Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sculpture, Abstract 21st century'

The first objective of this creative project was to create seven Non-figurative, abstract, multi-media (wood, metals, clay, concrete, glass) sculptures that attempted to express some of the feelings experienced during transitions in life. The second objective was to explore the continuum of abstract sculptural art: from art being simply aesthetically stimulating compositions to art that emphasizes meaning or purpose first, and being aesthetically pleasing or stimulating second.
Department of Art

The primary objective for this creative project is to develop a series of wheel-thrown and altered ceramic sculptures that reflect my intuitive formation process. Although the work was influenced by a wide variety of outside sources, much of the impetus was born of my personal reflections on the concept of physical touch. My actions during the creation process were governed by sensory information absorbed mostly through my hands on the clay, and enhanced by inherent properties of the material. These preliminary experiences eventually sparked a desire to share this discovery with the viewer in the same tactile way. I further wished to include observers in the exhibit in a more direct and physical way, offering participants opportunities to explore their own sense of touch and consider how they relate to the objects around them. This body of work is an in-depth study of my intuitive creative process, a model for exploring the relationships between process and materials, and a means of providing observers of visual art a chance to connect with a visual object in a tactile way.
Department of Art

The objective of this creative project is the creation of sculptures and paintings that make statements concerning judgment and its subsets, fault, blame, martyrdom, self-sacrifice, and absolution. The group of pieces shown at the Thesis Exhibition explores recurring themes and iconography within a historical context, while addressing issues in a contemporary social framework. Repetitive elements and images such as self-portraits, the pointing finger, and the heart, are set in the present, but layered with the iconography and history of Saint Sebastian. The techniques used to achieve these works are metal casting and fabrication, casting using a variety of materials, woodworking, and oil painting. These techniques, along with materials such as wood, steel, plaster, wax, and branches congeal to form a body of work that is conceptually harmonious.
Department of Art

The intention of this creative project is to explore the ideas of individuality and community through ceramic sculpture. The ultimate goal is to allow the viewers to draw their own conclusions about the suggested meaning, instead of forcing a direct reference. To achieve this, form, surface, texture, and grouping of individual pieces was utilized. Inspiration was drawn from the artworks of Barbara Hepworth, Michele Oka Doner, Yoonchung Kim, and from the multiple appendages of the sea anemone. The artworks were hand-built using high temperature clays that were fired in reduction, soda, and wood kilns. Plaster molds were used to maintain the identical forms, allowing the viewer to focus on textural variation.
Department of Art

The method I use in creating abstract sculpture presented the question that became the subject of my Master's thesis. Only occasionally will I create from a pre-conceived concept. The sculptures evolve through a process of addition and subtraction of material to something that simply pleases me. This method, really no method at all, seemed contradictory to my original intentions. My artistic goals were purposeful; I wanted to create sculpture that would provoke a reaction first, not a judgment of features. I wanted the viewers emotional and psychological involvement to be the basis for content and meaning in the work. In spite of the indirect approach, I felt there was some success in achieving my goal. Discovering how this occurred was important because I was at a loss to understand the content of my own work. Did the sculpture I was making hold any deeper meaning for me? My thesis proposal advanced the question of how sculptural form expresses content. A more accurate question is, what does it mean? I had faith that I was indeed making art that was more than a pleasant arrangement of forms. Confident that there was also meaning, I proceeded to explore and analyze the relationship of creative process to sculptural form and content. While writing a draft of my thesis, I realized the question was beyond a definitive answer. This was a personal investigation of a fundamental question. My expectation was that insight and analysis would provide the answer I needed.

