Rochester Institute of Technology
RIT Scholar Works
Theses
Thesis/Dissertation Collections
5-14-1991
Information retrieval
Paul Bartow
Follow this and additional works at:
http://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Thesis/Dissertation Collections at RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion
in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact
ritscholarworks@rit.edu.
Recommended Citation
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
A Thesis Submitted
to the
Faculty
ofThe
College
ofFine
andApplied
Arts
in
Candidacy
for
the
Degree
ofMASTER OF
FINE ARTS
INFORMATION
RETRIEVAL
BY
PAUL
J. BARTOW
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
3
INTRODUCTION
4
BACKGROUND
5
FROM THE
STTLLTFE TO THE NARRATIVE
7
PHILIP
GUSTON
8
WOODSMEN CHOP TREES
9
FROM
TREES
TO
LOGS
10
THE
MONOPRINT
11
LOGGING IT
12
A
STEP AWAY FROM PAINTING
13
THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL
AND A NEW ALLUSION
14
THESIS IS WAR
15
STATEMENT FOR THESIS
SHOW
16
COUNTING
DEVICE
17
PUZZLE
1
18
PUZZLE
2
20
INFORMATION
RETRIEVAL,
(with
good guys andbad
guys)
21
CONCLUSION
22
END
QUOTES
23
ILLUSTRATIONS
1.
Untitled, (Stillife)
25
2.
Untitled, (Log)
26
3.
Log
Form 1
27
4. Wood Chopper
28
5.
Desent
of theWoodsman
29
6.
Counting
Device
30
7. Puzzle 1
31
8. Puzzle 2
32
9.
Information
Retrieval,
(with
good guys andbad
guys)
33
10.
Information
Retrieval
(detail)
34
11.
Information
Retrieval
(detail)
35
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I
wouldlike
to thankEd,
Phil, Judd,
andBob for
all their advice and encouragement.I
would also
like
to thankPeter
andJoanne for making
mefeel
so much athome. I
give specialINTRODUCTION
My
time
spenthere
atRIT has
takenmemany
placeswithin theunderstanding
of art.I
canhonestly
say
the time was well worthit. I
can'thelp
but
realize thatan educationis
a wonderfulthing
and thathaving
topay for it
is
excluding many
who could useit. I
had
no expectationscoming
tograduateschool,
whichmighthave been
a good thing.My
main concern wastopreparemyself
for
alife
withoutschool,
whereI
could guidemyself onmy
ownthoughts andfeel
securedoing
so.The
workI've done here has
gonefrom
one endofthe spectrum to theother,
andyetI
stillfind
anincompletion;
notin
the sense ofmy understanding
onart,
which seems tohave leveled
out,
but
in
therealmofpossibilities.There
weremany
timesin
thepasttwo years, whenI
searchedfor
consistenciesin
the progression ofmy
art, andfound
none.And
other times whenI
wassearching for
inconsistencies,
I
couldonly find
theconsistent.What I've
cometorealize throughallof
this,
is
thatone cannot expectanything
otherthan theact ofmaking
art.This
willbe
agiven,everything
elseis
theunknown.The
realchallengeis
notmaking
the art,because
thatcomeseasy,but
ratherthediscovery
ofideas
thatseemto tell alittle
more aboutthe truthofthings,
even whenthe truthmight
be
alie.
The writing
thatfollows
is
abrief
history
ofmy development in
imagery
and artistic concernswhileat
RJT. I
have
madean attempttogivetheviewerasummary
ofwhattranspiredasI know it.
My
aim was not toproveanewfound
artor toreaffirmacertainway
ofthinking.It
wasonly
torecord an event that
happened,
so that someone might readit
andpossibly find
some sort ofBACKGROUND
Before
I
expoundonmy
artistic endeavorhere
atRIT I
shouldfirst
givethe reader abrief
history
ofmyself.I
wasoneoftripletsborn
into
alarge family. Eight kids
tobe
exact.The fact
thatI
grewup in
alarge
family
has
nodoubt
affected theway I
perceivetheworld.As
far back
asI
canremember
I've
always thoughtin
terms ofthebig
picture.Most
ofmy
childhood and teen-ageyears were spent
growing up
on afarm
outside ofWatkins
Glen,
a small town at thebase
ofSeneca Lake. I
was notmuchdifferent
thanany
otherkid growing up in
a smalltown,
otherthanbeing
atripletI
wasbasically
the same.In
schoolmy
interests
varied.The
classesI
enjoyedthemostwere art and
industrial
arts.I
supposeI'm like
most artistsin
thisrespect , anddon't
find it
theleast bit
unusual.In high
schoolI
tooka studio art class and aphotography
class.That
wastheextent of
my formal
arttraining.In
thefall
of82
afterI
graduatedfrom high
schoolI
entered acommunity
collegeoutside ofIthaca. There I
spent ayearas amathand sciencemajorandtookanotherart class.I
enjoyedtheartclass
but found my
majoruninteresting,
soI decided
to take some time off todiscover my
professional
interests.
The
timeoff amountedtoa year,andmy
professionalinterests led
me to apig farm. Needless
tosay It didn't
takemelong
torealizethatI
wantedto goback
tocollege again.This
timeI
wasgoing
tomajorin something
thatinterested
me whichhappened
tobe
art.I
mustmake a notethat thiswasthe
first
majorintuitive
responsethatI
would acton of whichmany
morewereto
follow.
