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The 1970’s art focused more on environmental or minimalist ideas on a large scale. Many kinds of art arose in this era like the Earth art, Land art, Pop art, Performance art, and Graffiti art. All of these arts challenged the minds of people on how to connect our minds to reality and environment. As we go on, we will know more about these arts and how they contributed to the society.
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The Spiral Jetty, considered to be the central work of American sculptor Robert Smithson, is an earthwork sculpture constructed in April 1970. Spiral Jetty was constructed to "explore chaos and order--how natural forces such as wind, rain, heat and cold would effect the work over time." It was made of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks, earth, and water on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah, it forms a 1,500-foot long, 15-foot wide counterclockwise coil jutting from the shore of the lake which is only visible when the level of the Great Salt Lake falls below an elevation of 4,197.8 feet. At the time of its construction, the water level of the lake was unusually low because of a drought. Within a few years, the water level returned to normal and submerged the jetty for the next three decades. Due to a drought, the jetty re-emerged in 2004 and was completely exposed for almost a year. The lake level rose again during the spring of 2005 due to a near record-setting snow pack in the mountains and partially submerged the Jetty again. Originally, black basalt rock against ruddy water, it is now largely white against pink due to salt encrustation and lower water levels. The current exposure of the jetty to the elements and to the ravages of its growing number of visitors has led to a controversy over the preservation of the sculpture. The discoloration of the rocks and the exposure of the lake bed having altered the colors of the original, a proposal has emerged to buttress the sculpture and restore the original colors by the addition of new basalt rocks in the spirit of the original. It is expected that without such additions, the sculpture will be submerged again once the drought is over. Indeed that the Spiral Jetty of Robert Smithson challenged all the rules regarding mass, time, size, and space. |
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Illusionism, Photo realism and Hyperrealism are also well-known in this time. These types of art sought to surprise viewers and caused them to question their interpretation of reality. Illusionism is the artistic tradition in which artists create a work of art that appears to share the physical space with the viewer. On the other hand, photo realism is the genre of painting based on making a painting of a photograph. Also, Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high resolution photograph.
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| Graffiti art became a new American art form created by Black and Latino teens. Graffiti art is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is sometimes regarded as a form of art and other times regarded as unsightly damaged. A Puerto Rican sociology student, Hugo Martinez, established the United Graffiti Artists (UGA) in 1972. Prior to the creation of the UGA, graffiti was considered only as vandalism. The following summer, graffiti art, formerly found only in the streets, was introduced to upscale galleries in Soho, New York. This created a new respect for graffiti in the art world. Graffiti art is one way to introduce multicultural art to students in the classroom.
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Pop art, on the other hand, was still presented in this era. One very famous piece was the ÒThree Figures on Four BenchesÓ which was made in 1979 by George Segal. Like most of Segal's sculptures, this environment includes figures cast from live models. His works are usually not monumental or imposing but inhabit our environment. Rather than being on a pedestal, these figures are on real benches, in our space. Segal's figures are usually ordinary people set in an urban environment. Often they seem introspective, as these do. Although these two women are seated fairly close to each other, they don't appear to have a relationship. Segal may be suggesting that city dwellers have a sense of alienation or isolation from each other. |
| Andrew Wyeth, a painter, was also famous in the 1970Õs because of his Helga Pictures. The Helga Pictures are a fantastic compilation of tempera and dry brush paintings, watercolours and pencil studies secretly created within a span of over fifteen years. Andrew Wyeth created over two hundred and forty individual works of neighbor Helga Testorf from 1971 to 1985 without telling a single person, including his wife. He stated that he would not have been able to have finished the project with everyone looking at it. The Helga Pictures depicts a persistence of vision and technique from a perspective that is both objective and personal. They were not meant to be a psychological portrait of a person rather the study of the effects of light on a woman's body.
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The art in the 1970's is definitely interesting and inspiring. Every art depicts meanings about life and society. It shows that even simple things could become an art if you have the inspiration and will to do it. Indeed art is really fascinating.
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Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smithson%http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_art#
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Jetty \ cite_note-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusionistic_painting \ cite_note-grove-
0,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Salt_LakeG
://www-atdp.berkeley.edu/Studentpages/cflores/historygraffiti.html0'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotographFhttp |
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