Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Monday, January 9, 2012
Cool stuff: Mad Art Lab
The folks over at Skepchick.org launched a sister site a while back called Mad Art Lab, which purports to explore the intersection of art, science, and skepticism (hmm. . . those themes sound awfully familiar . . .). Go check it out, if you haven't already. They're good people.
On Iconography of the Religious Variety
I have a confession: I don't respect religion that much. But I really like the pictures.
Religious iconography is appealing for a lot of reasons: it's dense with symbolism, highly recognizable, and it taps into a lot of abstract things that are otherwise hard to express. I'm not an anthropologist or anything, but from what I understand, the very earliest examples of art (such as at Lascaux) were associated with the kind of magic and mysticism that eventually became religion as we understand it. So there is a long history of using art as a spiritual tool. And I can dig that, while being bothered by, too.
Art taps into our capacity for experiencing that which we don't really understand; and while it can be used as a device for exploration and discovery, it has far more often been one for propaganda. Over the years, artists have created a rich visual language to reference many important social and philosophical concepts. Much of that language is religious. And I have typically had no problem co-opting that language in my work when I wanted to reference concepts such as guilt, transcendence, or sacrifice. As a result, I actually have a lot of works with religious references in them, such that it's kind of a big theme in my work. I didn't plan that, and was actually quite unsettled about it when I realized it for the first time.
I mentioned that religious imagery is dense. One side effect of using it is that it has a lot of baggage. I was using it in nonreligious contexts, but not overtly critical ones. I realized that, looking back on my work as a body, it would be possible to interpret the religious elements as much more, er, earnest, than I ever intended them to be. I've been guilty of postmodern-style appropriation, which I always assumed would be seen as lightly ironic, but I'm not sure if that's how it really comes off. So now I am conflicted. I will have to deal with the issue head-on in my future work.
I'm interested in what other people think about this topic. How do you feel about using religious symbols in nonreligous contexts? Is it a form of reclaiming? Is it a short cut? Should I, as an atheist, worry about the way this comes up in my own work?
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| "Pulling the Heartstrings", 2004 |
Religious iconography is appealing for a lot of reasons: it's dense with symbolism, highly recognizable, and it taps into a lot of abstract things that are otherwise hard to express. I'm not an anthropologist or anything, but from what I understand, the very earliest examples of art (such as at Lascaux) were associated with the kind of magic and mysticism that eventually became religion as we understand it. So there is a long history of using art as a spiritual tool. And I can dig that, while being bothered by, too.
Art taps into our capacity for experiencing that which we don't really understand; and while it can be used as a device for exploration and discovery, it has far more often been one for propaganda. Over the years, artists have created a rich visual language to reference many important social and philosophical concepts. Much of that language is religious. And I have typically had no problem co-opting that language in my work when I wanted to reference concepts such as guilt, transcendence, or sacrifice. As a result, I actually have a lot of works with religious references in them, such that it's kind of a big theme in my work. I didn't plan that, and was actually quite unsettled about it when I realized it for the first time.
 |
| "Good News From the Swamp", 2007 |
I mentioned that religious imagery is dense. One side effect of using it is that it has a lot of baggage. I was using it in nonreligious contexts, but not overtly critical ones. I realized that, looking back on my work as a body, it would be possible to interpret the religious elements as much more, er, earnest, than I ever intended them to be. I've been guilty of postmodern-style appropriation, which I always assumed would be seen as lightly ironic, but I'm not sure if that's how it really comes off. So now I am conflicted. I will have to deal with the issue head-on in my future work.
I'm interested in what other people think about this topic. How do you feel about using religious symbols in nonreligous contexts? Is it a form of reclaiming? Is it a short cut? Should I, as an atheist, worry about the way this comes up in my own work?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A very cool art/science crossover
Check out this project: La Evolución Silenciosa, by artist Jason deCaires Taylor. These are concrete sculptures installed underwater as a base for coral reef restoration. What a fantastic idea, and he realizes it well.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
An offering to the productivity gods
This is a drawing I did in 2007, when I was in India. My goal when I was there was to learn something about the mythological nature of rivers, and so one thing that attracted me were the stories from the Bhagavata Purana that involved the Yamuna River. In one of them, Krishna defeated the five headed serpent-demon Kaliya, who was living in the Yamuna and causing it to be poisoned.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Resources: Leonardo
'Interdisciplinary' is a very sexy word these days, and for good reason. Exploring links between existing bodies of knowledge can be exciting and fruitful. But knowing enough about both areas to do this in a way that is actually productive can be quite difficult, especially when they are quite different, and both require a fair amount of background knowledge to get started.
When artists tackle scientific ideas or themes (or vice versa), the result may be pretty cool, but is often not truly interdisciplinary. Knowing what is interesting on one or more scientific fronts as well as contemporary art fronts, plus having the specialized knowledge and skills in both fields to create something meaningful, is a lot of work.
One thing that makes all interdisciplinary work harder is the lack of a traditional support infrastructure. This is especially true for people who are still beginning their careers. Therefore, I think it important to point out examples of people and resources that make it easier to bridge this gap. One such resource is the journal Leonardo and its associated publications, put out by MIT Press. I first learned about this journal when researching one of its editorial board members, Eduardo Kac. Leonardo is a general interest journal dealing with the connectedness of science, technology, and art, and seems to me to be one of the best examples of how to do this in a way that isn't either scientifically or artistically naive.
When artists tackle scientific ideas or themes (or vice versa), the result may be pretty cool, but is often not truly interdisciplinary. Knowing what is interesting on one or more scientific fronts as well as contemporary art fronts, plus having the specialized knowledge and skills in both fields to create something meaningful, is a lot of work.
One thing that makes all interdisciplinary work harder is the lack of a traditional support infrastructure. This is especially true for people who are still beginning their careers. Therefore, I think it important to point out examples of people and resources that make it easier to bridge this gap. One such resource is the journal Leonardo and its associated publications, put out by MIT Press. I first learned about this journal when researching one of its editorial board members, Eduardo Kac. Leonardo is a general interest journal dealing with the connectedness of science, technology, and art, and seems to me to be one of the best examples of how to do this in a way that isn't either scientifically or artistically naive.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Welcome
Hi, I'm Hanna, and I intend to write about the intersection of art and science in this blog. I am in the process of developing an art practice, and also getting a graduate degree in ecohydrology/watershed management. I am interested in the use of art as a way to communicate some of the more transcendent aspects of scientific thought and progress. I do this mostly through mixed media 2-D works, but I have been known to write poems as well. One of my big goals for the next 3 years is to develop a large scale collaborative art project that deals with rivers and how we see them geographically, socially, and spiritually.
To start things off, here is a link to my portfolio: http://hannacoy.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html. It's a little out of date, but if you want to comment on anything there, I am happy to hear it. I may also talk about useful research/information tools from time to time. Thanks for reading.
To start things off, here is a link to my portfolio: http://hannacoy.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html. It's a little out of date, but if you want to comment on anything there, I am happy to hear it. I may also talk about useful research/information tools from time to time. Thanks for reading.
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