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oliverdone-johnson · 4 years

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Context of contemporary fine art practise, Lecture 5: Fons Americanus notes

Below is my typed up notes from Wednesdays context of contempory fine art practise lecture that focused on Kara Walkers Fons Americanus sculpture at Tate Modern. I have added it to my Tumblr page for my protest project due to its relevance to protest. The notes below explain Walkers link to protest through her work.

“I am and shall continue to be the monster in your closet. Prodding at your

tightly wound arsenal, your history.

Let me out.

And. You. shall. seek. to. put. me. back. in.

And together we will: in and out and in and out together HAHA!”

Kara Walker 2000

Overview of the piece

Kara Walkers work is a focus on the institution Tate Modern. She focuses on the history of the institution and what secrets they sometimes do not want to be spilled to the public. Fons Americanus is in the Turbine hall inside Tate Modern. The term Fons Americanus could mean all things American’ or it could also mean ‘American Bum hole Fountain’ according to Stuart. The sculpture also comes with an announcement plaque, the announcement is written to be a fun ready and provides entertainment, but the subject matter on the announcement when ready covers a very dark story. This could be showing Kara Walkers sense of what art is, art is there to provide entertainment at certain times in peoples lives i.e. going to a gallery on the weekend. But she is also looking at the cost of art in life- she is pointing towards slavery that was the main fund of these institutions through the sugar or coffee industries. As over 1.5 million are known to have died being transported by boat in slavery going from Africa to nations like the UK and USA. Therefore, showing how in this piece there is much more of a focus on the content rather than the materials used. She is focusing on how it is the cost of the lives lost to create these institutions and how institutions are often made from wealth and corrupt powers, so wealth is key.

Kara Walkers early work focused on making playful cut outs that portray slavery, the artwork is presented in a way to show quite entertaining and sometime funny images i.e. a man farting but this is met with much harsher undertones and aspects of her work. Showing the balance between entertainment with the content of the project. Her work tackles serious subjects but is still inviting to an audience.

Fons Americanus was based of Queen Victoria’s Memorial monument at Buckingham Palace and was opened in 1911. The memorial shows Victoria’s life and how she commanded the largest empire in history. It also has a very nautical appearance as the navy and oceans were key to the empire. After the death of Victoria slavery was abolished. But Kara Walker uses her own statue to show the darker side of the empire and all the aspects that were forgotten in this memorial, such as slavery which was key to Victoria’s empire.

Slavery operated in a triangle between Europe, especially countries such as the UK, Portugal and Holland, America and Africa. The slaves would come from Africa and travel to the UK and USA in exchange for exports of goods. Kara Walker is also known to have taken inspiration from packaging and images from the past such as Cotton plantations in South Carolina, 18th century tobacco adverts and One of Ten Views in the Island of Antigua 1823.

The boats that transported the slaves were more like prisons that housed the slaves under deck with thousands being crammed in. Turner painted a piece called- Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon coming on 1840. That shows a slaver throwing the slaves overboard as a way to claim insurance as he would not get money if they died on the ship but would if they drowned of the ship. Therefore, murdering hundreds of innocent humans just because their slaves.

In the Fons Americanus exhibition there is not just the large sculpture and plaque but also a Shell Grotto that depicts a man crying inside. The Shell can be shown to link to Sandro Botticelli The Birth of Venus 1484-86 and Voyage of the Sable Venus. The link can be shown from the shell as the shell is used in both just like Venus to popularise the slave trade and make it seem pure but Voyage of the Sable Venus was originally published for the book: History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies. The text of the book was written by a British politician Bryan Edwards who justified slavery on the grounds of the huge economic benefits for England. The crying figure inside the shell is linked to Sierra Leone as during slavery it was a very advantageous location due to the many islands surrounding it, they were used as various slave keeping prisons and camps. Bunce Island was the most notorious due to its Hole of the brave, which was a giant hole that slaves were thrown into to die if they refused to board the ship, hence why Walker portrays a man crying out of what seems to be a hole.

