An Oak Tree is an iconic[1] conceptual artwork created by Michael Craig-Martin Michael Craig-Martin RA is a contemporary conceptual artist and a painter. He is particularly noted for his influence over the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught RA in 1973. The work consists of a glass of water on a glass shelf and is displayed with an accompanying text,[2][3] which states that the work is a fully grown oak tree which looks like a glass of water.[4] Craig-Martin considered he had deconstructed "the work of art in such a way as to reveal its single basic and essential element, belief that is the confident faith of the artist in his capacity to speak and the willing faith of the viewer in accepting what he has to say".[3]

The original is in the National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia is the premier art gallery and museum in Australia, holding over 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Government of Australia as a national public art gallery and an artist's copy in the Tate The Tate is a institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London , Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (Founded 1988), Tate St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall (Founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (Founded 2000), with a gallery.

Contents

Artwork

An Oak Tree is an artwork created by Michael Craig-Martin Michael Craig-Martin RA is a contemporary conceptual artist and a painter. He is particularly noted for his influence over the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught in 1973, and the accompanying text (originally issued as a leaflet) is now part of the exhibit [2]. The text is in red print on white; the object is a French Duralex glass, which contains water to a level stipulated by the artist and which is located on a glass shelf, whose ideal height is 253 centimetres with matt grey-painted brackets screwed to the wall.[2] The text is behind glass and is fixed to the wall with four bolts.[2] Craig-Martin has stressed that the components should maintain a pristine appearance and in the event of deterioration, the brackets should be resprayed and the glass and shelf even replaced.[2]

The text contains a semiotic argument,[5] in the form of questions and answers,[3] which explain that it is not a glass of water, but "a full-grown oak tree," created "without altering the accidents of the glass of water."[4] The text defines accidents as "The colour, feel, weight, size...". The text includes the statement "It's not a symbol. I have changed the physical substance of the glass of water into that of an oak tree. I didn't change its appearance. The actual oak tree is physically present, but in the form of a glass of water."[4] and "It would no longer be accurate to call it a glass of water. One could call it anything one wished but that would not alter the fact that it is an oak tree"[4]

The impossible is deliberately asserted and the text examines the impossibility of the assertion, which uses the idea of transubstantiation Some Greek confessions use the term "transubstantiation" , but most Orthodox traditions play down the term itself, and the notions of "substance" and "accidents", while still holding that the elements of bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Other terms such as "trans-elementation" (" in the same way as the Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church,[note 1] is the world's largest Christian church, and claims over a billion members, representing approximately half of all Christians[note 2] and one-sixth of the world's population. The Catholic Church is a communion of the Western Rite and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches ( religious belief that bread and wine, while maintaining an unchanged appearance, are changed into Christ Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, and within most Christian denominations he is venerated as the Son of God and as God incarnate. Christians also view him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament; however, Judaism rejects this claim. Islam considers Jesus a prophet, while several other's body and blood.[3] Craig-Martin has a Catholic background,[6] and was an altar boy.[7] He sees belief of both artist and viewer as having a key place in art, and that in An Oak Tree he had "deconstructed the work of art in such a way as to reveal its single basic and essential element", namely this belief.[3]

An Oak Tree was a turning point in his artistic development: prior to it his concern had been deconstruction, and afterwards he was "trying to put the pieces together again."[3] Subsequently, using the rationale of Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art. He advised modern art collectors, such as Peggy Guggenheim and other prominent figures, thereby helping to shape the tastes of Western art during this period's Fountain Fountain is a 1917 work by Marcel Duchamp. It is one of the pieces which he called readymades , because he made use of an already existing object—in this case a urinal, which he titled Fountain and signed "R. Mutt". The art show to which Duchamp submitted the piece stated that all works would be accepted, but Fountain was not actually, he worked with drawings of utilitarian objects and flat areas of colour, with the goal of discarding meaning, which is "both persistent and unstable", although he states that people's need to create associations and meanings makes this goal unachievable.[3]

