My Artist Statement

I forgot to post this before class-

I make paintings about the nostalgia I feel towards my home region of Florida and my relationships by using imagery of nature, and my friends interacting within nature. When I moved to Memphis I immediately found a new appreciation for my home. I began to romanticize my memories and so I began making art focusing on my skewed recollections. By using personal photos I have a tangible reference to start from, and by abstracting the imagery I make the pieces less specific, and therefore more relatable to others beside myself. I do however leave clues of the original occasion so that they are not only recognizable to me, but the friends involved. I simplify the color palette to help exaggerate elements of the composition and to reflect how some detail are lost in memory.

I use many different techniques as each one allows me to emphasize different aspects of my work. Oil painting permits editing, texture and immediacy, while the edition of embroidery makes the work more precious and personal. Watercolor represents memory well in the way the colors can bleed together, altering the image. Printmaking and papermaking are methodical, I feel as though I create a believable falsity based off reality because of how authentic these works appear.

I work with very personal subject matter but I strive to represent it in a way that can appeal to many viewers who can find something in the works that cause them to reminisce on their own experiences. I do this through differing amounts of abstraction, an appealing color palette and by making the works an accessible size so as to not overwhelm. My location dictates my comfort, and so I represent that which I find the most reassurance in.

Happy Go Lovely

Isn't that the cutest name? Your general run of the mill 1950's comedy involving mistaken identities and dancing and cute clothes. But goodness some of the sets and outfits are phenomenal. Scientists need to hurry up and make a time machine, I think I was meant to be in that dance number.

Jiha Moon

I attended Jiha Moon’s Lecture and show this weekend. She has been living in America for over 10 years and is From South Korea, it seems as though Moon struggles with her ethnic identity because she is obviously not American, and now when she returns to Korea she is considered Americanized and feels like a tourist. I think Moon uses this to her advantage as her paintings are smashed full of cultural references from both countries. She likes the idea that nothing is pure; Moon has no problem admitting that her references are borrowed, though they are chosen for humor or significance. Apparently Moon started as a figurative painter, which I find hard to imagine because her work is quite abstract, thought there are a lot of very tightly rendered areas. I don’t like all of her works, some of them just have too many super bright colors for my liking, but she does some really nice work, and I especially like the pieces that play of different interpretations of language. Often times the titles are kind of snarky, and Moon was quite amusing and clever when speaking. She was also just really great at talking about the work without making it boring or too detailed by mixing in little stories. Pretty much she was adorable and had some really great nuggets of wisdom like “when you trust yourself too much then the paintings get boring.” I think everyone at our school needs to think about that. Moon also thinks that utopia would be boring. At first I was unsure about that statement and then I realized how right she is. What a clever lady.

Artist Statements

Well I'm just gonna put the links up, hopefully that's okay. I have found that a lot of artist statements use a lot of words to say very little. Some of these aren't that great, but I don't think any of them are horrible. I guess because I was only looking at websites of artists I like. Not that having me as a fan necessarily makes them smart, but I might have to disown them if they can't write a semi-credible artist statement. Or at least delete my bookmark.

Kate McCarthy

Jason Mitcham

Sarah Bedford

Jen Garrido

Deborah Zlotsky

Takashi Iwasaki

Presentations

Our first assignment and real interaction with each other was this past week. Maybe it wasn’t so much interaction as a chance to learn about each other, which was great. I thought everyone did well, though I must say it was hard for me to stay quiet sometimes, I really wanted to talk and critique the artwork more than the presentations themselves. Good old MCA has me all trained up in that regard. Though sometimes I feel that I’m the only one who wants to share my opinions. I know I wasn’t the only one to talk, but hopefully we will get comfortable quick because discussion is important. Especially because we are learning how to present ourselves professionally and making good first impressions is key to success. Strangers are going to be more judgmental out of convenience so I’m happy to get the chance in this class to attempt to become comfortable with the business end of life.

The presentations held my interest, though there was definitely variation in the ease with which some people spoke, and of course in the kind of work shown. I’ve had multiple classes with some of my classmates and so I’m very familiar with their work, but mostly I was excited to get a chance to see the full depth of everyone’s work. Generally I think this was a valuable assignment to help us in the future when critiquing each other’s assignments since we now know where everyone is coming from. Hopefully next time we will all be a bit more forthcoming in not only taking about our own work, but about our classmates’ as well.

fun fun

So I want to make this blog more interesting, so I'm gonna start posting inspiration pictures, and whatever else tickles my fancy. This is Riikka Sormunen, and oh how I love her work. Seriously, go to her website and fawn over the amazingness.

Looky!

I finally got professional quality photos taken of my most recent work. Thank goodness.