Trash-tract Expressionism

Trash-tract Expressionism

Performance (on-going)

By taking pointers from Robert Rauschenberg (moment of silence...) and his art in response to the insincerity of the mark of the Abstract Expressionists, this piece was originally conceived as my own response to the new "trash art" trend and influence in contemporary art . Critiquing the post modernist conception that everything is art and we are all artists becomes apparent  when viewers pass it by as a mundane  trash can refusing to recognize it as art , and/or by unknowingly deciding to participate in this art making by throwing away their refuse and (unbeknownst to them) becoming and taking up the role as the artist. More importantly it solicits the individual viewers' own interpretation and response. When confronted with this blatant message it is up to them to interpret it. Interestingly so their interpretation becomes an outlet in which their own individual ideas in regards to art and their artistic practice (for those that are artists)  As well as the way in which they themselves view art, their subjectivity, which comes to the foreground exposing each individuals conceptions or perhaps confusions. 

The Chalkboard Model

With projection

Without the projection and close ups

These are the moments....

Simultaneous projections from This Piece.

“Dear President Harker, When Will We Have A Student Art Gallery?”

The White Cube is the new University of Delaware Undergraduate Student Art Gallery. This magnificent new space radiates with luminosity (which may just be the sun light penetrating the fragmented frosted façade and reflecting from the metal). It is the latest of its kind: Responsive Architecture!!! Two of the four walls continuously move and adapt to the surrounding conditions, while one and a quarter walls have been (sort of) built up to allow for 2-D art display. There is a vast expanse of 25 ft3 of floor space to allow for the display of freestanding sculpture(s). Keeping with the latest artistic trends this space screams “heterogeneity” and “junk-art geared to junk-bond budgets”. With all the great art being produced by the University of Delaware Fine Art and Visual Communications students it is only fair that we give them a space to showcase their work. This high quality structure not only shows how much the University cares and provides for its Art students, but also shows that it fosters “the creative solitude” by tucking it away from plain-sight.

Clay Painting

Clay painting 7ft x 5.5 ft with light projected through 

WIth blue light projected through

She confessed, "It is those moments that we live for"

When you communicate with another person you each have your own experience of that situation. Due to disparities in language and perception between people you can never quite fully understand what they are trying to say, explain, or express, especially when it comes to abstract words. So much of what the other person is trying to communicate is lost with your translation of it. Though within communication there are those times when you have this unspeakable mutual connection, and there is this "spiritual communion". They are those transient moments that we live for and seek to find.

This piece employs two perspectives of a situation. This situation was a lighted glass fish tank of water propped onto a bass amp in which a track composed of various field recordings was played through. The sound played through the amp caused the water and in turn the reflection to vibrate. The response of the water and the reflection of the light to the sound were recorded separately.

 The left is a video projection of lighted water, whose form is mimetic of the glass tank it was placed in. The right is a video projection of the light reflected off of the water, whose form also is mimetic of how it appeared in situation. The projections appear to just be dissonant static, though for a fleeting moment they will line up.

The process of the entire piece employs this idea of "lost in translation". The projections which become two differing abstract landscapes work to attempt to visualize two different perceptions of a situation (the sound). Through their existence they encounter these transient moments of unity and connection.

Because I Could Not Find The Words...