Representing Change
Between the Paintbrush and the Pistol: How an Arms Manufacturer used an Artist to Help Promote the Gun that Won a Country
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kenneth DiMaggio
America has a strong love affair with guns. But did 19th century American painter, George Catlin, help foster that love with commissioned paintings featuring domestic-made weaponry, particularly the Colt 45 Revolver? That gun was designed by arms-maker Samuel Colt. A hand gun could now shoot off 6-rounds of bullets through a revolving cylinder. To help sell his guns, Colt used promotional and advertising methods, unique at that time. One of Colt's more unique means of promotion was hiring painter George Catlin to paint several frontier-themed paintings featuring Colt weapons. Catlin would later win fame as a painter of the American West and the Native American. His paintings commissioned to feature Colt's weaponry, is unique for the way fine arts would help promote one of the items that symbolize the United States of America today. Love them or hate them, guns represent one aspect of the American soul, and a 19th century painter helped to paint that soul.
On the Apocali: Making Culture about a Future of Multi-Tiered Dangers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Finn Harvor
Increasingly, art about contemporary life finds itself simultaneously fascinated by the sheer variety of dangers and threats that face humanity, but also unable to capture the sheer scale of these threats/dangers. Perhaps this is, to some degree, inevitable; we are living in an age of such rapid technological change that "keeping up" with all the challenges that face us is itself bound to demand of the artist that she or he be in a state of chronic creative mania. Nevertheless, there are key themes that I think contemporary artists need to pay more attention to: these are militarism, the geopolitical history of the 20th/21st C., the environment, and job loss. I have made video poems on these themes and am interested in artists doing likewise. This paper would give an overview of all this material, and underline some of the creative strategies that politically engaged artists can use in order to keep their artwork fresh and engaged with a world that has entered Baudrillard's conception of the “hyperreal” and of wars that "do not exist." And apart from Baudrillard, I also may make reference to the ideas of Slavoj Zizek (concepts (sometimes rather problematical) of revolution) and Giorgio Agamben (the concept of “states of exception” that allow neo-fascist states). However, above all, I would like to reference ideas of practicing artists that I have gleaned from interviews and discussions I have had over the years.
The Role of Plants in Artwork of the 21st Century
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Liga Sakse
This research asks what it means to inhabit a globalized art world and concentrate mainly on contemporary art forms of photography, particularly on such phenomena as still-life of floral photography. In fact, photography is the most vital, universal means of communication of ideas between peoples and nations and the paper will analyze the role of plants in photography through focusing on the works of Japanese and European artists. By analyzing concepts, context, cultural backgrounds, individual motivations and archetypes, art plays an important role in enabling us to imagine change for inhabiting a globalized world. Through studying artists' working experience and their contributions to art history, we can discover important insights and inspiration for perspectives on the future art scene. The findings may be useful in understanding the role of tulips as a vital form of visual communication.
