Artist Research -- Lizzy Waronker

There's not much that I can find about this artist in the way of biographical information, but her work is absolutely gorgeous. I'm only frustrated because there are some aspects of her work that I'd considered putting into my images before I'd found her so now I'm concerned about copying but I suppose that's silly. Anyway, here is some of her work:

Paradox Shrine

Bus Station

A Medicine for a Lady

Medicine Here

From the image I saw, she looks to be a younger artist which is interesting.  I mentioned in another blog (here) her work's resemblance to Rauschenberg's, who is another artist with work that I admire. I like that, from what I can tell, she turns the mundane into something extraordinary and unsettling... which is of course what I am looking to do.  I think my work is turning into a hybrid of the artist as photographer and photographer as artist in that I'll be building something to photograph but then the photograph itself will also be important, just as much so as the sculpted part.  Of course, this is the part I'm focusing on the hardest right now and I think by getting ideas of sculpture at work in its own element is pretty helpful, especially since I don't come from a sculpture background.

Lizzy's Website

Idea Post -- More on the Altars

 

At this point I'm pretty confident that I'll be using altars in each of my images.  I'm actually struggling with calling them altars because I think that's a pretty loaded word but I don't know that there's really anything else to call them.  I want them to represent some kind of loss for the sitter, not necessarily a loss from the reality of the model but one that I am projecting onto them. I also want to toy with having the altar on its own in the space but with room around it so that a person could inhabit that space. I think that might have some interesting implications.  I'm also still toying with the idea of shooting outdoors but maybe scrapping the idea I had before about the tree in the field (although like I think I said before as well, I may just make the image to get it out of my system).  As far as the outdoors goes I was thinking again with domestic spaces such as front and backyards.  I don't want to stray too far from the home because I think that's where the mourning/honoring process mostly takes place (with the exception of public ceremonies that occur at places like cemeteries but as much as I love cemeteries I think it would be wise to stay away from them).

I've been doing a lot of looking around for the pieces that I want to use within the altars and have been looking back at the list that I made.  I found a couple artists that I will be doing blog posts on who work with assemblages, kind of in the vein of Rauschenberg.  I think that would be the best way to go about the altars but I'm concerned with making them the main focus because I really like having people in my pictures.  I want the assemblage to reflect the sitter in some way. I've got a lot to think about still.

Images courtesy of Google Image Search

Artist Research -- David Lynch's "Blue Velvet"

So today I watched David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) and was really excited about the whole thing.  It was very engaging and although it was two hours, the story flew by effortlessly. Although I'd been told to watch this movie before, and actually I already had it at home courtesy of netflix, Jeff had recommended that I watch it.  I'm pretty sure he said to pay attention to how David Lynch uses oddities in his work and figure out why its successful in his context.

One thing that was clear was that the oddities didn't seem random, but rather meticulously thought out. It lends to the narrative in terrifying and unsettling ways. The viewer is made to feel awkward -- as if they are not meant to see what they are seeing (i.e. Dorothy Valens undressing then dropping to the floor and inhaling the carpet, also getting up and stumbling down the hallway trailing her hands along the walls. We are made to feel what Jeffrey Beaumont must be feeling). They also only seem to happen in connection with Valens. When she isn't involved in the action everything is seemingly normal.  In fact, as the film progresses, the pieces of the film that are a little off kilter become normalized (i.e. Ben bursting into song -- "Candy Coated Clown") and doesn't seem at all out of place.

What makes all of the weird moments successful though, is that they don't have to justify their existence within the film, they can just be.  I don't need to know why Frank inhales with that little plastic mask, all I really need to know is that he is one messed up guy that is causing grief for Dorothy and Jeffrey. They become part of the narrative and necessary for the story to progress because of the tension that is created which is what definitely drives the story.

So as far as my work goes, I think what I need to do is make sure that the weird elements that I add to my images have to be necessary for the images to work. I'd also like to create a tension between my subject and the weird bits in order to really bring the images together.  I've gotten some good thoughts from this and I'm excited to put them into action.

