NT - POST2 - Influences in Art Practice

While reviewing the work of other artists and using these interviews to help reflect on my own art practice, I discovered five artists that gave me insight into how I can adapt my practice to increase the efficacy of my work. The artists I chose include Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Maya Lin, Wangechi Mutu, Mark Dion, and Kiki Smith.

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle addresses the digital landscape, climate change, history, and site-specific work. He observes communities on all scales, examining the relationships between species interactions and how they mold our experiences with our ecosystems. A challenge the artist faced while making his work was walking the line between presenting science versus using science as a marker for where we are in our cultural standing. I am inspired by how he uses science as a tool to highlight its connection to our culture, how science and human interaction go hand in hand.

Maya Lin confronts themes of climate crisis, activism, memory, and time in her practice. She confronts our relationship with our surroundings through her memorial designs, architectural works, and large-scale environmental installations. Challenges she faced while making this work included facing criticisms over her designs veiled with racism and sexism and working through such harsh resistance to her work. I am inspired by how she stood by her work and continued taking the steps needed to ensure others understood the efficacy of her work.

Wangechi Mutu highlights the experience and complexity of womanhood in correlation to colonialism, overconsumption, and identity through allegories addressing the overarching themes of decolonization, feminism, and culture. Challenges she faces while making this work include addressing such constructs with appropriated images and working with the materials. I am inspired by her use of the body in conjunction with plant, animal, and machine forms, creating a new lens to observe black feminist perspectives.

Mark Dion addresses themes of climate crisis, history, and the natural world through research and development, use of uncommon materials, and the appropriation of existing objects. Challenges he faces while making his work include working with institutions and completing fieldwork and hands-on projects. This artist inspired me with his questioning of the distinctions between objective scientific methods and subjective influences.

Kiki Smith asserts the idea that the body functions as a receptacle for knowledge, belief, and storytelling through her work. Themes of feminism, identity, and regeneration guide her practice; she has adapted to highlight animals, domestic objects, and narrative tropes from classical mythology and folk tales. Challenges she faces while making this work include using the figure in a contemporary context, while constantly evolving her practice to better suit her work. I am inspired by her dynamic use of mediums and narrative tropes to portray her perspective.

From learning about these artists, I would like to incorporate aspects of their practice into my own. This will look like beginning to use land itself as a medium, equipping research to draw comparisons and contrasts to different cultures/regions, using multiple mediums and collages to better suit my message, collecting ordering, and exhibiting objects to display connections or lack thereof, and using storytelling through symbols and icons using narrative tropes and historical tales.