“Ochre and Sand: Dedicated to the Vanished Tribes of the
Flinders Ranges and Adelaide Area”
Date: 1987
Artist: Nikolaus Lang
-
- Connecting the past with the present through displaying the cycle / flux of nature
o
Walks through landscape and collects natural
materials
o
Chooses areas where the distant past and present
intersect
- Believes this is a country of extremes:
o
Feast and famine
o
Boom and bust
o
Drought and deluge
o
Enlightenment and myopia
o
Natural and technological
- Questions values of contemporary art through not using art supplies traditionally associated with art making
- What? Consists of conical mounds of bright coloured natural ground pigments from rocks, sand and earth of the Australian dessert. Same materials used by the Aboriginals to create art. Arranged on pristine fine white art paper. ‘deigned to be set upon the floor so that an audience can walk up to and around it in close proximity’
Motivation of work & Why does it exist?
- Dedicated to the vanished tribes of Flinders Ranges and Adelaide
- References both art of indigenous people and the Australian landscape
- Referencing the Australian landscape to challenge the European perception that the landscape is monotonous and mundane
- To bring the past of indigenous people to the present
- Express the colours of nature
- Interest in contrast between nature and man-made ( Use of paper as base for sand)
- Collected objects such as nature and ‘relics of our throwaway society’ on journeys around the globe( Documented where each object was found).
Why is this work significant enough to be chosen for
collection in AGSA?
- Reference to Australian landscape and the Indigenous
- Textural quality and colour
My response to seeing ‘Ochre and Sand’:
Sense of peacefulness as it brought me to imagine a warm and
calming environment
This was created through the textural quality, use of
colour, pattern, and shape of the paper and use of sand
Textural quality:
-
The roughness of the sand enabled me to imagine
how the art piece felt
Colour:
-
The use of warm hues reminds me of qualities of
summer, like to feel the heat and heaviness in the air
Pattern:
-
The flowing and blurred pattern reminds me of
the slow winds of a summer’s night
-
The organic lines remind me of the slow
breathing partaken in hot yoga
Concave shape of paper:
-
The curved shape is welcoming and emphasises the
organic pattern of the sand
Use of sand:
-
The use of sand enables me to imagine the
feeling of digging my toes and feet into the sand of a beach. This feeling is
very relaxing and reminds me of the calming sounds associated with the beach.
http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/multicultural_art/artists/construct_ourselves/co_art10_nikolaus.html
No comments:
Post a Comment