IA1 Inquiry Phase 1
Inquiry Question How do artists express the concept of nothingness through manipulating visual elements?
Introduction Art is a form of expression for the artists, a shortcut to release their innermost feelings and experiences. This investigation responses to my personal experience I had at the Hemmant Cemetery and quarry. My initial focus was to explore the meaning of our existence as everything seemed so fragile and weak at first. However, its vast and open space, the sound of silence and the melancholy atmosphere weakened my sense of presence, which intrigued me to explore the concept of "Nothingness". Therefore, my inquiry question centres around how artists express the concept of nothingness through manipulating visual elements. The two key artists who have guided me through my investigation are Miroslaw Balka and Alberto Giacometti. Both artists express a strong sense of nothingness in their works through their careful manipulations of visual elements, which provokes an introspective internal dialogue with selves about the message that lies under the canvas. Artist 1 Miroslaw Balka is a contemporary Polish artist whose art practice mainly centres around abstract installations related to the subject of existentialism and associated philosophical theories. Apart from these themes, his memories of the genocides allowed him to interpret the concept of nothingness in art through a personal and cultural context ("Mirosław Bałka Studio", n.d.). His commission in 2009 titled 'How It Is' is an enormous metal structure that has a length of 30 metres and a height of 13 metres, which looks like a structural variant of a cargo container. It is elevated 2 metres above the ground with stilts, along with ramps located at the open-ended sides of the structure, invites viewers to walk underneath it as an auditory stimulus, or into this massive interior that consists of nothing but darkness and emptiness ("The Unilever Series: Miroslaw Balka: How It Is – Exhibition at Tate Modern | Tate", 2009). I first thought that the abstract idea of 'Nothingness' could be hard to express in a seemingly effortless installation. However, Balka demonstrated meticulous conception and careful manipulation of the visual elements in 'How It Is'. Through the control of space, scale, light and material, Balka turned this installation into a psychological experiment. It continuously stimulates viewers' multisensory impacts, thus triggering a dilemma in escaping 'nothingness'.
Miroslaw Balka • Contemporary Polish artist. • Graduated from the Warsaw. Academy of Fine Arts in 1985. • Work mainly centres around sculpture and installation.
annotations
‘HowItIs’
Miroslaw Balka. Howitis,2009. Entrance view.
The privation of light subtly emphasised the conceptual relevance between nothingness and darkness. As viewers walk into this black void, the sense of uneasiness exaggerates as they gradually lose their reliability on their senses, immersing themselves in a space without any substantial fear (Tay, n.d.). Moreover, the space, scale and material of the work also effectively played with the psychological threshold of the viewers. As they gradually disappear into the vacuous giant void, the burden caused by their willingness and capacity to endure is enhanced. The metallic material, along with the vast space allows any sound captured to turn into an echo that continuously flows around the viewers. The hollow timbre further enhances the feeling of being trapped into a non-exit void filled with nothingness. Through Balka's installation named 'How It is', I have come aware that the visual elements that I have constantly ignored in my work such as space and light could be so significant in conveying the abstract definition of nothingness. In addition, he also showed how the manipulations of visual elements could trigger a multisensory impact, thus leading viewers to physically and mentally experience nothingness, which is something I want to achieve in my work. Artist 2 Alberto Giacometti is a Swiss-born, Paris based artist. His interest in existential philosophy allowed him to visually reflect the dilemma of human nature as a result of WW2 through a cultural and personal context (D. Hohl, 2019). An abstract suffering human figure that expresses an intangible sense of our humanness is one of the key visual motifs that frequently appears in Giacometti's works. The oil painting of Jean Genet between 1954 to 1955 was considered one of the most iconic works of him. Jean Genet was one of the most well-known writers in the twentieth century. However, he experienced a weak sense of presence during his lifetime due to the alienation caused by his criminal past and homosexuality ("'Jean Genet', Alberto Giacometti, 1954 or 1955 | Tate", n.d.). Giacometti has subtly captured this internal struggle of nothingness through manipulating lines and tones. These seemingly broken and random lines in this painting not only visually depicted the internal struggle caused by horror when Genet embraced nothingness, but also highlighted the contrast between this lightly sketched empty background and the character. Through utilising sweeping tentative brush strokes, Giacometti gradually builds its
Alberto Giacometti • Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. • October 1901 to January 1966. • Existentialism played a significant role in hiswork.
