A Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes

An exhibition of some of the people that have influenced me in my work. A mix of colour, illusions and inspirations.

Cornelia Parker

“Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View”, Cornelia Parker, 1991

This comes from the instillation ‘Cold Dark Matter’, which was once a shed filled with items from friends, garage sales and found items. She then had the shed blown up by the army, collected the pieces from the wreckage, from this she has created installations small and large. In this particular piece she has suspended the pieces in the form of a box. By placing a light in the middle the most beautiful shadows are formed on the wall. The way in which she has hung the pieces makes the viewer think it is levitating off the ground. Cold Dark Matter is a term used by scientists, it is a name for the things that are known to exist but have not accurately quantified. Parker is looking at ideas such as the ‘Big Bang’. As if the explosion has been frozen in time.

Pepon Osorio

“La Cama” (The Bed), Pepon Osorio, 1987

This amazingly decorated bed is never to much. In the context of Kitsch art this piece is filled with the ready made. I am drawn to Osorios work because many of his pieces are installations of major kitsch items. The bed in this piece is sitting in an undecorated room. Whereas some of the other works he does tho focus is everywhere else in the room. Against the plain walls the bed and all its embellishments stand out incredibly. The content of Osorio’s work is taking objects from everyday life and creating stories with the pieces, often of the lives of Puerto Rican people. Osorios commitment as an artist is “to return art to the community”.

Jeff Koons

“Puppy”, Jeff Koons, 1992

This is sculpture of a Westhighland white terrier puppy, in balloon form. The Content based around Koons’ work is kitsch. The image of a balloon dog is well known in popular culture, taking something such as this and enlarging it to a ridiculously huge size and placing it in a gallery situation is bringing the art to it. What a critic would call tacky in this piece i would call art. Bringing art to pieces that are kitsch and readymade is something that i am interested in. I am able to recognise kitsch items as art since being introduced to this art form.

Christo

Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, Christo, 1971-95

Christo is well known for his strikingly large pieces of work, 70 taylor-made fabric panels were made to cover the Reichstag. This image is a plan drawing of the piece, the real piece almost looks fake and photo shopped  it is so large. Taking something so beautiful already, such as the architecture on the building and covering it but still being able to see the beauty of the building is something i am interested in. Such an enormous effort has gone into the method of this piece. Looking at something and being able to see how large the method is intriguing. The amount of people and resources are amazing to think about.

Mike Kelley

“Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites”, Mike Kelley, 1991-9.

The colours first attracted me to this installation, each ball is made from soft materials such as children’s toys. They in which Kelley has deigned these pieces so the viewer can interact with them. The soft look of the balls would intregue people to touch them. Figuring out how to get the viewer to interact with my work is something I like to think about aswell.

”More love hours than can ever be repaid”, Mike Kelley, 1987

My interest in wool drew me to this piece. A mixture of found stuffed toys, scarfs and knitted pieces make up the canvas. kelley, who uses a lot of popular culture in his work,  does not want to promote popular culture in these pieces and it is all garbage, he explains that he lives in this world where everything is made up of popular culture and that the culture they speak.

The name to this piece i like because of the fact the knitting does take time and when making something for some one a lot of love is put into it. The amount of knitted pieces in this canvas has generated many ‘love hours’.

Quote

‘Not saisfied with the suggestion through paint of our senses, we shall utilize the specific substances of sights, sound, movements, people, odors, touch. Objects of every sort are materials for the new art - paint, chairs, food, electric and neon lights, smoke, water, old socks, a dog, movies, a thousand other things willb be discovered by the present generation of artists…. All will become materials for this new concrete art.’

Allan Kaprow, 1972.

Judy Darragh, So… You Made It?, Te Papa Press, 2004.

The quote above said by Allan Kaprow I think directly relates to Judy Darragh’s work, although she has started to use the 2 dimensional form, I am much more attracted to her 3 dimensional work. This quote is a reference to her work. Darragh’s sculptures are made from found objects and whilst making work she gained the name ‘Queen of Kitsch’. She used all found objects suh as the materials mentioned in the quote. All of those materials were Darragh’s paint.

Judy Darragh, ‘Birth of Barbie’.