Thesis Final
I
Ideas are the manifestation of my experience of the world, and the objects I create are manifestations of those ideas. My art acts as the perfect marriage between a cerebral action and a physical action; this is the main reason why I am so drawn to visual art instead of the many other ways in which I could express myself. As such, I am attempting to responsibly add to a greater dialogue of visual and intellectual thought. This is the genuine concern behind my work, and the basis for my belief in it. This dialogue largely defines my own art making experience. It is my own sense of responsibility and my own belief that fosters this outcome, which sets the importance for such interaction. Because of this “addition to dialogue,” I see my work as relevant. Its strength, however, lies in its opposition to the standard visual culture in which we exist. It is because of visual discourse, that I see my work as a commentary on the way we function as a culture. In a world where everything can be mass-produced instantaneously I take comfort in the experience of that which is processed carefully and slowly.
Nature illuminates the paths to such processes. “For the harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and the soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty” (Thompson 326). I create work of this character, and I ask that my audience submit to this aesthetic as they experience my work. The reward for such compliance is the experience of something that I believe I have a unique sensitivity towards. To create something with discipline and care in the face of a more efficient system implies and explains a connection to a different system, one that grows outside the pace of technology and production.
A specific piece of work I have created that illustrates these ideas is “Untitled” from 2005. It is a 14” by 17” ink pen drawing. I started at the top of the page drawing a straight line freehand from one side to the other with a fine point technical pen. The next line follows the first as closely as possible, and the process is repeated over and over mostly filling the page. While the last line should mimic the first, there is no resemblance because of the slight differences in each line. Each line is unique and changes slightly from one line to the next, emphasizing the inaccuracy of the human hand. The end product takes many hours to complete, and when finished, a dimensional quality is revealed. Despite the non-objective qualities of the piece, it references certain processes that happen in nature; not only through the task with which it was created but also in the form it takes. I have heard that it looks like many things: a canyon wall, a riverbank, or a cloud. What I am trying to do is not just reference the object or place but also the force that created them. This piece lies in strong opposition to the typical visual media that I see everyday. There are no bright flashy colors, there is no loudness, and there is no convulsion of imagery. My work is stark and quiet. Subtle enough to be lost against a white wall.
As an artist working in the twenty-first century I find myself both alienated and engaged in the culture in which I exist. The alienation comes from the dissonance between the cultures that I see around me, and what I believe to be the true nature of human experience. The engagement is manifested in my complete commitment to a mode of expressing thoughts, which is the creation of works of art. With such a dilemma at hand I feel the most responsible and virtuous path lies in deep examination of the function and affect of my work. To ask the attention of an audience is to take on the responsibility of an artist. That responsibility is characterized in the act of being aware of the affect that your work has on the world, and then creating with intent. We have a certain freedom as contemporary artists. We do not create for the church, nor does law or commission bind us. With such freedom comes great responsibility, and it is the charge of an artist to create something that is meaningful and beneficial to the world.
With relevance in mind, how is an artist to go about making artwork responsibly with deliberation? Anyone can, with luck, create an object with relevant meaning. However; it takes skill to accurately and deliberately hit the mark. The role of the contemporary artist is to process accumulated knowledge and communicate it to the viewer. The artist must, therefore, be aware of, and engaged in the visual and intellectual culture he/she is in.
We live in an age of complexity, when knowledge and ideas are coming in faster than [they] can be assimilated, while other disciplines become progressively alienated from one another through specialization. The hard-won knowledge accumulates undigested, blocking meaningful communication… (Denes 155)
II
The easiest and most relevant way to talk about my work is to talk about the way my work functions. Its function can be described in three parts: the aesthetic, the element of process, and the concept. These three elements are linked together in such a way that they inform each other. It is this relationship that I most often consider in the creation of my work.
My work is a campaign towards simplicity. This is expressed in the choices that I make throughout the creative process. I am often searching for the simplest way to express and communicate my ideas. I feel that the distillation of information, both visual and conceptual, is crucial to my work. The materials used in the objects that I create are most often the simplest possible as to fully convey the concept in its most pure form, and it seems appropriate that as the concept becomes more elaborate, so do the materials.
A piece that I can point to is “The Last Real Thing” from 2007. It employs a more complicated set of materials than typically found in my work. This piece is a sculpture 16” in circumference, and 8” high. The Materials used are a scale model oak tree, scale plastic figures painted grey, model grass, and a clear Plexiglas dome to cover it all. There are approximately 300 figures surrounding the tree, which stands in the center of the piece. This piece is more complicated both visually and conceptually, because for me there is a relationship between the two. While the simplicity of my aesthetic is prevalent in all of my work, the materials inform the content. It is important that this piece employs scale models and that it is not a drawing of people surrounding a tree for that very reason. It is titled “The Last Real Thing” and yet everything that makes up the piece is fake. The most interesting thing about the piece for me is the anonymity of the people. There are quite a variety of “types” of people, such as rail workers, pedestrians, old people, young people, etc. Yet their identity is erased because of the fact that they are all painted grey. They become “types” of people… ideas instead of individuals. The ambiguity of their intent is what I am most interested in. Because so many different types of people are represented such as laborers, office workers, runners, pedestrians, farmers, etc., it is unclear what their purpose with the tree is. They could be there to cut it down or worship it. The meaning of this work is not inherent and is left up to the viewer to interpret, and hopefully reinterpret every time the piece is viewed.
I am not making artwork about materials despite the fact that many of the materials that I use, such as pen and pencil on paper, have a tradition behind them. Although I acknowledge it, I am not deeply concerned with that tradition, nor do I wish to make a commentary on it. Instead the materials that I often use signify that these works are about ideas not materials. I also sometimes use materials to expose the beauty of what they literally are. I might use something from the natural world, such as wood to describe an idea. Consistency of visual language also plays a key role in this. By using materials in a consistent way, what they are signifying becomes clear.
