molly burtenshaw  BIBLIOGRAPHY
 

 

 

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Allan, Ken. "Taking the Measure of the World." X-Tra Contemporary Art Quarterly 8.3 (2006). Print.

Ken Allen analyzes installation artist Tim Hawkinson’s recent instillation work by focusing on the overwhelming aspect of the artist’s use of sound, touch, and sight.  Hawkinson utilizes synthetic materials such as wire and foam in order to create highly naturalistic but deeply disturbing portrayals of the human form.  I am primarily interested in the artist’s use of these industrial materials in order to comment on the industrialized nature of mankind’s existence.  If possible, I would like to venture into the arena of artists such as Hawkinson in their use of technology in order to portray the physical qualities of breathing and light.  Like Hawkinson, I want to make objects that evoke a sense of life and he is most aptly able to reference this quality in his work through technology.

Andrews, Michael. The Life that Lives on Man. New York: Taplinger, 1977. Print.

This biological work explores the multiplicity of beings that exist on the human organ of skin.  This is of particular relevance in my own exploration of skin as an organ that both protects the internal processes of the body but also is porous enough to allow intrusion.  How do we exist in harmony and conflict with the entirety of the parasitic dimension of nature?  Andrews’s novel will prove a viable point of reference for my investigation of the disgusting and beautiful potential of skin.

Atwood, Cynthia. "Artist Statement." Cynthia Atwood. Icompendium, 2008. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://www.cynthiaatwood.com/>.

Cynthia Atwood is a sculpture artist who explores the use of weaving and sewing in portraying the abstract but sensuous nature of skin. Her objects are often both highly appealing and incredibly repulsive in their use of fabric and synthetic materials to create vaguely organic structures.  I am interested in the manner in which Atwood approaches the human form: as something highly subjective, but immediately relatable and evocative.  I would like to explore further her use of wrapping and binding as a metaphor for the way in which humans clothe themselves in a false skin – fabric- in order to hide the internal processes of their own personal and destructive beings.

Blumenau, Lili. The Art and Craft of Hand Weaving, Including Fabric Design. New York: Crown, 1955. Print.

Lili Bluemenau explores in her novel the vast potential of weaving and sewing and fabric work as not only a mechanical process of correction but also a sensual and methodical method of producing artwork.  Her novel contains not only a variety of technical methods through which to approach the application of fiber work, but she also delves into the symbolic and metaphorical aspects of sewing.  In my own work, I tend to utilize fiber processes as a means of conveying a greater sending of binding and mending on an organic level that is achieved through synthetic methods.  In this manner, I believe Blumenau evinces the symbolic and metaphorical potential of sewing. 

Corby, Vanessa. Encountering Eva Hesse. Ed. Griselda Pollock. New York: Prestel, 2006. Print.

Vanessa Corby makes an effort in this exploration to highlight the conceptual and emotional grounding that provided the framework through which Eva Hesse was able to produce her sensual and personal body of work.  I was initially attracted to the artist due to her careful and meticulous use of synthetic material in order to produce such whimsically pleasing works of art.  Like Hesse, I too delve into the use of industrial materials – such as rubber, fabric and wire – in order to evoke a sense of organic sensibility through contradictory processes.  Her pieces portrayed a sense of the human, organic function of human organs by utilizing materials that would naturally decay according to the process of entropy and I, too, would like to explore the potential of such decopositional materials. 

Crone, Rainer. Louise Bourgeois : the Secret of the Cells. New York: Prestel, 1998. Print.

Louise Bourgeois is one of the most infamous personalities in the contemporary art world that is interested in dissecting and conveying bodily functions.  While the renewed sculpture is more intrinsically interested in portraying the body as a site of person and specific memory, her ambiguous forms evoke a sense of the transformative power of our on subconscious on the figural form.  I look to this powerful artist as an initiator of the movement to examine and explore how our own subject experience of the body can be translated into permanent, sculptural expression.

De Zegher, Catherine. Eva Hesse Drawing. New York: The Drawing Center, 2006. Print.

