We were to visit galleries or other venues around london and find work by artist who use objects in their work or prehaps tell a story, play with memory, subvert meaning, reframe the familiar or reflect on their culture of history.
With my group of 5 gathered together, me, Vallerie Tiara T, Esmond Wong, Ellen Stokki and Lilybelle Williamson, were to produce a 20 second film that is a considered and collective response to the artists work. Also including a presentation which we would have 5 minutes to present as a group.
Pat Steir
We went to Tate Modern and found an American artist, Pat Steir, born in the 1940’s. She is a painter and printmaker best known for her Waterfall series, consisting of paintings and prints of splashes and dripping paint. Steir’s work very much reflects the vibrant, post-modern era she grew up in.
It is experimental and expressive, a clash of Jackson Pollock and Andy Warwhol in the best way possible. But in contrast to Pollock, rather than putting her canvases on the floor, Steir paints from a ladder on unstretched canvas tacked to the studio wall – letting the paint drip.
Steir took her BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) at Pratt institute in New York in 1962, there she befriended and studied with several other influential contemporary artists for example Agnes Martin and Sol LeWitt – who also have their work showcased in Tate Modern’s own collection. In a post-war Europe, the new epicenter for art and artists became New York city, and Steir was one of the key figures among the first wave of women artists to gain prominence in the New York art world.
Inspired by the Taoist philosophy (the belief in spiritual immortality, where the body joins the universe after death) buddhism and colour field painting, her work transcends figuration and abstract expressionism by portraying, focusing and evoking a state of mind rather than representing the sublimity of a waterfall and seascape.
We picked this artist because of the expressive nature of her work, how it breaks and builds new ideas and how it can be translated into different styles. We all had various interpretations and ideas, and we decided that making a collage of those ideas would be the most accurate way of showcasing and describing the true nature of Steir’s inspiring and diverse work.
Plan:
Tiffany: 3D Animation Using Maya or Blender – Close up camera shot of a waterfall. A black background/atmosphere. Add some sound/audio maybe?
Esmond: 2D animation, merge other responses together(intro/ending)
Ellen: Live action, film
Vallerie: Digital Collaging
Lily: stop motion
Song choice by Esmond Wong:
Song: Algow
Artist: The Rare Occasions