LESLEY ART + DESIGN
MFA IN VISUAL ARTS CANDIDATE
MFA Candidate: Lesley Art + Design
Faculty Advisor: Deborah Davidson
Artist Mentor: Georgie Friedman
SP21 STATEMENT
Bridging the gap between the aura and the object with the quickly paced and exponentially expanding virtual space we all have found ourselves living in during the COVID-19 pandemic is a major concern within the work. As a visual artist, there is a strong tension between these two different sides of the art world. The push to move everything - gallery exhibitions, museum tours, art sales (NFTs), etc. - to the digital space threatens why we create art: to tell stories, to explore physical materials, and to feel the energy that objects emit. My practice sets out to merge them in order to satisfy both strings that pull in opposite directions. Is it possible to follow the instinctive urge to feel materials with my skin, to continue to physically push paint, charcoal, and ink around, to build and deconstruct layers, and to preserve the aura of the work while simultaneously succumbing to the rising world of digital art and NFTs? Does the materiality and the material allegory that communicates fragility and vulnerability become untranslatable when seen through a screen? How does the object stay preserved when NFTs and the virtual platform easily remove the object from the value? These are questions that drive the work.
Implementing a transdisciplinary approach that merges the physical object with video and projections is one possible solution. My process begins by capturing videos - vignettes - that are filled with experimental marks, textures, sounds, and various materials. In past work, the layering process was very crucial in exposing the fragility of the materials, and in parallel, the fragility of life. In order to attempt to bridge the gap while preserving this quality, this step is done digitally through various key framing and masking techniques.
The videos, which are filled with rich textures, layers, and expose the many physical qualities of art, are then projected onto specific materials and objects that relate to each projection. A projection of paper moving spills onto actual stacks of paper falling off the wall. An oil stick drawing circles is projected on a cylinder pole. I set out to blend the boundaries by playing with space, objects, and materials.
INSTALLATION THOUGHTS
FULL WALL PROJECTION WITH MIRROR OR SECONDARY DISPLAY - MERGE VIEWER / WORK / NFT?
POSSIBLE PROJECTION ON GROUND WITH CHALK, ETC.
WALL OR CEILING PROJECTION WITH LAYERS OF PAPER ATTACHED TO THE WALL OR CEILING, SPILLING OVER
SP21 RESIDENCY SUMMARY
Over the course of the Spring 2021 MFA in Visual Arts virtual residency, I was confronted with new perspectives and ideas that will help guide my research and studio practice over the next term. Prior to the residency, I had embarked upon a quest to explore my work under the guise of an excavator-as-artist/artist-as-excavator, and there was a lot of uncertainty about where the work would go and what the work would tell me. New connections in my work were made during the many critiques with faculty and students, and they have generated new paths to explore. It seems that the consensus throughout the residency was that my art wants to exist in two realms: the physical and the digital. Many highlighted my desire to expose the process and suggested that I combine the process and physicality with projections and installations. As a group two student, I am comfortable with using the term to explore the many routes suggested to me. Minor areas of interest include phenomenology, space, and archiving and excavating from my past, and the major areas of focus will be exploring materiality and mark-making while simultaneously learning about installations and projections. This twofold exploration is a continuation of the transdisciplinary approach that was discovered in the previous term.
Investigating materiality and mark-making will be the first component of my work this term. What is the significance of the material that is used in the work? Where is the material sourced from? What is the material relationship to me as an artist? All of these questions were generated during the residency, and they sit at the forefront of my inquiries. These questions paired with the observation that my work is a reflection of my life and the record of my journey create new avenues to explore. One possible route could focus on choosing materials and objects that are more relevant to my upbringing; for instance, starting with an object from my childhood (a toy, a photo, a map, etc.) and using it as the substrate. I could take it through the additive and subtractive process to expose the foundational object. Another possible direction could be to exaggerate the landscape quality of the layering and to use a macro lens while filming to play with scale for the viewer. Additionally, sustainability is a topic I think about frequently, and giving a new purpose to materials is something I want to continue to do in my practice. Another route I could experiment in would be to combine my love for the trails with sustainability, and I could source materials on walks through the woods; I could then use these materials to build layers in the work. Materiality, Materialism, and Conceptualism in Art and Society by Russell Honeyman and Materiality as the Basis for the Aesthetic Experience in Contemporary Art by Christina Murdoch Mills are two thesis papers that I will be reading that address similar concerns found in my practice. I will also be reading J. F. Rodenbeck’s text Yayoi Kusama: Surface, Stitch, Skin. Ana Mendieta, Christine Shannon Aaron, Anselm Kiefer and Lynda Benglis are artists that I will be looking at in terms of materiality.