Catherine de Zegher is able to portray an interesting and often overlooked facet of Hesse’s body of work in this review.  While viewers will often remember Hesse as a sculptor, she initially began her career as a painter and drawer.  Like Hesse, my initial impulse is to represent objects, emotions and figures on a two-dimensional scale.  It is of inherent importance to my own body of work to understand how such a tactile artist such as Hesse was able to convert her flat expressionist paintings into such visceral sculptural work.

Jablonski, Nina G. Skin : A Natural History. Berkeley: University of California, 2006. Print.

One of the primary conceptual ideas that I am engaging with in my current stage of the SMP is the idea of skin as both a boundary but also as a porous portal through which various infectious items can pass.  As a means of better understanding how this process works and is visualized, I have accumulated a number of resources on the biological function of skin.  This particular book is of relevance because it touches most significantly on the biological function and evolution of skin, rather than purely examining the organ from the perspective of cultural significance.  While I wish to explore this later concern, I do not want to be entirely influence by the thoughts and ideals that came before – rather, I would like to understand my own connection and relationship with the boundary of skin.

Lennart, Nilsson. Behold Man. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974. Print.

This exploration of the human body is a brief introduction the biological and physiological make of the human form.  Lennart, with the addition of illustrators and the use of a variety of technologically advanced micron imaging, is able to delve into the most personal and immutable realms of the human figure.  More so than simple anatomical artist references, this book is of signfigance to my own artistic production because it explores how and why certain bodily parts function as they do.  I am not merely interested in exploring the external human form – I also want to understand how internal bodily part work in order to express them more clearly as hidden and involuntary functions of the human figure.

Montague, Ashley. Touching: the Human Significance of the Skin. New York: Columbia UP, 1971. Print.

In addition to exploring the biological qualities of skin, I am also interested in tapping into its psychological potential.  Montague looks into how the skin, and the sense organ of touch, has shaped the manner in which we interact both emotionally and on a cultural level.  Rather than purely focusing on the color of the skin, as many theorists do within this field, Mantague delves into the base meaning and function of skin as a communicative substance.  I need to understand skin on this base, social level, in order to better inform how and why I am utilizing it as a conceptual subject in my own work.

Painting in Boston 1950-2000. Lincoln, MA: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, 2002. Print.

This article examines an exhibition that large-scale painter Emily Eveleth was involved in.  While Eveleth’s current work primarily focuses on the large, sensuous paintings of jelly doughnuts, the artists also works on monochromatic, visually-versatile paintings of ambiguous human forms.  Her work with doughnuts often evokes a sense of the human flesh, but her paintings of the interactions between human forms often recalls a sense of landscape.  I am drawn to Eveleth for her ability to utilize delicately-rendered figures in a manner than creates an intimate, abstract experience.  In my own exploration of how the figure can be utilized to provoke a personal yet universal reaction, Eveleth’s paintings stand out as environments through which viewers can enter into this experience.

Posner, Helaine. Kiki Smith. Boston: Bulfinch, 1998. Print.

Kiki Smith is a painter, sculptor and instillation artist that has undergone a variety of transformations in her own approach to art making during her career.  She initially began working from simple human processes that are entombed in the celluar, atomic makeup of the human form.  From there she progressed to producing real human forms and finally exploring the aesthetic potential of religious dialogue within her work.  I recognize the inclination of the artist to develop a better understanding of her own physical and spiritual presence in the world through art, and I, too, want to walk down this path of introspective exploration.

Sandler, Irving. Judy Pfaff. New York: Hudson Hills, 2003. Print.

Judy Pfaff is a painter, sculptor and instillation artist interested in creating environments that viewers can become entirely immersed in. The artist's process involves combining these separate mediums so that the experience of viewer her work is one of constant flux between two-dimensional and three-dimensional understanding. I am interested in exploring how Pfaff utilizes illusion in combination with physical methods in order to visually pierce spacial boundaries in a way that recalls metaphorical boundaries between artist, object, and viewer. Pfaff also mirrors my own process in her selection of materials by seeking objects that are common and industrial, but have the potential to be transformed into both whimsical and repulsive forms.

Saville, Jenny. Jenny Saville. New York: Rizzoli, 2005. Print.

