Stockholder, Herrera, Ritchie, Wilson

This week’s readings and video excerpts highlight various artists’ forms of inspiration, thought processes, and work ethic. Jessica Stockholder, installation artist and sculptor, finds her subject and medium within everyday objects. Arturo Herrera quite similarly sources images from popular media as well as musical arrangements for his abstract collages and video projections.  Also referencing culture of the present and past, Fred Wilson acquires objects from museum collections to create site-specific installations. Applying multimedia and interactive components to his installation art, Matthew Ritchie transfers his imaginative drawings of the universe, mythology, and the natural order of things into elaborate abstract environments.

            All of these artists gather information and inspiration from culture, society, religion and identity. Jessica Stockholder discusses the value of new and old objects in her interview with Klaus Ottoman in the Journal of Contemporary Art. It was peculiar to me that this particular aesthetic in her search for materials was more important than her objects reading as junk. In the art 21video, Stockholder seemed to stress the idea of junk within her work and the importance of the junk’s identity in popular culture. I found her pictorial way of looking at things from a painter’s perspective an interesting application to her installation process. The fusion between each sculpture and their fabricated environment provokes a different mood and interpretation. Stockholder’s approach to installation work revolves around internal logic that develops as she disconnects and conjoins various objects. 

            Arturo Herrera’s collage process is comparable to Stockholder’s installation work. His dissection of magazines, drawings, advertisements, and cartoons form unexpected relationships where there were none before. This abstracting and reworking of an image or multiple images end up producing something new and distinct. Herrera’s manipulation of imagery and experimentation with scale grabbed my attention. His interview with Stephanie Smith highlighting his projection, Les Noces, showcased an interesting way of transferring small-scale collage techniques unto larger formats.

            Along the same parallel as Arturo Herrera, Matthew Ritchie digitally enlarges his drawings to create large installations. These blown up paintings and drawings in their installation state become huge environments that engulf the viewer. His personal narratives of the universe and depictions of symbolic characters are essential to the work. Ritchie is connected to his work through his attempts to represent the entire universe and the structures of knowledge and belief that we use to understand and visualize it.

            Fred Wilson’s heritage and collecting obsession is a key component to his work. His site-specific installations within established museums challenge curatorial practices and organization within collections. His “Duchampian” found-art approach to installations is conceptual and aims to uncover topics that will connect artifacts and historical objects in newfound ways. Wilson’s culture and heritage plays a big role in inspiring his work, which is evident throughout his works that address conflict in racial and cultural identity.

             Jessica Stockholder, Arturo Herrera, Matthew Ritchie, and Fred Wilson are artists that approach structure and installation similarly. Whether it be through the combination of gathering objects to form a new entity, or cutting paper to do the same, these artists show multiple ways of furthering a project outside of its set medium into larger spaces and different presentations.