Thank you Abbe, Deborah, Lindey, Omayra and Stephanie for your feedback--
It is correct to assume intentionality; a great part of how I approach and present what I do is my personal attempt to apply the Quinean double standard.
Everything on the website is meant to be viewed simultaneously as a single piece and the whole pie. This website is dedicated to my TI project process documentation, but I do provide a link to it on my professional website. Most of the work featured there pre-dates TI work; I will add a selection of this work to the professional site next September, after Berlin.
The struggle to access knowledge and the realization of our inadequacy no matter how hard we strive is analogous to our struggles confronting issues of identity. Some will turn away, accepting defeat; others continue on, becoming more disgruntled and oppressed by feelings of inadequacy; yet others not only stay on the course, they remain open, finding grains of knowledge along the way. I build roadways, but it is the viewer who decides which to travel, how to navigate, and the time spent. I found Stephanie’s remarks concerning frustration with ambiguous authorship limiting access to the unknown author’s other works enlightening in this regard; it seems negative, but could actually be applied to positively support my intentions, whatever they might be. Omayra’s remarks about the humbling nature of unclear authorship was something I had not considered, but will more.
“ I began by looking back at the Journal-Pages from the previous year and then sketching out a visual dictionary of forms, musters and themes I used in that work; this covers the first three pages of the sketch book.” I will keep in mind Lindey’s suggestion of working each item in the dictionary into its own simple painting, perhaps further down the road with additional ‘elements’. Deborah, an early version of the website placed the titles/info directly beneath each image, not in the sidebar. I changed to this template because that configuration is not possible here; I wanted the information present, but not so easily accessible.
In the writing-drawings I explore script as image as opposed to script as text. For more on this long history of the obscuring of text in image see: Script in Pictures: Semiotics of Visual Language (Shapiro, 1996). Abbe used the word ‘fiction in regard to these drawings and to my question on pseudonyms/authorship/self portraits; writing “fiction is sometimes more truthful than reality.” I believe often reality is more dishonest than fiction; I am more interested in addressing dishonesty in our realities than creating truthful fictions.”
Creating a portrait of our ‘self’ is a social act because “man is by nature a social animal” (Aristotle, Politics). I create work for both myself and viewers, and the role of subject/object constantly shifts between us.
The associations brought to a work of art can create roadblocks to further passage. It is my job to keep the roadways free from obstructions; I do this by recognizing possible obstructions before they occur. Hence my hesitation with pixelation similar to the skins of popular video game characters.
The recent work is unfinished. The‘breath of chaos’ present in the pixelation colors and “the organic feel not often felt in geometric design” [Stephanie] I believe is my abstracted body’s presence in the work. Here is a current show in LA exploring similar ideas.
You all provided an enormous amount of insightful feedback; although I did not answer all your questions here, I hope was able to provide a bit more insight to my project and process.
To read the complete first round feedback process from question, to comments to response please visit http://www.robynthomas-explorations.com/critique-group-2015-2016/.