Assignment: 2000 word essay, Module: Engaging with art, reading and writing, Chosen artist: Jennifer Steinkamp
I recently completed a 2000 word essay, for my Fine Art degree, on the chosen artist Jennifer Steinkamp. This essay also compliments practical studio work which I created, taking inspiration from Steinkamp’s style and works and interpreting it in my own way. I have enjoyed working on this project and exploring the artwork of Jennifer Steinkamp.
The life of Jennifer Steinkamp
Callum woodhouse, P4085763, Engaging with art: reading, thinking & Writing
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.” John Berger.
“She’s one of the most driven artists I’ve ever met in my entire life.” JoAnne Northrup.
Introduction
This essay will concern the work of Jennifer Steinkamp. I have chosen Steinkamp as her work inspires me because she uses similar subjects such as natural and environmental objects for example flowers, insects and seasons. It is important to look at the environment within artwork, as the world is becoming increasingly computerised and art is becoming based upon unnatural objects. In addition she also uses animation, something I have studied for two years and is also important in my work. To gain knowledge about Jennifer Steinkamp’s style and ideas I e-mailed her directly to do primary research however she directed me to secondary sources including her own website which includes her installations, and shows all the projects she has done and feedback from art critics, and Steinkamp’s book which shows her art work. Theorist Jean Baudrillard says that “life is now fashioned after an order, the media for example, that is already artificial and therefore petuates a false sense of reality”. This explains Steinkamp’s work because she puts viewers in a room with a false sense of reality as the trees are a projected image. JoAnne Northrup has also said that Steinkamp is “not content to merely imitate nature” and that trees and flowers are “so intensely luminous that they can actually be examined in more precise detail than nature allows with the unaided eye.”
In Chapter one I will look at Jennifer Steinkamp’s life and her earlier work. In Chapter two I will do a formal analysis of her first work Gender Specific and two of Steinkamp’s other pieces of work; Dervish and Diaspore. In Chapter three I will look at how Steinkamp’s work has changed and the contemporary context of her work.
Chapter 1: Bibliography, her life, her work and her original ideas for her work
Jennifer Steinkamp was born in 1958 in Colorado. She is now based in Los Angeles and has been working in digital media for over twenty years and is a pioneer in the field of 3D animation. Steinkamp’s digitally renders animations of natural objects and movements of natural beauty are projected on, or within, architectural settings. For examples, projecting flowers onto the side of buildings.
Steinkamp completed her BFA and MFA at the Art Centre College of Design, Pasadena, California in 1989 and 1991, and also received an honorary PhD from the college in 2011. Steinkamp also taught at the Art Centre’s Computer Graphics Department. As computers were “very expensive at that time” (2009), Steinkamp could not afford one with specialised video-editing software. Eventually though, she took part in high-paid projects for U2 and the Staples Sports Centre she was able to buy one.
According to Jane Northrup Steinkamp’s interest in art, “started from a young age as she helped her mother design posters for the League of Women voters in Minnesota”, therefore this may have influenced her motivation for design art. In addition, the fact that her father sold computers could have developed her interests in computers.
Chapter 2: Formal analysis of her work, what her work looks like, colour, form etc.
Steinkamp’s artwork is usually abstract forms, which include patterns and nature as the subject matter. She includes large amounts of movement in her pieces of artwork, an example of this is when she changes the seasons of the trees using animations.
When looking at Steinkamp’s work the viewer feels involved in the artwork, because the animation is 3D but still 2D against the wall, so that for the viewer there is a sense of the art coming towards you. This was Steinkamp’s objective as she stated “I definitely want you to become part of the work, you play an important role”. In addition, the installation can be projected onto the viewer’s body forcing the viewer to interact with the work. It looks and feels very physical giving the viewer the feeling it can be reached out and touched.
Artsy (2015), an online resource for art collecting and education has said: “Her work causes your perception of reality to become distorted”. Steinkamp’s work can even cause people to feel seasick due to the overwhelming motion of the installations. Often, the colours can be too bright for the eyes and the movement can cause motion sickness.
Jennifer Steinkamp has emphasised how important the use of light is in her work: “Light is important in my work, I try to balance the amount of ambient light with the light I project. The work is about the space and the viewer’s bodily relationship to this, thus the space must be present”.