Idea Post -- Word Association?

bird cages
meat
mold
cat tails
hard boiled eggs
oversized things
shadowy figures
altars
candles
flowers
long exposures?
darker lighting?
reflections
disconnect
eye contact
no eye contact
porcelain dolls -- full and in parts
baby doll parts (hands)
cats cats cats cats cats
record player/victrola
monocle
opera glasses
gloves
feathers
gears
keys
antlers
teeth -- anatomical dental models and smaller teeth
milk
light bulbs hanging from cords
antique cutlery
dead pan
candid
posed
lower camera angle
hourglass
playing cards
top hat
long cigarette filter
knives
meticulous placement of items
ABC blocks
virgin mary candles
horse bit
reins
ribbons
bruises
orb mirrors
palm reader's hand diagram
cameras
old images (victorian, memento mori)
x rays



I really felt like I needed to sit down and do that.  With that said, I think it was very helpful.  I prefer to do a lot of thinking before I actually DO things, which includes the sketches that Jeff suggested I do before reshooting the pictures. Today I went with Ms. Hobson to the library and I made out with a nice stack I think, so hopefully this will satisfy the idea requirement for now. I really like posting in here I think it's helping me sort my thoughts out which is a good thing.

Artist Research -- Robert Gober

 
One think I'd like to mention first about Robert Gober is that all of his work is hand crafted. All of it. And that is something I really appreciate about his work.  In his work, there is an exploration of the domestic and the body and how they interact with each other but with an absurdist twist, which is something I will be delving into in my work as well. There is something both sexual and unnerving in his work that gets under the skin and stays there.  Since Jeff showed me his work on Thursday I can't seem to get it out of my head and I'm sure that it will have a definite influence in the language of my senior portfolio.


I'm also considering more and more the possibility of creating my own pieces to put in the room/space with my models.  The more thinking I do, the more likely it is that I'm going to think up something that just doesn't exist (and probably with good reason).  Some of my AFO training is probably going to come in here in that I'm going to come up with some creative solutions, especially if I end up using that vase of cat tails idea that I mentioned earlier because really, I don't want to use real cat tails... not that I think I'd be able to find enough real severed cat tails to fill a vase. 


In Order of Posting: Untitled, beeswax, pigment, cotton, leather, aluminum pull tabs, human hair, cast gypsum polymer, paint, 2007; Untitled, 1990, beeswax, human hair, pigment; Untitled, willow, wax, and hair, 2000

Idea Post -- Altars/Locations

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I could include within my pictures and I'm thinking some kind of altars or shrines in each image. Maybe not all of them, but some, and not necessarily religious altars.  I plan on researching altars a little more, but I think that maybe in one or two images having an altar of absurd objects might be interesting.  I also had the random thought of having a vase of cat tails in an image. Not the plant but actually cat tails.  I'm not sure how I'd pull that off, but I think it may be something worth pursuing.

I was also thinking of maybe shooting some non-domestic scenarios as well.  I was thinking of a picture (and I think this maybe is what I'm not supposed to do but here's the idea anyway) where I have a model in a field and in the distance there is a tree but there is something/someone lurking around/in the tree while the model is somewhat unassuming of the presence behind them.  I think this might be straying from what I'm going to end up doing, but I think I may make this image to get it out of my system. I don't know I feel so reinvigorated and apparently it shows as Ashleigh told me the very same thing today.

Both images found through Google Search.

Idea Post -- Or is this a lack of Idea post...

I'm struggling.  I did a shoot with my friend Michael to kick off my people in their rooms series but looking over the pictures something just felt missing.  I think what was missing was me.  Not to say that all the pictures were horrible, I like them just fine but there was only one I felt anything from which was this one:

Test Image, Michael's Room, 2009

I'll post the others tomorrow in my meeting post but this was the only one that really said anything to me.  Maybe that means that this is the direction that I should go in within the series or if it's just further proof that I'm just drawn to darker themes.  I was talking to Sara about my dissatisfaction toward this series and how I feel like I need to focus on myself instead of other people.  She mentioned how it might be worth going back to what I was doing with my concepts project where I was focusing on what I'm dealing with in regard to the effects my step-father's abuse is having on me now, after the fact.  

The only problem there is, I'm not sure where to go with it.  I just feel completely uninspired and I'm not sure what to do about it.  Last week I felt full of excitement and motivation and ideas but now I just don't know what happened.  I feel like I need to have something awakened in me and I don't know what to do to awaken it. So much for an idea today.