Raul de Nieves

Mexican artist Raul de Nieves works both in the art and fashion worlds, combining the traditional techniques of his culture with new self taught skills. As he didn't go to art school, he had the freedom to explore his own interests and instincts, which means he can work for several years on the same pieces. His most renowned pieces are his sculptures made of plastic beads and his fashion based pieces which are more fantastical than practical, but are still possible to wear. His inspiration comes from his homeland, watching the celebration of different cultures and watching people costuming themselves for different festivals and celebrations. 

https://art21.org/watch/new-york-close-up/raul-de-nieves-is-an-american-artist/

After watching interviews with Nieves I feel a strong connection between his mindset and processes and my own. He talks about not wanting to be a perfectionist, and often not knowing how it is going to turn out is the most exciting part, which are both things which come into my mind when I am working on a piece. Colour is an important part of my work - maybe the most important - and I use bright vivid colours wherever possible. Nieves uses colour as a tool to allow the audience to see the 'facets of happiness and sadness all in one place'; colour allows people to see things as bright as they can be. He also uses alot of pattern over pattern, and clearly his work celebrates the excess, which aligns with my idea that more is more. Clothing as sculpture is another element that both my own work and that of Raul de Nieves have in common. Self adornment and self expression; the celebration of the body and what we are capable of; the body and clothing is something everyone is familar with, and it is a way of fully expressing yourself. 

In this interview Nieves talks about 'creating a narrative with figures and symbols and putting it in one image', which is essentially what I am trying to do with my degree show. By using the spectacles as a focal point I am hoping to create a narrative of some sort of festival scene. They are all very different but I hope that they will come together to make one whole image. I think the other paintings and work in my space will aid my work and the paintings and other works will help to frame my spectacles and make it look like a complete and full installation. In the curation meetings everyone was pretty easy going with how they wanted their work to be displayed which means when we come to install I think it will be a pretty exciting and collaborative week. Nieves wearable works are often shown on mannequins or stands, even though the works are intended to be animated through live action. My spectacles are intended to be worn but for the show they will be shown as 'sculptures'; only in the supporting documentation will they have reached their full potential through the movement of the body. The spectacles live outside of their presentation at the degree show - they are objects that are on display that have a use, even if that use is being disregarded for the duration of the show.

Nieves talks alot about using humble craft materials and how this takes away the seriousness of making art sometimes, which also relates to his lack of a perfectionist attitude. By using basic materials and tools, you can make whatever you can with whatever is infront of you. Its also about turning something simple and mundane into something magical. 'I’m not trying to limit myself. I look around here and there’s all these different types of works, and they all fall into a category with a manual labor aspect. It jumps from sculpture to painting, from installation to wearable costumes and performance. There’s a revolving theme around all of these things happening, but the medium is so open. That’s the ultimate freedom.'

Here, six jumpsuited, platform-shod sprites, each covered in brightly coloured plastic beads, pose as if frozen in the middle of The Hustle 

https://vimeo.com/280165093 

Words I constantly use to describe my work and why I use them

weird

/wɪəd/

adjective

1. 1.

   suggesting something supernatural; unearthly.

   
   

   "weird, inhuman sounds"

   
   

   synonyms:

   uncanny, eerie, unnatural, preternatural, supernatural, unearthly, other-worldly, unreal, ghostly, mysterious, mystifying, strange, abnormal, unusual; More

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2. 2.

   ARCHAIC

   connected with fate.

noun

ARCHAIC•SCOTTISH

1. 1.

   a person's destiny.

verb

INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN

1. 1.

   induce a sense of disbelief or alienation in someone.

   
   

   "blue eyes weirded him out, and Ivan's were especially creepy"

wonderful

/ˈwʌndəfʊl,ˈwʌndəf(ə)l/

adjective

1. inspiring delight, pleasure, or admiration; extremely good; marvellous.

   
   

   "they all think she's wonderful"

   
   

   synonyms:

   marvellous, magnificent, superb, glorious, sublime, lovely, delightful, first-class, first-rate;More

ridiculous

/rɪˈdɪkjʊləs/

adjective

adjective: ridiculous

1. deserving or inviting derision or mockery; absurd.

   
   

   "that ridiculous tartan cap"

   
   

   synonyms:

   laughable, absurd, comical, funny, hilarious, humorous, risible, derisory, droll, amusing, entertaining, diverting, chucklesome, farcical, slapstick, silly, facetious, ludicrous, hysterical, riotous, side-splitting; More

spectacle

/ˈspɛktək(ə)l/

noun

1. a visually striking performance or display.

   
   

   "the acrobatic feats make a good spectacle"

   
   

   synonyms:

   display, show, performance, presentation, exhibition, pageant, parade, extravaganza "the Queen's Birthday Parade is a spectacle fit for a monarch"

   • an event or scene regarded in terms of its visual impact.

