Finicky Materials

Final Test. Latex, enamel, and gesso on wood. March 2013.

I LOVE new and foreign materials. Unfortunately, my favorites always happen to be hazardous or ephemeral. For instance, one of my tests that included latex will start to wilt and disintegrate in six months, and I’m looking for a material that could stick around in a gallery for a while.

I have been using, and will continue to use traditional painting materials in conventional ways so that I will have brought tradition into the conversation; and with that, the rest of the work functions to 'push up' against these formal qualities. Four bars, stretched canvas, gesso, oil ground, etc. I will paint an abstracted image onto the canvas to my full ability with oil, spray, and enamel paints. This sets the stage for future material experimentation, which I have done before, but this time I will go way too far. 

Ready for Overkill

One of three photomontages that will be used as a jumping-off point. March 2013.

I really enjoy the process of adding, subtracting, and shifting around that painting allows me to do. With this future work, I plan to question and challenge the edges of a canvas. What I had learned from the tests is how very crucial this subtractive element is to the paintings, and how this adds the sharp contrast of order vs. chaos. They have helped me come to one of the many solutions I must make in this endeavor. There are possibilities for the subject matter to spill off of the surface being that it is so full.

I want to propose a plan for three large works on canvas that will potentially include oil paints and enamels, collaged elements, and found objects. I plan to use tar in these works due to its sculptural qualities and references to tarring and feathering. I cannot yet say how far the materials will descend off of the canvas; ironically I plan to have no plan for that aspect. Once I’ve had “my full” of art making on the object, it will be done. This is the part that is most exciting to me; what I do not know. The important thing is that I am taking an enjoyable process and plan to fill, and “spill” this work off of the edges of the canvas until I am physically exhausted. 

Painting of photomontage. April 2013.

Overdose of...Fun?

"Carnivale"

There is something about the throwing up; (bear with me on this) the reflex that tells the body to stop putting excess amounts, or rotten things, into it. People have triggers so that they physically know when or what is too much. It is possible for the eye too, and the brain suffers the consequences. There is something terrifying about being out of control; loss of the sense of knowing when something is overdone or filled to the brim. Tanning too much, Overdosing on drugs, or the essence of being sore from too much sexual or physical activity. What if these triggers did not exist? What if people could just eat and eat and eat and drink forever?

Sculpture-Drawings

Chronic Condition

This piece started out as looking foreign to my usual work. I am a fan of sculptural aspects taking part in 2-D work. The making of contemporary art is interdisciplinary. It is a relief to know there are not strict boundaries, because every kind of art making shares the same mental and transubstantial goal--from the mind, through the hands, and into existence. I know painting. However, undergoing a mental or physical process of another discipline facilitates high levels of dynamism. In this piece, I was craving that structure, mobility, gravity, and believability that sculpture has to offer.

This drawing captures my worries pertaining to internal health and bodily condition. The personal struggles I have experienced have been quite unusual as well as chronic. The temporary reason for constant paranoia hangs, and weighs less than the left side on the scale. That black square is menacing, especially with its visceral membrane. It represents future pain.

In Response to Critique

Marie Antoinette

I have to say, “break out the be-dazzler” was the most satisfying suggestion I have heard in a critique thus far. But, why? My plan is to follow what exactly my work calls for, since my intentions rely so much on material choice, and the choices intertwine together and present themselves in a way to facilitate delightfully confused reactions of an audience. I say this because the general feeling of the room did not seem concerned with why there was confusion. There seemed to be no attempt to “figure it out”.  Excitement is an extremely crucial element of my work. I rephrase this statement as: I have to be excited in the moment about creating.  It is significant that my movements are exciting, orchestrating layer upon layer of girlish explosion on a surface. 

               I noticed that the two-thirds of the critique was spent talking about the formal properties, which then led into discussion of content readings and what formal elements I could change to help drive my visuals at a closer parallel to my intentions. It was a very fulfilling discussion; my pen never left the paper, and people were commenting constantly, which is good because silence is my worst fear in critiques.

Comments were made about the energy and the elements of collage and drawing. The switching of materials when I work allows for the flow of excitement and release from the monotony I sometimes feel when I work with one material. The process becomes somewhat spontaneous in this way.  There was a comment about the jewels looking Three-Dimensional, due to my working directly from the digital collage and the sequential flow deriving from this planned element.

Collected descriptions popped out during the interpretation phase of critique: Arabesque, chaotic, overwhelming, and “star of David.” The star in the middle seemed to have more weight in the work as the duct tape (solid color) stars were seen as arbitrary. The cartoonish stars were said to advance on the composition. These two create an interesting dialogue, and I wonder if it has to do with associations out in the world.

I would like to expand on this in anticipation of the debatable significance of the star in the middle.

 I grew up catholic, and reference to Judaism was made in the critique. I find this rather interesting because this star appears in both religions and these religions are so radically different, and yet have respect for each other. I am intrigued by the superstitions involving 3 A.M., considered by some to be a “spiritually active” time.

               Again, I find many contradictions in my work down to the very core of what my surroundings have been. I am surrounded by ideals in society that generally look down upon lavish living and overabundance. Why is this? This certainly wasn’t the case in other societies. The history of the religion I grew up with was the reason for some of the most lavish art and architecture of them all.

               This baroque art and architecture class that I have been taking has had an influence on my work—the aesthetics of Bernini, Borromini, Caravaggio, etc. are mind-blowing. The history lessons have bolstered my thoughts on the subjects of intentions I may consider, but haven’t done much more than that. I find relatable content in the work of Lari Pittman, Isabel Sesma, and more recently, Karen Kilimnik’s head-on approach to depicting the already tirelessly depicted.

               Lari Pittman has been inspiring my work since I saw his interview on Art 21. His work satisfies my eye with intense color, layering, and busily involved shapes. They are illustrative and embellished. To me, his work comments on everything. I had the privilege of meeting him when he came to SAIC for his artist lecture in the fall. Both he and his work had an odd and humble mystique, and I cannot compose one clear statement that would explain his work. It does, though, reference sexuality and homosexuality in many, many ways. Even the depictions of furniture and numbers, mixed in with the sexual objects, seem sexual. 

               I am not crazy about the idea of painting badly, although I trust that the way I might want to paint badly might contain some hint to my experience. In this way, I could inform an audience of my knowledge and then blatant decision to muffle that knowledge in efforts to focus more on the idea of abundance rather than artistry. I am so ready to cake on the paint, suffocate with sequins, and blind with gold. I plan to focus on doing that for now.  I am uninterested in curating a project though, as it is important that my work be done by my hands. I discovered this from my earlier writing with the translation of the digital montage to the painting.