Semester Summery
Frances Muldoon
Deb Todd Wheeler
November 17, 2013
Upon
entering my first residency this past June I had some very definite ideas
concerning subject matter, direction, and the execution of these ideas in my
art. However by the end of the first residency I found these ideas changing and
shifting. These previous ideas
concerning viewing childhood through the eyes of an adult, of misremembering
and fragmentation, formed the foundation for this semesters work. Thoughts of femininity and feminism and whether
the two can co-exit came into play as well as ideas of the ultra feminine
becoming grotesque. Sexuality and madness, while undercurrents in my previous
work have become central in my current pursuits.
This
semester has lead to the creation of several large drawings (4ftx6ft) with
paint on paper, experiments with a projector and the creation of a large
painting/drawing on a tarp (6ftx 9ft). In addition I also created several
smaller drawings and collages made with old book pages, canvases, found paper,
drawing materials, ink and paint. These drawings began with uniform lines, paint
and my previous subject matter concerning childhood. They evolved into drawings
made with varied lines and patterns using ink, collaged paper, drawing
materials, and paint and exploded onto collaged canvases and large tarps.
Familiar images morphed into abstract cartoon shapes and pink became vital.
The semester began
with writing, researching and gathering new materials including large rolls of
paper and a new projector. I began experimenting with projecting drawings and
collages I made previously, onto the
large sheets of paper using black paint on the white paper. These first drawings
allowed my work to move quickly, and allowed for optimum experimentation.
One
of the many big events this semester was moving into a new studio space and out
of my parent’s house. This large step allowed for greater concentration as well
as greater freedom in my work. This was
an important shift this semester. I feel the quality and quantity in my work
has greatly improved with the move.
In my initial
meeting with mentor Joanne Freeman she encouraged me to limit the use of the projector
due to the uniform lines it created. The
importance of scale was discussed, as well as incorporating found paper I used
previously into larger scale work. Most importantly
in this first meeting I was encouraged to get away from literal associations in
my work and to use formal language and marks to convey meaning, to think formally
about composition and to include contrasting elements. Artist that were
suggested were, Carroll Dunham, Jonathan Lasker, Tim Rollins and KOS and Sue
Williams. Initially I struggled with the loss of
literal associations in my work but eventually discovered that I could work
more abstractly while maintaining the cartoonish lines of my previous work. This
was an important discovery made this semester. I have wanted to break away from
the literal associations to children cartoons but was unable to make the shift
until this semester.
I
was next encouraged by Joanne to deal with the idea of obsessive drawing, by using
actual drawing materials and incorporating greys and varying shades of black.
The main focus of this critique was engaging the backgrounds of my work creating
a space rather than allowing the shapes to simply float on the surface. Initially it was difficult to diverge
from the white background but as I continued I found ways of creating
background that truly added to my drawings rather than detracting from the
lines and cartoon shapes which are most important. Joanne also suggested further integrating the book pages I used into
the backgrounds of my work. I began to play with brighter shades of pink and
including organizational tools in my work such as grids. This created a base
for the drawings to take place on. Artists
Philip Guston, Hans Hofmann and Thomas Nozkowskie were recommended as well as
The Pink Show.
In our next
meeting, Joanne suggested that in my work, a starting point was needed as
apposed to beginning with only a white canvas. The collaged paper and grids I
had been utilizing could fill that role, as could a simple mark or spill on the
canvas. She also suggested that my cartoon images were becoming personalized, something
I have striven for in the past but have not been successful with until this
semester.
During
the semester I was able to see Joanne’s studio in SoHo and discuss the work she
creates there. I visited the Mike Kelly
show at PS1, which was an incredibly stimulating experience. I was very drawn
to his “garbage drawings” because of their gross and cartoon like lines, which
are similar to my own work.
The huge black and white acrylic drawings
and the whimsical yet disturbing hanging stuffed animals were also very
interesting. In NYC I also saw the
exhibit “Drawing Time, Reading Time” at The Drawing Center, a show consisting
of artists who investigate the connection between drawing and writing.
Academically, Lucy
Lippard’s From the Center: Feminist
Essays on Woman’s Art encouraged me for the first time to view my work in
terms of being a woman Artist. This
was the point where pink entered the studio and has remained.
In my initial
research paper I explored the ideas of femininity and feminism, two terms that
were largely engrained in the readings from Critical Theory One. I worked with
the idea of weather Femininity and Feminism could co-exist in a single work of
art. My finding was that these ideas could co-exist in a single work of art. Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party is proof of this. In this piece she put on
view the positive and negative aspects of women’s history, which can be seen as
a feminist pursuit, while using items with strong historically feminine associations
such as hand painted china plates and carefully embroidered runners. This paper
lead me to further investigate femininity in its self, rather then its attachment
to feminism.
In My second
Research paper I explored two artists, Lisa Yuskavage and John Currin and their
relation to the female nude. I explored
not only what Lisa Yuskavage was creating with her candy colored, sickeningly
sweet nude women but why she is in so many ways alone in this pursuit and why male
artist feel free to take such liberties when painting the female nude. The
paper centered on the question; does gender matter when painting the female nude?
My findings were that until more female painters delve into the realm of the
erotic and the female nude this question must go unanswered. This paper led to
the idea of femininity being pushed to the extreme and entering into the realm
of the grotesque.
In
my third and final paper I explored the ideas surrounding what it means to be a
woman and working with the ideas of the grotesque, as well as the idea of the
ultra feminine pushed to far and becoming grotesque. In this paper I researched
and explored several artists including Carroll Dunham, Sue Williams, Mike Kelly
as well as Lisa Yuskavage and Joel-Peter Witkin.
Overall I feel
this has been a very successful first semester, full of change, movement, new directions
and new ideas. Academically I felt supported and encouraged to follow the
threads left by each consecutive paper. In the studio I was encouraged for
forget my place in the art world and just create. I was then asked to consider
my directions more fully after the work was thoroughly underway. I gained a new
studio free from distractions and the ability to enter a new local and more active
art community in the Hartford area. I also became more connected to the NYC art
scene through the strong relationship formed with my generous and encouraging mentor.
My concepts have and are still in the
process of evolving but I feel my previous concepts have not altogether
vanished but rather become part of the brickwork, helping form a foundation for
new ideas. I hope that new ideas and
concepts will grow from my current concepts creating even greater depth and
intrigue to my work.
In
the coming semester I plan to continue to work on both a small and large scale,
I plan to find new materials that will allow for large-scale work and will reintroduce
three-dimensional aspects to my work. I plan the continued use of drawing
materials as well as the abstract cartoon forms developed over this semester. The
ideas I will follow in the coming semester are the grotesque, madness,
childhood and sexuality all in terms of the feminine and femininity. I will
also explore ideas of obsessive drawing. I feel that although I have had some
failed ideas and work, I have made great strides and am quickly moving forward.
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