Jenny Saville is a painter who works consistently on a large scale depicting delicately-rendered images of nude women in various stages of bodily transformation. She constantly focuses on women who are going through some form of plastic surgery or are recovering from some great wounding as a means of exploring how we try to re-imagine the physical reality of our bodies. I am conceptually drawn to Saville's treatment of skin as the boundary that holds together our subjective understanding of the self and how we are in a constant state of attempting to altar and "heal" this border through traumatic operations. Saville's approach to the body as something physical that can be abstracted through scale, perspective and approach mirrors my own interest in the dual exploration of illusion and abstraction.

Sikander, Shahzia. Shahzia Sikander. Milano : Charta ; Dublin (Ireland): Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2007. Print.

Shazia Sikander is an artist that fluctuates between producing small-scale Indian minitature paintings and large-scale hanging instillations.  The artist is drawn to utilizing transparent and translucent materials as a means of expressing the cultural blurring and binding of her own sense of identity.  I am also interested in the potential of binding separate idea through the inclusion of layers of translucent material.  I also appreciate the enormity of Sikander’s instillations in their inclusive and sensuous appeal to visitors.  As explore the potential of three dimensional instillation, I look to this artist’s work as a means of examining how to provide a full-body experience for viewers through the inclusion of monumental work.

Simon, Joan. Ann Hamilton. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002. Print.

Ann Hamilton is a large-scale instillation artist interested in exploring history and narrative of architectural space through the use of vast quantities of material. Her work is both intimate and universal and invokes an immediate sensory attraction that draws viewers into a body experience with her human-scale work. Hamilton's process and exploration of material are relevant for my own work because I am equally interested in creating objects that make viewer's aware of their own bodily presence as they encounter a piece. The genesis of Hamilton's process is the mouth or the hand and I too wish to explore how to non-verbally communicate with audiences by creating tactically-alluring objects.

Solway, Diane. "Grand Illusion." Wmagazine Sept. 2008. Print.

Diane Solway utilizes her article as a means of exploring the contemporary work of instillation artist Tara Donvan.  Donovan is an artist that stands out in the current culture of instillation artists for her attention to material and how industrial materials can be utilized in a monumental fashion in order to structure pieces that convey a sense of the whimsical and the divine in their physical presence.  I was pointed towards the female artist once it became apparent that I was also interested in the incorporation of synthetic materials as a means of examining their untapped artistic potential.  I verge from Donovan’s work in my insistence upon using a variety of materials in each piece, but I respect and admire the systems of grow and dominance that she produces with simple and disposable means.

Vitamin D : New Perspectives in Drawing. New York: Phaidon, 2005. Print.

This book taps into the unexplored potentials of drawing as a new medium that artists are approaching from wildly different venues.  I am, and will always remain, a drawer at the core of my process.  This text is useful in that it brings to light the way that different contemporary artists are approaching the medium and how such a standardized method of production can be re-imagined into new forms.  This book supports my own interest in drawing as a format that can be brought into the three-dimensional realm and can be re-imagined as “drawing in space”.

Wadell, Elizabeth. "The Book Art of Robert The, Cara Barer, and Jacqueline Rush Lee." The Quarterly Conversation Summer 2008. Print.

The contemporary artistic world has made room for a number of artists who are interested in utilizing the medium of books in order to express contextual ideas about the form and nature of cultural communication.  Jacqueline Rush Lee is one such artist that shines from this pack in her innovative and often caustic use of used books.  The artist is not entirely interested in the content of books, but she rather focuses on the form and history that is inherent in any item of cultural inheritance.  While I do not currently incorporate such aged items into my own work, Lee’s approach to these items as aged items that retain their cultural significance but also offer up potentials for transformations is of value to my own process.

Yates, Wilson. The Grotesque in Art and Literature : Theological Reflections. Ed. James Luther Adams. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1997. Print.

This particular novel was one that I engaged with primarily as an initiation to the SMP project.  The text explores the relationship between what is now considered the uncanny, the grotesque, the whimsical, or the weird and how these forms have been utilized in the history of artist production as a means of encouraging alternative responses from viewers.  The figures that I create are not immediately grotesque, but I am interested in providing forms that give a sense of both the familiar and the strange as a means of tapping into the metaphorical consciousness of the audience.

 

 

     
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