AP Art History - Global Contemporary

The Crossing

Bill Viola. 1996 CE. Video/sound installation. - This work, like most works by Viola, uses new media to create an immersive sound and video environment. - The artwork uses a double-sided video projection on a freestanding piece of clear acrylic. - On one side of the image, a man walks up to the viewer and a trickle of water overhead becomes a deluge in which the man disappears. - On the opposite side of the acrylic sheet, the same man disappears after being engulfed in flames. - The artist draws on the universal truths about life and death found in both Eastern and Western religious traditions. - Sensory perception - Heighten viewer awareness of the senses but also suggest an exploration into the spiritual realm.

Untitled (#228), from the History Portraits series.

Cindy Sherman. 1990 CE. Photograph. - All of Cindy Sherman's artworks are self-portraits. - For this series of photographs, Sherman employed theatrical makeup, costumes, and props to make it appear as though she had been painted with oil paints. - Each of the works in this series draws from painted masterpieces. - This work portrays Judith holding the head of Holofernes. The story about a Jewish heroine who saves her people from foreign domination is one of the few feminist stories from the Bible. - In creating this work, Sherman is portraying a feminist hero while also blending aspects of painting with photography. - In creating a photograph that is modeled after Old Master paintings, Sherman is challenging the viewer to re-examine the artistic merit of each of the two mediums. - Richly decorated drapes hang behind the figure. - Judith lacks any emotional attachment to the murder that has taken place. - Holofernes appears masklike, alert, and nearly bloodless.

House in New Castle County

Delaware, U.S. Robert Venturi, John Rauch, and Denise Scott Brown (architects). 1978-1983 CE. Wood frame and stucco. - This house was custom built for the client's needs, which included a music room and large windows for bird watching. - The style was modeled after 18th century barns of the area. - Venturi's work was influential to many modern architects and is considered to be the exact opposite of the International Style that had been popular since the mid 20th century. - This house, like many of his designs, is inspired by buildings from the past. Unlike the International Style architects, he embraced decorative elements purely for aesthetic purposes in this and most of his works. - Post-modern architecture is notable for the return of classical or other old elements in a new way. Antique elements are often exaggerated or modified to allow new meaning.

Shibboleth

Doris Salcedo. 2007-2008 CE. Installation. - Salcedo created a temporary 548-foot-long series of fissures of various widths (up to one foot across in some parts) in the floor of the exhibition space. This is essentially a "crack" in the floor. - This work is deliberately reminiscent of cracks made in the ground by earthquakes and droughts. - The title refers to a work or custom used to differentiate members of ingroups from those of outgroups. - Salcedo's intent was the call attention to divisions in ethnicity, political association, class, and culture that are embedded in modern society. - For this work, Salcedo drew on her experience as a Colombian visiting the US and Europe. - The artwork was part of a series created for the Turbine Hall, the main entrance lobby of the Tate Modern museum in London. Following the exhibition, in 2007-2008 the crack was filled in but still remains visible. - A "Shibboleth" was originally a "test phrase" used to identify members of outgroups. - Salcedo chose Shibboleth as the title of her work because it refers to when you are recognized as somebody that is different. - Salcedo deliberately designed the long fissure in the Turbine Hall floor to disrupt the museum space. This physical disruption calls symbolic attention to the social fissures caused by the unwanted presence of marginalized immigrants in European society. - Crack emphasizes the gap in relationships; a reminder of the disruption in spaces.

Old Man's Cloth

El Anatsui. 2003 CE. Aluminum and copper wire. - This artwork is part of a series called Gawu, the Ewe (language of Ghana) word for metal cloth. - The objects used are recycled and cut metals fastened together with wire. - This artwork was made from a thousand drink tops that the artist found in the bush. - European bottled liquors were a major trade item used in the transatlantic slave trade. The use of the tops symbolizes a major contact point between the artist's native Africa and the European colonial powers that exploited the continent. - The fact that the tops came from liquor bottles that had been consumed by native people lent the material a history that embodied ideas about trade and dependence. - The patterns and colors of his metal cloth works are deliberately reminiscent of richly patterned Ghanian kente cloth. The liberal use of gold colored metal refers to the former British name for Ghana (The Gold Coast). - The artist creates the work as a flat piece of fabric but manipulates it in various ways during installation to best catch the light in the space.