I
appliedtoseveralSUNY
schools and got acceptedtomost ofthem.I
choseOswego
whichin hind
sightturnedout tobe
a goodchoice.At
Oswego
youdidn't
need a portfolioreview togetin. This
workedoutwellbecause I had
nonetoshow.A
lack
ofcompetitivenessin
an art programmight
be
seen negatively.For
someonelike
myself,
withvery little
arttraining, it
was the rightapproach
for
discovering
the arts.In
this respect, a programlike
Oswego's
is
perfectfor
anintroduction
into
the arts.It doesn't
expect to turn outtop
notchartists,
but it
will, somewherealong
theway,
pickup
afew
people whowillcommitthemselves to theprocess ofmaking
art.At
Oswego I
testedtherange ofart,
orwhatthey
couldoffer,
from
graphicdesign
tosculpture.In
themiddle or there
about,
I
chose painting.So from my junior
year on untilI
graduatedI
tookThe
nicething
aboutPainting
is
thatit
seemed to cover a vast amount ofterritory
in
arelatively
short period oftime. At first I
painted thefigure
in
an expressive yet realistic mannerusually
within anambiguousbackground.
This
kind
ofpainting lasted for
aboutayear.During
this timeI
became
quiteconfidentofmy
drawing
capabilities,
notonly
with thefigure
but
with objectsin
general.It
wasn't untilmy
senior year thatI decided
toincorporate
some objectsinto
thepainting
along
withthefigure. This
was anexciting
move,
because
it heightened
theillusionistic
space ofthepictureplane andI
was pleasedwiththeresults.At
first I
wasindiscriminate
aboutmy
choice ofobjects,
but progressively
thisbecame less
so.
As my interest for
theobjectsgrew,
my interests in
thefigure lessened. I
canlook back
andsay
that the transitionfrom
figure
toobject was acriticalmoment,because
it
wasthefirst
timeI
everchallenged the content of
my
work.Eventually
I lost interests in
thefigure
altogether and concentratedonly
on the object.From
that timeon,
up
untilI
graduated,I
painted the stillife.During
my
completion atOswego I had many doubts concerning my life
as an artist afterundergraduateschool.
These led
metorealizethatmy
educationwasincomplete,
andthatgraduateFROM THE
STILLIFE TO
THE NARRATIVE
I
kicked
offmy first
quarter atRJT
with a stillife.It
was a stillife composed of anumberof objects set on a tablein
front
of a window.The
windowhad
a view thatlooked
outinto
thehorizon
and on to thecity
ofRochester.
Looking
back,
it
was a significantpainting because it
represented
my introduction
into
a newterritory
both physically
and mentally.The
components ofthestillife were
banal
objects andhad
no connectionwitheachother otherthan theirbanality. The
spacethey
inhabited
wasmy
studio.The
implied
spacebehind
the stillife wasRochester.
Metaphorically
thepainting
representedmy
arrivalinto Rochester
and aloss
ofidentity
throughthat process.This
wouldbe
thefirst
time apainting
ofmine would operate as a personal narrativeby
way
of a metaphor.The
paintings thatcontinuedbecame
increasingly
personal, and representeda searchfor
animagery
thatI
could somehow
connectwith whilein
an unfamiliarsetting.Eventually
I
stumbledupon a seriesofpaintings that
incorporated
the useof awoodsman.The image
ofthe woodsmanrelated
directly
tomy growing up in
thecountry,
and morespecifically
tomy father. The
woodsmanrepresented a source of
security
and wassomething for
me tofocus
onin
a time ofinstability.
The
first
woodsmanpainting
reaffirmedmy knowledge
ofthefamiliar. It
wasanimage
of awoodsman
splitting
woodin
afamiliar
territory.A
territory
whichI knew really
well andin
whichI
grew up.But
as theseries progressed theimage
ofthe woodsman, and theterritory
he
occupiedbecame
more and moreunfamiliar.Soon
theunfamiliarbecame
an additiveelementthatprogressedwiththe series,
done
intentionally
todefamiliarizing
myself with thefamiliar. It is
clearnow,
that the woodsman representedavehiclefor getting
atanimagery
that was much more personal andnarrative
in
nature.In
hindsight,
my
progressionfrom
the stilllife
to thepersonal narrative appears tohave
correlatedwithmy
familiarity
withRochester.
As I became
morefamiliar
withthecity
,my
PHILIP
GUSTON
Not
long
before
thewoodsmanseries occuredI
wasdoing
somereading
on thepainterPhilip
Guston.
I'm
sure thereading
onGuston
sparkedthe woodsman seriesinto
being.
Reading
abouthis life
andworkhelped
methrough thatseries andon to thenext.Guston is probably best
known
as oneofthe
leading
abstract expressionistofthefifties,
but his
truly
major accomplishment, atleast for
myself,
washis
diversity
as a painter.I
wasfirst introduced
toGuston
asan undergraduate.An
instructor had brought his
nameup
during
a critique ofmy
work.Somehow he
relatedGuston
to whatI
wasdoing. I'm
not surewhy
or even
how. The
secondtimeI
wasintroduced
toGuston
wasin
1987,
attheMuseum
ofModern
Art. There
was an exhibit ofhis
early
workfrom
the thirties andfourties
and some abstractline
drawings from
thefifties
and sixties.At
the timeI didn't know
who's workit
was.I do
rememberthough,
being
intrigued
by
the workbut
nothaving
astrong
opinion either way.It
wasn't untilI
cameto
RIT
thatI
realized who thisman wasandwhathe
meanttome.Guston
as apainter waswilling
to take riskand thisis
whatI
admire most about the man.There
were threemajor stylisticchangesin Guston's
career asapainter.Each
shift occured atthepeak ofacclaim, andeach was metwith
disapproval
by
the critics.Guston discovered
thatbeing
comfortable was notpart of
growing
asanartist.He
realizedtheartistwouldhave
tolearn
totrusthimself,
andknew it
was through that trust that theartist coulddiscover his identity. Guston
came to this realizationbecause
it
wassomething he himself had done.
