Pure Land
Mariko Mori. Tokyo, Japan. 1998. C.E. Color photograph on glass
To create a meditative environment that provides the audience with a sense of tranquility and transcendence. Allow the viewer to transport to Nirvana, as well as to represent a personal journey
FORM:
color photograph on glass
FUNCTION:
capture an idyllic moment, a depiction of paradise
CONTENT:
the title eludes to the Buddhist concept of paradise; sunset at the Dead Sea; lotus blossom in water symbolizes rebirth; salt - purifying according to Shintoism; celestial attendants represented as aliens with pointy heads, playing musical instruments; the artist inserts herself in the piece as the floating woman, she is dressed in Tang clothing and is holding a wishing jewel to grant enlightenment to all
CONTEXT:
based off of Nirvana, a video installation by Mori; she was a model before she became an artist
MODERN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
- 1950's = new medium = acrylic
- dry faster
- dont change color when dried
- BUT they crack faster
- oil is still preferred
- also many abandoned the canvas for a computer screen
- marble carving = dead
- modern forms of sculpture are faster to produced and reproduce
- assemblages: sculptors made of objects
- installations: large assemblages; can take up a whole room
- Japanese artist
- creative interpretation of traditional Japanese art forms
- romanticized pop culture
- Mori = vision in the guise of the Heian diety Kichijoten
- essence of beauty and harbinger of prosperity and happiness
- holds wish-granting jewel, nyoi hoju, power to deny evil and grant wishes
- jewel = Buddhas universal mind
- animated figures of aliens play instruments on clouds
- merging of consumer entertainment fantasies with traditional Japanese imagery
