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| Environmental Art by Alan Sonfist |
There has always been a separation between humans and the nature that surrounds them. there is this slight disconnect between humans and nature, because humans as species has this notion that we are better than all other forms of life on this earth. Between this disconnect is where we find environmental art. Most people when they hear environmental art they think of landscapes and trees, but through lecture this week I have learned that it is much much more than this. In lecture this week we were told that “not everything is art, but everything is art supplies.” I felt this statement truly described what environmental art. This art doesn’t necessarily have to be of nature, but it can also use nature to construct it. In nature we can find a vast selection of types of materials that we can use to make art, and environmental art expresses this. In lecture she also spoke to us about her own artwork, and how she used ants to help her spread ink on her paper or canvas, she uses the nature around her to help her come up with the art, which is a big and very cool aspect of this medium. When you separate yourself from the reality of what you are using, and just use it you can make beautiful art. The lecturer also asked a question I thought was very significant. Is a piece of work more powerful when it is obviously political or if it is subtle? Honestly I think is mostly depends on the audience but I also think it is more powerful when it is subtle. When artwork is subtly political it sends a stronger message. I think this message is stronger because when it is obvious the attention is somewhat directed towards being obvious rather than the actual message. When the message is subtle, it will not hit as many viewers at once but the viewers will start to see the message. Although I believe that subtle messages are stronger this is not always the case. It depends on the circumstances.
This connects to what Roland Barthes is talking about in “Death of the Author,” He says that there will always be a separation between the artist and his piece, and the separation between the piece and the audience. In this separation is where there is room for interpretation. Yes artists do have intentions about what they are trying to express, but when an artist can let go of his work, it will allow the piece to build its own identity. The readers and audiences build this identity. What Barthes is trying to get at is that everyone will interpret the art differently and everyone will read it differently. The author/artist dies when the readers start to interpret it and write their own story behind it. Its like symbols, they have built in meanings that artists/authors cannot change, but the meanings are different to everyone. The artist doesn’t hold the sole interpretation but there is some wiggle room. People may have similar interpretations but everyone makes their own story. This is when the death of the author occurs, because the readers become the author.
An artist in this field is Kiki Smith. She was born in Nuremburg, Germany, but grew up in New Jersey. “The recurrent subject matter in Smith’s work has been the body as a receptacle for knowledge, belief, and storytelling. In the 1980s, Smith literally turned the figurative tradition in sculpture inside out, creating objects and drawings based on organs, cellular forms, and the human nervous system” (art21.com). She uses sculptures of human organs to represent the nature of the human body. “Life, death, and resurrection are thematic signposts in many of Smith’s installations and sculptures” (art21.com). She also uses the natural cycle of human and animal lives to show the beauty of nature. She is an artist that takes the natural aspects of life and makes environmental art from it. When we see these artworks we are allowed to interpret our own meanings, and this is the beauty of this medium.
Good.
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