Lecture #3 The Technologies of Art Production

James Greene | Visiting Assistant Professor | 1110 CAC | [email protected]

ART 101: Introduction to Art

The Technologies of

Art Production

The Technologies of Art Production: DRAWING

Cave Drawing, Lasceaux, France 15,000-10,000 BC. Pigment, charcoal


Leonardo Da Vinci, Madonna and Child with St. Anne and Infant St. John the Baptistcharcoal, white lead, 1505-07


Kathe Kollwitz, Self-Portrait, Charcoal, 1928


Robert Longo, Shark #7 from Leap Into The Void, Charcoal drawing, 2004

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Encaustic

ENCAUSTIC PAINTING: Pigment suspended in heated beeswax

Egypto-Roman Funerary Masks, encaustic on woodFaiyum, c. 160-170 AD.

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Tempera

TEMPERA PAINTING:Pigment suspended in a mixture of water and egg yolk.

Gentile deFabriano, Adoration of the Magi, Tempera on wood panel, 1423.

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Fresco

Fresco Painting: Pigment suspended in wet, fresh plaster applied to walls or ceilings.

GiottoThe Lamentation Frescoc. 1305.

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Oil

OIL PAINTING:Pigment suspended in linseed oil and thinned with a solvent like turpentine.In the high European tradition, oil paintis applied in thin transparent glazes thatbuild up and create luminous surfaceslike this one.

Jaques Louis-David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps Oil on canvas1800.

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Oil

Kehinde Wiley, Officer of the Hussars Oil on canvas2007

When an artist choosesoil paint, they may enter into a well-developed European tradition of representation.

The Technologies of Art Production: Oil

Lucian Freud, Naked Portrait with Reflection Oil on canvas, 1980

Oil paint is uniquely suited tocapturing the luminosity ofhuman flesh.

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Acrylic

Acrylic: Pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer (plastic) emulsion

Robert Shimomura, "Classmates"

acrylic on canvas, 2008

The Technologies of Art Production: PAINTING: Acrylic

James GreeneCuster, SDAcrylic on canvas2010

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING

Prints are derived from a matrix, or a mother image. This can be a block of wood, a metal plate, a slab of limestone, a nylon mesh screen or another material. The matrix gets between the work and the artist, but it allows for the creation of multiples.

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Relief Printing

An image is carved into asurface like a block of wood,a linoleum panel, or rubber. Whatever surface area is left gets inked and pressed into paper.

For each color, a different block must be used.

This woodcut print used three blocks.



Tom HuckBeef Brain Buffet, 2002Woodcut, Edition of 2552 x 38 inches,Published by Evil Prints


Tom Huck carves a wood block for a relief print

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Intaglio

INTAGLIO PRINTING

An image is etched intoa metal plate and ink is

scraped into these etchedgrooves. The ink is then

wiped off the surface.

When the intaglio is pressed, the paper is

traditionally wet.

The wet paper grabs theInk out of all the

grooves in the plate.

Intaglios have distinctembossments.

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Intaglio

Intaglio scrapers, stylusDrawing through “Hard Ground” using an etching stylus

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Lithography

Invented by German playwrightAloys Senefelder in 1796 as a wayto cheaply publish music.

A slab of limestone is drawn upon withgrease pencil. The image is thenchemically etched in the stone, allowingthe printing of multiples.

This process is still used on a large scale using aluminum or polyester plates instead of stones.


A Litho stone is drawn on with a greasy crayon or liquid medium.


Nitric acid is mixed with gum arabic and applied to the drawing.


After etching, the stone (or plate) is rolled up with ink.The ink sticks to the drawn area and does not stick to the un-drawn area.


After inking, a piece of paper is laid over the inked image and sent through a press. After printing, the printed paper is removed from the stone.


Multiple color “runs” can be printed in sequence to make multi-color lithos.

Beauvais Lyons, Micropterus trichopilaris, 3-color litho, 2009.


LITHOGRAPHY

Was the most popular form ofprinting in Europe and the US untilmechanical plate lithographyreplaced it in the early 20th Century.

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Silkscreen Printing

The matrix is a piece of nylon fabric stretched over a screenframe. A stencil is made on themesh, which the ink is pushedthrough to create flat areas of color.

Andy Warhol elevated this cheapcommercial technique to the levelof fine art.

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Silkscreen Printing

Ink is pushed through a nylon mesh screen in which a stencil has been made.Silkscreen can be easily applied to t-shirts, hats, signs, etc.

Technologies of Art Production: PRINTMAKING: Inkjet Printing

The fastest and most ubiquitous commercial method today. Who knows what will replace it?It is used by the best selling painter in the US.

Thomas Kinkade, Make A Wish Cottage, oil on inkjet print on canvas, 2005

The Technologies of Art Production: PHOTOGRAPHY

The first European drawing of a CAMERA OBSCURA. 1544


18th Century innovations to the camera obscura.

The Camera Obscura was a drawing instrument thatused a lens and a dark space to create an upside-downimage of reality. It would eventually be combined with the use of film and mechanized during the industrial revolution to become what we think of when we think of a camera.