Breakdown of the sculpture

At the top of Fons Americanus stands Venus with a cut through her neck and breasts that both shoot water. Walker said that this represents the blood and milk of the Black Atlantic, becoming a reminder of the lives lost due to slavery. Walker is also known for studying in Rome where she observed Piaza Navona and the Trevi Fountain, these being two historic fountains in Rome. Below the statue of Venus there are 4 smaller characters: The Captain, The Tree, Queen Vicky and the kneeling man.

The captain represents many figures both real and fictional it has been perceived there are influences from Marcus Garvey (Jamaican 1887-1940) Political activist and entrepreneur who encouraged a sense of pride and self-worth among Africans and the African diaspora amid widespread poverty, discrimination, and colonialism. And Toussaint L’Ouverture (French 1743-1803) Revolutionary leader who helped transform the slave insurgency into a revolutionary movement. As well as Captain Paul Cuffee & The Emperor Jones (fictional) A synthesis of real & fictional heroes/characters who fight against colonialism whilst revealing contradictions – desire for their own power.

The tree represents the thousands of trees used for slave hangings and lynching’s and Walker draws upon how these hanging locations had become tourist hubs just like her monument. Trees are innocent, wordlessly submitting to the weight of injustice, witness bearing.

The Kneeling man represents the ideology of self-obsess, where people sucked up to traders i.e. black traders to improve their own financial situation over helping their people, it represents greed. “He begs a slave owner an amalgam of European Colonial Interests, full of Capital and Promises and Religion Lies, deceit and corruption.”

Queen Vicky is placed in the piece as she was the reigning monarch through slavery and profited of it the most, and because Kara Walker based her statue of Victoria’s memorial. Victoria is shown in the image to be holding a coconut and it is unclear weather Vicky is about to hit the person below her or feed them. This can represent the argument of her rule. She is a Maternal character, holding a coconut. Is it a fruit of life, or could it fall on the head of the man beneath?

Lower down on Fons Americanus there is a rowing boat surrounded by sharks. The rowing boat is linked to Winslow Homer the Gulf Stream 1899 that depicts the dangers of the waters. The sharks are also a notable link to Damien Hirst, but it is unclear weather this is appreciation of his work or a critique. Kanye Wests initials are also used on the bottom of the boat to link the past the present and show how sucking up and greed can elevate a person to a position of power.

Kara Walker could be linked to artists like Andrea Fraser and Hans Hucker with her evidential critiques in the art world.

History of Henry Tate and the Tate institute

Henry Tate 1819-1899 was a remarkably successful businessman. At the age of 50 he owned a sugar refinery company. In his later years he donated his paintings to the government. Th building that resulted was Tate Britain which was opened to the public in 1897. The institution would not be a thing if it were not for Henry Tate’s wealth. Tate is known for being involved with the sugar business, which is where Tate Lyle comes from. The sugar trade was built from slavery. And even though he did not start in the sugar trade until after slavery was abolished but he did profit from its history, which was built from slavery. The Tate recently started a project looking back at its origins and history, which is why they invited Kara Walker to create a sculpture for Tate Modern.

In 2014 created a sculpture titled ‘A subtlety or the marvellous sugar baby’ At the Domino sugar factory in Brooklyn NYC. Walker was offered an old sugar factory, so she made a giant sphinx sculpture that was covered in sugar. The sphinx was also heavily sexualized to link its humanity to other aspects such as greed and power. In this exhibition there was also smaller sculptures which were of child slaves made completely out of sugar. This represents ‘Subtlety’ as in the past little sweets were shaped to look like important people such as royals, it is a power play. So, Walker made these subtleties of slave children as a way to relook at this concept in a much darker light.

When you contrast Walkers first quote about being a monster with her invitation from the Tate it seems like a brave thing for the institution to do. As Walker unearthed and reminded the nation of much worse times and put a negative shadow over Tate and its origins. And although it could be shown as very noble of Tate to respect the artist and allow her critique of there institution Tate has since had other critiques in articles, such as there wage inequality for lower paid staff such as security and shop workers. Showing a stark difference within the institution of how they are willing to allow attention to some aspects of corruption, but others struggles such as modern-day wage inequality is shrouded in secrecy.

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blograzorwit · 7 years

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Jest A Minute (16/11/2017) from Subroto Mukherjee

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