Tony Oursler

Tony Oursler




Tony Ourslers work with projectors began in 1991 when he created his first instillation ‘The Watching’. He work often included sculptures created through theatrical objects such as puppets and dolls then layered with video projections and ‘spoken text’. As well as sparking controversy Ourslers work is also seen as a major figure within the evolution of video art as he was one of the first artists to see the limitations of a television monitor. http://www.bernier-eliades.gr/press/PR_Oursler_2004_eng.pdf

Themes that where present in Tony Ourslers work were violence, media, drugs, mental illness, pollution and how they effect the physicality of the human body as well as the communicative power of images.

Tony Ourslers also experimented with images projected onto fibreglass structures. He uses human features to condense into shapes to create a ‘living’ sculpture that is ‘beautiful’, ‘terrifying’ and ‘humorous’.



Enlightenment concepts of Science, progress, reason, individualism, empiricism, universalism, freedom and secularism can be applied to Oursler's work in numerous ways as his artwork plays with human emotion, reactions and the human face.
I believe science can be applied to his work through the distortion of the facial features and current arguments over genetic engineering. at the same time as Scientists ‘play’ with our genetic ‘profile’ as does Tony Oursler with aesthetic ‘profile’. Oursler’s work can also be seen as an expression of freedom. The images that are projected freely morph around one and other similar to the flow of human emotion. This example of freedom is also present in one of the more recent exhibited instillations by Oursler in Soho square, London and Madison Park in NYC. “Influence Machine’ was a trace of successful communication devices as a way of speaking to the dead.

Tony Ourslers work is seen as a ‘physical manifestation’ into the interior battle of the human itself and the human brain. His work is immensely engaging and is described as ‘so in your face’ that it’s fascinatingly strange difference connects his audience in a way other instillation artists cannot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Oursler

Fiona Hall and Mercantilism

Mercantilism can be defined as a 16th - 18th century political and economic theory where the general principles of wealth, trade and power were determined by the countries reserve of gold, silver, raw materials and industrial capability.The policy also included the possession of colonies, removing materials from the newly possessed land and selling it back to the 'detained market' in the colonies. This also included exporting more goods than importing where the difference would be balanced by their ownership of gold and silver. This would create a strong nation economically and militarily.

Mercantilism was used as the source for colonialism as well as wars in India and South America. The European theory suggests that the 'world's wealth was sharply limited and, therefore, one nations gain was another nations loss.' http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071028082643AAxFJDU This theory fuelled European expansion throughout Europe and the rest of the world up until the 19th-20th century. Mercantilism's real 'birth' is marked by the empiricism of the Renaissance, which first began to qualify large-scale trade accurately. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism

Fiona Hall

Fiona Halls piece ‘Tender’ was created using numerous amounts of shredded one dollar bills moulded into the shapes of bird nests. The controversy surrounding this artwork is that it is highly illegal and would be confiscated if it was in the USA.

This artwork relates to mercantilism as it portrays the idea that the cost of deforestation as part of global trade is affecting many homes and ‘nests’ of animals that habitat they live in. The deeper message that this statement suggest is the environment in which the species live in has a price tag or cash value attached to it similar to the homes we live in. However as they have no ‘voice’ people assume the right to confiscate and re-po

pulate the area. This is similar to European colonisation in the 16^th – 18^th century where many tribes were robbed of their land and rightful home. The title that this artwork is named can be seen in two meanings, ‘Tender’ in economic terms means ‘currency’ as well as ‘Tender’ to describe a human emotion of fragility.

The artwork ‘leaf Litter’ communicates the idea that money is extremely important and desirable. As a human race we have built a society that is built on and around monetary power, however at the end of the day it is made of the least glamorous material, paper. Another way this artwork relates to mercantilism is the growth and power of the European domination is similar to the growth of trees. Their branches expand further away from the trunk yet they are strong and stable through years of growing dominating a greater area of space.