Final Project Proposal

    

    For my term project I plan to make an assortment of paintings and drawings. They will all be a continuation of my previous work in both mediums. I am used to painting large abstract pieces with many layers on them. That work is mostly inspired by Willem de Kooning even though I am not working primarily in abstract figure painting; my stuff is conceptually leaning closer to pure abstraction. 

    The other kind of painting I plan on doing is shifted more towards impressionism and it will consist of portraits and figure paintings.

    As for drawing, I plan to make a series of made-up fantasy maps. Like abstract painting, this is something I have been doing for years. The archival lore and stories to be found in a simple birds-eye view is very gripping to me. It feels as if the viewer can change the context of the maps history to fit whatever they enjoy the most. That's why map-making has always been fun for me and the time it takes is rewarding. 

    Since there are nine weeks left in the term I plan on having four of any of the above options completed by the end of week 5. One of the in-progress pieces is very large which is why it's not six or ten completed works. Each week I plan on doing progress checks with the pieces that aren't done. For the second half of the term I will do the same thing and by the end of week ten I will have at least eight projects done, some of them being between 3' by 4' and 5' by 6'.

Final Installation

 My final project was an installation on maps; although it would not look that way on first glance. the work is about creatively generating a composition that pleases the participant. This is something I practice in painting and I wanted my participants to get the same feeling interacting with my installation. Over three days I took periodic pictures of my installation after people had worked on it.

Each of these were taken at different times. At one point someone took the installation from the table and rested it up against the wall. This offered a different opportunity for different compositions. This was not about deciding whether or not I liked the compositions that other people made. It was about getting my audience to activate a part of their brain that they might not be used to, or if they are, then to see what they come up with. 

I painted each hexagon with a light layer of vibrant light paint. There are a few hexes with darker colors. I thought it would be interesting to have a variation while also providing a majority of colors to be attractive. I also painted the box a more blue-black and the hexes a black-black. The idea here was to make a subtle separation between the two. The whole thing is cardboard other than the signs that say "please mess with this" and the instructions. 

Overall I feel like the concept of the installation was good. I think the actual thing was a little rag-tag but it's good for what it is. 

Rebecca Carlton

 

Rebecca Carlton's work was different than what I thought it would be. When I first saw the image of her "Are We Listening?" installation, I thought the shadows on the ground would have as much to do with the concept as the actual physical installation. It made me think of languages we are losing. The shadows looked like faded, fuzzy memories of languages that hang above them. I was a little surprised when she didn't mention the shadows. I also thought there were a few things that were a big part of the installation and what is stands for, that were not considered. I wonder what she did for languages that stretch across multiple countries? How did she decide which country to put on the bird along with the language if there were multiple countries encapsulating the language? 

Overall though I was more impressed and excited than disappointed. "Are We Listening?" is my favorite and I'm excited to see what that looks like finished. I was also very intrigued by the process in making "Sonoran Circumvolution" with the light coming through the metal installations in the desert. 

Something else that I really liked about her talk was the way she approaches art with her audience. The little social exercise we did at the beginning was great. She also said that she thinks "it's important to know how something is made." This is a refreshing contrast to some artists that keep their process a complete secret on purpose. Carlton's viewpoint is a lot more accessible for everyone and it makes people more excited about being artists and talking about art.  

Bill Viola

 

Bill Viola is a very emotion based creator. He designs his installations to immerse the viewer into a process. the visuals on screen are often with water and people. Water plashing onto people. People coming out of and diving into water. Viola is concentrated on the unconscious. His work is meant to raise the unconscious out and onto the spotlight. Rising through a body of water is representational of finding a new way of looking at things. This experience is meant to provide a space for contemplation. What was under the surface for you? How does this make you feel? When you imagine a memory or emotion of yours as the subject coming out of the water is there a revelation there? 

For many people this may not be very solidified. The "thing" that comes up from the unconscious might not be a full thought. It may be just a feeling or a word or a color. This is something found within all of Viola's work. Each installation of humans going through an experience. Having water in each project is a way to make the art wide. The broaden the experience for the viewer. 

I feel a sense of longing when looking at The Raft. At the end when everyone helps each other up, I feel a longing for a similar human connection.

I feel a sense of sadness when looking at The Messenger. The recycling of a person coming up and back down seems to end once the person has sunk all the way down. The looping ends when the person perhaps drowns. 

