Of all the things I've been tossing about in my head, there are a couple of themes that have caught my interest recently.
One of the first things that jumped out at me - a motif I noticed a couple weeks ago, and immediately knew I could work with - was to investigate what happens to people in a crisis situation. When the chips are down, the heat is on, and failure is breathing down your neck, what do you do? I cannot say that I really thought about this as a project theme before, but it does interest me. How do people react, what are their relationships and how do they change at critical moments? When death is a clear and possible outcome, what goes through a person's mind? When does instinct take over, and what gets left behind? I definitely feel like the relationships between people would be interesting to explore when pushed to their limits.
Another theme I might take up, is the question of "what will the end of our world be like?" I view this not so much as an apocalyptic, extravagant, and disastrous end, but an eventual and significant change in our cultures. How will moral standards change, where do we cross the line, what traditions might we throw away? This theme has been more of a side-note, though, and can be tied into the aforementioned one.
I am not sure how I will tackle these thoughts, but I do feel like an installation or sculpture/structure of some kind will be my method. Actually, I also want to hone my skills in digital illustration - it is one medium that I have really wanted to use, but never got around to practicing during my time at UTSA.
:/
Truly, though, I may leave the installation/big pieces for Luminaria and the BFA show, and focus on Video Art, digital illustration, or some sort of interactive website/program.
I think to help me focus, I may create a fictional storyline, world, and/or characters to weave throughout my work this semester. Examining the relationship between two characters will give me a starting point for each piece, whether it is an installation, video, digital painting, etc. I can see myself taking pairs of characters like this, finding out how they respond to each other, and create an exaggerated manifestation of this dynamic.
**EDIT**
I thought I'd post some examples of artists/pieces that have inspired me (Ernesto Neto, Tara Donovan, Elisabeth Higgins, et al.)
;)
Ooo I really like that thought about people's reactions during a crisis! Seems a little complex and difficult though, it's probably going to be a little tough conveying it right? I don't have that many resources for digital illustration (I'm in the process of buying some books right now) but if you want some help let me know! I love this guy and I am looking at his videos right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6XPWDtJvaY
ReplyDeletevery relevant durational performance collaborations which, I think, relate to your theme of people in crisis together:
ReplyDeleteYear of Rope with Teching Hsieh & Linda Montano -http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/year_of_the_rop.php
also, Marina Ambrovic & Ulay -
http://catalogue.nimk.nl/artist.php?id=3
I also thought of Mathew Barney as someone who has created his own total mythology and world, and depicted it in a decade's worth of work, the Cremaster series.
Have you noticed the amount of disaster movies coming out way recently? I wonder if they are cashing in on the whole 2012 year fear or if disaster movies are just in style (possibly both).
ReplyDeleteI've read that to truly know someone is to see them under as many situations as you can (happy, sad, hungry, anxious, duress, pleasure, playing cricket, etc)so your work will be cut out for you. Unless you already have an idea of peoples reaction on the brink, you're going to have to create some crappy situations for your victi... er... test subjects.
Crisis situation is a really strong concept and emotion to pursue. I'm curious to know if you are wanting to spark this emotion within the viewer or make the work about the feelings involved and have the viewer contemplate them. Putting the viewer in a crisis situation really makes me think of a few the sculptures Chris Burden made. His 'The Big Wheel' (http://hydeordie.com/search/Chris+Burden), and 'Samson' (http://www.zwirnerandwirth.com/exhibitions/2004/0904Burden/samson.html) should give you some interesting ideas to start from.
ReplyDeletespeaking of Burden & crisis situations, his performances sure seem to embrace them as well
ReplyDeleteChris Burden's performances were my first thought too. Two other things I thought of, somewhat non-art related and maybe a bit odd: the Saw movies and Punk'd/Candid Camera, which both employ crisis scenarios to reveal the true characters of people. There is also an element of manipulation. This should be interesting...can't wait to see what you come up with.
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