Hunter vs. Gatherer

Parallel Universes: Making Do and Getting By + Thoughtless Acts
(Mapping the quotidian from two perspectives)
An Article By Kevin Henry, where he discusses the works of Richard Wentworth and Jane Fulton Suri.

Follow this link to get to the full article.
Some quotes and paragraphs from the original article are highlighted below.

Richard Wentworth commenting on his Making Do and Getting By collection and the everyday objects which are the subjects of these photographs: "It doesn't take very long to realize that some are warnings, some repairs, some reminders, some adjustments. And some of them are kinds of subsections: you would use a word like jamming and others are wedging. There's a hell of a lot of resistance to gravity, and I think my work has a lot to do with gravity..."

Henry makes a note-worthy comparison between Wentworth and Fulton Suri: "Warnings, repairs, reminders, adjustments—activities performed with greater awareness (less thoughtlessness). Duct taping a winter coat to a damaged car fender requires forethought, regardless of its effectiveness... His images depict desperate acts of repair, while Fulton Suri's images focus on humans intuitively extending their bodies or the objects around them to service their needs... Their taxonomies nonetheless intersect: adapting and adjusting are not so far apart, while warning and reacting are clearly related."

"So Richard Wentworth might not be a hunter, but like Jane Fulton Suri and IDEO, he is a gatherer. Situations may find him, but he still must choose which to photograph and, by photographing them repeatedly, patterns begin to emerge."

"Jane Fulton Suri's and Wentworth's views bracket the quotidian in interesting and curious ways, helping to explain a world that is complex, because, as Richard Wentworth points out: 'it contains unthought-of variables of which the chief component are humans who, you know, wear things out in surprising ways, or abuse things, or simply don't conform to the rules that are laid down.'"

"Coincidence is a way of making sense out of our nonsensical world, according to writer W.G. Sebald..."

"Images validate coincidences just as verbal descriptions expand on their meanings."

Tickle

Household objects brought to life by Terry Border. 

I decided to share these images from Bent Objects 

even though they are staged (unlike the objects discussed in the previous post),

 they definitely have an element of quirkiness and humour.

 

Making Do & Getting By

Richard Wentworth is primarily known as a sculptor, with various highly acclaimed works shown in famous galleries and exhibitions. Wentworth is also known as an artist, photographer, lecturer and curator. Born in Samoa, he studied and has lived in Britain for most of his life.

As a photographer, Wentworth is highly recognised for his series, Making Do and Getting By. This series has a common thread to that of his sculptural pieces, where everyday objects are taken out of their usual place –where they belong- and are completely repurposed. Wentworth captured these images in a perchance manner while wandering around the streets of cities in search for the presence of wonder. This is unlike his work with his sculptural pieces, where he manipulates the objects himself to tell a certain story.

The unknown narrative is a powerful part to this photographic series, as the photographed objects are seen as rather ordinary, but they each have their own unique story. Viewers are left wondering, “How did that get there?” The familiar becomes the unfamiliar; mass-produced objects gain a sense of wonder and adorn a crown of quirkiness.

Wentworth finds a symbolic triumph over the materialistic world, where things have order and are seen to be designed for a specific purpose. He challenges us on how we perceive everyday objects and the connotations that go along with them. A gumboot is used as a doorstop, a teacup props open a window, a bottle cap transforms into an ash tray. These new uses of the different objects may seem to be the result of a simple act, but there is a story behind why and how a particular object is given a completely new function. The underlying thought, which provoked the action, was taken in order to adapt to a need. As the result of acts of improvisation and resourcefulness, human beings make do with what they have in order to get by and carry on with their lives. Although the viewer cannot see a human form present in the photo, the viewer sees instead the outcome of the human’s behaviour. 

The organisational nature of human beings tends to lead to objects being stacked, grouped, or propped together. When something is taken from its original place of belonging and given a new use entirely, an ambiguity is formed in the objects identity; and the organisational order is broken. A common theme of Wentworth’s is to cause or find contrasts and juxtapositions, either between different objects themselves, or between the object and its former and current context. This often lends to humour being found in these paradoxical pictures.

