Reading 1: Meg Cranston with Nico Israel

Meg Cranston with Nico Israel, “Running On Light Feet”, from “Hot Pants in a Cold Cold World: Works 1987 – 2007”, Auckland: Artspace and Clouds, 2008, pp.6-21.

What does it mean to read theoretical material as a creative practitioner?

Meg Cranston’s informal dialogue with Nico Israel provides a candid insight into the working methods and ideologies underpinning her diverse artistic practice. The interview Running on Light accompanies Cranston’s exhibition Hot Pants in a Cold Cold World: Works 1987 – 2007, held at Artspace, Auckland 2008. Israel and Cranston weave together a casual discourse that bellies the fluid yet informed modus operandi of the artist.

The ease of conversation and the maneuverability between disparate subjects fools the reader into perceiving Cranston as somewhat cavalier and haphazard in her artistic approach. Anecdotes about Paris Hilton and Rem Koolhaas suggest aspects of a playful, lighthearted application of theories under girding Cranston’s concepts. Cranston seamlessly dovetails pop-culture with art theoretical giants. A quick glance through the text reveals a myriad of personalities contributing to the contemporary art canon. Skimming the pages names such as; Kippenberger, Foucault, Freud, Haring, Duchamp, Nietzche, Led Zeppelin, Mike Kelley, Greenberg…oscillate revealing the diverse sources of theories, concepts and influences informing Cranston’s work.

Cranston reveals the immense breadth of content informing her pieces. In her words, ‘I won’t discredit artists who go deep, but I go broad.’1 Her working methods can be considered an example of the archetypal post-modern practitioner. Fidelity to one primary art theoretical position is sublimated to a type of theoretical polygamy. Multiple heavyweight principles weave in collaboration with one another. Both Israel and Cranston assume a level of theoretical literacy. Witty references could be lost on less informed readers, for example Israel’s clever re-contextualizing of the Hilton vs. Koolhaas anecdote. Phrasing the parable “Rem Descending a Staircase”2 is a direct referral to the hugely controversial work produced by Marcel Duchamp in 1912, Nude Descending A Staircase 3. A theoretically proficient reader would be aware of the revolutionary history inherent in the painting.

The clever application of theoretical precepts places Cranston’s work within a broad art historical context and at once imbues the work with a sense of authority by virtue of its informed references. In addition to acknowledging works by revolutionary artists such as Duchamp, Cranston also sets up vital discourses with her contemporaries including artists and thinkers who have, and will, continue to provoke her conceptual responses. The Wonder and Horror of the Human Head is a quintessential example of the amalgamation of past and present art history. Cranston references a show of the same name curated by Roland Penrose and Herbert Read in 1953 and charges Richard Hamilton to curate a contemporary version.

Without Cranston’s incredibly well versed theoretical knowledge many of her works would lack depth. Aspects of content referring to broader social commentary are only as powerful as they are well informed. Cranston is an advocate of what she refers to as the “unsavory aspects of Modernism,” that is “any kind of education about how to think and talk about abstract concepts becoming form.”4 She embodies the ideal that an artist must be simultaneously fluent in both art history and theory in order for their art to convey concepts with authority.

In summary Cranston exemplifies the fact that in order to confront sociological constructs in a meaningful way the artist must operate from a position of diversely informed knowledge. It is from this informed position that an artist can then authoritatively deconstruct such knowledge to make counter or complementary claims. Cranston and Israel playfully unpack heavy weight art theory that is accessible to art savvy readers and burgeoning practitioners. In a lighthearted, non-prescriptive way, Cranston illustrates the great breadth, authority and freedom indicative of works by a creative practitioner widely informed by theoretical material.

1 - Meg Cranston with Nico Israel, “Running On Light Feet”, from “Hot Pants in a Cold Cold World: Works 1987 – 2007”, Auckland: Artspace and Clouds, 2008, pp.6-21. P 8
2 - Ibid. P 15.
3 - Nude Descending A Staircase. http://www.idiom.com/~wcs/duchamp.html. 14.03.2008
4 - Meg Cranston with Nico Israel. P 19.