Residency Summary I

Residency Summary

Generalizations made about my work heard across the board.

·      My elements are very illustrative in nature.  They are reminiscent of comic book art and Japanese Animation.  My color palette echoes the same aspect and may be something I want to continue.

·      There is an aspect of cultural misappropriation in my work.  I am a Westerner painting Japanese art and I need to make a decision to move away from Japanese motifs or move forward with them. 

·      It is apparent that I enjoy working in a series.  Also, the mark as text elements although intriguing would be more interesting as marks of my own invention or possibly a lost language or glyph system.  I would like to continue with the story telling, serial, and archival elements of my work. 

·      My work has very literal constructs.  I need to find a way to make my work more ambiguous.  It has been suggested I find my own personal symbols and also work in a more conceptual manner.

Comments made during critics in chronological order.

It is important to note my first two critics were missing key information as to the creative and emotional force behind my series I intentionally withheld.  The critics were therefore lacking proper information to critically look at my work as far as future development is concerned.  I do, however, feel I received some important feedback from these critics.

My first critic was with Anthony Apesos.  We began with focus on distortions in painting.  Distortions happen because they are intentional or they can be drawn better.  It was noted mine look like they need to be distorted more, and they look like they are from a comic book.

·      Distortions need to start academically correct to be convincing. 

·      The colors I choose are very bright and way to many.  Think of ways to reduce the palette.

Second critic was with Peter Rostovsky and Michael Newman.  Both faculty felt my work had a crazy surrealist element to it.  It was noted that there are to many elements interacting, and everything is to literal.  Peter noted that when you go to another culture you learn how barbaric your own culture is.  Once you learn this how do you go back to your own culture even if the other does not accept you?  He asked me to think about how my work can depict this sense of placelessness.

·      I should look into the study of human and fish interactions and maybe look into hybrid beings.  

·      Think of ways to paint American themes in a Japanese style.  Create my own fairytales that are something inventive and strange.  

My third critic was with my Adviser Sunanda Sanyal.  At this point I shared the real reason for creating the koi series, and he provided feedback based on this new information.  He asked me to think about how to paint so that traumatic experience does not take over the work but makes it a part of the art experience.  Art is an intellectual and emotional experience.

·      Do not deny what has happened but discuss it intellectually not emotionally in my work.

·      Make the symbolism more ambiguous by being more intellectually layered so the work is not necessarily understandable at first glance.

We also had a group critic with JooYoung Choi.  In this critic the rest of my group provided feedback.  My critic group was Kevin Blake, Andrea Castillo, Nathaniel Myer, and Casey Arbor.  She started the critic noting my cultural misappropriation and recommended a few artists to look into that incorporated western and Chinese themes into their work.  She suggested I work on being more strategic about the things I share so that the work can be about the larger experience. 

·      Find balance with beauty and the challenging ideas.  Don’t let the figure become a formula. 

·      My work makes the viewer feel like they are standing still while everything around them is doing something.  I need to focus on removing the overstimulation from my work.

·      Fish bodies are made to protect themselves and can be a loaded symbol.  Be very intentional about the elements that will not be abstracted.  They will be the first things people look at.

I had a voluntary critic with Fia Backstrom the next day.  She stated my work is very fluid and intuitive, and does not feel intellectual.  She recommended I explore the language of Expressionism and Neo-Expressionism.  There is a tension between what is an authentic mark and what is a mediated mark.  The real mark is the artist that believes when they make their mark it will convey feeling.

·      Work between what is mediated and what is real.  Do not let my illustrative marks do the job for the viewer.

·      Explore the history of painting and see what other ways of rush strokes there are to express emotions. 

·      Remove the symbols from my work.  Make my work personal so the viewer can feel the importance but cannot necessarily see the private message.

·      Think about how the color can provide enough emotional meaning without the symbols.

Liselott Johnsson provided interesting feedback on the color palette I chose.  She suggested I work in multiple reduced color palettes and experiment with a few black and white paintings.

·      Study artists that work in series and how they make it benefit their art.

·      Don’t shy away from using bright expressive colors, but know why I use them and be ready to defend my usage of color intelligently.

Dwight Smith mostly talked with me about my watercolor techniques.  He was disconcerted by my use of charcoal and watercolor combined, and recommended I purchase an ebony pencil.  He felt my colors should be muted more and I should experiment with allowing the colors to bleed together and be messy.

Since my adviser is Sunanda I met with him one other time in my critic space.  It was recommended I move away from painting to make more conceptual art that is not visual.  He would like me to experiment with other forms of display including video interviews, stock photos, writings, and investigating things that are publicized.  Consider presenting the visual part of it and argue that it is not real without using metaphors and symbols. 

·      Make my work more ambiguous and conceptual thinking in terms of compound symbols.

·      You have to be able to step back and step back into the work.  The back and forth movement is very crucial.

·      Do not try to point a finger at the truth but talk about a simulated idea of what the military is.  Look into how our country was formed and how it affects the way our nation views the flag.

My last critic was with Anthony Apesos agains.  With new information and competing ideas about the future direction of my work he suggested finding a new medium to convey my ideas may be art direction and not art.  The great thing about painters is they have limited their practice to painting.  They have things to say too, and the conflict is what makes the paintings great.

·      Conceptual artists are people making art about art.  Maybe I am using the word conceptual wrong and really what I mean is I want to have ideas in my art and be concept driven.

·      Use ideas of how paintings can tell stories.  Get a fish from the grocery store and bend it until it cracks.  Paint the natural empathy between my body and another body.

·      Use form and representation but not direct representation to show meaning.

·      There is a fundamental difference between a moving image and a still image.  A still image holds it’s meaning while a moving image passes on leaving only a memory.

My first residency has taught me to experiment with elements I have previously discarded.  I have learned that my work has endless possibilities of growth.  I intentionally want to make works in a series or tell a story with a series while working with ideas and conceptualization simultaneously.  Critical Theory I taught me a great deal about conceptualization, making art about art, the idea and what constitutes beauty in the art world.  I intend to move forward with this information and utilize it to influence my future works.

Artists to research:  Andrew Loomis, Annslem Lieder, Artemisia Gentileschi, Cecile Brown, Fances Bacon, Frank Stella, Frans Marc, Gary Schneider, Giotto, Hans Haacke, Henry Darger, Jasper Johns, Jill Winestock, Liliana Porter, Martin Kippenberger, Michael Bormens, Michael Krebber, Nicholas Nylen, Nick Cave, Phillip Guston, RH Quaytman, Shehzia Sikander, Stanley Spencer, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Windamere Chase, Winslow Homer

Books to read:  Gardner Art Through the Ages (history rebuff), Conceptual Art by Tony Godfrey, Chromophobia by David Batchelor, Mysteries of The Rectangle by Siri Hustvedt, The Art Instinct by Denis Button, Beauty by Roger Scruton