ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Ka-boom!
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Anne Stansfield works in a conceptual or site responsive manner to produce sculptural objects, traditional 2D works, or videos and animations.
In conceptual art, it is the idea of the work that is important, and this takes precedence over the materials and aesthetics. Stansfield uses trial and error processes in her making both to collaborate with the materials and to allow a space for not-knowing; to entice innovation. She instinctively works across mediums to mirror how people consume culture today; she says, ‘It would be odd for someone to try and make sense of the world by just looking at paintings, so it seems logical to experiment with disciplines that communicate the idea most favourably.’
Critical theory drives Stansfield and agglomerations her philosophical reading can be seen in her work. She prizes the qualities of simplicity, chance, humour and ambiguity of meaning. Conclusions to her work are often open-ended precisely to encourage viewers to become an ally of the work. She acknowledges that her work would not exist without the influence and collaboration of others, and that it would not be art without the viewer’s input.
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Theoretical Touchstones
Relational Aesthetics and the Fluxus Group influence Stansfield's work. Her methodology is to build relationships on sites and work sympathetically with the situation. Where appropriate, she critiques institutions, focussing on their processes. "Revolutionary artists are those who call for intervention; and who have themselves intervened in the spectacle to disrupt and destroy it" (Guy Debord, 1960).
"The work's social effects are more important than its appearance."
Robertson, J. & McDaniel, C. (2005) Themes of contemporary art. Third Edition. New York N.Y. USA: Oxford University Press.
Stallabrass, J. (1999) High art lite. London: Verso.
"The best pieces are those that respond to the environment...[these give an] air of authenticity."
O’Neill, P. (2012) The culture of curating and the curating of culture(s). Cambridge, MASS, U.S.A.: MIT Press.
"Bourdieu asserts that any perception of the art world must go beyond an understanding of art as something to be appreciated solely in terms of aesthetics, to include concepts of value, classification, and characterization within the socio-cultural sphere. Artists and curators are cooperative producers of culture."