By
trusting
his
own actionshe
was able to
develop
apersonalvocabulary
thatwouldeventually
help
him
cometo termswithhis
own existence as a
human being.
Much
of whatGuston knew
tookyears todiscover,
and one cannot expect the trustin
one'sselfto come easy.
I
know
that, for
myself,
the trustis difficult
to comeby
and thatby being
somewhatself-conscious
it
is
gained.By
studying
artistslike Guston
one canlearn many
things.The
advantagebeing
it
won'ttake me alifetime
asit did Guston.
At
thevery
least Guston is
proofthat art
is
not theproduct ofaprocess,
but
rather theprocessitself.
Knowing
thishas
given mehope for my
own artisticdevelopment.
Philip
Guston died in
the summer of1980
at the age ofWOODSMEN CHOP TREES
It
wasn'tlong
afterthewoodsman seriesbefore
anew series of paintings camealong,but in
between
time
a numberofpaintingstranspired,
all ofwhichhave
eitherbeen destroyed
or paintedover.
These
particular paintings alsodealt
with the woodsmanbut
in
adifferent
manner than theearlier ones.
My
focus
shiftedfrom
the woodsman within aterritory
to the action of thewoodsman.
To
putit
simply,
my
painting
shifted gearfrom
a narrative mode to apsychologicalmode.
The
woodsmancutting
woodimplied
an actofviolenceordestruction,
andthisintrigued
me.So I
pursued the persona of the woodsmanin
a number of paintings.I
paintedhim in many
different
positionsusually
with an axe andin
the act ofchopping.Sometimes he
wasby
himself,
and other times with other woodsmen.
I
alsohad
him cutting
woodin bizarre
places.Some
oftheseplaces would
be defined
and others would remain ambiguous.But
as the paintings evolvedthe
setting
became
morespecific,
and the woodsmanless
violent.Eventually
I
cameup
with animage
of awoodsmanin
a groveoftrees.The
treesweresimplifiedforms
withlimbs
cutshortandlooked
muchlike
logs ready
tobe
milled.They
were placedwithina whitebackground
and afew
ofthe treeswere paintedwitha shadow.
The
shadowsvaguely implied
athree-dimensional space.The
grove oftrees made methinkof asolidarity,
andwiththat thought the woodsmanlooked
outof place.
So
I
tookhim
outleaving
only
the trees.This
would mark the end of the woodsmanseries.
Philip
Guston
spokeofthemusein his
paintings,
thewoodsmanmusthave been
themusein
mine.
It
musthave been
through thewoodsman and all thatI knew
ofhim,
thatI
was able tofind
an
image
of specialimportance
to me.That image
being
the tree.I'm partly
aware ofthe tree'shistory
as asymbol,
anddon't find my interest in it
theleast bit
unusual.I do though, find my
interest
in
it
worthconsideration.The tree,
asI have
come to understandit,
symbolizes strengthand
integrity.
It is
athing
thathas
enduredthe testoftime and willcontinue todo
so.Seeing
thetree
in
thisway
has
made methinkofit
as a constantwithinthecontextofliving. The
woodsmanwas thevehicle
for getting
atthe treeandit
wasonly logical
that the treewouldbe
thestarting
pointFROM
TREES TO
LOGS
By
thetime I
reachedthefirst
treepainting,
I
was much more comfortablewithmy
use ofapersonal
imagery.
The
treeimage
felt
righttome andI
was much more confidentusing it
thanI
was the woodsman.
My
manipulation ofthe treeform
was uninhibited and quitenatural,
andI
attribute this tomy understanding
ofthe tree.Earlier I
said the tree symbolized strength andintegrity,
andthereforemade methinkofit
as a constant withinthecontext ofliving.
By
acting
as aconstant
it
couldeasily
be
transformedinto
a universalsign,
thereforeinsuring
its
status as a symbol.With
this asmy understanding I
was able to manipulate the tree withlittle fear
ofdamaging
its integrity.
The first
couple of tree paintings werehandled cautiously
and represented a personalfamiliarization
with the treeimage. The
treeimage
consisted of atruncatedlike form
bearing
asmallnumberof severed
limbs
witheach severeshowing
agrowthring
pattern.The
average sizeofthesepaintings was around
6'x8'.
I
found
the
larger
sizehelpful in relating
to the treeimage.
My
palette waslimited
tofive
colors: white, yellow-ochre,red, green,
andblack.
