What Is An Artist?

What is an artist in today’s world? Better yet, what is art? In today’s world, it has become difficult to define the line between what is, and what isn’t considered artwork. For some, everything can be art, and for others, only a sculpture or a painting can be art. The limited idea of what art actually is has been a part of our history, but luckily it is quickly changing.
Many things can be considered a piece of art. For instance, take a simple chair. Is it art? It functions, like many things in our society, in the home. The chair’s function is a stable object that one can sit on. It can be something to look at like the chairs, tables, and silverware that has been on display at the Milwaukee Art Museum from the American Decorative Arts and the Chipstone Foundation. The functional object has now become the art object. This is the same for artist Marcel Duchamp who created a piece of art called Fountain in 1917 just by using a ready-made urinal. The question still lingers on if it is actually art, but that is the point since art always seems to give a different meaning to objects.
Another object that functions in everyday life is the human body. Can the body be considered art? Many artists have been able to use their body as a tool for an art piece because it is readily available and, in this economy, inexpensive. Philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty explains “for us the body is much more than an instrument or a means; it is our expression in the world, the visible form of our intentions. Even our most secret affective movements, those most deeply tied to the humeral infrastructure, help to shape our perception of things”* Many do not think about the many movements that our bodies are making throughout the day. To some, these movements are a gift; to others, it’s just no big deal. The following artists, Marina Abravomic, Richard Serra, and Bruce Nauman travel into the idea of the body and the simple moves that it can make. Videos that directly focus on movement were made to express these functions. The viewer cannot help but be drawn into what the artist is doing.

*Nemser, Cindy. "Subject - Object: Body Art (1971)." Phaidon Press Limited (2000): 233. Print

Marina Abramovic "Art is Beautiful, Artist must be Beautiful"

Performance artist Marina Abravomic created the piece “Art must be beautiful, Artist must be beautiful” (1975). The piece looks into the thoughts of an artist. When a viewer sees an object they then wonder about the artist. Should the artist be just as beautiful or as ugly as the piece that they created? After all they are a part of it. To create this piece, Abravomic stated “I brush my hair with a metal brush held in my right hand and simultaneously com my hair with a metal comb held in my left hand. While so doing, I continuously repeat ‘Art must be beautiful’, ‘Artist must be beautiful’, until I have destroyed my hair and face”.* This question of what is an artist becomes more apparent in Abravomic’s pieces because she has become the art object. The audience is watching and listening to her. Her body, just like everyone else’s is another functional object in the world that was created by something else so therefore it is another thing that can be considered as art. The body however is controlled by each individual mind so it can be more intriguing. In this piece Abravomic pushes her body to a certain limit with the simple movement of her arms, wrists, and hands. She does this to get her point across of how an artist can feel at times. Although in the late 80’s early 90’s Abravomic no longer tested the borders of the body, her performance art still has a great impact. **

* "Media Art Net | Abramovic, Marina: Art must be beautiful." Media Art Net | Homepage. Web. Dec. 2009. .
** "Marina Abramovic." Journal of Contemporary Art. Web. Dec. 2009. .

Richard Serra "Hand Catching Lead" 1968

Richard Serra, who is a minimalist sculptor and a video artist, works mainly with his hands and metal. In his video art, he focuses on what medium he works with on a daily basis. In this particular video “Hand Catching Lead” Serra works with the obvious lead. Not only does he focus on the material he uses, he directs the viewer to his hand catching the metal. He does this repetitively for three minutes. The repetitive movement forces the viewer to think about how simple the movement is. Serra is catching something over and over again. This is a normal task and reaction that most do not think about. If something hits your hand or is being thown at you, your initial reaction is to reach out and close your hand. The body, like any other object with a function, can repeat this motion multiple times. However the human body was only meant to go so far. Serra tests his limits for how many pieces of metal he can catch in a limited amount of time. Near the end of the video, wear, tear, and exhaustion sets in and he begins to miss pieces of metal. This again, is a normal reaction. The interesting part is to see how much the hand can take, and to watch the movement it can make. Unlike an object that man created for a specific function, the human body part does something a little different every time. Also, every human is different so there is a different action and reaction for everyone.

Richard Serra "Hands Scraping" 1968

Another video art piece by minimalist artist Richard Serra is the above, “Hands Scraping”, which was created in 1968. This work shows another function of the hands with yet another metal, steel. Metal, as we have found out from scientific research, can be manipulated in many ways. It can be solid, liquid, hot or cold. Human hands can function in multiple ways as well. In the previous video, Serra simply catches a block of lead over and over. In this video, Serra and composer Phil Glass utilize their hands to pick up shards of steel on the floor. Picking things up is another function of the hands that most forget about because it comes naturally to us. As Americans, we think, why not sweep up the mess and use a man made dustpan; as this would be the easy way out. Indeed this would be easier but we have forgotten about all the tasks we are capable of without simple man made objects. Our hands were given to us for a reason and the movements that we can make them make are extraordinary. You cannot get those movements from a dustpan, nor is it readily available depending on where you are. Also, as we watch, we can continuously see different forms of the metal that each hand molds as it moves it out of the frame. The viewer is forced by the video to only look at the hands and the pile of steel. The video suddenly becomes more interesting than seeing someone next you picking up dust.

Bruce Nauman "Stamping the Studio" (1968)

Contemporary artist Bruce Nauman has also created works like Richard Serra’s and Marina Abromovic’s where he directs the viewer to one thing in the frame of the video. However, he is not a minimalist artist like Serra. In fact that is the one thing he wants to stay away from. Nauman works with the idea of participation and the viewers interaction within his work. In this particular piece, “Stomping the Studio” (1968), Nauman shows the viewer exactly what he wants them to see. They cannot necessarily interact with the artwork but only try to understand why he is making the mundane movement of stomping around his studio. He explains, “If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art”.* This is similar to Abromovic’s piece “Art Must be Beautiful; Artist Must be Beautiful” as she feels that as an artist, she should be just as beautiful as her artwork, so therefore she brushes her face and hair over and over again to try to be what people may consider “beautiful”. Nauman, like Abrovomic, creates his point as he stomps around his studio repeatedly. He also obscures the view of the camera to further enhance the simple movements he is making. After all of this, is it art? He has stated it is, so why not? Stomping is, however, yet another function of the body that we do not think about and Nauman has certainly changed the meaning of it by creating this video art piece.

*"Bruce Nauman." HubPages. Web. Dec. 2009. .

Bruce Nauman "Bouncing in a corner No 1" 1968

Even though contemporary artist Bruce Nauman avoids the minimalist approach to his artwork, he has a tendency to create simple works with simple body movements. In this piece, “Bouncing in a corner No 1” (1968), Nauman repeatedly bounces back and forth against a corner that is made of two walls. This simple act is recorded by yet another obscured view of the camera so the viewer can only see Nauman from one angle. The second section of this piece is the same movements but with a different angle that is peering down by his head as if you were in Nauman’s position and you were watching your body bounce back and forth against the wall. The movement that Nauman is creating is very interesting because every he leaves the wall he is in the room fully occupying space, then when he bounces back he is again part of the corner. In other words, “this action places his body in an intermittent space, occupying a position halfway between standing and leaning, halfway between the wall and the room”. * It seems like such a simple movement yet it has so much meaning. Also, like Serra’s piece “Hand Catching Lead”, Naumans muscles and balance seem to slowly fade as he reaches to hang on to the wall to keep him up. After so many times, this simple movement like many others became a difficult movement. There is only so much the body can endure. This is what makes the human body and in this case, the art object, so interesting because the possibilities of movements seem endless yet the body eventually wears out.

"Video Data Bank: Bouncing in the Corner, No. 1." Video Data Bank: Video Art and Video Artists. Web. Dec. 2009. .