#18 POLITICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ART
POLITICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ART
In 1981, a new and deadly disease known as AIDS was first identified in the United States. Since that time, this epidemic has spread to all sectors of American society. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that there are currently more than one million people living with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) in the United States. Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than a half-million people have died from it. While anti-viral drugs have been developed that lessen the impact of AIDS, these drugs are costly and have serious side effects, and AIDS is still deadly. Artist Keith Haring died of AIDS but not before using his art to make people aware of its terrible impact.
OBJECTIVES
Define and discuss Environmental art.
Identify the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and other environmental artists.
Discuss the role of art as a political statement.
Explain how feminist statement has entered the world of art.
VOCABULARY
AMERICA IN THE 70'S AND BEYOND
If Pop Art celebrated consumer culture, the next wave of artists began to question consumer culture. Television, especially, had created a distance between the viewer, the object and the representation. Some artists turned back to nature. In the 1970s, increased concern over pollution and environmental degradation began to take hold of the public consciousness. Smog-filled cities and chemical-laden rivers became public issues. Around this time environmental art emerged. In these works, artists used the land itself as a canvas. These artists took art out of the galleries and museums and placed it where people couldn't help but see it. They encouraged spectator interaction with the works. Environmental art is often in the form of installations, as you will see in these examples.
ENVIRONMENTAL ART
Christo (1935-) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009)
Christo Javacheff is a Bulgarian-born American artist who, along with his wife, Jeanne-Claude, has created numerous outdoor projects. Christo and Jeanne-Claude are well known for works in which enormous amounts of fabric are used to wrap or, in the case of the Biscayne Bay Islands, "surround" objects, buildings, architectural sites or landforms. The artists appreciate the fluid and ephemeral qualities of fabric. One of their most famous undertakings occurred in 1983 when they covered eleven islands off the coast of Miami with pink fabric.
This was no easy task, as the artists had to consult with experts in many fields, including engineers, lawyers, and contractors. Although the project seemed frivolous to many people, the benefit to the environmental region was staggering. Christo and Jeane-Claude were able to remove over forty tons of garbage from the area.
Earlier in their careers, the artists' achieved their most ambitious feat known as Running Fence (1976). They created a nylon ribbon eighteen feet high that extended over twenty-four miles.
Read the introduction to the two artists at the National Gallery.
Photograph of the gates of Central Park in New York City
Now visit the couple's website and read about one of their more recent projects, The Gates of Central Park which mirrored the design of walkways and the shapes of tree branches. What do the different elements of the project represent?
The Spiral Jetty
Photograph of Smithson's Spiral Jetty
Another famous Environmental work is Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (1938-1973). The Spiral Jetty was built into the Great Salt Lake in Utah in 1969 and 1970. The jetty is composed of basalt rocks. The waters of the lake rose and covered the jetty for many years, and it was only known because of a film that Smithson made and some photographs. Due to drought conditions, the jetty has been visible again recently.
ART AS POLITICAL STATEMENT
Art has often been used to call attention to perceived injustices, but in the late twentieth century, artists became more politically active than ever before. Their work raised awareness of a number of issues, from censorship to women's rights.
Watch the following videos about Keith Haring. You'll see the connection between Haring and Christo and how Haring's work broke laws and boundaries.
This video is in three parts. After each part, there is an activity to help you remember what you've learned.
Activity 1
Answer the following questions in your notes.
What were Keith Haring's first works of art?
The announcer compares graffiti to what kind of art?
What was the location of Haring's first public canvas?
What was the famous influence on Keith Haring?
Haring's political concerns come from _____.
Haring and other young artists followed in whose footsteps?
Christo's Running Fence stretched across the coastline of which state?
Who was involved in the creation of Christo's art?
Semiotics is the theory of _____.
Haring used images to create a _____.
Activity 2
Answer the following questions in your notes.
The _____ played a role in the career of Keith Haring.
Haring's work crossed _____ and social boundaries.
Haring's work became a public voice for _____.
Haring painted a _____ around the gallery for his first show.
Haring's vodka advertisement is an example of _____.
When Haring opened his Pop Shop, his art became a part of _____.
Haring was influenced by aboriginal and _____ art.
Haring believed that his sculpture should function in _____ with the environment where it was placed.
Because his work is _____, people feel free to sit on, climb on, or eat lunch on his sculptures.
Haring wanted to create public awareness of _____.
Activity 3
Answer the following questions in your notes.
In Haring's work, the process is _____.
The emphasis is on _____.
What political statement did Haring make on the Berlin Wall?
What was about unity in the face?
Haring remained outside _____.
Dennis Hopper said Keith Haring is as important as _____.
Lano Brazil said Keith Haring’s work makes people feel _____.
Haring said the role of the artist in any society is to be a kind of _____.
Haring's political art is a natural response to seeing something that's _____.
FEMINISM
You know from the many works of art you have seen in this course that Western art has revolved around images of women by male artists. These women were voiceless symbols for truth, beauty, nature, aggression, lust and other attributes. In the second half of the twentieth century, women artists created work that would offer an alternative to this male-dominated vision.
Judy Chicago's famous installation The Dinner Party: Place Settings is a triangular table set with thirty-nine different place settings, honoring important women from history. According to the Brooklyn Museum website, "The settings consist of embroidered runners, gold chalices and utensils, and china-painted porcelain plates with raised central motifs that are based on vulvar and butterfly forms and rendered in styles appropriate to the individual women being honored. The names of another 999 women are inscribed in gold on the white tile floor below the triangular table."
Visit the museum's website and take a virtual tour of the table. Record two of the place settings in your online art journal.
Cindy Sherman (born 1954) is a photographer and feminist who is famous for the Untitled Film Stills series (1977-1980) that consist of black-and-white stills of the artist posing in different stereotypical female roles in imaginary movies. Sherman poses for her own photos, but they aren't really self-portraits. Instead, they comment on the roles and identities that women assume. Sherman uses lighting, clothes, and make-up to transform herself into characters, that inspire the viewer to project their own stories.
"I'm trying to make other people recognize something of themselves rather than me." - Cindy Sherman
Notes
Read about Cindy Sherman's life and work.
Now browse through the stills of Cindy Sherman's work.
LET'S REVIEW!
In this lesson you have covered the following subjects:
Artists began to take their art out of galleries and into the world.
Artists such as Christo used landscapes and public places to call the public's attention to his work and to the importance of environment.
Keith Haring took art to the streets by painting graffiti and creating sculptures for public places; his work often containing a life-affirming political or social message.
Feminists such as Judy Chicago and Cindy Sherman used art to call attention to their social messages, acknowledging women's role in art.
Complete the following quiz before moving on.