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.