Earth's Creation

Emily Kane Kngwarreye. 1994 CE. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. - The artist who created this artwork was an Aboriginal Australian who was completely untrained in art and who did not begin to paint until she was 80 years old. - All her artworks use the dot work patterns derived from the traditional Aboriginal Australian style to depict the dreaming stories of her cultural heritage. - Her work has often been compared to Impressionist and Abstract Expressionist artworks, although she knew nothing about art history. - All her color schemes were influenced by the landscape. This one refers to the "green time" after the rainy season. - She was the first Aboriginal artist whose work broke the million-dollar mark at auction.

Dancing at the Louvre, from the series The French Collection, Part 1; #1.

Faith Ringgold. 1991 CE. Acrylic on canvas, tie-dyed, pieced fabric border. - This piece is a part of a series that tells the story of a fictional African-American young woman who travels to Paris in the 1920s and befriends many famous artists. In this panel, she and her family are more interested in having fun than viewing the masterpieces of European art history. - In writing and illustrating this story, Ringgold revised history, allowing her character to interact with people who were considered to be artistic heroes of the time period. Some of the stories was inspired by the life story of Josephine Baker. - Ringgold's mother was a fashion designer and seamstress. After her mother died in 1981, Ringgold started making the story quilts for which she became famous. - Ringgold's approach combines traditional European techniques with African-American folk art. - The central image is painted on canvas while the border, which contains the text, is made of various pieces of fabric. The entire artwork is then finished using traditional quilting techniques. - The hybrid technique combined with the subject matter pays homage to feminist history, especially African-American women's history, and to the women who made the quilts that guided escaped slaves along the underground railroad.

Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People)

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. 1992 CE. Oil and mixed media on canvas. - This artwork was made as a response to the 500th anniversary of Columbus's landing in the New World and was part of a series called the Quincentenary Non-Celebration. - The artist is Native American, and she uses her cultural heritage combined with her traditional art training to make artworks that address the history of her people. - The central theme of this artwork is the history of Native Americans being poorly compensated for their tribal lands and the different ways that each side saw the same world, which led to the uneven exchange. - The large canvas is covered by tribal newspaper articles about native life combined with images of stereotypical Native Americans from product designs and advertisements. - Smith was inspired by Abstract Expressionist painters in her energetic application of brushstrokes over the collage. - On the topmost layer of the painting, she painted the outline of a canoe, which is a traditional native form of transportation and a reference to movement. - Above the painting, Smith hung a string lined with inexpensive toys and souvenirs. Some of the objects imitate traditional Native clothing and tools, while others feature images of Natives used as mascots. - By pairing the painted and collaged image of the canoe with the inexpensive trinkets, hats, and costumes, the artist is envisioning a world where the Native tribes can offer modern day cheap goods that they consider to be offensive in exchange for the return of tribal lands.

Horn Players

Jean-Michel Basquiat. 1983 CE. Acrylic and oil paint stick on three canvas panels. - Basquiat emerged from the New York City graffiti scene of the 1980s. - Basquiat's artwork was labeled Neo-Expressionism and was commercially exploited despite his personal problems including a drug addiction that led to his early death. - Much of Basquiat's artwork drew inspiration from so-called primitive approaches to imagery and to street art, especially graffiti. - The themes of racism, cultural identity and social tensions were prevalent in Basquiat's work. - This painting is a kind of triptych featuring jazz musicians Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the other wings. The painting also features words that Basquiat associated with these musicians and geometric shapes made of lines. - The traditional approach to creating the illusion of three-dimensional space is absent in this work. In this work, Basquiat pays tribute to these African-American artists by rejecting traditional European painting techniques in favor of a flat, Expressionist style.

