Laura Ruby

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Spring 2008 

ART 359(W)

Sculpture -- Contemporary

  

Binoculars, 1991 -- Claes Oldenburg

 

I. The Nature of Sculpture -- Form, Function, Content, Context

II. Duchamp and Postmodern Pluralism

III. Postmodern Pluralism

IV. Environmental Commentary

V. Sculptural Environments/Tableau/Installations

VI. Time-Based Commentary and the Artist's Body in the World

VII. Virtually Wired Gestures, Actions, Events

Artists

Readings and Writings

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COURSE DESCRIPTION -- this course will contextualize late 20th/early 21st century sculptural practice, including stylistic and theoretical frameworks, with references to the influences of various historical Western and Asian traditions and the apply this knowledge in the creation of contemporary scuplture.   COURSE OBJECTIVES --to foster an appreciation and understanding of contemporary Western sculpture, in relationship to technological innovation and the historical and cultural factors affecting its development and to create contemporary site-based artworks, installation sculptures and performances.   PREREQUISITES --116 and 172 or 176 or consent of instructor   Student Learning Outcomes for Art 1) To develop fundamental skills and concepts relative to the practice of art. 2) To develop an understanding and appreciation of the tradition which formed our present approach to the visual arts. 3) To develop the ability to analyze the merits of art works and develop informed opinions applicable to the broad range of human cultural production. 4) To develop specific skills and knowledge of a medium(s) to be utilized as a means of visual communication and self expression 5) To encourage the development of new approaches, methodologies and philosophies of art as well as the understanding of traditional modes and paradigms.   TEXTS -- lectures and readings will complement each other *Art on the Edge and Over -- Linda Weintraub (required text)   *Sculpture in the Age of Doubt -- Thomas McEvilley (optional text)   *Beyond Modern Sculpture -- Jack Burnham (selected handouts) *Sculpture Since 1945 -- Andrew Causey (selected handouts) *From Margin to Center: The Spaces of Installation Art -- Julie H. Reiss (selected handouts)   *Contemporary Public Sculpture -- Harriet Senie (selected handouts)   *other handouts      COURSE REQUIREMENTS --   GUIDE FOR ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING IMAGES: CONTENT -What is represented? -What kinds of relationships are shown? -What elements seem particularly significant? -What associations come to mind? FORM -How is the artwork composed? -How do all of the above components function in relation to one another?   GUIDE FOR ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING READINGS: - Look at the beginning and end of the reading to see if the author summarizes the main point(s). - Make a list of terms/ideas that are not clear. - Include one question to ask of the class. This question should arise from the readings or from the readings in conjunction with previous discussions. Email those questions to lruby@hawaii.edu.     GUIDE FOR GREAT DEBATES The topics of each discussion will be approached through a selection of readings. Students are expected to come fully prepared for active and informed participation in the discussions. Be prepared to share your lists or writing in small group discussions, and in the larger class format. Your paper should be typed double-spaced and stamped on the discussion day. You will be discussion leader for 1 of the GREAT DEBATE topics.           GUIDE FOR GREAT DEBATE DISCUSSION LEADER WRITING (1 + PAGES STATEMENT) -- 30% of the grade Your writing will be both visual and verbal. What argument do you wish to make and how is it supported? What visual, historical, and theoretical information will you include?) Your statement should include an artwork example (xeroxed or scanned) that supports your position for your GREAT DEBATE discussion. Informal Great Debates include: 1. modern vs. postmodern 2. Duchamp's Legacy Written and presented Great Debates include: 1. Site-based artist's work 2. Installation artist's work 3. Performance artist's work   PRESENTATION OF 3 PROPOSALS -- 30% of the grade 1. Site-based Sculpture Proposal 2. Installation Sculpture Proposal 3. Performance or Cyber Event Proposal CREATION OF ARTWORKS -- 30% of the grade 1 Site-based Sculpture or 2 Installation Sculptures or 1 Installation Scullpture and 1 Performance or Cyber Event   ARCHIVE -- 5% of the grade This archive will be a collection of 20 contemporary sculpture images (presented on unlined 8 1/2 x 11 paper in a manila envelope or secured in a folder -- this archive might also presented in video or Powerpoint format). ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION -- 5% of the grade This includes: attendance, punctuality, class interaction in great debates, emailing and office visit. This course requires full attendance. Visual concepts are often only understood after sharing, comparing, questioning, revising and synthesizing, as well as LISTENING. A tardy or absent student diminishes the overall quality of the class. Three tardies will equal one unexcused absence. Three unexcused absences will lower the final grade.   Please turn off all cell phones, beepers and pagers before entering the classroom.

 

 

 

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I. Nature of Contemporary Sculpture--A. form, B. function, C. content, D. context BACK TO TOP

 

A. Form

1. Types of sculptural form--realistic--abstract--nonobjective

a. visual elements and principles of design--emphasis on time

2. Sculpture as artifact or object--existing in the world

a. portable

b. pedestal/fixed

1) within museum or gallery pedestal/

2) notion of distance/physical

3) isolation=psychological distance/apartness

4) Rodin comments

5) Brancusi ornate geometric pedestals

c. place-specific site-based pedestal-less

d. temporary and or moveable

1) installation

2) performance time-based

3. Sculpture as functional

a. as shamanistic/religious

b. as commemorative/memorial/monumental/portrait

c. as commodity

d. as non-commodity--environmental art/installations/performances, etc., fixed to site or temporary in nature

4. Sculpture as process--sculpture as a primary activity

a. methodology

1) perceptual

2) experiential

3) conceptual (& modelmaking and drawings)

