Well, went to Bank Negara Museum and Art Gallery twice....1st on 25/7 with soft skill department second is with the whole class on 28/7. I want to try artwork analysis on a few Artwork that we saw at Gallery. All the analysis is base on my own opinion
Example,
I going to do analysis on one of Yee I-Lann artwork.
Describe-
The artwork is name Kerbau, done by Yee I-Lann on year 2007 by the material of Digital Print. It is a long artwork rather then a normal framing artwork. The artwork is filled with many many kerbau with them separating them into 2 sides in the center and road block cone is also in the art. The background is using white color without any color.
Analyze-
For my opinion, I personally think that this art is a formalistic artwork because it is not base on aesthetic as aesthetic is dealing with the nature,the creation and appreciation of beauty. It uses digital print as the main material because to implement with the idea of recycle as to reduce down the trees being cut down.
Interpret-
-Kerbau, or water buffalo is majorly found in Southeast Asia. Water Buffalo give people an impression of very stubborn, very difficult to control them.
-Cone is usually use as a sign to stop people as there is danger and is also guide people's direction.
-White color has an image of pure, innocent and clean.
To combine all the element, I think that She is trying to say that people is just like Buffalo very stubborn and also always follow the government rules.Government set the rules by using the cone as Government want people to follow the cone to walk as Governement thinks people is to pure and innocent as they will just follow what government set for them. The people(buffalo) is angry this time therefore they don't want to follow. People now is not stupid as they will think and will not follow without thinking. The buffalo knocked down the cone to shows that they are not following the rules any more. And the art is show that groups of buffalo not a buffalo. This is to show that people are uniting to show their anger to the governemet.
Judgement-
I believe i cant do the judgement as i did not know what is the main objective of her doing the artwork.
Bravo on attempting to analyze an artwork even though you have not had formal art education and I really did not teach you enough on formalistic elements :)
ReplyDeleteJust a few things I need to point out:
1. Digital print does not really mean it is better for the environment. Just means the work is printed from a digital image taken with a digital camera :)
2. The white background can be interpreted a few ways:
- white as purity as you say
- white as nothingness, emptiness, a space without any context
- white is often used in art to also indicate a lack of noise or interference because of its emptiness
- white can symbolize obfuscation because in white out conditions in a snowstorm you cannot actually see anything (this will refer to works within spatial contexts that have snowstorms)
3. I am not sure why you differentiate between formalistic and aesthetic since both are interlinked. Perhaps you mean formalistic vs contextual? Your definition of aesthetic is not wrong but actually I think I-Lann's photo is indeed very aesthetically pleasing and difficult to execute. So there is aesthetic worth in the work. Hope that helps to clarify your thinking.
There is a contradiction in one of your points about how the kerbau is very stubborn but then you say it also always follows the government rules. Surely the kerbau cannot be both?
The issue is not about judging the work but trying to understand it or to "explicate" as we say in art circles. Judgement assumes a kind of right or wrong lens with which to view the work but understanding is about trying to appreciate the work within its context and the meaning it intends to convey.
Most of the time we only know of an artist's intent when we read their artist's statement or we ask them directly or read an interview they gave. Some artists never like to reveal their intention and some even say the intention is anything you want it to be.
So in the end, it is up to us to make meaning of it the way we see fit :) Just have to be careful of avoiding inconsistencies and as far as possible to ensure that you are analyzing a work within its cultural/historical/artistic context.
O...ok dr carmen, i take note about that...thanks dr carmen
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