So I was looking for something to keep me motivated and thinking once I graduate later this August, and I found it! Look for a new image every day!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Seek and ye shall find
So I was looking for something to keep me motivated and thinking once I graduate later this August, and I found it! Look for a new image every day!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
the Fear..
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Lacan, Lacan, Lacan.
I am trying to understand how my work is tied to Jaques Lacan, a psychoanalyst from roughly 1950-1980. So, here goes nothing:
My work explores the dichotomy between the personal authentic self and the image of the self, which is based on perception. The seriousness of this quest for authenticity versus the humor of what is portrayed is another dichotomy that I work with. The questions I ask in relation to this "self" deal with the idea of gaze, but not in the feminist sense of the "male gaze." Instead, I am looking at the male gaze, the female gaze, the inward gaze and the societal gaze. Although gender is involved, my work enters a realm beyond gender perception.
This is where Lacan comes in. The human experience consists of the Symbolic (discursive) Imaginary (perceptive) and the Real (inner self). Lacan thinks that children are born into the symbolic cultural structure, resulting in an alienation from what we are, or our authentic self. Lacan believes we will never reach this self, and will always be a sort of "Other." This also reveals the fantasy of social reality and social construct, which only exists due to our desire for that fantasy. We crave what is absent and things like advertisements and consumable products promise what Lacan calls "jouissance," which we experienced before we entered into the realm of the symbolic as a child.
He places importance on what is seen, and what is absent, claiming that presence and absence results in gaze and desire. The gaze attaches the viewer to what is there, while the desire attaches the viewer to what is absent.
This idea of product, image and advertisement ties into my ideas on the image of femininity, and how the image remains a consumable product, but also a product of alienation. We have a desire for what is lacking, namely, the true image of ourselves. The marketing of this image, or fantasy, exists because of the desire for it, which we will have forever due to our inability to ever connect or define with an authentic self, what I believe Lacan would call "jouissance."
I am the subject that is lacking in my work. I ask the questions, but always fall short of the answer. That is part of the fun.
My work explores the dichotomy between the personal authentic self and the image of the self, which is based on perception. The seriousness of this quest for authenticity versus the humor of what is portrayed is another dichotomy that I work with. The questions I ask in relation to this "self" deal with the idea of gaze, but not in the feminist sense of the "male gaze." Instead, I am looking at the male gaze, the female gaze, the inward gaze and the societal gaze. Although gender is involved, my work enters a realm beyond gender perception.
This is where Lacan comes in. The human experience consists of the Symbolic (discursive) Imaginary (perceptive) and the Real (inner self). Lacan thinks that children are born into the symbolic cultural structure, resulting in an alienation from what we are, or our authentic self. Lacan believes we will never reach this self, and will always be a sort of "Other." This also reveals the fantasy of social reality and social construct, which only exists due to our desire for that fantasy. We crave what is absent and things like advertisements and consumable products promise what Lacan calls "jouissance," which we experienced before we entered into the realm of the symbolic as a child.
He places importance on what is seen, and what is absent, claiming that presence and absence results in gaze and desire. The gaze attaches the viewer to what is there, while the desire attaches the viewer to what is absent.
This idea of product, image and advertisement ties into my ideas on the image of femininity, and how the image remains a consumable product, but also a product of alienation. We have a desire for what is lacking, namely, the true image of ourselves. The marketing of this image, or fantasy, exists because of the desire for it, which we will have forever due to our inability to ever connect or define with an authentic self, what I believe Lacan would call "jouissance."
I am the subject that is lacking in my work. I ask the questions, but always fall short of the answer. That is part of the fun.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Betty has a message for you!
