UNUSUAL MATERIALS
EARTH MEDITATION
UNUSUAL MATERIALS
The history of art has seen the use of many unusual materials in the creation of beauty and meaning. With mid-twentieth century, art was freed from confinement to just painting, photography, and sculpture, and the public saw a rush to use unusual materials. New art often took the form of assemblage, installation, conceptual work, performance, and now multi-media.
Some people were and still are confused by all the variety. The important thing to remember is that art is not first a product, particularly not a product in a frame or on a pedestal. Art is a way of seeing, and anything that can create a moment of seeing and do so in a pleasing manner can be considered art. In this regard, we should remember that Manet’s paintings, when first shown in the Salon des Réfusés, were denounced as ugly, as trash, as likely to induce miscarriages in pregnant women. This in response to images by Manet that today are considered so attractive they adorn posters, place mats, and aprons.
Art is a way of seeing. Duchamp’s “Fountain” was shown in 1917. It is an example of “readymade” art in that he simply took an existing new urinal and showed it off as a fountain. Also proving that serious artists do have a sense of humour. Picasso’s “Bull’s head”, (1942) shows us a bicycle seat with handlebars, hung appropriately to reveal the bull. Also a readymade.
Of course it is a one-off. It is a moment in art history. Once shown, it cannot be repeated by someone else who just wants to be cheeky.
Now because of population growth, the proportional rise in numbers of artists means that the competition to be noticed is big. So artists sometimes make art that involves controversial or even disgusting material. Who would think that making art out of your own shit would ever become a cliché? But after the Italian artist Manzoni canned his own excrement in 1961 for display as serious art, artists have tried to make art out of excrement a number of times, until this has reached the stage of yawns. Art has been made from the products out of every orifice. No more need be said in that regard.
Artists have painted with their blood. The have made art out of trashed, decaying newspapers. Out of dead bodies of animals. Out of almost every kind of commercial plastic form you can name. Most of these have been supported in the artist’s statement by references to popular culture, critiques of hypocritical political systems, and cultural theory. But ultimately one’s own preferences will decide whether to accept the piece as art—even though an argument could be made in many cases that these offensive displays were legitimate.
I once met an artist in New York who made art only out of dolls that had been run over in the street. It was not something I was attracted to, but what I thought about was that in the absence of an integrated, coherent saving vision, there was no chance of an attraction to transcendent meanings for anyone. Today, we often have art that just reflects the Void or that shows us to ourselves. Still, that enterprise may have some value.
When I first moved from Vancouver to the Sunshine Coast, I had no place to make art, but on a clear Spring day, I decided to make a “painting” outdoors on a flat surface out of whatever materials represented the place more than they might have represented an art supply store. So I made an abstract out of ashes, earth, sand, crushed oyster shells, cold black tea, berry stain, some spices, some homemade pigment from plants, pollen, and slivers of mica. At the end I cheated by using some fixative spray to keep it all in place. It was a satisfying feeling and a good way to begin my new art initiative on the Coast.
Every artist who works for a few years will eventually make something really good out of odd materials. And not just the art school experiments. Something worth keeping. Aside from its aesthetic value, the piece also connects us to the whole history of Humanity, to our ancient ancestors who created art from unusual materials out of a spirit of celebration, or prayer, or healing.
