groundbreaking Archive

Joseph Beuys’ ambitious plan to plant 7000 oaks

Installation / 5 minutes of reading

7000 Oaks 7000 Oaks is an environmental artwork created by German artist Joseph Beuys. The artist proposed a plan to have 7000 oaks trees planted across the Germany city of Kassel, each tree accompanied with basalt stone, 4 feet high above the ground. The objection of Joseph Beuys was for the project to extend throughout …

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Why did some hate Pablo Picasso’s Chicago sculpture?

Sculpture / 10 minutes of reading

Who was Pablo Picasso? Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. His father was a respected art teacher, and because of this, Pablo attended the prestigious Academy in Barcelona when he was just 14 years old. It was here that he painted his first work titled Girl with Bare Feet. After two years …

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Mario Bellini’s Kar-a-sutra – You can’t drive this car

Sculpture / 1 minute of reading

Mario Bellini created an outrageous concept that he dubbed Kar-a-Sutra. He worked on it in collaboration with two of the world’s most famous companies; that is, Citroën and Pirelli. Through it, the Milan-based architect and designer astounded all and sundry with this artwork. Eventually, art lovers around the world referred to his creation as …

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Chris Burden exposed the foundation of the museum

Installation, Architecture / 2 minutes of reading

In his works, Chris Burden goes beyond limits to produce immemorable installations that have revolutionized art. Many of his works involve commitment, hard work, and ethos that bring out metaphoric power akin to his performances. Exposing the Foundation of the Museum At the Museum of Contemporary art (MOCA), Chris created a revered installation that …

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Why Gordon Matta-Clark cut holes in buildings – Conical Intersect

Performance, Architecture / 5 minutes of reading

For the 1975 Paris Biennale, Gordon Matta-Clark made big cone-shaped holes in two buildings near the Centre Georges Pompidou. The action took place in Les Halles, a neighborhood that was being demolished. Matta-Clark aimed to permit passers-by to peek through to the Centre Pompidou while it had been under construction. Conical Intersect (1975) was …

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Thomas Ruff’s portraits & his unique signature style

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

Who is Thomas Ruff? Thomas Ruff is a well-known photographer from Düsseldorf, Germany. He was born in 1958 and had a passion and interest in photography from childhood. Soon after Ruff got a camera, he attended a class to learn fundamental photography skills. He was able to understand the basics and become a professional photographer …

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Martha Rosler invented the Semiotics of the Kitchen

Performance / 5 minutes of reading

Semiotics of the Kitchen is a work by Martha Rosler. She produced it in 1975 by using an alphabet worth of kitchen tools to participate in a feminist critique of the traditional role of gender. Her acts in the 6 minutes recording are characterized by frustration and anger at the patriarchal role of women. …

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Photographer Walker Evans in the Subway – Many Are Called

Photography / 4 minutes of reading

When we take the subway, we might be astounded by the vast number of people there. Each of them has a different persona and thoughts. At some point, we might observe them and want to dive into their heads. In 1938, Walker Evans collected pictures of the subway riders of New York City and …

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Fernand Léger’s The city – The story behind this painting

Painting / 8 minutes of reading

Who was Fernand Leger? Fernand Leger was a French painter and sculpture born on February 4, 1881, and died on August 17, 1955. Leger was not only a sculptor and painter, but he was also a filmmaker and a war veteran. It was his multidisciplinary skills that made him one of the most celebrated artists …

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What is Nobuo Sekine’s Phase of Nothingness?

Sculpture / 5 minutes of reading

Who was Nobuo Sekine? Nobuo Sekine (1942-2019) was among the key figures of the Mono-ha (The school of things) group. The group was active between 1968 and 1975 in Japan. The members focused on exploring natural and industrial objects such as stone, wood, earth, paper, cotton, glass, sheet steel, oil, wire, and water. The main …

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Why was Sally Mann’s Immediate Family so controversial?

