finishing up the year...

At the beginning of the year, I talked about what I have done in the past. Last year, I discovered that I love to make installations for my art pieces. With the dolls that I did, I was really stepping out into a new area of study while also discovering my love for using emotions and contemplative subjects. 
see my first blog

Last year, with my installations, I wanted to provoke the audience in thinking about how they relate to each piece. Now, I am putting a more heightened importance on the viewer because their participation is so integral in the whole process. 


Mrs. Miller and I had a good conversation about how you really can't make someone feel something. It just doesn't seem true to the art to try to make someone feel something, so with my work, I want to convey a sense of interest and wonder in the audience. I want them to think. I want it to mean something to them... whatever that may be. Maybe they relate to it because of their past... Maybe they relate to it because of something that they are going through now. Art through music, sound, voices, images, and videos... all of these things are one of the best mediums to get a message across. 
Shea Glover : one of my main inspirations in audience participation

One of my main purposes of the year and of this path that I am on is to experiment with different mediums to try to find the best vehicle to carry each message. 
My first and main piece of the year is an auditory piece that deals with hurtful words. Because this deals with the human voice and the listener can be alone to experience it, it is a very personal and emotional piece. Being alone... in an isolated room... heightens the viewer's emotions and allows them to experience every emotion that comes at them through these voices. 

one of my interests : how psychology plays into art

These are some questions that I consider when thinking about each project : 

What is my message? 

What is the most powerful way to communicate my message? 

Is it tactile, auditory, visual, etc.???

Is it crowd participation?? If so, how can I work with them and work for them?

I also have to think about activating the space around each piece in a way to convey a message and make the space have overall atmosphere that is necessary in order to evoke emotions. 
my blog : how to display your art

my previous blog : reflection on this year

Next Year 

I have been thinking about different types of installations and performance art.
Ann Hamilton : large installations with audience participation
Will I do pieces outside? Will I keep some inside? How can I incorporate the audience in different ways that will allow for a greater and more heightened sense of emotion? 

I am excited for the year to come so that I can experiment with more topics and different mediums of conveying my message!

reflection...

Key Elements 

At the beginning of the year, I referred all of you to Mark Rothko. He is one of my main inspirations. This is what started my whole concentration on emotions and how to portray them in different ways. My first project this year was a vinyl record of people's responses to the question "What is the worst thing that anyone has ever said to you?" After making this piece, I decided that I wanted to deal with all different aspects of how we perceive emotions. I also have been working on other pieces that are visual and physical (to go along with my auditory piece). I have really enjoyed being able to do pieces that are meaningful to other people while incorporating the different aspects of how we can take art in. I hope to continue to use the different elements of art such as : visual, physical, and auditory as I have been doing this semester. 

What do y'all think about this quote? I like how it makes you think...

I like how this relates to all of my pieces/concentration because it is so true. I want people to realize how what they say really DOES affect people. No matter what the intent is, it is always important to watch what you say because you never know what other people are going through.

Now that I've gone off on that rant for the hundredth time, I will keep going on about my art.

Other artists that have really influenced my art this year have been Chris Burden, who deals with performance art and Shea Glover, the student artist that captured how people responded to her telling them that they were beautiful. The idea of performance art and Shea Glover's whole mentality really got me thinking about how all of this can play into my future pieces.

I have also been looking at topics of interest. Something that interests me a lot is psychology. I think it is interesting to see how the brain works and why we are the way we are. This is something that I have been weaving into my art as well. The article that I blogged about by Art Shimamura was very interesting to me. He touched on how and why people respond to art the way that they do. He told about people coming up to him in tears over a piece of art because it reminded them of a time in their past and touched them deeply. I want to make art that moves people to tears, that renders a feeling inside people that really makes them think. I want my art to REALLY MEAN SOMETHING to people. THAT is my goal. That is what I am striving for. I love to make art that is "pretty to look at" but I really love to make art that causing a feeling inside that people can relate to.

This is why I really want people's responses to my work. I am thinking of having sticky notes posted for the audience to respond with. I want to know what they think. I want to know how they feel about the art. I want to know about that time in their life that they relate these things to. I just want to be able to use that to inspire future art that I will produce and help me get even better at conveying these emotions.

in the future...

I really want to make more art that is audience oriented. I want them to participate in it more in the future. I like the idea of having the audience come in and swing on swings throughout the gallery (like Ann Hamilton- an artist that I have looked into). I want people to really want to participate. I am looking forward to what is to come and am glad that I am going in this direction. I think that this semester has really pushed me in the right way and look forward to continue to make art that challenges me and those around me. 

projections...

Josiah McElheny

This artist is really interesting. He "explores the relationship between abstraction and the body as he makes Projection Painting 1 (2015)."  I would like to use this idea of projection in my next project. 

In my next project, I would like to use a projection of words. I was going to have a subject (probably a guy) write down a few things that they think about themselves- or things that have been said to them- (maybe both bad and good... we will see) and then have them stand against a white wall wearing a white shirt and project these things onto them. I want people at the gallery to be able to look at them and truly see their pain and see what has been said about them. I think this could be a very powerful piece to use along with my others. 

However... after doing a critique on this piece, it seems that this may be a complicated idea. We thought about maybe videoing this to make it less awkward for the subject and then projecting the video at the show, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having one auditory, one visual, and this one (physical) pieces of work. We also explored the idea of maybe having the audience write what they think... but if they don't know the person, then it would just be all about appearance. Or we thought about having pre-cut words out for people to place on the projector... We also talked about having pre-cut words or something and having the audience go up to the wall and take a picture of the word on them... but I don't really know about that. 

 I'm not really sure where this will end up going, but I still would like to use this idea somehow. I'm still thinking, and I am gonna keep exploring different options. 

Please let me know what y'all think! 

Citation : 
http://www.art21.org/artists/josiah-mcelheny/videos?order=field_video_duration&sort=asc

performance art...

This is a very interesting type of art. I am kinda experimenting with this in my 3rd project. I am really excited to collaborate with other people in the art and actual show itself. I found this artist that is considered by many one of the most important artists from the performance spectra. 

Chris Burden 

"In many of his early 1970s performance pieces, Burden put himself in danger, thus placing the viewer in a difficult position, caught between a humanitarian instinct to intervene and the taboo against touching and interacting with art pieces." 

 

This guy is super interesting. Obviously, I don't want to deal with the dangerous qualities that he deals with... but I do like that he is challenging his audiences. 
"To perform Shoot, Burden stood in front of a wall while one friend shot him in the arm with a .22 long rifle, and another friend documented the event with a camera. It was performed in front of a small, private audience." This idea of challenging the audience, even in such a violent way, is very interesting. It establishes him as a martyr to his peers because he is risking his own life to revive his work. 

 


Burden also does many other pieces that are equally as brutal, honest and interesting (or weird)... including a piece titled "Trans-fixed" which involved the "literal transfixion of Burden to a Volkswagen via nails through the palms of his hands". "The engine was revved at full throttle to represent the sound of screaming in pain." From a Christian view, this relates back to the crucifixion of Christ. This employs terror, pain and an audience transfixed by this piece. 



In this, he almost calls out the audience for being transfixed and calls them to a place of action.  

How This Relates to Me

I am excited to be able to show my work and incorporate the performance side of my work. I am interested to see how the audience responds (what they do and what they don't do)... I am very excited to see how everything will all play out. 

Citation : 
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-performance-art.htm
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-burden-chris-artworks.htm#pnt_2