Evaluative Blog

Idling, oil on canvas, 2010

We are finally done with thesis!  My paintings turned out the way I wanted, though installion posed other problems for me to solve.  A fellow student's installion piece in my room extended out on my wall, leaving less wall room to view my work.  I then decided to display them on top of each other as a dyptich, to give the wall more space.  This actually worked out nice compositionally, due to the interaction of the diagonals in both works. 

The visiting critic, Beth, was helpful.  Although she thought the top painting took place in the Italian Riviera, she was able to decipher the clear dichotomy between my works.  She  thought I was doing something very different in my works, and encouraged me to continue with this style.  

My independent study professor, Marc,  also evaluated my works.  He thought there were beautiful moments in the works, like the aqueous ground in the lower painting.  He told me to consider my edges, and how different edges convey different sources, or meanings.  Moving on to the future, he told me to define my own success and pursue it. 

My other professor, Hanneline, reviewed my works.  She clearly read my paintings, and sensed them as a flip of a coin: The nostalgic background flipped to reveal the contemporary foreground.  She thought the top one was more successful because she is able to get lost in the spaces, whereas the bottom space was more contained.  She thought the bottom one would be more successful if I blurred the edges on the car, so the space would become more ambiguous.  She thought I was doing something really different, and though I should continue exploring this style.

Overall, thesis was an eye-opening experience.  It taught me to manage my time, have an informed point of view, and deal with problems along the way.  With my thesis journey, I am ready to pursue future endeavors!



Thesis Crit 3/4

My current thesis took an new turn due to my further research of American industry, represented by GM.   In my earlier works, I was appropriating post-war advertisements and adding elements to implicate the message of these advertisements.  

Then, I thought to do two contrasting works: one with a post-war background and rusting Camaro, the other with a modern impoverished background with a shiny new Camaro.  The Camaro would allude to the America's strength in the opposite background.  At the height of America's strength, the post-war background, the car would be rusting to indicate the decline of American industry.  Conversely, the contemporary impoverished American landscape with the shiny camaro would allude to America's desire to regain its strength. 

Megan was the leader of the discussion, she thought the idea of American power conveyed with advertising was interesting. There was a lot of criticism revolved around the idea of supporting GM, commonly about their cars being gas-guzzlers, etc.  My paintings are not supporting GM, but using the iconic symbol as a lens to examine American industry.  I want to capture the transformative struggle to maintain America’s power and capture its soul through two 6ft x4ft oil paintings.  It is my hope that viewers will experience the importance of the automobile in not only the development of industrialization, but also in the construction of our national identity. Thus, I went back to the drawing board to make my idea more concise.  

I was thinking about pushing the idea of the car being a portal into a time.  I thought it would be interesting to omit the space of the subject, the car, and in place include a new space. I came up with these images on photoshop:

In the image (second from the top), the space of the car becomes a portal into an impoverished American landscape.  The car in the illustrative advertisement space, at height of American's strength, becomes a window into our current economic well-being.  Conversely, I placed an illustrative car in a impoverished American background to our struggle to regain that strength. I thought there was a weirdness in the play of space.  Questions of space, and the lack of space arose when painting my work.  What does it mean when the subject of the painting is removed, and in its siloutte replaced with another? Also, questions of color became important.  What does saturated color vs. non-satuarated do not only optically to the space, but conceptually to a time period? 

Gallery openings inspiring thesis!

This month I went to many art openings in Chelsea, in preparation for my thesis. William Steiger’s show, Manufactory, in Margaret Thatcher Projects gallery particularly caught my attention and as a great inspiration for my painting.  Steiger’s work in Manufactory included collages and paintings of various views of landscapes, mills, factories, water tower’s and railcars.   Across the room was a large railcar cleanly painted red-orange with slight tonal variations, and I was immediately drawn to it. 

