Flex Credit--Multiple

            Before Brain Gillis’s presentation, once someone mentioning multiple, my first reaction is mathematics, and I never have thought that this abstract words would have relationship with art. Like Brain said in class, the multiple in art is similar to the multiple in mathematics, they are all containing more than once, or more than one, consisting of more than one, manifold, repeated many times, having several, or many parts. Like all other presentations came to class this term, drawing, digital media, fibers, sculpting, art&environment, those media of art all are from our daily life and ignored by our eyes.

 In the lecture, which one attracted me most is the Marcel Duchamp, one reason is we learned his famous ‘Fountain’ earlier, and the other reason is his work is awash with multiple personalities. Like his art work—‘Bicycle Wheels’, which was readymade art object. In this picture, it is a sweet and goofy construction: a bicycle wheel and fork mounted upside-down on a tall stool. Many aspects of a bike lend themselves to wonder and introspection—everything from the double-triangle frame designing to the bearing and races in a hub—but the wheel ranks right up here at the top with its combination of fragility and strength. If I looked those two objects separately, I cannot think they may work together. But Marcel Duchamp used the readymade way and multiple angles to achieve this goal, and Duchamp even said to have enjoyed spinning his stool-mounted wheel and its widely quoted as saying: I enjoyed looking at it, just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace. As Brain said in lecture, the readymades include different types of works: Assisted Readymade and Rectified Readymades. The readymades are experiments in provocation, the products of a conscious effort to break every rule of the artistic tradition, in order to create a new kind of art — one that engages the mind instead of the eye, in ways that provoke the observer to participate and think. Assisted readymades were constructed of two or more objects. Some were simple, like Bicycle Wheel, which was made by joining two prefabricated objects. Another iconic duplication is the different style of Mona Lisa. This is really a funny one. In this work, I can see Simpson, Mr. Bean, Paris Hilton and etc. When I saw these pictures, I really admire the creativities of authors and understand that why Brain said : ‘idea behind the object considered more important than the object itself.’ In the end, the Brain summarized the notion of multiple: mass fabrication, readymades, industrial processes used to make original pieces, repetitive processed used to make original piece, original work that use repetitive action and original work that use repetition.

This week multimedia--Gabriel Orozco have the similar idea as Brain Gillis. Like his famous work—ping pong table, which is not just a piece of art, but yet a game that symbolically relates to Orozco’s belief that every game is an expression of how the universe works for different cultures. He used new way to make original pieces—ping pong table and lotus—together. Instead of a net, the table has been pulled apart and a raised pond (complete with lilly pads) put in its place, along with two more table sections making it a game for up to 4 players. He explained his inspirit in his video: ‘The Ping Pond Table is connected to this idea of a new space, a new possible space. When you have a normal ping pong game you have a net which is enough space between two spaces. But when you multiply that space by four, instead of two people playing you have four people playing in four tables. You open that space so the net is also open.’ From here we see that, he used the notion of multiply into space, not only the numbers. You can see the idea of multiples also in "La D.S." car, a silver DS that has been sliced into three pieces length wide, the middle section was removed and the two remaining pieces were reassembled as a one seater, and the result is an arrow-like car sculpture, with less width than its original. He recreated a work in new way and explained his lyricism and humorous, I found that his work is a continuous exploration, revealing a spirit of equal parts wit and amazement, open to surprise. In his art work, like ‘supermarket’, Gabriel took the idea of a mass produced object and modified it, using the notion of multiple to create new works.

Justin Novak is another artist whom is well equipped to use multiples in order to describe his creativity. Among his work, ‘Confessional Sinks’ made a deep impression on me. Justin used the original Kohler sink that is easy find in our daily life, producing confessional by adding latticed ceramic panels on the both sides that have a quatrefoil pattern. Through this work, the sinks were transformed into sites of spiritual as well as physical cleansing. The integration of this ritual of atonement into a domestic object suggested a private reckoning with one’s past deeds rather than a reliance on religious institutions. It’s worth mentioning that Justin was a student at the university of Oregon and Tyrras would be his GTF, it’s really interesting one~hahaha~!

The last thing we did in our class was watch the video of JR. I found this guy is the most moving and touching out of the entire artists we studied. He took the idea of multiples to a whole new level.  He used the art of photography and used it to spread a message around the world. By giving people the opportunity to share their stories and have people to learn about it, he is changing the world.  It may not be a drastic change, but he is slowly inspiring people to open up and not be afraid to share their thoughts.  

Mar­cel Ducham gave me this idea for an image when he used into Fountain to show that even though the picture is distorted in a certain way, you still know its function. It is a work of art that tran­scends a form, but that is also intel­li­gi­ble, an object that strikes down an idea while allow­ing it to spring up stronger.

Finally, I really want to give my thanks to Tyrras~Thanks for the patience, knowledge and humorous, as foreign students, I really realize the charming from American professor~~thkssss!