Gender Specific
Steinkamp’s first installation work was Gender Specific (1989) which was included in the exhibition of ‘The One Nine Special, Summer Lightening’. This piece of work looks very different from her most recent pieces of work in that it does not contain any reference to nature or seasons.
Her work now is more natural and meaningful, whereas Gender Specific contains more patterns and planets, and does not focus as much on light as her current work. Gender Specific is an installation that consists of two pieces. One was shown at Bliss House, California and the other on a storefront at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, both pieces exhibited at the same time.
Jessica Steeber says: “Steinkamp’s Gender Specific was one of the first digital art pieces and made her become a pioneer in digital art”. This piece of work aimed to look at how gender is perceived, particularly the ideas of femininity and masculinity.
Since then Steinkamp has done many other pieces of work using digital art, as digital art is her passion.
These further pieces of digital artwork, are dramatically different than Gender Specific as she now uses her artwork to look at more political issues such as nuclear weapons. Steinkamp’s said in an interview with Kinsee Morlan “My research took me on a winding path looking at the connections between nuclear power and weapons” and how she has been inspired by atomic energy and her fear of nuclear energy and weapons. She also now uses more symbolic art and uses a lot more nature, such as trees, flowers and feathers in her artwork. The way in which she presents flowers, colours and shapes in her installations such as Diaspore and Dervish, represents the action of an atomic or nuclear explosion.
Dervish
My favourite installation is called ‘The Dervish.’ Which was exhibited in 2004 in New York. The Dervish installation consists of four high definition projections of individual trees with twirling branches. It was inspired by a ritual practiced by priests, or dervishes, of the Mevlavi sect of Islam. The dervishes spin round in circles to bring on a religious trance, symbolizing the soul’s release from earthly ties. This is shown in the Dervish installation; its trees spin the branches around as if they are trying to come out, to leave the tree, but the trunk stands still held by the roots. The trees seasons can be seen by the leaves changing colour, expressed in the diverse colours of the Islamic priest’s ceremonial robes. The seasons of the installation can be programmed by clicking a keyboard, carried out by a person running the exhibition or by noise activation for example slamming a door carried out by the viewer.
The trees are meant to represent the spiritual release of stress and issues, very much like the dervish going back to their roots, and banishing all ego, which means being peaceful and not concentrating on modern society. The dervishes adopt a kind loving life, surrounded by nature and enlightenment, which is represented by the trees. JoAnne Northrup said “Steinkamp perfected the naturalistic swaying and fluttering that has come to characterize her work.” Jennifer Steinkamp is bringing nature, the trees, into buildings and into our lives to make us shed ego and get back to our roots and feel the emotion of enlightenment by the natural world. When the Dervish trees change seasons it looks and makes the viewer feel uncomfortable, particularly when there are no leaves left on the trees which appear living attempting to grab at the viewer with their branches. The trees also appear to come alive with thrashing movements as their branches are caught by the wind.
Diaspore
The Diaspore exhibition was shown in the Lehmann Maupin gallery in Hong Kong from February 13th to March 22nd 2014, Steinkamp also exhibited her ‘Bouquet’ work in this exhibition. Jennifer Steinkamp’s work Disapore highlights the feeling of being inside a tumble weed being blown through a flat white landscape, but initially the tumbleweed is merely seen as leaves and sticks.
In this work the leaves show the different colours of the seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Showing both flowers and bare branches with a variety of different shapes and sizes. It shows that the plants are alive and is symbolic sign of changing.
In Diaspore the artwork is moving around to symbolise natural movement of nature, and seeds moving and spreading to different areas, which becomes a metaphor for human beings moving around the world as Benjamin Sutton says: “The artwork symbolises migration in the world as well as death and rebirth”. Through her use of animation Steinkamp aims to show the link between nature and the human world, and how they interact. She aims to show the viewer the natural beauty of the world, whilst also intimidating them as the Diaspore animation can make the viewer feel nauseous, she is like a florist who is trying to show her animated garden to the world. The process of animation is simple and can be easily transitioned between places.