Craftsmanship in contemporary art production is the main area of focus for this visual arts based research. An exploration into the artistic production processes of selected contemporary artists’ work, reveals a tendency of physical non-involvement on the part of the artist, who takes up the role of art director. The research enquiry attempts to provide an answer as to whether credit should be given to the craftsman as well as to the artist in this artist/craftsman relationship. The use of a practice-led research strategy allows the researcher’s art-making practice to become an integral part of the cycles of research, as the development of the researcher’s practical understanding, techniques and execution are crucial in the practical component, but also conceptually as a stance in opposition to the selected artists’ lack of practical involvement. The researcher has identified and analysed the following five factors that have contributed to this current state of art production in contemporary art: Kitsch as an influence on the subject matter and content of art, Marcel Duchamp and his idea of the ‘readymade’ and issues of authorship, Andy Warhol and his ideas on art and business, the Conceptual Art movement and, the act and product of craft being perceived as being inferior to the fine arts In addition, an exploration of the production processes involved in the creation of the artworks of Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan and Takashi Murakami highlights the craftspeople, fabricators and foundries that are responsible for these artists’ highly crafted aesthetics. As practice is crucial in developing a new understanding and meaning in visual-arts based research, the practical component describes the researcher’s core practical themes as being the following:the creation of naturalistic figurative small-scale sculptures in resin and bronze, placing the characters explored in the theoretical component as the subject matter.The advantages and disadvantages of the collaborative experience with Sculpture Casting Services (fine art foundry) and eNtsa (a Technology Innovation agency), especially the implementation of 3D technologies in both experiences; and the technical development and understanding in order to improve the researcher’s artistic practice Collaboration is an important underlying theme throughout this research undertaking. It is crucial in the production of most contemporary art, and assists in identifying the artist’s role within the production of his/her work. Finally, it relates to the researcher’s collaborative experience expanded upon in the practical component and its benefits as a production method. In concluding, the researcher finds that craftspeople do receive credit for the work they do in the form of money, business and marketing. They provide a service that a great number of artists generously support. Foundries and fabricators also place a mark on the work they do, much like the artist’s signature, as a symbol of pride and recognition. It is ultimately the artist’s technical abilities, workload and artist identity or brand that will determine the extent to which he or she will contribute to the collaboration, whether that be a simple idea, a sketch, a maquette or a large-scale sculpture ready for installation. However, in a rapidly advancing technological society, it is the idea of the artist as craftsman, both thinker and maker, that demands more respect.

We are accustomed to meanings, signs, language, and the constraints, categories, and concepts which make-up what I acknowledge as boundaries. These are integral for interaction with people, with other forms of life, with landscapes, and with ourselves. Without boundaries there would not be progression or understanding with that which is "the other."Boundaries are categorized into four areas within these creative projects. They are environment, language, states of being, and destination. Within the categories various projects explore what create intangible separations which denote the boundary and create a visible representation of each.Within each category projects are organized by content, objective, and outcome. Some results proved to be more successful than others by effectively conveying meaning through the various imagery and objects of the installations. Often, a viewer's preference f one project over another was due to the use of a specific medium, building method, and overall design rather than the concept or idea which inspired it.The paradoxical notion of these explorations is due to the exemplification of the connections surrounding and, perhaps, instigating each boundary. Attempts to visibly explore boundaries through their connections provide glimpses of built separation markers (environment), words and phrases which may separate or connect (language), alterations of physicality (states of being), and the ambiguous quality which denotes a place (destination) such that each becomes discernable but, more importantly, that each may be surpassed. It is through the visibility of the categories and understanding of their connections in which the boundaries go beyond manifesting themselves through the viewers' collective questioning the possibilities.
Department of Art

The objective of this creative project is to develop a series of paintings in oil on canvas that focus on the issue of mankind's crumbling relationship with the natural world. The paintings will be produced through a process that begins with an intuitive abstract approach and will later develop layered representational imagery. My technique of painting involves initially choosing and mixing colors without regard to the finished painting, allowing the subconscious to determine the direction that the painting will take. Upon completion of the under painting, I begin creating stencils and layering imagery that provoke thought concerning nature and our place in it. This collection of paintings is representative of the process I have developed through a wide variety of influences, and is a means of communicating my concern for the ever dwindling natural environment and our connection to it.
Department of Art

