Introduction
Contemporary art can be considered intriguing and provocative. To support this idea, it is possible to refer to the works of such famous contemporary artists as Anne Collier, Walead Beshty, Janice Kerbel, Valentina Liernur, and Yuki Kimura are presented in Creamier: Contemporary Art in Culture. On the one hand, these artists’ works differ significantly in their styles, techniques, and messages. On the other hand, they demonstrate the variety of approaches that can be used by artists to attract the public’s attention to their ideas and creative visions of the world. As a result, these artworks can be considered to be similar in terms of their striking effect on viewers. Anne Collier, Walead Beshty, Janice Kerbel, Valentina Liernur, and Yuki Kimura are remarkable figures in the world of contemporary art, and the purpose of this paper is to discuss the specific features or factors that interest people in these artists’ works, and what questions they can pose.
Anne Collier
The photographs by Collier attract the viewer’s attention because they depict images of other artworks. Collier’s approach to appropriation allows for adding new meanings to the photographs that she represents. It seems that the photographer draws the public’s attention to those images that are especially important for her, as in the case of Sylvia Plath (2008) (Filipovic 77). Thus, in this work, Collier aims to represent a kind of melancholy that can be understood only while focusing on this artist’s work rather than on the original image. This ambivalence in perspectives draws viewers’ attention to those aspects of the depicted images that could not be recognized while looking at original works. In this context, much attention should be paid to Collier’s portraits of women with cameras that are discussed as an approach to presenting the photographer’s self-portrait. Collier’s works give a background for discussing the concept of “appropriation” in photography to represent one’s feelings and visions.
Walead Beshty
Beshty’s works focus on the material world of photography, which is represented with the help of lines and colors. Thus, the photographer can be viewed as a master in accentuating the “brute materiality of the photographic process” (Filipovic 46). As a result, Beshty’s images cause the public to ask about specific technical, chemical, and physical aspects that cause his works to be perceived as abstract objects rather than photographs. While posing questions about the materiality of the world depicted in his photographs, the photographer also adds humor to his works, which often results in some accident that makes the photographer look at artwork from another perspective. For instance, the interesting lines of the broken glass presented on the FedEx box are results of inappropriate delivery of goods. Thus, Beshty’s works allow the public to perceive common objects through the perspective of their materiality as artworks.
Janice Kerbel
The uniqueness of Kerbel’s art is in the diversity of themes. In her works, Kerbel performs as a researcher who investigates the world around her and depicts its variety. The media used by the artist and designer are also numerous. Thus, her different series focused on themes of cheating, concealment, and even baseball are presented in different forms, including proposals, posters, letters, and scripts, among others (Filipovic 129). From this point, the first thing that attracts the viewer’s attention is the variety, and the other is the position of a researcher taken by Kerbel as her professional approach. Therefore, the question seems to apply to how a modern artist can work as a researcher in his or her field.
Valentina Liernur
Although there are many dark colors in Liernur’s art, her works are not viewed as gloomy. Instead, the artist applies a unique mixture of colors, forms, and textures to create an image. Liernur is known because of her specific approach to combining elements of painting, fashion, and theater in different artworks. As a result, they are full of Cubism motifs and references to the world of fashion (Filipovic 147). From this perspective, the works by this artist allow speaking about the question of mixing genres and styles in art.
Yuki Kimura
One more artist who is focused on the idea of mixing and combining objects and concepts in art is Yuki Kimura. However, in contrast to Liernur, Kimura combines not only genres and approaches but also uses photographs and other different items to create installations that are depicted as visuals. In her work, Kimura uses found images that are combined with elements of sculpture and various objects to receive new meanings (Filipovic 160). This approach is used by the artist to represent a range of conceptual ideas through not only photographs but also pieces of real life.
Conclusion
The works by five contemporary artists can provoke a lot of questions, and they depend on specific features of the images, as well as the artists’ philosophies. First, it is important to focus on the idea of appropriation that is always discussed as a provocative approach in the context of art. Second, the focus should be on materiality as a framework for depicting objects. Third, the question is also about an artist’s role as a researcher. Moreover, it is also necessary to concentrate on the question of mixtures and combinations in the field of art to create unique objects and experiences.
Work Cited
Filipovic, Elena, editor. Creamier: Contemporary Art in Culture. Phaidon Press, 2010.