The Arena

The surface as an arena.
In starting this 9`` X 6`` canvas, I found myself in awe of the scale, and a bit terrified of the whole damn idea. Now, I am particularly accustomed to large scale works, but looking at this surface laid out, a dominating blank wall, I was oddly reminded of one of my favorite professors from my undergrad, Kelsie Harder. He used to always say that there was nothing worse than the blank canvass--you know you've got to fill the damn thing! I always thought that was a foolish sentiment. But in my stupor, staring at this canvas towering above me, and thinking how in the world will I fill a damn wall. I couldn't help but really understand what Kelsie was talking about all those times.This is one of the few paintings I have begun with any level of compositional foresight, there is still my favorite part of art making: the process. I will be posting process photos as this painting progresses.

 

Working toward a synthesis of painting and ceramic sculpture

For this semesters work, I wanted to push the possibilities of the the sculpture/picture dichotomy around a bit. First, I started painting this semester! The goal I had had in mind was to make paintings with which I could explore the way I treat my ceramics but on a flat plane. I had intended for the paintings to end up working alongside my ceramics--not in synthesis, but in some sort of environmentally activating conjunction. But the paintings took a different path than I had intended (see post below). However, as I was painting I would run out any unused paint on these panels of underlayment I had sitting around, and as these panels developed, I realized that they were bound to work well with ceramic elements. As much of my works deals with the allusion to the figuration, I began working on ways to depart from the freestanding figure. The idea here is to activate space through a formal sort of inquiry into the ways which the figure (or allusion thereof) can be approached as an art object. The synthesis here of ceramics and painting becomes important in the way with which I can present the figure in the flat plane as well as the freestanding figure. Some of these works be directly connected with one another, while others will simply exist within the same space--or hopefully anyway.

New Paintings: 2015

Jumping into new territory: representational sculpture and figurative narrative.

 

For my first semesters work as an MFA student. I explored conceptions of the vessel as a free standing figure by treating the vessel as a conceptual container of ideas. I wanted this body of work to present a serious rupture in my typical artists practice: to push my self both technically and conceptually. My aim here was first, to explore specific moments through narrative representation and anthropomorphism. Secondly, I began to connect a specific historical tradition in the vessels social function: to take the essence of the Egyptian Canopic jar, and treat it with contemporary sensibilities.