This paper analyses and contextualises the artist’s exploration of self-portraiture through the sculptural bust format. Conventionally, the portrait bust epitomises an antiquated view of the human subject as fixed, finite and knowable. The classicistic allusion of the form seems the perfect embodiment of a pre-modern and hopelessly idealised view of subjectivity and its capacity to be represented. This paper will show how, despite these impressions, the portrait bust is in fact a highly volatile sculptural form in which presence and absence are brought into question. When used as a vehicle for self-portraiture the bust yields a spectrum of instability, both literal and metaphoric, that calls into question the clarity of notions of subject and object and challenges the ideas of authority and representation more broadly. By providing an historical overview of the role of the portrait bust, this paper will map the field of content inherent to the portrait bust and discuss its application in contemporary self-portraiture. As the work of Mike Parr, Janine Antoni and Marc Quinn demonstrates, the classical certainty that permeates the bust format can indeed heighten the capacity of the form to represent uncertainty: an ambiguity that makes it a highly potent form for sustained studio investigation and experimentation. This paper will provide an overview of this experimental scope and application, by discussing the author’s process of sculptural self-portraiture in relation to aspects of ‘likeness’, expression, truncation and reproduction that occur in the form.

This mini-thesis is a supporting document to the exhibition titled via: a phenomenological site-specific series of intermedia interventions and installations at the 1820 Settlers National Monument in Grahamstown. This mini-thesis examines ways in which one negotiates the movement of the self and interactions with others within the non-place. Non-places are ‘habitually transient’ spaces for passage, communication and consumption, often viewed from highways, vehicles, hotels, petrol stations, airports and supermarkets. Characteristic of these generic and somewhat homogenous spaces is the paradox of material excess and concurrent psychological lack where a feeling of disorientation and disconnection is established due to the excesses of Supermodernity: excess of the individual, time and space. The non-place is a contested space as it does not hold enough significance to be regarded as a place and yet, despite its banality, is necessary – and in many ways a privilege – in everyday living. I explore the concept of non-places in relation to the intricate notions of space and place, and draw on empirical research as a means to interrogate how one perceives the phenomenological qualities of one’s surroundings. I discuss the implications of the multiplication of the non-place in relation to globalisation, time–space compression, site-specific art and absentmindedness, as theoretical themes which underpin the practical component of my research. In addition, I situate my artistic practice in relation to other contemporary artists dealing with the non-place as a theme, and critically engage with the multi-disciplinary and sensory installations and video pieces of Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck.

The dissertation involves a threefold investigation of sculpture. Firstly, the interpretations are focused on particular artworks by three British sculptors: Antony Gormley (b. 1950), Anish Kapoor (b. 1954), and Rachel Whiteread (b. 1963), respectively. The notion of applied minimalism is tentatively applied to their sculptures. A primary argument is that these works are idiomatically, thematically, and theoretically founded on the heritage of American Minimalism from the 1960s. The sculptures by these three artists are seen as readings and transformations in themselves of the Minimalist sculptural idiom. Secondly, the dissertation aims at an investigation of the notion of sculpture, which is explored as a discursive term, i.e. as a working notion. Therefore, each specific sculpture in the study is analysed in terms of the means it is manifested as such. Thirdly, interpretation per se is recognised as a performative act inscribed and restricted by specific contextual features. The constituent aspects are acknowledged and employed in terms of the white cube gallery locality, minimalist theory, sign theory, sculpture as staged, and the crucial recognition of a/the corporeal viewer's own presence and movements within the gallery space. Especially pertinent to the interpretations are Michael Fried's notion of theatricality, notions of performativity, and meaning as site-specific, respectively. The dissertation argues that the notion of sculpture, specifically in the wake of Minimal sculpture and the artworks inscribed by that category in art critical discourse, relies on the imperative of a corporeal acknowledged viewer/interpreter and that significant relations as regards the notion of sculpture are therefore external to a high degree.

The Ship of Fools is an ancient allegory that has long been a part of Western culture in literature, art and song... It has been chosen by many to comment on contemporary issues throughout history, highlighting the foibles of that society. The ship of fools however is also about our world, as a vessel, full of passengers of humanity, full of those who have no care what they do or where they are going... It is the 21st Century and we are all sailing on a Ship of Fools. We consume beyond reason, we want, and get the latest, newest, biggest things. We complain about interest rates and petrol prices, but consume beyond reason often with purchases on credit we don't really need.
Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

