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Final FSEM Paper

Michael Landy came into fame through his creations of powerful and meaningful artwork. Landy, who was born in London in 1963, grew up with a strong passion for art. After his graduation from Goldsmiths in 1988, he joined a band of artists called the Young British Artists (YBA). The YBA greatly influenced British art in the 1990’s by turning run down factories and warehouses into neat, professional art exhibits. In February of 2001, Landry created his most famous work, Break Down, on Oxford Street in Central London. Many onlookers gathered as Landy destroyed all 7,227 of his personal belongings. Landy’s work mainly focuses on the world of marketing and consumption. Using unique artistic methods, Landy demonstrates the effects consumerism has on society to his audience.

In 1988, the YBA, along with Landy and their leader, Damion Hirst, held their first group exhibit, Freeze. The exhibit was comprised of three different parts. The first part of their exhibit was held on August 6th. Little did they know, but this group of 16 artists were about to revolutionize the future of British art. One of the most famous works from Freeze is Mat Collishaw’s, Bullet Hole photograph, showing a gunshot wound to the head. Many of the pieces in this exhibit were moving and powerful, sparking a new wave among inspiring artists. This meager group of artists managed to skillfully create a professionally done art gallery in an abandoned warehouse, located at the Surrey Docks just outside of downtown London. They had created a new genre of art, appealing to the culture of people and the societies they live in.

Michael Landy’s most popular work is Break Down, mainly due to the pure extent he took this piece to. In February of 2001, Landy publicly destroyed all of his 7,227 belongings on Oxford Street in Central London. Over the course of two weeks, he slowly destroyed every single item he had acquired over the last thirty seven years of his life, leaving himself with only the clothes on his back. He even completely took apart and destroyed his Saab 900 Turbo Car. When hearing the news that a man destroyed all of his possessions one by one, most people may think to themselves, “Who would do such a thing?”. Landy wanted to exhibit the rapid increase in consumerism that is continuing to spread throughout the world. By taking everything he owned and destroying it, his goal was to  prove to, not only his audience but the world, that you don't need to have material belongings to live a happy and healthy life.

Currently, Landy lives in South London.  His work, Break Down, was so influential to him that he continues to maintain a minimalist lifestyle. His house looks almost as if he had just moved in. Landy possesses only the basic furniture needed for a functioning household. He has single couch in the living room, a table and four chairs for the dining room, etc. Landy believes that after he destroyed all of his belongings in Break Down, be became a much happier “consumer”. Even before Landy’s Break Down, he still lived a minimalist lifestyle, but due to lack of wealth and not necessarily with a cause. He said that he still kept useless “stuff” lying around his home. The purpose of Landy’s simplicity is to keep a clear and calm mind while living in a home with minimal distractions. This allows him to come up with better ideas and produce them to their full potential. He believes that he only needs the bare necessities to thrive in a living or working. Landy does not even own a barbeque set and if they go on their porch they sit on the ground. He is a minimalist who follows constant perfection, so bringing furniture or decorations into his house becomes a sizable psychological and intellectual problem for him.

Michael Landy’s, Semi Detached, exhibited from May 18th to December 12th of 2004. This was his first major project after Break Down and his goal was to allow the audience to perceive a sense of “homeliness”. By creating a lifesize replica of an old suburban style house, Landy managed to give off a cozy and homey feeling. Inside, although there were not any actual decorations from his home, displayed three films focused on the life of Landy’s father, John. John was a coal miner who was left housebound after he was crippled by an accident at work. The first film displays a bedroom, dining room, and garden shed while the second shows a collection of family items and photographs. Finally, the third film was a series of images taken from do-it-yourself magazines, with a whistling sound in the background. This demonstrates where Landy’s personality comes from: his roots. He grew up alongside a father who had to take everything into his own hands. John passed on that trait to Landy, who often takes old run down buildings or unwanted materials and transforms them into powerful artwork. Landy used these images to produce the home feeling in the audience through simplicity.

Scrapheap Services presents a fictional “people cleaning” company, where you see two large men in red, sweeping the floor clean of these much smaller people. For this art installation, Landy spent around two years dumpster diving, collecting wrappers, cans, and old magazines, which he then transformed into the smaller sculptures. The larger people, in red janitor suits, are seen ridding the floor the smaller people and disposing of them into the transformed wood shredder. In the background, red barrels with the logo “Scrapheap Services” are used to collect the waste on the floor, to be transported to the “Vulture”, a recreated woodchopper, for destruction. His goal for this exhibit was to demonstrate a major flaw in human culture; dehumanising people because of social class. It shows the selfishness of society, and how people of lower stature are almost disposable in the community. With this artwork, Landy hopes the audience realizes these societal flaws, creating a more positive culture through unity and acceptance.

