Lounis Dawson gala Presentation
artist statement
When some people think of the themes of “creativity in crisis” and “unfold”, they tend to think of these 2 themes in a broader sense. However, there are also others that would see it in a literal way of seeing. That is what I did. I decided to look at the themes of the gala and base my art piece on it: A “unfolding” piece that was made using my “creativity” in a time of “crisis”.
Another goal I wanted to reach is to let the story behind my piece be the main vocal point of my presentation, and not the piece itself. At first glance, the piece itself might look blank, but this blankest was a test to see what can be considered a true “art piece”. The main inspiration I got during the making of this project was a piece by Danish artist Lent Haaning. The story goes that Haaning was commissioned by a museum to restore an old sculpture. However, due to the “paltry remuneration offered by the museum for inclusion in the show”, he invented “Take the Money and run”. “Take the money and run” is, quite literally, a blank canvas. Nothing more. It’s that aspect of the piece, the literal meaning behind the piece, that I wanted to re-create, or at least attempt to re-create, with mine.
To be quite honest, I do not believe I was able to achieve it on the same impact as Haaning did, due to the fact that I do not have a proper message, or complaint rather, to justify the blankness of this piece. Even with that, however, I still believe I managed to get the overall themes of the gala well integrated in my piece, hopefully, you believe so too.
Creative research
Creative Research Assignment.
One of the main inspirations behind my idea for the IA project is a piece called “Take the image and run”. Although the piece itself (as seen in the image below) make look bland, it’s the backstory behind the piece that I find really inspiring. The story goes that Jens Haaning, a Danish artist, was given tens of thousands of dollars by the Kunsten Museum of Modern art, in Denmark, to reproduce an old sculpture. However, once the museum received the crate containing the supposed sculpture, they found only 2 blank frames. Jens would later explain the work on a radio program, saying “The work is that I have taken their money”. He would later explain more his reasoning, clamming that it was a provocation due to the mediocre work condition he was given, those conditions being: the paltry remuneration offered by the museum.
The inspiration that I got from the piece is this subversion of expectation. When it comes to art, that it has to have a deep, thought provoking theme or message. The issue with that is that a lot of art also tend to have different, yet similar ways to present that idea. Although I understand why many people enjoy that aspect of art, I always preferred the more unorthodox and unique messages and stories that art can have. A lot of modern art tends to make you think of similar themes and ideas over and over, and it can get somewhat repetitive at a certain time. However, the best way to remedy that, for me at least, is to present the idea in such an interesting and creative way that the message perfectly intertwines with the piece itself. Overall, this piece is a really big inspiration for my project, due to the story and reasoning behind its creation.
To be quite honest, I do not know the true avenues open to my project idea. Because of the fact that the main inspiration of the piece is rather unorthodox and could be considered as not being a true art piece, I assume that, in terms of exhibits and museums, there is no real avenue opened for it.
"Take the money and run" (Jens Haaning)
The goal that I would like to achieve with this project is to push the boundaries of what can be truly considered as an “Art Piece”. I did not want to make a usual artistic piece/project due to the fact that I, personally, do not find those kinds of project very interesting. The main factor and drive behind this goal is to fully immerse myself in the themes of “Creativity in Crisis”. Which is why the plan is this: I am going to wait until the final week/weekend of the project deadline before truly working on it. That does not mean I will not start on some aspects of the project from time to time (at the time of writing this, I have already started work on the website, and plan to continue this weekend). As for the theme of “Unfolding”, I see it in conjunction with the previous theme. In a way, my Creativity is Unfolding in a time of Crisis. I know that, looking at it in terms of workload, it will be a lot to tackle, but I personally believe in my ability to put out a good project with the timeframe I have set myself.