likeness of Genet and simultaneously created an intense mood. Although Genet is looking straight to the viewers, his empty eyes subtly weakened the severe tension, creates the effect of a timeless moment. With tone, he employed a reduced palette of colours. His careful choice made on the selection of colours further enhanced that sense of nothingness that cannot be expressed linguistically. All these manipulations of visual elements were constructed by Giacometti carefully. Through the use of line and tone, Giacometti's painting of Jean Genet conveyed a strong sense of nothingness and emptiness. Apart from that, he also showed how warm colours could also provoke negative moods, which aligns with my intention to investigate the concept of nothingness in art. Experiments My experiments have been carried out mainly through a personal context as the excursion at Hemmant Quarry, and Cemetery triggered a strong personal reaction in me. It visually recorded my mood when I was astonished by the vast landscape. My first experiment, named The Outsider, is an installation that focused on reflecting my experiences while I was at the quarry. At first, I was standing on a small cliff, surrounded by a vast landscape filled with trees, in which I physically felt a strong sense of space. However, I have then realised that everything looks so peaceful and quiet here; calm lake, beautiful trees, gentle wind and light rain. I felt like an outsider that was interrupting this peace. My sense of presence gradually weakened. Balka and Giacometti have inspired me in this experiment with manipulating several visual elements. Giacometti's work showed me how line and texture could be powerful in conveying the concept of nothingness, but I carried out this principle in a 3D form. This is evident in this sculpture, which is also the focal point of the installation. Instead of fully imitating his techniques, such as using tentative brushstrokes, I used aluminium foil to create a rough texture. To capture the absurd mood, a wire was used to build the round-backed stature. The empty composition inspired by Balka effectively reinforced the topic of this experiment. By placing the medium-sized sculpture in front of the big green background, the difference in size further reinforced a sense of inharmonious. The contrast in colours and
Jean Genet 1954 – 1955
Oil paint on canvas
The Outsider
Wire, oil paint, cardboard, aluminium foil, wire.
textures optimised the atmosphere. This contrast not only allowed the black and rough-textured sculpture to stand out from the smooth and green background, but it also naturally draws the viewer's attention back onto the focal point. I see this installation as a visual metaphor of me and the vast and open landscape while I was at the quarry. In the next experiment, One Life, I tried to explore the purpose of life through a personal and contemporary context in the form of stop motion video. Flipping the books from 1905 that record the burials made me aware that life can be so fragile and weak. In this experiment, I sought to portray the meaning of life as meaningless and showed that individuals might be easily forgotten as their journey of life ends. One Life visually records the process of this experiment and visually narrates the ordinary life of an individual, from birth to death. Instead of using new and clean canvas for a new stage in life, I decided to stick with one canvas throughout, which allowed me to experiment using textures that were inspired by Giacometti. Advance the plot, the texture of the background created by charcoal becomes harsher and darker, which symbolises the existence of memories, and evokes a nostalgic mood to the viewers. Furthermore, Balka's work inspired me to metaphorically use the main subject of the video as a void that is filled with the precarious intricacies of our existence. Therefore, I employed simplified black protagonists rather than colourful realistic characters. Furthermore, in 'How it is', Balka captured the echoing sound through his choice of material. As I believe music can also effectively enhance the atmosphere, I applied calm and sad background music with light rain sound which not only disinterred my mood when I was at the Cemetery but also creates multisensory impacts to the viewers.
One life Stop motion video
Conclusion Through these processes, I have decided to explore the concept of nothingness in art as the focus of my body of work. Although visually exploring an abstract and philosophical concept seems quite unapproachable, the two artists Miroslaw Balka and Alberto Giacometti, have inspired me with their ideas, materials and techniques which further influenced my art practice. Bibliography D. Hohl, R. (2019). Alberto Giacometti | Swiss sculptor and painter. Retrieved 22 November 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alberto-Giacometti Mirosław Bałka Studio. Retrieved 20 November 2019, from https://miroslaw-balka.com/en/biography/ Tay, S. How do contemporary works of art engage the concept of ‘nothingness’?. Retrieved 18 November 2019, from https://newmindseye.wordpress.com/how-do-contemporary-works-of-art-engage-the-concept-of-nothingness/ The Unilever Series: Miroslaw Balka: How It Is – Exhibition at Tate Modern | Tate. (2009). Retrieved 20 November 2019, from https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series/unilever-series-miroslawbalka-how-it ‘Jean Genet’, Alberto Giacometti, 1954 or 1955 | Tate. Retrieved 21 November 2019, from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/giacometti-jean-genet-t04905