Another popular art exhibit from the Young British Artist was Saints Alive, showcasing drawings, kinetic sculptures, and collages. Landy was able to portray past Saints stories through art. Landy “became fascinated by how people identify one saint from another through their visible attributes. You always see St. Peter Martyr with a sword embedded in his head and a dagger in his chest”(Landy). This fascination lead to a desire to portray such identifications through his artwork. He took the forgotten memories of the saints and transformed them into a major landmark in the world, bringing the saints and their stories “back to life”. What makes Landy so extraordinary is his ability to take all this unwanted rubbish and turn it into an exhibit that people across the globe travel to experience. The impressive feature is the kinetic sculptures, demonstrating the traits of saints at the press of a button. Thus, Landy had reanimated the old and forgotten saints into a new 21st century version.

Michael Landy’s minimalistic approach to his artwork allows for the audience to experience a new twist to art. His ability to reuse materials he collects highlights the concept that beauty is among all, but sometimes it is just a little harder to find in certain less popular things. From destroying all of his belongings to replicating his house shows Landy will take his work to extreme lengths, creating a more powerful and influential piece

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Research Proposal

Breaking Down Landy

My research paper is going to be centered around the life of Michael Landy and his influence in the art world. After doing lots of reading on Landy, I feel as if the paper is going to be focused around his abnormal approach to the artistic world, for example, his most famous work “Break Down”. I want to cover everything about Landy from suddenly decided to destroy all of his 7,227 possessions in a public performance, to his “reputation for destruction” (Roux). I also want to highlight the process that goes into Landy and producing his work. This includes his inspirations, tools/materials, and his approach to the artwork. Finally, I want to show Landy’s roots (where he came from), and compare it to where he is now in the art world.

After researching, I will be able to convince the reader of Landys specific thinking style and his approach to a new piece of artwork. With the help of my sources, I will explain Landy’s past childhood, and the possible effects it had throughout his career, as well as the different challenges he has encountered through his lifetime. With the help of these sources, and the others I will accumulate overtime, I will leave the reader more knowledgeable on Landy and his impact on the art world. I attempted to have each source touch on a different topic of his life to help expand my knowledge of Landy. The Guardian citation is an interview with Landy, where Landy explains the “how and why” he got into art, along with his inspirations. The second and third sources provide information about his biography and lifestyle; and goes into how they could have affected his work. Finally, the last two sources, describe Landy’s most famous work “Break Down”, along with the process and what inspired him to create, or destroy, this artistic display.

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Memory Video Artist Statement

The goal of my memory video was to show the impact of sharing an important journey with my parents and the effect had on me. It is about the experience I had winning nationals in Holland Michigan. It was my first time sailing in freezing cold weather and the first highschool nationals ever, so winning it was unimaginable. I tell the story of the thrilling final race of the regatta, and how much of an honor it was to share that moment with my parents.

Winning nationals means much more to me than just earning a trophy. It was much more than that. My parents had supported me with the sport for 12 years, driving me to push forward with every bump I hit along the road. I didn't win this regatta alone; it was a team effort, and I couldn't have done it without my parents

Overall, I wanted to show a moment in my life that after years of preparation, finally paid off, not only for me but my parents as well.

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Collage Artist Statement

     My collage represents my most memorable moment in Savannah before I left for HWS. The goal of my work is to have the audience envision the peaceful tone the lowcountry brings by showing the beautiful marsh grass, pretty water, and the distant open ocean. Back home in Savannah, Georgia, I always take my motorboat out with my friends. The collage shows a small boat on a large wavey bay. Surrounding the bay is marsh grass, a staple of the lowcountry, with the barrier islands off in the background.

     This collage displays a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I never noticed it at the time, but after leaving home for HWS, switching from saltwater to fresh, I realised that I took those moments of pure serenity for granted. Being able to soak up the warm summer sun, explore the coastal beaches, and go fishing with my friends all while jamming out to Georgia's own, the Allman Brothers, is a moment that not many people can say they have experienced.

     Overall, I want my art to make the audience realise the importance of remembering your roots, as well as make you think of what you possibly took for granted growing up.

