Sculpture Studio Portfolio (SP10)

Project 1: Process
ANALYSIS

Process is a series of actions taken in order to achieve a particular end. Every single person deals with processes every day, and every artist uses a process to create his or her artwork. But, a lot of the times the process is hidden in the end product of an artist, such as in Michelangelo’s David (1504). As a viewer, all a person can see is the perfected carved form of David, be amazed at the skill of Michelangelo, but have no idea how he did it. The process of carving the marble is not something we are allowed to see.

David (1504)

In process art, process heavily makes up the work. This can take on different forms. For example, Gabriel Orzoco’s process has to do with him actively going out and seeking art, and documents these “makeshift” ephemeral artworks, such as in Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (1995). In this work, Orzoco is traveling through Berlin on his yellow scooter, placing it next to any other identical yellow scooter he can find, and photographing it. The twin yellow scooters placed side by side in various locations, over and over again, poses the viewer with a challenge: to see a series of pictures of not very remarkable objects repeated is not necessarily the artwork, but the artist’s act of going out specifically searching for yellow Schwalbes creates a very different meaning. This question of what makes up art, the product or the process, is apparent in much of Orzoco’s work.

Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (1995)

A different type of process artist, Tara Donovan’s process often involves compiling massive amounts of a certain object, and it becomes the sculpture, such as the Styrofoam cups in Untitled (2003). Past the initial reaction upon seeing such an unusual and huge structure, the later reaction of the viewer involves appreciation for Donovan’s process of assembly. Her artwork is often made up of two very distinct spheres: process and end product, and both are equally important in her work. The act of taking a boring object such as a Styrofoam cup and gluing hundreds together is a task most people would not take on. The artwork becomes remarkable because Donovan chose the object and created a wondrous sculpture by building a structure out of hundreds of the same object so that it becomes a different object all together, and the viewer sees the Styrofoam cup in a completely different way.

Untitled (2003)

Other process artists focus on performance as the artwork. For example, Cai Guo-Qiang often creates particular fireworks for certain places, such as in Against the Current (1992). This explosion only lasted 10 seconds and required an audience and documentation otherwise it would be lost. His process involved the installation as much as the actual explosion itself, and an audience to see it. But his art of fireworks in this case (not his drawings) must be experienced: a recording of an explosion is not the same as actively participating in the audience outside where it is happening. Instead of seeing objects in a different way, as both Orzoco and Donovan explore, Guo-Qiang’s process suggests more of an amazing yet impermanence of art that leads to greater and deeper questions about existence overall. His drawings from gunpowder explore creation from destruction, the patterns of burning paper becoming something quite beautiful.

Against the Current (1992)

These examples of process art all bring up the same questions: What is art? Is the process of making an artwork as equally important as the finished product? In the case of Orzoco, is there artwork all around us that we forget to look for? For Donovan, can objects people create solely for usage that often quickly becomes trash also produce art? For Guo-Qiang, how long can artwork last, and is there beauty in its temporariness? Or can there be creation from destruction?

Process art is something that is active and challenges an active response from the viewer. Not only does it emphasize how to get from point A to point B, but it also requires an audience’s response to engage it. Often process art has a specific meaning behind it, the goal of being aesthetically pleasing is not high on the agenda. Rather, process art seems to say, isn’t creating just as important as the creation? It seems to remind the audience not to get caught up in the object, but to remember the act, and that colors a very unique meaning into the artwork.