20 hours of road with the pink, furry man

Boxed pink, furry man... heading for 20 hours of road... then installation begins. I tested out the projection. It works... which is always good. more to come.

The Atlantic Highlands One Minute Film Festival 2009

exécution de baiser, (my performance kiss video) was selected for the Atlantic HIghlands One Minute Film Festival on July 18th in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Visit Film One Fest for more info. To see the video on archive.org click here> http://www.archive.org/details/ExcutionDeBaiser

pink, furry man (and his girl) go on a road trip

Today, I brought my installation to the U of M West Bank Arts Gallery (Minneapolis) for a working crit with my mentor, international artist & professor Andrea Stanislav. Andrea's crit was really great. She has phenomenal conceptual insights, technical experience, and contemporary knowledge about art to offer. I have been very fortunate to work with her this semester. Because of it being summer, the gallery in the arts building was empty so I was able to set up my work in there. Many good advantages to setting up work in a gallery-type setting. It allows for the simplicity of the work to be taken in wholly.

Still many last minute technical things to finish up on the pink furry man's casted parts and some video to put together to project. I am looking forward to working on new directions for this project and finishing it up for the showing in Montpelier in August. Andrea and I talked about including some domestic items in the installation (allowing viewers to fully enter into the experience as an environment). I will be including items, making them white in color... creating an emphasis in the two figures and their engaged actions. I will be bringing a 6' x 6' white, shag rug along as part of the installation... as well as a small white table, a white ipod and headphones (for viewing a "gaze" performance video sequence... and listening to a specific playlist of songs), a white pillow or bean bag chair, and a small white, metal vanity. I plan to play with the arrangement of these items when I arrive at the residency. Largely, much will depend on the space I receive in the gallery. The installation will be titled, "My Big, Pink, Furry, Pony" - suggestive of both; typical American girls' toy and female fetish object.

pink, furry... phase one

I've put together my pink, furry installation figure to check for issues relating to balance, etc. Much more to do....

Casting with Bondo

After much failure casting with spray foam, I have decided to carve down my foam figure parts and re-cast them inside my molds while casting the parts with Bondo. This has worked much better... although Bondo is quite nasty (toxic) to work with. The only unfortunate issue is the added weight on the figure.... hoping it will not throw off the balance.

modeling the face for the installation figure...

Still much to do in tweaking the face model before mold making and casting. I will be making a two-part plaster mold and using spray-foam to make the casting. Hoping this will work well as I need something lightweight, rigid, fairly durable, and paintable.

... casting with foam has been a bit challenging. The venting in the molds doesn't work as predictably as with metal casting... lots of air bubbles. I'm on my fourth set of castings, in search of better results. Today I tried using Bondo to fill air holes. Tomorrow... sanding begins. More to come....

Learning How to Shoot

Learning How to Shoot, combines tragic news reports [IRIN Radio] with a close up shot of my mouth glutonously eating a banana and nectarine. The main audio was taken from an IRIN Radio interview [2008] with a captured and enslaved Ugandan girl. The interview is overlaid with another less dominant track from today's date from Afghanistan. This is the first version. I'll be shooting other alternate footage clips to go along with the audio... just to see what comes of it. I'm hoping for more thought provoking imagery... as the audio is quite powerful.

Audio is an important component of this video so you may want to adjust the volume on your computer. If you'd like to read more about the Ugandan story visit IRIN Radio: http://www.irinnews.org

Installation figure...

The figure for my installation, "Subjugated Gaze" is progressing. I am nearly finished with the internal wire frame. Next will be to experiment with foam casts for the hands and face. Then... time to cover the wire structure with the pink faux fur.

Initially, I had cast a masquerade type mask from iron to use with this installation and planned to have a second figure [made from barbed wire]... but now I have decided to keep the installation more simple... less convoluted with diverging concepts. In order to keep my intentions direct, I have decided to include only the male [voyeur] figure engaged in looking at the female, nude intaglio [subject]. My intent is to explore the historic-female subjugated gaze and sort of reenact it through understandings of visual pleasure and how it plays into our identities.

... more to come...

... the actions of identity gestures

Continuing to explore identity / gesture relationships. I am using my macbook pro camera to document typical and random gestures... working to develop a particular type of portraits related to gestural /obscured imagery. I have been using myself as subject for the sake of functional utility and convenience... foregoing the pains of finding willing subjects/models to act out my intended narratives. Hoping to someday try this as a video project. I think it would be interesting to capture the process of identity-related, semantic translation between artist and actor.

documentary photography / drawing... irises... side track

...charcoal drawings worked up from some of the digital photos.
... a few days ago I gathered some irises to put in a vase. Since then, their figurative forms have haunted my dreams. ... decided to investigate this dream-imagery through documentary photography. A bit of a side track from my current project... oh well.

Construction of the installation figure begins...

I am creating a wire and aluminum rod armature of the life-sized male figure for my installation. I have been using a fine gauge poultry netting and a variety of thin wires to sew the molded form pieces together. I have aluminum rods which will be inserted into the form grounding its balance in cast cement [inside a pair of men's dress shoes]. The majority of this figure will be covered in long, pink faux fur. I am not yet sure how to present the face and hands. I am thinking about casting them. Also, I have a cast iron mask. Not sure if I will have the figure wearing the mask or holding it in hands. Much to do. More to come...

exécution de baiser [performance kiss]

This version of exécution de baiser is about 5 minutes. I shot the film very quickly [only one take]. The film sequence documents a performance kiss from an extreme close up perspective. I slowed down the speed to approximately twenty percent of the actual speed of the shot footage.The film was inspired by Yoko Ono's fluxus film "eye blink". It's a silent film showing [close up] the striking of a match in slow motion. it's one of my favorite short films. If you know me, you'll see that I have put my own twist on the concept.

photo booth documentary - alone in chicago

I've been using photo booth for photo documentary [in relation to identity-based imagery]. These photos were shot while I was alone in Chicago for a visit to the Video Data Bank. These shots reveal a narrative which I find interesting... especially in relation to other more domestic, identity based shots I've taken while cooking and doing laundry.

more photodocumentary pics

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.