Date of Award
5-2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Legacy Department
Visual Arts
Committee Chair/Advisor
McDonald, Todd
Committee Member
Detrich , David
Committee Member
Feeser , Andrea
Committee Member
Jensen , Heidi
Abstract
My work is an investigation into the physical and cognitive spaces that painting occupies as both image and object. By transplanting fragments of mechanical and digital reproductions into formal and conceptual participation, I seek to disrupt the significations of culturally accepted iconography and probe the locations of acceptance they normally inhabit. I employ strategies of manipulation, framing, and juxtaposition to visually suggest the presence of the original object through the parameters of the reproduced composite and implicate the presence of the institution by incorporating the gallery wall directly into a number of my compositions. By utilizing imagery from the art historical domain and redeploying it in the manner of a quotation out of context, I suggest to the viewer an awareness of the many lenses of cultural criteria that are used to evaluate, appreciate, and understand these images and other works of art. While either directly using or evoking the historical image as a point of departure for this dialogue, this work contributes to an understanding or awareness of our location in the present by considering both the physical and virtual divisions that constitute our contemporaneous understanding of the past. These strategies speak to the difficulties of interpreting the original through the language of the reproduction, the fallibility of this system, and its frequently absurd outcomes. The purpose of this document is to: I.) Introduce and outline the biographical information used to formulate the conceptual procedure of the work, II.) Explicate the characteristics of the reproduction and its manifestation through the mechanisms of the work, III.) Signify the importance of the contemporary institution in our understanding of how images operate culturally, and IV.) Explain the historical and contemporary discourses that inform the work.
Recommended Citation
Marks ii, Michael, "ALTERATIONS" (2010). All Theses. 794.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/794