This week we looked at Oblique Strategies by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt
Oblique strategies is a card based method used to curve creative block by suggesting different actions and things to think about in your work. The random prompts were created by musician Brian Eno and Artist Peter Schmidt in 1975 as physical deck of cards but have since been published online for the use of artists struggling with creativity. I tried out the cards myself to see what it would suggest:
http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html (online version)
Give way to your worst impulse
It is quite possible (after all)
Previous sessions we discussed issues of authorship and have questioned the extent to which artists have control over their work (Duchamp's Art Co-efficient)
Today we are questioning if there is value in (paradoxically) choosing to not control creative processes.
In doing so we will reflect on issues of judgement in relation to outcomes. How do you judge art made by chance procedures? Is there an aesthetics of chance?
Key Text :
Iversen, Margaret (ed.)(2010) Chance - Documents of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel/ MIT Press pg 19,
Questions
1.How do you perceive the relationship between chance/ accident and intention/control in the work discussed? If possible describe elements of the work and its process of making that relate to each term.
chance : to create by chance requires a lot of skill and a high level of creativity
accident: to generate work in different ways - to work across mediums
intention: the virus mutates in different ways
control: 1000 images generated, 50 maybes, then 20 paintings used.
What is the Conceptual Framework?
The Conceptual Framework is made up four agencies Artist, Artwork, World and Audience. These components highlight the cause and effect of the artworld. The conceptual framework demonstrates how reliant each agent is on he others in order to survive in the artworld and changes radically over time depending on the artist, the artwork and the time it is being produced. These changes are due to factors such as the values and beliefs of society, new users of technology, personal discoveries of the artist and the audience's reception of artworks. These are then processed through the frames. (Malyon, 2004, p. 32)
'the art of infection' with artist James Hoff, discussing his use of computer viruses to make artwork
James Hoff - is a contemporary, New York based artist who uses chance imagery in his paintings and recordings. A digital virus is infected on a computer containing music and sounds which majorly distorts its DNA, the outcome of this random and uncontrollable process results in uncomfortable noises and colorful imagery.
His work can be viewed on his website: James Hoff (james-hoff.com)
'It allows me to generate work in a different way than I would if I was just going in and saying I want to create something, and it allows me to work across mediums. It gives me an impetus as a conceptual framework and also a tool for creating work across mediums in a variety of genres.'
2. How might you make aesthetic judgements about work that has been created using chance procedures? Do different criteria apply in these instances?
Aesthetics - a set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.
One strategy is the following. Begin with the account of what it is to be a judgment of taste, or of beauty and ugliness, that was outlined in part 1, and then use that to elucidate the broader notion of an aesthetic judgment.
Produce many different versions eg 1000 use only 20
The spontaneous, unexpected or random event is a vital component in numerous art works of expressionism, dada surrealism, fluxes and conceptual photography
artists:
Duchamp - three standard Stoppages (1913 - 14) 1 metre, nothing is really straight, bending convection - https://www.toutfait.com/
John Baldessari - Wrong, (1966- 68) - poor composition, photography, technique book, anchored, connected, why should we conform, why work judged? why not?
Cornelia Parker -pornographic drawing 1996,
Ferric oxide on paper, residue - multiple layers of meaning
Bas Jan Ader Fall (1970)- link below, aesthetics, uncomfortable, ominious
3. How much control (or lack of) do you exert in the making of your art?
My process is controlled to a degree. When Im using colour it can be by chance or unconsciously placing colour choosing brushes/sponges wiping on or off is all by chance letting the paint drip, merge, run etc. Layers of charcoal, paint, mixed media is all by chance. and being mindful.
Initial process to start the art piece is the same but then chance and unconscious thought processes are a huge part of my work.
4. How did you make use of the Oblique Strategies pick?
To give way to my worst impulse was to stay up all night painting. I haven't done this yet but may do this week.
(Just be, 2022, Monique Clark, Oil on Canvas)