Kara Walker, Ai Weiwei, contemporary visual culture, social norms, Power of Scale, general creative issues, sociopolitical realities, craftsmanship, slavery, emotional responses
Scale is a deliberate tool artists use in contemporary visual culture to question social norms, evoke strong emotions, and communicate difficult concepts. Artists can challenge binary distinctions, start discussions, and deeply explore human experiences by experimenting with size. Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds and Kara Walker's A Subtlety are two noteworthy instances of this calculated use of scale. Through their enormous scale and careful craftsmanship, these artworks explore socio-political contexts, addressing racial exploitation and collective identity questions. The use of scale by these artists to provide commentary, provoke thought, and elicit strong feelings will be examined in this essay to illuminate both sociopolitical realities and more general creative issues.
[...] Reeder, L. K Kara Walker: Subtlety as a Big Idea. Art Education, 68(1):51-58. Thompson, N Curatorial Statement - Kara Walker - Creative Time. [Online]. Available: https://creativetime.org/projects/karawalker/curatorial-statement/ [2024, May 9]. Tirza, W Ai Weiwei and the Sunflower Seeds. Medium. [Online]. Available: https://medium.com/@tirzavanwilligenburg/ai-weiwei-and-the-sunflower-seedsa1c17e90484b [2024, May 9]. [...]
[...] The installation features an impressive number of sunflower seeds meant to entice viewers to engage with it on multiple levels, "to this extent, quantity is profoundly associated with a type of power shaping his artistic strategies and political discourse" (Zhou, 2015:1). The installation's formal arrangement inside the Turbine Hall is remarkable for its accuracy and scale. The seeds cover a vast 1,000 square metres of floor, arranging themselves into a cone around five metres in diameter. When seen afar, the seeds create an expansive and mesmerising expanse resembling an endless grey sea of undulating waves of sunflower seeds (Zhou, 2015:11). [...]
[...] There are two parts to Ai Weiwei's use of quantity in his art. He utilised a lot of porcelain sunflower seeds in the first place, and while none of them were the same, they were all arranged in a repetitious way (Zhou, 2015:2). Each hand-painted seed mimics the labour-intensive process of mass production, which raises questions about globalisation, mass production, and individuality. In October 2010, Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds was commissioned to be displayed in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern (Hancox, 2012:280). [...]
[...] They represented the exploited labour of the boys, who were depicted carrying baskets and field products (Thompson, 2014). These attendants were meant to be examined closely, while the sphinx's colossal size demanded attention and interaction with its meaning as "the magnified image has the power to affect its viewers because it looks both physically larger and closer in relation to the proportions of the individual viewer" (Kee & Lugli, 2015:262). The difference in scale between the attendants and the sphinx highlighted the vulnerability, individualism, and exploitation of the boys within the system of slavery. [...]
[...] Zhou, Y The Power of Quantity in Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds. The International Academic Forum, 1-13. [...]
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