Intuitively,
thesecolors seemed to
be
rightfor
this particularimagery. The limited
size of the palette was animportant
factor,
in
thatit
narrowedthefield
of aesthetic choicessignificantly
andleft
moreroomfor
thedevelopment
oftheimagery. As
thepaintingsdeveloped my
responseto theimagery
grewgreater,andthe
images became
increasingly
minimal.Shortly
afterI
startedthisseries a new elementwasintroduced along
withthe treeform. The
new element consisted ofseveral types of
hardware
such asspikes,
anglebrackets,
chains andmetal
loops. All
were seen asfastening
devices
andwere used as such.My
interest in
theuse of thishardware
related tomy
concerns with restraint and repression.This
was nodoubt brought
upon
by
my involvement
with studentissues regarding
administrative policies which occurredaround the same time as this series.
The
imagery
wasdefinitely
operating in
a metaphorical manner.All
ofthe treeforms in
thepaintings(usually
I
worked withgroups oftwoorthree),
werein
someway fastened down
with thehardware.
I found
thisseries ofpaintingssuccessful,mainly because it
incorporated
a minimal amountof visual
information
and thereforeforced
the viewer to respond on a conceptuallevel
ofunderstanding.
This
series wasalsosuccessfulbecause it introduced
anew approachtoartfor
mewhichwould operate within theconceptualaswell asthevisual.
It
wasthrough the treeimage
thatI
was abletorealizeaconceptual applicationin my
art.Because
ofthis,
the treehas become
moremeaningful
for
me as asymbolofstrengthandlasting
integrity.
THE MONOPRINT
Monoprinting
has
come tobe
one ofmy
favorite
printing
processes.This
is due
toits
expedient nature.
It is
a processthatrequireslittle
technique and mistakes caneasily be
corrected.I
find
the process usefulin
developing
ideas
that might notfind
theirway
to thecanvas,
mainly
because
theprocessinhibits
a precious attitude towards thework.With
themonoprintI
ammorelikely
to takerisk,
more sothanin
painting.Much
ofmy
usefor
themonoprinthas
been
tovisualizeideas
thathave
notbeen completely
formulated. In
thisway
themonoprinting
process serves as avehiclein
developing
aconceptor anidea. The
monoprintis
most usefulduring
transition periods withinmy
work.The
artistDennis
Openheim
usesthe term"stewing
around"when
he is in
astate oftransition.In my
case,
it
is
themonoprinting
process thatI
usetostew aroundwith.I
found
monoprinting helpful
during
the tree series.It
wasthen thatI
cameup
with animage
of a
log
in my
monoprints.The
log
image
wasa simplifiedline
drawing
ofapiece of woodthathad been
split and which represented a chunk offire
wood.I
used thelog
in
a number ofmonoprints
combining it
with otherlogs
and sometimesbuilding
forms
out oflog
combinations.The
log
operated muchlike
aLeggo
building
block
in
thatit
wasone ofseveralblocks
thatcouldgive shapetoa
form.
The
significance ofthelog
is
thatit
representeda stable structureboth
as an associationandasa physical
form. As
an associationit
operatedvery
muchlike
the woodsman, and relateddirectly
to
my growing up in
thecountry
where we usedwood toheat
thehouse. In
this respect thelog
representswarmth andtherefore a sense ofsecurity.
As
aphysicalform it is
shapedlike
atrianglewithtwoends andthreesides.
The
stable structure representedhere is
the triangle.The
triangleis
considered the strongeststructure
in
the universebecause it
cannotcollapse uponitself,
unlikeasquare orrectangle.
Ultimately
thelog
functions
as asymbol,
muchin
thesameway
andmeaning
asthe tree
form.
I
find
asI
reflectuponthemonoprinting process,
that thereis
a pattern which occursduring
the
development
process of animagery. In
most casestheimagery
in
the monoprint precedestheimagery
in
the painting.As
a result the monoprint acts as atesting
groundfor
animagery
thatmight otherwise
be
overlooked,andthereforeneverfind its way
to thecanvas,
orfor
thatmattertoany
otherartform.
LOGGING
IT
The
tree series carried meright
throughinto
the summer ofmy first
yearatRIT. I
rentedastudio
along
with an artistfriend,
Rick
Metzgar,
and continued to work on the treeimagery. I
mention
Rick's
namebecause
he
andI
seemedtobe experiencing
the samekind
of changesin
ourworkand as a result wereable to
carry
on adialogue
aboutthosechanges.The
move to thestudioworkedout well,
because it
gave me a chancetoreally
get closeto theimagery
withouttomany
interuptions.
Moving
thepaintings,
(the
treeseries),
from
thecity
centerto thestudiomade mereconsiderthesize
I
wasworking
at.Almost
immediately
aftergetting
settledin
thenew studioI
tookthreeofthe
largest
paintings apart.Taking
themapart gave me six smaller canvasestoworkon plus threeothersthat
I already had. The
shiftin
sizeforced
me torespondto theimagery
differently. I
whitedout all the
images,
anddecided
toconcentrateonly
onthedrawing
oftheimages
rather than thepainting
ofthem.I
chose thisroutebecause I felt
thatby limiting
thepalette toonecolorI
couldmake changes
rapidly,
andhopefully
moveswiftly
through theimagery.
My
focus
was thehardware
andthetrees, but
asthepaintingsdeveloped
newimagery
workeditself
into
thepictureplane.
Before
long,
I lost
all the oldimagery,
and wasleft only
with the new stuff.The
newimagery
was comprisedofmoreline
drawings,
this timeshowing blown up
views ofhardware.
