Mixed Media
Habits
Size: 99 cm x 200 cm Medium: paper plates (Boulder Classic & Green Label), natural fruit dyes Completion: January 2018 Exhibition Text: Habits is a ready-made object assemblage constructed of manufactured paper plates that have been affected by natural dyes from thawing frozen fruit for smoothies, over the course of a month. It is meant to depict the life and death of human habits, affected by time. From the garbage to the wall, my piece was inspired by the simplicity and repetition of John Armleder's presentation in Liberty Dome and the patterns, transitions and story of Stuart Haygarth's Sharps Project. .. |
Inspiration
The intention of this piece was to take ready-made objects, bearing the effects of their intended purpose, and display them in such a way that depicts the meaning of something that reaches beyond the physical appearance, and requires all pieces present. John Armleder, an artist whose work consists of sculpting and and painting, finds that in what he produces he discovers ways in which art and life overlap or entwine. This often means that along with the basic sensory qualities of a creation, there can be found a deeper and more applicable meaning to existence. I was inspired by Armleder's Liberty Dome, which is a ready-made mixed media presentation that is constructed with security camera domes, in a uniform and precise format. Fifteen domes displayed on a wall, with equal spacing in between. There is an aesthetic quality that is pleasing to the eye, found in the shininess, smoothness and roundness of each dome. By presenting several of these all in one area, this changes the effect in numbers of how the viewers feel. There is a common sensation of being watched, but also having to look back at your reflection with every movement you make has left an eerie feeling on some people as they realize, with cameras, we are hardly ever alone. I was inspired by the use of repetition and presentation of Liberty Dome. I am utilizing these factors in my own mixed-media creation, by collecting and presenting multiple plates at once in rows and columns. However, my objects are not identical.
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In Sharps project, tools are strategically grouped by size and type, to create movement and also differentiation, to show transition instead of a chaotic field full of random items that follow no aesthetic presentation format. Drawing inspiration from the specific placement of items in Haygarth's work, I plan on strategically placing my paper plates to show change and transition of the natural prints and patterns that occur through the rich colored juices of the fruit that plates were originally used for. Each plate is different. There are a couple of different ways they can be arranged to achieve the message as a whole of the effect of time on habits. This is similar to Haygrath's work, in which there are multiple ways he could have approached his arrangement; height, color, shape, etc. Some of the times the fruit was left on longer and the natural dyes seeped into the paper, creating dark & vivid organic shapes, leaving a recognizable print of its shape, size and details. Other plates have rushed, bleeding stains with the occasional fleck of brown smoothie that sprayed from the blender while the plate sat nearby, and look more blurred and disgusting. Similar to Haygrarth's grouping and placement techniques, I was inspired to create my own system in order to create a message that requires all varying pieces.
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Planning
This two different idea systems below show the experimentation I had to conduct while addressing this specific project. One of my first thoughts was switching the ratio or proportions of tea to the little tags attached. This is not the idea that I built off of, due to the limited number of tags I was able to collect in the time period in which the project needed to be started, and I was also not very attached to this idea.
As I went through some of my old photos, I found a couple in which I photographed some of the interesting patterns from the used paper plates after my mother had left them out with frozen fruit on them to defrost. There has always been an aesthetic quality to these used plates, and that day I decided to begin collecting them after she made each smoothie. I made plans to display them in their natural state on a wall, playing with order and reasoning.
Below are the finalized planning and display sketches regarding order of content, size, measurements and arrangement.
Process, Technique & Experimentation
This ready-made presentation speaks to the transition of time and how it affects habitual repetition in daily life. Through repetition, the deterioration of observation and quality is visually depicted. When first approached or noticed, items and habits alike are highly appeasing and vividly stimulating, where we take note of small, unfamiliar details, enveloping ourselves in information, detail, and excitement. There is a level of admiration and sometimes obsession. Through repetition over time, we form these into habits. Over time, the more something is repeated, or the more it is looked at, the less we take away from or pay attention to what was once so enthralling and new. Once turned into a habit, it becomes dull, and melts into a regular item that is no longer adored or admired in all its detail-- or maybe not favored but a required habit.
