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Manuela Klerkx
I stack, therefore I am: how do we appreciate art?
I recently stumbled across an article entitled ‘Art Perception, Consciousness, and Cognition’. It was Sofie Wierda's thesis for her doctorate at the Faculty of Philosophy in Utrecht in 2014. In it, she explores the question of how we appreciate a work of art: Is it our unconscious feelings or our reason and knowledge that determine how we perceive and appreciate visual art? Psychoanalysts and philosophers like Kant, Hegel, Freud, Jung, and more recently, Bjarne Sode Funch and Robert Solso have been pondering over this question since the Enlightenment without finding a clear answer. Kant in particular wondered about the extent to which we can look at art ‘with disinterest’ in order to have a purely aesthetic experience. It's an intriguing question, but let's not delve too deeply into all the complex theories of scientists. Instead, let's examine how feelings and knowledge come into play in experiencing and appreciating art through the works of three different artists: Alcides Pereira dos Santos, Gluklya and Umut Yasat. Their work transcends mere aesthetic experience thanks to their respective religious, activist and conceptual intentions. Kant may very well turn in his grave, but times change and so does art, along with its intentions and how it is appreciated.
0 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 8 Oeuvres disponibles
1 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations
Alcides Pereira dos Santos, an uneducated religious artist born in Bahia in 1932, held various jobs before experiencing a revelation at the age of 19, when he felt commanded by God to dedicate his life to religion and art. Creation became the central theme of his art, as is evident in his religious works depicting the creation story. Apart from explicit religious work, his faith is also manifested in his painting of geometric landscapes, which he refers to as ‘macrocreations’, placing the focus not on humans but on creation itself. Fully appreciating Alcides' work requires immersion in the simplicity of his world of faith and devotion to honouring divine creation. His art is not the result of cognitive or art historical knowledge, but an expression of his religious and pure emotions. Although Alcides' work may not be ‘without interest’ and serves a higher purpose, it is nevertheless as moving as it is beautiful in its naivety.
Guest artist Wouters Gallery
Guest artist Wouters Gallery
Gluklya
2 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 29 Oeuvres disponibles
4 Spectacles ᛫ 1 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations
Distinctly opposite of Alcides is Gluklya (1969), born Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya in Leningrad, who is considered one of the pioneers of Russian performance art. Her art revolves around consciousness, suppressed feelings, historical awareness and geopolitical knowledge, without any mention of religion or revelations. She conducts socio-scientific research into social topics and power structures such as politics, feminism and oppression. Gluklya uses various media, such as performance, installation and video, as well as ‘conceptualised clothing’, to connect art, social sciences and progressive pedagogy, giving people from different social backgrounds the opportunity to create art together. Gluklya considers it her duty as an artist to stand up for the weaker members of society, as stated in the Manifesto of Factory of Found Clothes from 2002. In Gluklya's work, political-social awareness plays an essential role, demanding a high level of knowledge, empathy and commitment on the part of the viewer to properly assess its intention. With her activism and Russian background, Gluklya plays an important role in the current debate about Putin's Russia and the shifting power dynamics between different world powers.
Represented by AKINCI
Represented by AKINCI
0 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 2 Oeuvres disponibles
0 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations
Whereas Alcides focuses on religious consciousness and the believer and Gluklya on socio-political consciousness and the citizen, Umut Yasat (1988) puts the spotlight on the human as consumer. In our capitalised world, what defines a human being more than a collection of purchased items? The statement ‘I shop, therefore I am’ by artist Barbara Kruger from 1987 resonates with Yasat, reflecting on René Descartes' famous statement ‘I think, therefore I am’. In 2014, Yasat decided to exclusively dedicate himself to a personal concept, The Stack, as an accumulation of objects, from art to trinkets, symbolising a self-fulfilling production and consumption system. From that moment on, his works would bear the title The Stack, exclusively in singular and followed by a chronological number. Initially organising all his previous work to literally form a stack, this concept evolved into a combination of not only artwork, but also the artist’s various everyday objects, both meaningful and trivial. Yasat's minimalist lifestyle echoes his art, where everything he needs fits inside his backpack. His work is characterised by simple hand carts on which countless objects are stacked to a maximum height of 1.75 meters, mirroring his own body height.
Represented by GNYP Gallery
Represented by GNYP Gallery