Sophie Cowham
Complete with reference to Brett Whitely 'Alchemy' (+ another artwork) & Damien Hirst 'Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (+ another artwork)
How do contemporary artists redefine the boundaries of artmaking practice?
Artmaking practice has significantly evolved to reflect the changing nature of contemporary society. In the prescribed artists Brett Whitely and Damien Hirst, there is evidence of these contemporary artists redefying and challenging the boundaries of art-making practices. This being achieved by making very controversial artworks and using artmaking practices. The artists have used these to present the artworks in a manner that not only enables the audience to engage with it also lets the
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'Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' speaks not just of death's subjective impossibility for us who are alive, but also of its objective inevitability, the fact that we all will die. Damien Hirst likes to redefine artmaking practices, When engaging with contemporary art, viewers are challenged to set aside questions such as, "Is the art-work good?". Conceptual art is about the self-conscious mind, which is what Hirst uses in 'The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living' using the theme of death to inspire the artwork. Damien Hirst is heavily criticised by the art world, being called a con artist, he has no talent, and even not an artist at all. The exhibit managed to enrage both animal rights groups who thought the work was inhumane and art critics who thought that the work wasn't art. The audience is concerned about the treatment of the animals and insects used in his artworks, as claims say that almost one million creatures have died "In the name of art", But in the end, it was explained that when Hirst receives the animals most are already dead, highlighting the fact that death is one of Hirst's greatest themes. 'Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone …show more content…
The multi-panelled artwork was made in early 1972-1973 in Sydney, 'Alchemy' was spread over eighteen panels, and should be read from right to left as a birth-to-death vision. 'Alchemy' has been influenced by his life, It wanders from darkly sexual surrealist forms through beautiful Australian landscapes with native animals and birds, to the flashing sun against a golden sky, it includes collages of texts, writings and various attachments of objects. Whitley was fascinated with the schizophrenic state of mind,in the sense of being split between good and evil and the artwork was born of a series of scepticism. Whitely destroyed his portrait of Yukio Mishima, joined the remaining panels, and Alchemy started growing from there, and the panels were created left to right, away from the Mishima panels. Although they move from birth to death the panels can be seen from any direction or even from the centre of the artwork. The artwork reflects Whitley's personal life at the time, the stress and tensions In his marriage during the making of 'Alchemy', lead him to alcohol abuse, However, Brett regarded 'Alchemy' as one of his best works, even though it had drained him physically and psychologically. Whitely set out to test the capacity for art to influence
Art has always been considered the effervescent universal tool of communication. Art does not require a concrete directive . One sculpture,drawing or written creative piece, can evoke a myriad of emotions and meaning . Artistic pieces can sometimes be considered the regurgitation of the artist's internal sanctum. In Richard Hooks graphic painting,Adoption of the Human Race, the effect of the imagery,symbols ,color and emotional content projects a profound unification of a spiritual edict.
People can have many different opinions depending on a topic, but what is truly difficult is getting a complete level of understanding from every opinion, or understanding the point of view of each opinion. Even accepting the points of view can be difficult for some people, who believe that their opinions are right. Luckily, people can learn about the other person’s frame of reference, and at the very least understand the topic or the person a little better. This particular topic is art, which is known for its multiple possible perceptions or its many different messages that it can send a person or group of people. In this way, people can learn more about the thought processes and feelings of others. Unfortunately, with differing opinions,
The mind is a very powerful tool when it is exploited to think about situations out of the ordinary. Describing in vivid detail the conditions of one after his, her, or its death associates the mind to a world that is filled with horrific elements of a dark nature.
The afterlife can be described as the belief that an essential part of an individual's identity or the stream of any consciousness continues to show after the death of the physical body. In African culture and religion, life does not end with death, but it continues in another realm. The concepts of "life" and "death" are not mutually unique concepts, and there are no clear dividing lines between the two. Death does not end the life or change the personality of that individual, but it does cause a change in its conditions. This is expressed in the concept of the term ancestors. Ancestors are people who have died but who continue to live in the community and communicate with their families in reference to many African cultures. Death is usually
Socrate explains the fear of death to be irrational, as it would be ignorant to think that death was the greatest of evils and not consider it to possibly be the greatest blessing to mankind. He believes that death is either lead to and process much like sleep in which the sleeper doesn 't dream, or another in which it is like a trip where all dead souls are traveling from one place to another in which they all meet. Ultimately Socrate believes the truth to be that a good man would have no fear of what is after death as nothing can or will hurt a good man. Socrate 's view that fear of death being irrational is fair, despite arguments can be made on whether their is a heaven or hell, or an afterlife. The true argument doesn 't revolve around
Considering the arguments from Plato’s Phaedo argue: “Death is not the end and we ought not fear it.” Souls are immortal and continue to live after the body has died. The theories of recollection and opposites are sensible and Socrates can justify them.
