Alec Shepley Lecture and Seminar

Steve Dutton Seminar

At the end of the lecture we were asked to think about the following questions and reflect on them during the seminar...

How  do you define 'difference' between works of art?

What is stealing opposed to appropriating or is it the same?

Is visible beauty in work of art important?

What do we mean by transformation?

What does ontology mean?

If what is visible is not the most important part of a piece of appropriation art, than what is left? 

Steve Dutton Lecture

This lecture by Steve Dutton revolved around the idea of appropriation in art. We began the lecture with an arguable example of appropriation in the music industry with a song by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams facing a lawsuit for its similarities to a song by Marvin Gaye. This opened our mind to consider at what point is something stolen? What is the difference between inspiration and admiration with theft? It was also interesting at this point to consider the exact definition of appropriation, which is to take something for oneself without permission, in other words, to steal. 

Following this example in the music industry we considered what appropriation in art was. In this case, it is to use pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation and can be found in literary, visual, musical and performance art. 

Next we were introduced to a brief history of appropriation art and the key figures in the form of art. Marcel Duchamp and Picasso are arguably the leaders of appropriation. Duchamp challenged what constitutes as art by appropriating a postcard of the Mona Lisa, by taking the high art and defacing the work and presenting it as his own piece. It is interesting to consider a quote here by Jim Jarmusch "Nothing is original" and Jean-Luc Godard who said "It's not where you take things from — it's where you take them to."

Fifty years after Duchamp, Andy Warhol also made a significant impact on appropriation art in the opposite way to Duchamp by taking an ordinary item and elevating its status with his installation of Brillo boxes. The ontological differneces between the Brillo product and Warhol's replicas is that one is art and one is not. Mike Bidlo then further appropriated the work by replicating Warhol's installation 20 years later in another context, saying he was "adding another loop to the Warhol phenomenon". Art critic Hal Foster comments on how it is not the material of appropriation (eg the Brillo box or the postcard) but what they signify in the world, thus Duchamp and Warhol are transforming signs not materials.

Some lead female artists who use appropriation are Cindy Sherman and Sherrie Levine. Sherman inhabits the role of movie character in a series of photographs, playing with signs and the representation of women in film. Whilst Levine appropriates the work of Egon Schiele as she inhabits the work of other artists and disturbs the signs. Reflecting on this, I found that the similarities between the artists work was the role of inhabiting the art they appropriated.

We also considered how film can be appropriated in art with the example of the film 'Psycho' (1960). Douglas Gordon transormed the film by slowing it down to last 24 hours, whilst Gus Van Sant made a Psycho remake that is shot by shot the same as the original. Steve Dutton also talked about some of his own work here, showing us how he appropriated Sant's work further by mirroring the film and further transforming the original film.

In contemporary art, Christian Marclay is one of the current most established artists working with appropriation. Marclay also works with film, as we watched a clip of his work 'The Clock' in which he sampled hundreds of films with the image of time to create a 24 hour film that shows the time using different films.

John Stezaker makes simple collages from collecting and finding images and transforming them. Including a series of 'marriage' images where he combines images of classic film stars and overlaps their portraits. Unlike Duchamp, Stezaker uses modern techniques but with romantic ideas. This made me consider how it is not just what is visible, or the materials used but also the process and the action of finding and creating these images that is what appropriates the art.

On reflection, I found this lecture extremely interesting and relevant to my own practice, in both my independent studio project and my studio essay. I also found it relevant to the Art and Reproduction theme, where we had briefly touched on the idea of appropriation. My studio project is influenced heavily by the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, which made me consider whether I was using inspiration from her paintings I whether I was in fact appropriating her work. 

Hilary Gresty

Hilary Gresty is Principal Lecturer in Arts Advocacy, Cultural Policy and Engagement in the School of Art and Design.  

Mary O'Neill Seminar

How could film change the way you work?

• W.B Yeats says there are two subjects for art- sex and death.
• Symbolism and imagery prominent in the film, eg coffee and ice cream is the first time of pleasurable sensation in the film.
• Under reactions, understated film with internalised emotion; importance of understating in art- was considered an unnatural reaction to death.
• Narrative created through constant blue colour- in swimming pool scene children jump in pool wearing red and white- importance of colour. 
• Kept the blue chandelier as a symbol of freedom.
• Cinema doesn't reflect the way we react it teaches us- we learn patterns of behavior.
• Connections between new life of isolation and old life through music.
• Follows fairytale narrative: death, trial, rebirth.
• Film is disorientating, reflects the disorientation of grieving, the film embodies the grief.
• Can reference films as well as text in art.

Mary O'Neill Lecture

Instead of reading a text before the lecture, we watched 'Three Colors: Blue' directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, this is more than just a film but also a philosophical statement. The context of the film is very important, including the French motto: liberty, equality and fraternity, in which the film heavily portrays one of these ideas. The colours of the French flag are also important, with blue being prominent in this film but white and red also having significance. In France there is a strong sense of public responsibility, what would happen if you were completely free (or tried to be completely free) is explored in this film.   

The lecture itself with O'Neill focused on the themes of death, as well as film: we will all encounter death in our lives and yet it is something we can never be prepared for. 

Starting the lecture, was a brief history of the portrayal of death in film. Classic films of death bed shows the traditional image of death in media as peaceful and spiritual. By the war, death became more stylised in film, showing the death of soldiers in war as dramatic. There was also a shift with films like 'Ghost' and 'Truly, Madly, Deeply', where the dead return as ghosts, however at this point there is still a clear distinction between the living and dead with the ending showing both the dead and living moving on. Media further shifted to allow a complete return of the dead and portrayed a relationship between death and curiosities. 

Furthermore, 'Three Colors: Blue' explores many events and experiences with death. The main character Julie faces the death of her child and husband in a car crash which she survives, as well as the later death of her marriage with the uncovering of her husbands infidelity, and the social death of her mother who has Alzheimer. Ironically, with her condition her mother has achieved the state of freedom from the world that she desires but can not find. 

Lee Hassall Lecture

This lecture focused heavily on the idea of the culture and context of art. 

E.P.Thompson (1924-1993) was a British historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He was also a member of Workers' Educational Association (WEA).

Hassall commented on his own experience of culture, saying the culture of London for example is on the surface with public museums, galleries and theaters. In contrast to the more remote areas of Wales, where you have to become more involved with the landscape and the people in order to immerse yourself in the culture. An experience he commented on was a walk through the landscape in which he found an arrow head and pondered on the idea that he was probably the first to hols this since the person that used it, questioning when did this object become aesthetically pleasing and not functional?

Hassall also spoke about his own piece of art entitle 'Fetal', in which he spent days in an old storage room of a wine cellar whilst people could come and view him at work. This mixed audience, of people who knew about the show, as well as people who happened to come across it, creates a god-like perspective of looking down on the artist at work. The idea of working in an enclosed space is also somewhat meditative.

In conclusion, I took from this lecture to consider how I can determine my own cultural map. Is it by judging the types of clothes I wear, the types of clubs I go to, what I vote for? Ultimately, my cultural map is a mixture of everything, being subjective not objective and in a constant flux. Culture can be both ordinary and extra ordinary.

Angela Bartram

Lecture One- Andrew Bracey

This lecture involved a talk by the curator Andrew Bracey at The Usher Gallery, concentrating on his exhibition 'Detail' which consists of snapshots of 118 artists work. The pieces are all of the same size and are displayed randomly at different angles and spacing, as seen below. This removes the use of setting to enhance the work, instead the eye is drawn to individual pieces that stand out rather than the eye being focused to a certain piece that is displayed pleasingly.