Photography / 10 minutes of reading

Immediate Family is a photography book produced in 1992 by Sally Mann. The book was published by the international quarterly journal Aperture and is made of 65 duotone portraits. The book features exclusively Mann’s three children Virginia, Jessie, and Emmett, who are also in the front cover of the book. Thirteen of the images …

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Chris Burden’s Metropolis II – A work of wonder

Installation / 6 minutes of reading

Chris Burden & Cars Artist Chris Burden had a long history of including automobiles in his art. In his early career, he crucified himself atop VW Beetle (work titled Trans Fixed). Burden started to design and build 100 mph, and 100 mpg automobiles centered on intuition called the B-Car (bicycle-car). In his piece called Big …

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Gilbert & George’s Singing sculpture – Breaking down this barrier

Performance, Sculpture / 3 minutes of reading

2 min 38 sec Who is Gilbert & George? The artist duo of George Passmore and Gilbert Proesch – famously known as Gilbert and George – is undoubtedly one of the most long-standing and prolific collaborations of the post-conceptual art era. Perhaps the pair is best recognized for its wall-to-wall, …

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Why did Yves Klein take a Leap into the Void?

Performance, Photography / 10 minutes of reading

Who was Yves Klein? Yves Klein was born on April 28, 1928, in Nice, France. He was associated with the Parisian Nouveau Realisme movement, which was headed by Pierre Restany. Klein was the only painter in that group, but was at the time, one of the most influential artists in the game. Why was he …

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Why did Robert Rauschenberg erase a de Kooning?

Painting / 5 minutes of reading

What is it? Erased de Kooning is one of the early works of the US artist Robert Rauschenberg. The drawing was simple: a nearly blank piece of paper in a gilded frame. The piece was developed in 1953 after the artist erased a drawing he obtained from the fellow artist Willem de Kooning. Erased de …

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Huang Yong Ping – Theater of the World, 1987:1993 feat

Huang Yong Ping’s controversial Theater of the World

Installation / 4 minutes of reading

Who was Huang Yong Ping Huang Yong Ping was a contemporary artist, born and raised in Xiamen, China. In the last decades, he has created numerous contentious and confrontational artworks. Huang is known as one of the most influential Chinese contemporary artists. His artworks include sculptures, installations, and paintings. He was an icon in the …

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Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Still #43, 1979 feat

Cindy Sherman’s Untitled film stills – Her groundbreaking self portraits

Photography / 10 minutes of reading

Who is Cindy Sherman? Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 in New Jersey. She grew up in Long Beach, immersed in the television and film culture of the era. This period was shaped by nuclear war worries, capitalism, and the growing blitz of images selling all sorts of commercial products, including cigarettes, washing machines, bras, …

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Barbara Kruger’s I shop therefore I am – What you should know

Other / 5 minutes of reading

I Shop Therefore I Am (1987) is the work of Barbara Kruger. It became an iconic artwork, being reproduced on items such as shopping bags as well as other consumer products such as t-shirts. Kruger has often derived images from the mass media and pasted the words over them, particularly in Futura Bold. She …

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What is Wolfgang Tillmans’ Still Life series all about?

Photography / 6 minutes of reading

Who is Wolfgang Tillmans? Wolfgang Tillmans is a Germany photographer. He started receiving recognition in the 1990s with special interests in documentations of youths, LGBTQ culture, and clubs. Since then, he has expanded his practice to accommodate diaristic photography, commissioned magazine work, and large scale conceptual series. Tillmans once commented that he wants his pictures …

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The best of James Turrell’s Ganzfelds

Installation, Light / 3 minutes of reading

What is James Turrell known for? With an arts career that began in the 1960s, James Turrell is a common name in art circles for his extensive works. He has an obvious fascination with light that is projected in the way he materialized the concept of light. The general style of Turrell is a combination …

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Why Jenny Holzer’s Inflammatory Essays matter

Other / 4 minutes of reading

Background The American artist and political activist, Jenny Holzer has racked up a reputation for herself for her Inflammatory Essays over the years. From 1977 to 1982, her text-based Inflammatory Essays were typically displayed for the public in the formula of simply worded statements printed in bold. As a result of her contribution to the …

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