Three pieces in the ICA’s Transcending Material Exhibition had a recurring motif each embodied a force of contemporaneity which Terry smith outlines as “Globalization…social inequity... (and a)culture (of) image economy” in the case of the infinitely reflected glass decanters (McElheny a commentary on globalized industrial manufacturing or the the two chairs and there functional replica’s challenge to value placed on art objects in a culture questioning the value of authenticity(McMakin)to the wallpaper painting demonstrating the cultural divide in the art world being bridged conciliating the inequity of classes that once impeded lower classes from obtaining art with the advent of readily accessible affordable art (Wool). Indeed, the selected
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With the advent of prints, reproductions, engraving reliefs etc and the ability to manufacture more art with consistent results lead to a domestication in art that was never seen before. The wallpaper painting embodies a common form of domestic art. With domestic art on the rise from the mid-19th century forward artists were able to commodify there pieces in annual magazines through manufacturing a sense of scarcity surrounding there works. This practice of artificial scarcity through limiting production has made an almost second tier of art. In the form of uncannily accurate reproductions to high quality prints of iconic painting Christopher Wool’s Wallpaper paintings “blend high art with commercial application, this work acknowledges the history of paintings as functional and decorative objects within the domestic sphere” (Wool) using the allover techniques Abstract expressionists employed in their work Wool was able to use gestural painting in what at first glance appears to be a uniform pattern, but on closer inspection what once where be parallel lines are now rippling eddies warping the shapes of certain leaves almost as if the untouched pond was manipulated into expressive contortions by the artists hand. Wool was familiar with the techniques of the abstract painters that came before him as well as the methods used by pop artists in the sixties. By synthesizing techniques from multiple schools he was able to create a piece that looks like wallpaper but reads like a
With the advent of prints, reproductions, engraving reliefs etc and the ability to manufacture more art with consistent results lead to a domestication in art that was never seen before. The wallpaper painting embodies a common form of domestic art. With domestic art on the rise from the mid-19th century forward artists were able to commodify there pieces in annual magazines through manufacturing a sense of scarcity surrounding there works. This practice of artificial scarcity through limiting production has made an almost second tier of art. In the form of uncannily accurate reproductions to high quality prints of iconic painting Christopher Wool’s Wallpaper paintings “blend high art with commercial application, this work acknowledges the history of paintings as functional and decorative objects within the domestic sphere” (Wool) using the allover techniques Abstract expressionists employed in their work Wool was able to use gestural painting in what at first glance appears to be a uniform pattern, but on closer inspection what once where be parallel lines are now rippling eddies warping the shapes of certain leaves almost as if the untouched pond was manipulated into expressive contortions by the artists hand. Wool was familiar with the techniques of the abstract painters that came before him as well as the methods used by pop artists in the sixties. By synthesizing techniques from multiple schools he was able to create a piece that looks like wallpaper but reads like a