variation and process of installation

I am working out variations of media, content, and arrangement for my installation. This arrangement would be comprised of three life-sized panels, hung from the ceiling [separated by 1.5" of space] depicting a version of self [self-portrait] engaged in a gaze with a sculptural figure.

The first panel is a large digital negative [printed on mylar] depicting a version of self or self-portrait, the second panel is a series of digital prints of making up the depicted figure. This figure is a digital photo, overlaid with digital imagery [montage]of documentary images [identity-related actions, tasks, and events], the third panel is an intaglio etching of the depicted figure.

All three panels will be hung from the ceiling with approx. 1-2 feet between them. A few feet in front of the panels will a large figure covered in long, pink fur... gazing at the depicted image in front of the display. There may also be a second figure [made of barbed wire], wearing a cast-iron mask.

mask for installation figure

Here is how my mask turned out from the iron pour last weekend....still a little more grinding to do to clean up this iron-cast mask. then I'd like to either rust it or apply a patina. more to follow.

Iron Pour today... last aquatint tomorrow

Today I'm pouring a small two-part sand mold in UW-L's Pele Iron Pour hosted by artist/professor of sculpture, Cam Choy. I made the mold from an eye mask (similar to a lone-ranger mask). The mask will be worn by the life-sized female figure made of barbed wire in upcoming installation.

Tomorrow evening I'll be etching my last aquatinting phase before running all 4 plates as proofs. If all goes well I hope to run a final life-sized print sometime this week.

Behind "the gaze"

My current project is a life-sized print installation aimed toward exploring "the gaze" and how it relates to identity and visual pleasure. It will be comprised of a simple, life-sized, line etch of an idealized self-portrait, which will be hung on a wall for viewing. In addition to the print, there will be two life-sized figures engaged in looking at the print (as spectators of the image). One of the figures will be male, and covered in long, pink faux-fur. The other figure will be made of barbed wire and will be wearing a cast-iron children's mask (just covering the eyes). The figures will be placed somehow in front of the print, as to convey the act of gazing or connecting with the identity of the print... and not with the human being. Viewers of the installation will be able to interact with the figures as equal participants of the viewing experience; focusing on the etching as the intended receiver of the directed "gaze".

My intent in working on this project is to question a specific form of human identity through an understanding of visual imagery/ visual pleasure. I am particularly interested in "the gaze" and how it works within the realm of instincts (such as ego/narcism and sexuality) to satisfy needs and negate self-perceived deficits. I am further interested in the relationship this phenomenon creates between self and the manners in which we play, relate, and interact with others.

sitting in Chicago...

I'm sitting in Chicago waiting for my appointment at the Video Data Bank... pondering about the issue of Phallocentrism. It keeps coming up in everything I am reading lately [no pun intended]. It seems to me that the manner which phallocentrism is played out in film and in visual art has everything to do with the gender identification of the director, or artist. As viewers, its meaning changes at our acceptance or denial. When "death of the author" occurs [as Bathes puts it]... the viewer is in control of directing the interpreted meaning and experience. Other questions.... is there a female version of this concept?... does it really matter??

finding out Freud is both stunning and lacking...

more to come on this... I'm right in the thick of reading Freud's "3 essays on sexuality" and 'Instincts and their vicissitudes". There are so many interesting dissections within his writing, yet much is lacking in regard to female sexuality. My thoughts are reeling trying to make sense of it all. Perhaps he should have studied a broader audience of women (not just women diagnosed with forms of hysteria).

some great women to check out (who have worked to question and expand on Freud's writings and this topic about female sexuality) are: Karen Horney, Luce Irigaray, Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman.

Imagery of desire, pleasure... fettishisms

I'm researching historical imagery relating to desire and pleasure as it relates to identity. Identity is often most understood within the context of relationships. It is an understanding of ones self tied inherently to a type of relational-comparison. For example... one may not truly understand who they are until they are confronted by someone who seems oppositional.

Historically in art, women have been depicted in a fairly typical manner conveying a dialogue within the context of identity and relationships. These relationships of male/female and subject/other have always defined one-another and satisfied certain visual pleasures. I am interested in furthering this language to include fettishisms; playing with new forms of visual pleasure and its inherited language.

semester 2 begins... what are my intentions as an artist?

... so semester 2 begins and my brain is still reeling from the residency. I have been repeatedly asking myself, "what are my intentions... what is my intent as an artist?" I keep coming back to this exploration of identity aesthetics or rather the pleasure in gaining understanding about one's identity.

It is my intention to question the assumed unconscious actions of our minds and bodies. To question the inner workings of ambivalence within these actions in order to gain pleasure. I am looking at imagery relating to these questions... seeking a range of gestures from ostentatious to demure. How these specific areas of identity relate to one another and particular actions/rituals interests me. They represent a visual language and aesthetic which cannot be communicated by any other means.