Please click below to see a new piece: Betty from the future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZqkXm5Veo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZqkXm5Veo
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Possible Answers to Interesting Questions, continued
I will try to define these ideas, relating them back to my own work. Influence can be the work of artists, or just the outside world, something I have read or something I have experienced. All these things filter into my studio practice. To recognize and isolate these influences is a bit harder. Recognizing how each influence effects my work is difficult. One thing I do recognize is that I am often influenced by the words of artists more so than the psychical work sometimes. The words are how I make sense of the work, and how I can apply ideas to my own work. Influences from things I read filter in from multiple sources. I may remember something I read and include that idea in a specific work, or I might have a number of things floating around my head while working on a series. Some things may stay forgotten, and emerge 10 years later. How does this differ from citation? To cite something is to claim a reason for doing something, whether it be a specific work or way of working. It can be a reason that brings you to a conclusion. Reference, on the other hand, seems to suggest using an idea for your own means. You can include a reference but have it take on a whole different form in your work. A reference is not concrete, and may become unrecognizable, transformed. Every formal decision is made for a reason, and those reasons may stem back to influence, citation or reference. Is this the magic formula used by artists to create work?
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Possible answers to interesting questions
I have been asked some very tough questions the first week or school that I will attempt to answer:
I plan to answer all the questions by the end of the week
IS WORK LINEAR?
This question causes me to look back at the work I have made since Ireland, but also look far beyond that, back to my childhood, when I used to play dress-up and act out fantasies about princess this
and queen that . I used to sit on the floor in the kitchen and play with my favorite "toys," my grandmother's flour sifter and her hand mixer (the wireless version). Both toys were metal and had wooden handles. Both required a cranking motion to get them to work. The sounds they made was what I loved about them. The hand mixer made a high pitched rhythm that stopped and started at intervals as I turned the crank. I loved to watch the metal flash as light reflected off of the whisks. The sifter had a low hum that I could maintain for long periods of time. What does this have to do with my work now? I still have a fascination with that memory, as well as with the tools themselves. Today in my studio practice, I still use these toys in similarly unexpected ways, or ways that I I find interesting. Taking this into consideration, it seems that work can be linear in short intervals, for example, one work leads to an idea which leads to a different work. In the grander scheme, work is completely circular, well, more like a big spiral that encompasses the whole of a person's experience. Sometimes the arms on the spiral may touch on one thing or another, only to change course and reveal a new aspect of a memory that can be revisited in the studio.
IF HUMOR IS SO IMPORTANT IN MY WORK, WHY NOT WRITE ABOUT IT?
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFLUENCE, CITATION AND REFERENCE?
WHY AM I USING THE TERM "IDENTITY" WHEN IT REALLY DOESN'T DESCRIBE MY WORK?
I plan to answer all the questions by the end of the week
IS WORK LINEAR?
This question causes me to look back at the work I have made since Ireland, but also look far beyond that, back to my childhood, when I used to play dress-up and act out fantasies about princess this
and queen that . I used to sit on the floor in the kitchen and play with my favorite "toys," my grandmother's flour sifter and her hand mixer (the wireless version). Both toys were metal and had wooden handles. Both required a cranking motion to get them to work. The sounds they made was what I loved about them. The hand mixer made a high pitched rhythm that stopped and started at intervals as I turned the crank. I loved to watch the metal flash as light reflected off of the whisks. The sifter had a low hum that I could maintain for long periods of time. What does this have to do with my work now? I still have a fascination with that memory, as well as with the tools themselves. Today in my studio practice, I still use these toys in similarly unexpected ways, or ways that I I find interesting. Taking this into consideration, it seems that work can be linear in short intervals, for example, one work leads to an idea which leads to a different work. In the grander scheme, work is completely circular, well, more like a big spiral that encompasses the whole of a person's experience. Sometimes the arms on the spiral may touch on one thing or another, only to change course and reveal a new aspect of a memory that can be revisited in the studio. IF HUMOR IS SO IMPORTANT IN MY WORK, WHY NOT WRITE ABOUT IT?
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFLUENCE, CITATION AND REFERENCE?
WHY AM I USING THE TERM "IDENTITY" WHEN IT REALLY DOESN'T DESCRIBE MY WORK?
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