One example of an experience was transitioning into high school: double checking the hallways/floors, memorizing the classroom numbers, counting the desk rows and columns so as to not sit in the wrong seat. I was excited and highly motivated to the best I could. You sit down for the first time and notice the carved in names and the little dents in the surface, memorize the purple ink stains. After a couple months, I no longer payed attention to the numbers because it all blurred into one big habitual system, mindlessly traveling throughout the school to my next stop. I didn't look for my assigned seat because it was instinctive. I didn't study the obstructions to the desks anymore, I ignored them. It becomes blurry and messy, and even in my third year in this school I have been to an extent, burned out. Sometimes it becomes so unimportant that I will forget a new assigned seat and sit in the wrong place (and not feel embarrassed when corrected) or I'll occasionally fall asleep before finishing a worksheet due the next day, whereas I used to push myself to the least amount of sleep needed to finish everything on time. This is prevalent in experience like jobs, short-lived relationships, receiving desired materialistic objects, phones, clothing, or any other item or expereince. The habit starts out new, unfamiliar, exciting, gradually becomes more familiar, blurry, don't need to pay as much attention, becomes less enthralling, everything mushed together, exhausted the habit, burns up, dries up, and fades away.
These paper plates are used by my mother every morning as she defrosts frozen fruits to make smoothies, collected over a period of time. For several health-related reasons and conditions, this has become her morning habit.
One example of an experience was transitioning into high school: double checking the hallways/floors, memorizing the classroom numbers, counting the desk rows and columns so as to not sit in the wrong seat. I was excited and highly motivated to the best I could. You sit down for the first time and notice the carved in names and the little dents in the surface, memorize the purple ink stains. After a couple months, I no longer payed attention to the numbers because it all blurred into one big habitual system, mindlessly traveling throughout the school to my next stop. I didn't look for my assigned seat because it was instinctive. I didn't study the obstructions to the desks anymore, I ignored them. It becomes blurry and messy, and even in my third year in this school I have been to an extent, burned out. Sometimes it becomes so unimportant that I will forget a new assigned seat and sit in the wrong place (and not feel embarrassed when corrected) or I'll occasionally fall asleep before finishing a worksheet due the next day, whereas I used to push myself to the least amount of sleep needed to finish everything on time. This is prevalent in experience like jobs, short-lived relationships, receiving desired materialistic objects, phones, clothing, or any other item or expereince. The habit starts out new, unfamiliar, exciting, gradually becomes more familiar, blurry, don't need to pay as much attention, becomes less enthralling, everything mushed together, exhausted the habit, burns up, dries up, and fades away.
These paper plates are used by my mother every morning as she defrosts frozen fruits to make smoothies, collected over a period of time. For several health-related reasons and conditions, this has become her morning habit.
All designs found on the plates have been created naturally and by non-purposeful placement or arrangement. Each morning, a plate of frozen strawberries, blueberries, or both are set aside to thaw and begin to defrost. As this occurs, the ice coating melts and mixes with the juices of the fruits and creates a rich colored print beneath the fruits.
When the fruit is soft enough to safely be blended, they are poured or slid off the plate into the blender, and the plate is thrown out. What is left behind each time are prints and color blotches that formed beneath the fruit. Each one turns out unique and often highly different from the last. Here are a few of the paper plates used for thawing strawberries collected from the garbage during the first week, varying naturally in hue, intensity, and detail.
According to my planning sketches, the order in which the plates are to be presented was determined beforehand. Through experimentation and following my plan, I assembled the plates on a large open floor area. After finding the desired order, each plate was flipped over and labeled with pencil on the back according to where it fell on the diagram grid map. This was later reconstructed on a blank fold-out presentation wall at school. Using a tape measure and painters tape, I measured 1.5 inches between plate attached to the wall, for both rows and columns. Originally I had planned on only creating 1 inch of space between each one, but they seemed too cluttered and close. Each plate was attached with a roll of painters tape on the back and stuck to the wall. However, there was a lack of strength in this adhesive material, and so after arranging and photographing my project, one or two of the plates began to detach and fall off. I also brainstormed using staples or pins in the center of each plate, but this will depend on the limited background material each time this display is set up.