I feel a sense of freeness when looking at The Crossing. I can only imagine being the one under the water droplets and then an intense shower relentlessly falling on me. Joy, like Summer joy. 

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Mock-up

For this mock-up I first sought out to find some spots on campus that I thought would be a good place for my installation. I wanted to find a spot that people would walk by. Something easily accessible and possibly in a place that would encourage people to stop for a moment and mess with the installation. I though Wriston would be the best place because it has a couple nooks but it also has students who hang out a little bit. Finding a spot where students and faculty would be passing by and standing around to talk seems like a good place. The 1st and 3rd picture seem like the most space for an installation. I could find a pretty large table and set it all up there. 

This is a quick drawing of what it would look like from the top and the side. I want to loosely paint on card board with glued attached to it. Then put up a sign that directs the participant to move the tiles around in any way they want. I am also still considering another 3D element like little toys or small shapes.

Final Project Proposal

 

This is here so we have a poster-child. I will talk about it later

My final project will have something to do with maps. There are two different directions that I want to take it and I am deciding between the two. 

I thought having an interactive map somewhere on campus. Something pretty accessible that wont be in the way all the time. I think a challenge here would be getting people to actually interact with it. Finding interest and meaning in the way they organize the map will be up to me but there's that. Maps are composition and I want to see what compositions people come up with on their own. Perhaps a Settlers of Catan board in a common space. That would be pretty simple. I would also have to make sure no one put my installation away.

The other idea is where I create a large scale map on my own with any material I want. It might be interesting to find things around that no one wants, however, I don't know how I would fuse it to the map. I will have to make sure it is an installation and not just a drawing. Any advice on that end would be very helpful. 

These first two images have been online Catan boards that were either games or just me messing around with composition.

These are a couple of my paintings from home that I often think of as maps. I've been wondering how I could incorporate this art style into my installation. Again, it cant be a painting. So translating it to installation is hard.

These are all maps from Pinterest that I love a lot. Especially the last one with its borders. Fantasy maps are all about composition I feel. So this is the place I go for shape relational inspiration. 

Artist inspirations: 

Works by Willem DeKooning (also maps in general)

Some later paintings of his. (later meaning after the 50s)

Objects in Spaces

 

This is one of the very first pictures in my camera roll. I love still lives. Although I won't betray all the other types of paintings and say its my favorite, it is really up there. This is super simple but the brown in the table and in the background really does it for me. It goes with the warm flowers nicely.

Similar to the spaces project. This is another animal in the wilderness. The object here is the deer with its surrounding home.

He's sinking! Oh god he's sinking!

I'm a big board gamer. Even though I'm not very good I love looking at board games and smelling cards and I absolutely love the aesthetics of Settlers of Catan. Here the object is the green set of roads + city with its landscape background. P.S. I absolutely love maps. Old looking fantasy maps take the cake. Catan reminds me of that

Same deal. This time I got up closer the the settlement and its little road.

These are two pictures I took at work over the Summer. I feel like I am always finding little compositions in the world around me. I think I looked a pretty ridiculous to my coworkers, taking pictures of apples and water cups. Something about the background and the feel of everything seemed documentable. Especially that ice in the water cup.

Museums are probably my favorite places on the planet. Something I like doing is looking to the sides, especially with abstract art. Often the sides of a canvas are as interesting as the front. 

Bonus: Here's the painting from the front

To me, it looks like the snowman in the front is slouching over. These are his final hours. Trying to hold on. Deteriorating. Clutching life itself. (sorry that got dark). And his friend. They seem confused and/or distract. Is this in their future too?

Messing with light on objects is very interesting. Here the object is a fake head on the left which is almost all in shadow. The background is cluttered which I thought was cool. I really enjoyed playing with depth and distance of my object and how near/close it would be. 

Different shot with different lighting and a more clear view of the head. In these two pictures I feel like they are a guard for something. The sentry of the theater department. 

Same object in three different states. This makes me feel sad honestly. I know it's a liberal-arts-college-dweeb thing to say but farces me to think of time passing. Nothing much changing. A timescape of gray background on this ever-changing, yet ever-the-same object.

I went back to the library. This is more messing around with depth. What do you think the two books are saying to each other? Are they just standing together awkwardly?

Some of my favorite movies are peaking out to say hello. In hind sight that Incredibles one is way to blatant.

And I close with more museum art. The atmosphere in general is another perk of a museum day. Things are quiet and slow. You have all the time in the world to figure out how an artist did this or that. How it makes you feel. Why they created it.