Blog #8: 5 Transformation artists

Rolling Across the Bay

#5) Scott Weaver. Now working with toothpicks is nothing new to the artworld and although he isn't a renowned artist so-to-speak, I figure Scott Weaver is worth mentioning. His best known piece, Rolling Over the Bay, made entirely out of toothpicks (about as basic as it can possibly get when it comes to ready-made objects) is compose of over 100,000 toothpicks held together with nothing but Elmer's glue, is 9'x7'x30'' and has been an continual work in progress for over 3000 hours over the span of 34 years!! It is a 3-dimensional collage of the city of San Francisco and as the city has changed over the years, so has the sculpture. However what sets this piece apart from all the other toothpick artists is the secondary function.

Most toothpick sculptures end at their aesthetic qualities, but Rolling over the Bay is actually one great big marble drop. There are several different starting points in which a person can drop a ping-pong and watch it as it traverses, or tours, throughout one of America's most culturally rich cities.

Working in the Coal Mines

#4) Lonnie Holley: the 7th out of 27 children, he grew up in Birmingham, Alabamba having to be resourceful. Having never completed the 7th grade, Holley ran away to Loisianna where he educated himself by reading National Geographic magazines. His first material of choice was the by-product stone made from metal-castings in sand at an abandoned foundry. His early work was immediately appreciated by the art community ending up on display in places like the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and even the White House. While he gained recognition for sculpture, Holley began seeing the artitic potential in various discarded materials found in junk yards, construction sites or abandoned lots using said materials to reflect the spirit of American culture, industry and enginuity.



Beyond the Pleasure Principle

#3) Sara Lucas: an artist who came to prominence in the early 1990's, and though she worked with photography and collages, she also is known for her ready-made artwork. Her pieces tend to address humor, gender, sex, puns but always in a provacative, sometimes crass way. In a way to address sexism within English society, one of Lucas's body of work uses furnature to replace the human body with other ready-made objects to draw attention to or replace where the chest, crotch or legs might be.



Two Fried Eggs and a Kebab



The most obvious meaning is how women are objectified in the literal sense. No longer people but turned into everyday objects. It also addresses the sexual nature of people and how sometimes we (like myself) assume the sexual. Two Eggs and a Kebab for example, is simply a coffee table, a card, two eggs, and a kebab...arranged in a relatively random form. Her title says exactly what they are...why do we automatically assume its necessarily sexual?



#2) Tracey Emin: the quintessential "tortured arists" Emin was raised in a broken home, lived in poverty, was raped by the age of 13 and had an abortion at 18. Much of this disatisfaction is evident through her work which covers video, sculpture, needlework, installation and more. However she has risen above this, now a member of the Britarians or Young British Artists and is a Royal Acadamien for the Royal Academy of Arts in London. One of her more noted pieces of artwork that is composed from ready-made materials is actually her unmade bed. Entitled My Bed, it is in the state we all dread having people see. It's unmade, dripping with pantihoes, blood-stained underwear, cigarrette burns, used condoms ...the lot. It's interesting in that we get a true invited glimpse into her life. The viewer isn't intrusive and the artist is not apologetic of the state of things as it is an expression of her character (what she's like when no one's looking) and she doesn't alter it in any way.

made from soap and pubic hair

#1) Tom Friedman: the artist who best fits the mold of creating things out of ready-made, every day objects from candy, drug or grocery stores. Having attended Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois, Friedman, like Emin, gained large recognition soon after graduation in 1990. He really opens the mind in terms of what materials to use. What particularly appeals to me is how he clearly examines the use of an object and then transforms it into something beautiful...but ultimately obsolete. He'll look at what elements make an object desirable or undesirable and then manipulates those elements into something aesthetic. A good example would be this untitled piece made from a bar of soap and pubic hair.

made from yarn

Notice how he has taken something generally considered repulsive and rather than removing it, he's made a captivating work of art. Friedman rarely entitles his works, usually allowing the humor of the piece to name itself. Not only does he use ordinary materials but he manages to use them in extraordinary ways leaving us often to wonder how he manages to do it.