INSPIRE ME! July Artist of Month - Marsden Hartley (1877–1943)

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

"Men who are highly imaginative, create by feeling 

what they do not or cannot know. It is the sixth sense of the creator."

~ MARSDEN HARTLEY

"Three Friends" (1941) by Marsden Hartley. Indiana University Museum of Art

By TAHLIB

Marsden Hartley is the July INSPIRE ME! Artist of month. He was one of a circle of American modernist painters championed by Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keefe, and Gertrude Stein, and he was also a Gay. Hartley is most well known for hius landscapes, but it is his approach to religious themes that captured my attention since first spotting his work at the Indiana University Art Museum (See above). "I am not a "book of the month" artist," Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) wrote his sister at the end of his life, and I do not paint pretty pictures; but when I am no longer here my name will register forever in the history of American art." Born in Maine in 1877, he traveled the world painting but returned to Maine again in his later life, passing away in 1943. A retrospective of his work ended in Germany on June 29 but travels to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in August.

Marsden Hartley (American, 1877-1943)

"Santos" (1918-19) by Marsden Hartley. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

"The Warriors" (1913) by Marden Hartley

"Handsome Drinks" (1916) by Marsden Hartley, Brooklyn Museum

"El Santo" (1991) by Marsden Hartley, New Mexico Museum of Art 

"Christ Held by Half Naked Men" by Marsden Hartley

Marsden Hartley Fisherman's Last Supper 1940-41.

Marsden Hartley Indian Composition 1914

"The Last Look of John Donne" (1940) by Marsden Hartley

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INSPIRE ME! Artist of Month: Andres Serrano, Photographer & Christian

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

"I'm a Christian artist making a religious work of art 

based on my relationship with Christ and The Church." 

~ ANDRES SERRANO

The Interpretation of Dreams (The Other Christ), 2005

In the 1990s, I was a huge fan of the provocative and funny Pat Buchanan, a PBS pundit, but then Buchanan became a politician and made the arts Public Enemy #1 with his attacks on the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Chris Ofili and most infamous of all: “Piss Christ” by Andres Serrano. The intensity of these political attacks shaped the current divide in America between the Arts & Religion, and it is one that we at A&O work daily to bridge. The following is an interview with Christian artist Andres Serrano, the A&O INSPIRE ME! Artist of the Month for June 2014. The interview was  published today in The Huffington Post, and written by Udoka Okafor.

Photo of Andres Serrano

1. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself, your likes, and your dislikes? I like to keep busy, whether it's making art, taking pictures, gardening or antiquing. I always like to be doing something instead of standing still. I dislike travelling without a purpose. I travel for work, to do a project, for exhibitions, lectures, something. I've always fantasized about going cross-country by car, traveling from town to town to the West Coast and back. But in reality I don't have the time, money or motivation to make such a trip.

2. When did your interest in photography begin and at what point did you decide that you wanted to pursue it professionally, as a career? I started taking pictures after attending the Brooklyn Museum Art School, where I studied painting and sculpting when I was in my teens. After I left art school, I decided I wanted to continue as an artist but I couldn't really paint or sculpt. I was living with a girl named Millie who owned a camera, so I figured I could be an artist with a camera instead of a paintbrush. I didn't make money from my work till I hit forty.

The Interpretation of Dreams (White Nigger), Andres Serrano, 2001

3. I read recently that you have a musical alter ego, 'Brutus Faust'. Can you tell me more about your musical interests and aspirations? I've always loved music. I grew up in the era of the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the British Invasion, Motown, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. I would have wanted to be a singer but I didn't know anyone with a band and never learned to sing. A few years ago I decided to study singing with a music teacher and later hooked up with a band called Blow Up Hollywood, and we recorded an album. Music, like art, needs to be practiced often. It's something you have to immerse yourself in completely. Sometimes, I wish I could be Brutus instead of Andres Serrano but you need to have a reason to reinvent yourself and being Andres Serrano is easier than being Brutus Faust.

Andres Serrano, The Rabble, 1984. ARTIUM de Álava, Vitoria-Gasteiz. Private collection

4. Your photographs have incited a lot of controversy and protest, most notably because of your use of bodily fluid against the backdrop of religiously sacred pieces. Can you comment on the artistic relevance of the pieces or the message that you are trying to convey with these types of photographs? I distrust anyone with a message. The best artistic intentions are usually cloaked in mysteries and contradictions. It wouldn't be interesting for me if the art were not "loaded" in some way. I always say my work is open for interpretation and that's why I prefer not to read many of the "interpretations" out there. Suffice it to say, the work is like a mirror, and it reveals itself in different ways, to different people.

