Portfolio: Sculpture Studio

Rachael Lashof

Project 1- Process
ARTIST RESEARCH:

Look up the work of at least two other artists and comment on the specific way their work makes meaning through process.

Eduardo Kac and Andy Goldsworthy

Eduardo Kac:
Eduardo Kac is an artist that I was first introduced to in a lecture last semester (Fall ’04) by Linda Weintraub. His work is particularly interesting because it borders on the line between science and art.

Most well know is the “GFP Bunny” project in which he genetically engineers an albino rabbit with the wild-type green fluorescent gene found in jellyfish. However, this project goes far beyond the end product of a rabbit named Alba (at left) that fluoresces green when illuminated with blue light. As he discuses on his webpage, Kac’s “GFP Bunny” project also includes (1) discussions with professionals and the public, (2) in depth research into the relationship between genetics, organisms, and the environment, (3) interaction with the bunny including in public presentations, (4) an examination of what is ‘normal,’ (5) “expansion of the present practical and conceptual boundaries of artmaking to incorporate life invention,” and as several other points, as Kac lists.

Another “transgenic art” project that Eduardo Kac has taken on is Genesis – in which Kac allows the viewer to genetically mutate bacteria in a gallery by switching on an ultraviolet light. In addition to his “transgenic art,” Kac has a large interest in telecommunications and the interactions of real people with created program people in a virtual web-based environment. One work exploring this was Uirapuru, in which a flying fish was hung above a forest in the gallery and responded to local and web-based commands. Local and remote viewers were able to interact with the flying fish in a virtual world, where the robotic birds respond to the rhythm of Internet traffic.

Eduardo Kac’s work is particularly interesting to me because of my interests in the intersections between art and science. To me, the “GFP Bunny” raises many interesting and important questions to both the scientific and artistic communities. Alba inspires viewers to think about (1) what biological manipulations we are we capable of, (2) are biological manipulations artwork, (3) what effects do our own actions (even simple) in the environment have on organisms and other elements of nature.

Andy Goldsworthy:
My interest in art and its intersections with science continues with British artists, Andy Goldsworthy. Like Eduardo Kac, Goldsworthy has a deep interest in human interaction with nature. For Kac, this interest is in the manipulation of biological organisms. For Goldsworthy, this interest is in the manipulation of our surrounding environment. “I want to get under the surface. When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material in itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue,” states Goldsworthy.

Not only is the making of these patterns from natural elements a process in itself, but so is their existence, constantly being changed by light, weather, and other effects, and possibly even being destroyed by these effects. “Movement, change, light, growth, and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.”

Andy Goldsworthy’s work is a comment not only on his appreciation for nature and process in art, but especially about the fact that nature itself is a process. What better way to artistically represent nature as an ongoing process by making art that becomes part of that process? The ice spiral surrounding a tree and the ice star with both eventually melt as temperatures rise. The dandelion pattern Goldsworthy has created in the field will eventually go away as wind blows the flowers, or they themselves move on in their life cycle or die.

Andy Goldsworthy’s artwork is interesting to me for its appreciation of the fact that nature is ephemeral – it is always changing, dying, re-growing. He shows a true admiration for nature’s patterns and process – and they are undoubtedly amazing. Like Kac, Goldsworthy again raises the question of what effects do our own actions (even simple) in the environment have on organisms and other elements of nature.