Life after graduation.

September is here and I have no classes. I miss classes however I love this abundance of time that I have. I have moved to long branch (best decision), and found a affordable studio here. Pictures will be added for proof. To be honest I have been slacking however these are the things that I am thinking about now.

Finding things.
Finding a use for them.
Contradicting or mimicking the found thing.

I will elaborate later however this wall drawing I did in May started this train of thought. Maybe the picture will help my words.

Crit with Paul DeMuro

I feel satisfied with my review with Paul. He suggested using Plexiglas or linoleum. Which are both more practical materials to work with. The woodcuts take me hours to carve. Unnecessary. I am also thinking about silk screening, however for my purposes I feel linoleum or painting on plexi might actually work veThe comments from my peers are very much appreciated. Essence of the crit: work smarter, faster, and think about formal aspects. Thanks ya'll.

Critique

Here's how I feel about your work.

Thesis Proposal

I am planning on have 6-8 paintings in the exhibition. These are going to be smaller works and I am concerned that they will be swallowed by the work around it. I am hoping it will have space to breathe. These paintings are going to be interior images. I would like to be in one of the smaller rooms if possible. Lets see if we can figure this out!

First Thesis Review

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions I received during the review. I am constantly questioning everything I am doing, and the review raised a few more concerns for me. I have given it a lot of thought as to how to present the work. Do I need both the woodcut and the print? Or can I just use the wood to dig in and build up on and present it as an object all by itself. Is there another way that I can approach the subject matter of visual imprints without it being literally spelled out with my working process?
I felt most people were worried about the size and the amount of the work I am planning to put into thesis. The scale of the work is intentional. I want the work to be small and humble. I understand that it risks being lost among all the other work, or be swallowed up by the space that it would be put in, however its not reason enough to change the scale of my work. There are a lot of reasons why I have chosen to work small. I have worked large and I found it unnecessary and not serving a purpose to my subject matter. I want the work to invite the viewer closer to observe. My work is about how we experience and remember spaces. The images are of the house that I lived in until I was 10 years old. These images are intimate but not precious. I want the viewer to be able to come up close and see the flaws. These paintings are a struggle. I am not a print-maker, and I don't have a lot of skill when it comes to woodcut, but I am willing to try and make these objects. Just as I try to remember my experience in that house.
If there is one thing I learned in art school, it is the willingness to learn and make mistakes. To be open-ended and be constantly looking for resolutions. I am not sure if I always find solutions but I definitely question all of my decisions when it comes to making art. I realized that I am still learning and the thesis show does not have to be a grand statement or a conclusion to all of my knowledge. If anything this is where life starts and we have to apply the work ethic learned in school to life outside school. There must be some logic behind this enormous freedom to make objects. And my logic is to keep my paintings small and simple because they are vulnerable objects. They are small attempts at being paintings. I would like to know if any of this makes sense? Also If anyone has any suggestions as to how I should present my work, feel free to let me know. Thanks

Mental Throw-up

I just spent an entire day thinking about what I am doing and I came to the conclusion that I am really selfish. Artists are really indulgent people, and we indulge in our work like its chocolate fondue with strawberries. Its not as if I never knew this, but its just been the highlight of my day. I just finished reading some of the articles from the Drawing Now catalog from MOMA 2002? I think thats the year? Anyway. The artists discussed in the article were Paul Noble, Mark Manders, Neo Rauch, David Thorpe, Kevin Appel, Toba Khedoori, and Julie Mehretu.
As artists we work within a criteria, or context that seems like an interesting idea to explore. Looking at artist like Paul Noble, and Kevin Apple I start questioning a lot of ideas about personal utopias. There work is so anti-Utopian yet it looks so Utopian. Kevin Appel's architectural drawings are so accurate, specific, clean, pristine, and there is a sense of structure. Yet the places are empty, uninviting and lonely. Its a lonely modernist utopia. Paul Noble's deals with the same subject. His buildings are a literal 'warning' to the viewer. Its a very anti-Utopian, and negative perspective of the world, yet I feel it comes from having Utopian ideals. I might lose you at this point because I can be very confusing. The more ideals and expectation one has the more one is disappointed, and notices the little nuances that are wrong. I am speaking not about just the world and society but even formally. The more Utopian ideals you hold, the more practical you became and realize how things really are in comparison to your ideals. Consider Mondrian's paintings. Utopia spelled out formally.
So I am going off a tangent but I realized as artists, it does not matter what stand you take, your body of work is this personal Utopia that we create. Personal propaganda. We indulge in these Utopias of objects made by us, and ultimately for us. I don't know if it was Man Ray or Duchamp, I think Man Ray who used the paper cutter to try and distance himself from his work. To literally take his hand out of the work. Man Ray can take the craft out of his work, but the work in the end is part of a body of work that is his vision. No matter what the subject matter is, its very much our agenda to propagate it. My work is extremely selfish. And I found myself asking who cares about a house I lived in that I paint over and over again? Do I as an artist have a function/responsibility?
In terms of history of art it seems like artists defined culture. Is that the function? Are artists producers of culture? Some or most of us are simply responding to the culture through our personal lenses. Here at school we are taught about all the different dialogues that are occurring now in the art world, and has come before us. So I know we are to continue this dialogue and perhaps come up with something valuable to say. But how do I know what is valuable? Whose values? Questions I have no answers to. Maybe this lengthy conversation I had with myself is a way to justify my choice of subject matter. I feel like I made up this whole idea of Utopia just so I can go back to mine and not feel guilty. I rest my case for now, and accept the awareness I have about my selfishness. Does awareness make the act more or less indulgent? Okay I must stop before I start sounding like Buddha. I don't mess with them gods... last time I made a joke about Jesus while painting my palette flipped and hit me in the face. True Story... ask Erin Donnelly.

MFA First Year Show

Since there were only labels on few of the works Ill have to use the location to identify the work I am discussing. Its pretty clear that the show is not curated and is put together by assigned wall space. I am glad Megan mentioned that before we saw the show because it made a little less critical. Some of the work just really did not go together. For example Megan's work was right next to the big graphic work that said "FEEL THE WALL". It was kind of distracting.
I have some favorites from the show. I really like Erin Dunn's work. I felt like I spent the most time looking around and about the installation and discovering small little details that made the piece interesting. The self-portraits were pretty amusing as well. The paintings in the first room to your left felt monumental. The scale was ridiculous. I liked the content and the image. I cant remember her name but the work in the second left room on the wall was very interesting.This particular work was hung with these extremely small pins, and it looked so vulnerable holding a long piece of paper.
I also found Summers work to be very interesting. However I felt bad that it was sharing space with work that didn't quite go with it, or compare. I am curious to find out more about the two large paintings in the main room all the way at the end of the gallery.
I had seen the show earlier when the video installation was on and working. I got a chance to speak to John about his work and I think that made it better. I like being informed.
Good luck to all grad students!