"Piss Christ"

5. One of your most controversial works yet is the 'Piss Christ', and it portrays a crucifix submerged in urine, that is alleged to be yours. Is there a 'message' that this photograph is trying to convey and how did you deal with the resulting backlash that ensued after the piece was released? The only message is that I'm a Christian artist making a religious work of art based on my relationship with Christ and The Church. The crucifix is a symbol that has lost its true meaning; the horror of what occurred. It represents the crucifixion of a man who was tortured, humiliated and left to die on a cross for several hours. In that time, Christ not only bled to dead, he probably saw all his bodily functions and fluids come out of him. So if "Piss Christ" upsets people, maybe this is so because it is bringing the symbol closer to its original meaning. There was a time prior to the 17th century when the only important art, the only art that mattered, was religious art. After that, there were very few contemporary art pieces that were considered both art and religious, and "Piss Christ" is one of them.

6. Your art has been seen as starting a very important conversation about the tensions between freedom of religion and artistic freedom of speech and expression. Can you comment on the tensions between these two values, and a balance of these tensions, or do you see them as not existing at all in your pieces? Freedom of religion and freedom of expression have something in common: they both have the power to polarize people. Everyone has an opinion on these freedoms and those opinions often clash. It's the result of living in a Democracy where the people don't always share the same values or opinions. That's why it's called a Democracy, because you are free to choose.

Cabeza de Vaca, 1984

7. Another photograph of yours that I am fascinated by is the 'Cabeza de Vaca' partly because I am unsure of what you are trying to symbolize in the picture. Do you mind telling me more about the photograph? The picture is of a cow's head on a pedestal and is called "Cabeza De Vaca" which means cow's head in Spanish. It's also the name of a 15th century Spanish explorer. I'd say I was being both literal and figurative with the title.

8. Your latest photography project, as I recently read, is a series of photographs portraying homeless people in America. Can you tell me more about the project? It's called "Residents of New York" and they are portraits of homeless people I took on the streets in January. It's a public installation currently on display at the West 4 St. subway station and in several phone booth locations around town. More Art, an organization committed to bringing art to public spaces, sponsored it. I chose not to use the word homeless in the title, but to call them "Residents of New York" instead, in order to acknowledge them as being residents who are very much a part of the city.

9. Apart from your latest photography series, are you working on anymore photographic or musical projects? Immediately, after shooting the 'homeless' portraits I went to Jerusalem for four weeks. The Jerusalem Foundation had invited me and the Musrara School of Photography to go to Israel to do some work there. I am currently working on a book of the body of work I did in Jerusalem. I love working in the summer, and have no projects at the moment. Maybe someone will invite me to do something.

10. What message or advice do you have for young artists, and youths in general, who are trying to pursue their dreams? Keep your dreams no matter what. When I hit my twenties I turned my back on being an artist and became a drug addict instead. I stayed a drug addict until my late twenties when my biological clock told me that if I stayed in that life in my thirties there'd be no turning back. There are all kinds of ways of being an artist and there is no right way or wrong way, only your way. [link]

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INSPIRE ME! Artist of Month for May 2014: Hiroshi Sugimoto

ART MEDIA AGENCY

My work simply flows with the current: humanity’s 

ongoing technological development, 

which reaches science, religion, philosophy and art.

~ HIROSHI SUGIMOTO

"Sea of Buddhas 001" (1995)

Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer, born in 1948. Today, he is considered to be amongst the most significant contemporary artists, recognised, not only for his technique, but for the conceptual and philosophical elements of his practice. Art Media Agency met with the artist at his new exhibition entitled “Aujourd’hui le Monde est Mort” (Lost Human Genetic Archive), taking place at Paris’s Palais de Tokyo. The artist discussed the evolution of his work, giving an insight, too, into new ideas and forthcoming projects. [link]

Portrait of the artist by Alicia Bruce Photography

Can you present this exhibition to us? What was you project?

The exhibition’s title is very pessimistic, yet I see something of great aesthetic value within it. There’s a great artistic beauty in the notion of the apocalypse. I’ve created 33 possible scenarios for the end of the world, each approached from different viewpoints.

The exhibition is very marked by the Japanese aesthetic, which decrees that life be led in an aesthetically-focused manner. There is truly this belief of beauty being intermingled with death — a notion which is present regardless of circumstance. It’s very much a Japanese tradition which inspired this work.

