Articles


This tab contains links to numerous readings relevant to your studies.


 You may find our YouTube Playlist useful


 AREAS: Area 5 covers Modernism to Postmodernism and Area 6 covers Contemporary Diversity.
**Brief definitions below the headings are taken from; 
Wilson S, Lack J, The Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms, Tate Publishing, London, 2008.

 Other sections 
  • Galleries and Critics 
  • specific units such as L2: Environment
  • sections specific to each TERM's topics 
Term 1: Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art & Minimalism
Kahn Academy's video introduction to 20th Century art.

 Kahn Academy's article on Warhol's Marilyn Diptych.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has a great learning section on their website and many sections dedicated to both Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. 
This link regarding Abstract Expressionism contains several components and offers heaps of resources. And here is the link to the Pop Art section.

There has been a comparative list written to summarize elements of a famous essay and could be useful for you to compare style and content; eg; apparent freedom of Pollock with the apparent restrictions of Minimalism?

The list compares the ideas of art critic Clement Greenberg (or Modernism in his view) with that of Hal Foster (who wrote an essay called The Crux of Minimalism) and is from the blog site of the artist Jon Meyer written in 2010.

The Art Encyclopedia has been voted the Best Educational Arts Website and has loads of good resources for quick reference.  

VALUE links – Art Heist article in RNZ and the Podcast


 Galleries & Critics
Ivan Karp, Champion dealer of Pop Art, Obituary
Leo Castelli, the Dean of contemporary art, The Art Story, Obituary
Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century gallery, The Art Story, Vanity Fair article about movie
Sidney Janis, dealer who gave Pollock his first solo exhibition, The Art Story, Obituary
Betty Parsons, art dealer who supported Rothko and Pollock, The Art Story, Obituary

 Context: Social Movements in the US in the 1960's +
Check out this link for a complete run down of the 1960's+ US social movements

AREA 5 

 Here you'll find an Art focused website that lists a definition of consumerism with a good list of images that can help you visualise the overview of artistic responses to these concerns

This article from the Financial times discusses Pop Art's contribution to Consumerism

This contemporary art site discusses very briefly the current work of an artist who has another take on consumerism and consumption

JS Online discusses two exhibitions exploring Consumerism

Jonathan Jones of the Guardian suggests Art killed our culture?

American Realism: Edward Hopper

 Abstract Expressionism: Jackson Pollock & Mark Rothko
**A new form of abstract art developed by American painters in the 40's and 50's. The Abstract Expressionists were based mostly in NYC. Their aim – to make abstract art that was expressive and/or emotional in its effect. They were inspired by the Surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind, and by the automatism of Joan Miro  Two broad groups exist with AbEx; Action painters Pollock and De Kooning, and the Colour Field painters Rothko, Newman and Still. Action painters worked in a spontaneous manner, improvising and often using large brushes to make sweeping gestural marks. Colour field painters were interested in religion and myth creating simple compositions with large areas of a single colour intended to produce a contemplative or meditational response. 
  • Feb 2017 – This article from the current Exhibition at Guggenheim Bilbao provides great context on Abstract Expressionism.
  • Did the CIA really use Abstract Expressionism as a Cold War Weapon? 
  • Yes. These articles explain –  The Independent, The New Yorker, NY Times
  • The biggest ever exhibition of Abstract Expressionism since 1959 is at the Royal Academy in London! 

 Jackson Pollock

 Mark Rothko

AREA 5: NZ Artists: Ralph Hotere, Colin McCahon, Gordon Walters –&– American Donald Judd

 Ralph Hotere 
  • (information on Bill Culbert is relevant to the extent that they have collaborated and are both from Dunedin - scroll down further to find those links) 
  • RH1 (there are about three or four articles that link from this one)
  • Biography on The Arts Foundation
Hotere Art works
On Hotere's This is a Black Union Jack – nb: relates to a range of contexts: Flags & national identity, Sports, Racism, Protest Art, Minimalism & Hotere's reversal by imbuing his with political content, Pop Art's issues of image consumption – Jasper Johns' deliberate emptying of meaning from the US flag vs Hotere's deliberate use of political content & commentary on national identity. It would pay to have a basic understanding of Minimalism (Focus on material and medium, black & white palette or focused colour range, emphasis on line). The following are articles on Hotere related to these topics.
Colin McCahon
McCahon at Auckland Art Gallery – extensive collection of works with brief comments:
McCahon at Christchurch Art Gallery
Gordon Walters
       Multi-media for Gordon Walters:
Donald Judd (Minimalism)
Dick Frizzell


AREA 5: Feminism



Judy Chicago


Barbara Kruger


Jacqueline Fahey (NZ) 
nb Fahey does not necessarily consider herself a Feminist Artist, it may however be possible to discuss her work in relation to Feminist issues and ideas.
Yayoi Kusama
Guerrilla Girls (not part of Area 5 or 6 but could be useful)

AREA 5: Neo Dada

Jasper Johns

 AREA 5: Pop Art

 Khan Academy's Pop Art Introduction – a very good place to start!