This paper describes my research project and body of work, which investigates social inequalities through the different language and functions of everyday objects. The research moves on from my previous Honours research project on the dou ble nature of caravan parks in NSW and looked at the changing demographics of these locations. I noted the increase of semi-permanent, residential 'homes' for low income earners and the unemployed, in these holiday locations. This paper examines broader social issues of homelessness and social inequalities within our society. I look at the complexities in the definitions of homelessness and the ways in which people find themselves in the position where they rely on welfare agencies and government support. I also investigate different representations of homelessness by artists and other social commentators, ranging from the hopeless victim to the vagrant. This section locates my social concerns with the context of theoretical debate and artistic representation. I have used everyday and mundane objects in my artworks to discuss these social concerns. Everyday objects posses a language and commonality that is familiar to all members of society. This language is developed from the different historical, cultural and functional qualities that everyday objects possess. I discus this in relation to the development of the everyday object in artistic practices from the early 20th century to today. Of specifically importance to my practice is the influence of contemporary German artists and their manipulation of objects to make works with political and social content. Throughout this paper I have discussed individual art works which illustrate my social concerns and the practicalities of the everyday. Revealing how I juxtapose certain objects to question the uneven nature of travel and home, with regards to possessions and mobility. Additionally I challenge the normal functions of objects to reveal new absurd possibilities of use.

Within my thesis I propose to establish the existence of what I call 21st century expressionism. This genre of art is an extension of the movement that began in 20th century post-war America. 21st century expressionists create works that are intended to promote emotional responses within the viewer. “The term ``expressionism'' can be used to describe various art forms but, in its broadest sense, it is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above objective observations. Its aim is to reflect the artists’ state of mind rather than the reality of the external world”. Lee Krasner and Tony Smith, represent prime examples of 20th century expressionists and, Etsuko Ishikawa and Beth Cavener Stichter represent artists of 21st century expressionism.

This doctorate explores 'Organic Growth and Form in Abstract Painting', as the focus of my studio-based research, and which has resulted in two significant series of paintings, Organica and Streaming. The accompanying exegesis addresses experiences that are realized within the studio practice, and complements the two series of paintings. In the exegesis I describe the innovative and distinctive painting processes I have developed, and explain my motivation for working this way. I cite the writing of the philosopher of science, Henri Bortoft, in particular his description of 'active' seeing, which I suggest can be understood as a kind of modeling of my processes of making the Organica and Streaming paintings. Key to my research has been an investigation into the work of the early Russian avant-garde artist, musician, theorist and teacher, Mikhail Matyushin, who promoted an 'organic' vision of painting during the early years of modernist experimentation, insisting that perception cannot be separated from the body's inherent connection with nature. I discuss how the artists in the Organic studio, led by Matyushin, tested their sensitivity to perceptual and sensory experience with controlled experiments. Philosophically, they considered their findings to be congenial with the latest scientific discoveries of their time. Although my paintings are constructed very differently from those of Matyushin, my approach to perception and interpretation in painting is in sympathy with his thinking. The constructive and perceptual approach I have taken to both series of paintings has been directly influenced by immersion in natural environments. My exegesis provides a detailed account of this working process: how I work with geometric templates for the coordination of colours, and my systematic approach to their application, leading to uncontrived 'organic' extensions in the detail. I discuss my interest in the implicit knowledge garnered through perception of colours and the connective fabric underlying surface appearances in nature. I argue that these observations are generative resources for painting, and emphasise the fact that our sensory and thinking bodies are also part of nature. - provided by Candidate.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Technology: Fine Art, Department of Fine Art and Jewelry Design, Durban University of Technology, Durban. South Africa, 2015.
This dissertation documents and evaluates the subversion of traditional porcelain in the work of the selected artists from 2000-2012. The artists selected for research are Edmund de Waal (1964), Paul Scott (1953), Katharine Morling (1972), Rachel Kneebone (1973) and Clare Twomey (1968). They are British ceramists who work in porcelain in diverse ways, thus providing evidence of a wide range of the subversion of traditional porcelain. An explanation of the research methodology used is provided. The research begins by providing a history of porcelain from the earliest times to the present, documenting the shift of porcelain from the East to the West, as well as the history and properties of porcelain (white china clay). The position of porcelain in the discipline of ceramics is discussed. This includes a thorough investigation and analysis of the physical properties of porcelain and its functional application through history. The meaning of the term subversion, in the context of ceramics, is clarified and evidence of the subversion of traditional porcelain is provided through a discussion of the selected artists’ work. Conclusions are drawn and analysed. My art practice in the form of an exhibition entitled Entwined is discussed in the context of the subversion of traditional porcelain. This includes a discussion of my working method, an explanation of the body of work and an analysis of similarities and differences between my work and that of the selected artists. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the research findings and provides suggestions for further research.

