Visual Arts Question Thread

[beatroot]

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Hey everyone! I have to admit Visual Arts has to be and always will be my favourite HSC subject. I find doing the 'Body of Work' very enjoyable and doing art theory very exhilarating. I have been taught by two HSC markers during my HSC year. I would love to spread their knowledge onto current and upcoming HSC students.

If you have any questions about Visual Arts; just pop your questions below    

[bridie_2345]

Hi there was just wondering if Andy Goldsworthy and Fiona Hall would be considered post modern artists?

[dancing phalanges]

Hi there was just wondering if Andy Goldsworthy and Fiona Hall would be considered post modern artists?

If the artworks of theirs you are using are made post around 1970 then yes they would be

[maddy359]

Just wondering if people do a context paragraph for their artists separately or integrate it throughout their essay

Thanks

[beatroot]

Just wondering if people do a context paragraph for their artists separately or integrate it throughout their essay

Thanks

I personally integrate it within my analysis, just because it's expected to analyse (at least) four works in 45 minutes and having a separate paragraph would be impossible!

Let's say you're analysing Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain', this is how you would integrate Duchamp's context in your paragraph analysis.

"The found object however developed into the readymade, as evident by Duchamp’s groundbreaking practice. Marcel Duchamp, a French and DADA artist introduces the readymade by submitting a signed urinal, under the alias R. Mutt, which sparked debates in the art world. The artist wanted to introduce the practice of using ready made objects and transforming them into an artwork. This seemingly ‘lazy’ approach to creating artwork certainly impacted the art world. Duchamp wanted to introduce that industrial products such as this untouched and somewhat pathetic urinal can be deemed as art too." (this is what I wrote for my trial)

^ So I would have the usual intro sentence then I move straight into the context of the artist. Have probably 1-3 sentences, depending on your artist. Afterward you would move onto analysing the actual artwork itself after talking about the context of the artist.

Hope this helps!

[dancing phalanges]

Just adding to Beatroot's great answer, it can also really depend on the question in terms of whether it is necessary to go into much depth. For instance, if a question is asking about how artists explore social/political issues in their artwork, using the example of Gordon Bennett, his work investigates the falsity of the predominantly European construction of Australia's history. Bennett is part Australian and part European, therefore, this is an important piece of context to include in your response as his work inherently is connected with his own identity - he is part Aboriginal and European and so is Australia's history, yet our understanding of Australia's past is not balanced like his understanding of his identity, rather it is dominated by European construction. Another example is Ai Weiwei, who is a political artist/activist in China. His work is highly motivated by the injustices of the past and present actions of the Chinese Government and in particular Communist China. Here is an example of how I blended context into a paragraph on one of his works:

For example, ‘Study of Perspective – Tiananmen Square’ (1995) is a clear act on Ai’s behalf to challenge the Chinese people to rise up against restrictive governments. In this work, Ai 'sticks his finger up' to the site of the brutal massacre in 1989, where soldiers shot peaceful protesters. The Beijing Government still refuses to discuss the incident and censors all footage of it. The work is a part of a series which includes Ai sticking his finger up at other symbols of control such as the White House and Reichstag. Therefore, Ai is quite graphically displaying his disdain for state power. In this work in particular, Ai is specifically taking a stand against the censorship of the Chinese media and Government. His lone finger standing against symbols of state power references ‘tankman’, an unidentified protestor photographed in 1989 who faced the line of tanks at Tiananmen Square. Thus, Ai directly challenges the corruption of the Chinese Government and the provocative nature of his work is a deliberate plea to empower all Chinese people to consider the injustices of their past.

Hope that helps as well

[maddy359]

Thanks so much that helps a lot. At the moment I'm doing a context paragraph and three artworks on top of that for each artist and I'm just struggling to have a strong analysis with so much to write in so little time.

Thanks again!

[Ms.School.Related]

Hi there,

I was just wondering if there was any formula or advice upon acing the short answer segment of the HSC paper? I've been struggling with figuring out how to get the full marks, while still using the art terminology and meeting the needs of the question.