 Warhol
  • This link is to an article on Warhol in ArtNews 
    This link takes you to a fun game you can play moving your character and printing an Andy Warhol
    Warhol's Final Interview
  • Warhol's silkscreen printing process – how did he do it? This LINK explains how photography plays a significant part, how the layers of the photo are separated into different screens. 
  • AND this LINK shows you ANDY printing the first layer for one of his Elvis paintings. 
  • From a discussion on THE LAST WARHOL - we briefly mentioned the fact that Warhol happily invited comparisons between his work and the commercial advertising world. Does that make his work less meaningful? Didn't he say everything was right there on the surface? This article in the Houston Press discusses these issues in relation to the Menhil Collection's purchase of one of the last paintings Warhol made before he died.
  • Here's a link with one of Warhol's first attempts to combine the dripping (a symbol of abstract expressionism)  with images from popular culture (in this case advertising) 
  • Links to Brillo Boxes information is here. It takes you to information about the first critique of the boxes exhibition at Stable Gallery in May 1964 and a few other notes.
  • This article in The Guardian discusses the issue of who decides which Warhol's are authentic regarding the Brillo Boxes and a scandal that occurred when it was discovered that some of them may be genuine while others may be fakes. 
  • This link takes you to the Oberlin College Art Collection which houses a couple of reproductions of Brillo Boxes. 
  • This Art Newspaper has an article regarding some of the boxes being "down-graded" to copies.
  • From The New York Times Opinion Pages comes this article asking the question "If Warhol is a great artist and the Brillo Boxes are among his most important works, what am I missing?"
  • ArtNews has this article on "The Brillo-Box Scandal" and this article on "The Trouble With Warhol"
  • The ArtsJournalBlog has this article on "The Absolute Mess in Warhol Matters"

Roy Lichtenstein
  • This article in The Spectator discusses the idea that Lichtenstein's work was weighed down with superficiality linked to consumerism
  • Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. Extensive website with many links to art works, chronology and articles on Lichtenstein.
  • Biography, notes on style plus links to an extensive collection of his work.
  • Retrospective from the Tate. Lots of information plus short videos and notes from lectures about his work.
  • Some good quotes from Roy Lichtenstein
  • Video on the Roy Lichtenstein exhibition at the Tate Modern.
  • Short video where Dorothy Lichtenstein talks about her husband’s work.
  • This three part audio recording session (part 1) explores issues raised by the major Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at Tate Modern. Speakers include Hal Foster, Iria Candela, David Mellor, Gavin Turk and Lisa Tickner.

 AREA 5: Minimalism

Richard Serra

  • Recent interview with Richard Serra by long time friend Michael Craig-Martin
  • Exhibition of Serra's recent work on at Gagosian Gallery in NYC
  • Collection of Serra’s work at the Guggenheim with substantial notes about each work included.
  • Collection of Serra’s work at the Museum of Modern Art.
  • Sculpture Te Tuhirangi Contour, 1999 – 2001 at the Gibb’s Farm, Kaipara Harbour, NZ.
  • Sculptures, analysis and teaching activities for Serra’s work.
  • Video where Richard Serra answers the question ‘Why MakeArt?’
  • Serra talks about his sculpture at the Guggenheim Bilbao.
  • Serra talks about his ‘Tools and Strategies’.
  • The ArtBlog has some good articles on his work.

 AREA SIX: Contemporary Diversity

Khan Academy's introduction to Art in the 21st Century. 

 Ai Weiwei
Exclusive interview in July 2016 with The Art Newspaper & Weiwei in Pittsburg (Warhol's home town)
From Criminal to Art-World Superstar The Guardian has this article on Ai's recent release and upcoming exhibitions. 
Smithsonian Magazine discusses whether Ai is the most dangerous artist alive
The Guardian has this article & video on Ai who says "I have to speak for those who cannot"
The NYTimes has this recent article on Ai's latest exhibition.
Also in the NYTimes is this article – congratulations Ai on the return of your passport!
The Atlantic has the article on Ai Weiwei's creativity while in captivity. Nice!
This article at the Guardian by Jonathan Jones discusses the current crowd-funding attempt by the Royal Academy to host an Ai Weiwei installation.

