Locating titles.

Exercise 3.1. We have to do a research on ‘dates series” by On Kawara and reflect on the following: 1) how his works prompt us think about time and our place in it; 2) develop one of the titles I came up earlier into a series of text pieces;

On Kawara (1966-2013) is a Japanese conceptual artist famous for his “date paintings”. I watched videos on the Guggenheim Museum channel on YouTube about how the artist used to create these paintings. They were explained by Guggenheim curator Jeffrey Weiss and curator Kasper König. Kawara’s extended series of paintings of dates was produced according to a strict set of rules.
1) Each painting was initiated and finished precisely on the course of a day of the particular date. If the painting was not finished on the exact date, it was destroyed.
2) He planned eight possible dimensions and three possible colours for each painting. He hand mixed the colours, so his red is never the same. He used red, blue and grey colours for his date paintings.
3) He used the language of the country he was in at the moment of painting creation.
4) the paintings were made in “very traditional Japanese lacquer technique” (Kasper Köning, “On Kawara. Date Paintings”.
5) Later, he started to place under his date paintings his framed cut-outs from newspapers;

I think On Kawara’s date paintings are a great artistic example which emphasises the core point of any visual art activity. Any painting/drawing/photograph focus on a particular moment in time, which we signify and measure by dates, days and years. As Bettina Pousttchi said in her speech at the Dia Art exhibition devoted to On Kawara artworks, his paintings, as well as her photographs, are an attempt to catch “…the elusive perpetual now”.When we paint or draw, make a photograph or a sculpture, we fix the moment; it is an inevitable act and artist undertakes. Art is all about getting our attention to a particular tiny moment in the endless cosmic flow of the Universe.

Exercise 3: Explore the role of the title

Contextual focus point. LINK 42. Reflect on relationship between the objects, the title and the text. make notes on your own interpretation of the piece.

Below is a link for the artwork “An Oak Tree” by Michael Craig-Martin, we are asked to reflect on.

https://www.michaelcraigmartin.co.uk/artworks/11-an-oak-tree/

Author’s quote: “The actual Oak Tree is present physically but in the form of glass of water. As the glass of water was a particular glass of water, the oak tree is also particular.To conceive the category “oak tree”or to picture a particular oak tree is not to understand and experience what appears to be a glass of waters an oak tree. Just as it is imperceivable it is also inconceivable”. (Michael Craig – Martin), online on http://www.mic haelcraigmartin.o.uk;)

I find the quote above as very necessary to post here because it is very explanatory of his idea behind the particular artwork.

Before bringing my thoughts about interpreting this artwork, I think it would be helpful to familiarise yourself with the concept of transubstantiation. This concept is central to any religion/faith, rooted in Vedanta philosophy, which breaks down all existing things in the material world into five essential elements -ether, earth, fire, water and air. The common ground of Creation is a basis for anything to be transformed into anything else. The concept of transubstantiation requires a transformative vision approach, which denotes that an object is something else than its physical appearance.
If we want to find an interpretation for the “Oak Tree”, there is no other way to understand it but to accept the above mentioned concept. It is needed to accept at least a certain degree of belief in metaphysical reality. Otherwise, you can be stuck as a victim of your own very narrow materialistic view. No materialist logic could explain how the glass of water can be the oak tree. It just does not work if we don’t enlarge our vision. Therefore, it is absolutely fine for me to name the artwork as the author did. I would emphasise two aspects in the title and the artwork we are required to reflect on:
1) Art is about seeing things differently from the common, often vulgar, view. It is also about someone’s ability to transfer their unique view on canvas or in a certain shape/form. When this unique individual view is transformed and channelled into a beautiful, intriguing form in its broadest sense, we get an art object. The title “An Oak Tree” reflects the artist’s unique view, which can not be reduced by a common vision or view on things.
2) This art object with this particular title emphasises a metaphysical basis of our material reality. Everything around us consists of atoms and subatoms and is based on five primordial elements. In this sense, a glass of water is the same physical object as an oak tree, but they look different to us. This simultaneous versatility of appearances/forms, shapes and this unity of their physical underlaying basis is in the complete line of our days quantum mechanics research.

Bibliography: “On Kawara: Date Paintings”, 06 February, 2015, Guggenheim Museum channel on YouTube; [accessed on June 3, 2022]; “On Kawara: Self-Observation”, 06 February, 2015, Guggenheim Museum channel on YouTube; [accessed on June 3, 2022]; “On Kawara—Silence”, 06 February, 2015, Guggenheim Museum channel on YouTube; [accessed on June 3, 2022]; “Bettina Pousttchi on On Kawara”, 21 March 2022, Did Art Foundation Chanel in YouTube, [accessed on June 5th, 2022]; “An Oak Tree, Michael Craig – Martin,1973”, Elizabeth Manchester, December 2002, online on http://www.tate.org, [accessed on June 5th 2022]; “Signature in the cell”, Stephen Mayer, 2009, Harper Collins; [accessed October 2020];

Below I review and explore some titles I have come up with earlier. Usually all my works are with a title, since I don’t have any difficulty with coming up with a title, probably because I like to write and write a lot on regular basis.

“Qantar Sen Üsin” – “January was for you” for my poster with tulips. This title directly addresses the viewer

“India” – my work for the course, exploring alternative mediums and abandoning conventional panits. This title describes the image.

“Farewell….” – for my installation with a dry monstera leaf and rubber gloves. This title describes my emotion and event.

Below is one of my works I did over the course, which has been left as untitled. So I will try to come up with different titles for it, following the instructions on the page 99 of our course book, Painting 2, Part Five;

A title that describes the object/image and a title that locates the object in time and space- “Garden at night”;

A title that addresses the subject matter of the image/object – “The Green Shades”;

A title that addresses the viewer – “The Moonlight is always there for you”;

A title that is playful or puzzling – “Nothing is green anymore”

A title that is an instruction – “Walk in the Moonlight”

A title that is a question – “Do you feel the Moonlight?“

A title that is a poem – “Mercury lives in the Moonlight Garden, his steps are always sudden. His eyes are green, his thoughts -off spin. He makes you speak, and talk and think. Be green, be Mercury, be Great”.

A title that assigns a gender to the work – “Woman ages in green”.