History

An Oak Tree was first shown in an exhibition of Craig-Martin's work at the Rowan Gallery, off Bond Street Bond Street is a major shopping street in London which runs through Mayfair from Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. It is one of the principal streets in the West End shopping district and is more upmarket than nearby Regent Street and Oxford Street. It is in the Mayfair district of London, and has been a fashionable shopping, London, in 1974.[3][8] Many visitors assumed that Craig-Martin was playing the ultimate con trick, as there seemed no evidence of work on display in the white-walled gallery.[8] However, high up on a wall was the glass of water and the glass shelf of the work An Oak Tree.[8] At this time the accompanying text was available as a leaflet.[3]

The original was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia is the premier art gallery and museum in Australia, holding over 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Government of Australia as a national public art gallery in Canberra in 1977; an artist's copy is on loan to the Tate The Tate is a institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London , Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (Founded 1988), Tate St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall (Founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (Founded 2000), with a gallery in London from a private collection.[9][5]

Craig-Martin said, "An Oak Tree has had a great life as an artwork. It is nearly always on view somewhere, and has been shown all over the world—the text has been translated into at least 20 languages. The only place it has never been shown is in the US."[5]

It was once barred by Australian officials from entering the country as "vegetation". Craig-Martin was forced to inform them that it was really a glass of water.[10] He said, "It was of course a wonderfully funny incident, particularly because it extended into 'real life' the discussion about belief and doubt, and fact and fiction I was addressing in the work."[5]

Critical reaction

An Oak Tree is a celebrated[11] artwork, which the Irish Museum of Modern Art says is now recognized as a turning point in the development of conceptual art Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions. This method was fundamental to LeWitt's definition, although initially it was met with surprise, if not scorn.[12] It has been described as "questioning the nature of reality."[11]

The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy states that "to fail to consider it a great work of art because it fails to give rise to a distinctively aesthetic kind of pleasure does not actually undermine the project at all. Conceptual art, as we now know, is about conveying meaning through a vehicular medium, and not to provide its audience with experiences of, say, beauty. Any attack on this fundamental feature of conceptual art targets not so much an individual piece but the artform as such."[13]

In his Richard Dimbleby Lecture on 23 November 2000, Sir Nicholas Serota said, "We may not 'like' Craig-Martin's work, but it certainly reminds us that the appreciation of all art involves an act of faith comparable to the belief that, through transubstantiation Some Greek confessions use the term "transubstantiation" , but most Orthodox traditions play down the term itself, and the notions of "substance" and "accidents", while still holding that the elements of bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Other terms such as "trans-elementation" (", the bread and wine of Holy Communion become the body and blood of Christ."[14]

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist and the most prominent member of the group known as "Young British Artists" (or YBAs) and is the richest living artist to date. Hirst dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s and is internationally renowned. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles said 'That piece is, I think, the greatest piece of conceptual sculpture, I still can't get it out of my head."[15] Richard Cork Dr Richard Cork is a British art historian, editor, critic, broadcaster and exhibition curator. He has been an art critic for the Evening Standard, The Listener, The Times and the New Statesman. Cork was also editor for Studio International. He is a past Turner Prize judge called its original display in 1972 "one of the most challenging moments" of contemporary art.[8]

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro, OM, CBE, is an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblies of metal using 'found' industrial objects said, "Some of the stuff that's called art is just damned stupid. I mean, 'That glass of water's an oak tree' kind of thing."[16] Art critic David Lee and the founders of the Stuckism Stuckism is an international art movement that was founded in 1999 in Britain by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art. The Stuckists formed as an alternative to the Charles Saatchi-patronised Young British Artists (also known as Brit Art or YBAs). The original group of thirteen artists art movement, Billy Childish Billy Childish or William Charlie Hamper (born 1 December 1959) is an English artist, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. He is known for his explicit and prolific work - he has detailed his love life and childhood sexual abuse, notably in his early poetry and the novels My Fault (1996), Notebooks of a Naked Youth (1997), and Charles Thomson also oppose it.[5]

