Residency 1 Summary

Frances Muldoon

Residency Summary

Over the first residency the feedback I received was both insightful and conflicted. Upon sorting through my notes of faculty and peer critiques, both planned and spontaneous, I found several recurring themes including; Childhood, Sex, Nostalgia, the Grotesque, Femininity and Humor. These themes, although different, overlap and will provide a direction for this coming semesters work.

The main ideas I entered the first residency with were about viewing childhood through the eyes of an adult, as well as the ideas of fragmentation, misremembering and childhood memories.  My intention was to develop these themes and ideas over the course of the program.  However, after a single residency I can see that my interests may lie outside my intended area of concern.

The vast majority of faculty and peers read my work as involving childhood, although some did not.  Deborah Davidson felt that the line quality alone was borrowed from children’s cartoons and that childhood was not at the heart of my interests.  If I were to consider this way of thinking, the language of children’s cartoons becomes a tool rather than a theme. Allowing my work to delve into realms outside childhood, and opening up a world of possibility for my work.

The Grotesque was also provided as a possible avenue for my work and research. The images involved in my framed installation were seen by Jan Avgikso to be hinting at the grotesque without delving fully in.  The idea of what it means to be a woman and interested in the grotesque as apposed to a man was also broached as a cultural violation of the norm.  Society is comfortable with a man exploring this subject but not with a woman.  I was encouraged to recognize when I am being inhibited, and to create work that I would not want my parents to see. To learn how to explore intimate conditions but not reveal, to explore, but not confess.  Many artists were suggested in reference to the grotesque including; Robert Storr, Paul McCarthy, Marlene Dumas, KiKi Smith, Kate Gilmore, Nathalie Djuberg and Jole Peter Witkin.  This is a direction I was encouraged to take in the past but have yet to fully explore.

In association with the Grotesque, messiness and bodily products were words used to describe my work; particularly the puddles and drips that reference bodily fluids.  I was advised to further explore the work of Gada Amer and her work with female pleasure, as well as to view the movie Quills, for its psychosexual content and comments on compulsion and madness.  The idea of madness greatly interests me, particularly in association with women. Frauds work on childhood sexuality was also a recommended source of research, especially the taboo surrounding it.

While ideas of the grotesque, sexuality and childhood were seen as positives in my work, the term nostalgia was not. This term was used in reference to my framed installation. The vintage esthetic I employed was seen as being relied on unnecessarily. The images were seen as outdated and un-relatable, as if I had borrowed some one else’s childhood and memories.  Fia Backstrom, as well as several peers, recommended that I use current cartoon imagery or that of my own childhood to make the work more relevant and current.

My work was viewed as an inherently feminist pursuit. This is a view point I never previously considered, but am now extremely interested in.  I have recently become intrigued with the idea of femininity verses feminism and whether they can co-exist, as well as how each of these ideas are visually portrayed and viewed by society. The Blue and White show was recommended to me as well as artist Owen Jones.  Femininity in art also has the possibility to border on the grotesque if pushed too far.  Lisa Yuskavage plays on this line with her images of sickeningly sweet looking women and girls. Domestic space and its objects may also be explored over this semester in relation to femininity and feminism.  The term madness was used regarding my work, an idea and term that I am deeply interested in.  I feel it has the potential to link and interact with ideas of femininity, feminism and sex.

 Visiting artist Angela Dufresne deals with issues surrounding femininity and sexuality in her work.  She is able to handle serious issues with humor while remaining sincere. Humor or perverse humor is an intentional and pervasive element to my work. Subversive comics as well as underground commix were recommended, particularly Art Spiegleman and Art Crumb. I intend to keep humor closely involved in my work.

Many contradictions came to light when discussing materials.  My goal has been and remains, to create a space for the viewer.  This I am discovering this can be done without physically building a space.  If a two dimensional painting or drawing is large enough it can become immersive and be read as a space.  Increasing the scale of my work was recommended unanimously as well as the idea of portability and practicality. Laurel Sparks suggested I create a portable wall space or mural made of canvas painted with white house paint. The house paint would help maintain reference to a wall in addition to pulling in elements of graffiti and street art, rather than association with painting.  Deborah Davidson, who suggested the use of a large sheet of Mylar, disputed the use of canvas.  The Mylar would provide a more plastic like surface and avoid the implications of using canvas.  Paper was a widely suggested surface for its portability and versatility.

Assuming I am to create a wall space, domestic elements may be introduced to further activate the space.  Possible elements include rugs, lamps and hanging elements. As in my previous installation, these elements may be painted and drawn on to directly interact with the mural.  Jorge Pardo creates a space or an entire environment for the viewer to wonder through which is of particular interest to me.  Ideas of employing sound and touch to create an interactive installation were also brought up by many.  Artists Cy Twombly, Joyce Pensado and Nancy Spero were recommended as well.

The prevalence of drawing in my work was noted. I was given several recommendations regarding drawing including; the book Drawing Now: Eight Propositions by Laura Hoptman, visiting The Drawing center in New York, the big draw, and artist Matthew Ritchie on Art 21.  Many questions were raised including, what does the material you draw on means? I will be exploring this in the coming semester and delving further into drawing, something that was considered an unacceptable realm of study during my undergraduate career.

I have few preconceived notions of what my art should be, and am wiling to let research and process guide.  I am excited to find a shift occurring in my work and I am ready to follow it. Out of all the aforementioned possible directions that my work may take my greatest interests are with large-scale drawing and the possible inclusion of domestic objects to create a space.  I also plan to investigate femininity and feminism, sexuality and madness.  I believe these ideas will converge and develop as my research and work continue to progress.