Neto-Inspired Copying

I did my presentation on the value of copying, and last week I posted about the work of Ernesto Neto. I would like to bring those things together right now. I am taking a class on installation art, and for our final project we had to do a site specific installation piece, document it, and then display the documentation alongside an artifact of the installation. My project was heavily influenced by Ernesto Neto's work, and there were prominent elements that one could argue were copied. For me, however, the project began to take on a life of its own and become different than Neto's work. There were marked similarities, such as the dangling pendulous forms that webbed together at the top, and the implication of physicality and interaction with an environment. But there were differences, things that I combined and transformed to make it my own. I exclusively used pantyhose, rather than the brightly colored synthetic fabrics that Neto often employs. While Neto's sculptures are influenced by minimalism and part of their aesthetic is the seamless manufactured look, mine were more crude. I intentionally showed the black stitches, highlighting the handmade-ness of the object. Instead of spices, I filled the hanging forms with stones. some became accordion-like instead of just the hanging sacks because of wire rings that I had sewn in. I first installed it in my apartment over my couch so as to address a domestic space rather than creating my own other-worldly environment. It changed the way I interacted with my living space for a few days, as I had to navigate around these things that were intent on hitting me. Because of this interaction, alongside my photo documentation  I installed a larger version of my Neto-inspired pendants over a bench in the hallway of Visual Arts Building. I am keeping an eye out over the next few days for how people interact with the piece.

I think that there is still a lot of room to move further away from my source material in this project. While I have added my own voice to the work, it is still very similar to Neto's installations. However, I do not feel uncomfortable with the similarities. I learned a lot from making this, and that is information that I can use later to further push my work so that my Neto influence is not so recognizable. This kind of copying was definitely a good step for me, though.

Pendants (Detail Shot), Nylon, Thread, Stones, Wire, Digital Print, 2016

Ernesto Neto