Western ideas in Art from a Global Perspective

“You can only arrive at your objective opinion by understanding the East and being involved in

the West. Observe the world by examining yourself”

Chen Zhen

Traditional Western ideas about the visual arts can be found throughout the world; including areas such as Japan, India and Africa which typically have had a Non-Western approach to art. Due to technology and social media, the exchange of information has greatly impacted the art world. This blending of cultural influences can be found in the work of many artists today.We will discuss how these artists’ cultural heritage reflects the work they create.This Unit will introduce students to contemporary artists from around the globe whose work melds Eastern and Western philosophies of art.

El Anatsui

El Anatsui was born in the Volta region of Ghana in 1944.He studied art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.He went on to create and teach in Ghana and was head of sculpture at University of Nigeria-Nsukka, until he retired from teaching in 2010.

El Anatsui “Drawing on the aesthetic traditions

of his native Ghana and adopted Nigeria, as well as contemporary Western forms of expression, Anatsui's works engage the cultural, social and economic histories of West Africa. Through their associations, his humble metal fragments provide a commentary on globalization, consumerism, waste and the transience of people's lives in West Africa and beyond. Their re-creation as powerful and transcendent works of art--many of which recall traditional practices and art forms--suggests as well the power of human agency to alter such harmful patterns.” (African Museum of Art, 2008)

Many Moons, 2007Aluminum and copper wire.

El Anatsui

In this image you can see how bottle caps are transformed into a type of tapestry.All of these items have been gathered from Nsukka, Nigeria where the artist lives and works.

El Anatsui

Peak Project, 1999Tin and copper wire.

This installation was created using milk tins.Fresh milk is imported into West Africa from America and Europe.They do not have the means to recycle and these tins are just discarded.

El Anatsui

Lines That Link Humanity, 2008Aluminum and copper wire.

This piece was commissioned for the North Carolina Museum of Art.Anatsui uses bottle caps and other parts of packaging from different types of liquor.This references the liquor that Europeans brought to Africa as items for trade.

El Anatsui

His woven metal tapestries simulate traditional kente cloth.Kente cloth was woven by the Asante people of Ghana and the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo.It is used for special occasions, the colors and patterns are very symbolic.

Emily Jacir Emily Jacir is a Palestinian-

American. She was born in Bethlehem.She grew up in Saudi Arabia and attended high school in Roma, Italy.She received her B.F.A. at the University of Dallas in Texas and M.F.A. from Memphis College of Art in Tennessee. Jacir then spent several years living in Texas, Palestine, Colorado, France, and New York. She currently lives and works in both Ramallah and New York City.

Emily Jacir

Jacir works in a variety of media including photography, film and performance art.In her series “Ramallah/New York” 2004-2005Jacir depicts Palestinian Businesses in both Ramallah and New York side by side.Her images reflect how immigrants remain true to their culture regardless of place.When you view the images it is hard to decipher the location of the two businesses.

Emily Jacir

In her series “Where We Come From'' (2001-03)Jacir asked Palestinians in exile “''If I could do anything for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?'' She then acted on their requests and documented her actions” (Johnston 2009)

Since Jacir has an American passport she was able to carry out this requests. As you view her work you can see it reflects both Eastern and Western elements.

Subodh Gupta

Subodh Gupta was born in Khagaul, Bihar, India in 1964.He studied Painting at the College of Arts & Crafts, Patna, India and received a B.F.A. degree.

