My friend Russell recommended me to watch “The Mona Lisa Curse“, a Grierson award-winning polemic documentary by art critic Robert Hughes, examining how the world’s most famous painting came to influence the art world. It can be found on youtube in 12 short bits. I’ve arranged them in chronological order just for you. Hughes seems to be a romantic, blindly in love with art of the 60s. I disagree when it comes to his grumpy, personal views on Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Richard Prince. Nevertheless it is an interesting documentary criticising the art market and its mechanisms, so grab a fresh smoothie and take a plunge!
Ellen Ringstad. Detail of Plastic Waste Polychrome (2011), still in the making, consisting of layer upon layer of the artist's own plastic waste.
Have you been following my blog? If so, you may have noticed how concerned I am with waste. This concern is best exemplified through my ongoing dialogue and occasional quarrels with Waste Line, who is, much to her misfortune, literally a line of waste. Contrary to popular belief, Waste Line has numerable questions about her origins and wherabouts in life, which is more than can be said about certain humans individuals.
You might be surprised to read that my intentions with waste are not entirely based on environmental idealism. This waste frenzy was likely triggered by a not-so-admirable intention: capital; or rather lack thereof. In order to make art, a poor student like myself desperately needs materials, preferably without paying much for them. Come to think of it, it must have started earlier because I remember how my Grandmother, who lived and survived the two great wars on this continent, saved all sorts of materials and then turned them into new, smart things. Perhaps it is her fault that I’ve been collecting all kind of useless stuff, “just in case”. It seems both my grandmother and I have a lot in common with squirrels.
At least my grandmother made useful stuff, while I make art. However, I believe there is an important message in this kind of artistic expression. Found materials automatically say something about the society in which we live. As reflected citizens, one must inevitably raise the inconvenient questions about the way we live. How will our patterns of consumption affect the future? My grandmother, like so many others of her generation, learned the hard way. I’m trying to learn from her so I’ll be prepared for tougher times.
The photograph above is a detail of my new painting in the making, entitled Plastic Waste Polychrome, which will be approximately 300x200cm. It will be made entirely of my own melted plastic waste reminiscent of Waste Lines gone by, reminding me of just much how much I consume. It also references the works of Robert Rauschenberg.
Listen to conceptual artist Rasmus Hungnes‘ mash-up of Frank Sinatra’s version of the popular “My Way” pitched up and down so that it covers all 12 semitones in an octave. The uncomfortable feel in this version gives the lyrical content a much darker dimension in which the individualistic “I did it my way” might just be an explanation as to why “the end is here”. Enjoy.
This is an experimental/processual blog, joyfully packed with contradictions and absurdities, information and disinformation, (possibly) relating to my own artistic production. It is not meant to show only finished works or ideas, but a path.
My contribution to the group show “Bachelorutstillingen KHIB 2012, avd. Containere” with Maria Therese Fernander Smit, Hågen Magnus Kristiansen, Joar Nedberg, Katarina Skjønsberg, Camilla Renate Nicolaisen, Tarald Wassvik, Ellen Ringstad. Location: Festplassen, Bergen. Ellen RIngstad. White IV. Interactive video installation. Wood, Plastic, Latex […]
Last semester I participated in a workshop on the subject of muscle wire/nitinol, and I came across the fashion designer Hussein Chalayan who uses wire technology in his “prototypes for ideas”. In this spring show of 2007, titled One Hundred and Eleven, some of the clothes transform from one shape to another. And who knows? [...]
Can Architecture live? Can it respond to us? Can it know we’re here? Can it care? Have a look at this responsive architectural installation by Phillip Beesley at the Canadian Pavillion of the Architecture Biennale in Venice 2010. You can see the full interview on Vernissage TV. Hylozoism is greek meaning “life coming out of [...]