Chapter 3: Contemporary context – how her artwork has changed
David Pagel has said that Jennifer Steinkamp’s work “literally locates infinity within a microscopic space”. He is expressing the idea that Steinkamp exhibits her work in small spaces where the works themselves, being large, become overwhelming. Dave Hickey says that when you are viewing Steinkamp’s work “You are free. There is no beginning, no middle and no end. You aren’t waiting for the end or waiting around for a new beginning.” He is saying that her work is carrying on and never ending, and it is not boring. It is not a physical object like a painting, or static, you can put it anywhere and it is always changing
I think that Steinkamp’s work is more accepted now as in 1989 she was ahead of her time using digital art. Her work has inspired other artists to present their art in various different ways. Many artists now use animation, videos and technology as a way of expressing their views and ideas as opposed to paintings and 2D work. In the past, painting were the most common form of art.
Steinkamp’s current work is installed in large spaces within galleries, where it is presented in a purposeful way. Steinkamp pays more attention and detail to the lighting and scale to ensure that the artwork is effective, eye catching and the layout is planned to correspond with how viewers move through the gallery. This is very different to her first work which was not displayed in a gallery, instead just shown in an area and did not become part of the viewer like her current work does.
Steinkamp’s current work can be classed as zeitgeist work, meaning it represents the spirit of the times, as she uses animation and reflects political issues, so it is reflecting the era she lives in. Additionally, there are no limits to Steinkamp’s work and the space she can install it in. Although Steinkamp’s work has changed, she still has the same views of wanting her work to feel real, and cause the viewers to feel part of the artwork.
Conclusion
Currently, I am being influenced from Steinkamp to complete my four final pieces, however I have changed the style and done it in my own way. After looking at Jennifer Steinkamp’s work I can say that it is really interesting how she has used technology to create a new form of art and how she is able to show natural forms in 3D animation. Her work has influenced me as it has caused me to think about using light and projection in my own artwork to cause a bigger impact on the viewer. John Berger has said “seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak.” This shows how much of an influence visual images can have. I would like to use animation in my work, because it is modern and is a new challenging idea. I feel that her work relates to me as I try to use natural forms in my work, and use shading to form these natural elements. I really like her use of ideas and how she makes objects change using animation e.g. the changing of the seasons Dervish.
However, I feel that some bits of her work don’t make sense, as she says her influence for some of her work has come from “looking at the connections between nuclear power and weapons” alongside political issues but this cannot always be seen in her work, as she doesn’t show any symbols of this. Although the idea of migration, death and rebirth can be seen in her work, through the natural trees, flowers and seeds in her work because they are natural feelings and experiences. I feel Jennifer Steinkamp is trying to be political and influencing people to look at the world and be happy with the natural things around them. After researching Jennifer Steinkamp I have learnt that she enjoys doing different types of animations, to make the viewer feel different emotions around the pieces of work, and also leaves the viewer feeling stunned. Her work is more interactive than most artworks, and there is more to see and interpret in her work. When asked by ‘Art City’ why art is important to her, Steinkamp herself confirmed: ‘”Art helps keep life interesting, visually especially. If I imagine the world without art, it seems very dismal.” Steinkamp’s words make a lot of sense all artists are different but they all think the same, that art is what makes life interesting and if there wasn’t art it would be tedious. As an artist I also have the same feelings, that art enables you to give something great and interesting to the world. Art makes us conjure up feelings, and enables you to feel different emotions and be creative. Overall, I think her work has pioneered digital art and will continue to influence and inspire many people, including me.
“Then, like Dorothy pulling aside the curtain to reveal the real Wizard of Oz, the artist opens a closet door across from the room, exposing the pile of computers that run the installation. Steinkamp has consistently shown her art-which began as abstract but has recently turned representational-since the early 1900s, but lately her career has started to pop”. Michelle Falkenstein
Table of illustrations
Images
Front cover image, http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/she-breaks-through-boundaries-of-art-to-create-high-tech-visual-poetry [Accessed March 5th, 2015, 10.03 pm]
Image1: Jennifer Steinkamp – https://uscdada2010.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/week-15-jennifer-steinkamp/ [Accessed January 9th 2015 12.15]
Image 2: Steinkamp, J (1989) Gender Specific- The Santa Monica Museum of Art. Jennifer Steinkamp installation artist website. http://jsteinkamp.com/html/body_genspec.htm [Accessed January 30th, 2015, 10.30]
Image 3: Steinkamp, J (1989) Gender Specific – Bliss, Pasenda California. Jennifer Steinkamp installation artist website. http://jsteinkamp.com/html/body_genspec.htm [Accessed January 30th, 2015, 10.30 am]
Image 4: Steinkamp, J (2004) Dervish. Jennifer Steinkamp installation artist website. http://jsteinkamp.com/html/body_lehmannmaupin.htm [Accessed January 21st, 2015 11.15 am]
Image 5: Steinkamp, J (2014) Diaspore. Jennifer Steinkamp installation artist web site: http://jsteinkamp.com/html/art_documentation.htm [Accessed January 9th 2015 11.05 pm]
Image 6: Jennifer Steinkamps, installation Daisy Bell, Lehmann Maupin, New York, September 7 – November 1, 2008, exhibited all seasons.
