Technology When we consider technology, we most likely think of the world since the industrial revolution of the 19 th Century and more recent developments, such as transportation, manufacturing, communication, scientific ad medical advancements in the 20 th and 21 st centuries. Many artists, such as Vincent van Gogh, Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco took notice of technology. Futurists in Milan were enthralled with machinery and the movement in cities. Minimalist artists of the 1960s imitated the qualities of a machine.
Vincent Van Gogh The Huth Factories at Clichy 1887 Oil 21 ¼ x 28 ¾ Van Gogh saw the growing industrial environment upon the agricultural space.
Diego Rivera Man at the Crossroads 1934 Fresco 15 x 37 Rivera painted the changes from an agricultural world to industry, machinery and war.
José Clemente Orozco Totem Poles & Machine Images Panel 9-12 An Epic of American Civilization
José Clemente Orozco / Social Realism Modern Culture I - IV Panels 22-25 An Epic of American Civilization
Umberto Boccioni Unique Forms of Continuity in Space 1913 Bronze 45 h Giacomo Balla Speeding Automobile 1913 Oil 23 ½ x 38 ¼ Futurism viewed the flux of cities in motion, industry and machinery as well. They painted simultaneous motion.
Minimalist, such as Donald Judd aimed to be machine-like. To be anonymous, take away the artist s hand, unlike a brush stroke. Minimalist celebrated materials, simplicity and repetition. Untitled 1966 Aluminum, Plexiglas 40 x 190 x 40 Untitled 1967 Aluminum 6 1/8 x 24 x 27 each
Dan Flavin Minimal Art Untitled 1980s Pink out of a Corner 1963-64 Untitled (in Honor of Harold Joachim) 1977 red, yellow, blue & green 8 fluorescent tubing
Richard Serra Minimal Art Union of the Torus and the Sphere 2001 Steel 142 x 447 x 125 Betwixt the Torus and the Sphere 2001 Steel 142 x 450 x 319
Sylvester 2001 Steel 163 x 492 x 380 Richard Serra Minimal Art
Evaluating the Constructed World We are bombarded with disjointed imagery everyday. We see images flipping channels on the television, passing billboards, surfing the Internet. Some artists question this act of perception. How reality is presented and how viewers reintegrate these random images. Images shape our lives and we can become engaged in the diversity and variety that our contemporary culture has to offer or become hypnotized by infotainment and the electronic light.
Assembled on the rooftop of the Modern art Museum in New York, Tinguely started his work of art, which caught on fire and collapsed due to a roll of paper being threaded in the wrong direction. It ended up being a on-time event. Jean Tinguely Homage to New York 1960
Neo-Dadaist, Robert Rauschenberg juxtaposed images seen on television with imagery from art. Ever-changing images seen everyday are reproduced and start to lose their effect. Estate 1963 oil/silkscreen 7 11 x 5 9 Retroactive 1964
Nam June Paik explored the impact and means of television and its impact on us as humans. Paik warned against the television taking over our lives and that we needed to fight back. His early works were humorous in their intent. TV Cello 1971 TV Bra 1969 Hamlet Robot 1996
TV Buddha 1974 Nam June Paik Buddha Duchamp Beuys 1989
Nam June Paik Electronic Superhighway 1995
Paik s video installations speak about the imposing presence of mass media in everyday life, a feature in the home, in business, in sports, in entertainment, in commerce and so on, where the viewer is a mere spectator. Nam June Paik Fin de Siècle II (the end of the century) 1989 Video installation of 300 TV sets continuously changing
Nam June Paik Video Fish 1975-1979 Are viewers like a fish in a bowl? Are we really seeing reality?
Who s watching who? Who monitors are existence and movements? Banksy vandalized paintings
Alexandre Arrechea Latin America - Cuban Arena 2007 Cornfield 2007 watercolor
Ai Weiwei Forever Bicycles 2010 1200 Forever brand bicycles without handlebars or seats Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 2010 Turbine Hall, Tate Museum London
Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds 100 million porcelain ceramic seeds