the meetings with my advisers have been very beneficial so far; after talking i feel very energized, hopeful to keep working, more keenly aware of the deadline and inspired to try to meet their and my own expectations. i'm glad i had them come so close together; its so interesting to take what they each say, realize who it is coming from and then re-realize they are saying the same things:
alisia, friday, january 12
"why this space if it's not part of the work?"
"subvert the story, give it up" alisia encourage me to quit being so literal, said i'm an artist and artists cannot deal with facts, we are making abstract interpretations and i need to allow myself and the work to be justified in itself. this really freed me up; we ditched the map idea [a relief] and she helped me realize that hanging things in the atrium part is mostly silly since the opening will be at night and the light will be useless.
"narrative is process. process is narrative" thinking you're at the end when really you're at the beginning again.
"non-artists think there is cheating in art; artists don't"
alisia helped me think through some ideas about actually stuff in the show. she compared the imagery outside of the 'office' space to be photographs someone else chose to preserve and take. they are all posed pictures; moments that people want to remember--50th wedding anniversary, all the children posed or the troops outside of the mess hall. the images i print and hang inside of the clean, white, well-lit space are more of the controlled images. "what can you control? How do you see it today?" we talked about how the work is a cross between image and memory [not a new theme in photographic works]
chris, tuesday, january 16
chris talked about a "slamming together" of the two parts of the thesis [the installation/the images], or "count and counterpoint" or different "zones". he also meant by "zones" layers within each collage--where from far away it would appear one way and closer up other/different things could be revealed. we talked about the imagery needing not necessarily 'a program' but more accurately an agenda for the meaning.
"the whole is more than the sum of it's parts" we talked about what happens when i re-draw a photograph, what i add to the image and how it creates a map/program to the actual photograph while revealing most of the information. he suggested that the work reflect this aspect in the work of my process.
"contingent surface" chris talked about an arbitrary pattern mechanism--possibly a roller that would sort of create the same type of mark, but would be altered by surface, etc.
chris said i needed something to "make the show take off" possibly by communicating what i'm doing by redrawing. he thought there would be something surprising in the translation--a remapping, drawing is writing but a verbal/visual description.
he suggested: esther parada, brion gysin
kris, thursday, january 18
kris is going to be a completion to my advising committe...she is full of practical advice, and our meeting was very useful. kris suggested straightaway that the area needs to be sectioned off--possibly hanging one of the images to create a smaller space, as the work would feel lost otherwise
we talked about the need for communication in art. "it doesn't matter if the artist knows: don't open yourself up to having someone walk away not knowing what the show is about". we talked about the need for more communication beyond images; i told kris how there are stories behind all these images and through discussion we realized i wanted to/and could use more text in the art. she felt that an artist statement alone would probably not be sufficient enough.
kris encouraged me to stop keeping elements about the work separate from it.
as far as process she suggested i think about making a reason for the process be know, but not let the process be the art.
as far as completion for the opening, kris wants to see something majorly different every two weeks. it seemed like a fair and reasonable goal.
overall
I've been looking a lot at sigmar polke's work. these meetings were really fabulous and provided me answers to a lot of question, as well as questions to find answers for. i've started incorporating actual text into the work--which has been really enjoyable to me. i feel like the images make more sense, it's a more natural way for me to work--between high and low technologies, as i'm using my computer printer to add text as well as carbon copied handwriting, and letter transfers. meanwhile, gum printing is in its height of testing and retesting--a tedious, frustrating ,time-consuming process, but when i see the print appear in the water i'm reassured that this is the way i want the prints to look. i think i'm stressed out though. and i'm trying to find a way to maintain balance. complete-balance.
