cold and cant age past the time it was cast. By casting it she’s preserving the mattress and the history along with it as each bump or lump could hold meaning to the owner, thus making the mattress an object of history and meaning.

So a cast mattress on it own is just a mattress, but by her choosing to give it no name she’s allowed the piece to have its own meaning to each person that views it. Thus giving it a multitude of meanings, emotion and opinions for each person that views it.