Pluralism and the Treat of Waitangi

"The concept of pluralism in philosophy indicates the belief that reality consists of many different things or kinds of things."
"The term is also used in a wider sense in several fields of philosophy, to express the idea that there can be no single explanatory system, or view of reality that can explain the totality of life; or that there are many different possible viewpoints or positions of equal validity and importance. In religion, law, and politics, pluralism refers to the co-existence of more than one belief system, legal structure, or political interest group."
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pluralism

I feel as though New Zealand is quite ahead of the rest of the world, in terms of a "Dominant culture" im sure in statistics there would be a stand out, but from my own experiences I feel that NZ is a multi-cultural society with NZ Pakeha and Maori aswell as large diverse Asian and Middle Eastern groups too. I think there is a large appeal to come to New Zealand because of its "clean, green" image and for it realtive saftey compared to other countries. I feel as though New Zealands has adapted and welcomed new cultures.



Before 1840 the country was Maori owned and run, Polynesisan settlers around 1640 came here by boat from the Islands and built communities throughout the country, seperating them was their blood lines or their "Iwi" When early Brittish settlers came there was a race to take rule over the country before the French,  The Treaty of Waitangi was signed  by Maori chiefs which then gave the Brittish monarchy sovereignty over parts of New Zealand. Then creating a large influx of Brittsh missionaries and settlers.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/explorers/explorers

I think that the Treaty of Waitangi has helped shape NZ art as there has being alot of debate and anger from both parties as the translation wasnt completely correct, and I think from this disagreement it has given NZ art abit of attitude, but at the same time both Maori and Pakeha have embrace each other forms and proccesses, for example Charles Frederick Goldie is proberly the earliest artist that I know who saw Maori as not people to be feared but to be admired. In this modern society I think that people are mixing it up, blending the two cultures together.
http://www.arikiart.com/new-zealand-art/charles_frederick_goldie.htm



Globalization is the tendency of business,technologies,or philosophies to spread throughout the world,or the process of making this happen.generally used to describe “the changes in societies and the world economy that result from increasing international trade and cultural exchange whereby people around the world are more connected to each other than ever before.”

Lots of overseas companies are searching for something exotic and new to be advertised with their company name stamped on top of it, using Maori art to seperate themselves from the rest of their competition. But having said that I think New Zealand could benifit from having the rest of the world take an interest in our culture, learn to understand one and another and bring together old cultures to create new ones.

AUT University. (2011). Academic Literacies in Visual Communications 2: Resource Book. New Zealand, Auckland: Lyceum Press

Cotton's work includes both Maori icons of art and culture, such as shrunken heads, and native birds to New Zealand, and European symbols and items. His paintings have explored questions of colonialism, cultural identity, Maori spirituality, and life and death. “Forked Tongue”, features a cliff face, a fantail, some Maori designs and a mixture of red lines. "These symbols or metaphors become starting points for an elaboration on the links between the physical, historical and spiritual landscapes"
To me this work shows his appreciation for the New Zealand culture, which is now really a mix of both Pakeha and Maori, I feel as though he is paying a tribute to those who may of lost their lives in the very early stages of colonialism in New Zealand by the red lines that work their way across the work like blood running across our vision. The cliff and Fantail to me represents NZ flora and fauna, something that all New Zealanders take pride in.

The work "Welcome" to me represents the relationship between the brittish settlers and the native Maori, not just only white and brown, but the religion and beliefs between the two cultures. Brittish being heavily catholic and christian and Maori beliefs being that the "mother earth" is in the same way "god" I think having two images of birds beside the two figures shows the harmony that New Zealand represents to the rest of the world.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/shane-cotton-paintings-examine-cultural-landscape-126412

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Cotton

Tony Albert's practice reveals his interest in mass-produced products from Australia's history and what these say about dominant beliefs. By collaging, sculpting and transforming images, brands and texts, Albert shows Indigenous Australian history through its representations in 'kitsch'. His work "Sorry" was based around the public apology to all Indigenous Australians by former prime minister Kevin Rudd. I think what Albert is trying to do is to collect historical material that suggest the dark past of how Aboriginal people were treated and place it together to make something that could move people and remind people of how they were cut off from who they are and their culture. I think that it sits in the word "sorry" because at the end of the day sorry is just a word, while we see the word sorry we witness at the same time what they are sorry about, but yet at the same time, you dont feel justice.

http://qag.qld.gov.au/collection/indigenous_australian_art/tony_albert

I think they both talk about and create work that relates to their countries culture and heritage which is important in pluralism, whilst showing some of the darker parts of the past it seems as though they remain hopeful and positive towards the future of their country and culture.

Kehinde Wiley and Inter-textuality

Intertextuality is "a way of accounting for the role of literary and extra-literary materials without recourse to traditional notions of authorship"
http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0278.html



Intertextuality is when you take or "borrow" an idea or image from an another artwork or peice of writing then translate into something that helps you understand it better, having two peices of work that are inter-connected.  "It can include an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another."

I think that many of Wiley's potraits are based around the specific theme of intertextuality as his theatrical poses and objects are based around famous 17th and 18th century Western art. His poses that he places Hip Hop icons or African American male figures are ones of power and spiritual awakening, we see normal everyday males taken of the street and then transformed into something hero-like. Use of things like gold frames and floral patterns with swirling contrasting colours gives the sense of wealth and power.



Wiley's work incorporates Pluralism as it include ideas such as diversity of religions, ethnicities, economic status and different ideologies, we are confronted with Black males being the vocal point of powerful Renaissance based paintings, something that challenges our own steriotypical patterns and thoughts. It raises question about social heirarchies and political power.

