Leonor Antunes: not sure what to think of her art, although the concept is very interesting. Apparently, she has measure a lot of important architectural sites in for example Brazil, and then applied them to these leather "harnesses," if I understand correctly...
Image found here.
Somehow, though, it seems kind of tame. I realize that these are supposed to be hanged, not applied to anything, and that that's important for the meaning of the work, but they seem so dead, in a sense. Perhaps it is the connotation they get for me - namely that of body harnesses - and then they seem to defy their purpose in a sense. For example, reading about Japanese bondage, it is such an interesting history back to martial arts involving binding people, and to the Japanese sensibility (I feel like a culture-butcherer, and although the Japanese of all people must be used to it (because "everyone" is somehow obsessed with Japan... myself included), it still feels... slightly wrong) of containing things, for example food or making clothes by folding, not buttons or pins and those sorts of tools. Makes me thing of a Chinese temple I saw in Hong Kong, cannot remember the name, which is made up of wood, entirely. There are no pins nor nails nor screws or anything, just wooden joints and pegs keeping it together. This is beautiful to me - the material is somehow more honest, although you would not be able to see the screws anyway... I will probably diverge into clothes and folding and fabric later on (especially due to a VERY exciting discovery I made today!), but I think that should be fine. Personally I think anything is relevant to the subject matter - after all, is that not part of art? Seeing our thoughts progress, but we can see it, because we notice it in the development of whatever we are making - be it books, clothes, sculptures, or anything else, writing, performance...
And now, back to so-called "real" work... But first, one image (or, two):
Found here.
I don't even know what to say yet. I am getting to be obsessed with the Corporation that made it, Nuno Corporation. Will come back to this later on.
Image found here.
Somehow, though, it seems kind of tame. I realize that these are supposed to be hanged, not applied to anything, and that that's important for the meaning of the work, but they seem so dead, in a sense. Perhaps it is the connotation they get for me - namely that of body harnesses - and then they seem to defy their purpose in a sense. For example, reading about Japanese bondage, it is such an interesting history back to martial arts involving binding people, and to the Japanese sensibility (I feel like a culture-butcherer, and although the Japanese of all people must be used to it (because "everyone" is somehow obsessed with Japan... myself included), it still feels... slightly wrong) of containing things, for example food or making clothes by folding, not buttons or pins and those sorts of tools. Makes me thing of a Chinese temple I saw in Hong Kong, cannot remember the name, which is made up of wood, entirely. There are no pins nor nails nor screws or anything, just wooden joints and pegs keeping it together. This is beautiful to me - the material is somehow more honest, although you would not be able to see the screws anyway... I will probably diverge into clothes and folding and fabric later on (especially due to a VERY exciting discovery I made today!), but I think that should be fine. Personally I think anything is relevant to the subject matter - after all, is that not part of art? Seeing our thoughts progress, but we can see it, because we notice it in the development of whatever we are making - be it books, clothes, sculptures, or anything else, writing, performance...
And now, back to so-called "real" work... But first, one image (or, two):
Found here.
I don't even know what to say yet. I am getting to be obsessed with the Corporation that made it, Nuno Corporation. Will come back to this later on.