MONSTERS OF THE ID

David Cotterrell: Monsters of the Id

11 February- 31 March 2012
John Hansard Gallery
University of Southampton 

John Hansard Gallery is one of the UK's leading public galleries of contemporary visual art. Based on the University of Southampton's Highfield campus, it showcases the work of some of the world's most innovative artists and curators through exhibitions, off-site projects, national and international partnerships, research, publications, education and outreach programmes. John Hansard Gallery is part of the University of Southampton and supported by Arts Council England. www.hansardgallery.org.uk

David Cotterrell is an installation artist who works with various types of media, from video, audio, interactive and intelligent technology. He is Proffessor of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University and is represented by Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London. www.davidcotterrell.com

Monsters of the Id, derived from the artist's journeys to Afghanistan, explores the illusionary nature of representations of war. Although influenced by his experiences as an artists within a conflict zone, David Cotterrell avoids the drama that is usually witnessed in the media and deliberately takes a more subtle approach to his work.

Exploring the different rooms set out in this small gallery, it was instantly recognised that they all had something in common and could even be connected somehow. The first room, named, the "Observer Effect" consisted of a panoramic type projection and interactive and virtual land in front of us that seemed to be affected by our presence and immediately we become part of that piece. As we remain stood in front of this landscape, the sensors above detect the number of people and a population of anonymous "avatars" appear in front of us and they grow in number. The work seen throughout is synthetic and explores the idea of viewer to content rather than viewer to Afghanistan.

Moving into the "Searchlight 2" room we experience a low platform terrain derived by a tonne and a quarter of chalk, and then allowed the chalk to define its' shape and "fall as it felt". The population witnessed in the "Observer Effect" are generated from the screen and migrate onto this landscape, mirroring the actions seen previously. This terrain has been 3D scanned and used throughout the exhibition which juxtaposes each displays. The sky and the movement however are created in real time and the direction of the avatars is completely randomized and there's no telling of the decisions they will make.

The "Apparent Horizon" is inverted hemispheres that explore the idea of the waiting and searching of information experienced by a soldier, civilian or observer. It again correlates the same landscape projections from the other rooms but here the sky dominates. The display is similar to that used within military simulation. The walls are concave creating an extraordinary optical illusion.

David Cotterrell explains that the technicality remains as invisible as possible and he tries to create a dialogue between artwork and the viewers. When Cotterrell shows the technical aspects of the exhibition we are experiencing the paths that the characters choose to follow, represented by a green line. He tells us that the paths are easily accessible and they lead them towards us and that's how they find their way, exploring how they make decisions without any particular rules. Cotterrell made the choice to eliminate sound and not include photographic backgrounds for the reason that it would cause distraction on the interacting characters and the engaged projection.

David Cotterrell appeared open about his work and also himself as an artist. It was interesting to hear an artist speak about the experiences he went through to produce such an interesting piece of work. He quotes,

"It was like learning a new language, I watched myself struggle and I could've know more about it"

http://www.hansardgallery.org.uk/exhibition/current.html

DEFINING TERMS

Coming to terms with relevant words...

There are some words that are important to the subject of Art and Photography and here is a couple that spring to mind!

Allegory and Metaphor are used every day and especially in the arts to express the obvious without being too literal. Artists use these terminologies/ terms to start thinking about the differences between them and how images can represent them in various ways.

It became apparent that I had never come across the term allegory/allegoric and it was very interesting to explore its' meaning fully. A metaphor is a very challenging but creative tool which is used to create multiple concepts within an image or piece of writing. Looking at the work of Sarah Lucas and Simon Patterson helped to analyse these terms and gain a better understanding of them.

 Sarah Lucas, "Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs" 1996

Here you see Lucas slouched and quite confrontationally posed in this seat which immediately suggests a male presence in the room. Linking the fried eggs and position she's in you get the feeling that this is metaphor for "looking like a man". Her clothes also suggest "masculinity" and like many others, the first thought when viewing this image was that she was a man. Another suggestion was that the floor was also placed deliberately underneath her, like a makeshift kitchen, stereotypical of a woman perhaps? The idea of this exercise was to pick the image apart and make sense of it in a more analytical way, instead of just looking and then moving on, you look deeper into all the different objects and find your way round it.

