Look at me... Or not?

When considering the article by Miwon Kwon “One place after another- Sitings of public art : integration versus intervention”, a quote from Henry Moore struck my attention.

“I dont like doing commissions in the sense that I go and look at a site and then think of something. Once I have been asked to consider a certain place where one of my sculptures might possibly be placed, I try to choose something suitable from what I’ve done or from what I’m about to do. But I don’t sit down and try to create something special for it”

This idea that the sculpture may be something that is already been worked on or not site specific reminded me of the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, especially that of his wrappings, but more recently in the same idea expressed by Moore, to use your existing practice, making it fit into the space not the space fit into you by creating something completely new. This is exemplified through The Gates, Central Park New York City, 1979-2005.

From their previous works, they were able to accumulate an idea for a site specific work in the heart of New York, Central Park. That being said they are not commissioned for their works either, they were presented with a space to express themselves, but the need for their works to be completely free and true to art, means that they fund the projects from their own wallets, selling previous documentation of their works or up and coming proposals, so that the work not be infiltrated by the social art scene and critiqued to a point of ridicule. The idea that a place can be transformed via intervention of an artwork gives the artist tools to expand the minds of the audience and in the case the general public (which we discuss frequently in class, how art is being created not necessarily to be understood, but to be shown for appreciation). Giving the permission to generate the idea that art can stand for something and also breaking the barriers of the gallery context.

The idea that a work can be for a specific place, or ‘outside art’ brought me to think about the artist Bansky, whose graffiti art, commenting on war and peace, have taken site specific art to a deeper meaning or objectifying subject matter to manipulate our own emotional stance toward images. The ideals behind the work make us re-examine images that visually saturate our world, and how harmful this can be to the well being of society, a comment that art works, specifically site related works, can make, in being somewhat of a propaganda or “posing formal compositional challenges”says Kwon, to art in a contemporary setting, placing and environment.

Here are a few examples that im sure we are all aware of Banksy’s work, and the statements that they make.