[dancing phalanges]

Hi there,

I was just wondering if there was any formula or advice upon acing the short answer segment of the HSC paper? I've been struggling with figuring out how to get the full marks, while still using the art terminology and meeting the needs of the question.

Really there is no formula. I would just suggest doing as many past papers as possible and when that's done, find art books or online search up artists and pick a work randomly and just write for 10 minutes to a broad question like how does ______ respond to their world in their artwork. Another key thing to do is understand the importance of the citations as they are often hints eg. if the medium is quite new then that is evidence of Post-Modern practice. Also I would just recommend knowing the general art movements and what ideas they explore. For the 12 marker, I would look at making sure that you know how to compare and contrast art over time as they are often 3 artworks reflecting similar ideas but from different time periods, so it is important to mention in this case something along the lines of, as your opening statement: While the idea of the sublime has been explored by artists over time, their way of doing so has transformed in order to reflect their context. Something like that. But yeah just smash out as many past papers as possible and just look and write about as many artworks as possible too

[Ms.School.Related]

Really there is no formula. I would just suggest doing as many past papers as possible and when that's done, find art books or online search up artists and pick a work randomly and just write for 10 minutes to a broad question like how does ______ respond to their world in their artwork. Another key thing to do is understand the importance of the citations as they are often hints eg. if the medium is quite new then that is evidence of Post-Modern practice. Also I would just recommend knowing the general art movements and what ideas they explore. For the 12 marker, I would look at making sure that you know how to compare and contrast art over time as they are often 3 artworks reflecting similar ideas but from different time periods, so it is important to mention in this case something along the lines of, as your opening statement: While the idea of the sublime has been explored by artists over time, their way of doing so has transformed in order to reflect their context. Something like that. But yeah just smash out as many past papers as possible and just look and write about as many artworks as possible too

I really like art book idea!
I think now I feel a little better about approaching the short answer.  Thank you so much for the help.

[luchesharman]

Hi! Just wondering how you'd effectively approach a question concerning the connection between audience and artwork as I seem to have the most difficulty in answering those types of questions. Just a few general outlines or some pointers on the relationship between audience and artwork would be greatly appreciated as I've found I haven't really focused on this component in class haha.

[dancing phalanges]

Hi! Just wondering how you'd effectively approach a question concerning the connection between audience and artwork as I seem to have the most difficulty in answering those types of questions. Just a few general outlines or some pointers on the relationship between audience and artwork would be greatly appreciated as I've found I haven't really focused on this component in class haha.

Really depends what artwork you get!
- If it is an installation artwork it's relationship with the audience is significant as the audience is immersed within an installation piece and effectively becomes part of the work. For instance, Antony Gormley's works.
- If it is a work such as Marcel Duchamp's which shocks audiences then the link is quite clearly about the artwork challenging audiences and inviting a range of responses/relationships with it.
- If the work is like Marina Abramovic's and involves the audience, for example, her work the Artist is Present, in which audience members stare at her in turns for 1 minute straight, then clearly her work is heavily dependent on audience participation and their emotional response.
- To other examples, if the artwork is simply about a world issue or raising awareness for some thought eg. in Gordon Bennett's case, the silenced Aboriginal perspective, you can link the artwork and audience as to the artwork educating/enlightening the audience as to this issue and hence changing their perspective.
- Artworks can also change the way audiences view the world, for example, installations in public spaces directly involve audiences and alter the way they can see a space by offering a new perspective on it, for instance, if the work is made of a reflective material and offers various viewpoints of the surroundings.
That's a range of simple ways to link artwork to audience

[beatroot]

Hi! Just wondering how you'd effectively approach a question concerning the connection between audience and artwork as I seem to have the most difficulty in answering those types of questions. Just a few general outlines or some pointers on the relationship between audience and artwork would be greatly appreciated as I've found I haven't really focused on this component in class haha.

Hey! Welcome to the forums!!!

