Artists of the week
Yoko Ono
Artist, musician, activist, these are some of the titles given over to one of the world’s most beloved creative artist known today, Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono has given back to the world’s best pieces of independent art ever seen. For example “Wish Tree” is one of the most popular three-dimensional conceptual art pieces. She has also written many films between 1964 and 1972 including “Wrapping Piece,”” Film No. 4,”and “Making of Fly.” Yoko also has a collection of music singles which has equivalent popularity.
The art that Ono has designed is one that doesn’t have a genre or category that most people would place an artist in. Sometimes the work is one and two dimensional, sometimes three dimensional. The meanings and presentation of her work is open and sometimes closed for interpretation which allows the viewers to imagination or interacts with the art. One of the pieces I found interesting is her “Play it by Trust” statuette.
This piece was created in1966 and has been used by other artists in small and large forms. The chess pieces are all white colored and there seems to be no checker boxes. Ono once quoted on this sculpture mimicking another artist Marcel Duchamp,” When I created Play It by Trust I wasn’t thinking about at all. Many artists have worked with chess, but they usually worked with the decorative aspect of the chess pieces. I wanted to create a new chess game, making a fundamental rather than decorative change. The white chess set is a sort of life situation. Life is not all black and white; you don't know what is yours and what is theirs. You have to convince people what is yours. In the chess situation it is simple if you are black then black is yours. But this is like a life situation, where you have to play it by convincing each other. “Love the philoy in this portion. It stripes down the fundamentals of playing a board game against someone. That fact that color is denied to all the chess pieces also strikes a bold concept of color sightlessness to other people and cultures, which is what Ono was all about.
Another example of her work that takes on a different form to art is the “Wish tree”. Here again Ono is using the collection of human emotion to capture the beauty within it. Many inhibitions have been made by other artist to explore the concept of free form to a structure. Each piece of paper is typed to a branch of a tree whose limbs are bare. The paper has a wish written from someone and attached to the tree to make it whole. The paper hangs down to look like the leaves of the tree where the tree is now complete. When I see this design I am reminded by the poem written by John Donne in the 16th century,” ... any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee...” representing the body of mankind as a whole collective then a singular piece.
Finally the other greatest artwork that be created by Yoko is “PROMISE “which was presented to the United Nations on World Autism Awareness Day. The design is made of 67 acrylic puzzle pieces to represent the 67 million citizens around the world that suffers from Autism. The background is a picture of a cloudy blue day in the sky. The mural is also is used to convey the complexity of Autism. Again the collective puzzle piece represents a collective idea which alone says little but together portrays a magnificent image.
For more information on Yoko Ono:
· http://imaginepeace.com- personal website
Tom Friedman
Known best for his conceptual sculptor made out of everyday items. From pencils, cardboard, yarn, nails, ect. Tom creates fascinated pieces of art which is formed into something else. Looking through his art gallery, there are many pieces that I enjoyed and found to be both humors and disturbing. Tom’s work, in my option, drives to make a statement that is not clearly defined. Some of his sculptures are not even given a title. Some of pieces of material used in his art are regular items most people would not see any use for except for its own purposes.
Although there are many examples of his art available to see and examine, the three I want to personally look over is: 'Toothpick Starburst', 1995” “Open Black Box”, 2006, “Aluminum Foil Sculpture.”
The pattern used here is with over 30,000 small Tooth picks to form a star bust shape. 3d dimensional all around, every detail is taken into consideration. The form is 26 x 30 x 23 inches. This one is a very serious attempt to make pure illusion out of simple objects. Tom is quoted here saying” "I saw the toothpick sculpture as a response to consuming the pill containing Play-Doh as its medicine. “Both color and texture gives this piece an active approach to a loud presentation. There is also balance in the spike to place as the sculpture is not held on by string but the bottom spikes. There is so much detail in this design that the audience’s eye never tires to find something new in every angle.
The Second piece I want to explore is the Open Black Box. Commissioned in 2006, Open Black box was placed in the Gagosian Gallery. Seen at eye level, the audience gets the feeling like stepping into the tech. world this art sculpture has much to give due to the lack of materials over texture. The empty spaces between the corners of the box say as much to the finished object as the corners themselves do. Connecting the dots with one’s own mind seems to be the movement the artist is trying to present here. The balance where the corners are tilted to show the four sides of the box also directs the viewers to see it in a 3d perspective.
The last piece created by Tom Friedman is Aluminum Foil Sculpture in June of 2007 at the Lever House Gallery. There is a collection of small tin foil pieces that suspended from the ceiling. The different objects that tom used were paper, styrofoam, paint, spaghetti, eraser shavings, and yarn. Here again the form is distorted and not every piece has a particular outline to follow. The cache of pieces seems to show shattered glass that is branching out into space. Tom explained his idea,” "I identified for myself four basic elements: the material I would choose, the process of altering of altering the material, the form it would take, and its presentation. I found that there would be an element of logic to connect them."
There are many other sculptures that Tom has fashioned which inspire the use of materials that is seen in just one form or use. Love the concept of transformation art that makes one look at the world in a different light.
Links for Tom Friedman:
