Influences
My influences are varied, but are dominated by a combination of traditional artists, and more kitsch and pop culture works.
Land Art:
Walter Da Maria
Influenced early on by the Fluxus movement, and as a Reconstructive Postmodernist, Walter Da Maria gained insights into this ritualistic process to reconnect man to nature through the process of art, like Bueys.
But where Buey’s work is replete with symbolism, mysticism, and arcade paganism, Da Maria uses mathematics as the way to unlock the universe, and on a monumental scale to give reverence to the landscape, and contemplate man’s place in it. Walter Da Maria’s work, Lightning Field is a wonderful example of Da Maria’s “…cerebral encounter of nature.”
Monolithic Installation Art:
Olafur Eliasson
I’m drawn to Eliasson’s meditation on “themes: light, space, time and the experience of changing perspectives.” Eliasson’s installation work within the monolithic, Eliasson’s work hums with the enigmatic concepts of transcendence and the infinite.
Also, Eliasson is interested in the interplay between artist (through his work) and the audience. The Weather Project is a great example of this, as you are encouraged to absorb the piece at your own time and distance, as the fog moves in and out you are the chronicler of it’s change. As the artist puts it, “My work has always been about trusting the viewer to project their personal narrative into the work.”
Fluxus, Reconstructivism:
Joseph Beuys
First looking at Reconstructivist art, and specifically in Beuys’ work, I was struck by how personal it was. The idea of symbolism in art and the way that it informs our world-view has always fascinated me. And Bueys’ work deals with the trauma of the modern/industrialized man by searching back into the mythology of nature really resonates with me. I moved out of New York recently for a very similar reason, hoping to find solace in nature and peace of mind, and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made.
Running parallel to this theme of reclamation in Reconstructivist art, is the work of artists in the 1990s and their ideas of personal identity and urgency.
How This Relates to My Work
For me, the topics of Reconstructivism and the idea of personal identity in the art of these three really interested me. Also, the interest in personal identity, our place in nature, and the construct of the universe and how we interact with it is key to my own work.
The Art of Play:
Toshio Iwai - Interaction & Self Discovery
Iwai was born in Kira, Aichi, Japan. As a child, he spent time creating flip book-style animations in the corner of text books and making motor-driven mechanical toys, since these were the only technologies available to him. In 1981 Iwai matriculated in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Tsukuba, studying Plastic Art and Mixed Media. Influenced by the work of Norman McLaren, he began producing installation art that combined pre-cinema animation techniques with modern methods of image capture and creation (photocopiers, video cameras and computer graphics) and of stroboscopic lighting (video monitors, video projectors and LEDs). His 1985 installation Time Stratum won the Gold prize at the High Technology Art Exhibition ’85, held in Shibuya Seibu, Tokyo. Time Stratum II was awarded the Grand Prize at the 17th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Meguro Art Museum, Tokyo. In 1987 Iwai graduated from the University of Tsukuba with a master’s degree in Plastic Art and Mixed Media.[1] In the same year, Iwai designed his first published videogame, Otocky, in association with ASCII Corporation.
How This Relates to My Work
Interactivity is of course a key element of building in a game engine. I needed to research how artist convey their art through the interactive element. Iwai has always had the ability to make his art accessible. This needs to be translated by me to my own virtual spaces when it comes to asset management, locomotion, and collection.
Photography:
Hiroshi Sugimoto - Aesthetics of Stillness
The 1990s used a vast array of different techniques, materials, and mediums, but for me the deep resonance of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photography was some of the most powerful. His focus on the seemingly mundane space that we inhabit really made me think about my own love of the disregarded. Specifically, his work focusing on movie-theaters struck a deep chord with me.
How This Relates to My Work
The way that Sugimoto’s photo work has a feeling of ritual space to it, something that I want to capture in my own work. I love the desolation and texture that give it an air of the post-apocalypse. The deep contrast and heightened textures also give it a sense of abandonment.
Photography:
Gregory Crewdson - Mundane Hyperreality
Another prolific photographer of the 1990s – 2000s in Gregory Crewdson with his meticulously lit and framed tableaux of surreal normality. His focus on the twisting of Americana, and like Sugimoto, the seemingly mundane really struck a chord with me. It is the heavy atmosphere of his work that gives it a nightmarish quality.
How This Relates to My Work
Crewdson effectively uses the familiar to give it an air of the surreal. I love the framing, staging, and lighting, and the subject matter evokes my own upbringing in a small town. This photography really is influencing my 3rd project, dealing with repressed memory and parallel universes in dilapidated spaces.