MFA 2011 Thesis Exhibition Opening Reception

An official invite to anyone that may come across this blog.

My MFA Exhibition Reception will be April 28th from 5pm-8pm.

Location: Hillwood Art Museum, 720 Northern Blvd. Brookville, NY

Testing...1..2..3....

Testing methods, materials- determining the do's and dont's is an often overwhelming exhaustion! Today I broke out the saw, made a frame that may or may not work, warp or whatever else it can find to do with itself. The frame is only a small part to the madness that I am creating in order to test if my overall idea will work for separating layers of drafting film before stacking them into one cohesive piece.
I know. It makes no sense. If it works, I will post pictures. If it doesn't, I'll bitch  ;)

Installation

Tonight was final critique for the semester. Here is a snapshot after getting five of the seven drawings to my installation in place. It is not lit so I am eager to explore the possibilities of lighting. 

Frontal installation view (from my iphone-)

Statement of Intent

The human face is read as if it were a written language. Removing the expression leaving a blank stare lends the viewer to imagine the significance of the person drawn. I began to break down the face further, removing the complete image into sectioned planes. Confronted with rearranged detail and various planes of translucent architectural paper, the viewer is encouraged to walk around the work, peer into, imagine and reconstruct the identity of the image broken down before them. In the same way we encounter others, we must peer through what we do not know and construct an understanding of identity.

My drawings are a paradoxical mix of hyperrealism and abstraction. An isolated encounter with the installed drawings becomes ethereal. Immediately confronted with the contour of the face, the installation becomes an experience of the viewer’s self along with a presence foreign to oneself. In the absence of immediate subjective expression, the installation elicits interest without allowing identification. A close observation of the drawings communicates an obscure and abstract experience of celestial debris. Excessive layered details contribute to drowning out the consistency of the representation of something resembling a hallucinatory projection.

The installation represents both assemblage and disassemblage of identity and our understanding of it. Through exquisite draftsmanship, the installed drawings question principles of identity and recognition as well as standard associations with perception and idealization. I question the boundaries of our reality by offering a dislocation to the understanding of our physical self.

my studio work

Current work underway..several panels on vellum to be installed and lit to appear as almost apparition like.. They are not this yellow (yay for fluorescent lighting) but here's an idea of what I am up to. my studio. The drawing to the left is hanging with several others behind it. The ones on the table will be added to the installed drawings. 

Studio view of work in progress.

close up view of work on the table

this is the front drawing in the installation with a few others installed behind that you can see slightly glowing through.

close up of the nose and neck detail

MOMA

MOMA was packed with half of Manhattan's visitors. The locals know better by now unless they're broke and Friday is the only day they're able to see the museum, like me. So, "Free Friday" at MOMA; the doors are open to the public at no cost. The staff is trying desperately to appear in good spirits. We all know the feeling, the "seriously, I wish the public knew this is my nightmare" feeling or the "I'd rather be plucking my eyes out with a spoon" feeling.
My class is walking the fifth floor gallery amongst the hundreds just on our floor, each with our prepared speech on our researched artwork. I'm juggling eight pages of scratch notes with an additional three of organized garble and ready to present. All tucked away in Duchamp's wing of the fifth floor, i am into my third page. I think my information is flowing pretty well...
"SIR!"
The security guard approaches my professor. I stop my presentation short. There is mumbling between the two of them, both tall men. My professor has a last word and the security guard approaches inches from his face.
"THIS TOUR ENDS NOW!" the security guard voices his authority.
My professor, young, ambitious, pissy and French says to us, "Come. We'll just keep moving."

So a game of cat and mouse began on the fifth floor of MOMA.

By the time the evening concluded, we were told to shut it down twice. Full security was called once and the floor was closed down ten minutes early.
I am not quite sure what we were doing that bothered security to the effect that it did. We were not loud, giving guided tours with a tip jar set aside..we were simply congregating and, more or less, discussing works of art. I can see where it could be an issue to stand directly in front of a work obstructing view of the work with hundreds of people onlooking and as we project our researched information (as a guided tour, therefore competing with what you would have to pay for at MOMA)- BUT we were not.

I guess I would like an explanation past the dollar.

new to this..

so I'm just getting started with this...its late, or at least late for me after waking up at 5:30 am. Need I say "before my alarm!?" and I actually have to wake up tomorrow morning at 5:30. I am sorry to admit, no- tonight I won't be staying up to entertain myself with virtual reality.
Tonight was free Friday at MOMA. Saw some great art aaaand some not so great. Was harassed by the security guards, almost got to see my professor duke it out in my class's defense..
..yes, tomorrow I will blog more about this exciting turn of events.