+Ai Weiwei, Ton of Tea, 2011
image: https://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11712/a-ton-of-tea
This piece was suggested to me by a group tutorial and after further investigation is quite an interesting piece of artwork, as it is a similar format to the original piece I looked at, the Roni Horn, Pink tons. The piece was formed in this way due to the traditional way China would transport tea, the links between contries is similar to Horns as her piece is inspired by her visits to Iceland.
+Donald Judd, Untitled, 1980
This piece features in the same exhibition as the Roni Horn, Pink Tons, I was wondering why they had been featured in the same exhibition. These are both featured as they are both ‘minimalist’ works of art. The way the artists both focus on what type of materials they use is really inspiring to me as I personally don’t have too much experience with a huge variety of materials, I would enjoy the chance to experiment with a variety of new materials and skills as this year of uni will be for experiments.
“Judd began making stacks in the 1960s. Most consist of ten elements, although there is variation in the materials used. The stacks are all ordered according to strict principles: the gap between each unit, and between the first unit and the floor, should be equal to the height of a single unit. Since the units are all identical, their significance derives from this pre-determined geometric order rather than from any individual features. However, Judd’s attention to the sensuous qualities of his materials prevents Untitled from being cold or clinical.
Gallery label, October 2016″ – http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/judd-untitled-t03087
+Vija Celmins, To Fix the Image in Memory, 1977-82
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“For this work, Celmins made bronze casts of eleven rocks and then painted the casts to resemble the original stones as closely as possible. In an interview, she recalled, “I got the idea for this piece while walking in northern New Mexico picking up rocks, as people do. I’d bring them home and I kept the good ones. I noticed that I kept a lot that had galaxies on them. I carried them around in the trunk of my car. I put them on window sills. I lined them up. And, finally, they formed a set, a kind of constellation. I developed this desire to try and put them into an art context. Sort of mocking art in a way, but also to affirm the act of making: the act of looking and making as a primal act of art.” By having each original rock installed with its duplicate, Celmins invites the viewer to examine them closely: “Part of the experience of exhibiting them together with the real stones,” she has said, “was to create a challenge for your eyes. I wanted your eyes to open wider.”
Gallery label from Against the Grain: Contemporary Art from the Edward R. Broida Collection, May 3–July 10, 2006″ – https://www.moma.org/collection/works/100210
I am inspired by the way that the artist has had a completely different interpretation of a response to the same/ a similar material choice. This makes me want top discover other artist that also use the same material to use as an object to create initial responses from.
Alexandra Fine Art 
