This class will engage contemporary approaches to the figure and the various ways that artists contest, assimilate, and reckon with the human body in sculpture. With the advent of postmodernism, the singular forms of classical and modern sculpture have fractured into composite, disjointed figures-even cyborgs- in keeping with the era of the “post human.” Students will take a multivalent approach to the historical precedents from which current representations have emerged and explore the limits of what might be considered figurative at all. Class will regularly co-convene with students in VIS 404 Painting II, which will also focus on the figure.
Sample reading list:
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
Claes Oldenberg, Store Days
Adrian Piper, Collected Writings
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Interview
Hal Foster, Selected Writings
Beatriz Colomina, Privacy and Publicity
Reading/Writing assignments:
Execution of a sculptural project from an assigned problem with the specific creative contribution determined by the student.
Prerequisites and Restrictions:
VIS 221/VIS 222 Introductory sculpture is a prerequisite, but no figuration experience is necessary.