More work by Sarah Lucas visit:
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=2643&page=1

Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel 1994 Mattress

It is clear that Lucas refers to the male and female genitals, quite expressively with the use of fruit and a fire bucket. Although you don't see the male and female physically in the room, your mind automatically tells you, through experience (semiotics, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html)
that these are in fact male and female representations. These representations are visually allowing your imagination to wonder around the subject of male and female roles in a relationship. It could also represent a more open and erotic representation, for example prositution. This image is meant to represent married life, and is showing you the reality of what's to come, a few years down the line.

Simon Patterson, 'The Great Bear’, 1992

This image at first glance looks like a reproduction of the London Tube map, which in a way is, but with a subtle twist. The names on the map are those of famous people, some being artists, actors and musicians, these were on the forefront of major world developments. The different professionals are given their own tube lines, on which their names are gathered. The name "The great bear" represents a constellation of stars in the sky which are simple and an effective title for this piece of work.

Visit: http://maeveconwayfried.wordpress.com/texts/the-great-bear-by-simon-patterson/

for a clearer view of this image and more information.

CHARLOTTE COTTON

Story Telling

Charlotte Cotton's, "the photograph as contemporary art", which I now own has been a recent topic of discussion.

The pages specific to this discussion are 64-70 in chapter 2, "once upon a time".
Another blog featuring this particular chapter: http://imagingworkshop11.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/reading-charlotte-cotton-once-upon-time.html

You can buy your copy from: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photograph-Contemporary-Art-World/dp/0500203806

What narratives are investigated by Cotton in the work discussed? What varied ideas are these works linked to?

Collected fears and fantasies, psychological powerful devices, childhood references and stories usually dramatized and given sinister edges, storytelling gone wrong in most cases. Some had troubling narratives but were linked to fashion. For example animals, birds, rituals, bizarre and disturbing psychological dramas.

untitled #2 (wonder), 1996. Chromogenic print, A.P. 2/2, edition of 5, 47 5/8 x 39 5/8 inches (120.8 x 100.6 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,Purchased with funds contributed by the Young Collectors Council  97.4577. © 1999 Anna Gaskell- 

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Anna%20Gaskell&page=1&f=People&cr=1 - Link to Anna Gaskell's collection.

These were all quite disturbing to look at, especially with the involvement of children, and the fact that their childhood memories of fairy tales and adventures were being totally transformed into sinister alternates of similar stories. I thought this could be the result of an unfortunate child who is rebelling at the idea of happy childhoods and would like to express their hurt and anger for not being able to experience what normal, happy children would experience. Or not even the child itself but a cry out for those who are victims of these experiences. I feel as if these images would not appear into someone's head without having some sort of recollection of the ideas around the subject, they are very powerful and effective however troubling and worrying views come to mind when viewing them. 

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/bio/?artist_name=Anna%20Gaskell&page=1&f=Name&cr=1 -This link is to Anna Gaskell's biography.

Artwork by Gregory Crewdson, "Twilight" 2002

Untitled, 2001

Digital C-print

Image size: 48 x 60 inches (121.9 x 152.4 cm)

 The use of sets and props compared with location and the environment, children as the subject and fashion models. Fashion and costume is frequently used with the references from stories which are extremely exaggerated. Landscape and Portrait photography and some combined together, also interior/architecture and perspectives and angles. The photographers reference film and fiction most in their work along with mild horror and Sci-fi. They use real people and children to create fake and unrealistic scenes and they exaggerate the things we most fear in the past and the future. For example the work above by Gregory Crewdson is very staged and fictional but there is an element of beauty within its' context. It's a very mysterious and intriguing body of work that again captures the essence of the paranormal and disturbing. Either way the images are very captivating and would have taken some time to produce.

For more information visit: http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/june-29-2002--gregory-crewdson

Work made by Charlie White, "Ken's Basement", 2000

http://www.charliewhite.info/bio/

Contemporary is a very open term and can be discussed in many ways however I see the word and work relating to it, new and exciting with challenging and sometimes controversial aspects to it. Work in this genre can be visually striking with powerful meanings and there will always be new work emerging to back up a new and interesting idea. Photographers under this term use their experiences and personal references to express themselves and through their work. Contemporary doesn't always suggest modern but is something that's new to the art world and is there to provoke discussion and analysis. Some people would argue that contemporary art/photography is too different and hard to understand, but if everyone produced the same photographs in the same way you would get bored looking at it.

CHRISTOPHER STEWART United States of America 2002 

c-print
40 x 60 in / 122 x 152.4 cm

http://www.gimpelfils.com/artist_popup.php?artist_id=24

Does not liking a piece work make you disregard it completely? What happens if you pick a photograph/painting to pieces, would you discover a hidden meaning that you do prefer?