Joshua
Yeldham
Artist
1. When/ where was
the artist born?
Sydney Australia
2. Give a brief
biography of the artist.
Joshua Yeldham went to school in Sydney at Cranbrook School
and he then went to University at Rhode Island School of Design, NY. He has had
10 solo exhibitions, 6 group show, and has exhibited extensively. His artworks
are inspired deeply by nature; and whilst developing his art-making practice,
he spent a lot of time in nature, camping, to reflect on his surroundings and
himself. His artworks are full of symbolism.
3. Art Movement
Yeldham is an Australian Landscape artist, however, he shows
the connection between animals and humans in his artworks, wit very detailed
patterns.
4. Art Era
Post-Modern – Contemporary
6. Artistic Influences
Drawing on the devotional ceremonies
and rituals of Eastern mysticism, he attempts to convey a kind of spiritual
communion with the natural world, which can then be shared with the viewer.
7. Personal Influences
Yeldham is very much influenced by the personal
circumstances of wanting to have children and then finding out that he and his
wife had to have IVF treatment before they could have children. His artworks often have humans and animals
together, often as self-portraits, with him as an owl. The Hawkesbury landscape influenced his deep
love of the landscape and keen observation of nature.
8. Other
Influences
He is interested in the mystical qualities of animals and
the lonely spaces of the desert.
His main influence however is his deep connection to the
land.
Artwork
Find
2x Artworks for each artist
Explain the kind
of subject matter the artist has represented for each artwork.
(I.) In “Prayer for Protection” The
source of his inspiration is his surrounding environment – Yeldham journeys up
river by boat exploring the gullies and creeks, sandstone cliffs and rock
surfaces, bird life and mangroves, which he then translates into remarkable
images. The main image in this artwork
is of an owl. The owl represents him, and is a self-portrait. The detailed and
intricate patterns used in this artwork describes how he sees himself as being
complex, and his past experiences also very riddled.
(ii.) In
“Self-Portrait: Morning Bay” the self-portrait, Yeldham says that: ‘the
instrument describes a connection between science and nature, the melody that
science played, surprisingly, in my own life when my wife and I were trying to
have children through IVF. The owl, the tree and the
instrument have been incredibly potent energies in my work over time, but they
also change and shift in their meaning, just as the mangrove tree seeks
stability in the mud.In the figures there is a sense of Yeldham as a developed creative force, but also a version of my his younger self, holding a brass bell, which is his link to the melodic, and the creative, and he is depicted as a very vulnerable form. On either side are two mysterious forms, which he says are “probably my children. I didn’t consciously set out to include them in a self-portrait”.
Describe the style
of the artwork. Include use of colour, cutting lines, lines, technique and
brush-strokes (if any).
These topographical
visions are slowly built up by painting, rubbing, sanding and carving onto
board and fibreglass – creating both vast and panoramic, intimate and intricate
views of nature. He uses many different symbols within both of these artworks,
and also many different and complex patterns. This shows what he is feeling at
that time, his connection to the land at that time, and what his past and
present experiences may be like.
Is the artist
making a social comment through visual imagery?
Yeldhams
works have long been an exploration of his immediate environment. He has an
eagle-eye for detail. Each blade of swamp grass is recorded in memory and
transported back to the studio where he begins the task of copying the days
visions. But that is only the beginning. With what seems a strange sense of
urgency, Yeldham then begins the task of building up a rich texture of nature,
a kind of reverence for nature and the grandness of its beauty. He is making a
social comment to us, through what he feels at the moment he creates that
artwork.
Define the meaning
of the artwork.
Yeldham’s
artworks are a mix of paintings and sculptures, a kind of hybrid craft. Yeldham’s artworks convey a mythical set of
ideas about the connection between humans and the natural world.
World
Examine how
current or historical events at the time the artist was alive shape the
artist’s practice.
Historical events
relate ore to Yeldham’s personal life and the tragedies of life and how they
can be represented metaphorically. In a
recent artwork “Self-Portrait: Morning Bay” 2013, he is represented as the owl
in the self-portrait, which was entered in the Archibald Prize.
Another event that was happening at the time, that Yeldham
was art making was that he wanted to have children, yet then found out that he
and his wife had to have IVF treatment before they could have children. This
comes across in his artworks.
Summarise how the
country where the artist was born or lived influenced the artworks.
The Australain Landscape if very powerful in Yeldham’s work
as he keenly observes the details and patterns as well as the typographical
features of the landscape. He builds a
rich kind of tapestry of landscape.
Audience
Give
a personal evaluation of the artwork
Do you think the
artwork is successful in conveying a meaning to the audience through the use of
line and colour? What is your personal response to the artwork?
The artwork conveys a rich meaning to the audience, as the
lines and colour work together to create a set of patterns that are very
interesting to look at.
Find a critical or
an audience response to the artwork from the time it was made; also find a
critical or an audience response to the artwork from contemporary times.
Interpret how audience response may differ or remain the same today.
Audience responses to
the artworks were; for example, Yeldham was a finalist in this years, 2013 Archibald
Prize, so his work is considered both a landscape and as a portrait. The
audience obviously liked Joshua Yeldham’s artwork for him to become a finalist.
Joshua Yeldham is a post-modern artist, so his audience would still be
relatively the same.
10. Frames
Subjective Frame:
Joshua was told that he couldn’t have a child, so he had to cross the
bridge into science. Yeldham was a cystic fibrosis carrier and couldn’t
conceive naturally. He said that “When you go through these invasive processes,
I felt I’d lost all control. So what I had to do was form a kind of ritual – I
started to make fertility objects. I had a vision of an owl where I saw the owl
as stealing our embryos, so I made offerings to the owl, which came from my
time in Bali, where you continually make devotional offerings. You ask guide
me, protect me, those basic prayers of protection and forgiveness. So you
cleanse yourself every day in order to cope”. That is why Joshua makes art, to
portray his feelings.
Cultural Frame:
There’s a very narrow palette range
because in this area the lower part of the Hawkesbury is just blue waters and
the upper part is mud- dy browns; so I have stuck to that palette for the last
three years. I’ve also been trying to learn about carving and line work and
I’ve always been very curious about why so many cultures around the world use
dot work and line. When you start making there’s such experimentation in the
process that it just rivets me.
Structural Frame:
“I’ve bought a paper mill so I can make
my own paper; I plan on making the paper on my boat. I can sail up river and
make the paper, so I can put plants, leaves and things in it. It’s a whole new
chapter. Maybe when I see you in a couple of years I’ll just be a paper maker!”
Postmodern Frame:
“I’m making them musical to say thank
you. This is the thank you period – the victory. I also liked the idea that
people who own the artwork might come home from work and might spend a few
minutes tuning or plucking the strings and making a melody.” This shows that
Yeldham has incorporated new things and technologies into his artworks that
post-modern artists do.
Artwork Example 1: Self Portrait: Morning Bay 2013, instrument, cane, shells and oil on carved board 200 x 244 cm.
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