The hardware
wasusually
attached to a nondescriptive square ortriangle shape.The drawings
were
very
animatedbut
they
lacked
adirection. It
wasaroundthen thatI
decided
towork on paper.Mainly
because I
couldworkonmany drawings
atonce,andthatway
exploremy
optionswiththeimagery. The
irony
in
thismovewasthatI
abandonedthepreviousdrawings
altogether,
and endedup
withtwenty-four,
almostidentical,
drawings
ofalog
image. The
samelog
image
thathad
appearedearlier
in
anumber of monoprints.The
endof summercame andI
had
little
toshowfor it
otherthan twenty-fourimages
ofthesame
log.
What baffled
methemostwas notthe singularlog
image,
but
rathertwenty-fourimages
of the same thing.
The
log
image
represented a structureI
couldidentify
with,because its
association was cleartome.
But repeating
thatimage
madelittle
sense otherthanbeing
away
ofvalidating its
presencein my
mind.The
actofrepeating
anobjectintrigued
me,
and soit
was withthis
intrigue
thatI
enteredmy
second yearatRJT.
A STEP
AWAY
FROM PAINTING
My
main concern asI
enteredmy
secondyearwas whetherI
wasgoing
to paintany
more.I
was
having
atough timeworking
with atwo-dimensional
format
andfelt limited
by
it. I
was alsodisagreeing
withthe
notion ofhaving
apainting
as an end result ofthepainting
process.My
concern with the
painting
processled
me to question the operation ofapainting
as an endto anartistic means.
Ultimately,
I
wasleft
withtheconclusionthatapainting,
because
ofits
natureas anobject,
willusually
endup
as adecorative
element.This
conclusionled
me to rethinkmy
ownapproach to
art,
and to think abouthow I
wantedmy
art tofunction.
Working
with athree-dimensional
format
as wellas atwo-dimensional one,
wouldbe
thefirst step in resolving
someofmy
artistic concerns.The
transitionfrom painting
toathree-dimensionalformat
wasa series of graphitedrawings
done
onpaperprimedwithwhitelatex
house
paint.The
series consistedoftwenty
drawings using
three stenciled
images;
ahammer,
a man'shead,
and a woman'shead.
Some drawings
were acombination ofthese
images juxtaposed
witheachother,
and otherdrawings
were animage
by
itself,
maybe repeatedthreeorfour
times.The
series cametobe known
as thehammerhead
series.The
drawings
revolved around theidea
of a world wheremenhad hammers
attachedtotheirheads.
What I discovered
through thesedrawings
was thatI
could create an unlimited number ofdrawings
about ahammerhead society
withonly
alimited
pictorial vocabulary.The
seriesturnedoutto
be
an eventfulexercisein
theuse of metaphor.It
also preparedmy way
ofthinking
aboutthethree-dimensionalobjectas another use
for
metaphor.In
this respect,in light
ofthemetaphor,
my
incorporation
ofthethree-dimensional objectwas much easiertounderstand.THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL AND A
NEW
ALLUSION
My
moveinto
the three-dimensional went rathersmoothly
andI felt
good about thetransition.
Again,
asin
the earlierwork,
I
had
astrong
desire
torepeat theimagery. In
a sense,economizing my
use of visualdata
muchin
theway
ofAndy
Warhol. I
played around with anumber of
images
andeventually
found
a sourceofimagery
thathad something I
couldworkwith.The
sourceI
cameup
withwaswar,
morespecifically
warmachines.This
source materialwouldlast
meright up
to theworkoftheThesis
Show,
varying slightly here
andthereduring
that time.Along
withmy desire
toeconomizemy
visualdata
wasadesire
toeconomizemy
choice ofmaterial.
Meaning
that some ofthe materialI
chosetouse wouldbe
recycled material orfound
object.
I'm
suremy
choiceofmaterialhad something
todo
withthe attitudeofthetimes,
withourneed torecycle andtherefore save theplanet.
It
alsohad
todo
withtheneedto stressidea,
ratherthan material preciousness and preservation.
This
concern stemsfrom
alarger
concerndealing
withart production.
I
preferthedevelopment
of anidea
morethan theproductionofanobject,
but
atthesame
time
realizetheimportance
oftheproduction process.What I didn't
expectwith theshiftinto
thethree-dimensional wasthatallusion wouldreplaceillusionistic
space.Because
oftheshift,
illusionistic
space wasautomatically fulfilled
andin
returngave
way
to allusionin
theshape of metaphor.This
is
nottosay
that allusion cannotbe found in
two-dimensional work,
but
ratherthatby
working
three-dimensionally
onemightbe,
atleast in my
case,
more aware ofits
presence.Overall,
theshiftinto
thethree-dimensionalhas
workedoutwelland
has
provenitself
as alogical
solutionfor
developing
ideas
that mighthave
otherwisebeen
denied
through thepainting
process.THESIS
IS WAR
Much
ofthe work producedin my
second yearrelated to war.Partly
because I find
warmachines
seductive,
andpartly
because
recentU.S.
history
has
involved
war, aphenomenonhard
to
ignore,
starting
withGranada,
then withPanama,
and then withIraq. As
the second yearprogressed
my ideas
on warbecame
more and moreformulated.
