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• 1 media/Screen Shot 2022-12-14 at 6.14.03 PM.png 2022-11-30T22:07:18+00:00 THE ANTHROPOCENE WITHIN ART 24 Sweet Lou Mader Dauk plain 2022-12-15T21:04:33+00:00

  -“The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth's history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet's climate and ecosystems” - National Geographic

  -“Co-existence, of humans with nature and of humans with each other, is the key concept of work”- Wolfgang Welsch

  INTRODUCTION

  The idea of the Anthropocene and art do not seem necessarily connected, but in fact it can be deemed a huge subject point for artists and their work. The world in which we inhabit, live and utilize on a day to day basis has an overall effect on human relationships as well as the relationships of humans with the surrounding environment. These transactional moments can be depicted through so many works of art in various unique ways, alluding to a grand theme of how humans are truly affecting the environment. The works within this exhibit showcase various forms that represent visual aspects of the Anthropocene, capturing a fleeting moment of humans and nature. But often, these visuals portray the negative effects that humankind has posed on the environment with the overall goal of prompting individuals to realize, and ultimately respect the world in which they are given.
   

  ARTIST

  Diane Severin Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American artist, who centers her work around that of the issues concerning the environment. She was born in 1990 in Carson, California, and continues to create art that showcases aspects of environmental features with an overlying political theme advocating for environmental justice. In her works she utilizes objects she finds as well as organic matter to make various sculptures to then photograph. What Nguyen does is truly fascinating, as she experiments with styles such as chromogenic prints as well as close up shots that make her works appear metallic, wet, plant-based, and life-like.

  
  
  EXHIBIT

  
   In her work, New Victimhood, Ngyuen uses the close-up aspect of small organisms with transient prosthetic lighting. She does this in various ways, that being the glow of a sunset, and Iphone flash, fire, or even battery powered LED lights. After finding her light source, she sets up the camera to capture the temporary arrangements of the certain objects under the certain light aspect, which highlights the transformity period of the object arrangements. Ngyuen’s goal in this work is to encapsulate the ineffable moment during the time of a transformation, alluding to the theory of things falling apart. This can then be related to larger themes such as political and environmental justice as well as the human impact on the anthropocene.
  
  
  Sunrise is a painting by Claude Monet in 1872 during the Impressionist Movement, which highlighted the spontaneity of natural moments. The light and somewhat sketchy brush stroke alludes to the stylistic features that were dominant during this time, leaving the overall work almost abstract in nature. The theme of this piece works hard to reach into the mind of the viewers, and portrays notions of people living in conjunction with technology. The gray smoke and fog pertain to the idea of the anthropocene, displaying a scene of humans participating in an environment impacted by humans. It is interesting to note how this issue of the human impact on the environment was pertinent back in this time period, showing that this is a continuing challenge that is displayed within that of art.
  
  

  This piece by ceramicist Courtney Mattison, plays with the ideas of the connections between greenhouse gas emissions and the ocean. The piece has a medium of glazed stoneware and porcelain, to it its glassy and ceramic feel. An additional note is the fact that Mattison utilizes calcium carbonate, a compound found in many live coral communities. This work would add a unique element to the exhibit as it ties into the overall idea of the anthropocene, as well as the human impact on the ocean and the entirety of the environment. The piece shows the somewhat devastating harmony that takes place between humans and the environment in which they inhabit.
  
  

  This piece is fascinating as it is actually a large scale, functioning piece of art. The work was composed of over 17,000 coal fly-ash blocks, and it recycles waste, establishes a positive habitat for fish, and continues to feed people. It was created in 1980 on the bottom of the Atlantic, 40 miles from the New York Harbor. The sculpture utilized coal waste to create a productive piece of art by turning waste into an environmentally sustainable piece of work. Again this unique work lends itself to the overall theme of the exhibit, that being the human impact on the environment. This idea is usually contrasted in a grim light, showing the devastating factors in which humans have created, but this opposes the notion, and shows how art can be actively productive and help the environment.
   

  REFERENCES 

  Chatterjee, Sria, et al. “Conversation Piece: The Arts, Environmental Justice, and the Ecological Crisis.” British Art Studies, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Yale Center for British Art, 30 Nov. 2020, https://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-18/arts-environmental-justice-ecological-crisis. 

  Heartney, Eleanor. “Art for the Anthropocene Era.” ARTnews.com, ARTnews.com, 19 June 2020, https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/art-for-the-anthropocene-era-63001/. 

  N/A. “Diane Severin Nguyen.” Hammer Museum, 2020, https://hammer.ucla.edu/made-la-2020-version/diane-severin-nguyen. 

  Welsch, Wolfgang. “Art Addressing the Anthropocene.” Contemporary Aesthetics, 2020, https://contempaesthetics.org/2020/02/18/art-addressing-the-anthropocene/.