Subodh Gupta In his artist statement provided to the

Museum of Art and Design in New York for an exhibition of his work Gupta states “My work is about where I come from. But at the same time, the expansion of the art world means that, to a certain extent, everything is shrinking together, and you have to be aware of international discourse in your work. The objects I work with "refer to the current state of India's shifting society, migration, a sense of home and place, and the effects and frictions caused by a rapidly globalizing society."[1] The transition in my work "from organic . . . to manufactured . . . has traced [my] own migration to the mainstream of art culture of urban India."[2] Art language is the same all over the world, which allows me to be anywhere.[3]

[1] Manchester International Festival, "Subodh Gupta" http://manchesterinternationalfestival. com/ festival- events/ subodh-gupta.aspx.[2] Gallery Chemould, "Subodh Gupta" .[3] Christopher Mooney, "Subodh Gupta, The Idol Thief," Artreview, issue 17 (December, 2007), 57

Cheap Rice, 2005

Subodh GuptaMARCEL DUCHAMP IS ONE OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN DADA ARTISTS.HE CREATED A SERIES OF “READYMADE” OBJECTS. ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS IS THE IMAGE BELOW.HE TOOK A REPRODUCTION OF DA VINCI’S MONA LISA AND DREW A MUSTACHE AND GOATEE ON HER FACE.HE THEN TOOK A WHITE PIECE OF PAPER AND WROTE THE INITIALS L.H.O.O.Q.

GUPTA HAS CREATED WORKS OF ART THAT REFLECT THE WORK OF POPULAR WESTERN ARTISTS (WHICH ALSO SPEAKS OF HIS THOUGHTS ON THE CAPITALISTIC WESTERN ART MARKET). YOU CAN SEE IN HIS SCULPTURE ET TU, DUCHAMP?, THE ARTIST REFERENCES THE PIECE BY DUCHAMP.

Yinka Shonibare Yinka Shonibare was born in

London to Nigerian parents and moved to Lagos, Nigeria as a very young child.He then returned to London to attend Byam Shaw College (which is now Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design). Shonibare received an MFA from Goldsmiths College.He currently lives in East London.When he was nineteen years old he contracted a virus that left him paralyzed.After three years of physical therapy he regained movement, but is still partially disabled.

Yinka Shonibare

Shonibare’s work focuses on his duel identities being both African and British.He work also discusses cultural ethnististity, global issues, as well as personal issues like psychical disability.

Yinka Shonibare

In the installation, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews without their heads, 1998 Shonibare based this piece on a painting by Thomas Gainsboro.

Yinka Shonibare

THE PAINTING ON THE LEFT MR. AND MRS. ANDREWS, ABOUT 1750, IS BY GAINSBOROUGH.THEY ARE A WEALTHY , NEWLY MARRIED COUPLE. THE PASTORAL SETTING ELUDES TO THEIR STATUS AS WEALTHY LAND OWNERS, DURING THIS TIME PERIOD.

IN SHONIBARE’S VERSION, MR. AND MRS. ANDREWS WITHOUT THEIR HEADS, WE CAN SEE THE SIMILARITIES IN POSE, BUT THE WORK’S MEANING IS VERY DIFFERENT.SHONIBARE DEPICTS A BROWN SKINNED COUPLE WITHOUT HEADS. THEY ARE DRESSED IN 18TH CENTURY FASHION, BUT IN WEST AFRICAN BATIKED FABRIC.

Yinka Shonibare

“These colorful fabrics originated in Indonesia and were later reproduced by Dutch traders.Today the cloth is designed and manufactured in Manchester, England exported to Africa, then sent back to Great Britain where it sells as an original African product. With satirerical humor Shonibare addresses issues of ethnic authenticity and colonialist practices in his work.” (National Gallery of Canada, 2012)

Yinka ShonibareREVEREND ON ICE, 2005, YINKA SHONIBAREFIBERGLASS, COTTON,(DUTCH WAX), LEATHER , WOOD AND STEELNATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA

PORTRAIT OF THE REVEREND ROBERT WALKER SKATING, 1784, SIR HENRY RAEBURN, OIL ON CANVAS, NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND

In Shonibare’s work, the artist makes reference to a dandy ( an outsider in the 18th century who pretended through imitation to be part of the upper class in society and was happily rewarded with the benefits of that

position).

Hung Lui

Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948.She immigrated to the United States in 1984.She received her MFA degree from University of California at San Diego.She currently lives in Oakland, California and is a professor at Mills College.

