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Critical Analysis

Micheal Foucault was a very critical philosopher as he tended to include writing works in all subjects, including scientific and literary ones. He even said he should have spoken of the 'author-function' in painting, music technical fields and so forth. I believe it is true that there are many common things in creative work and their 'author'. The essay is the text of a lecture presented to the Societé Francais de philosophy on 22 February 1969 (Foucault gave a modified form of the lecture in the United States in 1970).

When I first ask myself this question, I feel it quite easy to be answered. ‘An the author is the person who creates literature or artwork.’ I answered myself. But when I think deeply about this topic I felt a little bit confused as there are lots of restrictions for a writer to become an author. Maybe someone who published his or her own idea? But not all of them are willing to show their identities to the public. What about those who stand behind their thoughts?

As an art student, one of the most significant parts of our study is to identify the ‘author’ and to give some critical ideas upon them. Indeed, we are not that sure who the real author is but we need to give them a name as they are definitely the target of our study. Thus, the author in my perspective is more like a person who takes the responsibility of ideas or works. After reading this article about the identification of the ‘author’, I found more new perspectives in understanding this question.

First of all, the author's function is related to legitimacy and how it is constrained in an institutional system. In the past, people in the ruling class care about what they are written in historical records since even after they die, the future generation will discuss them, in other words, the writing records of their life determine how they 'live' eternally after they die. Therefore, authenticity was a big issue in the past and there were institutional systems to ensure authenticity and to ensure their ruling with 'the legitimate ideology' and to exclude other opinions such as heresy and slanders. Nowadays, in the capitalist world, works of writing become the property that someone can possess. As we do academic writing, if we forget to affix the original author in our writing, we may be recognized as plagiarism. The author's name here presents possession and authenticity.

The second point is arguing that the function of an author is not universal or constant. For example, the three texts with the same Greek myth. They are telling the same story King Midas and the Golden Touch, but usually no one would look for the author and just pass down the story to the next generations till now. But when it came to the Middle Ages, the words or writing could only have credibility when it is from an authority with enough. For example, 'Walking is men’s best medicine.' This simple opinion doesn’t need much unpinning evidence but the name of the author, Hippocrate, could earn much trust, who is considered an outstanding figure of medicine at that time. When it came to the time that people value science, the theory work becomes the author's other name in return. That's why Foucault said the function of an author is not universal or constant across different subjects and ages.

Besides, he talks about the fact that in recent times ‘literary discourse’ is only accepted if it had the author's name attached to it. It had to ‘state its author and the date, place, and circumstance of its writing’. This enables the writing to have meaning and value placed on it. In the text, Foucault describes ‘the the author as a unifying construction’, allowing seemingly very different texts to be unified under a single concept and allowing new texts to be ‘evaluated against old texts for consistency of quality’. He goes on to observe that in ‘modern criticism there is a desire to recover the author from the work’. He talks about the authors name not being enough to describe a piece of work to an author and compares the author construction to the method Saint Jerome used to authenticate the work of an author using four decisive factors: texts which are inferior must be eliminated; ideas that conflict with those expressed in other texts; a different style of writing and the author is the historical figure in the scheme of things.

The the third point is that the function is not formed spontaneously but is constructed through a ‘complex operation’. The social environment would influence the function of the author, without a doubt. If we hind the name of an author, we can recover them from the details, for example, writing the date, where it was done and what was his or her opinion on a certain issue. This is especially true in literary articles since they are more subjective. People would like to classify work by its author, which becomes a label for people to remember. Some well-known authors even became a brand that encourages people to consume their time or money, which also became a kind of topic for higher classes.

The the fourth point, from my understanding, is taking an author as a normal person, who can write and can play different roles when they are writing different kinds of content. It is a little bit like a man in life can be a father, a husband and a son simultaneously. So as a writer or an author, something they play as editors, inviting people to write something within the same theme and publish the articles together as a book. However, they usually are also a writer. They, at the same time, can do criticism work. This example may be over figurative. I am trying to explain their 'multiple egos' may arise because of the different audiences they are facing. Then you cannot deny the audience has not a participant in their writing.

Foucault refers to writing as an action or a gesture as opposed to a ‘thing’. He sees it as being tied up in an institutional system and talks about ‘the form of property they have become’. Since the 18th century, it has been caught up in systems that determine a violation of social and moral boundaries. Foucault uses the phrase ‘the danger of writing’ which sums it up well. He goes on to say that scientific texts were only considered authentic in the middle ages if the name of the author was clear. Today ‘Authentication no longer requires reference to the individual who had produced them; the role of the author disappeared as an index of truthfulness’. Instead of a body of theories and hypotheses that are credible due to the process of ‘Empirical knowledge’– knowledge acquired by the means of observation and experimentation.

Gerard Byrne, an Irish artist born 1969 who uses lens-based media to produce large scale installations which reconstruct imagery found in magazines from The 1960s–80s. He produces ‘carefully reconstructed images of particular historically charged conversations originally published in popular magazines from the 1960s -1980’. From which I noticed similarities to the work of Michel Foucault.