I
soon realizedit
wasinevitable
that
my
Thesis Show
woulddeal
withthe topicof war.My
main concernin
dealing
with thistopicwas to
keep
the workout of a specifictime
frame,
thereforeallowing
the viewertoformulate
aresponse
solely
on conjecture.Much
oftheworkin
theshow was achievedthroughaformalized
process ofdeconstructing
information
into
segmented units.The
segmented units were then reconstructed within aformulated framework
as a meansofcompiling
information.
The framework
variedfor
each workin
the show.There
were atotal offour
works,
two ofwhich werebased
on arectangular grid.Another
wasbased
on anumber ofconcentric circleswiththecenteracting
as a nucleusfor
therestofthepiece.
And
thelast
one wasinherently
a rectangle tobegin
withandwasleft
as such.The
circle andtherectangle are
very basic
forms
andlend
themselvesquite wellasbuilding
blocks,
oras vessels
for information.
We,
thepeople,
seem to receiveinformation
on warin
avery
segmented andextremely
chaotic way.
I
relate thislargely
to theway
theinformation is dished
outtousby
themedia.The
reconstruction ofthis
information
comes as anecessity,
atleast for
me,for understanding
whatthisinformation
means.In
thisrespect,
I
felt it
was naturaltosegmentthisinformation
and compileit
into
avisualframework.
STATEMENT FOR THESIS SHOW
My
statementfor
theThesis
Show
wasbrief
andconcise.I
was concerned about the amountof
information
I
would give theviewer,
and was reluctant to give the viewerany leads into
theworkotherthanwhatthe
titles
implied.
My
statement readlike
this:These
installations
represent aninterest
in
repetition, pattern,
and structure.Each
pieceis
aformal
response to a varied number of socialissues
and can operate ondifferent levels
ofmeaning.
The
purpose ofthis statement was toheighten
the sense of pattern and structure within thework.
It
wasalso meanttoimply
thepresenceofa social content.It
wasleft
to theviewertodecide
whatthatcontent might
be
about.I'm
aware,
atthesametime,
thatnotevery
viewer willbe willing
to think aboutthe work,andthat's alright.
My
rationalebeing,
that'shuman
nature.COUNTING
DEVICE
Counting
Device
was thefirst
of thefour installations in
theThesis
Show. Its
originstemmed
from
avery
simpleidea
based
on acounting device
usedin billiards
tokeep
track ofgames won.
The idea
of acounting
device intrigued
me,
andI
soon cameto therealizationthat thespecific use of such a
device
wassecondary
to thefunction
ofit.
That
it
didn't
matterwhatthe usewasas
long
asit
couldbe
used.So I
optedfor
adevice
thathad
no specific application.With
thisin
mindI
felt
less
committedtoa specific structure.The
structureI
cameup
with wasbased
on a seven unitby
seven unit grid.The
numberseven
had
no specificmeaning in
the piece,otherthanbeing
a numberthatintuitively
seemedright.
The
grid waslayed
outonroofersfelt
withblue
chalkline. These
two materials, thechalkline
andthe
felt,
are materialsI'm
familiar
withandthereforefelt
comfortableusing.Fourty-seven
units outofthe
fourty-nine
in
the grid were assigned a ceramictile,
madepreviously for
thebilliard idea.
Each tile had
aninch
and ahalf hole
andhung
on aporcelaininsulator
centeredwithin each unit.The insulator
was chosenfor
its
pristine surfacequality,
whichrepresented anextreme oppositein
contrast to theraw surface ofthe
tile,
and alsobecause it
wasvisually
striking
on theblack
felt
background. On
each side of the grid was aninsulator,
these were meant to correlate with theinternal function
ofthepiece.This
wasimplied
by
twodiagonal
chalklines coming from
thetop
andthe
bottom
ofthe gridto theinsulator. As
acounting device
thepiece couldbe
usedby
moving
a
tile from
one gridto another, orfrom
one gridtoaninsulator
onthe side.With
eachmovementone would
be left
with two unoccupiedinsulators,
these would thenoperate asindicators
for
agiven application.
Because
thispiece was placed within thecontextofthree other piecesdealing
with war,it
could
very easily be
viewed asrelating
towar.In
this sense one could seeit
as acounting device
for
number of soldierskilled,
orfor
tanksdestroyed,
orjust
as adevice for
the act ofcounting
whichcould
become
as absurd aswaritself. The latter
ofthese threeis how I
tend toseethis pieceas operating.
Mainly
because
it
relates moreto the actofcounting
than towhatis actually
being
counted.
PUZZLE 1
Puzzle
1
was startedduring
thedevelopment
ofCounting
Device,
andlike many
ofthepiecesI've done
recently,
developed
out of aninvestigation
withmaterials.It
wastriggeredby
sometoy
soldiersI
had
bought
oneday
in
atoy
store,
whichI
immediately
related to ourwar withIraq. I
played aroundwiththese
toy
soldiersfor
awhilein
thestudio,
trying
tofind
some usefor
themin
apiece.
It
wasn'tlong
after,
thatI
developed
anidea
for combining
the soldierimage
with acanvasI
had
paintedsilver,
andwhichhad been sitting
aroundin
the studio.The idea
was tocast a shadow madeby
atoy
soldier on to thecanvas and thenrecord thatshadow as an outline with a
black
marker.After
doing
thisI
realized that one shadow was notenough,
and thatby filling
up
the canvasI
could create a greater visualimpact. This decision
proved to
be worthy but
the canvas stilllacked
animpact.
