Category: Research

During a second year Art History class I was introduced to the piece ‘Portrait of Ross’ by artist Felix Gonzales-Torres; portraying his deceased lover who tragically passed away from AIDs.  The work involved a large pile of candy being placed in a corner as audience members were allowed to, at their own will, pick and take candy from the pile. The pile slowly disappeared over time; mirroring the deterioration of Ross and maybe even how we as a society robbed people suffering from this crisis of life.

This piece NRA, unlimited copies; which was displayed at the minimalism exhibition follows the same process of having audience members take home parts of the work with some key differences. Firstly unlike ‘Portrait of Ross’ ‘NRA’ is unlimited. The artwork never goes away and can be taken from indefinitely. Additionally, ‘NRA’ is composed of large red posters with black borders.

Felix in my observation; was probably making a negative political statement about the NRA. Being an American artist himself the NRA would be a relevant political topic for his work and one he could attribute a lot of death towards. This is what I think he was trying to do with this piece; each paper representing a life lost by the NRA and being unlimited showing how the problem has yet to end.

I do not know if this is the true meaning of the piece but it is what I took from it and it felt very powerful to interpret that message

Good Design – Take Away

Good Design is context dependent. This is what I took away more than anything from the article. Good Design has no rule book and no objective one fits all structure but, instead varies from situation to situation changing through contexts.

As the article states “‘Good’ is defined in relation to societal laws, regulations, agreements, and contracts, and in relation to ideological considerations such as democratic, cultural, and environmental ideals.”

The notional of improvement of one’s judgmental skills, rather than an improvement of simply a checklist titled “Good Design”  is something that stuck with me from the article. Designers must support the growth of these ideas in order to create good design for unique situations rather than for a blanket of possibilities.

Reflection 

This concept discussed above is one that has never really come to me as a designer. But reading through this article I completely understand the use of this mindset, especially when in relation to interaction design. Being adaptable is a key asset of taking yourself from a good to a great designer. Thinking through no just a good design but a good solution for the problem at hand

Art Work

This is not really an artwork but I think it embodies the idea of the article.

This is an animal crossing in Banff Nation Park, Canada. These were implemented to reduce road kill encounters and to provide an unobstructed passage from forest to forest for wildlife. The designers in this circumstance took an outdated method of simple signs and made it into something completely revolutionary. These walkways have significantly reduced animal deaths in the areas they are present, all while maintaining a natural environment. The designers, in this case, didn’t focus on human-centric design and attempt to create better signs, or craft a way to make humans more alert; this simply doesn’t work. Instead, they designed for the animals and both parties profited.

 

Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian artist working in the mediums of painting, object art and sculpture. He is often recognized as the godfather of the Arte Povera movement, an Italian art movement founded in the late 1960s  which used throwaway material to make art for the people

The Documentary

The documentary delves into Pistoletto’s evolution and emergence as an artist, from his early days as a studying creative to his current status as a respected creative force. The documentary touches on Pistoletto’s epiphany which he was painting a self-portrait of himself, the moment he noticed art was in his words “the freest someone could be.” This moment felt like the pivotal moment in his life as well as the moment the entire documentary hinged around, taking Pistoletto from the man rolling newspaper through the streets, to the man creating the mirror paintings.

The film took a while to explain the genius behind his mirror paintings, which from the film grasped as his most important artwork. Their interpretation of having the viewer be apart of the artwork really opened my eyes to the beauty of them, even more, when I went to go see them in person over the weekend.  This also helped me further understand Arte Povera as I was now literally part of the art, talk about art for the people.

The Talk

I found the talk extremely interesting. Pistoletto and the Scientist shared interesting similarities between their works that I had never even thought to make before entering the room. I particularly enjoyed the scientist explaining the beauty found in a particle he had created, something that to a non-scientific eye could never equate to beauty. Their continued back and forth on how different concepts of their works overlapped was very interesting and I certainly saw more of the art in science. Pistoletto also surprised me by calling his art phenomenological, which wasn’t just a word I was surprised to hear but one that perfectly explained his work; especially his mirror paintings.

What did I think?

I found Pistoletto’s work and the talk very interesting. It gives a new perspective to the piece now adorned on top of the ADM building and I will have a new found respect for it during my stay