Death is the equalizer of all life. Throughout time people have constructed death in many different ways. For ancient civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ugarit, Greece, and Rome, death consisted of burial rituals and practices, the construction of monuments, murals, and stele, and offering libations to the dead. These civilizations shared many aspects in their perceptions of death and the afterlife, but those perceptions also varied enough to be individualistic and unique to each civilization. Among the many differences between civilizations’ perceptions, some of the variations involved the location of graves, the type of monuments constructed, the structure of the funeral, and preparation of the dead body for the funeral. The relationship
“Our sense of self, our sense of humor, our ability to think ahead — gone within the first 10 to 20 seconds” (Shaw, 2017). The afterlife has been questioned so much, especially throughout the thoughts of religion. “Theories abound from logical to irrational, yet there is no concrete evidence about the afterlife.” (Shaw, 2017). The idea of their being an afterlife maybe hard to grasp because it is based on having faith. Due to this, hoping there is a heavenly estate after death is not wrong but there is no significant evidence to supports this idea. Therefore, what waits after death maybe neither heaven nor hell due to the varies influential factors that can contribute to the idea of the afterlife.
Modern art serves to immerse us more thoroughly in a scene by touching on more than just our sight. Artists such as Grosz, and Duchamp try to get us to feel instead of just see. It seems that this concept has come about largely as a way to regain identity after shedding the concepts of the Enlightenment. “Philosophers, writers, and artists expressed disillusionment with the rational-humanist tradition of the Enlightenment. They no longer shared the Enlightenment's confidence in either reason's capabilities or human goodness...” (Perry, pg. 457) It is interesting to follow art through history and see how the general mood of society changed with various aspects of history, and how events have a strong connection to the art of the corresponding time.
Critical thinking is a very important aspect to understanding art. As David Perkins put it in “The Intelligent Eye”, we must avoid “experimental thinking”, a rash, quick way of thinking based on observations and use “reflective intelligence”, a way of thinking in which a viewer takes their time and dissects details and nuances to fully understand a work of art. A majority of viewers will look at a piece of art and come to a quick analysis of it, without much thought. But, according to Perkins, “The more attentive the observation is, the better the opportunity is for deeper learning” (Perkins 14). As Banksy said in Exit Through the Gift Shop, “the reaction to the work of art is the most important thing about it.” Without a reaction or an opinion, the work of art has no meaning. Therefore, in order to trul...
From mapping it is clear that the night represents death by meeting night, the narrator is saying that he encounters death. Thus, the idea of death is reinforced by the conceptual metaphor A LIFETIME IS A DAY and activates the general metaphor DEATH IS A JOURNEY TO A FINAL DESTINATION.
It is common knowledge that every living thing must die eventually; death is inevitable. Some people die earlier than others, while some live long, prosperous lives. Death, however, does not always refer to the physical body. Many notable authors examine the many different “deaths” that are possible. Death could be used to refer to the death of the soul as evil takes over, or the death of hope as one is unable to cope with a loss of child. George Orwell is one of these authors, as he demonstrates death in various ways. Death is a complex theme in Orwell’s novel, 1984, as it examines the atypical “deaths” that humans can experience. Orwell examines the death of social order when the Party takes over in a totalitarian manner. He examines the death of the family unit, the death of rebellion, the death of individuality, and the death of language. The most evident death, however, is the death of the mind. He demonstrates this sort of death through Winston’s complex character as he meets his eventual fate. Throughout his novel, Orwell foreshadows Winston’s eventual “death” through his word choice and tone, through Winston’s childhood memories, and through Winston’s surroundings.
Life after death: a mystery to most, but unsolved to all. Scientists and ghost hunters dedicate years and years of their lives searching for proof of the dead still roaming earth. Some believe the presence of some dead linger, while others believe spirits haunt. What I believe to be true is the existence of ghosts and their link to their former life on earth; my belief can be confirmed by the abundance of video and picture proof, eye-witness accounts, cultures, and numerous belief systems. Oxford Dictionary defines ghosts as an apparition of a dead person that is believed to appear or become manifest to the living.
“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. Moreover, unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.” This quote by Ernst Fischer, a German composer, means that truth in art exposes the parts of society, and of life, that no one wants to see. In order for art to change society, it must first reflect the fears and failures of its people. The artist can change how people think of themselves and the world by using less conventional methods of creating art. The artist, in doing this, introduces new ideas of human placement in time and space, new frontiers of thought, that are furthered by the disciplines of science and philosophy. The artist works to introduces unique- and sometimes offensive- ideas so that society will be exposed to new ways of thinking and understanding the world. The artist does this through experimentation with color, style, and form. Therefore, the purpose of the artist should be to challenge how individuals perceive themselves and the offensive aspects of society reflected in art to bring about innovations in the greater society.
Death is a controversial topic that most people in society tend to avoid. Death is often difficult to talk about regarding people. People often tend to lean towards having insight and control on everything in this world. Death is one thing that people cannot have control over or do not completely understand. Death often results in sadness for friends and love ones who wont see that person anymore. Death in a sense is unclear to individuals sense there is no scientific proof to understand what happens when a person dies. There are various beliefs of what happens when a person dies, according to different cultures. Some have a stance as seeing death as termination from existence. Others have a stance on death as leaving one world and having a portal to another life. In a sense comparing these to beliefs death is either real or not real. Philosophically death would be examined through human reasoning. Personally, I believe that when you die physically your spirit man goes to either Heaven or Hell, depending on belief in Jesus. My stance is based on the Christian stance on how you will spend eternity in one place or another. Even though there is no evidence of what happens when you die, when you die you either go to heaven or hell because the Bible and Christian faith have a firm belief in this doctrine. An individual also has a spirit that is eternal.