An element of wonder that that is greatly treasured is that of humour. If something can scream out to you amidst the busyness of life and cause you to notice it, it may be something deeply saddening, or cause you to become angry, it may be thought-provoking, or simply something that brings you to smile or chuckle to yourself. Humour helps us bear these more serious times. She can sweep us away from our harsh realities for a few moments, which is why we welcome her with open arms.

"Smile and let the world wonder why" -Unknown.

{Sources:}
1) http://www.gupmagazine.com/blog/120-making-do-and-getting-by
2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2001/oct/09/artsfeatures.arts
3)http://www.sculpture.org.uk/RichardWentworth/biography/http://camberwellillustration1.blogspot.com/2009/12/richard-wentworth-making-do-and-getting.html
4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wentworth_(artist)

5) http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wentworth-siege-t07167/text-summary

6) The Photograph As Contemporary Art, by Charlotte Cotton. (Chapter 4: Something and Nothing.)

Rather Grand

"When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful."

~ Barbara Bloom

"Amateur is a great word. It's meaning: For the love of it."

{~Also Barbara Bloom, but may be slightly paraphrased}

{Barbara Bloom Podcast:- Scenes from a marriage: Have Art and Theory Drifted Apart?}

Passion

{Image sourced from pinterest}

The Cure

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

~Attributed to Dorothy Parker.

Seeking Out Wonder

“Think and wonder, wonder and think.”

~Dr. Seuss

Wonder is not necessarily found by being passive, in fact, it is often the result of being 

intentional with ones thoughts and actions.

{Quote from http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/wonder?before=1343668911 }

Pause

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."

~Albert Einstein

{Quote from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/wonder.html}

Something & Nothing ~A Précis

“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder” –E.B. White

White was conveying the fact that wonder will not necessarily present itself to you in the most obvious of ways. When we stumble upon wonder it might only be as the result of a slight change of circumstances, which in turn moves us away from our over-focused thoughts and task-driven actions of our everyday lives. We stop what we are currently absorbed in doing, breathe deeply and instead of marching on in monotony, we look around. In doing this we see what was previously invisible to our recognition of wonder, as well as becoming inspired to be curious and ask questions. Socrates states that “wisdom begins in wonder” and Sir Isaac Newton only came across the notion of gravity, because he bothered to ask why an apple fell from a tree. The outcome of his curiosity resulted in the human race gaining insight about a very important factor which governs our everyday lives.

The photographs from Chapter 4, Something and Nothing, of the book, The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton (2004), lend themselves to mirroring this same notion of wonder. Everyday objects from our lives are not primarily subjects of wonder, however, when framed in a photograph, their wonder is brought to our attention. “What we see depends mainly on what we look for” –a quote which was previously posted. We are encouraged to see the wonder that somebody finds through capturing a moment on film, when they decide to take a step out of the ordinary and seek out that which may be defined as extraordinary, wondrous or mesmerising. And this is all because an object is seen in a different light or at a different angle.

A new twist on an ordinary household object or a change in a familiar space can be as simple as an alteration from its original position or scale, to the slightly more complicated comparisons and contrasts that take place between objects when new relationships are formed. By being ‘out of the ordinary’, this genre of photographs offers a certain playfulness to preconceived concepts and challenges the ideas underlying them. Viewers are intrigued by the story behind the item/s –how did it come about?

The photographs from Chapter 4 capture moments in time, which in turn offer a glimpse of human behaviour, possibly even echoing our own as an individual. One of the artists whose photograph appeared in this chapter and was also discussed, was that of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. He was noted to use his work to capture a particular image, but allow the viewer the space to feel and understand his work through their own personal experiences. A sense of familiarity with the unfamiliar.

We benefit from being curious, even if it did kill the cat. We will never gain knowledge and wisdom, if we never ask questions, challenge monotony and play around with ideas. Wonder encourages us to keep moving forward and to continue growing.

“Onward and upward!” –C.S. Lewis.

{The above photograph is my own. It was taken in Creighton.}