Wearing Beecroft, Performance at its Peak....

Vanessa Beecroft and Gillian Wearing are both foreign born artists who utilize the public and in their artwork. Beecroft and Wearing have been featured in many galleries and exhibitions, and recognized by the Art-world for their talented, but sometimes controversial work.
Gillian Wearing was born in England in the early 1960’s. Her art is conceptual in nature, and has earned her the Turner Prize** in 1997. Upon my inquest into Wearing I had never even heard of the Turner Prize, but the Tate’s website provided this information…
”The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art. The prize is awarded each year to 'a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding'.”
(More information about the Turner Prize and can be found at http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/abouttheturnerprize.shtm )

Wearing’s first major work was a series of photographs featuring members of the public that Wearing had stopped on the street and asked to write something on a sign. This series of photographs became known as “Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say”. It is interesting to me some of the things that Wearing photographed on peoples’ signs.

The man in the suit with a simple sign “I’m desperate” . There was also a photo of a police officer holding a sign that said “Help”. The title, although a bit of a mouthful, is perfect for the series because the signs say EXACTLY what the people want them to. According to Wearing “a great deal of my work is about questioning handed-down truths”. Although this series was photographed in 1992, it interesting that the signs the people are holding still resonate with me and my generation. Its true that many corporate employees typically labeled as “men in suits” are desperate these days, with the housing market, recession woes, and unethical corporate practices.

I was oddly reminded of an All American Rejects music video for their song “Dirty Little Secret”. This video features people, most likely actors and extras, hold signs and cards saying something they have kept secret or want to share. Maybe Wearing was their inspiration for the concept of their video (This video can be found on YouTube by following this link… All American Rejects "Dirty Little Secret") .

Wearing has also created many videos to present her artwork including “Dancing in Peckham”, “Sixty Minute Silence”, and “Drunk”. The titles are very descriptive of the work. I was most interested in her 2001 piece “Broad Street”, which I was able to read about and found pictures of but could not find a link to view. This piece followed a group of teenagers as they went out on Broad Street in Birmingham, England.

Still Picture from “Broad Street” by Gillian Wearing

Vanessa Beecroft was born in Italy during the late 1960’s. Her artwork is contemporary and often features female models in a performance piece. Often her work is controversial because of her use of the female models in a nude and thought provoking situations. It has been featured at many galleries and institutions worldwide (Link to More information about Beecroft ).

”The Body” – VB35

This performance was featured at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It was hard to find pieces of her work to post on my blog because I prefer to keep it rated “G”. This piece like many of Beecroft’s is meant to make people consider sexuality as well as the human form. It is provocative to me because of the blatant nudity.
Beecroft’s other work often features women who are meant to be extremely similar, using wigs and costumes to make them appear alike. Her zeal for the use of nude models does turn me off a bit because that is not something that I find appealing in art, especially live performances.

Thats Very Duchampion of You: An examination of Duchamp's Effect on the World of Art

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who challenged the traditional concept of artistic processes and helped changed the way that art was marketed. He championed a new art-form called “ready-mades”. Ready-mades are found objects which are presented as art. Duchamp has had a great effect on American artists including Connor, Levine, Lawler, Wilson and Ruscha.

Bruce Connor is renowned for his work various mediums including film, drawing, sculpting, and collage. His work with film is reminiscent of Duchamp because it is like found film clip art. By taking clips of film, editing them and re-editing them to form short movies, Connor was able to create interesting works of film art. Connor describes Duchamp’s impact on the art world in an interview with Elizabeth Armstrong as “you can use Duchamp as a reference for almost all subjects as far as art is concerned”. In the interview he also described his apprehension toward talking to such a legend in the art world and how Duchamp’s work was characterized with “questioning”.

Sherrie Levine is most well known for her photography and appropriation art. Her photography artwork was somewhat controversial because she took pictures of other peoples artworks and presented them as her own. She actually recreated Duchamp’s”Fountain” in 1991, painting it bronze instead of leaving the urinal porcelain white. In an interview with Martha Buskirk, it is clear that Levine has been influenced by Duchamp. Buskirk even describes some of Levine’s processes and artworks as “very Duchampion”. Her work is also riddled with ready-mades, a term coined by Duchamp in 1915.

Louise Lawler is a photographer whose work focused on the presentation and marketing of artwork. Similar to Sherrie Levine, Lawler photographed the artwork of others. She describes her beginning in the art world in an interview with Martha Buskirk. Lawler did not fully understand the connection and relation that her art and Duchamp’s art had. Her art work involved lots of questioning and careful thought much like Duchamp and she also used odd mediums that were the same or similar to create art. Lawler even took photos of Duchamp’s artwork and used the shadows to play with the artwork as well.

Fred Wilson is an American artist who questioned the interpretation of art and artistic value because it was shaped by cultural institutions. He is most well known for examining, questioning and destructing the traditional display of art. In an interview with Buskirk, Wilson makes it clear that his work questions the way that museums and galleries display art. Wilson worked as both a museum curator and an artist so he claims to be well aware of what both parties are looking for. Wilson considers himself a “conceptual artist”, taking items from the museum and rearranging/recombining them to create a sense of surprise for visitors and viewers. This is similar to Duchamp because he wanted viewers of his art to be surprise and question the work.

Edward Ruscha came onto the art scene during the pop-art movement and became well known for his paintings, printmaking, drawing and photography. His paintings were usually focused on words and his artwork often took the form of odd mediums. In an interview with Elizabeth Armstrong, Ruscha describes his artwork and how Duchamp changed the art world. Duchamp made people think about his artwork instead of presenting them with a painting that can be enjoyed visually but does not challenge the viewer to interpret the work and its value. Ruscha describes Duchamp’s greatest contribution to the art world as that “he discovered common objects and showed you could make art out of them. He was also one of the first artists to use electric motors to create motion in art. He played with materials that were taboo to artists at the time; defying convention was one of his greatest accomplishments.” Ruscha talks a great deal about how Duchamp has changed the niche that art fills.

It is clear by reading these artist interviews that Duchamp has had a great effect on the creation and interpretation of art and artists. He not only effected mediums of art but also how people thought about and marketed art. His innovation in the area of ready-mades created a new type of art for future artists to replicate and build on.