Reflection
Compare & Contrast
Similarities
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This project has been one of the pieces I have found myself the most connected to and most confident about. When I began this project after making a firm decision to use these plates, I struggled a lot with the different ideas of presentation, to either attack this with the goal of sculptural product or assemblage. My personal desires seem to contradict with what I knew the outside art world would think. I didn't want to built something out of them because I admired them exactly the way they came out of the trash: unique, detached from other items, and simple. When seeking advice, I was given the idea of using the plates to form the shape of the fruit itself; a circle to resemble the shape of a blueberry or a rounded upside-down triangle format to represent a strawberry. I debated for a long time between my own personal desires and feedback from others, but eventually decided to utilize my own assemblage ideas because I truly believed it was the best way to communicate my message: formal arrangement on a wall, top to bottom, arranged to reflect my meaning. I struggled also with concept of photograph documentation and detail. My project was so big that the pieces themselves, I worried, would lose their beautiful qualities the further away it was taken. When we had the "mid-term" check up with UWM, it was suggested I explore the idea of photo shop and making a collage of all the plates, photographed from the same angle, distance, and edited to have equal spacing and placed on the same background, like a photo collage. However, my focus was not photoshop or perfection. So I attempted photography anyway, and spent time setting my plates up in the available space at school. As it turns out, the photography went pretty well. After doing my final presentation at UWM, I received feedback mainly on the deliverance of my concept and theme. They told me, as I had been told by other students before, that their first impression without my verbal presentation was that the prints were created with paint, and that the meaning was rather unstructured because of that. It was not clear that the color and shapes had been created by the natural dyes in fruit (however I do believe it would have aided their observations dramatically if we had been allowed to post our exhibition texts next to our artwork). Some suggestions given to me were to add more in order to further the concept of time, by drawing lines around my work to contain it within a grid-type visual, or to put time stamps on each plate at which the time of day it was used. I also could build upon this to create a heavier presence, many more plates to the display. I was restricted by time boundaries, given only about a month for this project and having only been able to collect about one plate a day. Going in to the future, I could continue to collect them and create an even larger presentation, building off of what I have now, and fill an entire wall. Over all I was pleased with the content and outcome of this project, and I enjoyed putting it together and finding an aesthetic in something that isn't normally seen as art. This opened up a creative side of me that hasn't stretched beyond the limits of drawing and painting in the past.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
I am able to identify the cause-effect relationship between my inspiration and its effect upon my artwork by analyzing the patterns in presentation and formatting of project, the transition of color and repetition of objects.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Armlelder's approach to his assaembalge of camera domes was to create a deeper, more reflective presence and influence on thought through a collection of large, aesthetic objects, and formal presentation. Haygarth achieved an aesthetic but also questionable assemblage of ready-made objects, in which the origin and story behind the art largely impacts the appreciation and reflection through visual display, and is needed to communicate the deeper message.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
That many ideas can be conveyed in a less complex manner and sometimes have a more profound effect when displayed in the right way; haven't had an excessive amount of time put into the creation of the parts themselves. This includes letting the art form naturally as affected by nature and time, not always mad-produced or meddled with.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my research was ways in which I could present meaning through repetition and transformation.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I learned that Haygarth had a drive to connect experiences of life with the creation of visual art. He found it important that they overlap and that viewers would experience this as well.
I am able to identify the cause-effect relationship between my inspiration and its effect upon my artwork by analyzing the patterns in presentation and formatting of project, the transition of color and repetition of objects.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Armlelder's approach to his assaembalge of camera domes was to create a deeper, more reflective presence and influence on thought through a collection of large, aesthetic objects, and formal presentation. Haygarth achieved an aesthetic but also questionable assemblage of ready-made objects, in which the origin and story behind the art largely impacts the appreciation and reflection through visual display, and is needed to communicate the deeper message.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
That many ideas can be conveyed in a less complex manner and sometimes have a more profound effect when displayed in the right way; haven't had an excessive amount of time put into the creation of the parts themselves. This includes letting the art form naturally as affected by nature and time, not always mad-produced or meddled with.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my research was ways in which I could present meaning through repetition and transformation.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I learned that Haygarth had a drive to connect experiences of life with the creation of visual art. He found it important that they overlap and that viewers would experience this as well.
Bibliography
“John Armleder.” 84 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/john-armleder.
Armleder, John M. “John M Armleder.” Aline Rech Gallery, www.alminerech.com/artists/237-john-m-armleder.
“NEW YORK AUCTION 28 FEBRUARY 2017 JOHN ARMLEDER.” Phillips, www.phillips.com/detail/JOHN-ARMLEDER/NY010117/51?fromSearch=john%20armleder&searchPage=1.
“Works.” Stuart Haygarth, www.stuarthaygarth.com/works/.