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.

1st Year MFA "You Are Here I Am" Show Review

A Terrible Realization, by Max Cemeno placed in the center of the main gallery commands the viewer's gaze.  The subject matter is strongly political and referential to the P-40 Warhawk fighter planes.  The P-40s were a deadly warcraft during the American attack of the Japanese during Pearl Harbor.  

Cemeno is possibly commenting on the powerful affect of American power and war by putting the nostalgic American aviator logo on the sculpture of a shark.  His choice to put the man made logo on a shark, and not a plane is particularly interesting, and possibly suggests our need to establish our power not just overseas but in the seas, essentially everywhere.  His work is reminiscent of Jeff Koons iconic sculptures and Damien Hirst's shark and animal sculptures (below). 

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Jim Brittingham’s luminescent Untitled installation is an urban explosion of candy wrappers. The lighting is extremely important here, due to the transparent nature of his film, and it is very successful here. The vibrant color palette is reminiscent to the bright, almost neon, colors and graffiti elements are similar to pop artists such as Basquiat. I like how he uses everyday materials to take art from the streets and make it look like high art. 

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In his three painting series entitled, The Best of Both Worlds, I, Hugh, Seven of Nine, Chris Camperchioli has a great use of high contrast color, and form to construct a space, particularly in his choice of where to form hard and soft edges.  I think it is interesting how includes familiar textures, like wood, seen on the far left, because it creates a context for the viewer.  The familiar texture, and use of edges, are referential of collage and seem like inspirations pieced together. His work is reminiscent of abstract expression painters such as Robert Motherwell, and Clyfford Still. 

Studio Journal

Studio Journal: General Motors | Thank You (We All Fall Down)

Recently, my friend Jeffrey showed me this video in reference to my thesis proposal on the fall of GM. I like the unexpected link of falling images, especially the use of the boxer and cartoons. I think this might be interesting to incorporate in my paintings.

Studio Journal

For my lips series, I am looking at Maryiln Minter's photographs (shown below) of gritty but glamorous red lips, and I am interested in trying to play with the idea of message transmission through art by attempting to communicate verbally through a non-verbal medium. Essentially the viewer has to "read my lips".

I am currently working with a fleshy color pallete, starting with the lips, then pushing it further to experiment with a landscape painted as skin (upper right).  I am looking at Turner's expressive landscapes (first bottom) mixed with similar color found early Alex Katz's works (second bottom).