Contemporary Issue in Sculpture (Course)

Songyuan (Sowen) Han
Oct 15, 2015
2 min read

("Sculpture." The School of Art and Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.art.illinois.edu/content/undergraduate/programs/sculpture/>. )

The lecture is given by the Professor Steven Cartwright of sculpture at UIUC. Instead of introducing to us about the technical concepts which does not make sense sometimes, he shows us many images of contemporary sculptures by contemporary artist and compare them with those stereotyped sculpture. Honestly, I was amazed. I never see sculptures like those and never even consider to take sculpture course in the future. After the lecture, my view of the field of sculpture changed.

("British Artists Tim Noble & Sue Webster Create Jaw-Dropping Art With Shadows and Found Objects." Inhabitat Sustainable Design Innovation Eco Architecture Green Building. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://inhabitat.com/british-artists-tim-noble-sue-webster-create-jaw-dropping-art-with-shadows-and-found-objects/>. )

1, Roaring era of multimedia: Unlike the sculpture which use monotonous media which is marble, stone and wood, sculpture of new era are made up with multimedia which means anything. artist use wires, strings, plastics, and even garbage and some of the extreme art with the blood of the artist himself.

("British Artists Tim Noble & Sue Webster Create Jaw-Dropping Art With Shadows and Found Objects." Inhabitat Sustainable Design Innovation Eco Architecture Green Building. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://inhabitat.com/british-artists-tim-noble-sue-webster-create-jaw-dropping-art-with-shadows-and-found-objects/>. )

2, Tim Noble and Sue Webster:

A collaborative group of post-YBA artists who are well-known for their shadow sculptures. Their work has to be placed in dark place for educated audiences. I like this sculpture so much because it looks like Michael Jackson.

("Sculptor Charles Ray: The Man Who Lives inside a Tree." Sculptor Charles Ray: The Man Who Lives inside a Tree. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://www.wbez.org/content/sculptor-charles-ray-man-who-lives-inside-tree>. )

3, Charles Ray:

Head of the department of sculpture in UCLA. I like his sculpture works about tree. I saw similar sculpture in the collection of Ai WeiWei as well. The artist try to reproduce the natural object using different media. Such work is fascinating. I saw one in the Art Institude of Chicago and I cannot remember whether it is his work.

("Do-Ho Suh (3), 49th Venice Biennial: Plateau of Humankind." Do-Ho Suh (3), 49th Venice Biennial: Plateau of Humankind. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://universes-in-universe.de/car/venezia/bien49/plat2/e-suh-3.htm>. )

4, Do Ho Suh:

Korean Artist, the head of the sculpture study in Seoul National University. The work above conveys the idea that. The city you living in and the ground under your feet are constructed and supported by sacrifices of numerous people you do not even know.

(The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3675335/Antony-Gormley-Blind-Light.html?image=9>. )

5, Antony Gormley:

A British artist; the sculpture above is a sculpture of a person standing. It is three dimensional object but it give audiences a strong feeling of two dimensional line drawing. Recalling the art EXPO at Chicago in which almost all the two dimensional artworks are trying to escape from the canvas and run into 3D word, the sculpture is going backward.

6, Insane level

Mark Quinn's blood sculpture