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Do a surface test. | Kim Beck | The Art Assignment
The Art Assignment
Overview
This video introduces artist Kim Beck and her "surface test" art assignment, which involves creating rubbings of ground textures. Beck explains how she uses rubbings to capture the tactile history and physical reality of a place, contrasting this with photographic representation. The assignment encourages viewers to engage directly with their environment, find interesting ground textures, create rubbings, and document them through photography. The video also touches on the historical use of rubbings in art, like Max Ernst's frottage, and introduces Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of signs, specifically the concept of an 'index' as a physical trace of a place.
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Chapters
- Kim Beck is an artist with a studio in Pittsburgh who focuses on the built environment and overlooked details like power lines, fences, and weeds.
- Her work often involves drawings, installations, and murals that encourage viewers to reconsider common elements of the landscape.
- Beck has created site-specific works, including skywriting and installations on the High Line, demonstrating her engagement with public spaces.
- She previously collaborated on a project called 'Notice-- A Flock of Signs' at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which played on museum signage.
Understanding Beck's artistic focus helps contextualize her approach to observation and her unique methods for engaging with the environment.
Her project 'Notice-- A Flock of Signs' at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
- Beck's studio is a space for processing visual information, where she works with photographs, drawings, and new materials.
- She has been creating rubbings of surfaces, particularly the concrete floor in her studio, which reveals the history of the space through divots, stains, and cracks.
- The process involves using newsprint and crayons or colored pencils to record textures, serving as a 'field recording' or 'surface test' of a place.
- These rubbings are a way to capture a snapshot of a place through texture and touch, similar to how a photograph captures a moment in time.
This chapter explains Beck's personal artistic process and introduces the core technique of making rubbings as a method of recording information.
Making rubbings of the concrete floor in her studio, which shows the history of old manufacturing equipment.
- The assignment requires gathering materials: a crayon and a large, textured sketchbook paper.
- Find a piece of ground that visually or texturally appeals to you.
- Create a rubbing by placing paper over the ground and rubbing the crayon over it to capture the texture.
- Photograph the rubbing in place, using found objects like rocks or sticks to hold it down, and experiment with different angles.
- Submit the photograph of the rubbing.
This provides a clear, actionable guide for the viewer to replicate Beck's artistic exercise and engage with the concept of surface testing.
Using rocks or sticks to hold the paper down while photographing the rubbing in place.
- Rubbings have a history in art, notably with Surrealist artist Max Ernst and his 'frottage' technique in the 1920s, which he used to access his unconscious.
- Beck's assignment differs from Ernst's in its focus on direct representation of place rather than tapping into the subconscious.
- The video introduces Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of signs, which categorizes how we understand the world through representations.
- Peirce identifies three types of signs: icons (likeness), symbols (learned association), and indexes (physical connection or trace).
- A rubbing is presented as an 'indexical sign,' a direct physical trace that provides evidence of the place where it was made.
Understanding the historical and theoretical background elevates the assignment from a simple craft to a concept rooted in art history and semiotics.
Max Ernst's 'frottage' drawings made from wooden floors.
- Beck's assignment aims to create an indexical sign, a direct document of physical presence and interaction with a location.
- This contrasts with icons (like paintings) and symbols (like words), which are less directly tied to the physical reality of the object.
- The act of making a rubbing requires being physically present in a specific place, offering a grounding experience in contrast to digital life.
- The ground beneath our feet is a fundamental, locating element that rubbings capture through tactile experience.
- The resulting rubbings, though they may appear abstract, are considered by Beck to be highly realistic representations because they are direct traces.
This section clarifies the philosophical underpinnings of the assignment, emphasizing the value of direct physical experience and indexical representation in understanding reality.
A rubbing is an indexical sign because it is a direct physical trace of the ground's texture, proving 'I was there.'
- Beck is drawn to the way different ground surfaces meet and the beauty found in disruptions like cracks or uneven edges.
- The documentation (the photograph) of the rubbing is not just a record but an integral part of the artwork itself.
- Elements that might seem arbitrary in the frame, like a table leg, become intentional parts of the final piece.
- The assignment encourages playful interaction with everyday surroundings and materials.
- The materials can even include a dog, a crayon, and paper, highlighting the accessible and adaptable nature of the project.
This highlights how the assignment encourages embracing unexpected elements and integrates the documentation process into the creative outcome, making the entire experience part of the art.
Including a table leg in the photograph of the rubbing because it adds an interesting, unexpected element to the composition.
Key takeaways
- Artist Kim Beck uses rubbings as a method to capture the tactile history and physical reality of a place.
- Rubbings serve as 'indexical signs,' direct physical traces that document presence and interaction with a specific location.
- The assignment encourages direct engagement with the environment through a hands-on process, contrasting with passive observation or digital interaction.
- Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of signs provides a framework for understanding how rubbings function as indexical representations.
- The process of making and documenting rubbings involves embracing imperfections and integrating unexpected elements into the final artwork.
- Finding beauty in overlooked details, like cracks in pavement or the meeting of different surfaces, is a core aspect of Beck's artistic practice.
- The documentation of the artwork is as important as the artwork itself, becoming an integral part of the final piece.
Key terms
Surface testRubbingField recordingIndexical signIconSymbolFrottageBuilt environmentRepresentationTactile
Test your understanding
- How does Kim Beck's 'surface test' assignment differ from a typical photograph in terms of what it represents?
- What is an 'indexical sign' according to Charles Sanders Peirce's theory, and how does a rubbing exemplify this concept?
- Describe the steps involved in creating a rubbing for Kim Beck's art assignment.
- Why might an artist like Kim Beck be drawn to the textures and imperfections found on the ground?
- How does the act of making a rubbing encourage a deeper connection with a physical place?