I spent a considerable amount of time in front of it, trying to figure what exactly drew me to this large railcar with the white gesso background.   His use of bold and vibrant color, and clean graphic edges are something I am really interested in using for my thesis painting of cars.   William noticed my interest in his railcar, and we immediately started a conversation about his work.  His painting process, although seemly simple, involved an extensive process of layering flat color after his drawing his done.   He says patience is important in the work; often what was hard for him was to leave the studio with his painting in an awkward drying state but was necessary in his process.   Warhol’s flat and graphic imagery is an influence for not only my work but for Steiger’s graphic work.  An important question that arises in the work is how do you create a perspective plane contradicted by a flat picture plane?  William is successful in created such a space by his attention to line, form, and slight but importance shifts in color.  

I was inspired to layer clean flat color to create a more vibrant plane of color.  I also liked Steiger's used of high contrast and tried to emulate that in my work.  

Thesis Critique February 4th

My large scale oil paintings are about the role of GM as not only a symbol of America’s strength, but an indicator of our economic and political climate; and symbol the automobile has in embracing individual within a collective society.  

I found this critique with Derek extremely helpful in bringing up new questions in my work in regard to the meaning behind the car design and the social/political/economic point in history.  At the end of WWII and height of the Cold War, the American car industry was at it's highest, producing cars such as the Charger, Mustang, and Camaro.  After the bail out of GM, they have been putting out the new versions of the Charger, Mustang, and Camaro.  I do not think this is an accident, but instead the use of these nostalgic symbols of strength to revamp our auto-industry, and would love to continue researching possible correlations during these times in reference to the use of consumer psychology. 

I am thinking about including powerful American pop-culture icons, such as Brad Pitt and putting him by a 1960s Camaro; And paint a 2010 Camaro and include James Dean in the background, pushing the idea of juxtaposition of times of America's strength. 

Artists that were brought up to look at are Mel Ramos, Richard Prince, and Raymond Pettybone.  

Thesis Critique Review of Lauren Morich

Lauren Morich is collecting price tags with strong aesthetic value and is documenting the brand, wear, and price if indicated.  She has collected 350 so far, and hopes to gain more. I love her photographs of the hundreds of tags, because of their difference in color, pattern, and texture.  It is interesting to think about the work by graphic designers that went into each individual tag.    Her work brings up conversation of consumerism, and consumer culture; Also about branding and the individual.  It brings up questions about correlations between type-face and the type of consumer, etc.  These questions are especially interesting and relevant during a time of recession. 

Thesis Critique Review of Gaurav Panchal

Gaurav Panchal wants to incorporate current technology to create a system within the gallery where viewers can log in to a site or app on their smart-phones to experience the gallery in a different way, creating distractions along the way; In essence the viewer gets lost in a digital world.  I think his concept about perception is thought provoking and philosophical; Which experience becomes "real"? : The existence of a person's experience in the gallery, or the existence of the person's in a confusing gallery space though their virtual perception, or both?


His work talks about our use of technology as a distraction.   It might be interesting it he creates a virtual tour including the work in the gallery with each artist's name and the location of the room.  For example, "Kristen Pastore's GM paintings in the red room, " when it is really in the yellow room.  Also, if he can make it look like a voomed in google-map, showing the paintings with a tag, further referencing technology in our society.


I think it would be interesting if Gaurav can make it into an "app" that one can use after the show.  I think his work is culturally relevant and I am interested to see how it comes out.  

Thesis Critique Review of Danielle Pozsonyi

For her thesis, Danielle is collecting secrets and displaying them in through photography and post-its to expose people's unshared secrets to gather a collective awareness of her audience, making viewers feel like they are not alone.  She has collected over 110 secrets and hopes to get many more.

Danielle plans to have 5-6 photos aligned horizontally and to color code post-its with different type of secrets.  I think the photos should no merely illustrate the secret, but complicate the meaning.  Interesting ways to possibly do this are zooming, and cropping the photos.  It would be cool if she could get each person to hand write their secret and take photos of the post-its, concentrating on the uniqueness of the handwriting and the texture of the post-it.  

Her role is both a collaborator, since she has put her own secret in her work, and a facilitator of thoughts, through gathering secrets through the internet.  I suggested that she should engage the viewer by creating a ballot-like box and giving post-its for their secrets.  This creates an interesting conversation between the distance of the viewer and the work.  It would make her piece an interactive experience, where the participant becomes part of the work.


I think her concept is strong and I am excited to see the progress of her work.