Destruction Year 10

ARTISTS Here is a series of slides which represent the work of a number of artists which are relevant to the theme of the unit, DESTRUCTION. You too can add to the list by researching others.

Here we see millions of cigarette remains and cigarette packets filling an enormous ashtray. The title,‘Party Time’ suggest something young and lively but the images contrast and suggest something which is destructive to health. DAMIEN HIRST Click here to see examples of the artists work

Damien Hirst is famous for putting animals which are already dead into a chemical called formaldehyde. This chemical preserves the animal for posterity. But why a shark?

Marcell Duchamps Here we see one of the art world’s most famous pictures, The Mona Lisa, which has been destroyed by something as simple as a moustache and beard on her face. Graffiti perhaps? ‘L.H.O.O.Q’ 1919

NEALE HOWELLS Howells’s works are neither portraits or landscapes, rather they are pictures of the attitudes of our society – graffiti, slogans, the marks which we see on the walls in the streets of our valleys and cities. His work is much more inventive that what it appears to be at first. Click here to see examples of the artists work

Ray Johnston A famous star who destroyed his own life through drugs. During the Pop Art era, artists would often draw or adapt pictures of contemporary stars. ‘Elvis Presley 2’ 1955

Ray Johnston Here is a picture of a famous actor from the era which has been destroyed by various symbols. ‘James Dean’ 1958

Roy Lichtenstein Whaam! 1963 Oil on Canvas Litchenstein uses paintings of tragic events such as war, fighting and divorce in American comic style. He uses strong and clear colours without any real detail. They are simple and effective images.

PICASSO ‘Guernica’

It is said that experts have analysed this picture in detail. Picasso painted this picture to represent the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. It appears that the horse represents the people; the bull conveys the horrors of war, and the angular shape of the faces of the people and animals show the suffering. To add to this, the colours too are dreary.

Rene Magritte ‘The Key to the Field’ 1933 Oil on Canvas Look carefully!! The glass perhaps has broken but has the scene on the glass disappeared? Surrealism Period

Rene Magritte destroying a tuba. Artists in the Surrealism Period would play tricks and create pictures with an element of magic or dream in them. ‘The Discovery of Fire’ (Decouverte du feu)

Rene Magritte ‘The Labors of Alexander’ 1967; Bronze Click here to see this example of the artists work

‘ An Exploded View’ 1991 mixed media Here is a piece of 3D work by Cornelia Parker. She took a shed, blew it up and then put it all back together again with wires and hung it from the ceiling and illuminated it. Click here to see this example of the artists work

Rebbeca Horn ‘Concert for Anarchy’ 1990 Although the piano has not been destroyed to all intents and purposes, as in the previous piece, the fact that it is upside down means that it can’t be used and consequently it is worthless and therefore destroyed. Click here to see this example of the artists work

Arnulf Rainer We see that the photograph has been destroyed in order to cover (enshroud) the body of this artist. Click here to see this example of the artists work

Robert Rauschemburg We see a variety of pictures of Marilyn Monroe; the colourful life of the actress has been outlined and destroyed in one piece of finished work. Perhaps it is a symbol of her life. Click here to see this example of the artists work

After seeing a variety o works by artists who use the theme of ‘destruction’ in their work, it is now your turn to show and to develop this theme in your own style. Choose either one of the artists which are included in the presentation and his/her work or find an artist who communicates the same type of message.