4) style

b. media/matter/physical nature/technique applied to matter

1) modeling

2) carving

3) casting

4) assembling--constructing--linking, bringing together of parts

5) selection/manipulation/exploitation/technical innovation

6) attention to site

5. Sculpture as an evolution of form -- the Modern tradition

a. classical abstraction --Brancusi

b. constructivism -- Gabo, Pevsner, Tatlin, Lipchitz

c. expressionism (corresponds to abstract expressionist painting) -- Cesar, Stankiewicz, Chamberlain, Voulkos

d. minimalism -- sculpture as a series of erasures -- Judd, LeWitt, Flavin

e. conceptualism -- sculpture as idea -- Kosuth, Kawara, Buren

B. Function

C. Content

D. Context

 

 

Fountain, 1917 -- Marcel Duchamp

II. Duchamp and postmodern pluralism BACK TO TOP

WEEK 2 -- Duchamp and Postmodern Pluralism   II 2A *Duchamp-Sculpture...Doubt -- ch. 3 2B *The Transformed Object -- Ratcliff     GREAT DEBATE #4 -- of something" vs. an object; the medium

A. art coefficient

B. readymades

 

 

Spiral Jetty, 1970 -- Robert Smithson

 

Running Fence, 1972-6 -- Christo

 

 

Storm King Rock Wall , c.2007 -- Andy Goldsworthy

III. Postmodern pluralism BACK TO TOP

WEEK 2-3 -- Postmodern Pluralism   III 3A *Sculpture...Doubt -- ch. 2 3B *Memorials and Monuments Reconsidered -- Senie 3C *Interplay in Expanded Fields -- Ruby 3D Dennis Oppenheim -- ch. 5 3 opt. Contemporary Public Sculpture--Intro. -- Senie GREAT DEBATE #5 -- presentation -- site-based artworks by 1 artist or artist team--from the book or other sources

IV. Environmental commentary BACK TO TOP

WEEK 3 -- Environmental Commentary   IV 4A *Public Spaces -- Causey

WEEK 4 -- Contemporary Public Art   PRESENTATIONS -- public artwork proposals

A. public art -- Smithson, Heiser, deMaria, Christo, Morris, Andre, Serra, Irwin, Dennis Oppenheim (ch. 5), Sonfist

 

B. contemporary public art -- Sian Armajani, Miss, Aycock, Holt, Chin (ch. 16), Irwin, Serra, Tacha, Simonds, Long, Matta-Clark, George Trakas, SITE, Charles Moore, Frank Gehry, Maya Lin, Douglas Hollis, Ned Smyth, Jackie Ferrara, Andrea Blum

 

"Subway" (from Ruckus Manhattan), 1976-- Red Grooms

 

 

 

V. Sculptural environments/tableau/installations BACK TO TOP

WEEK 5 -- Sculptural Environments/Tableau   V 5A Beuys and Germany -- Causey 5B Joseph Beuys -- Weintraub 5C David Hammons -- Weintraub 5D Christian Boltanski -- Weintraub 5E Lucas Samaras -- ch. 7   5F Fred Wilson -- Mining the Museum   other articles       GREAT DEBATE #6 -- presentation -- installation artworks by 1 artist or artist team--from the book or other sourcespermanent vs. temporary

WEEK 6 -- Contemporary Installation Sculpture Egg and Art

A. temporary works -- Oldenburg, Kienholz, Grooms, Hesse, Beuys

 

WEEK 7 -- Contemporary Installation Sculpture   Presentations of Installation Sculpture Proposals

 

 

B. time-based commentary--Terrell, Irwin, Nancy Graves, Butterfield, Antoni, Paik, Viola

 

Fox Games, 1989 -- Sandy Skoglund

 

Mining the Museum, 1992 -- Fred Wilson

 

China Night, 1985 -- Terry Allen

 

C. contemporary installation sculpture--Samaras (ch. 7), Nauman, Abromovic (ch. 10), Mario Merz, Shapiro, Ericson & Ziegler, Boltanski, Hammons, Chicago, Pfaff, Skoglund, Fred Martin, Terry Allen

 

WEEK 8/9/10 -- Contemporary Installation Sculpture   Create Public Site-based Artworks and Installation Sculptures

Trompe L'oiel

VI. Time-based commentary and the artist's body in the world BACK TO TOP

WEEK 11 -- Time-based Commentary and the Artist's Body in the World   VI 6A Fluxis & happenings 6B Vito Acconci -- Weintraub 6C Carolee Schneemann--Weintraub 6D Marina Abramovic -- ch. 10 6E Gilbert & George -- Weintraub 6F James Luna -- Weintraub

WEEK 12 -- Contemporary Performances and Body Processes

A. tableau vivant/happenings--Kaprow, Oldenburg, Fluxus

 

I Like America and America Likes Me, 1974 -- Joseph Beuys

 

 

Hand/Heart for Ana Mendieta, 1986 -- Carolee Schneeman

 

B. contemporary performances/body processes--Beuys, Schneeman, L. Anderson, Gilbert & George, Acconci, Burden, Finley, Abromovic (ch. 10), Betsy Damon

 

VII. Virtually wired gestures, actions, events BACK TO TOP

 

WEEK 13 -- Virtually Wired Gestures, Actions, Events   VII 7 opt. Postcolonial Media Theory -- Fernandez

 

 

WEEK 14 -- Presentations of Performance Proposals or Virtually Wired Gestures, Actions, Events

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997 -- Frank Gehry

 

  

 

Artists BACK TO TOP

Laura Ruby

Department of Art, Room 348

2535 The Mall

University of Hawai'i

Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822

(808) - 956-5250

lruby@hawaii.edu

DECEMBER 2010