     
     

     "the spectacle of a city's mass grief"

     
     

     synonyms:

     sight, vision, view, scene, prospect, vista, outlook, picture "the four men did present rather an odd spectacle"

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   • All of these words have significance to my work and I think they all sum up exactly what I am trying to get across to my audience. If I make something unearthly, or absurd, that inspires delight or pleasure in the viewer then I will have succeeded. I am writing this blog post in an attempt to add some sort of context to my work. My spectacles are not thoroughly rooted in research or concept, I see them as merely a response to these four words and my aim is to make my work as weird, wonderful and ridiculous a spectacle as possible. Even the simple definition of each of these words directly relates to each work I have created this term, and whilst this may be a very 'on the surface' contextualisation of my work I do believe that these four words are all a person needs to understand why I make what I make.
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In Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle - whilst he is talking about life, politics and the environment -  he states a few things in the first few pages that I feel relate to my work (bare in mind I am not sure I am interpreting this book the way it was intended).  

1. 'In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.' - If I relate this statement to what I believe a spectacle is then this is in semblance with my philosophy on life that everything in life is meant to exuberant, playful and enjoyed, and that everything has a potential to be a spectacle. My works are spectacles in their own right - they dont need a particular environment to become one. 

2. 'The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as instrument of unification.' - Spectacles have the ability to unite people, much like the festival environment I picture my work in, and I hope that my spectacles will unite the audience through their ridiculousness. 

3. 'The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.' - The spectacle is 'non-place', it doesn't have to exist in a particular environment which is the same as my work; it is versatile and can still have the same impact in a variety of contexts. 

4. 'The spectacle presents itself as something enormously positive, indisputable and inaccessible. It says nothing more that 'that which appears is good, that which is good appears'. - My spectacles are what they are. They are a true representation of myself and what you see is what you get. 

ways of displaying

Rebecca Horn -

Horn's works act as extensions to the body - often inhibiting movement and senses. Her work is most well known through photographs, which are often shown alongside the wearable pieces. The sculptures themselves have been shown in glass cases and boxes, giving them the appaearance of museum artefacts which are meant to be preserved and not to be touched - the opposite of what they were designed for. Because of this, it is the documentation of Horns work that allows people to see how the work was intended.





Nick Cave -

Cave's soundsuits whilst designed to be worn and performed, have been shown in various galleries displayed on mannequins - which act as an obvious clue that the costumes are meant to be worn on the human body. This displaying is key to his more abstract works - such as the suits that have found objects attached and the suits that have little or no figure - as it creates an expectation for the audience that these suits will be worn. The way they have been grouped together in the gallery space coupled with the way that they face different directions as well as each other helps the soundsuits to develop their own characters.



Jonathan Baldock -

 

Similar to Nick Cave, the way that these sculptures have been positioned allows them to develop their own characters and make them look 'human'. They are positioned as though they are mid activity, The human aspect is enhanced by use of human features like eyes, nose, mouth and hands.

Older work - Foundation FMP - The House of No Inhibitions

For this piece of work I projected a video of people dancing onto the static collages of people dancing in the house. The combination of the sculptural house and the projection made it look like the figures in the house were moving slightly, and really brought the sculpture to life. I am considering projecting a video of people wearing the spectacles in a variety of environments ontop of the real life spectacles in the degree show. As then I would be able to show the movement of them in the show without having to have a performance or have people taking them off their stands.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Seeing the fountain in real life was great having studied it and its significance to modern art. It was a lot cleaner that I thought it would be??? I dont know why but I kinda thought it would be used and dirty. Which I guess would be kind of gross. I also didn't realise that its not the original one, and that the original one was lost - the one in the MoMa was a replica. It was curated with other 'readymade' works of art including a pool table that had the balls stuck down - rendering it useless as a game but functional as a piece of furniture.

I really enjoyed the work of Arshile Gorky, an American born abstract expressionist. I liked the bold shapes outlined by a heavy black outline, and thought it would be a good reference point for my drawings which are often quite abstract. After seeing this I thought that perhaps I could look to abstract expressionist art to create spectacles from - a lot like the process I using for the Wall to Wall exhibition.

There was work by __ that showed both his 2D prints and his sculpture. There was an obvious correlation between the two but it was not explicitly a replica of the what was depicted in the print. For example there was a cobalt blue sculpture of a Shetland pony but the blue pony in the print - whilst clearly a pony - did not have defined features and was more ambiguous. However by using the same blue there is an obvious link between the two. In the print with the cucumbers on the leopard print cushion, the cucumbers are crossed, however in the 3D sculpture there are 3 of them and they are standing upright with hazelnuts on top of them. However you can see the link again because of the colour palette. The side of the box says 'tres ases' which means three aces - which could describe the 3 cucumbers.

