Oliver Herring
Encyclopedia
Oliver Herring is an experimental artist based in Brooklyn, New York. His works include knitting Mylar
, participatory performances, styrofoam
photo sculpture
s and video
.
, University of Oxford
. He went on to Hunter College
in New York where he got his MFA.
committed suicide in 1991, Herring started knitting
Mylar to pay respect to him. Herring knit the transparent tape into colorless human figures, clothing and furniture. When they were on display, he chose the Mylar clothing to be hung or placed in a way that it looks like the shape they would be if worn.
. When he was sitting in his knitting chair for hours on end, knitting, his mind would wonder and his stop motion videos expressed his thoughts. In his video Exit, he starts out in his knitting chair, than through stop motion he bounds out of it in a flight of fancy. He flies from his chair into the air in a jerky movement. The next scene he has long white hair, still flying through the air.
In the participatory performances he replaces himself with his friends and strangers to star in the videos. He incorporates stop motion video in these as well. Herring cared more about the process then he did about the medium which is why his video was not high quality and his stop motion was jerky.
Herring does not like the term act or actor because he believes the people end up contributing to his art and it becomes a collaboration. Herring said “I don’t think of the people I work with as models or actors. They are people who are willing to sacrifice their time for me.” [PBS]
One of his most famous experiments is Spitting Food Dye, similar to Spit Reverse. These experiments consists of strangers he found who would dress in a white shirt, black pants and spit food dye
out of their mouths into the air and back on their faces. After hours of this, they were tired with dye all over their faces, he would photograph
them. He would repeat this with different people. The photographs would be placed on display, where people are able to compare them next to each other.
Photo sculpture, Herring starts with a polystyrene base and pastes thousands of cut up photographs to the base. “Gloria”, one of his most famous sculptures, is of a girl leaning against a wall in a colorful flower dress holding her necklace. Herring took pictures from every angle of her and he cut and pastes them on the base to form the sculpture.
.
PET film (biaxially oriented)
BoPET is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties and electrical insulation.A variety of companies manufacture boPET and other...
, participatory performances, styrofoam
Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company for closed-cell currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene...
photo sculpture
Photo sculpture
Photo-Sculpture is the solid reproduction of persons, animals and things, obtained through a process of 3D scanning and 3D printing. The result are small staues that represent the portrayed person, animal or thing....
s and video
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
.
Biography
Herring as born in Heidelberg Germany in 1964. He earned his BFA at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine ArtThe Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art
The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, known as The Ruskin, is an art school and research institute at the University of Oxford.Working collaboratively across two sites, the school provides undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in the study and production of visual art...
, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. He went on to Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in New York where he got his MFA.
Work
Oliver Herring started his art career as a painter with very colorful and expressive works. When Ethyl EichelbergerEthyl Eichelberger
Ethyl Eichelberger was an American drag performer, playwright, and actor. He became an influential figure in experimental theater and writing, and performed nearly forty plays...
committed suicide in 1991, Herring started knitting
Knitting
Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Knitted fabric consists of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can...
Mylar to pay respect to him. Herring knit the transparent tape into colorless human figures, clothing and furniture. When they were on display, he chose the Mylar clothing to be hung or placed in a way that it looks like the shape they would be if worn.
Performance video art
Herring moved from knitting Mylar to video and participatory performances in 1998. His videos were primarily stop motionStop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
. When he was sitting in his knitting chair for hours on end, knitting, his mind would wonder and his stop motion videos expressed his thoughts. In his video Exit, he starts out in his knitting chair, than through stop motion he bounds out of it in a flight of fancy. He flies from his chair into the air in a jerky movement. The next scene he has long white hair, still flying through the air.
In the participatory performances he replaces himself with his friends and strangers to star in the videos. He incorporates stop motion video in these as well. Herring cared more about the process then he did about the medium which is why his video was not high quality and his stop motion was jerky.
Herring does not like the term act or actor because he believes the people end up contributing to his art and it becomes a collaboration. Herring said “I don’t think of the people I work with as models or actors. They are people who are willing to sacrifice their time for me.” [PBS]
One of his most famous experiments is Spitting Food Dye, similar to Spit Reverse. These experiments consists of strangers he found who would dress in a white shirt, black pants and spit food dye
Food coloring
Food coloring is a substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking...
out of their mouths into the air and back on their faces. After hours of this, they were tired with dye all over their faces, he would photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
them. He would repeat this with different people. The photographs would be placed on display, where people are able to compare them next to each other.
Photo sculpture
For the StyrofoamStyrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company for closed-cell currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene...
Photo sculpture, Herring starts with a polystyrene base and pastes thousands of cut up photographs to the base. “Gloria”, one of his most famous sculptures, is of a girl leaning against a wall in a colorful flower dress holding her necklace. Herring took pictures from every angle of her and he cut and pastes them on the base to form the sculpture.
TASK parties
Beginning in 2002 Herring organized a series of participatory improvisational art events known as TASK partiesTASK party
The TASK parties are a series of improvisational events in cities throughout the world organized by New York-based artist Oliver Herring.Herring held the first event in London in 2002...
.
External links
- PBS
- Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review.” The New York Times. (February 16 1996)
- Art:21 -Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 3. DVD. Oliver Herring. Art:21, 2005.