The works access global art in different ways – some by theme (eg war), and others by their methods of delivery (postcards, satellite transmissions).  The common factor seems to be that generally the subject matter is pretty grim.  I’ve been trying to think of happy global art subjects, I guess love would count but doesn’t sound very inspiring for artwork.  Are artists as bad as media reporters?  Or is human nature to blame.  Who knows.  Here goes.

Klaus Staeck (German, b 1938)

For Wider Streets Vote Conservative (1974)

Staeck, a German graphic designer, was the pre-eminent practioner of polictical montage in Europe in the 1960′s.  His austere artwork includes postcards, stickers and flyers.  The postcards he mounted as exhibitions of ‘mail art.’  His main themes remained constant, they were freedom of speech, peace, the environment, poverty and a constant struggle against political hypocrisy.  ”Art is always a risk and in the form of a card it is also highly mobile,” he said.

Nam June Paik (American, b Korea, 1932-2006)

Good Morning Mr Orwell, 1984

Still from a film, 38 min

Influenced by George Orwell’s 1949 novel, 1984, in which television is an instrument of control in a totalitarian state run by ‘Big Brother,’ Paik fashioned an avant-garde variety show featuring dance, music and performance linked via satellite in a global television broadcast on January 1, 1984.

Hosted in New York and connected during the broadcast to production facilities in San Francisco and Paris, Paik called this international gathering of pop culture performers and performances a ‘global disco.’  The live broadcast reached more than 25 million viewers, demonstrating the genuine potential of global satellite communication.  It’s conflation of entertainment, politics and technology reflects the nature of Paik’s art practice.

Alfredo Jaar (Chilean, b 1956)

Rwanda, Rwanda 1994

In August 1994, Jaar travelled to Rwanda where he witnessed the horrific aftermath of one of the most violent ethnic conflicts of recent history.  Sensing an urgent need for action, he initiated his epic Rwanda project upon his return home, and it took many forms over the following six years.

This photolithograph is one of the earlier manifestations.  He mounted 400 of these on backlit displays in public locations throughout the city of Malmo, Sweden.  For 20 years, Jaar has explored thorny social, political and humanitarian issues.  He brings viewers to a contemplation of some of humanity’s most appalling moments.

Romuald Karmakar (French, b 1965)

The Himmler Project (Das Himmler-Projekt) 2000

video

Karmakar is one of Germany’s most provocative film makers.  His works oblige international audiences to confront the horror of modern history and to try to understand what made, and continues to make, hatred attractive and murderous.

In 1943, Nazi General Himmler delivered a three and a half hour speech which was recorded.  In it he speaks openly about racial purity and refers to the elimination of the Jewish population.  Karamakar asked actor Manfred Zapatka to read the entire speech as transcribed, complete with Himmler’s mistakes in grammar, syntax and pronounciation.  Simple but bloodfreezing.

Paul Chan (b Hong Kong, 1973)

My birds….trash….the future 2004

Installation: two channel video projection 17 min

Set in an apocalyptic landscape with a barren tree at its centre, the landscape evokes a moral vacuum brought on by the horrors of war.  Includes digital likenesses of naked paparazzi and suicide bombers, among others.  The narrative unfolds against a soundtrack of ringing cellphones and car alarms that evokes the dissonant timbre of a cataclysm.  Black smoke rising in the east in some scenes references burning oil fields in the Middle East, and others reference mis-treated detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.  He conveys an urgent message about the folly of violence and war.

Andrew McLeod, Interior Life, 2007

Andrew McLeod, Our House

Andrew Mcleod is a New Zealand artist who consistently deals with themes of the interior.  Compositionally he is influenced by 20th century fine art.

Julia Fullerton-Batten, Floating In Harbour

Julia Fullerton-Batten, Chewing Gum

Julia Fullerton-Batten is an English artist who often plays with scale, impelling the viewer to look more closely at the image.

Kevin Haas, East Spokane

Kevin Haas, Exit 109

Kevin Haas is an American artist who documents urban and suburban landscapes to explore the every day built environment.

First attempt #1, didn’t pursue it although I did like the concept of looking out through the foliage.

A slightly more successful attempt although i still wasn’t feeling the love.  Too literal, I think

Hand collage using photoshopped image with architectural detail and hand drawing.

And the same photoshopped image with the hand collage added.

A single image, used in photoshop with many layers and a bit of opacity, to create another space and to emphasise tone and texture.

And the same space occupied.

Ideas of form from the building collage, and ideas of tone and texture from the doorway image, combined in a sketch-up model.

Poster created in InDesign, using hand collage, drawing, 3D modelling, photography and photoshop.

Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930

I’ve chosen Mondrian mainly because of his lasting link to design.  Yves St Laurent created his 60′s day dresses using blocks of colour and heavy black lines based on Mondrian’s paintings, and more recently Nike used the same ideas in a line of shoes.  Although Mondrian started as a representational painter, he developed into a purely abstract painter, concentrating on form and primary colour.

Barcelona chair, 1929

I’ve chosen this chair to post because as well as being interested in architecture, I am also interested in the intersections of architects with design.  Many extremely well known architects have designed furniture, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, but also Frank Lloyd Wright and Marcel Breuer (Wassily chair).  The former and the latter were both involved with the Bauhaus movement and the founder of Bauhaus, Walter Gropier, was also an architect.  Bauhaus became extrememly influential in modern architecture and design, with the concept of creating a ‘total’ work of art.

I’ve also posted this because of it’s links to Materiality.  As a successor to the Wassily chair in terms of the use of tubular steel, which was a breakthough at the time

Roman Sketches, 1972

I’m interested in architecture and art, and like the work of Peter Paul.  He is a German lithographer, etcher and painter who has done a lot of work with architectural forms.

Lamp with sloe branches, circa 1910

I love the art nouveau period and the Arts and Crafts movement works, and I love this functional object which is a work of art too.  Daum was one of the three eminent French glassmakers of the period but also embraced other periods and styles and continues to operate today.

I created this image using the big old something-a-scope, to enlarge a tree spiky seed pod thingy (left) and a small fern. I also used tracing, colouring and a bit of drawing. This has nothing to do with my theme, but I love its feel good vibe and it reminds me of being in the Caribbean

Viaduct, 1972

Joyce Sills has taken the form of the viaduct and reduced it to its essentials, but I like that it remains a complete image.  I like the idea of beauty and clarity in architectural form.