Usually it really depends how the question is worded and if its either a 'conceptual framework', 'frames', or 'practice' question. Although it is rare for a 'audience and artwork' question to be a frames question, because you technically cannot talk about the audience in a frames question. However, a 'conceptual framework' and a 'practice' question is common.

If its a conceptual framework question, talk about how
- the work relates back to society
- if it's historical, what is the profound meaning behind the work and how does it resonate with the people during its time
- how has the work impacted the audience? emotionally? personally?
- how the world responds to the work? do art critics bash on the work? do activists use the work as a symbol? for example, the works of marcel duchamp (particularly the fountain), got criticised by art critics.

If its a practice question, talk about how
-  [Material practice] The materials has enabled the audience to interact and have an intimate relationship with the work. Usually installation works are the works included in practice questions
- [Conceptual practice] how is the connection created within a work? is the work an installation work? does the material used in the work have a meaningful connection with the audience? For example, in ai weiwei's work 'sunflower seeds', the sunflower ceramics used in the work were made by Chinese artisans.The sunflower seeds have a connection with the Chinese audience because the seeds have a historical meaning and were a symbol for friendship.

[TL;DR] The main functions of an artwork are to create meaning, connect with society somehow or comment/reflect what was going on during the time. Artists always take their inspiration from events, people and society. So in a way, the artwork ALWAYS connects with the audience. You just have to specifically what characteristics and/or materials in the work makes that connection.

Hope this helps!

[beatroot]

Hi there,

I was just wondering if there was any formula or advice upon acing the short answer segment of the HSC paper? I've been struggling with figuring out how to get the full marks, while still using the art terminology and meeting the needs of the question.

Adding onto dancing phalanges' answer, the best way to get full marks in section 1 is to differentiate the 'conceptual framework', 'practice' and 'frames' questions from each other. Each of the questions represents one of these categories. The only way to do this is by practice and exposing yourself to new questions everyday. You need to learn the difference between the three in order to effectively answer section 1.

Conceptual framework:
Question usually asks how the artist can relate the work to the world somehow. Society is usually involved in this question and you must make a comment how the work has impacted its audience.

Practice:
How did the artist did they work and what did they use? How does their practice create meaning? This is basically an expansion on the structural frame. How did they cultural background affect how they do their work?

Frames:
Fairly straightforward. Most likely to ask you about one frames rather than all the frames at once. It is rare that they'll ask a subjective frame question because it's a bit 'basic' (as my art teacher would say). Cultural frame = how the artist's cultural background affected their work, what events happened during their time etc. Structural frame = provide evidence how the artist did their work. Post-modern frame = what postmodern features are prominent in the work.

I should probably start a 'guess the question' thread soon. But for now, try and guess what types of questions these are.

"How does an artist’s practice affect how they interpret motion in their work?"

answer

practice

"How does the artist depict her environment in her work?"

answer

frames (specifically structural)

"How does the conceptual intent of an artist impact an audience’s perception of the world?"

answer

conceptual framework

By building up your capacity to differentiate these types of questions, this will make it easier for you to do your analysis.

To get the full marks for section 1, definitely try and fill up the provided space in the booklet (or even ask for an extra booklet). For every point made, just keep on expanding, whilst still sticking to the question.

For example, if you get this question in the exam 'How does John Wolseley depict features of Australian in his work?'.
Point out everything in the work (techniques, materials, time of work) and relate everything to the artist and/or society

suggested answer

In this lithographic print “Botanist’s Camp” (1997) by the Australian artist John Wolseley, it appears to be a depiction of the Australian landscape. In the work, Wolseley attempts to capture the rural landscape of Australia through the raw, natural colours that perfectly depict the realistic image of this seemingly mundane matter. The work provides a plethora of botanical plants, alluding to the name of work, whereby it reflect Wolseley’s overall intentions and practice as an artist. The plants also challenges initial perceptions of the Australian landscape

Doesn't matter if your interpretation is right or wrong. The markers want to see your ability to make an argument not if you got the meaning of the work right.

[maddy359]

HELP! does anyone have any decent websites or places for past Visual arts papers. Most of the plates are under copyright so its a bit of a struggle.

Thanks so much