Native North America

Native North America - Larry J. Zimmerman, Brian Leigh Molyneaux

This is my friends reference book for her class on Native American Culture where her professor is a Native American. He has issues with this book because it was written by a white man who observed the culture, who assumed he knew everything about the ways of the people. However as her professor has to prescribe reading for the class, this book was the best of a bad bunch. Its a never ending debate about whether outsiders should be allowed to observe other cultures but arguably we then wouldn't have the cross cultural variations we have today and we would have a lesser understanding of the world.

As I have been looking at ritual and also ritual costume I thought looking at this book and attending one of her classes whilst I am in San Francisco would be interesting.

Concepts of time:

Europeans perceive time as a long straight road from the past to the distant horizon of the future. This distances people from their ancestors and the ancients.
Many Indian peoples see time as circular - marked by birth, growth, maturity, death and regeneration of all things that share the earth.
This pattern is echoed in the setting and rising of the sun
The past is a place where all things reside that have completed the cycle.

Patterns and Symbols:

All Native North American cultures use art to express connections with the earth.
They can be made from and applied to almost any material such as hides, wood, beads, bone, shell or stone.
They often reflect the natural surroundings or depict creatures from peoples cosmology such as thunderbirds.
plains are shown through rectangles whereas circles symbolize the dome of the sky or the floor of a tipi.
Much art of the northwest coast is representational and has only the key features or characteristics of an animal or person.

The Life of the Spirit

Everything that the creator made has a spirit therefore all things are related and all things are sacred.
Mutual respect is expressed for everything - both past and present
The threads of ordinary life and spirituality are tightly interwoven, and the simplest everyday act can have spiritual meaning.
The sacred life of each Indian nation is linked to its own particular environment.
Nature and spirit are inseperable and mutually dependent
The Earth acts as a host to human beings


Ceremonial Transformations

The world of the living and the world of the spirits are connected via an 'in-between' world of transition.
Every entity to a certain extent inhabits all 3 worlds
If a human possessed the power or carried out sacred rituals then he or she could transform into an entity from one of the other worlds - and the audience would believe that they had literally become the being - animal or human.
Masks are a way of connecting with these other worlds and essential in transformation
Powwow's are a traditional large gathering tribal or intertribal that encompasses singing, dancing, giveaways and honouring ceremonies.
The dances are colourfully costumed with shawls, beads, bustles and elaborate headgear and a drumbeat directs the movements of the dance.

Jonathan Baldock Artist Talk

What I found most interesting was the fact that even his large scale installation pieces he stitches by hand and never uses machine stitching. He also talked about the familiarity of fabric, and how the audience can immediately relate to it because we wear clothes all the time and fabric surround us constantly. 

SECOND UNIT BAB3 - Wall to Wall Research - Camouflage

Camouflage Origins

Camouflage was first understood by hunters who recognised that their prey had a form of protection that was not just their teeth or claws; that their skin and fur was coloured to blend in with the surrounding landscapes. Hunters then adopted this, wearing fur, skins and feathers to get close to their prey. Hunters still use this technique only it has evolved into complex clothing like Ghillie Suits - invented by Scottish gamekeepers - which consist of hundred of pieces of hessian attached to netting. Different cultures and environments have different forms of camouflage depending on the surroundings - in the tropics contrasting camouflage is most effective in the bright vibrant colours as it competes with the visual landscape. Whereas in the desert more muddy colours are worn. Camouflage of this nature is also known as 'disruptive pattern'.  Wearing the furs of an animal was not only a way to trick the animal into getting close to the hunter, but also links with the shamanistic idea of being able to connect with the spirit of the animal you are hunting.

Camouflage has since been adopted by the military as a primary form of concealing vehicles and weaponry, but disruptive pattern camouflage didn't become militarised until WWI. The first camouflage replaced a single colour similar to that of the landscape with similar overlapping shades that confused the eye and make soldiers difficult to spot. Militarised camouflage intially was designed by artists, and the different styles of camoflage drew upon the artistic ideas of the time as well as the ideas of naturalist Abbot H. Thayer, but it was Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola who believed that 'in order to deform totally the aspect of the object, I had to employ the means that cubists use to represent it' - which mean to split up the aspects of the colour into different shapes and colour.
During WWI dazzle ships were created. Dazzle ships had disorientating black and white geometric shapes painted shapes all over them, which confused enemy ships as it made it difficult to estimate speed, direction and range. This dazzle camouflage was employed by the British marine and over 2000 ships were painted during WWI and into WW2. Each design was different, and alot of the designed were designed by women from the Royal Acedemy of Arts.

sabina keric and yvonne bayer
desiree palmen
annie collinge
https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/art-culture-and-camouflage