Architecture and simple parts: project made with collaborative teaching trade: Jerry Allan

Critique parameters we give ourselves

On Wood containment

Artist One: Jözef Sumichrast

HAIR 2007© - urethane 18" X 24" X 10"

DIVER 1995© - plaster 32" x 11" x 11"

Jözef Sumichrast creates work that exists both representationally and abstractly, which is a representation of the mystery he likes to incorporate into his works. His work encourages movement and exploration of space, light, and viewer participation. He works with sheet metal and cardboard.

I found this artist interesting because of the not-quite-normal stylistic approaches and simply because some of his art just looks cool. His art is also painfully personal: following a traumatic event in his life, he started incorporating the color red into his works, representative of his legs being surgically reattached.

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL 2010© -bronze 28” x 16” x 18”

(I like this piece significantly less than the others, only because their thin heads make me uneasy)

When asked about whether he was an abstract artist, he said: "Arshile Gorky hanged himself. Jackson Pollock got drunk and drove into a tree. Terry Kitchen shot himself in the mouth and Mark Rothko slashed himself to death with a kitchen knife. Hummm, no, no, I'm not an abstract expressionist."

S MERMAID 1992© - bronze 54" x 30" x 13"

cupric patina

Artist One : Berlinde de Bruyckere

Berlinde de Bruyckere

In Flander's Fields, 2000. Polyurethane foam, horse hide, wood, metal.

http://www.ilovebelgium.be/blog/files/2011/11/image_3469.jpg

Inside Me, 2010. Cast iron, horse skin, epoxy, iron, wood.

http://cloud.hauserwirth.com/documents/AI36pmJHoCDe94CreN6qfa8w0Hz6Dsi33Ab2uw5C6885qgQ4L9/large/de_br43689_view3tn-fYIt5O.jpg

The Black Horse, 2003. Polyurethane foam, horse hide, wood, iron.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/imgs/artists/debruyckere_berlinde/berlinde_debruyckere_1.jpg

Marthe, 2008. Wax, epoxy, metal, wood and glass.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/imgs/artists/de_bruyckere_berlinde/20110317011014_berlinde_debruyckere_marthe_colour.jpg

Berlinde de Bruyckere, born in 1964 in Ghent, Belgium, is an artist who creates sculptural works mainly in wax, wood, wool, horse hides, and hair. More recently, she has begun to use blankets in her work, which represent both comfort, warmth, and stability. She has been displaying work in solo and group exhibitions since 1986. Her work tends to deal with macabre imagery, and in her 2012 solo exhibition We Are All Flesh in Australia, she explores the macabre as well as the weaknesses all living creatures share through her amorphous, unthreatening horsehide forms and cast wax and resin human figures. 

I think de Bruyckere's work is hauntingly beautiful and provocative, warm and disconcerting all at once. I chose Berlinde de Bruyckere because her work, though grotesque, does not rely on shock value  - although it's creepy to some at first, and it was for me, it brings forth memories of vulnerability, familiarity, dread, depression, and a kinship with nature. There is a kind of solemnity and calm quiet that surrounds her work and even if it scares me at first I always seem to find a niche to settle into. When looking at this work, it's important to look at her execution but then to examine the feelings the work brings forward in yourself. There is so much more here than just creepy imagery.   

Artist Three: Francis Upritchard

Francis Upritchard is an up and coming artist, who was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand in 1976. She often uses a rainbow color palette and has her statues move. She will have novelists write stories about her work in the catalogues that go with her shows.

I value her work, because she takes risks. It is not often that a sculptor is bold enough to use such a wide color range, in addition to having movement in her pieces. I also find it interesting that she has someone create stories about her work; artists often leave it to the viewer to create their own interpretation.

Sites Used: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/aug/30/artist-week-francis-upritchard

                   http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/francis_upritchard.htm

"Save Yourself." 2003, Mixed media, ( a mass of rags, with a glass eye, and a gold pack of cigarettes.) 

"The Misanthrope." 2011, Modeling material, foil, wire, acrylic paint, silk, wood, polyester padding, nylon, costume jewelry, and found table. 

"Sloth." 2003, Modeling material, fake fur, kid gloves, gold and silver rings, wood and glass cabinet. 

"Mushroom Lamp." 2009, Ceramic and metal on wood shelf. 

http://www.artvehicle.com/events/261

"Grey Teapot Man." 2006, Ceramic. 

http://www.dadadandy.com/dadadandyboutique.html