An example of this within my work is “Rarefy” from 2006. It is a framed piece of birds eye maple veneer, 18”x24”, which I hand finished with care. The piece is framed in a simple black box frame, and when the piece is placed in a gallery the recontextualization alters the purpose for the material. Normally the veneer would be used for an industrial application such as furniture building, however its function changes and it becomes a formal work of art. The viewer is challenged to look not only at the formal relationship between what they see in this “found object” but also to question the choices I made about it. I am “drawing” a parallel between the formal elements of this piece of wood including how they are manifest, and the formal elements in my drawings including how they are manifest.
Concept can be defined as the non-physical portion of my work. Concept is both the overarching, driving idea behind my work, and the more specific ideas found within each piece. The overarching concepts form the current that flows throughout all of my work. These themes are more general in nature and have a lot to do with my own personal character; they can describe who I am better than anything else in my work. However, the element of concept does not end there. Most often, each work of art is an exploration of a particular idea or set of ideas. Sometimes these ideas are based on things I learn about, such as philosophy or science. Sometimes these ideas are just observations, the statement of relationships that I see between ideas. Most often the driving concept behind my work and the specific concept of each piece is about the processing of information, and the request for the viewer’s participation in that processing. In the end I want my viewer to be able to stand in front of my work and just think.
Process serves many functions within my work. It serves as a link between the way my work looks, and the content found within the work. The process of creating my work is often a monumental charge that typically entails hours of repetitive, laborious tasks. Some times these tasks are quite evident in the work. Such as with “untitled:(landscape)” from 2006.
This work is 18” x 30” in dimension and the material is simply a piece of white printmaking paper. I punctured the paper hundreds of times moving from left to right filling in a long rectangular shape. The piece is made to reference a landscape in both the form I have created and the pattern found within the form. The pattern creates a certain rolling landscape, similar to what one might see in the great plains area of the United States. The piece is largely process based, and I created it by physically pushing a thumb-tack through the paper at an angle, many, many times, serving as a record of an action that I did and a process that I went through. This process serves as the evidence of commitment to my work. When a viewer sees my work, they cannot deny the labor I have undertaken. The intent behind this confirmation of commitment serves as a way to gain the trust of an otherwise doubtful audience. Many people in this world are skeptical of art that is driven by ideas, for they don’t trust the commitment of the artist. Process is a way that I can prove my commitment to both my audience and myself. I have to believe in the idea to complete the work, and if I don’t the process will not be completed. It serves as a check to my ideas, to make sure that they are genuine and honest.
Sometimes however the process is not quite as evident. An example might be that of crafting or assembling an object. Regardless of how confrontational the process is, which it can be very confrontational or minimally, this element plays a major role in my work because of the way it links the aesthetic to the concept. It is crucial for my work to employ a physical action, not just a cerebral one. It is not enough for me to simply conceptualize a piece because a major part of what I love about art making is the crafting of objects, as well as ideas.
I am very interested in those processes that we see in nature, which also take repetition and diligence. These processes might be the way a river can erode its banks into a grand canyon, or the way a tree grows ring by ring. To me these systems in nature characterize beauty, and the element of process links my hand to those systems. Process also functions as a way of understanding our temporal existence. A laborious task can be a pathway for the closer understanding of time itself, and our own place within time. For this reason I see process as a conjunction between the aesthetic and conceptual components, for the process itself is a manifestation in both a physical and ideal form.
III
The future of my artwork, like all futures, is uncertain. However I see my interest in art as an experience as paramount. I see myself creating work that is about the creation of an experience, both for myself and for my viewers. To quote Henry David Thoreau’s essay Walking, “We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return; prepared to send back our embalmed hearts as relics to our desolate kingdoms.” I am interested in the element of process, a device that I use to explore the temporality of existence, being transformed into a specific type of experience. This may be the process of walking, or riding a bicycle, or sending a balloon into the air, each process designed to be experienced differently. I also have the intention of being more generous with my work. I intend to give more information to my viewer. This is evident in “The Last Real Thing.” In addition, the forms that I use are consistently evolving into more sophisticated and specific ideas.
Practically, I value education and in the future I see the continuation of my education as paramount. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson “The essence of education is experience, and the essence of experience is self-reliance.” As such I see myself engaging in experiences that are both challenging and rewarding. They may be serving in the Peace Corps, communing with nature in various different ways, or continuing my education in a more traditional sense at graduate school. No matter what it is that I do, I intend to continue to learn about the world, become more mature as a person, and always take up the question of what it means to be human.
IV
The continuation of art is both vital and necessary, and the artist’s role is clear and attainable. I hope to put forth efforts toward this progression with the knowledge of such necessity:
Things are experienced in such a way that they are composed into an experience. There is distraction and dispersion; what we observe and what we think, what we desire and what we get are at odds with each other. We put our hands to the plow and turn back; we start and then we stop, not because the experience has reached the end for the sake of which it was initiated, but because of extraneous interruptions of inner lethargy. (Dewey 35)
Works Cited
Danto, Arthur C. “The Art world” The Journal of Philosophy 61.19 (1964): 584
Denes, Agnes Agnes Denes Ithica New York, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, 1992
Dewey, John Art as Experience (New York: Capricorn, 1958) 35
Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 14 Nov. 2006.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo Essays of Emerson Oxford University Press (1906) (from “Self-Reliance”)
Thompson, Darcy On Growth and Form Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961
Thoreau, Henry David Henry David Thoreau: Collected Essays and Poems (New York, New York. Library of America 2001) |
