‘Waste’ by Nicholas Gallery
Read the essay and comment on its overall written and interpretative quality as well as its use of critical, contextual and historical references.
Does the essay address its hypothesis?
The essays hypothesis was to show how 2 artists tackled the idea of ‘waste’ and ‘Anthropocene’ through close-up images of plastics and other objects relating to waste. I think this essay addresses its hypothesis in a great way.
Does it provide new knowledge and understanding?
The essay provides very good knowledge and understanding of the artists chosen and the topic of ‘waste’.
Is the essay well structured with a sense of an introduction, paragraphs and a conclusion?
The introduction of the essay begins with a quote from Salvador Dalisala who was a Spanish artist, “Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it”. which I believe doesn’t have much reference to the essay. The essay is structured in a successful way by using paragraphs to represent the problems of waste. Also, I think the conclusion finishes of the essay in a perfect way by discussing how Mandy Barker and Keith Arnatt used these images of waste and turned them into images of ‘beauty’.
Use and flow of language, prose, punctuation, spelling.
The language used in the essay is very strong and informing, with good use of punctuation and spelling. The essay has a very good flow to it and is easy to understand and read.
Use of specialist vocabulary relating to art and photography.
There is a lot of artistic vocabulary used throughout, which explains the topic in an interesting way
Analysis of artist’s oeuvre (body of work) and key work(s).
Evidence of wider reading with reference to art history/ theory, political discourse and/or socio-economical context.
This essay involves a lot of detailed description of the history of this topic and also displays a lot of knowledge theory and artist references.
Use of direct quotes, summary or commentary from others to make an informed and critical argument.
He has included a various amount of quotes throughout such as a quote from Mandy Barker (the artist he has responded to) replying to her topic name ‘Beyond Drifting’, “because we are not beyond putting an end to the problem – but we are beyond salvaging what is already out there.” I believe Nick has used the use of quotes in an effective way with not including too many, but including a few important quotes.
Use of referencing system (eg. Harvard) and a bibliography.
Use of illustrations with captions listing name of artist, title of work and year of production.
I think the overall mark for this essay is 14 marks which is a level 5. This is because of how detailed and informing the essay, with a very interesting overall topic, and a good range of amazing images.