My
sisterhad
given me aNorman
Rockwell
puzzlefor
Christmas
nodoubt
thinking
oftheartistin
me.The
puzzle,I
felt,
could addsomething
to thepiece.The
puzzle portrays ayoung
boy
running away from home. The image is
of aboy
sitting
onastool
in
anicecream
parlor wherehe
appearstobe
having
a conversationwithapoliceman, whois
sitting
on the next stool over.Across from them, behind
thebar,
is
theicecream
attendantattentively
listening
in. It
registeredin my
mindthat theboy
wasleaving
home in
avulnerablecondition,
andthathis
situationrelatedvery
much to the soldiergoing
offtowar.To
make this connection apparent,I
took a piece oftheboy
in
the puzzle and assignedit
to a shadow on thecanvasuntilall ofwhatrepresentedthe
boy
was gone.This
enteredthepieceinto
a narrowpoliticalarena and
I
was concerned aboutit
being improperly
interpreted. It
operatedmuchlike
a oneliner
which
I didn't
want.I
chosetodevelop
thepiece more sothatit
would appearopen ended.The
canvas was madevisually
very
activeby
adding
thepuzzle,
but
remained stablephysically
which made me think of an atom's nucleus.This in
turn made me thinkof electronlevels
found
around an atom's nucleus.Electrons
are passedback
andforth among
theselevels,
sometimes
adding
electrons toalevel
and othertimescanceling
themout.The
canvas asI
sawit
represented the nucleus, and that
by
adding
concentricrings
aroundit,
depicting
levels,
I
could makeit function like
an atom.I
could thenhave
toy
soldiers placed on therings,
acting
aselectrons,withsomesoldiers
being
canceled out.As
withCounting
Device,
thispiecedeveloped very quickly into
aninstallation.
I
chosefor
the
background
theblack
roofersfelt
anddrew
onit five large
whiteconcentricrings.
In
thecenter oftherings I
placedthe canvas.On
therings
themselvesI
placedlittle
woodenshelves,
witheach shelfholding
atoy
soldier.The
soldierswereyellow orblack. The
yellowrepresentedan activated soldierand theblack
represented a cancelled out soldier.Each
one of the yellow soldiers wasplaced
in front
ofa small silverrectangle,indicating
an association with the canvas/nucleus.The
black
soldiershad only
thefelt
as abackground
which made themdifficult
to
detect,
therefore
appearing
canceled out.Some
ringshad
more soldiers thanothersrepresenting
aninconsistency
thatmight occur
in
theactivated area.Most
of the materials usedin
this piece wereleft in
their raw state.This
wasdone
intentionally
toplay down
the preciousquality
so often attributedto works of art.My
hope
by
doing
this,
was to make one more aware of material as a means ofgetting
at anidea. The
importance
ofthispiece was not so muchthesocial statement ortheidea behind
it,
but
ratherthe use ofmaterials and whatthey
meantin
a new contextto theviewer.Taking
materials outoftheir original context andputting
themin
anotheris
exciting,
and speaks much about theidea
offreedom.
Finding
freedom
to createis
astrong
concern ofmine.It
is my hope
that the personviewing my
work willwalkaway
withsame concern.PUZZLE
2
Puzzle 2
wassimply
theNorman Rockwell
puzzle withoutthepiecescomprising
theimage
ofthe
boy.
This
piece was shownbecause it
representedthe originofthemissing image found in
Puzzle
1.
It
wasnecessary for
theviewertomake theconnectionbetween
the two to understandthe significance ofthat
image.
I
placedthe twopiecesaway from
eachother sothat theconnectionwould
be less
obvious.If
the connection wasmade,
it
wouldoccur as areflection through spaceand time.
It didn't
matter whichpuzzle piece was viewedfirst
aslong
as the second piece wasviewedthereafter.
The decision for using
theRockwell
puzzle camesimply
by
chance.As I
said earlier, thepuzzle was given to me as a
present,
andhappened
tobe
presentin
the studioduring
thedevelopment
ofPuzzle
1. It
workedout wellfor
tworeasons.First,
it
represented animagery
thatI
felt
relatedto thecircumstance ofthesoldiergoing
offtowar.And
second,It
represented an artistthat
many
non-artistshave
takenaliking
to.It
wasmy desire
tohave
thepuzzlefunction
as aworkof
art,
and yethave
theviewerquestionits
integrity
as art.The
puzzleby
itself
meantvery
littleas awork of art.
It
wasn't until theviewermade theconnection withPuzzle
1,
thatthepiecebecame
more meaningful.
The
connection was thekey
tounderstanding
the twopieces.If
theconnectionwasn't
made,
then thepieces were morelikely
tooperate on avisual,ratherthanconceptual,
level.
INFORMATION
RETRIEVAL,
(with
good guys andbad
guys)
Information
Retrieval
wasthelast installation
startedbefore
the show.Many
ofmy ideas for
this piece came
from Puzzle
1
.Again
I
wasdealing
with the subject ofwar.And
againI
wasdealing
withan overallstructure,
aten unitby
ten unitgrid,
as a means ofcompiling
information.
The
materialsI
used were similarto thematerials usedin Puzzle 1
,consisting
offound
objectsandcommon manufactured goods.
They
wereusually left in
theirfound
state,
but in
somecases were altered slightly.As in
theearlierinstallations,
my
concernwasless for
thepreservation of material andmore abouttheexpression of anidea.
