Contemporary Art (art)

Nigredo

-Anselm Kiefer -1984, oil paint on photosensitized fabric, acrylic emulsion, straw, shellac, relief paint on paper pulled from painted wood -innovative landscape verging on abstraction -highly textured surface of pigment mixed with nontraditional materials -nigredo: "blackening" -pulls viewer into expansive landscape depicted using Renaissance perspective principles -far from pastoral or carefully cultivated -appears black and charred -indirectly alludes to the horrors of the Holocaust (notion of alchemical change or transformation) -black is one of the 4 symbolic colors of the alchemist (references death and molten state of substances broken down by fire)

The Holy Virgin Mary

-Chris Ofili -1996, paper collage, oil paint, glitter, polyester resin, map pins, & elephant dung on linen -artist of Nigerian descent and uses familial homeland figures in his art -major theme of his works is religion through eyes of artist with racial background -depicts Mary in a manner that departs radically from conventional Renaissance representations -presents her in simplified form, and she appears to be floating -employed brightly colored pigments applied to the canvas in multiple layers of beadlike dots -tiny images of genitalia and buttocks cut out from porn magazines surround her like angels surrounding Mary in Renaissance paintings -used elephant dung to incorporate Africa into his work in a literal way

Surrounded Islands

-Christo and Jeanne-Claude -1980-1983, Biscayne Bay, Florida -surrounded 11 small artificial islands in the bay (created from a dredging project) with 6.5 million square feet of specially fabricated pink polypropylene floating fabric -required three years of preparation to obtain required permits, assemble labor force, and obtain $3.2 million needed for completion -only existed for two weeks -environmentalist art, site-specific art

Untitled Film Still #35

-Cindy Sherman -1979, gelatin silver-print -addresses the way that much of Western art presents female beauty for the enjoyment of the male gaze -part of a series of more than 80 black&white photographs -got the idea after viewing pornographic magazines and noting stereotypical ways they depicted women -Sherman appears in a photograph that looks like a film still with a costume and wig -recalls a popular film genre while being generic -cord on floor is the shutter release cable that she used to take the picture

Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People)

-Jaune Quick-to-See Smith -1992, oil and mixed media on canvas -made in response to white America's celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World -incorporates collage elements and attached objects, reminiscent of Rauschenburg's combine -collage: clippings from Native American newspapers featuring images of the conquest of Native America & of problems facing those living on reservations today -dripping red paint & central motif of canoe is symbolic of the shedding of Native American blood -hung from clothesline: Native American artifacts like beaded belts and headdresses and contemporary sports memorabilia from teams with American-Indian derived names (Redskins, Braves)

The Dinner Party

-Judy Chicago -1979, multimedia, including ceramics and stitchery -required a team of nearly 400 to assemble -"a reinterpretation of the Last Supper from the point of view of women who..prepared the meals and set the table" -women were the honored guests of the dinner -form of plates on table express the way women have been confined -celebrate women's achievements but also reflect their oppression -rests on a triangular white tile floor inscribed with the names of 999 additional women of achievement to signify that the accomplishments of the 39 honored guests rest on a foundation that other women had laid -Hatshepsut, Georgia O'Keeffe, and others are of the honored guests

The Homeless Projection

-Krzystof Wodiczko -1986, outdoor slide projection at the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument -had many works displaying enormous slide images -became troubled by the pervasive homelessness in NYC, which is a city that is home to many of America's richest families -used his art to publicize this problem (in Boston, not in NYC) -temporary artwork consisting of images of homeless people projected on all four sides of the monument -at the top of monument, he projected a local condominium construction site which helped viewers make a connection between urban development and homelessness

Stereo Styles

-Lorna Simpson -1988, 10 instant film pictures placed on engraved plastic -images focus exclusively on the back of a young black woman's head -all shot in black and white -shows the woman modeling the hairstyles that were popular in the era -10 descriptive words on thin black strip between top and bottom photos: "daring, sensible, severe..." -doesn't provide a photo to a matching word: viewer can associate which hairstyle to which word as they please -doesn't put a face to her subject -adds either empowering or degrading words -resists traditional portraiture

Tilted Arc

-Richard Serra -1981, New York City -installed in the plaza in front of the Javits Federal Building in NYC -much of the public responded with hostile criticism: people were upset with the uncompromising presence of a Minimalist sculpture bisecting the plaza -people argued that it was ugly & attracted graffiti and interfered with the view across the plaza -it was removed because of the complaints, and was no longer a piece of art because it was a site-specific work -he wanted to dislocate or alter the decorative function of the plaza -wanted to interrupt the traffic flow across the square -by creating an intrusive presence in a public space, he forced viewers to reconsider the plaza's physical space as a sculptural form

Spiral Jetty

-Robert Smithson -1970, Great Salt Lake, Utah -one of the pioneering Environmental artists -used industrial construction equipment to manipulate vast quantities of earth and rock on isolated sites -1,500 foot long coil of black basalt, limestone rocks, and earth -inspired by seeing a company that had tried and failed to extract oil from the site, and attributed this to the enduring power of nature and the inability of humans to conquer it -insisted on designing his work in response to the location itself -fluctuations in the lake's water level often place Spiral Jetty underwater