In response to Nigel Gosling's praise of the work, Giles Auty said, "How would the self-same critic react if, on ordering oak planks for an outhouse, he were sent instead a bucketful of water? Would he gently muse on 'the subtle and obscure waters of identity'—or make immediate reflections on the mental wellbeing of his timber suppliers?"[17] Brian Sewell Brian Sewell is an English art critic, motoring expert and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art asked why "the miracle" was "a work of art fit only for a gallery, and not some thaumaturgical object venerated in a church?"[18]

Michael Daley wrote that the work was "not a hard-won, skilful depiction of a glass and a shelf" and that for twenty years "instead of ridiculing the self-deluding, pretentious offerings of Craig-Martin and his like, critics fawned and eulogised."[19]

Derivative works

Tim Crouch has written and performed an eponymous play to critical acclaim in New York and London.[20] The Little Artists (John Cake and Darren Neave) feature a Lego version in "Art Craziest Nation"[21].

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Irish Museum of Modern Art Website modernart.ie
  2. ^ a b c d e Bery, Bryony. "An Oak Tree 1973: Technique and condition text", Tate The Tate is a institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London , Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (Founded 1988), Tate St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall (Founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (Founded 2000), with a, June 2005. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Manchester, Elizabeth. "An Oak Tree 1973: Short text, Tate The Tate is a institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London , Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (Founded 1988), Tate St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall (Founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (Founded 2000), with a, December 2002. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d Artist's Text
  5. ^ a b c d e Sherwin, Brian. "Art Space Talk: Michael Craig-Martin", myartspace.com, 16 August 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  6. ^ Crane, Charlie. "Michael Craig-Martin: out of the ordinary" p 2, The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, and is the only remaining national broadsheet-only newspaper in the UK. Owned by David and Frederick Barclay, The Telegraph, 24 November 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  7. ^ Crane, Charlie. "Michael Craig-Martin: out of the ordinary" p 1, The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, and is the only remaining national broadsheet-only newspaper in the UK. Owned by David and Frederick Barclay, The Telegraph, 24 November 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  8. ^ a b c d Cork, Richard. "Losing our vision", New Statesman The New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s, 9 October 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  9. ^ An Oak Tree 1973, Tate The Tate is a institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London , Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (Founded 1988), Tate St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall (Founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (Founded 2000), with a. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  10. ^ Damien, the oak tree and me. Spectator, Dec 27, 2003 by Bidgood, Jonathan
  11. ^ a b Sue Hubbard. "A is for Umbrella", The Independent The Independent is a British newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press, 11 December 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  12. ^ Michael Craig-Martin at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, ARTINFO, October 5, 2006, http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/21219/michael-craig-martin-at-the-irish-museum-of-modern-art/, retrieved on 2008-04-23
  13. ^ Schellekens, Elisabeth. "Conceptual Art". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
  14. ^ The Independent
  15. ^ Michael Craig-Martin Out of the ordinary. Telegraph Magazine, 24/11/2007]
  16. ^ Campbell, James. "Heavy metal pioneer", The Guardian The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the Berliner format from its London and Manchester headquarters, 8 January 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
  17. ^ "Craig-Martin, Michael", A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com, 5 November 2008.
  18. ^ Sewell, Brian Brian Sewell is an English art critic, motoring expert and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art. "If only Michelangelo had become a greengrocer", Evening Standard The London Evening Standard is an English tabloid local, regional newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast England. It is dominant as a local evening paper for London, with a strong City emphasis as well as carrying national and international news, p 34, 25 February 2000.
  19. ^ Daley, Michael. "Tracey left on the shelf", The Guardian The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the Berliner format from its London and Manchester headquarters, 31 August 2002. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
  20. ^ Gardner, Lyn. "An Oak Tree", The Guardian The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the Berliner format from its London and Manchester headquarters, 10 February 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  21. ^ "An Oak Tree", Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North", National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, previously known as National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All museums and galleries in this group have free admission. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Retrieved 2 November 2008.

External links

Categories: Conceptual art | Sculptures | Michael Craig-Martin works | 1973 works | Found art

 

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