Photo by: Brandts Kunsthallen, Brandts, Denmark, 2010, photo by Torben Eskerod http://jsteinkamp.com/html/art_documentation.htm [accessed 12/3/2015, 11.16am]
Image 7: picture of Jennifer Steinkamp in front of one of her artworks http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/ATXKNCiEOHx/Jennifer+Steinkamp+Exhibit+Opens+Public/CSQYxwbN-WJ/Jennifer+Steinkamp [Accessed March 5th, 2015, 9.56 pm]
Bibliography
Primary Sources (e.g.. Exhibitions, contact artist directly)
Journal Articles emailed from Jennifer Steinkamp:
Hickey Dave. Jennifer Steinkamp. 100 Video Artists. (2009) pp378 – 381
Baldisseria, Lisa. Rewilding Modernity. Mendal Art Gallery. (2014) pp 1 – 19
Xandra Eden, Weatherspoon Art Museum. “70 Years of Collecting,” (The University of North Carolina: 2011) pg. 220 221
Meyer, Kimberli. Essay for the Cairo Biennial 2008 Catalogue. (2008) pp 1 – 12
http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/exhibitions/2014-02-13_jennifer-steinkamp#3 [Accessed February 23rd, 2015, 11.32]
Secondary Sources (e.g. Books, internet, journals, films.)
Books
Berger John, Ways of Seeing. England, Penguin Classics, 2008. Pg 7.
Northrup Jane, Hickey Dave, and Cameron Dan. Jennifer Steinkamp. California, San Jose Museum of Art, Prestel, 2006
Steinkamp Jennifer, Meyer Kimberli, and Shaked Nizan. Jennifer Steinkamp: United States Presentation, 11th International Cairo Biennale. Los Angeles, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, 2009
Websites
Artsy (2015) ‘Jennifer Steinkamp.’ https://artsy.net/artist/jennifer-steinkamp [Accessed 07.01.2015, 10:28am]
Benjamin Sutton (2014) ‘Jennifer Steinkamp’s Digital Tumble Weeds Roll into Hong Kong.’ ArtNet News http://news.artnet.com/art-world/jennifer-steinkamps-digital-tumbleweeds-roll-into-hong-kong-1088 [Accessed 13.02.2015 3:34pm]
Jennifer Steinkamp, J (2014) ‘Diaspore’. Jennifer Steinkamp installation artist web site. http://jsteinkamp.com/html/art_documentation.htm [Accessed 09.01.2015 11:15am]
Jennifer Steinkamp. ‘Gender Specific.’ http://jsteinkamp.com/html/art_documentation.htm [Accessed 16.01.2015 11:20am]
Jennifer Steinkamp (2014) ‘Publications and Reviews Online.’ http://jsteinkamp.com/html/reviews.htm [Accessed January 7th 2015 11:00am]
Jessica Steeber. ‘Art City Asks: Jennifer Steinkamp.’ http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/144158535.html [Accessed 16.01.2015 10:45am]
Jovan Lip (2009) ‘Jennifer Steinkamp Let there be light!’ http://jsteinkamp.com/html/reviews.htm [accessed January 16th 2015]
Kinsee Morlan, Go see this show, San Diego City Beat (San Diego, CA: April 5, 2011). http://jsteinkamp.com/html/body_kinsee.htm [Accessed 10.03.2015, 16:20pm]
Rochelle Steiner, Wonderland, (Saint Louis, Missouri: Saint Louis Art Museum, 2000). http://jsteinkamp.com/html/body_wonderland.htm [Accessed 10.03.2015, 16:35pm].
Article: Michelle Falkenstein, Making the Trees Dance, ArtNews (New York: June 2004). ‘Publications and Reviews Online’ http://jsteinkamp.com/html/reviews.htm [Accessed, 12/3/2015, 8.52pm]
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