Individual and Collective Experiences
In my installation, located in the elevator of the art building, I am attempting to use sight and sound to create an experience relating to the individual vs. the collective. I am also trying to convey certain disconnects that may occur during the art viewing process, as the artist’s personal connection to the work and process is very different than that of the viewer’s relationship.
In the small room I have hung two large scale abstract images of grey-scale ink drip paintings which were originally intended to resemble static. Their connection to static is not as important as the disorienting effect they give the viewer due to the randomness of the drips and the paintings scale. On the ground are a number of ink drawings/writings/scribbles that I impulsively created in an hour. I was writing and drawing whatever came into my head, regardless of how little sense it made, or how accessible these writings would be to the viewer. In the process of making these drawings, I was interested in art’s uses as therapy. That the process of making art, no matter what it looks like or how it could be criticized, is just as (if not more important) than the product itself. This lead me to fold the drawings in different ways while the ink was still wet, so they would somewhat resemble Rorschach ink blot tests. The ink blot tests resemble art viewing, most notably installation art viewing, because it is generally subjective in its interpretation and individualized experience.
The visual aspects of the piece parallel both visual and conceptual themes of works by Yayoi Kusama. Ceiling and wall mirrors in the elevator duplicate the actual paintings so that the environment is more encompassing. Kusama uses multiple mirrored walls in her “Mirror Room” installations. She describes her work as linked to: “Steryotypical action, repetition, accumulation, obsession, the curtain of depersonalization, emptiness, infinity, psychosomatic art, proliferation, ‘vacuum’, cell, segmentation, eternity” (Art Review 79). The artist’s “Infinity Net” paintings, according to author Pamela Wye, “have a Rorschach-like mutability that makes for an intense viewing experience up close” (Wye 96). Kusama uses art making to represent her inner state of being. One interviewer writes: “Notoriously, compulsion born of mental illness has fuelled her practice” (Art Review 76). The artist’s work is deeply personal, yet encompasses the viewer to see what she is seeing.
The recording occurred when I ate a meal by myself at a restaurant where I used to work. There is a continuous stream of dialogue from people at other tables, and then more specific dialogue between me and people I used to work with who would say ‘hi’ as they noticed me. The installation’s sound component depends on the viewer’s presence to be complete. When the elevator door is open and empty, the viewer can hear only static. If the viewer enters the space and the door closes, than the signal of the sound becomes more clearly transmitted to the radio which is projecting it.
Sources:
Art Review. “Yayoi Kusama: To Infinity and Beyond!” 15 (2007): 74-79
Wye, Pamela. “Is She Famous Yet?” Art Journal 57 (1998): 96-97
Monday, September 29, 2008
5 Senses - Spencer
For this project, I was interested in performative work that was directly aimed at my being as opposed to a viewer or another exterior self. In our previous class we discussed installation/performance as a mechanism to interact with the viewer possibly in a more intimate context then associated with traditional forms of art. When we think of our senses, we are generally assessing individual facets of the greater infrastructure of the human body that interact with each other to form a collective entity that establishes the full spectrum of human capability. I was interested in eliminating parts of this biological machine to help focus my energy on a different set of variables in environments that I work within on an every day basis.
I spent 20-60 minutes (depending on space) in 4 different spaces this past weekend: the library, the cafeteria, my bedroom and the quad. In each instance I closed my eyes, shut my mouth and isolated in a spot where no one would bother me. Honing in on my ears and nose I listened carefully and drew deep breath in through my nostrils in an attempt to study each space through varied aesthetic approach. By eliminating the ability to see, taste or touch, I could delve into senses that I may not use as readily or to such extent.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Private Drive, Not a Through Street
Spencer Neale
As I rummaged round the campus late last night, I came upon a sign that read:
"Private Drive
Not a Through Street"
Lying approximately 200 yards west of Benildus.
Along with another interventionist, we carried the sign, 4 feet in width and 3 feet in height, down the stretching cafeteria hallway and propped it up against two windows half the distance from either end of entrance/exit.
It made me smile
art was streaming through -
Morning approached....
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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