Jean Tinguely (Contemporary Art Practice)
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss artist born on 22nd of May 1925. Although he applied his hand to a wide array of mediums from painting to sculpture, he is most well known for his 'Kinetic art'. In particular, Tinguely created a variety of machines with questionable purposes. Some did nothing, some created moving paintings, some created their own drawings and a few even intentionally destroyed themselves. He continued to work up to his death in 1991 due to a heart illness. After his death, a gallery in his hometown of Basel was named after him and permanently houses a vast collection of his work.
Initially Tinguely's work started out as part of Dada, creating Metamatic machines in the 1950s. These machines created their own art, all be it in a very clumsy and mechanical way. Attaching a pencil to a swirling hanging metal appendage and such. He would continue to work with this concept, developing it into moving images. Canvases where the subject would rotate, spin, or move around the canvas through mechanical means. Most consider his work to be a comment on industrial society and how we manufacture goods. Though his work is incredibly diverse, even within the kinetic style.
Fantamorgana is one of my favourite machines that Tinguely created. Constructed in 1985, it's something of an oddity for Tinguely. He was known for drawing schematics and planning his work, but this creation came from luck and impulse. Discovering several large wooden wheels and parts in an abandoned warehouse, Tinguely assembled the machine by instinct and intuition over a period of six days. The machine also included many parts and structures that Tinguely brought to the warehouse, including several musical instruments. When the machine is in motion, it creates a mechanical ambient noise, interspersed with clanging and creaking of a somewhat melodic variety. It belongs to a collection of Tinguely's work known as Meta-Harmonie IV because of it's melodic nature.
Despite the main concept behind the piece being one of sound and music, that's not what I find the most appealing about this machine. Visually, I find this piece of art to be incredibly appealing. It's weirdly nostalgic for me. A machine with brightly coloured parts, the design of the wheels. It feels like something out of a Roald Dahl book. I can understand how Tinguely felt stumbling across these large colourful and wooden components and being excited to turn them into something. This was the piece that made me want to look into Tinguely.
In stark contrast to the colourful and musical contraption, Char Mk from 1966 is another piece of his that caught my eye. It's worth noting that this machine has been altered throughout the course of time, with Tinguely modifying it throughout his life. It's constructed using metals, wood and rubber, and rolls back and forth on a locked track. The movement of the machine is oddly sexual in natural, grinding forward and then rotating to pull backward. Unlike Fantamorgana, it doesn't intentionally make a sound, though the smaller wheels do create a mechanical whirring whistling noise as they spin.
This piece is so different to Fantamorgana in every way, yet I find it appealing for oddly similar reasons. The way the machine moves is natural and somehow organic. It really reminds me of the pistons and movements you'd find on the wheels of a steam locomotive. It's familiar, and to me, oddly comforting. I'm not sure if this is intention, though these machines, initially dark and mechanical, have a sort of life to them that I never expected.
Pit-Stop from 1984 is one of his more complex works. It combines two Formula One cars from 1983, both from Team Renault (who commissioned the artwork). Within the structure, there are two film projectors which display a looking piece of footage that shows the Formula One cars entering a pit stop. The parts of the cars rotate and move, slowly and calmly. They interact and mingle with each other. Tinguely explained that he wasn't trying to recreate the super fast movements of the Pit stop, but rather the beautiful synchronisation of parts and movements to complete a complicated task. The light from the projectors also casts a shadow outward of the structures parts.
I am an enthusiast of motor vehicles, and it's rare for me to see one used in art in a way such as this. It's a little overwhelming, just what Tinguely has done with this. It's an homage to Formula One racing. Yet it maintains his flare, his style. Seeing car parts within his structures is for me, quite rewarding. The body panels also have a sort of aeroplane look to them, the very futuristic and modern looking components of the vehicles really stand out when put with Tinguely's other work. I think he achieves what he intended to do.