My visual culture project [research work] for the semester is based on: Laura Mulvey's, Visual Pleasure; Freud's essays on sexuality and instincts and their vicissitudes; Luce Irigaray's book, The Sex which is not one; Katja Silverman's, Threshold of the Visible World; the film work of Valie Export; and the film work of Martha Rosler. I am also supposed to watch some Hitchcock films and visit the Video Data Bank in Chicago. In conjunction with this research I am revisiting the work of printmakers such as Goya, Kollwitz, Daumier, Whistler, and Lautrec because their imagery speaks to the nature of identity through gesture.

Gallery

Work is installed in the gallery. Critiques approacheth.

Round 2

I'm heading off to Vermont for round two of my mfa brawl. This has been a difficult semester for me. I have worked far outside my comfort zone as an artist; attempting fancy footwork... only to find it clumsy--cumbersome. I have had to read, analyze and confront theories and issues loosely tied to my own ideals, but very foreign in subtleties and actualities. This brawl drastically altered my work and has lead my work in very different directions; very reactive... not necessarily aesthetic. This feat has served its purpose, now I'm looking forward to a more intimate acquaintance with my work:)

Lipschtick

... a short video exploring power and gender identity [based on previous intaglio "make-up" series]

"Openings" Project

Openings [titles left to right: Inception, Orifice, & Interstice]

project 1; openings

I am working on a three print series titled, Openings. This image, Opening #2, is one of the three. The three works will be joined by a large scale sculptural form created from the rusty interior of a box spring. The sculptural form is anemone-like in form...with more abstraction.

...much more aquatinting to do on this plate. There is currently too stark a contrast...making the image too rigid. ...more subtle layers of velvet blacks are needed to make the image more sensual and soft.

Normally, I plan out my plates in great detail from beginning to end... through the use of acting, photography, digital enhancement, drawing, coloring, and much lamenting. With this image...I experimented with the creative process of "play". I let my mind swell on a central concept and worked swiftly with the asphaltum - hoping for a more innate, pure visual expression.

I initially began experimenting with this image in digital photography. Since then, I have been interested in understanding this image through various abstractions and interpretations (drawing, video, intaglio, sculpture).

Re-edited "Anemone" video project

...re-edited Anemone. Anemone is a two and a half minute video project exploring the concept of victimization. I've shorted the piece...taking out some repetitive visuals, and I've increased and added some additional ones.

Representation Prints; Victimization Project

These Representation prints are single plate etchings. Each print is meant to represent individuals who have been affected by sexual victimization. After running different versions of the print...I have decided to run them as inkless embossments. I plan to use the prints in an installation about victimization and how it relates to power, gender, and sexuality. In the installation, I will place one hundred of these inkless (embossed) prints on a small table near an old rusty, gnarled bed. Participants will be asked to write any amount of words on the embossed prints in response to their personal experience with sexual victimization. The participants will then be invited to hang the print on the walls surrounding the bed.




...inking studies. I tried various viscosities and intensities of black, browned-blue, and blued-brown. I used burnt plate oil and/or gel to increase viscosity.

Video Project I: "ANEMONE"

...this video is highly compressed for streaming...so the quality of image and sound has been highly compromised by the compression.

Video Project I: ANEMONE is part of my recent exploration into the realm of victimization. This includes concepts and nuances relating to power relationships, sexuality, memory, and gender identity. Digital media was taken from HD video I shot in preparation for this video and found footage from 1950s archived films. All editing was done using Final Cut Studio and Sound Track Pro. The production of this video has been part of my printmaking and installation processes relating to sexual victimization. The installation will include a rusty bed amongst walls of small embossed/lightly inked sexual part intaglio prints. Visitors will be asked to write words on the prints in relation to their experiences with sexual victimization.

Installation & print_project...photo studies

I am working on a studio project to learn more about victimization and agency [as it applies to female sexuality & rape]. The project is a combination of installation work, video, and intaglio prints. These are preliminary photos of some of the concepts and materials I will be using in my installation and video. The prints will be a major component to the installation and will emphasize the labor intensive and repetitive processes of printmaking as being vital to human expression and representation.
....more to come.

Visual Culture Project / Studio Work

...and so it begins [semester 1...otherwise known as S1].

The semester is split into two parts; research [visual culture project], which is doing research, annotations, and analysis and studio work which is not always but can be done in conjunction with the research.

My VC [visual culture project] is centered on the following question...
How has the feminist art movement [1960's-1990's] altered perceptions of power, identity, and gender?
Bibliography for the first mailing includes: Simone de Beauvior, The Second Sex; Broude, Norma & Mary Garrard, The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970's, History, and Impact; Catherine Belsey, Post-Structuralism: A Very Short Introduction.

My studio work will be centered on the following themes: victimization, reclaiming power, maintaining identity. I will be experiementing with video creation as part of my printmaking process. I may incorporate both into an installation work which explores issues relating to vicimization such as rape, and reclaiming ones identity.