In conclusion, the name of an author is more like a slogan of the theory. Sometimes it may look like a brand. It is quite ironic that no one can tell the author of an old famous book without knowing from others. It is to say we are not that sure if the author is ‘the author’. By reading this text, I started to think about the concept of the artist and their artworks. And started to develop a consciousness of understanding the artists and stories behind the images.

Foucault, M., 1969, What is an author.

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/Gustafson/FILM%20162.W10/readings/foucault.author.pdf

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 11

Peter, G., 1974, Design education: problem solving and visual experience. London: B.T. Batsford Limited.

 The book is the guidance of using different materials to improve the visual experience. Among all the tips in the book, there is one creating the communicative link between an idea and a form that caught my attention. Using lettering to design a letter form to correspond to the idea of the word, the image looks fresh and active. As the word is one of the most significant parts of the illustration arts, the technique in the book is really helpful to my own design. I believe there will be a noticeable improvement in my design if I keep thinking of visual art theories when doing my own work.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 10

Edited by Mark, G.,2019, Olafur Eliasson: In real life. London: Tate Publishing.

 The book is about an exhibition called ’In real life’ which displayed in Tate Modern in 2019. The curator used mess media to show the lights and shadows in narrow spaces. After visited the exhibition myself and read the book afterward, I was completely impressed by the amazing space he created. Among the spaces in the exhibition, the one using colorful lights shadowing the visitors gave me great inspiration in color and shadow in my own designs. Although this is not a painting work, the idea of the changeable shadows can be extremely impactful in the illustration field.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 9

Lund, H.,2015, in association with the National Maritime Museum, Art and the War at Sea: 1914-45, London: Lund Humphries.

 The book is about the paintings with the theme of sea wars during the world war one and two. Except for the images describing the war scenes, there are a great number of pictures show the people’s lives during that specific period. For example, I can find some sailors and nurses in those pictures, which show the detail of the wars. With the use of dark colors, those paintings can convey a sense of sadness from the war to the audiences. From the book, I obtained the knowledge of using dark colors in describing historical events and was inspired to have some new ideas in my own works in showing events.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 8

Jeffrey, D., 2017, Ringbinder, London: Slimvolume and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.

 The main point of the book is from an exhibition called ‘Ringbinder’, which is a recent painting exhibition by Jeffery Dennis at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland. Using small circles to shape the environment in the images, the artist did a great number of experiments on the picture-making. Using colorful circles to link different small images together and make them into a whole, the author created a useful method dealing with separate images in one painting. After reading the introduction of Jeffery’s ideas and several successful practices, I started to understand the importance of using simple elements in contemporary paintings.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 7

Arts Council Collection, 1990, Words, London: The Beacon Press.

 Named ‘words’, the book is about the texts in the artworks, especially paintings. The author analyzed the significance of words in images in the twentieth and now the twenty-first centuries. Language using in art and design is extremely common nowadays. The words in the images are sometimes used as a caption: a title to a visual joke or a reference that helps to clarify the meaning of the artwork. After reading this book, I realized the importance of language use in the image, which gives me some new ideas in the usage of words and helps me develop a deep understanding of some contemporary artwork with words.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 6

Steve, B., 1993, Picturing the Beast: Animals, identity and representation. Manchester and New York: Manchester university press.

  The the book introduces the symbolic ideas in animal images, which is the custom of using animals in the artworks to make a statement about human identity. The author analyzed animals such as lions, cows, eagles, bulldogs and so on to show the initial meanings of these specific creatures in artworks. By telling the history of using animal images as a metaphor, the author highlights the importance of understanding animal pictures. The book helps me to think more about the information behind the images which inspires me a lot in my own animal paintings. Published both in UK and America, the book shows a significant role in the understating of animal paintings.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 5

Steve, B.,2000, The Postmodern Animal. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.

 The book is about the animal images in contemporary art. The author analyzed the identity and creativity of postmodern animals in contemporary art. There are varies types of artworks in the book as examples., such acrylic and in on paper, pastel on canvas even photography. After reading this book I found out that artists must mention animal protection in their works. What impressed me the most in this book is that many artists put themselves in dangerous environments to feel the world in animals’ perspectives. For me, what I learned from this is to give my respect to animals before using them as an art source. 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 4

Barnaby, D.,2014, Along Ecological Lines: contemporary art and climate crisis. Manchester: Gaia Project Press.

 This the book focuses on the artworks that show the climate crisis in centuries. The author gives some examples of some events held by artists who cared about environmental issues and argued the importance of protecting environments nowadays. In the second part, he shows different types of works under the theme of the climate crisis, such as oil paintings, watercolor paints, paper cuttings and so on. And for the last, he shows the ways of using art to indicate environmental problems. By reading this book, I realized how significant it is to pay attention to environmental issues in art and design. Besides, I got to know the possibility of using art to promote environmental protection. Thus, this book is very inspirational for my further study.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 3

Stephen, F.E., 2013, The cry of nature: Art and the Making of Animal Rights. Glasgow: Bell &Bain.

