I was surprised to see Sarah Lucas mentioned in the 'Art and The Quotidian Object' article. I'd never really thought about the fact that her very suggestive and provocative art used every day, throwaway objects such as food, bedding, and (as in the case of Beer Can Penis) rusted cans. If I'd been able to put her anywhere it would have been under 'Art and The Body' or 'Art and Representation', as her pieces often use objects (usually she uses food such as eggs, or fruit) to represent sexual organs, both male and female. Another YBA, Sarah Lucas is expectedly shocking, but also very humorous in her depictions of genitalia- such as a bucket for a vagina.
I guess it just goes to show, that in the Contemporary Art World, the 'quotidian object' is so deeply embedded in our art practice that it's possible for it to go completely unregistered. I understand the relevance of the throwaway it our society, considering the huge amount that we consume and discard, but has anybody considered that maybe the importance, or taboo, of using objects that haven't been crafted by the artist, is less Contemporary than Post Modern? And perhaps not such a big deal to art audiences anymore?
I'm not suggesting that the idea of the throw away mass produced object as an art work isn't interesting or something that I'm sure many people (myself included) are interested in exploring, but is it really such a controversial or cutting edge practice? It's so extremely common to use quotidian objects in art, or to commission people to execute your ideas.
I'm a little on the fence here, I seem to be disagreeing with and second guessing myself, so I would love to hear everybody else's opinion.
Sarah Lucas!
1 comment:
I think any artist working today'd have to be pretty foolish to expect to be seen as controversial etc. in the art world purely on the merit of using quotidian objects/objects specially manufactured by others (unless, of course, they did something like claiming it as having been made by themselves, or pulled a Hirst-esque stunt and attempted to do something like sell a plastic spoon for US$43954385798354).
I stipulate "art world" because you really have to have an awareness of the history and relatively commonplace nature of these sorts of practices in order to not be bothered by them - a point which I think Elli has touched on.
Despite this, I agree that it's still an interesting topic to look into, and even if themes are common in art there's always room for innovation.
(Sorry if this doesn't make sense.)
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