Since my mid-March blog update I have added the following studio and research work to this site.
The first draft of my MCP503 Research Paper can be found here. I am in the process of completing the revisions for the final draft which will be posted by April 15.
I wrote an essay-sketch posted on this page titled Writing a Self Portrait. The impetus for this piece was writing an artist statement and bio for an upcoming exhibit, and how these, which we often dread having to write but must write quite frequently. By re-framing the process of writing the artist statement and bio as a form of self portraiture I hope to lessen that dread. The essay served as a good starting point for the discussion of my recent work in my crit group Skype session on March 29.
MCP501/MCP502 Gallery updates can be found in three of the galleries: MCP501/MCP502 Process Photos,journal, Sketchbook, etc by scrolling down to the images beginning with ‘Something else on the easel’. The two new works featured in this gallery are still in process. Text discussing the pieces is included with the photos. A few other works in a similar vein have been started in the studio but are not yet ready to be documented on this month’s blog posting. MCP502 Self Reflective includes approximately sixty new iPhone photos using mirrors, reflective surfaces, paintings from previous years, photos, objects and spaces of personal significance. This is an area I am really playing around with and still unsure of where it is going; if the photos will be left as photos in a digital space, become prints, or become part of other works in a still unknown form. Perhaps they will become all of these. MCP502 Twinnings is a new gallery added this month, and similar to the works in the MCP502 Self Reflective gallery consists of photos I have taken of myself using my iPhone and a mirror. In these photos it is a single mirror hung on a wall against which I have pressed various parts of my body. Like the other photos I am not sure at the moment where these photos are leading, or how they will fit into the work. I did print all the photos on 4 inch x 6 inch glossy photo paper. These photos I have sorted and glued into two sketchbooks. One book primarily has the photos of the face with a few pages using two or more photos featuring more recognizable body parts. The other sketchbook consists mostly of multiple photo pages of more abstract images. In that book I have begun drawing on some of the pages and photos. As this work is fleshed out in the next few weeks I will begin posting images of these pages in the gallery. I have also finally filled the sketchbook I began in Berlin, which for me is quite an accomplishment as I have always been very inconsistent working in and filling sketchbooks. I have posted the additional images in the MCP501/MCP502 Sketchbook gallery.
In addition to the studio work and revision work on the MCP503 Research Paper I have begun thinking about the MCP504 Synthesis Paper and Year Two Project Proposal I will be writing next month. My thoughts have been leading me towards further exploration of self portraiture and with a decreased emphasis on, if not elimination of the word ‘Epilepsy’ from the project title.
This past week I traveled to New York City for a couple of days where I attended a lecture given by Rebecca Solnit at City College which was centered around her two atlases, and mapping space and place from feminist perspective. I spent some time looking at a few shows in Chelsea, including Joseph Beuys at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Thomas Nozkowski at Pace, Etel Adnan at Galerie LeLong, and Ke-Sook Lee at George Billis Gallery. I also had the opportunity to add to my bookshelf after a trip to Strand. Among my finds were A Face To The World: On Self-Portraits by Laura Cumming and Essays On The Blurring Of Art And Life by Allan Kaprow. Unfortunately they did not have Richard Schechner’s book on Performance Studies as I had hoped, and I still want to look at. On that note, I am currently participating in the virtual version of the Performance Anxiety by my fellow Ti student and crit group member Claire Barratt on Tumblr. Finally, while in NYC I was able to visit the Met with fellow Ti student and crit group facilitator Mark Roth to experience his project- AR exhibition of his work at the Met. This was a great opportunity to not only begin to experience the work as it is meant to be, but to discuss and provide feedback on all the possibilities the project contains. And it is always enjoyable to walk around someplace like the Met with another artist, look at and discuss works that he or she find interesting and inspiring! In general I have had a great experience with my crit group both in written and Skype crits, and have been fortunate to be able to interact with various members beyond the given crit group structure.
In all the past month has been filled with many opportunities to think, explore and write, both formally for the research paper, and less formally in the studio. I am looking forward to seeing how the studio explorations of the past two months begin to solidify and take shape between now and the Berlin residency. Flights and accommodations have been booked and the Panke is calling!