 The following Articles for Ai Weiwei are mainly in regards to his Sunflower Seeds work
Art Asia Pacific Article on Ai
Huffington Post Article on Ai
Telegraph Article on Ai
Tate Unilever Series with some Text on Ai
Guardian Article on Sunflower seeds

 Damien Hirst
The Guardian has this article on the fact that Hirst still believes art is more powerful than money.
Also at the Guardian is this article quoting Hirst when he exclaims 'What have I done? I've created a monster.' commenting on his enormous art production 'factory'.
Artiste News has this article on the soon to be opened new gallery that Hirst is developing.
And a few articles from the Daily Mail (not exactly the height of art criticism) deriding the value and artistic merit of Hirst's work. Hirst's Prices Plumet, Bankrupt of Ideas and this one on his property empire.
Jeff Koons
Current exhibition of Koon's recent work on at Almine Rech Gallery, brief description of his use of mirrors
The Guardian has this article on the recent auction of Jeff Koon's Baloon Dog having achieved the most expensive artwork for a living artist.
On the other hand, this article from The Art Newspaper discusses a recent lawsuit in regards to the numbering and issuing of editions? 

Shane Cotton
Auckland Art Gallery's blogpost with some text about his Haymaker series
Creative Giants page for Cotton with a short video provides an overview of his work
An overview of his work with biography and images 
Hamish McKay Gallery has this short text and some images
City Gallery in Wellington has quite an extensive section from his Hanging Sky exhibition
Mariko Mori
The Observer has this article on Visualising an Endless Universe, Sean Kelly Gallery has this biography with further links, and Streaming Museum has this page display of her work with some brief text.
ARCHITECTURE:


Term 3: Pop Art, Abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Sensationalism, Contemporary Diversity.

 In term three we examine the theory and context of consumerism in relation to a number of artists. Some accept it, some reject it and other embrace it however ambivilently. Some are successful in their approach and some are not but everyone must deal with it. 

In this article by Jonathan Jones in the Guardian, titled "How Art Killed Our Culture", Jones argues how capitalism was embraced by many early Pop Artists and what effect that has had on the art market and the art world.

And this article titled 'Cogs in the Machine' also by Jonathan Jones in the Guardian discusses further how art and money are connected
Why Duchamp, Why Now? Audio recording about Duchamp’s iconoclasm of a hundred years ago has arrived at the centre of 20th-century art history. What then, are the subversive strategies of today? This discussion focuses on Duchamp and how scholarship and artists approach him today.

Scroll to the bottom of this page for articles on Pop Art such as the Pop Life exhibition at Tate Gallery.

 Terms 4: Exam Preparation: Context 
Below are lists of links for the areas of study in relation to exam preparation. These are relevant to our current topic. Please scroll down for links.

This article in the Guardian lists the 10 MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTINGS EVER SOLD. 

Modernist Critic Clement Greenberg
  • The list compares the ideas of art critic Clement Greenberg (or Modernism in his view) with that of Hal Foster (who wrote an essay called The Crux of Minimalism) and is from the blog site of the artist Jon Meyer written in 2010.
General Pop Art Articles:
  • This article from the Tate discusses how Pop Art was perceived beyond USA – with some comentary on consumer society
  • This article from the Financial times discusses Pop Art's contribution to Consumerism in art
  • Pop Life; Art in a Material World
  • Laura Cumming for the Observer writes about the Tate exhibition 
  • Some of the discussions we've had have been informed from sections of Hal Foster's book; The First Pop Age. Before he wrote the book he wrote some of his ideas in a blog here. It's a bit challenging to read, but use your search tool (command F) to find key words such as "consumer", "image" and "desire". 
Terms 2 & 3 Topic; Theory – Feminism, Post-Modernism, Consumerism
The articles below are useful for exam related research in term 4

 This one page summary of the main points in Walter Benjamin's essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction may be useful

 Yale University's summary of Benjamin's theory on Authenticity & Originality.

 The New York Observer's Art & Culture section seems to have quite a lot of useful content.

 Bill Culbert artlces BC1, BC2, BC3, BC4, BC5 NB; note the relationship between Culbert and Neo-Dada, Culbert and Minimalism (esp artist Dan Flavin and this article from the Otago Daily Times on Culbert

Term 3: Level 2 – Environment
check out his audio clip from the Tate called 'who owns public art?'

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)