Concepts v. Aestehtics –
David Hockney's My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, Nov. 1982
& William Wegman's Untitled (I know tomorrow is your day off…)
By Jason Conrad Llaguno, 2/15/2018
he relationship between our visual comprehension and our mental association can allow us to perceive the world in inventive, yet subjective ways that are seemingly exclusive to humankind. Our ability to direct our own scope and understanding is a miraculous feat of nature, yet this ability may also allow for the manipulation and involuntary direction of our senses. In the hands of malicious tyrants, Machiavellian figures, behemoth-like corporations, and (most importantly) deceitful politicians, the psychological control that one can hold over a body of minds can bode mutual distrust and social ignorance. In the world of art however, the control that an artist has over their craft as well as the audience can result in quite the opposite if grounded on a foundation of benevolence for the sake of expression. This benign manipulation has long been in explored in the timeline of art ranging from a somber painting targeting our pathos to humorous portrayals of the collective human existence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art currently houses two distinctive 20th century artists who explored the way our culture perceives and ingests artistic expression: Englishman David Hockney and American
conceptualist William Wegman. Though both artist, despite their eclecticism, have used various mediums to explore different ways that the human mind digest art, Hockney primarily focuses on the visual aspects of images, whereas Wegman
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dissects the visualization of art in the mind of the viewer. This distinction is a case of what we choose to see versus what we’re suggested to see through the abstractions in our mind. These differing worlds are apparent in Hockney’s photo collage My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, Nov. 1982 and Wegman’s transcript piece Untitled (I know tomorrow is your day off…) in that both works exemplify the methods and technique that each respectively use to create art.
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In Hockney’s early work, he initially worked with paintings and produced abstract images and later evolved to somewhat realistic portrayals of people and various figures. Always being one to transcend mediums, Hockney explored photography and made cubist inspired photo collages he coined “joiners.” In the joiner, My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, Nov. 1982, Hockney presents his mother in the cemetery and ruins of an Augustinian Monastery. Rather than a single photography, Hockney methodically captures different points and images of the surrounding subject to
fully capture the breath of the setting and how it interacts with his mother. Because the collage does not adhere to a single form such as a square or rectangle, the final image takes the form of an amalgamation of randomly placed photos subsequently creating a coherent image. The images are not perfectly put together and distort the subject and the surroundings, yet it captures this essence of movement. The piece suggests this wide-angel captured through different snapshots, even allowing Hockney to place himself in the image through the tips of his brogues peeking out of the bottom of the joiner.
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In the mid-to-late 20th century, the art movement of conceptualism arose, provoking many to question the standard ways in which many presented art and ideas. Focusing more on the presentation of ideas and resulting imagery rather than aesthetic value, conceptual, artist such as William Wegman experimented with the power of the human mind to conjure up stories, characters, and images confined to our psyche. In his conceptual piece, Untitled (I know tomorrow is your day off…), Wegman initially portrays this character of Princess Cruise “middle-management” posting a less than informal notice on the cruise’s patter. Where the preliminary note seems to preside in a realm of reality with only slight quirks and glimpses of a human voice requesting overtime in exchange for a Christmas bonus, the reader is presented a pretty stable character in the
world of a Princess Cruises crew. This is immediately subverted when this authorial voice goes on a bizarre tangent regarding a cocktail party, a popular former FBI agent, and an “incredible” that he wonders “what Freud would have said about that?” Following this is similarly peculiar passage about a strange sound that him and his friend Pete hear as they dig in the backyard. This continues when they hear it again and the narrator says he is “positive it was Ravels Daphne and Cloe” which is a direct reference to a ballet ensemble orchestrated by Maurice Ravels. Pete then likens the noise to a “cat,” that is “in heat” though the latter half is crossed out both times it was
mentioned. The third body paragraph tells of an ironing class hosted by the Parks and Recreation Department that he and others had to drop for “personal reason and not for any lack of interest.” The final ideas presented are four sentences broken into two bodies which can be seen as either one coherent thought or two separate ideas regarding summer program donations and a houseboat that needs “repainting” and “volunteers.” The who memo is complete with a Princess Cruises emblem and title, various pencil marks, and an address and phone number connected to Seattle Washington.
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In terms of visuals, Hockney felt that standard photography was not enough to capture the movement and emotion that can be found in subject. He thus expanded the scope in which many view photography by providing emphasis on each photo that comprises the final image of his mother. A patch of grass may be given just as much importance as close-up of her face. The landscape is quintessentially English because of the gray skies and monotone colors and Hockney emphasizes this through including parts of the sky and dry grass below. The viewer is provided with a new perspective of photography by literally taking images from various perspectives. By expanding the lens of the camera, Hockney beckons the viewer to expand their own lens of understanding images and how the normal view through the human eyes differs from that of a camera. Hockney transcends the criterions of perspective art and the two-dimensional plain that photography predominantly resides in, consequently innovating the medium visually. Varyingly, Wegman innovates imagery of concepts rather than physical aesthetics. His inexplicable paragraphs of seemingly random stories play with the images that the human mind may natural create. The mind automatically associates words with images that are intrinsic to the viewer that are all based off subjective experience. Though no coherent theme or character is consistent throughout the piece, each suggest this frustration, either sexual or personal. This incompleteness plagues each paragraph where there is no closure to a presented conflict. Rather than a faux pas on the side of the writing, Wegman tries to provide freedom in interpretation and conceptual visualization. However, to really do this, the premise must be grounded in the real world, hence the initial memo and the inclusion of a popular cruise liner, real address, and pencil marks with no real method about them. The lack of specification in gender, race, or character allows the viewer to explore the type of character that they conjure up which is art in itself. This process should be followed by questions of “why this person?” or “why this setting?” In the end, Untitled (I know tomorrow is your day off…) are just words on a paper that are used to paint images meant to challenge readers to imagine scenarios that they may have never imagined despite their mundane appearance. Both artists use mediums that are subject to barriers of physical borders and language, yet they explore human nature and what man is naturally drawn to either view or think. Through this, viewers garner more knowledge about perspective and how art can affect their subjectivity and their ability understand art as well as analyze it along with other stimuli that subject our senses to involuntary action.