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My Collage after being photoshopped

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Memory Collage

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Chapter 7 Transition Into College Writing Response

When preparing to write a paper for an assignment, big or small, one must evaluate the sources they are using. Before using a bunch of different sources and pulling lots of quotes from them, you have got to make sure that they are reliable and suite the topic of your paper. To do this, you must first have a good sense of what your topic is and its background to assist you in spotting false information. With our big term paper coming up, it is necessary that we know how to properly evaluate our sources. This can be done by memorizing or relating to the checklist below.

Is the source appropriate for your topic?

Is the source reputable?

Is the author an authority on the topic?

Is the author's argument well supported?

Does the author present both sides of the argument?

Does the author have bias on the subject?

Additional Web Page Considerations

Who is the sponsor of the site?

Is a website the best place to find your topics information, or journal article or book?

Do all the sites on your list present similar opinions of your topic?

Is the site recently updated?

By asking yourself these questions when evaluating a source, you will write a more informative paper with a much stronger structure and layout. Having reliable sources with qualified authors allows you to have quotations better fit for your paper, which help improve the overall quality of your paper.

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Searching For Memory

This writing, Searching For Memory, struck many different emotions of mine as well as made me relate to many memories of my own past. When she was sitting next to her “for the year that she remained comatose before dying” (Schatcher, 88), it showed the love that she has for her to be by her side for so long. I thought what Allende did while next to her daughter was very intriguing; sharing old memories with her. Personally, I am a man of memories and collections. I like to hold onto pieces of the past to remember certain moments. I think it's healthy to remember the positive moments of the past, so for Allende to share her memories showed the constant love and hope she had for her. This relates to class through the collage that we are currently completing. My collage is a picture of Green Island sound (the small bay of water I live on), with the beaches we would always hang out on and the shorelines we would shark fish from. This is such an important memory for me because it shows who I am and where I came from. Its an experience that no one could ever have up here on the Seneca. It relates to the memory video assignment by demonstrating a valued memory you experienced in the past with a family member or friend, then recreating that memory, similar to what we are doing with the collage.

Collin Porter

Active Forgetting

September 24th, 2019

Searching For Memory

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Collin Porter

Active Forgetting

September 22, 2019

Chapter 8 Response

Reading this chapter is a huge help on setting up some basic guidelines for writing a college term or research paper. There is not one specific type of paper, for everyone writes their own papers in their own way. The purpose of research papers is to expand our knowledge on a subject that we do not know quite a lot about. Writing a research paper on a new subject is a great way to learn new material and then put it into your own words to spread on that knowledge to the next reader. It gives you the chance to read scholarly papers and articles that you normally wouldn’t read unless you really had to. When writing a research paper, you must be able to identify the asked question, and make sure not to ramble on without actually answering the question. You have to be able to answer the question in a consistent manner, without veering off topic. If you have the ability to do this throughout the entire paper, you will be able to write a very strong and convincing paper. In addition to this, one must be able to research a topic and display that research in their paper without stealing the work from the author. No one wants their research to be stolen, so you always have to give credit where credit is due. In addition, you don't want to get a zero on your paper for cheating so it's smart not to do it!

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Oliver Sacks Reflection

Collin Porter

Active Forgetting

September 17th, 2019

Oliver Sacks Reflection

Oliver Sacks “The Color-blind Painter” is a very different yet interesting read for me. Oliver Sacks writes of a man who gets into a car accident, and suddenly loses his ability to see color. He said that everything “appeared to me as a black and white television”(4, Sacks). Similarly to Mr. I, when I was growing up going to regattas with my dad, every friday or saturday night we would go to a crab shack and get huge orders of snow crab legs. As I grew older, I suddenly developed an allergy to shellfish (shrimp, crabs, lobster, etc), which was my favorite food. Obviously this isn't anything as extreme as Mr. I’s case, but I can still relate to the sense of missing out. This color blindness concept plays into our collages, where we are making an image that isn't quite like a normal picture because we have the ability to play with what the eye sees. We have the ability to take one or many pictures, depending on how your going to do your collage, and distort it in a way that captures the onlookers eye.

After Mr. I took tons of tests to determine the root of the problem, doctors came to the conclusion that he was diagnosed with achromatopsia, or total color blindness. This made him feel uncomfortable, for he knew that the rest of his life he would be seeing everything in black and white, but he still strived for greatness. Mr. I became a very successful artist through the ability to describe what he sees, and how his vision is close to that of a black and white photograph. Overtime, he became disgusted by the sea of gray that he was always looking at because he had no escape from it.

I feel like if I was placed in this situation, I wouldn't react very well, because I feel like im a person that is always looking at the beauty of nature. Being on the water all of the time and soaking in all the different scenery around me would come to a stop, for the beauty of everything would be compromised for me.

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