"Ambivalently Yours is an anonymous online persona created to facilitate the exploration of feminist convictions and concerns. Fuelled by a decade of employment in the fashion industry, juxtaposed with an investment in feminist art, my work as Ambivalently Yours aims to highlight the potential for political resistance that exists within conflicting emotions. Part of being a feminist is about advocating for a woman’s right to choose. This right, however, does not imply there is only one choice, or that a final decision needs to be reached in order to achieve political change. For example, my commitment to feminist artistic practices could only occur once I gave myself permission to concurrently embrace my love of fashion and the colour pink, two things often associated with the patriarchal domination of women. This refusal to choose between traditional femininity and radical feminism allowed for another space to exist: not a space of indecision but rather a space of undeciding. To quote queer theorist Judith Jack Halberstam: “I explore a feminist politics that issues not from a doing but from an undoing, not from a being or becoming women but from a refusal to be or become a woman as she has been defined and imagines within Western Philosophy.” It is within this refusal to be and to choose that Ambivalently Yours cultivates relationships of empathy and feminist agency within an online community of like-minded in-betweeners." - Ambivalently Yours
"In this film, Girls actress Jemima Kirke (known as Jessa Johansson in the HBO series) addresses the topic of women in art (or the lack them). She looks at the changing role of female artists in a male dominated art world over the centuries - and how some of them eventually took on the establishment in the 1970s." - Tate
I believe this film was shocking, emotional and powerful. Before watching this film I didn't truly understand the lengths women had to go to in order to be heard. The amount of pain and suffering they had to endure for us to have our say in the world.
Storyline: In 1968, the Ford auto factory in Dagenham was one of the largest single private employers in the United Kingdom. In addition to the thousands of male employees, there are also 187 underpaid women machinists who primarily assemble the car seat upholstery in poor working conditions. Dissatisfied, the women, represented by the shop steward and Rita O'Grady, work with union rep Albert Passingham for a better deal. However, Rita learns that there is a larger issue in this dispute considering that women are paid an appalling fraction of the men's wages for the same work across the board on the sole basis of their sex. Refusing to tolerate this inequality any longer, O'Grady leads a strike by her fellow machinists for equal pay for equal work. What follows would test the patience of all involved in a grinding labour and political struggle that ultimately would advance the cause of women's rights around the world. - (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371155/)
I think it's quite inspiring to see these ordinary working class women stand up for what they believe in. I also like how we get to see that not only women but some men were involved, such as this man in the clip above. I feel his story in this clip demonstrates how feminism doesn't just effect women but it can effect men.
Nightcleaners by Berwick Street Collective (1972-75) (extract)
BI.uk: Berwick Street Film Collective:
"The collective was active from 1970–78. It was co-founded by Marc Karlin and James Scott; others associated with the group include Mary Kelly, Richard Mordaunt, Jon Saunders and Humphrey Trevelyan. The collective directed three films released between 1974 and 1978, the most well known of which is Nightcleaners Part I. This film was originally conceived as a campaign film to raise awareness of the situation of women cleaning offices overnight for very low pay. However, it became more of an avant-garde representation of women and work, and is a landmark of collective and feminist film-making. The film documents the daily routine of several women who cleaned offices in London at night, their low pay and the bad conditions within which they had to work. It also discusses and shows their fight to gain union recognition and therefore protection. *In these clips you can see two women talking about their daily lives, as well as a protest rally to gain support for the cleaners' cause."
Mary Kelly became involved in the early women's liberation movement throughout the 1970s and went on to lead the way for representations of women in the arts. Feminist theory, political discourse and education have remained a constant theme in her work throughout her career.
'Post-Partum Document: Documentation III' - Mary Kelly, 1975
'Post-Partum Document' was a six year exploration of the relationship between mother and child. When it was first displayed at the ICA in London, 1976, the work invoked tabloid outrage due to 'Documentation I' including stained nappy liners - "On display at the ICA ... dirty nappies!" - ran the standard's outraged headline. Each of the six-part series focuses on a developmental moment in her son's learning of language and her own sense of loss, 'moving between the voices of the mother, child and analytic observer.' 'Informed by feminism and psychoanalysis, the work has had a profound influence on the development and critique of conceptual art.
Mary Kelly | TateShots
I believe that Mary Kelly's background within Feminism is quite influential on her work, as I believe that she aims to give women a voice, whether its intended or not. For example, in this piece 'Post-Partum Document' she creates a narrative through documentation which demonstrates the struggle women went through as a mother. But I also think the personal touch to her, not only showing her experience of motherhood, but by allowing her annotations to become apart of her work, almost done as if this piece of artwork is her diary. It's this element of personal touch that I believe will make the viewers much more appreciative of her work as she has been constantly adding pieces from her every moments in that stage of her life. In addition, I believe her daring and risk taking attitudes of feminism came through within her work for the controversy she created by adding the stained nappy liners. It may have been seen as unhygienic and indecent, but I believe it was real and showed the truth of motherhood.