Pink Panther

Jeff Koons, 1988 CE. Glazed porcelain. - This piece is from a series called "Banality." - Koons deliberately drew from pop culture images to create a sculptural design intended to comment on art and beauty as commodities. - The Pink Panther is a cartoon character from a film and TV series from the 1960s and 1970s. For this sculpture Koons place him in a semi-erotic pose with a platinum blonde woman who is reminiscent of Hollywood celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. - The artworks from the Banality series were fabricated by workshops in Germany and Italy that had long-standing traditions of working with porcelain and wood. Each piece was made in editions of three for simultaneous exhibition around the world. - Koons was one of the first artists to engage in self-promotion by taking out ads in major art magazines and employing an image consultant in order to create celebrity status for himself. - The use of deliberately gaudy colors and appropriated images were inspired by kitschy, inexpensive knickknacks.

Stadia II

Julie Mehretu. 2004 CE. Ink and acrylic on canvas. - The Ethiopian born Mehretu portrays the chaos of the modern world in her large-scale paintings. - Mehretu often overlaps architectural plans, diagrams, photos, graffiti, and maps combined with abstract shapes and designs to create paintings that have an illusion of depth and movement. - There is also many geometric shapes and lines to giving us an idea of constant movement. - The surface of this painting was built up in layers to add to the illusion of depth and motion. - Mehretu was inspired by the many abstract movements of the 20th century. - The title to this work, one of a triptych, refers to arenas where national identity, power struggle, commercialism, entertainment, and heated conflict merge into a whole experience. - The build-up of the 2004 summer Olympics played a role in how Mehretu conceptualized Stadia II. Olympic imagery can be seen in the many flags and pennants distributed across the work's upper register. - Mehretu carefully grounded Stadia II in the tradition of architectural drawing. This is a stylised rendering of a stadia or stadium dominates the painting.

Darkytown Rebellion

Kara Walker. 2001 CE. Cut paper and projection on wall. - Walker is known for her installations that explore the history of race relations and slavery in the US. - The use of cut paper silhouettes is deliberately reminiscent of the Victorian era when the medium was used as an inexpensive alternative to painted or photographic portraits. - This work, like most of Walker's installations, made use of life-size silhouettes placed on the walls of the space with overlays of colored projections. This subject is a mix of fact and fantasy meant to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. - The shapes depict stereotypes of antebellum African American slaves engaged in a rebellion of various sorts. The silhouettes both reveal and conceal details about the figure. - The viewer is forced to become part of the scene, making it impossible to ignore the history and brutality of slavery in the US. - Walker also creates an alternate view of African Americans that is very different from the representations found historically in American visual and pop culture. - Exploration of African Americans int he antebellum South: teenager holds a flag that resembles a colonial ship sail; one man has his leg cut off; a woman aborting a child; a woman caring for newborns. - Walker reinvents "Darkytown" a work depicting stereotypical images of well-dressed blacks enjoying an idyllic day on a rural Carolina plantation to a harsher reality.

Lying with the Wolf

Kiki Smith. 2001 CE. Ink and pencil on paper. - This is one of a series of works in which Smith combines myths, folk tales, biblical narratives, and Victorian literature to create new concepts about feminine identity. - In this large scale drawing, the female reclining nude bonds with a wolf. - The drawing references both the folk tale of the Little Red Riding Hood and the biblical story of Saint Genevieve, who had the ability to domesticate wolves. - By visually referencing the two stories, Smith re-interprets them in a feminist light. The female figure is not a submissive woman cowering in fear next to a dangerous predator. Instead, she is independent and empowered who is unafraid. - The identification of wolves as a traditional symbol of evil and danger demonstrates Smith's ability to use Lying with the Wolf to forge a new level of meaning. The wolf and the human are no longer predator and prey. Instead, Smith reimagines these traditional roles by portraying the wolf and the woman as nurturing companions. - Nude female figure; theme of Smith's work is the human body.

Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds)

Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds). Ai Weiwei. 2010-2011 CE. Sculpted and painted porcelain. - This installation was originally made for display at the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. When the exhibit ended in 2011, the artist re-created the installation in different formats in other museums and venues around the world. Some of the seeds were sold in glass jars as well. - The installation was composed of 100 million realistic looking porcelain sunflower seeds spread over the floor. Originally viewers could walk through the seeds, but within 10 days of the exhibit opening, the dust created by the foot traffic across the work resulted in a change in the installation. The museum and the artist decided that the public could view the work from above or the sides, but could no longer interact with it. - Each seed was individually sculpted and hand-painted by craftsmen working in Jingdezhen, China, where porcelain goods have been produced for almost 1200 years. - The artwork was inspired by memories of the artist's childhood when Chairman Mao referred to himself as the sun and to his followers as his loyal sunflowers. - Sunflower seeds are a popular snack in modern day China, despite their association with Mao. - In 2011, the artist, who is an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, was arrested in his native China and held in captivity for 3 months. He was released due to pressure from representatives of the art world.

Androgyne III

Magdalena Abakanowicz. 1985 CE. Burlap, resin, wood, nails, string. - This is one of the many artworks by the Polish artist Abakanowicz that ask the viewer to examine the relationship between the individual and the society. - The idea of self versus group is loosely based on the history of Poland in the 20th century, particularly the Nazi German occupation and the postwar Soviet domination. - In the early 1970s, the artist began to make freestanding sculptures from her fiber works. Abakanowicz used a molding process to make the form out of burlap combined with resin. A result is a three-dimensional object that has a hollow interior that can be viewed when the piece is seen from the front. - This is one of a series of sculptures that Abakanowicz elevated from the floor by creating a wooden structure as a base. - Abakanowicz was inspired by existential ideas about modern spiritual and physical existence.

Pure Land

Mariko Mori. 1998 CE. Color photograph on glass. - This artwork is part of the "Esoteric Cosmos" series created in 1996-1997. - The series, created using digital imagery, draws inspiration from the style of ukiyo-e "floating world" prints from the Edo period in Japan. - The artist depicted herself as a Kichijoten, the Japanese goddess of happiness, fertility, and beauty, floating over the Dead Sea at dawn. - Cartoon characters float in the empty landscape with her. The empty landscape embodies the Buddhist idea of emptiness called sunyata. - The landscape is reminiscent of Western landscape paintings as well as video games. The figures are references to Manga (Japanese graphic novels) and Anime (Manga-inspired films and television shows). - The artwork is both a reference to Japanese Pop culture and an updated version of traditional Japanese Buddhist imagery.

Pisupo Lua Are (Corned Beef 2000)

Michel Tuffery. 1994 CE. Mixed Media. - This artwork, made by a New Zealander, is made from flattened corned-beef tins joined by rivets. - Drawing on his Samoan heritage, Tuffery named the work for the local Samoan term for canned goods. The term is derived from a Samoan rendition of the words "pea soup," which was the first canned food to be introduced to the island. - Canned foods quickly became prestigious items used as ceremonial gifts in Samoa. - This artwork is a visual comment about an imported item that displaced native foods, a direct result of the effects of European colonization on Pacific peoples. - This artwork challenges the viewer to consider whether or not the colonization of the Pacific islands created a dependence on European goods.

Electronic Superhighway

Nam June Paik. 1995 C.E. Mixed-media installation (49-channel closed-circuit video installation, neon, steel, and electronic components). - This work was inspired by Paik's arrival in the US in the 1960s. At the time, superhighways were new and heavily advertised as a way Americans can travel the country on a budget. - The huge scale of work reflects how big Paik thought America to be compared to his hometown Korea. - The numerous flashing images are meant to evoke landscapes seen from the window of a moving car. Inserted into these images are scenes from pop culture and movies that helped define the way that Americans saw themselves. - The neon outlines recall signs viewed on the road such as motels, diners, etc. They also outline the states to remind the viewer of the distinct identity of each state in the country. - Paik coined the phrase "electronic superhighway." This artwork was meant to contrast the actual road trips of the past with the virtual travels of the internet, which was fairly new yet growing exponentially at the time when this artwork was created. - A camera is turned on the spectator and its TV feed appears on one of the monitors; it turns the spectator into a participant in the artwork.

