In my opinion, Abramovic's dedication to her art is truly phenomenal. Sitting in a chair from nine to five absorbing the feelings and emotions of as many people that could get through the doors is what affords her the worldwide respect of artists and viewers alike.
One of my favorite quotes of hers is, 'the hardest thing to do is nothing.' I believe that this is a powerful statement from a performance artist and hints at the zen like qualities that often underlie this great artist's work.
The emotion displayed by people who visited the exhibition was astonishing; people who would never see her again sat in front of her and cried or smiled or held a hand up to their heart in awe. It was truly refreshing to see this piece of work, as the viewer could decide what it meant to them instead of the artist, forcing an idea onto the audience.
The colour of Abramovic's dress changed in representation of each month of the exhibit. In total she changed her garment three times from white to blue to red. The styling of the dress also never changed giving the work no aesthetic change and affording the piece a consistent focus with no sign of change to in any way affect the viewers perception of the piece, only a progression of time.
The performance occupied a large white space with up lighting from each corner giving the space a stage lit quality, as opposed to a gallery feel.
The proximity of Abramovic to the participants was close - each sat at either side of a small table, yet it gave the artist and each participant enough room for personal space. The vastness of the space in which the two sat gave the piece connotations of religion, as well as a sense of sins becoming replenished as both artist and participant sat in the light - exposed and perhaps similar to a view of how Judgement day can be interpreted.
What an artist has to do to make their work immersive has always been of interest to me and Abramovic has always been a highly controversial artist yet her fans have remained ever loving. I must admit that I do find some of her pieces quite strange but I can appreciate her dedication to her subject and her unique way of displaying her love for art.
All of her pieces can be seen as extremely powerful due to the effort that she puts into and evidences in to her pieces, for me, especially the work that she did with her former lover Ulay. They explored many issues that others would never dream of, including their own personal relationship. For one piece they were attached by the mouth and had to rely on one and other for survival for a full twenty minutes, and Abramovic always displays a running theme of human relationships, especially between a man and a woman.
The question of how much a performance can be stripped down became apparent when Abramovic made the piece 'The Artist is Present'. This title is very literal- the piece involved Abramovic ('the artist') being 'present' for the full three months showing of the exhibition at MOMA in New York. Abramovic sat on a chair for eight hours a day and looked into the eyes of each viewer that participated in the piece one at a time. Some participants cried, some smiled and others just sat silently. However, an effect on each and every person was clear throughout the video documentation of the 'Artist is present', and the power of the piece became apparent through the affects on the participants which appeared to vary from excitement and contemplation to deep emotional release.
No comments:
Post a Comment