Sol Lewitt earned a place in the history of art for his leading role in conceptual movement. Lewitt's work ranged from sculpture, painting and drawing to almost exclusively conceptual pieces that existed only as ideas or elements of the artistic process itself.
'Lewitt believed the idea itself could be the work of art, and maintained that, like an architect who creates a blueprint for a building and then turns the project over to a construction crew, an artist should be able to conceive of a work and then either delegate its actual production to others or perhaps even never make it at all.' - theartstory.org
'Key Ideas
LeWitt's refined vocabulary of visual art consisted of lines, basic colors and simplified shapes. He applied them according to formulae of his own invention, which hinted at mathematical equations and architectural specifications, but were neither predictable nor necessarily logical. For LeWitt, the directions for producing a work of art became the work itself; a work was no longer required to have an actual material presence in order to be considered art.
LeWitt's conceptual pieces often did take on at least basic material form, although not necessarily at his own hands. In the spirit of the medieval workshop in which the master conceives of a work and apprentices carry out his instructions based on preliminary drawings, LeWitt would provide an assistant or a group of assistants with directions for producing a work of art. Instructions for these works, whether large-scale wall drawings or outdoor sculptures, were deliberately vague so that the end result was not completely controlled by the artist that conceived the work. In this way, LeWitt challenged some very fundamental beliefs about art, including the authority of the artist in the production of a work. His emphasis is most often on process and materials (or the lack thereof in the case of the latter) rather than on imbuing a work with a specific message or narrative. Art, for LeWitt, could exist for its own sake. Meaning was not a requirement.
Whereas many Minimalist artists turned to industrial materials, LeWitt simplified even further, still employing traditional materials - wood, canvas, paint, for instance - but focusing instead on concepts and systems. While the use of industrial materials implied a certain expectation of permanence with regard to a work of art, in direct contrast, LeWitt appreciated the ephemeral character and impermanence of Conceptual art. In short, he let the traditional materials speak for themselves, to demonstrate their own vulnerability to decay, destruction, or obsolescence.'
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lewitt-sol.htm
Sol Lewitts work reminds me of when we did the mindmapping tasks within drawing week, which was something I quite enjoyed as the method caused me to be much more spontanious with the way i draw and direct the lines, there was no vision intented. It also makes me think about when we did the challenge to draw music- also within drawing week - as the results I created were very much about lines and there, directions, lengths and anlges. Therefore, this then leads me to think that in some ways Lewitts work is very much about the movement and directions of lines. For example, within the second video, we see a team of people he chose to re-create his drawings on a larger scale. The ways in wich they draw the lines is like quick little scribles, yet they are done in a contained way in order to keep the consistancy and shading Lewitt imaged. however, by using different people, they will then have there own individual way of drawing the line therefore adding that element of spontality that I spoke of early, whilst as a hole it all comes together perfectly.
The 'Fountain' is one of Marcel Duchamp's most famous piece of work and is widely seen as an icon of twentieth century art. The original 'Fountain' , which was lost, consisted of a standard urinal which was presented on its back for exhibition, with a signature and date 'R. Mutt 1917'. In William Camfield's Marcel Duchamp's Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917, the author quotes from an interview with Duchamp on the origins of "R.Mutt": "Duchamp stated many years later that the pseudonym "Mutt" came from the Mott Works [J.L. Mott Iron Works, manufacturer of the urinal] but was modified because "Mott was too close so I altered it to Mutt, after the daily strip cartoon "Mutt and Jeff" which appeared at the time, and with which everyone was familiar. Thus, from the start there was an interplay of Mutt: a fat little funny man, and Jeff: a tall thin man...And I added Richard [French slang for money-bags]. That's not a bad name for a "piasotiere." Get it? The opposite of poverty. But not even that much, just R. MUTT." however, some people believe that the R.M stoods for 'readymade' which is a term to describe the 'ordinary manufactured object designed by the artist as a work of art (and, in Duchamp's case, interpretated in some way)
'Duchamp later recalled that the idea for Fountain arose from a discussion with the collector Walter Arensberg (1878–1954) and the artist Joseph Stella (1877–1946) in New York.He purchased a urinal from a sanitary ware supplier and submitted it – or arranged for it to be submitted – as an artwork by ‘R. Mutt’ to the newly established Society of Independent Artists that Duchamp himself had helped found and promote on the lines of the Parisian Salon des Indépendants (Duchamp had moved from Paris to New York in 1915). The society’s board of directors, who were bound by the Society’s constitution to accept all members’ submissions, took exception to Fountain, believing that a piece of sanitary ware – and one associated with bodily waste – could not be considered a work of art and furthermore was indecent (presumably, although this was not said, if displayed to women). Following a discussion and a vote, the directors present during the installation of the show at the Grand Central Palace (about ten of them according to a report in the New York Herald) narrowly decided on behalf of the board to exclude the submission from the Society’s inaugural exhibition that opened to the public on 10 April 1917. Arensberg and Duchamp resigned in protest against the board taking it upon itself to veto and effectively censor an artist’s work. Duchamp never explicitly commented on why he wanted to test the principles of his fellow board members but it may well have sprung from his own experience at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris.'