I have always felt an affinity for working with an array of materials and my bare hands, and I want to continue that practice. It was pointed out to me that the action of making marks can be reflective, hypnotic, and meditative. I will be looking at artists Ann Hamilton, Yayoi Kasuma, Jean DuBuffet, Helen Booth, and Christine Shannon Aaron in terms of repetition, mark-making, and process. Lines: A Brief History by Tim Ingold, Ancient Ritual in Contemporary Mark-Making by Catherine Eaton-Skinner, and the student resource, Mark Making Coursework Guide, through the Tate, are texts that I will be reading this term. It is possible that my studio practice could begin to drift from the complex layering towards the study and isolation of the mark and gesture or it could become hyperactive and take on even more layering and depth.
The second component of my twofold investigation this term will be experimenting with video art, projections, and installations. Time-based media is not a discipline that I have studied nor have practiced so it will be imperative to understand the history of video art. I will be looking at Chris Burden’s Through the Night Softly, Hermine Freed, Video Data Bank’s experimental video anthology Surveying the First Decade, and UbUWeb’s collection of art film and videos. During the previous term, my artist mentor was a mixed-media artist so this term I have decided to work with an artist that practices in projections and video artwork. Georgie Friedman was recommended to me by both faculty and students during my residency, and she has graciously agreed to work with me this term. Friedman recommended the following readings Off the Wall Video Sculpture and Installation by Chris Meigh Andrews, Video Art by Michael Rush, and The Body, the Image, and the Space-in-Between by Margaret Morse to prepare me for the term.
The impetus to start filming my practice was to expose and document the significance of the process and to better understand the physicality of the work. This presents many different routes the work could go in. I am interested in video projections and installations that create large tableaus that fill an entire space. Inviting the viewer to experience what I experienced while creating artwork is significant to me, and I think it could be achieved through projections. Other interests of mine include creating an aural experience, exploring topography, highlighting meditation, and playing with scale. In addition to Friedman, I will be looking at Brian Knep, Jane Cassidy, and Camille Utterback’s projections, Richard Serra’s scale, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors, and the installation of Mark Bradford, Patricia Miranda, Do Ho Suh, and Heather Hansen. Potential readings for this area of study include Installation Art by Claire Bishop, Understanding Installation Art: From Duchamp to Holzer by Mark Rosenthal, and Deconstructing Installation Art by Graham Coulter-Smith.
Not only am I interested in documenting and exposing my process by using time-based media, and inviting the viewer into my mind, I am interested in how we navigate, interact, and occupy space. I will also explore phenomenology per the recommendation of Stuart Steck. Him and I discussed a condition I have called body dysmorphia, and although I am not sure how to address this in my work, the idea of bodies in space is a possible route my work could go.
Another topic I could explore is creating a space that is full of stimulation and then transitions into silence; the first space could have layers of sound and video and the second space could display the work created in the projections. Additionally, another idea is figuring out how manipulating space can dictate where viewers walk and how they experience my work. I am interested in how to invite the viewer to participate in the process, and this may manifest in creating an interactive space/social experiment. Possible readings include The Poetics of Space b y Gaston Bachelard, Participation by Claire Bishop, and Mind/Body Problem and Some Notes on Phenomenology of Making, both by Robert Morris.
To conclude, there are numerous directions that my work could move towards over the next term. The basis of my research and studio practice will be exploring mark-making and materiality while simultaneously exploring video projections and installations. There is a curiosity surrounding the significance of the mark, gesture, and material in my practice, and experimentation will be at the forefront. To document this, I will utilize time-based media and projections. Juxtaposing the digital image with the tactile work is also intriguing to me especially as we navigate the virtual world. More so, I will continue to build on both the self-assigned role of artist-as-excavator and my interest in various hyperactive processes. Finding ways to show the commonly unseen steps in art making is fascinating to me as many people during the residency pointed out that the journey is what I value in my art practice. Merging the disciplines could help me achieve my goal of blending the roles of both the creator and the viewer as well as inviting the viewer to experience the sacred, process oriented aspect of my art.