Copy Cats
assignment due today. We've just read about Richard Pettibone and Elaine Sturtevant, who, for their art copied various artists like Duchamp, warhol, Liechtenstein, Johns. I'm not going to go into their whole thing, but our assignment was to choose five artists who share our focus and copy a work of art from each. This was a fantastic exercise for me, first of all because it allowed me to do things i always wanted to but didn't want to, well, copy. It felt really freeing to have certain parameters decided, and other elements variable. Well, i'm not making sense, but here are my images:
from Felix Gonzalez-Torres:
Empty candy wrappers...Everyone thinks they're pessimistic but i think the opposite...I think they speak to absence, the remains, letting go, weightlessness, beautiful gaudiness, happy memories...If you don;t know his work you should click on the link to learn more about him. Or, if you're my mom, just call me and ask.
From Jessica Stockholder:
It's definitely her aesthetic that i relate to. Here i am not copying real piece of hers but more her "style". I feel like this is work that seems "me", (and others who have come into my studio said the same thing) but there's really nothing behind it besides visual reactions. And there's nothing wrong with that, but as i know from when i was making paintings, it's fun for about a week but then i get bored. Well, we'll see what happens.
From Rachel Whiteread:
She makes casts of interior spaces...underneath chairs, rooms, and her most ambitious project was an entire house. I really respond to the solidifying of emptiness, making it physical, and also transforming the space into something that can't be inhabited anymore. Mine is just the inside of a cardboard box, but i really enjoy all the details, and sense of inverted space.
Janine Antoni:
Here is one of my favorite artists, whom i respect so so much, so of course this piece failed like no other. Here i was meditating on her pieces "lick and Lather" and "Gnaw", and i guess to an extent "Slumber". In the first two pieces she uses chocolate as one of the main materials, and i've really been wanting to try it for it's unique texture but also all the connotations, familiarities, and sensory elements, I wanted to tie in the face prints that i was doing in December. Also, i really respond to her use of process, how she uses performance but not necessarily in front of an audience...Anyway, i made a slab of chocolate and used it as my pillow. Last night. It was definitely a new experience. Okay, here is the picture:
And it looks even grosser in real life. This was taken right after i "woke up". It's already starting to change texture. Maybe I'll take more photos as it ages. My studio reeks of chocolate (kind of makes me miss Chicago). But making this piece really excited me and made me put a lot of thoughts together about process, and evidence, and markmaking, and materials. It always seems to go this way: the more the idea makes sense, the shittier the art looks. Again, balance!!
For the fifth piece, i'm not really sure who i chose...it kind of splintered off into several different things. I'll post pictures of that stuff later, as well as more talky talk and ideas from class.
from Felix Gonzalez-Torres:
Empty candy wrappers...Everyone thinks they're pessimistic but i think the opposite...I think they speak to absence, the remains, letting go, weightlessness, beautiful gaudiness, happy memories...If you don;t know his work you should click on the link to learn more about him. Or, if you're my mom, just call me and ask.
From Jessica Stockholder:
It's definitely her aesthetic that i relate to. Here i am not copying real piece of hers but more her "style". I feel like this is work that seems "me", (and others who have come into my studio said the same thing) but there's really nothing behind it besides visual reactions. And there's nothing wrong with that, but as i know from when i was making paintings, it's fun for about a week but then i get bored. Well, we'll see what happens.
From Rachel Whiteread:
She makes casts of interior spaces...underneath chairs, rooms, and her most ambitious project was an entire house. I really respond to the solidifying of emptiness, making it physical, and also transforming the space into something that can't be inhabited anymore. Mine is just the inside of a cardboard box, but i really enjoy all the details, and sense of inverted space.
Janine Antoni:
Here is one of my favorite artists, whom i respect so so much, so of course this piece failed like no other. Here i was meditating on her pieces "lick and Lather" and "Gnaw", and i guess to an extent "Slumber". In the first two pieces she uses chocolate as one of the main materials, and i've really been wanting to try it for it's unique texture but also all the connotations, familiarities, and sensory elements, I wanted to tie in the face prints that i was doing in December. Also, i really respond to her use of process, how she uses performance but not necessarily in front of an audience...Anyway, i made a slab of chocolate and used it as my pillow. Last night. It was definitely a new experience. Okay, here is the picture:
And it looks even grosser in real life. This was taken right after i "woke up". It's already starting to change texture. Maybe I'll take more photos as it ages. My studio reeks of chocolate (kind of makes me miss Chicago). But making this piece really excited me and made me put a lot of thoughts together about process, and evidence, and markmaking, and materials. It always seems to go this way: the more the idea makes sense, the shittier the art looks. Again, balance!!
For the fifth piece, i'm not really sure who i chose...it kind of splintered off into several different things. I'll post pictures of that stuff later, as well as more talky talk and ideas from class.
posted by niki at 10:07 AM
2 Comments:
Looove the Jessica Stockholder and Rachel Whiteread pieces!
I think this ties into your truth question, too, because mostly I don't even care that they are copies of another artist's style or idea, I just like them. If you are inspired by another artist's methods or ideas and you attempt to replicate it as a way of understanding its context in your own work, then you are being truthful about their influence. I think its okay for an artist to use whatever inspires them in as direct or indirect of a way as they want if it helps them to think/push further.
But on the other side, if you do draw directly from another artist, is the audience going to recognize that fact? Do you care if they do? What if the audience thinks its dishonest to borrow from another artist? Do you care about that either?
Hey Kim, Thanks for the questions! Maybe you're right about the truthfulness of the copy since it is obvious, if you know the artist's work, but not obvious if you don't. My teacher brought up a good point during the crit. She said, "These aren't copies; this is your Grand Tour" (basicly the trend in 16th through 19th centuries of young, educated, male aristocrats traveling through Europe to experience great art and architecture, collecting souvenirs along the way. Interpret the "souvenir" how you wish, but...) in my case i'm looking around at what's inspiring me and making it my own. However, i'm still uncomfortable with the idea of doing this outside of the "assignment" parameter. I don't want to be derivative, nor do i want to seem like i am making a statement about originality, authorship, object value, etc, because i don't think that is all my work is about. I think once i reflect on it more (and maybe do more copies, along side my "real work", of course...) i'll be able to define for myself what i mean by copying and what i mean by influence. and where is that line, and maybe sometimes it's okay to cross it.
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