Thinking About Display

While contemplating the display of the paintings I will produce this year, I was thinking specifically about how a display can reflect what is going on in the actual artworks. I sketched this image to visualize my thinking.

If the paintings on the ends were more closed off imagery (less open to vulnerability), it would make sense not to allow the viewer to become intimate with the paintings by drawing near. By removing distance with the audience in the center, the viewers would be able to be be most intimate with that painting, but would also be forced to be more intimate with one another as they would be funneled into a smaller space.

I don't know if my display would employ a technique like this, but I definitely found the thought appealing, especially for my subject matter.

Exploration: Materials and Theme

This is a recent experimentation mixing used paper paint palettes and gold leaf. The leaf is used as an accent around the dried paint to frame or adorn it. My exploration in thinking here was using a "valuable" material to celebrate the mistakes and happy accidents of painting. Although usually invisible in finished paintings, the artist's palette shows the artist's thoughts, mistakes in mixing, wasted material, and even spills here and there. It's an unapologetic documentation of the process of painting, and to me it's beautiful. This exercise for me was about seeing beauty is something raw or imperfect.

At my advisor's suggestion, I have begun experimenting further with some abstract figures I invented for his Multilevel Figure Drawing course in the Spring of 2016. These forms are made from leftover palettes that have been cut out; arms, legs, and heads made with ink and carsick give the different creatures feeling and action.

This particular composition felt to me to me like a kind of formation of someone. Gestation is also a word that comes to mind as it is set in a shallow box that envelops it slightly in its curled up position. This is a relevant exploration of my theme of vulnerability because people often think of "formative" times in a person's life as the most delicate and arguable most important periods.

I also decided to try mixing in more naturalistic forms to see how the abstractions could interact with them. This composition seems to teeter between anxiousness and hope. Perhaps the abstracted figures could be representation of the man's psyche. Perhaps they are representations of how he sees others. This is a vague train of thought, but it relevant to my interest in using the human figure.

 Timeline: ?

This week we turned in a provisional timeline for the BFA projects. This was enlightening, but not in a good way. More than anything it showed me that I had no idea what this year looks like in the long term.

Basically, I need to find all the specific dates for elements of the BFA projects are due and compile them in a neat and logical manner and tape it to my wall. In my studio. In my room. I need to see it often and let it fuel my progress.

Vulnerability on Display

This image is a still from Marina Abramovic's performance The Artist is Present. In this piece, strangers would walk up to her table and take a seat across from her. The two people would then silently watch one another, examining one another. The photo above is a still of the moment during the performance when she is confronted unexpectedly with meeting a past lover.  Over and over I have heard people gush about how beautiful this particular moment is.

Why?  Why is it beautiful?  What is so wonderful or desirable in this moment that so many people find inspiring?  One might argue that it is how vulnerable they are with one another.

Both come to this moment knowing not knowing how the other will react. The stakes are especially high here because they risk this level of vulnerability in front of an audience. I think that people find beauty in this moment of vulnerability because it is a show of trust and of a deep connection that transcends distance and time. Despite their time apart, both find the strength and trust to non-verbally express their emotions in this moment.

For my own project, looking at this piece is inspirational because I want to talk about vulnerability as an ideal to strive for, something that makes us more equal by exposing our inner selves.

The Right Mindset

This post is not about my project; instead, it's about my mindset. Producing a BFA thesis project is a big deal. It will be a lot of work. It will result in long nights. It will not always go as planned.

Today, I lined up these progress images of my current painting project for Jason Lahr's Multilevel Painting course, and the comparison actually surprised me. In the early stages of this project, I lamented to my professor that I didn't know how to paint, that everything was trial and error. Now that sounds silly to my own ears. Of course I know how to paint; trial and error taught me how.

Slaying the Giant of Gender Inequality

Today I had a thought that helped me settle into what I believe will be the theme of my thesis. The thought was a result of reflecting on my personal relationships and my experiences studying art in Florence.

In Florence, my class spent a lot of time looking as depictions of David during the Renaissance. One that always really frustrated me was Donatello's bronze David. I wasn't bothered by anything about the artwork itself; what was frustrating was the sculpture's relationship with Donatello's bronze Judith and Holofernes. Originally the two statues stood together as equals in a garden in the Medici palace, sentinels of the triumph of goodness over tyranny, symbols of justice and virtue. Despite their original intention as equals in material, subject matter, and installation, a disparity in the status of the statues quickly grew. David was praised and celebrated, but Judith and Holofernes did not receive the same accolades. One of the reasons she was less celebrated was that people were uncomfortable with and politically opposed the image of a woman violently conquering a man.

Reflecting on this led me to thinking about vulnerability. The society of that time was uncomfortable with a power dynamic in which a man was vulnerable to a woman. I feel that in general comfort with vulnerability indicates greater security overall; a willingly vulnerable person will not feel the need to exert power over or dominate others. Even in my own life, I have found that my most healthy, balanced relationships have been with men who are willing to be vulnerable on the same level with me as I with them.

  

IMAGES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Donatello)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_and_Holofernes_(Donatello)

Mind Map: Group Exercise

In class, we split into groups to do some brainstorming about our thesis ideas, harnessing others' thoughts to fuel our own process.

My thinking for my project was still at a very abstract level, and my map only reflects possibilities relevant to the use of gold, its meaning, and and other connection to the material, since the material is a particular point of interest for me after my experiences abroad.

I think I may want to use this material in combination with a theme that deals with the female experience. Much of my work in the past has dealt with the female experience in relation to other topics such as party culture, sexual assault, beauty ideals, and love.