Hussein Chalayan

I feel as though Chalayan's "Burka" is more a statement of art rather than fashion, with what we are presented with we are forced to think about what we are not physically seeing, ‘ideas such as modesty, identity and feminity’ the garments are not made to worn by the famous or the rich, it is more to provoke thought. The garments were made to challenge the normal thought of society about everything associated with Muslim culture, I think Chalayan is trying to use some shock treatment to his audience, as most people when confronted with nudity in public feel uncomfortable, so with all of these things together Chalayan has managed a very effective peice of controversial art.

"Afterwords" when presented to me, I felt that it spoke more as a fashion item. I can see Chalayan maybe used architecture as an inspiration, but at the same time I think fashion is more about the physical rather than the thought processes and meaning behind the physical, it is more about the "wow" factor, something that works with a models shape and figure and enhances it to draw people in visually. Chalayan's work "Afterwords" I feel is more about setting a trend rather than provoking thought.



I perceive art as something that is a physical representation of a subconscious thought or feeling. Whether it is used for advertising or not I feel does not play a role in the appreciation of the work itself, but can change the opinion towards the artist, some may see it as "selling out" from something smaller and more personal, but other people just see it as a way to make money. Personally I feel as though if an artist is approached by a company to create something for them is fine, I see it as a way of furthering their career and a way to make people take you more seriously as an artist, on the other hand having made work and selling it to a company I don't agree with. Having said that "the LEVEL tunnel" is a very effective piece of work 

"the concept was to give the visitor a full body experience of the LEVEL vodka brand. A 15 meter long glass tunnel, with laser sensor controlled sound, water, scent and light was created for the visitor to walk through blindfolded. This to enhance the other human senses"

The Scientific Revolution I think has played a role in Chalayan's work "Absenst Presence" as Chalayan is not looking at how we are all connected as people in terms of thought, feeling and experience he is turning to science to look at the way our DNA makes us different from each other, but at the same time looking at the similarities. I also think that Postmodernism is important as if we were living in another era, this idea could easily be abandoned.

I think that it is important to remember that all art comes from an idea, work comes from the mind of the "artist" but in certain areas there is the need for other people to help and collaborate in order for the quality and the strength of the peice to withstand time or have a larger effect on the auidence.  Sometimes artists can be so overly creative that they need to keep getting ideas out into the physical work, working towards the new. They need to have people care for their older work so that people that are not completely up to date with the art world can still go an appreciate it. Works like the one above by Andy Warhol was based around the idea of taking a famous face and use contrast of colours and repetition to lose the value of that face, and the ideas presented with that face. He created the idea but with the use of so much repetition theres no way he could move on to other ideas and still have to print all the works. So again I think its down to what is trying to be acheieved.





http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-LEVEL-Tunnel-(Absolut-Vodka-Hussein-Chalayan)/701114
http://ilikecatsmorethanpeople.blogspot.com/2010/11/hussein-chalayan-burka-1996.html

Post-Modernism, Ai Weiwei and Banksy

• Postmodernism is built on the thought that "no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truths exist."
• Postmodernism endlessly debates the modernist view about the Western societies traditional narratives.
• The "coming after" of  20th century Modernism.
• The unity of social and cultural thought.
• The end of Hierarchies.
• No right or wrong views towards what is or is not art.
• Postmodernist thought is an intentional movement from modernist approaches that had previously been dominant.
• Also known as "New age thinking"

 

“Postmodernism attempts to erase all boundaries, to undermine legitimacy, and to dislodge the logic of the modernist state.” (Witcombe, 2000)

During Post-modernism there was a need for a new way of thinking against the restrictions of Modernism. Post modernity has many possibilities and no one absolute, It was the breaking down of Hierarchies of art and the thought of there being "one truth".  Art was no longer “authenticated by [the] artist” instead it was “authenticated by [the] audience.” what they took from a work of art was up to themselves and whatever that thought was, was neither correct nor incorrect. Postmodernism gives the viewer a sense of personal attachment to an artifact as there is no one higher in society telling them what and how to think.

 

I believe that Ai Weiwei is a true inspiration. To have grown up in China where individual views and art that provokes thought against its own government is relatively unheard of. Ai Weiwei "challenged official communist icons and ideology and helped spark the modern art movement in Beijing." His work takes traditional narratives and art a literally smashes them to pieces, as shown in his work "Dropping A Han Dynasty Urn, 1995" where Ai Weiwei  drops a Han Dynasty vase. Its work like this that separates Ai Weiwei from other artists as he is constantly poking fun at the communist rule. He takes an ancient Dynasty urn and paints onto it the Coca-Cola logo, This show post-modernist view as it shows two cultures being brought together to produce one work of art, maybe also showing the impact that American and Western culture has on the world. 

Banksy is a well known British street artist whose work shows a very strong political message. The most well known fact about Banksy is that nobody knows who he is, I feel as though this angle for an artist is very Postmodern. "Flower Riot" shows us a young male, masked and looking as though he is part of a revolution or riot against the establishment, but instead of a Molotov cocktail in his hand ready to throw, we see a boutique of flowers. I feel as though Banksy is trying to show how powerless we are against the government even though we live in a democracy, much like Ai Weiwei poking fun at communism, or maybe he is trying to portray the message that violence is not a way to create an utopia, and that maybe a utopia can never exist.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism

http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/postmodernism.htm

- AUT University. (2011). Academic Literacies in Visual Communications 2: Resource Book. New Zealand, Auckland: Lyceum Press.

 http://www.artzinechina.com/display_vol_aid109_en.html