Portfolio: Sculpture Studio

Rachael Lashof

Project 3- Site and Installation
ANALYSIS

In class on Monday, we talked about what the definition of installation is. We came to the conclusion that installations are the creation of an environment. We also decided that installations were separated from other sculptures because they are not singular objects. If installation art is about creating environments, we must also define environment. Environment in the biological sense is the space and content in which biological organisms live – for a bacteria it may be our large intestine, for a deer it may be a deciduous forest, and for us it may be our house and the city in which we live.

In a similar way, environment in the sense of installation art is the space in which the viewer lives while they are viewing your space. As we have seen, this concept is approached differently by each installation artist. For example, Louise Bourgeois’s installations of cells exclude the viewer from the actual space of the installation. They are closed off units which suggest to the viewer a certain comparison between internal and external spaces, a theme which seems to be repeated throughout her installations. On the other hand, artist Pepon Osorio allows the viewer in, making it seem if they are in a real space even though the space they are in is simply a creation and not actually a child’s bedroom (Badge of Honor, 1995).

While both Bourgeois and Osorio’s works have actual physical objects, artists such as Kira Lynn Harris and James Turrell often leave any physical element out of the installation. Their works use color and light to create the environment for the viewer. For example, The River by Harris seen at night creates a light in a spice plant which would otherwise be dark, even though the only physical object is a sheet of Mylar laid over stairs. Harris and Turrell are not creating physical environments like Bourgeois and Osorio have done, but instead are creating entirely visual environments. Installation art is not limited to materiality.