Conclusion

(Louise Despont and Jeremy Poulin (photographer))

The most important elements of Louie Despont's art is her global influence, goal to archive culture and history and work with femmage. All of her art examines historic event, themes and culture. From the exhibit shown to many others Despont uses her art to tell a story. Her simple tools and the careful piecing together of her art works as a reclaiming of female art. Louise also does a good job making her art accessible. She has a large web presence, especially through her website. On her website you can scroll through her work for the past six year, as well as photos of her exhibits for the past four years. In this way you can virtually tour the archives of her artistic progression. Despont is an excellent example of a modern artist, using the internet to create an inclusive environment for all to view. 

Bibliography

Artbroth. “Artbroth Emerging Contemporary Artists.” Louise Despont. N.p., 2012. Web.

14 May 2015.

Despont, Louise. “Drawings.” RSS. N.p., 2011. Web. 28 May 2015.

Heinrich, Will. "'Louise Despont: Tide Fulcrum & The Motion of Fixed Stars' at Nicelle

Beauchene." Observer. N.p., 08 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 May 2015.  

Leffingwell, Edward."Schapiro's Material Girls." Art in America94.8 pg.130,132-133. Web. September 2006.

Miller, Wesley, and Nick Ravich. “Louise Despont Draws Deep.” ART21 New York

Close Up. ART21 Procution, 13 July 2014. Web. 03 May 2015.

Orchard Street, New York, NY September 12–October 24, 2010.” Louise Despont:

Christopher Howard. N.p., 2010. Web. 21 May 2015.

Raaberg, Gwen. “Beyond Fragmentation: Collage as Feminist Strategy in the

Arts.”Mosaic : A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature (1998): n.

pag. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2015.

Salazar, Rafael. "Louise Despont Draws Deep." ART21 New York Close Up. Wesley

Wolf, Alex. “LOUISE DESPONT Draws Deep.” THELAST MAGAZINE. N.p., 09 Jan.

2013. Web. 07 May 2015.

Vepa, Shweta. “Sacred Spaces: An Interview With Louise Despont.” Luxpresso.com.

Times and Style, 8 Feb. 2013. Web. 03 May 2015.

Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Berkeley: U of California, 1996. Print.

Despont and "Femmage"

Collage is Louise Desponts main medium. Her collage is created by piecing together separate pages into one cohesive image. This art form holds many connotations within the art world. This medium is especially important in the feminist movement. There has been a recent reclaiming of collage within feminist art, working to show the merit of this female task. This is done much like the way Judy Chicago reclaimed plate painting to make an important and historical exhibit. In the article “Beyond Fragmentation” the term "femmage" is explored. Raaberg defines "femmage" as female art claiming. This is a move for female artistes to redefine "classic art." The article explains, “femmage as a strategy, developed in the traditional women’s art activities of handiwork and crafts, which in the past had provided a felicitous method for women with limited access to the means and materials of the “fine arts” to create beautiful and useful art” (Raaberg). By defining fine arts through the use of expensive, classically, materials the pool of potential artists is significantly narrowed. One can see Louise Despont working against this definition by achieving creating art with pencils and stencils. These pieces are huge, and hold a historical significance as Despont captures historical events in her pieces. Despont also, discusses how her style allows her to work on her own time, unencumbered by grants or funding. In this way she further frees herself to explore her art.

A good example of Despont exploring "femmage" is in her piece Edelweiss, 2011. This is a large piece (3ft by 5ft) that to my knowledge has not been exhibited. This piece is a wash of blues and greens showing a mountain landscape. The title hits that this is the mountain range in Austria (from the movie The Sound Of Music). Looking at it in this context one can infer that there is a historical message, about the Nazis invading Austria and the escape found in these mountains. In this way Despont claims history in her work, exploring spheres of safety, land, and home.
This piece also explores femininity. Hidden within the mountains is the figure of a nude woman. By superimposing these images Despont combines femininity and nature. She equates woman and the power of nature in this piece.  

