Art Intervention

 

 

Art Intervention

This technique involves interacting with a previously existing work, audience or space to express a position. This type of are is conceptual and many bring to attention the  fine line between art intervention and vandalism. Art intervention pieces often challenge or comment on the theme or implications of the original work.

Artist

Art intervention can be seen in the work of El Crudo, an artist from from Valparaiso, Chile. In the example below, he took a painting of multiple childhood icons, including Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse, and destroyed the pictures of them. The text is translated as “shooting target/the childhood on attack” and speaks to the politics of Chilean society.

Book entry

To demonstrate this technique in my book, I chose to alter a perfume ad. The orinal DKNY add consisted of a beautiful blonde girl holding a green apple with a number of other green apples in the foreground of the photo along with the perfume bottle which is shaped like an apple. The text reads “BE DELICIOUS”. I found a photo of the wicked witch from Snow White and replace the beautiful face of the model with her evil, ugly face. I also painted the apple in her hand red like the poisonous apple in the movie “Snow White” and added red to the text. These alterations intended to portray the sometimes evil, poisonous nature of seduction and sexuality. This perfume is supposed to make women “delicious” and sexy but the contradiction of this haggard old woman’s face forces the audience to relate this perfume and the effect that it has to evil and danger (red).

Estrangement (Verfremdungseffekt)

Verfremdungseffekt is known as the distancing or alienation effect. In order to create distance the author must act as if the three walls surrounding them are the only walls that exist and that there is never a fourth one so that the audience no longer feels like the unseen spectator.

Artist 

Torgeir Ensrud is an American artist that uses estrangement in the digital arts. Here is an example of his work:

Book Entry

I focused on creating distance between the audience and the image in my portrayal of the estrangement technique. I chose to work with a Nike ad that says “FREE YOURSELF” with a photo of a woman who looked like she was breaking free from something. I used a piece of black airy fabric to create distance and to create the feeling that she is still restricted. I stapled the fabric on to the page in a bar like pattern to further create this restricted feeling.

Negative Space

Negative Space 

Negative space is the space around and between the subject of an image.

Artist

M.C. Escher is a famous graphic artist from the Netherlands. He was especially known for his work with architecture, perspective and “impossible spaces” and in these works an extensive use of negative space can be seen. Here is an example of one such work:

 Book Entry

In order to demonstrate this technique, I looked for pages in my magazine that I felt had a good, obvious contrast between positive and negative space. Out of the ads I found I chose one of a girl holding a purse with birds flying around her with a blue background and decided to cute the figures out of the page to create a silhouette. I used an x-acto knife to cut the images and had to piece some parts back together in the end. I attached a white piece of paper to the back of the page to show an extreme contrast and make the silhouette pop out.

Automatism [Cut-up]

Automatism

Automatism is one of many techniques rooted in Surrealism. Surrealism started in the 1920’s in Europe and stemmed from the early “Dada” movement which was centered around going against traditional European art in protest of the war and lost culture. Surrealism was first found in the work of poets and writers but soon began to significantly influence the art world. The ideas of nonconformity and the subconscious mind are key to understanding the basis of the Surrealist movement. The ideas and theories of Sigmund Freud shaped much of the Surrealist mindset and different interpretations of his ideas led to the formation of two categories of Surrealists, Automatists and Veristic Surrealists. This leads us into what we are exploring today- Automatism. Automatism focuses more on feelings than investigation and finds importance in using the subconscious to create artwork because creativity should be free of conscious control.

Artist

Gil J. Wolman was a French artist who worked with paint, poetry and film-making. He was a key figure in the letterist movement in the 1950s and during this time he incorporated cut-up techniques into his work.

Cut-up

I chose to demonstrate the cut-up technique using a two page advertisement in my magazine which had a picture of a woman laying rather seductively on her side in a sheer dress. I cut pieces of text out of the page on the right side and rearranged the words and letters on the page on the left to say “The modern girl next door shows”. I also cut out random words that are indicative of sexuality and dropped them on the page, pasting them wherever they fell. I ripped out the remaining part of the right page but chose to keep her legs in the form so I folded them up onto the other page still providing the opportunity to reveal the entirety of her body. This alteration is a depiction of the sexuality and promiscuity found in todays society and is intended to show a contrast between the old perception of the “girl next door” and the average modern day girl who “shows” it all.

Found Book

Found Objects 

Objects with a non-art function used to create artwork through modification or alteration.

Artist

Tracey Emin has worked with a variety of different forms of art and has incorporated found objects into her work frequently. A popular example of her work with found objects is a piece titled “My Bed” which can be viewed below.

My Found Object

I have chosen to use an “In Style” Magazine issue from February 2011. This particular magazine does not necessarily have significance to me but the images, messages and portrayals within magazines are intriguing and thus inspired me to use this as the basis of the found book project.