The
reasoning
for
thispieceis
based
on a generalizedidea I have
aboutinformation
retrieval,which consist of
information
given and the act ofreceiving
thatinformation. In
this case theinformation
is
about war, and the personreceiving it is
myself.The
compilation of thisinformation,
through thecreativeprocess,
is
theresultant.After I have
compiledtheinformation
it
is
againready
tobe
received,
but
this timeby
theviewer oftheinstallation. The
information
I
received on war was
broken down into
eightkey
elements; a good guy, abad
guy, a man, awoman, a good
act,
abad
act, money,
and the unknown.Each
one of the eight elements was assigneda specific visualrepresentation.The
man andthewoman are theonly
twoelements withfour
representations.There
are two viewsfor
each,
afront
view and aback
view.This
makes atotal of ten representations
for
all.The
representations were either two-dimensional orthree-dimensional,
depending
on the elementbeing
represented.All
ofthese were placedin
a specific pattern on the grid so thatin any
location,
vertically
orhorizontally,
all of the elements are accountedfor. The
patternis difficult
toperceivevisually,but
it
canbe detected. I
couldn'thelp
but
relatethis to thedifficult
nature ofdeciphering
war.The
representations ofmoney, andthetwofrontal
views ofthemanandthe womanare alsodifficult
to perceive.Each
are coveredup
withblocks
offelt
paperthereby
inhibiting
theiracknowledgement
by
the viewer.These
canonly be
seenif
onelifts
thefelt
up, which not everyoneis
willing
todo. There
canbe
anumber ofdifferent
reasonsfor this, but
thefact
is
some peoplejust
won'tmake theinitiative.
This then,
through a quickassociation,
relates to thelack
ofquestioning
sooftenfound
during
war.Although
thispiecerepresentsanumber of socialconcerns,
it is
not meantto actsimply
as a social statement.At its very
least,
it
represents a need to understand war through the creative process.This
thenrelatesvery
muchto theotherinstallations,
in
thatit
speaks aboutthefreedom
of speech and aboutthe
freedom found
in
thecreative process.The
processofdeveloping
anidea,
especially in
aninstallation,
is
whatI
find
mostinteresting. Its
finding
thefreedom
tocreatethatis
themostchallenging.
CONCLUSION
My
progressionin
art,
in
thepast two years,has
taken meaway from
painting
andinto
thethree-dimensional.
I've
cometotherealizationthatmy
concernfor
artlies
morewiththeidea
andthe progression of that
idea
asit develops. I
find,
quiteoften,
that the product of artis less
interesting
thenits
conception.My
concern asI leave RJT
is
tofind
abalance between
thetwo, if
sucha
thing
exists.At
onetimeI
saidI
would nevergoback
to painting,but
asI've
become
morefamiliar
withwhatI'm
doing,
theinstallation,
I
realizethatsuch astatementis
self-defeating.One
cannotrule outthe
possibility
ofany
artform,
because someday
onemightbe
moreright for
that artform
than everbefore. This
will notbe
astep back but
rather astep forward. If
artis
toprogress
it
willprobably happen in
thisway.END
QUOTES
The
artist canhave
no othertask than to makecatalogues,
inventories,
andto watchoutfor
small unfilled corners
in
ordertoconjureup there, in
closeranks,
thecreations andtheinstruments
of man.
i
In any
mind,
and most of allin
original anddeveloped
minds, thereare twocrucialelements,the
basic formula
withwhichit interprets
reality,
andthepeculiar senseofdeficiency
with whichthatmindalways starts out
along its
way.2
It
is
unavoidablefor
most mentohave
thepsychology
ofthelanguage
whichthey
have been
taught.
3
1 Roland
Barthes,
Mythologies (New York: The
Noonday
Press, 1990),
p.65.
2 Ralph
Harper,
The
seventhSolitude: Man's Isolation in Kierkegaard,
Dostoevsky,
andNietzche
(
Baltimore,
Maryland:
The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1965),
p.138.
3 Roland
Barthes,
p.45.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ashton,
Dore.
Yes,
but
. . . : a critical studyofPhilip
Guston
New York:
Viking
Press,
1976.
Barthes,
Roland. Mvtholoeies.
New
York:
The
Noonday
Press,
1990.
Dewey,
John.
Art
asExperience.
New
York:
Minton,
Balch
andCompany,
1934.
Harper,
Ralph. The Seventh
Solitude:
Man's Isolation in
Kierkegaard.
Dostoevsky.
and
Nietzsche.
Baltimore,
Maryland: The Johns Hopkins
Press,
1965.
Hawkins,
Stephen W. A Brief
History
ofTime. New
York,
New York:
BantamBooks,
1988.
Nietzsche,
Fredrich Wilhelm. The
Philosophy
ofNietzsche. New York:
New American
Library,
1965.
Untitled,
(Stilllife)
1990
Untitled,
(Log)
1990
Log
Form
1
1990
Wood Chopper
1990
Desent
ofthe
Woodsman
1990
"1
H
H
H
;'6i
5
5 ^
1 i 3
SBHHiSSS
i"v
v^
,
I
Counting
Device
1991
Puzzle
1
1991
Puzzle
2
1991
Information
Retrieval,
(with
good guys andbad guys)
1991
Information
Retrieval
(detail)
1991
Information
Retieval
(detail)
1991
Information
Retrieval
(detail)
1991