Science and Progress-Tony Oursler- week 5

Science and Progress-Tony Oursler- week 5

New York 1996 pic1
'Eyes' 1996
pic2
pic3

Research Tony Oursler's projection sculpture to identify some of the ideas and methods he uses in his work.
How do you think the Enlightenment concepts of Science, progress, reason, individualism, empiricism, universalism, freedom and secularism can be applied to Oursler's work?

Instead of producing two-dimensional works onto a screen or a surface, Tony relocated projected or screened images onto three-dimensional objects, such as glass case (picture 1), spheres (picture 2), abstract sculpture shapes (picture 3), mannequins, and dummies. Science can be seen strongly through his works, biomorphic forms in varying configurations and sizes. Tony’s work highlight the key of expanding all human knowledge. From the works ‘eyes’ (1996), we can tell that Tony have experienced lots of methods in scientific way to produce such freaky but amazing results of eyes. The ‘eyes’ combine with natural and social world, eyes are the symbol of door of soul of human, it is part of human’s sense organs, Tony use technology to combine eyes to attempt a WOW to the viewers. Everyone has different feelings about things around themselves, and different people can see one objects in different ways, and have different comments and feelings, some people think the works are disgusting, some people think it is amazing or freaky, maybe this is what Tony wants to approach, to approve individualism this society has, one product can create a large number of individual actions and thoughts.

Fragmented eyes look like bizarre alien but still maintain enough human characteristics to create freakish, empathy and amazing fascination. The projection is bright and vivid but are viewed in normal light, look very sick, terrifying and horrific, tap a disorienting complex of psychological and perceptual quirks.

Bulbous blinking and rolling with outsized mouth pursing, while mumbling in a very sentimental way, sounds like self-pity and seductive to attract the viewer.

Secularism is also what I can see from Tony’s work. ‘Eyes’ are the works which opposite to traditional artworks, instead of present beauty and elegance, Tony used mawkish to emphasize the experiemce and performance of ‘presence’ is the way that he wants to show his work, he displaced ‘authority’ of classical presence. His work is about expression, performance and how technical support can bring his work more thoughts and feelings to the viewer, in Nick Kaye’s essay states “By contrast, Oursler’s hybrid objects are designed to prompt processes of emphathy and catharsis, frequently taking their effect in the viewer’s recongnition of and identification with a ‘media entiry’ whose perceived ‘presence’ may challenge the integrity and stability of the onlooker’s position.”

reference:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tony+Oursler&aq=f

http://csw.art.pl/new/99/ousler_e.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Oursler