The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Nicephore Niepce. However, because his photographs took so long to expose (8 hours), he sought to find a new process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce


Louis Daguerre took the first ever photo of a person in 1839 when, while taking a daguerreotype of a Paris street, a pedestrian stopped for a shoe shine, long enough to be captured by the long exposure (seven minutes).


Matthew Brady, The Dead in Front of Dunker Church, Antietam, Maryland, 1862.


In 1884, George Eastman developed the technology of cellulose film to replace photographic plates, leading to the Eastman-Kodak technology used by film cameras today.

Technologies of Art Production: CERAMICSPORCELAIN:

Clay containing high levels of KAOLIN andlow levels of sand. High plasticity, high fire.

Porcelain ceramics are among the strongest and most luminous.

The Scarf Dance, 1901-02 Designed by Leonard Agathon Van Wydeveld,made by Sevres Porcelain Manufactuary.

Technologies of Art Production: CERAMICS

STONEWARE:

Clay containing less Kaolin than porcelainand more sand. Strong, sturdy and not porous. Used in most everyday dishes, mugs, cups, etc. High fire.


EARTHENWARE:

Clay containing more sand little kaolin.Fired vessels are fragile and porous unless glazed.

TERRACOTTA

Ancient Greeks used black glazes for their red terracotta dishes and containers.


KILN VARIETIES

GAS

PRIMATIVE

RAKUELECTRIC

Technologies of Art Production: SCULPTURE

Relief sculptures are similar to 2D works in that their 3D forms are raised from a flat background. In low relief or bas-relief, the forms project only lightly from the background.


In high relief, figures project at least half their natural depth.


Freestanding sculptures have fronts, backs sides and tops. They invite the viewer to walk around, underneath, or even inside them.


Subtractive Process: such as carving, unwanted material is removed.


Additive Process: such as modeling, casting andconstructing, material is added,assembled, or built up to reach its final form.


Ron Mueck Untitled (Big Man) pigmented polyester resin on fiberglass, 2000


Ron Mueck Untitled (Self Portrait) pigmented polyester resin on fiberglass, 1997


Ron Mueck, A Girl, pigmented polyester resin on fiberglass, 2002

Technologies of Art Production:SCULPTURE

Casting:The Lost-Wax Technique is used to create BRONZE CASTINGS like this.

Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker, 1902.


Assemblage: Found objects are CONSTUCTED into a finished work.

Deborah Butterfield, Untitled, Driftwood, Wire, 2006.


Kinetic sculpture: When the sculpture literally moves.

Alexander CalderUntitledFabricated Steel1977

Shown in the atrium of theNational Gallery of ArtWashington DC


Earthwork: When the artist uses only the earth as their medium.

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, Black rock, salt, installed in Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1976


Nature Sculpture: When the artist uses only things found in nature as their medium.

Andy Goldsworthy, Rowan Leaves Around a Hole, leaves, 1987


Nature Sculpture: When the artist uses only things found in nature as their medium.

Andy Goldsworthy, Woven Bamboo…Windy, bamboo, 1987 Andy Goldsworthy Ice Egg, Ice, 1990


PUBLIC COLLABORATIVE SCULPTUREWhen the art is the result of an agreement with various government bodies. The result is a public art experience that the entire community shares.

Christo & Jeanne- Claude The Gates, New York City, Central Park 1979-2005.

Bill Viola, Going Forth By Day, 2002. Video/sound installation in five parts, Dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA: Video Art

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA

VIDEO ART: An artist or artists produce(s) a work that exists primarily as a video. A watershed moment for artists came in 1967 with the invention of the Sony Port-A-Pack.

Nam Jun PaikTV Cello Video/Performance1970

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA

SOUND ART: Speaks for itself. Sound pieces need not have an accompanying visual element.

Hugo Ball PerformingKarawaneNonsense Poemat Cabaret Voltaire1916

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA: Performance

Performance: Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience.

A piece of performance art may or may not have similarities with theatre.

Performances are often documented with video and audio, blurring the boundaries between sound art, video art and performance art.

Jeffery Byrd performing Holy Ghost, 2004.

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA: Performance

STELARC Performing withMovatar Inverse Motion Capture System1997

STELARC performing with Exoskeleton, 2002.

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA: Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality: Using a combination of video and sound, or a digital video-game interface, artists create virtual situations that take over the viewer’s senses. This can be delivered via a computer screen or created within a space that responds to the viewer’s presence using motion-sensing devises.

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, The Killing Machine, 2007.

Technologies of Art Production: NEW MEDIA: Installation Art

Installation Art: This blanket term describes an artistic genre of site-specific, three- dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a space. The genre incorporates a very broad range of everyday and natural materials, which are often chosen for their evocative qualities. Many installations are site-specific in that they are designed to only exist in the space for which they were created.

Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room Long-term installation at141 Wooster Street, New York City1977


Cai Guo Qiang: Head On 99 stuffed wolves, plexiglass, monofilamentDeutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany 2006

Christopher Baker: Hello, World! Or, How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the NoiseVideo, sound, motion sensors and rear-projection screens, 2008.


Documents

Lecture #3 The Technologies of Art Production