Raaberg, Gwen. “Beyond Fragmentation: Collage as Feminist Strategy in the Arts.”Mosaic : A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature (1998): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2015.

Leffingwell, Edward."Schapiro's Material Girls." Art in America94.8 pg.130,132-133. Web. September 2006.

"Harmonic Tremor"

Harmonic Tremor is Louise Despont's most recent exhibition. In it she explores the volcanic explosion on the island of Krakatou. This volcanic explosion, which happened in 1883, killed 36,000 people and created a sound the reverberated around the world. Despont was interested in the massive exhibit of sound. This is the basis of her piece.  

The Sound Heard Around the World, 2015, shown below, explores this idea of immense noise. Expanding out from the volcano are spiraling words. These words read: "the sound heard around the world" repeated over and over in decreasing size. The use of thin black wiggling lines work as sound waves poring from the volcano. Her use of color differentiates the smoke, green and red, from the white movement of noise. This pattern of smoke mixed with text showing sound, is repeated in this exhibit.

Small Explosion, 2015, shown below is an aerial view of the volcano. The use of depth, and the circular form works both to show the opening of the volcano and the sound exploding out from it. Again Despont uses text to show sound. 

Offering in Gratitude, 2015, juxtaposes with the rest of the exhibit by showing a peaceful calming scene. This work breaks from the volcanic style of the other pieces. Leafs and floral images are repeated without this work, showing life and color. The title of this piece suggests that there is something to be grateful for. When displayed with the works of destruction and noise, the offers a calm break. It also reminds the viewer of life and gratitude. With in Asia culture, where this explosion took place --and an area that Despont is very interested in, gratitude is offered to all live and, especially, monks. This is because Buddhism and Hinduism offer the idea of reincarnation and fate. What happens has a purpose and people accept life.  

Below is the final piece in the exhibit titled, The End of Love, 2015. It is a somber piece depicting an areal view of Indonesia, which is labeled lightly in white. This area was covered in black ash so think it blocked the sun, for three days. The End of Love acknowledges the death and sad elements of this event, while the other show the amazing feats of nature. 

One can also view this exhibit as classifying her as a contemporary artist. She using her art to capture massive historical events. That is also exploring the massive affects of nature. This exhibit also shows how Despont explores history and documents it into her work, creating an exploration of culture and history. Her fascination with travel is rooted in the cultural significance of the places she visits. This is seen through her art, a physical history of location and culture. 

Raaberg, Gwen. “Beyond Fragmentation: Collage as Feminist Strategy in the Arts.”Mosaic : A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature (1998): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2015.

Despont, Louise. “Drawings.” RSS. N.p., 2011. Web. 28 May 2015.

Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Berkeley: U of California, 1996. Print.

"Despont Draws Deep": How Despont Creates

In the ART21 video, "Despont Draws Deep" Lousie's creative process is shown. Her art is large, created on many pieces of paper that expand to fill a wall, or the floor of her Brooklyn apartment. Louise’s style is symmetrical and abstract. All of her pieces are created with architecture stencils’, a relatively modest material considering the size she works with. Her work allows an assistant to contribute greatly. Once Despont has an idea for a page she can delegate. Her assistant will fill in the stencils, making the process faster. As her work seems so uniform upon viewing it, it fits that there is a uniform process to it. Much like in the 16^th century when artists had apprentices. Since her work as an element of age and history (through the ledger pages) it is fitting that her style does as well. Although the shapes always stay uniform the pieces greatly differ.

Despont also displays how her style developed. She first began to collage in small books, filling them completely. This process added to her current style, on large ledger pages. These pages are a huge contributor, adding history to each piece. Despont says that, as the pages hold records, they map out the life of her drawings. These pages also give her the freedom to work on her own, on her time.  She shows how calming and meditative her process is. She works from home, combining her home sphere, creative sphere, and work sphere. For Despont this doesn’t add the feeling of stress or pressure but instead creates an environment that encompass her life. How she makes these pieces is a huge factor in her art.

