After researching into romantic revolutionaries who displayed the effects of defamiliarization within their poetry, I decided to look into how contemporary artists have tackled this theme within their artwork and look at how diverse the outcome can be from one artist to the next.
James Partaik
I decided to look into this artist as it illustrates the very grounds of
defamiliarization; taking an object to the extreme that it becomes
unrecognizable and allows us to re-engage with the world around us. I feel that
the artists have collaborated successfully together which directly relates to a
time of passage which then suggests that as time passes by, objects lose
meaning therefore resulting in the desire to reawaken our awareness of the
things around us. The passage of time could be illustrated by the withered
appearance of all the objects included within the piece and the re-creation of
structure and what actually results in the habitual way of thinking. As stated
by Partaik, the ability to see is challenged conceptually and also physically
as familiarization occurs when we fail to actually acknowledge what is around
us due to our perception of life itself becoming routinized. Physically the
piece itself has been deconstructed so that it almost becomes unrecognizable;
stimulating the defamiliarization process and encouraging us to engage with the
piece and uncover what is before us. Within this installation life becomes art
and art becomes life as objects that we experience within life are exhibited in
a way that we spectate rather than merely encounter and reawaken the things
which become ordinary in an unordinary way. Overall, I appreciate the fact this
piece stimulates a multitude of reconstructions in order to construct something
conceptually new as this is something which I also intend to undertake.
This piece relates directly to my ongoing investigation for Critical
Studies and mentions the Russian Philosopher Viktor Shlovsky who coined the
term ‘defamiliarization’. It mentions that this allows us to re-engage with the
world around us through our enhanced perception of our surroundings and through
the processes that Ali uses to portray this, successfully illustrates the
progression of reactions that also occurs. The key words used in the
instructions such as ‘alters’, ‘changes’ and ‘adapts’ highlights the effects of
defamiliarization and is then followed by another instruction with the word
‘interpreted’ as this is the consequence of the effect of defamiliarization and
this altogether new interpretation results in the original response to the word
being re-evaluated and re-introduced to the artists in an unfamiliar way. This
could be seen as a form of ‘Chinese Whispers’ which is a game played around the
world, in which one person whispers a message to another, which is passed
through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the
entire group. The response to the word defamiliarization could be seen as the
message and through its journey around the various artists, returns as
something completely different with a different identity and different
associations therefore making something that was originally familiar,
completely unfamiliar.
Dennis Lin
This type of
sculptural installation appeals to me firstly through our inability to
recognize initially what is being portrayed. The installation doesn’t necessarily
take the form of a tree in any way as it has been sectioned into pieces,
labeled with the numbers 1-60 which defamiliarize the tree in one sense, and is
further defamiliarized through the composition of the tree pieces. The
horizontally hanging pieces of tree create a fossilized appearance and
completely contradicts or habitual way of thinking when it comes to our
surroundings as trees are always seen vertically, and by repositioning the
tree, an altogether new way of ‘seeing’ is accomplished. I feel that this
further relates to the concept of defamiliarization as it allows us to see
something which is extremely familiar, in a way that makes us question what it
initially is that we are spectating. It reinforces the way of appreciating what
is around us and that anything can be viewed as ‘art’. I feel the piece works
well aesthetically as well as conceptually and requires a certain perspective
which in turn allows the viewer to become part of the piece as the tree is put
in an environment which evokes the natural to appear unfamiliar and
consequently encourages the theory of defamiliarization. The overall placement
of the piece is very striking and I particularly feel the object of focus helps
to deliver the message that art is natural, it does not need to be fashioned as
a type of product; a simple enhancement of composition allows us to re-enhance
customary things in a provoking way.
Nike Savvas
This inventive installation may not directly look at the issue of
defamiliarization, but it definitely encourages its effects due to Savvas’ use
of bouncy balls in an unrecognizable way. It mentions that the bouncy balls are
a representation of ‘the very atoms that are the fundamental structural units
of all things’ which relates to the concept of defamiliarization due to its
associations with perception and art. Perception is gained when our insight is
challenged through re-engaging with things which were at one point familiar, in
an unfamiliar way. The idea that the atom is represented through the use of a
bouncy ball, two completely different things illustrates an artist’s ability to
envisage something which may appear to have no depth conceptually, in a way
that they can appreciate all the potential it has. The bouncy balls take on an
altogether new appearance due to their floating composition, which results in a
dazed appearance of colour which looks specifically at how we ‘see’ and how our
perception is challenged. Savvas doesn’t describe this artwork as a sculpture,
nor an installation, but more like a painting which is hard to understand at
first as this doesn’t seem logical, but he creatively removes our habitual way
of thinking by planting the idea that this is not what it may appear to be. It
requires the spectator’s involvement through interpretation and perception and
is successful in reinforcing the unfamiliar existing within the familiar. It
creates an optical illusion which again relates to the issue of
defamiliarization as it illustrates the effect of sight and how it can be challenged
through perception and the artist’s ability to highlight two things existing
side by side. On one hand, the bouncy balls appear exactly as they are, but
from a distance they create a haze of colour which the bouncy balls seem
unrecognizable. Two different effects from the one object, which highlights the
value in everything and the opportunity to re-engage with something in a
dissimilar way.
Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst continues to create sculptures which question the notions
of value and does this through sculptures which can be viewed in many different
ways- sometimes deliberately shocking. ‘For the Love of God’ interests me
aesthetically as I am instinctively attracted to the beauty of the piece, but
then the issue of death is raised soon after as the object of the piece acts as
a stark reminder to the price of beauty almost. Something may seem beautiful at
first glance but the diamond industry is one of the harshest which is
re-emphasized through the diamond encrusted skull. He successfully takes an
object which on impulse we relate to death, but morphs it into an entity which
the viewer can almost forget what is before them due to the mesmerizing effects
of the diamonds. The area of defamiliarization is explored through Hirst’s
attitude to disguising the object itself with the diamonds, and how the skull
takes an unfamiliar stance due to its glorified appearance. The piece is seen
to highlight the notions of value which relates to defamiliarization as the
value of everything is questioned through this effect and results us to re-encounter
everything around us, and through Hirst’s sculpture, the concept of
defamiliarization is successfully achieved. He also mentions that we disguise
things in life to the extent that it becomes something completely different and
in doing this; we fail to acknowledge what is actually around us. This again
relates to the habitual way of thinking which Hirst actively disregards through
this sculpture through the combination of beauty and death which would not
necessarily be associated with one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment