Contemporary art is pieces of work that is created in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced form and their work is based around things, people or places surrounding themselves as artists, through my current research I’m looking into the contemporary art forms and how they’re used to promote ocean conservation and the damage humans are causing to our species, such as, coral reefs, plants and animals that most people may not even know exist.
There are many contemporary topics in today’s art world such as, painting, sculpture, drawing, dance, music, installation art, photography and a wide range more. I’ve chosen to look more closely into the contemporary art forms that are influenced by the art in nature but more specifically the oceans.
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I started my research by looking into this artist named Marie Antuanelle. Antuanelle is spiritual naturalist in a way she takes herself on a walk along a beach to meditate, to get the feeling, and understand which color palate to have to paint in. Sometimes uses an aerial photography- which is a bird’s eye view of the place for the composition, or for the perspective. Then she also collects the fallen objects that she finds, she also likes to find a nice combination in color, but also with their meaning. Because she says that “each mineral has their own healing powers”.
This lady clearly expresses a naturalist’s approach to spiritual ways of looking at the world this is clearly seen in the way that she does her practice. I chose to look at Antuanelle as each of her pieces looks as if it’s a photograph, also I love how visually pleasing her paintings are, each painting is designed on the mood and attitude she will have on that day even if they come across as looking very similar, in her head space and mind they are all significantly different.
Antuanelle has a very unique way to her pieces by the way that she places found objects from her walks from meditating to find the visual aspects that she needs, this is what enticed me to find out more about her work. Personally, I think it’s a very intricate textural detail that adds a lot of effect to her pieces, she also continues this reoccurring theme in all her paintings. I feel like this has drawn me to include something significant like this within my own practice, I would like to do this in our 410 projects as the theme links in very closely.
At the start of Antuanelles dream of becoming an artist, she was influence by lots of books about culture and art, all influential artists with colorful replications of their works-Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Monet, Cezanne. Art became a therapy for her, as she had a tough upbringing, also heavily influenced by her grandmother as she was her driving force behind her practice and creativity. She inspired her to do and try so many new things which lead to her creating these stunning artworks. In Antuanelle’s recent pieces she often uses an aerial drone for photography as her main source for the perspective and colors. she really encourages painting with music on as it gives a certain energy and the character to my movements which feeds into her work.
This artist has such amazing techniques and talent that she brings across throughout all of her projects, she uses ‘liquid glass’, which is an epoxy resin, but also mixes with other mixed media too. The resin looks like the translucent water which is extremely inspiring as it naturally resembles the idea of the ocean, epoxy resin is a very challenging media to use as you’re only allowed to have 30 minutes to pour the colors and after that, you can’t touch it, you just have to keep an eye to monitor it. The painting will continue to change during 3 to 8 hours, and after two days the next layer can be added. It is translucent and you can see one layer through another. This creates depth and very organic shapes. This is what I admire about her work is that she’s trying to make it less man-made and more natural. She continues to paint in this way, as she is pleased with the natural look, she perceives from it.
Following on through my research I came across an Artist named Aude Bourgine, who uses their art to promote ocean conservation. Bourgine has taken it upon herself to do this through her craft. And she is “driven by the hope of raising awareness on these issues and convincing us that we can still get our act together” Many people around the world are trying their best to save our seas, including contemporary artists.
French artist Bourgine’s work is inspired by her love of the environment and a fear of guilt from human society has done to the natural oceans. In her most recent and most successful project using textiles, beads, and sequins, the artist creates displays that capture the beautiful colors and sense of life that the coral reefs once had. Using these wonderful techniques, she has adapted she has created a series of sculptures to create this imagery, this projected was named ‘Lungs of the Oceans’.
Bourgine’s sculptures are all very unique by their small intricate detailing, many different shapes and textures of living coral. Each of them is enclosed in glass jars, Bourgine has done this so that each piece of work is almost protected from harm caused humans. The artist says that “If we do not rapidly change our relationship with our environment, oceans will be dead by 2050”. She also carries her passion for ocean conservation throughout other projects she has done which includes, reality, coral reef and 2048.
2048 is what her visions are if us as humans don’t change our attitude and behavior towards our planet, Bourgine shows some of the consequences we may face such as unavoidable disappearance of sea species. I decided to look into Bourgine’s work because of how powerful her message is towards ocean conservation and all our wild species, I think she has displayed her work in a very careful way in which she enforces her message by placing each textual piece individually inside glass jars to protect them from the human disruption. The way that she has displayed her work in her project ‘Lungs of the Ocean’ has inspired me, as I think that she has taken great through on how to present it in a way that you can show the key message she trying to bring across within it.
She mainly composes textile sculptures, assembled, embroidered, from natural and recycled materials, in an attempt to become aware of the vulnerability of our environment. The artist places the audience at the centre of a design of a theatrical scenery – amazing underwater worlds that are displayed with disturbing sounds and lights that draw the attention to the main focus points. Bourgine is a worried artist, but determined to share with us her wonder for the beauty and fragility of nature. Bourgine is heavily influence by a contemporary issue that is happening with in our world, an issue is caused by humans and can only be resolved by us too.
Continuing on with my research I discovered a photographer, filmmaker - Alejandro Durán, he’s based in New York and Mexico. Photographic work spans fine art, fashion, and nature. Durán’s latest project, ‘Washed Up’ is an ocean conservation photography project in Mexico that uses washed up rubbish and plastic from the shores from all over the world in which he creates unusual sculptures. The artist was incredibly disturbed by the amount of rubbish he saw on the beaches in Mexico, Duran worked into the landscape, with a specific color palette, turning the rubbish and landscape into a visually pleasing piece of artwork. I took an interest into Durán’s latest project because he’s turned something that is seen as a negative into something that’s a positive, and amongst this he is creating something attractive to look at out of the negativity that’s been left by a variety of people. I also think that it’s a very clever way to clear up all of the rubbish that has been left behind. I’m very drawn to the way that he chooses and decides what colors and different pieces of rubbish that he uses for each location, and I find the way that it almost looks as if the pieces that he’s placed are supposed to be part of the landscape he’s chosen. Durán uses this international debris to create color-based plastics, site-specific sculptures that show conflict between man-made and nature. The plastic mimics algae, roots, rivers, or fruit, reflecting the infiltration of plastics into the natural environment.
I have taken my research on board and I think that with the information that I have collected on Marie Antuanelle (which is an artist I previously spoke about) and Durán’s work it’ll really support me in upcoming topics. I think this because they’re both using materials that they have found on their walks and have included them within their own practice, and each of the objects that both of these artists have used have a relationship with the subject or the location that they are using in their work.
One of the most important aspects of contemporary art is that it allows artists to show their own expression of art through painting, sculpture, and performance art, anyone can express themselves in a way that will be observed and appreciated by others.
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