I was surprised by Tinguely's work. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I think you can only truly appreciate them when in motion, the images don't do them justice. With all of these machines, I was able to find footage of them in action, and it was only upon seeing them move did I really begin to understand what they were about and why I liked them as an individual. The movement adds character and personality, and eradicates my initial reaction of 'clunky impersonal machinery'. Contemporary art is something I feel I still don't have a handle on just yet, but Tinguely's work really resonates with me.
Initially Tinguely's work started out as part of Dada, creating Metamatic machines in the 1950s. These machines created their own art, all be it in a very clumsy and mechanical way. Attaching a pencil to a swirling hanging metal appendage and such. He would continue to work with this concept, developing it into moving images. Canvases where the subject would rotate, spin, or move around the canvas through mechanical means. Most consider his work to be a comment on industrial society and how we manufacture goods. Though his work is incredibly diverse, even within the kinetic style.
Fantamorgana is one of my favourite machines that Tinguely created. Constructed in 1985, it's something of an oddity for Tinguely. He was known for drawing schematics and planning his work, but this creation came from luck and impulse. Discovering several large wooden wheels and parts in an abandoned warehouse, Tinguely assembled the machine by instinct and intuition over a period of six days. The machine also included many parts and structures that Tinguely brought to the warehouse, including several musical instruments. When the machine is in motion, it creates a mechanical ambient noise, interspersed with clanging and creaking of a somewhat melodic variety. It belongs to a collection of Tinguely's work known as Meta-Harmonie IV because of it's melodic nature.
Despite the main concept behind the piece being one of sound and music, that's not what I find the most appealing about this machine. Visually, I find this piece of art to be incredibly appealing. It's weirdly nostalgic for me. A machine with brightly coloured parts, the design of the wheels. It feels like something out of a Roald Dahl book. I can understand how Tinguely felt stumbling across these large colourful and wooden components and being excited to turn them into something. This was the piece that made me want to look into Tinguely.
In stark contrast to the colourful and musical contraption, Char Mk from 1966 is another piece of his that caught my eye. It's worth noting that this machine has been altered throughout the course of time, with Tinguely modifying it throughout his life. It's constructed using metals, wood and rubber, and rolls back and forth on a locked track. The movement of the machine is oddly sexual in natural, grinding forward and then rotating to pull backward. Unlike Fantamorgana, it doesn't intentionally make a sound, though the smaller wheels do create a mechanical whirring whistling noise as they spin.
This piece is so different to Fantamorgana in every way, yet I find it appealing for oddly similar reasons. The way the machine moves is natural and somehow organic. It really reminds me of the pistons and movements you'd find on the wheels of a steam locomotive. It's familiar, and to me, oddly comforting. I'm not sure if this is intention, though these machines, initially dark and mechanical, have a sort of life to them that I never expected.
Pit-Stop from 1984 is one of his more complex works. It combines two Formula One cars from 1983, both from Team Renault (who commissioned the artwork). Within the structure, there are two film projectors which display a looking piece of footage that shows the Formula One cars entering a pit stop. The parts of the cars rotate and move, slowly and calmly. They interact and mingle with each other. Tinguely explained that he wasn't trying to recreate the super fast movements of the Pit stop, but rather the beautiful synchronisation of parts and movements to complete a complicated task. The light from the projectors also casts a shadow outward of the structures parts.
I am an enthusiast of motor vehicles, and it's rare for me to see one used in art in a way such as this. It's a little overwhelming, just what Tinguely has done with this. It's an homage to Formula One racing. Yet it maintains his flare, his style. Seeing car parts within his structures is for me, quite rewarding. The body panels also have a sort of aeroplane look to them, the very futuristic and modern looking components of the vehicles really stand out when put with Tinguely's other work. I think he achieves what he intended to do.
I was surprised by Tinguely's work. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I think you can only truly appreciate them when in motion, the images don't do them justice. With all of these machines, I was able to find footage of them in action, and it was only upon seeing them move did I really begin to understand what they were about and why I liked them as an individual. The movement adds character and personality, and eradicates my initial reaction of 'clunky impersonal machinery'. Contemporary art is something I feel I still don't have a handle on just yet, but Tinguely's work really resonates with me.
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