The Gates

New York City, US. Christo and Jeanne-Claude. 1979-2005 CE. Mixed-media installation. - The artists developed the concept for this large-scale installation in 1979, although it was not actually produced until 2005. - The work was temporary and is linked to the environmental art of the 1970s. This installation only lasted 16 days. - Other artworks by these artists have used fabric, curtains, and umbrellas to wrap and change large structures or natural environments. - This piece incorporated 7,500 constructed gates across 23 miles of footpaths in New York City's Central Park. Each 16-foot tall gate had a large piece of saffron-colored fabric hanging to seven feet above ground level. - The artists' intention was to create an aerial view of a golden river that appeared and disappeared among the trees in the park. - At ground level the fabric evoked organic forms as it moved in the air, transforming the footpaths completely. - The installation was financed by the artists and most of the saffron material was intended for recycling. The artists sold merchandise related to the exhibition. - Meant to inspire joy and beauty rather than exploring deep messages.

En la Barberia no se Llora (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop)

Pepon Osorio. 1994 CE. Mixed-media installation. - This artwork was originally installed in an exhibition space in Hartford, Connecticut. At the opening reception, the artist recruited real barbers to offer haircuts to viewers. - Masculine store, but walls covered with men crying. - This work was meant to be entered and experienced by the viewer. It was originally installed in a vacant store. - This artwork re-creates the artist's memory of his first haircut at age five. What was seen as a celebratory rite of passage by others, became a scary scenario that he mostly cried through. - Pepon Osorio worked for several years as a social worker in the Bronx, NYC. His work draws on Puerto Rican cultural norms, inner-city life as well as childhood memories. - The installation "shop" contained images of Latinos, men crying, powders meant to develop male prowess and other items associated with masculinity.

MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts

Rome, Italy. Zaha Hadid (architect). 2010 CE. Glass, steel, and cement. - Located in Rome, Italy, this contemporary art museum exemplifies the neo-futuristic style, characterized by curving forms and elongated surfaces. - The building is composed of bending oblong tubes that overlap and intersect with each other. - Hadid was inspired by flowing rivers, and she sought to integrate the building into the urban fabric of the city.

Rebellious Silence, From the "Women of Allah" series.

Shirin Neshat (artist); artist; photo by Cynthia Preston. 1994 CE. Ink on Photograph. - This artwork is one of a series of works that portray female warriors of the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979. - This self-portrait depicts the artist with her face covered partially by Farsi text. - The text, which covers the part of her face usually covered by a niqab (traditional Muslim face scarf), is poetry written by Iranian women that contemplates martyrdom and the role of women in the revolution. The long tradition of Persian poetry is referenced in this portion of the artwork. - The rifle that divides her face symbolizes the deliberate arming of Muslim women during the revolution. Gun divides body into a darker and lighter side. - Westerners could view the work as an expression of female oppression. - Iranians could view the work as an image of an obedient right-minded woman who is ready to die defending her faith and customs. - In this artwork, the traditionally submissive gaze of religious Muslim women takes on new meaning. The viewer is reminded that the niqab may conceal more than a woman's face. - Black and white photograph

Summer Trees

Song Su-Nam. 1983 CE. Ink on paper. - Song Su-Nam was the leader of the Sumukhwa (oriental ink) movement of the 1980s while he was a professor at the Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. - The goal of the movement was to recover a national identity rooted in Korea's past. - In this work the artist combined techniques made famous by Post-Painterly Abstractionists with the subtle tonal variation used in Chinese and Korean literati-style ink paintings. - The use of a traditional East Asian medium combined with abstraction resulted in a new and unique approach to a European/American artistic style.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Spain. Frank Gehry (architect). 1997 CE. Titanium, glass, and limestone. - This building was constructed to serve as a museum of modern and contemporary art. - The design uses freeform sculptural elements that are asymmetrical. - The building is located in the old industrial heart of the city of Bilbao, Spain, along the Nervion River. - The design both blends with and stands out from the industrial buildings around it. - The shiny titanium tiles that sheathe most of the building may have been inspired by fish and the fishing industry that, along with the shipbuilding industry, was once a major part of Bilbao's economy. - This style is sometimes called deconstructivist, meaning bending and twisting traditional styles to create a new aesthetic. - Worked on designs by constructing models and them cutting them up and arranging the parts until he has a satisfying composition.