 The book argues the animal rights in the art field. By giving several examples of arts, the author indicates that much attention has been paid to the animal rights from artists all over the world. The author focuses on artworks with animals, especially paintings. The animals in the images are suffering from the danger of human and environmental problems caused by humans. After reading the book, I figured out that the topic of animal rights is not a blank area in the art study. By looking at the images in the book, I got a lot of inspiration on how to use my artworks to help promote animal rights in human society.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

Broglio, R., 2011, Thinking with Animals and Art. Minnesota: The University of Minnesota Press.

 The book discusses the animal role in the art field. By standing with the animals, the book indicates the significance of using art to show animals’ perspective to the world. The author argues that it is not fair to judge the animals without knowing their characteristics. A good artist should do more research on animals to convey a thorough idea of animals from their artworks. After reading this book, I realized how important it is to consider the animals as equal before adding them into my artworks, which gives me a new idea of learning more basic scientific knowledge while studying drawing. The book indeed gives an impressive consideration of the problematics of animal phenomenology, which is very helpful in my future research on animal paintings.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Foucault, M., 1969, What is an author.

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/Gustafson/FILM%20162.W10/readings/foucault.author.pdf

 The the article is about the identification of the author of a book or an artwork. Micheal Foucault was a very critical philosopher as he tended to include writing works in all subjects, including scientific and literary ones. He even said he should have spoken of the 'author-function' in painting, music technical fields and so forth. I believe it is true that there are many common things in creative work and their 'author'. The name of an author is more like a slogan of the theory. Sometimes it may look like a brand. It is to say we are not that sure if the author is ‘the author’. This phenomenon happens in the art field frequently. The article inspired a lot on the identification of the artists and art trends.

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blog 10

Eva, H., 1960, Spectres.

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/eva_hesse

 Two figures of the feminine emerge in this unique double self-portrait, in which Hesse’s vision of a bride is coupled with a haunted Other. Sitting at the edge of her chair, the bride was bent as if she is about to rise. The specter, in turn, seems to have moved in front of the bride, prompting her to follow. With parents divorced early, Hesse has a deep fear of love and marriage. The work was done before her own marriage, which shows her nerve of being a future bride. Making the specter visible, the painting clearly indicates the emotions from the artist which was deeply buried in her heart.

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blog 9

Kawanabe, K., 1915, Man yawning.

https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=780715&partId=1

The prints work created by one of the most famous ironic artists in Japan named Kawanabe illustrates the struggle of people under Shogunate’s control. As we can see from the image, the figure was shouting against the sky, with hopelessness and anger in his eyes. Different from most of the ukiyo-e artworks, the artist chose three simple colors: blue, black and red to elaborate the anger of people. Instead of creating a whole landscape or a complete story, the artist created only half of the figure which makes the viewer pay more attention to the facial expressions of the figure. With his hand stretching up toward the sky, the man in the image looks despaired. Exaggerated though, this print shows a totally different attitude upon the period, which indicates the reality under the Shogunate’s control.

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blog 8

Utagawa, H., 1832, 53 Stations of the Tokaido.

https://japanobjects.com/features/hiroshige-tokaido

 It is widely known that the Japanese landscape artworks are deeply influenced by Chinese

paintings. However, the most significant difference between these two methods of art is the color. Different from most of the art forms around the world, Japanese prints especially ukiyo-e prints show more interest in color using. ’The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō’, which is from the prints artists Utagawa Hiroshige shows the diversity in color using. Form the image we can easily find out that the artist is not focusing on the colors in reality. The rocks on the mountain are designed into different colors regardless of nature. Instead of using the original dark color on rocks the artist used bright colors such as light blue, yellow, orange even pink to create a fantasy filled with warm lights. Compared with western or even Chinese landscape artworks the landscape in ukiyo-e prints are more likely to become decoration rather than showing the natural world.

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blog 7

Shana, M., 2019, Zabludowicz Collection.

https://www.zabludowiczcollection.com/exhibitions/view/shana-moulton

 In my perspective, the exhibition is about the relationship between ‘nature’ and ‘human’. Focusing on the solastalgia and the link between society and people’s psychological state. Displayed in the church, the images look sacred and mysterious. She made the video with her imagination and created a space that reflects her own concern about modern life. For example, the tower-like the sculpture in the middle of the image is from the idea of ‘the madwoman’ in Jane Eyre, which shows the limitation of women’s lives in modern society.  The exhibition inspired me of some feminism thoughts in art and helped me developed a further view of adding some old concepts into contemporary images.

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blog 6

Olafur, E., 2019, In real life.

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/olafur-eliasson

  The ‘In real life’ exhibition brings together more than 40 works of art created from 1990 to 2019 by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. Focusing on renewable energy, climate change,, and migration issue, the artist used different types of materials including light and air to create a space conveying his own considerations. Among the spaces, the one using lights in colors to shape the shadow of people caught my attention. Walking in front of the lights, your colorful shadow will appear on the wall immediately. The whole image is unpredictable and changeable. The overlapping of the shadow can also make up a new pattern, which gave me some new ideas in my own practices.