Hung Liu

Relic 12, 2005 Liu’s unusual biography infuses her

work with a unique richness; her paintings are steeped in Chinese culture, contemporary and ancient. While she has a foot in both cultures—China and the United States—her art is born of a traditional Chinese art education.” She fuses images from 7th Century Tang tomb mural paintings of princes and princesses with Western imagery such as St. Christopher carrying a baby across the river, surrounded by her signature circles of color, an abstract pattern which dances energetically across the surface.” (Nancy Hoffman Gallery, 2012)

Hung Liu

In this painting Liu explores the Chinese history of immigration in America.

Shahzia Sikander Shahzia Sikander was born in 1969

in Lahore, Pakistan. She received her undergraduate degree at the National College of Arts in Lahore. Sikander received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. The main focus of her work is the traditional style of Indian and Persian miniature painting.This style of painting is requires great discipline and is seeped in tradition. “While becoming an expert in this technique-driven, often impersonal art form, she imbued it with a personal context and history, blending the Eastern focus on precision and methodology with a Western emphasis on creative, subjective expression.” (Art in the 21st Century, Season 1, 2001)

Shahzia Sikander

It is interesting how she combines elements from Hindu mythology, Persian tales, and personal experience.This painting is a wonderful example.

Pleasure Pillars, 2001.

Shahzia Sikander

Nemesis, 2003-2007 Watercolor and Video

“Sikander experimented with wearing a veil in public, something she never did before moving to the United States. Utilizing performance and various media and formats to investigate issues of border crossing, she seeks to subvert stereotypes of the East and, in particular, the Eastern Pakistani woman.” (Art21,2001).

Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami was born in 1963 in Tokyo, Japan.He received his BFA, MFA and PhD from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

Takashi Murakami “Murakami uses his deep

understanding of Western art to integrate his work into its structure; working from the inside to portray “Japanese-ness” as a tool to bring about revolution in the world of art.

As an artist, Murakami questions the lines drawn between East and West, past and present, high art and popular culture.” (Kaikai Kiki, 2012 )

Tan Tan Bo Puking, a.k.a. Gero Tan. 2002

Acrylic on canvas

Takashi Murakami

“ He was trained in the school of traditional Japanese painting known as Nihonga, a nineteenth-century mixture of Western and Eastern styles. However, the prevailing popularity of anime (animation) and manga (comic books) directed his interest toward the art of animation because, as he has said, “it was more representative of modern day Japanese life.” American popular culture in the form of animation, comics, and fashion are among the influences on his work, which includes painting, sculpture, installation, and animation, as well as a wide range of collectibles, multiples, and commercial products”. (Brooklyn Museum of Art, 2008)

Yinka Shonibare Globe Children, 2008

References

Art in the Twenty-first Century. (September 21st, 2001) Spirituality: Shahzia-Sikander. Art21, Inc. PBS. New York, New York.

Brooklyn Museum of Art, & Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.(2008). © MURAKAMI. Retrieved from http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/murakami/

Fowler Museum at UCLA and Oriel Mostyn Gallery. (2008). El Anatsui: Gawu. Retreived from http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/about.html#SlideFrame_1

Johnson, K. (2009, Feb. 9). Material for a Palestinian’s Life and Death. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/arts/design/13jaci.html

Kaikai Kiki Co . (2012). Takashi Murakami. Retrieved from http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/artists/list/C4/

Museum of Modern Arts and Design. (2012). Subodh Gupta. Retrieved from http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/crossingborders/curriculum/vce_studio_ib/yinka_vce.html

Nancy Hoffman Gallery. (2012). Hung Liu. Retrieved from http://www.nancyhoffmangallery.com/liu/2003.html

National Gallery of Canada. (2012). Yinka Shonibare. Retrieved from

http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artwork.php?mkey=52528

National Gallery of Victoria. (2004). Crossing Borders. Retrieved from http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/crossingborders/curriculum/vce_studio_ib/yinka_vce.html