The stories I tell are sad, but they are nevertheless possible, even probable. I believe that human beings are deeply optimistic. We can’t go on continuing to believe in the infinite, as we do now. Everything which has a beginning has to have a final point. Our civilisation will surely have an end, in the future. And this is the theme I sought to explore.

Is this slightly dark vision inspired by your research in politics and sociology?

Yes, I think so. In this exhibition, I have ended up with 33 different people, 33 distinct figures. I am actually placing myself within these individuals and adopting their world view.

In a theatrical manner, I play 33 people, but the protagonist remains the artist [laughs].

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Past Tense (February 4–June 8, 2014) at the Getty Center

There’s a visible evolution in your work. The pieces exhibited here are very different from those of your first series —contemplative works situated on black and white backgrounds. Your installation pieces also represent something of a departure from photography.

I began my career as a photographer, that’s true. But, almost simultaneously, I began to collect objects, which are exhibited here. There is a certain porosity between the two practices, in that I view photography as a collection of the world’s fragments. For me, the act of taking a photograph, and the works presented here, represent the same thing. I have simply shifted field.

You have a very strong relationship with place and space — something which is particularly evident in the work Sense of space. Has the Palais de Tokyo influenced your practice?

I always compose my exhibitions with an awareness of their context, of their characteristics. I was fascinated by the Palais de Tokyo. It almost seems like an abandoned building — and it was, in fact, at one time disused. It’s a space which has been laid to waste, and which consequently fitted perfectly with the themes I sought to develop; this notion of the ruin and decline of civilisation.

© Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lightning Fields 130, 2009. Courtesy de l’artiste et Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo

An apocalyptic outlook is increasingly prominent in your work, though the idea was already present in the series “Accelerated Buddha.” Is it a theme which reflects your opinion, or is it a poetic stance?

It’s a vision which is entirely possible, if not highly probable, I think. But it’s not yet something we’re taking seriously. At least not yet [laughs].

Tsunamis ravaged Japan, but after two or three years, we forgot the devastation it caused. But if this wave of catastrophes is to become more global, we will no longer be able to ignore it. In my opinion, it’s better we discuss it now.

Do you think it is your role, as an artist, to make the broader public aware of this?

As an artist, I can visually present ideas, something which has a greater impact than text. When we write about global warming, or an environmental challenge, people gain awareness, but their relationship with the information is different.

Does art have a stronger impact than science?

It has a more powerful impact, certainly. Visual works make an impression upon visitors, prompting them to ask further questions.

And yet — perhaps paradoxically — scientific questions seem to hold a place of great importance in your work. You demonstrate a strong interest in the work of Faraday, or William Henry Fox Talbot, for example. Has science influenced your practice?

Photography is deeply scientific. The first photographers were great scientists. My work simply flows with the current: humanity’s ongoing technological development, which reaches science, religion, philosophy and art.

Everything comes together in the end: all of these disciplines co-exist with one another.

It’s quite a “Renaissance” vision of the artist, as someone who specialises in religion, in science, in the technical, and even in magic.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Last Supper: Acts of God (detail), 1999/2012

And, like a number of Renaissance artists, you also work in architecture, with the Odawa Art Foundation

Yes, that’s my architecture hat. I test the boundaries of architecture, attempting to produce something which has never previously been constructed. It’s an ambition which has occasionally led my structural engineer to suggest that my ideas are too naive, difficult, or even dangerous.

I wouldn’t be able to do this project without a commercial outlook, as though I were building a house. I use my own money, so no one can complain [laughs].

Apart from that, however, I have a strong belief in the proximity of architecture and sculpture, notably in terms of aesthetics — it’s something which is of great interest to me.

Do you ever hope to produce a space specially adapted to your works?

Something about this project which is incredibly important is the fact that I have established a foundation, which is now in the public domain. The Odawa Foundation is not only mine. I developed the idea with the broader, global interest of promoting Japanese culture — both in Japan and abroad.

I’m also not the only person to invest in this project; there are a number of people contributing. It’s truly a foundation.

You’ve got a lot going on with the foundation, and exhibitions across the world. What projects do you have for the future?

I am not wholly certain. I am very easily persuaded, so I will continue to honour a certain number of projects.

I’m actually very fond of France, and of Paris — I feel they are very welcoming. I might consider becoming French soon [laughs]!

For more on the A&O INSPIRE ME! Artists of the Month, visit the registration page.

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