Preying Mantra

Wangechi Mutu. 2006 CE. Mixed media on Mylar. - This artwork is one of many Mutu has produced that deals with the subject of European colonization in Africa. - Mutu's collages include imagery from fashion magazines, popular magazines, pornographic images, and medical illustrations. The result is a re-imagined African female body with indirect or direct references to exploitation, sexism, and racism. - In this artwork, the traditional Western female reclining nude is re-imagined as a woman placed on a blanket that resembles a Kuba cloth. - The crowned woman stares boldly at the viewer, and she holds a green snake in her left hand. - Her body, which is the same color as the tree, and the tree itself visually symbolize the many global myths, including one from her native Kenya, that features the trees as central to the story. - The snake is a reference to the biblical creation story of Adam and Eve. - By combining Western and African images and symbols, the artist invites the viewer to examine the concept of hybridization. - The title, Praying Mantra, is a considered reference to the insect praying mantis. During mating season, the female mantis bits off her mate's head and then devour its a corpse for nourishment. This tells the audience that this is an aggressive and potentially dangerous woman.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Washington, D.C., U.S. Maya Lin. 1982 CE. Granite. - This site-based artwork was designed in 1981 by Lin while she was a student at Yale University's School of Architecture. - Her design was one of over 1,400 submitted to a call for entries by the US Government for a national Vietnam Veterans Monument to be placed in Washington D.C. - Her work is influenced by diverse sources including Japanese gardens, Native American Earth mounds, and earthwork such as the Spiral Jetty. - For this monument, she designed a highly reflective black granite V-shaped all that is sunk into the land rather than set on top of it. The names, placed in chronological order, of the 57,661 American soldiers who died in the conflict are inscribed on the wall, allowing viewers to see the names as well as their own reflections simultaneously. - The sunken placement of the wall was important to the concept because the artist wanted viewers to be on a spiritual journey that would make them reflect upon the death of the soldiers while being cognizant of the fact that they were still alive. - Due to pressure from the war veterans who were critics of the design, more traditional and realistic sculpture and American flag were added but were placed off to the side of Lin's design. - Looks like a scar in the land, one arm points to the Lincoln Memorial, the other to the Washington Monument. - Could be considered "site-specific art"

A Book from the Sky

Xu Bing. 1987-1991 CE. Mixed-media installation. - This mixed-media installation is made from hand-printed books as well as ceiling and wall scrolls printed using wood letterpress type. - The wooden type was hand-carved and then printed by the artist to mimic the form of traditional Chinese publications. - The type is not actual Chinese lettering. The artist designed imaginary words that make no sense in any language. - The printed matter, which took years to create, was intended to look legible but was made not to be. - The work was first installed in a Chinese gallery in 1988-1989 and has since been shown in several museums and exhibition spaces around the world. - During the time when the work was created, the Cultural Revolution in China had officially ended, leading Chinese artists to question both the past and the future of the Chinese culture. - Xu Bing quickly became a leading member of the Chinese avant-garde. - The artist intended to immerse the viewer in a sea of imaginary words while addressing the loss of meaning and culture in his native country.

The Swing (After Fragonard)

Yinka Shonibare. 2001 CE. Mixed-media installation. - This installation is composed of a life-sized headless female mannequin dressed in bright African printed fabric. The pose was appropriated from the Fragonard painting of the same name. - The resulting sculpture is both familiar and strange. The viewer can place him or herself in the position of either the male figures present in the original painting. - The fabrics are a contrast to the pink frilly costume depicted in the original painting and allude to the hybrid of Dutch and African traditions embedded in the fabric. - The headless mannequin may be a visual reminder of the downfall of the aristocracy that commissioned Rococo paintings. Twenty-five years after the Fragonard work was completed, the French Revolution ended the aristocratic way of life captured in the work.