 

Orchard Street, New York, NY September 12–October 24, 2010.” Louise Despont: Christopher Howard. N.p., 2010. Web. 21 May 2015.

Salazar, Rafael. "Louise Despont Draws Deep." ART21 New York Close Up. Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Experiments in Moving Drawings

Louise used to work is stop action film. One of her projects was, Experiments in Moving Drawings. This can be found on her Tumblr and is a short film by her and Joshua Sullivan. Louise also creates the music. This video was not exhibited or shown to an audience is a professional setting but in stead was posted for the enjoyment of her Tumblr followers. The video is very different from her other work. Although she uses elements of her collage in this piece it is mainly an experiment in stop action and a play with noise. I found that at points, some of the images looked like Rorschach test, with blotches of random colors. The patters in the piece go from very simple to more complex. Combined with an odd clock like soundtrack the video is a playful homemade piece. Although this work may never be classically exhibited it is a useful piece to show the variety of Despont’s work. It also is an excellent example of her use of social media and excitability to her viewers. 

Artbroth. “Artbroth Emerging Contemporary Artists.” Louise Despont. N.p., 2012. Web. 14 May 2015.
Despont, Louise. “Louise Despont , Webpage.” RSS. N.p., 2006. Web. 14 May 2015

Artbroth. “Artbroth Emerging Contemporary Artists.” Louise Despont. N.p., 2012. Web. 14 May 2015.
Despont, Louise. “Louise Despont , Webpage.” RSS. N.p., 2006. Web. 14 May 2015

Experiments in Moving Drawings

"Tide Fulcrum and The Motion of Fixed Stars" : Serpens

Louise Despont's exhibit: “Tide Fulcrum and the Motion of Fixed Stars,” featured Serpens as its focus piece. This show was held at Nicelle Beauchene’s Lower East Side galleries. The piece is large, taking up a huge portion of the wall, and is done on many ledger pages. The viewer is drawn into this work because of its size, color, and composition. When viewed one immediately notices the rich reds in the work. The entire piece evokes the feeling of warmth, with oranges, salmons, and reds. The piece engages the senses because of its rich feel, and it stands out with the red color. It is also the only piece in the exhibit that does not display cool tones. When looking at the exhibit as a whole one can immediately identify Serpens. From a distance one can only really notice these initial warming red tones, with a few blue, green swirls. Again from a distance, the view is struck by the compositional effect of the work. At the very center there is one core diamond, which all other shapes seem to branch out from, finally to create a perfect boarder. The piece is very symmetrical, evenly balanced on both sides; it is only when you are close to the paper that you realize the differences and textures. Close to the work the serpents are visible, swirling around the triangle and boarder. They are the only uneven element of the painting. These serpents take many different shapes and give the impression of slithering over the work instead of being a part of it. Serpents hold different religious connotations in America and in Asia (especially in Buddhism and Hinduism, which Despont is influenced by). In Hinduism serpents are often depicted with gods and are not feared in the way they are in Christianity. Despont plays on this double connotation of fear and comfort. In addition to noticing the serpents when up close, one can see the texture within the piece especially up close. From a far the piece is a cohesive work, smooth and machine looking, yet up close one can see each component separate. The stencils Despont uses are filled in sketchily, leaving holes and little pockets of white. This humanizes the work, eliminating the machine-like symmetry.

One aspect of the drawing that cannot be seen in most pictures is, “the rows of ledger pages themselves, which seem to only be pinned down at their top corners and are partially left to float toward the frame glass, add a sense of dimension and physicality” (Wolf, 1). This adds another element of separation in the piece ending the cohesive initial impression.

 

Heinrich, Will. "'Louise Despont: Tide Fulcrum & The Motion of Fixed Stars' at Nicelle Beauchene." Observer. N.p., 08 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 May 2015.  

Wolf, Alex. “LOUISE DESPONT Draws Deep.” THELAST MAGAZINE. N.p., 09 Jan. 2013. Web. 07 May 2015.