30/11/13 Artists Influences

30/11/13 Artists Influences-

 Karen Ingham is a Fine artist tutor currently teaching at Swansea university. A piece I was remarkably fascinated in was based at the Hunterian in London where actors and actresses voiced people who had died and their body parts donated tot he museum e.g a piece based on a singer who had throat cancer and could not sing anymore. http://www.wellcomecollection.org/explore/science–art/video.aspx?view=narrative-remains

I found this very eerie and chilling as the Hunterian is a place of death, it can be quite creepy. I loved how she portrayed lifeless objects as people and recreated that, it’s a subject I would be interested in pursuing in future projects.

The second Rachel Whiteread who specialises in casting buildings mainly and my favourite, which got me truly thinking about my boxes was her commemoration for the Austrian Jews that was killed in the second world war. It had no windows or doors that would open and the exterior was made of books it was a replica gas chamber. That itself is very chilling one of the most awful buildings ever created was ironically the bitter truth of man kinds creation.  It completely represents death but Whitbread has portrayed it in white  peaceful colour giving it harmony and peace. I like the idea of creating this to now knowing what is inside my boxes but I will have to continue my experimentation.

Louise Nelson also specialises in box art, being a feminist artist born in 1899 and died in 1988 she studied metallic objects. She encrusted them making it almost impossible to remove as sculptures inside boxes. This is something I am truly interested in for this project I love the idea that these objects can be seen but not removed. I have began experimenting by placing tools upon my reliquaries, but they are very delicate unlike Nelson here who’s work are very welded and stuck down something I will have to take into consideration.

Another artist who speicailises in box art is Joseph Cornell born 1903 and died 1972. He mostly studied the use of shadow and light in his work which I did not find particularity helpful but it was interesting and I could have gone down this route if I wanted to portray what was inside the boxes but the sense of sight I think can be a bit boring sometimes.

Looking at the sense of smell in artwork-

Kate Mclean is a amazing artist who studies smell in her work by exploring cities such at Glasgow to Paris and locating smells by interviewing people what reminds them of the city and recreating that back at her studio.

 I have done something similar but studied memory through smell and how smell can trigger a fond memory. I have read several scientific studied on this matter located here:

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2012/april-12/fragrant-flashbacks.html (smells rouse early memories such as smelling baked good etc)

http://psychology.about.com/od/memory/ss/ten-facts-about-memory_8.htm (the brain, memory and sense of smell linked)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201205/why-certain-smells-trigger-positive-memories

It is even a fact that smell can help dementia and Alzheimer patients, my great grandmother had dementia and apparently she was always afraid and upset it heart braking and I wish this was introduced to her, it could have been a slight comfort. http://www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com/alzheimers-dementia-dealing/capturing-memories/smell-memories-alzheimers-patient/

Reliquaries 28/11/13

Reliquaries 28/11/13-

Reliquaries are relics containing body parts of martyrs and saints which come in all forms and sizes usually embedded with gold and jewels etc. The most famous is the Crown Of Thorns allegedly worn by Jesus Christ himself. Is was given a gift to Paris and now resides in the Notre Dame Cathedral which was acquired in 1238 by Louis the IX by Baldwin the II. They are believed to give off spiritual power, but I was fascinated by many as they contain human body parts from skulls to bones this is fascinating as today we would not dream of worshipping or admiring anything like that.

From here I have looked into the history and researchers believe that relics origins were traced back to Africa which influenced slaves in America as memory jugs were placed on graves to symbolise one’s life after death. Many artists have explored memory jugs to symbolise loves ones but one that I was quite interested in was Lourie Beth Zukerman. Born December 1951 in Colorado she designed a memory jug to link to her family who died in the second world war in the holocaust. I am thinking of designing my own memory jugs in the form of boxes as they are easier to design an I can make them quite tactile.