Inspiration - Kine Andersen

I stumbled across an artist online whilst looking for some art inspiration which I think in some ways can influence some ideas for my Maps and Networks project with Alice.


 Kine Andersen is an illustrator and artist based in Bergen, Norway. Instantly I was drawn to his work due to the vibrant color palette and the simplistic but bold illustrations. Even though our piece is going to be moving image, Alice and myself are constantly taking inspiration from everywhere; tabloids, moving image work, photography and illustration. Therefore I looked further into Andersen's work and have included some of his illustrations that display feminist elements.

SELF PORTRAIT

GIRL NEXT DOOR

BITCH

DISCOVER YOUR FUCKING FLOWER

LOVE YOURSELF

Artist Research - Jemima Stehli

Looking at the work of Jemima Stehli was really interesting to me, as she often explores the themes of feminism and the female form in her art work. She often thinks about challenging the idea of women being a sexual object and how she can indulge in the stigma around women and female artists.

One of her pieces we looked at in a seminar with Rosie was her piece in which she stood in front of art curators and gave them control to take a photograph of her when they felt most uncomfortable, whilst she undressed. This was a really interesting piece as she was putting full control in the hands of the male, whilst she exposed them to the female form.

Although I understand what she was trying to achieve with this piece, I do feel as though she could have just been reiterating the stigma of sexualizing the female body. Giving the men total control to take the photo when they felt most uncomfortable showed that there were plenty of different stages of her getting undressed, whilst most were of her completely naked. I do think that this does sexualize the female body and she might not have totally achieved her goal through this piece.

Alice and I discussed this work and how it has influenced our own ideas of wanting to achieve an outlook showing the female form through a sexual nature, but also adverting this stereotype, and hitting the idea that the female body doesn't need to be sexualized in order for women to be paid attention to.

Installation Artist Research - Yayoi Kusama

The artist I have chosen to research is the fabulous Yayoi Kusama. I have always really admired her work and I find it super interesting, so I thought she would be a great installation artist to post on my blog. 

Since 1977 Kusama has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution, and much of her work has been marked with obsessiveness and a desire to escape from psychological trauma. In an attempt to share her experiences, she creates installations that immerse the viewer in her obsessive vision of endless dots and nets or infinitely mirrored space.

Thinking about our theme of Maps and Networks, I think Kusama's work is quite appropriate when thinking about our minds as a map of our personalities and our lives. Yayoi Kusama has created artwork to escape her thoughts and her minds, meaning her art can be quite relatable in this project. 

One of the pieces I really liked was her Obliteration Room installation, which started as a blank canvas but invited people to completely cover the room in colourful dots, bringing everyone together to help create the final art piece. It's interesting how the piece finally came together with the input of others, taking the control out of her hands entirely. 

I also looked at one of Kusama's most recent pieces, The Infinity Mirrors, which all display her seemingly endless artwork due to the use of mirrors. There are several different Infinity Mirror displays, the video below shows the use of LED lights to continue into eternity. Over the course of her career, Kusama has produced more than twenty distinct Infinity Mirror Rooms.

More examples of The Infinity Mirrors installations:

Artist Research - Sam Taylor Johnson

Sam Taylor-Johnson (formally known as Sam Taylor-Wood) makes photographs and films that examine, through highly charged scenarios, our shared social and psyschological conditions.

Taylor-Johnson’s work examines the split between being and appearance, often placing her human subjects – either singly or in groups – in situations where the line between interior and external sense of self is in conflict.

 When I looked at Sam Taylor Johnson's website, I realised that she's accomplished many different things, through many different mediums of art; film, photography, publications and exhibitions.

The first work I looked at were her self portrait images, titled Suspended. 

Suspended (2004)

Suspended (2004)

The series is quite stunning, really bringing a new idea to self portraiture and what it can mean to the artist personally. Taylor Johnson explained how her ideas behind the series were to capture the ideas behind being stuck between heaven and earth, between life and death, being free but not entirely. 

I also really liked her series titled Deep South. After being invited by Elton John to take a photograph for the cover of his album, Peachtree Road, Taylor Johnson found herself a gateway into the Deep South of America, taking some beautiful photographs.

Gate - Deep South (2004)

Sonny Moody Back - Deep South (2004)

Stars and Stripes - Deep South (2004)

This is probably the series I would identify as having a connection with the theme of Maps and Networks, purely for the simple fact that the task took the artist to a new location, networking with the locals and gaining a better understanding of the area. I think the pictures are really personal to the town, and you get a feel for what the area was like and how Taylor Johnson spent her time there. 

Some examples of her moving image work are the film Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) which was obviously widely spoken about upon it's release, and A Little Death (2002) which we looked at last year as part of our Experimental Media unit. 

In relation to our theme of Maps and Networks, I didn't really find much connection within this artist's work. Although I really admire some of her photography and moving image work, there wasn't particularly anything that stood out to me, or made me think about the theme. Although her work is really engaging it didn't seem to help me that much with regards to our theme.