My Thoughts: I find it interesting how this piece of artwork has created such a large discussion and debate as to what is art? The definition by Oxford Dictionary states that; Art is "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power" Does the Fountain fall into the dictionary definition of art? According to Society of Independent Artists (that Duchamp helped found and promote) decided it wasn't "believing that a piece of sanitary ware - and one associated with bodly waste - could not be considered a work of art and furthermore was indecent" But who are we to say what is art? Each person has their own opinions and perspectives. It also raises question, is it the subject or idea that creates the art within the Fountain?
After reading the Arte Povera on Tates glossary art terms, I discovered that this movement was seen as the Italians contribution to conceptual art. After also reading that Alighiero Boetti was considered a conceptual artist I decided to research into this movement.
'Clock (One and Five)' - Joseph Kosuth, 1965, 1997
According to Tate glossary conceptual art is 'art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.' They continued to write that 'it was an international art movement happening more or less simultaneously across Europe, North America and South America. Artists associated with the movement attempted to bypass the increasingly commercialised art world by stressing thought processes and methods of production as the value of the work. The art forms they used were often intentionally those that do not produce a finished object such as a sculpture or painting. This meant that their work could not be easily bought and sold and did not need to be viewed in a formal gallery situation.'
'Post-Partum Document.' - Mary Kelly, 1975
What does conceptual art look like? Conceptual art can be and look like almost anything. This is because conceptual artists use whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their ideas across. Some of the ways conceptual artists explored and expressed their ideas was through performance, instructions, actions, land art, body art, found objects, documentation, written statements and film/video.
'Time Base Roller' - John Latham, 1972
Some of the main artists associated with the conceptual art movement are: Art & Language, John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Victor Burgin, Michael Craig-Martin, Gilbert & George, Mary Kelly, Yves Klein, Joseph Kosuth, John Latham, Richard Long and Piero Manzoni. My Thoughts: I like how in conceptual art it is about the idea behind the work rather than the object itself because it causes us to stop and think - we ask ourselves questions like; what was the artist trying to say? why did the artist choose to display it like this? etc. But it's interesting how conceptual art has the ability to create discussion and debate on what is art? whilst disrupting the commercialization of the art world. such as the nappie liners of Mary Kelly's Post-Partum or Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, which was turned down by Society of Independent Artists. Yet to this day the idea behind Fountain still interests people and still creating debate on what is art.
Jannis Kounellis (Greek, b.1936) is a performance artist and sculpture associated with the Arte Povera movement. He attended college in Athens before traveling to Rome in 1956 and enrolling at the Academy of Arts. His earliest works experimented with stenciled numbers, letters, and words on canvas, eventually incorporating found objects and staging performances that reflected his ideas about society and politics. In 1967, he became associated with Arte Povera, a movement dedicated to attacking the established norms of government, industry, and culture. During this time, Kounellis increasingly created works that juxtaposed disparate materials, including stone, cotton, coal, bed-frames, and doors.
Untitled, 1968
At the time this piece of work was created Kounellis - who was living in Rome and was one of the leading members in the Arte Povera movement - had abandoned painting as a medium and had embraced an art made of everyday materials.
Preceding to the work's inclusion in the exhibition Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972, held at Tate Modern in 2001, the artist reworked the piece, removing some of the original wool that had become matted and replacing it with fresh wool. He explained to the curators at Tate that he made the work partly in response to Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952. The upright posts corresponded to the diagonal poles of Pollock's painting while the blue and white wool is teased out to mimic the dripped paint.
Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952
Jannis Kounellis piece 'untitled' just goes to show that we can seek out inspiration from other areas within art which aren't in our specialism - as Kounellis is more of sculpturer whereas Pollock is more of a painter. But this act of borrowing ideas from other mediums is something I aim to do myself within this project. Although Kounellis was recreating a painting which inspired him, I believe that the way in which he placed the material, poetically tells a story.
My first source of inspiration in exploring the topic of Arte Povera was conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti. Who was one of the most important and influential Italian artists of the twemtieth century. He was a key member of the Arte Povera group of young Italian artists in the late 1960s which was working in radically new ways, using simple materials."His modest choice of materials became a benchmark for arte povera artists and took art from its elitest pedestal." From 1963, Boetti began to use materials in his work which had, until then, never been associated with fine art. His work engaged with the changing geopolitical situation of his time, much of it made on his travels to places such as Ethiopia, Guatemala and Afghanistan. He is most famous for a series of embroidered maps of the world, Mappa, created between 1971 and his death in 1994.
TateShots: Alighiero E Boetti
"For me, the embroidered Map couldn’t be more beautiful.
I did nothing for this work, chose nothing myself, in the
sense that the world is shaped as it is, I did not draw it;
the flags are what they are, I did not design them. In short
I created absolutely nothing. When a fundamental idea,
the concept, emerges, there is no need to decide on
anything else." - Alighiero Boetti
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-arte-povera.htm Arte Povera - meaning "poor art" or "impoverished art" - was significant and influential avant-garde movement to emerge in Europe in the 1960s. It gathered the work of around a dozen Italian artists whose most recognizable trait was their use of everyday materials which could evoke a pre-industrial age, such as earth, rocks, clothing, paper and rope. Their work was reacting against the modernist abstract paintings that had dominated European art in the 1950s. Whilst rejecting the American Minimalism, particularly for its enthusiasm towards technology.
'Key Ideas:
Although Arte Povera is most notable for its use of simple, artisanal materials, it did not use these to the exclusion of all else. Some of the group's most memorable work comes from the contrast of unprocessed materials with references to the most recent consumer culture. Believing that modernity threatened to erase our sense of memory along with all signs of the past, the Arte Povera group sought to contrast the new and the old in order to complicate our sense of the effects of passing time.
In addition to opposing the technological design of AmericanMinimalism, artists associated with Arte Povera also rejected what they perceived as its scientific rationalism. By contrast, they conjured a world of myth whose mysteries couldn't be easily explained. Or they presented absurd, jarring and comical juxtapositions, often of the new and the old, or the highly processed and the pre-industrial. By doing so, the Italian artists evoked some of the effects of modernization, how it tended to destroy experiences of locality and memory as it pushed ever forwards into the future.
Arte Povera's interest in "poor" materials can be seen as related to Assemblage, an international trend of the 1950s and 1960s that used similar materials. Both movements marked a reaction against much of the abstract painting that dominated art in the period. They viewed it as too narrowly concerned with emotion and individual expression, and too confined by the traditions of painting. Instead, they proposed an art that was much more interested in materiality and physicality, and borrowed forms and materials from everyday life. Arte Povera might be distinguished from Assemblage by its interest in modes such as performance and installation, approaches that had more in common with pre-war avant-gardes such as Surrealism, Dada and Constructivism.' Arte Povera may be a strange chose for an illustration specialism, but I want to borrow their ideas of recycled materials and going against traditional media, for example what happens if rather than a pen I use a twig? or rather than paper I use material? thus using objects/material which relate to the person, location or everyday lifestyle. However, illustrators have the ability to be storytellers, and I feel that these Italian artists have managed to tell the story of the material. For example Michelangelo Pistoletto, created a ball of newspaper, which involved the public to help him push it through the streets, he explained that he wanted to bring 'art to the people' - this process is something that perfectly demonstrates the Arte Poveras theme of going against the commercialization of galleries.
"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing." - Socrates
From exploring our mind-map, I have decided to start my investigation on 'Arte povera': Which was a radical Italian art movement from the late 1960s to 1970s whose artists explored a range of unconventional processes and non traditional 'everyday' materials' The term 'Arte Povera' means 'poor art' and was introduced by Italian art critic and curator, Germano Celant, in 1967. But the word 'poor' refers to the movements signature exploration of a wide range of materials beyond the traditional ones. The materials used by these artists included soil, rags and twigs. 'In using such throwaway materials they aimed to challenge and disrupt the values of the commercialised contemporary gallery system.' Their work marked a reaction against the modernist abstract paintings that had dominated 1950s European art. Whilst rejecting against American Minimalism and its enthusiasm for technology. Leading artists were Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Piero Gilardi, Jannis Kounellis,Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini and Gilberto Zori