Commitment, Devotion and Belonging in the World with Reference to Indian Contemporary Art: Research into the ethical and political concerns in the work of two urban contemporary artists from Bombay/ Mumbai, Shilpa Gupta and Tushar Joag. The descriptive analysis of artworks explores the motivations evidenced in their strategic uses of audience interactivity, masquerade and social activism. The artists' quest for an ethical identity is framed in the greater theoretical context of Indian and global contemporary art. A study taking the form of an exhibition of sculpture exhibited at the ANU Bergman College Multidenominational Prayer space from August 24 to 29, 2009 which comprises the outcome of the Studio Practice component, together with the Exegesis which documents the nature of the course of study undertaken, and the Dissertation, which comprises 33% (or 66%) of the Thesis.
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This report focuses on social networks surrounding visual music, a sub-field of audiovisual experimental art in which hearing and seeing intersect, often through the music-oriented manipulation of abstract imagery and audio-visual synchronization. The discussion evolves from my fieldwork in Los Angeles, where I interacted with artists, archivists, publishers, institutions, software developers, and scholars. Taking into account Howard Becker's notion of art world, Pierre Bourdieu's ideas of cultural and economic capitals, and Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, I try to understand how these groups have been trying to establish visual music-networks. Although elements of visual music have been present in various media and artistic trends (color organs, abstract films, VJing-DJing, etc.), the field's history and premises are still little known, in part because the very term 'visual music' is a contested one. Due to its entertainment/cultural industries, Los Angeles is a place where multiple processes of high tech differentiation coexist; since the 1930s the city's technocultural environment (from film production to academic programs on computer animation) has lured artists interested in visual music. Not surprisingly, the city holds the only two institutions directly related to visual music in the country. I navigate through this field by considering some intersections between science, art, and technology.
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Between 1960 and 1992, American artist George Tsutakawa (1910 – 1997) created more than sixty fountain sculptures for publicly accessible sites in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. The vast majority were made by shaping sheet bronze into geometric and organically inspired abstract forms, often arranged around a vertical axis. Though postwar modernist artistic production and the issues it raises have been widely interrogated since the 1970s, and public art has been a major area of study since about 1980, Tsutakawa's fountains present a major intervention in North America's urban fabric that is not well-documented and remains almost completely untheorized. In addition to playing a key role in Seattle's development as an internationally recognized leader in public art, my dissertation argues that these works provide early evidence of a linked concern with nature and spirituality that has come to be understood as characteristic of the Pacific Northwest. Tsutakawa was born in Seattle, but raised and educated primarily in Japan prior to training as an artist at the University of Washington, then teaching in UW's Schools of Art and Architecture. His complicated personal history, which in World War II included being drafted into the U.S. army, while family members were interned and their property confiscated, led art historian Gervais Reed to declare that Tsutakawa was aligned with neither Japan nor America – that he and his art existed somewhere in-between. There is much truth in Reed's statement; however, artistically, such dualistic assessments deny the rich interplay of cultural allusions in Tsutakawa's fountains. Major inspirations included the Cubist sculpture of Alexander Archipenko, Himalayan stone cairns, Japanese heraldic emblems, First Nations carvings, and Bauhaus theory. Focusing on the early commissions, completed during the 1960s, my study examines the artist's debts to intercultural networks of artistic exchange – between North America, Asia, and Europe – operative in the early and mid-twentieth century, and in some cases before. I argue that, with his fountain sculptures, this Japanese American artist sought to integrate and balance such binaries as nature/culture, intuition/reason, and spiritual/material, which have long served to support the construction of East and West as opposed conceptual categories.
Graduate