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Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Art Practice
Contemporary Family Portrait: The Hidden Uncomfortable Truth Of Family Dynamics, Ji Won Park
Contemporary Family Portrait: The Hidden Uncomfortable Truth Of Family Dynamics, Ji Won Park
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
This thesis examines the hidden aspect of family dynamic and questions the idealized convention of family portraits. Based on Erving Goffman’s theatrical theory of community, family as a relaxing intimate group in the backstage, the underlying tensions, conflicts, and power play are discussed. This thesis draws upon the familial issues and treatments of Leon J. Saul and Rhee Dong Shick to evaluate the family dynamic present in our domestic settings. As the lineage of family portraits from history changed reflecting the differing family values and uncomfortable truths, the idealized family portraits are re-evaluated and questioned to offer a truer description …
Black Culture: A Societal Problem, Quamesha Brown
Black Culture: A Societal Problem, Quamesha Brown
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
American society, regardless of what history has been told, has never been a society that is truly free of social prejudices especially for its black community. The many depictions of black people in America has caused a number of psychological and physical difficulties for black communities. In this paper, the main topic is the ways in which black culture is portrayed in American society and how that representation has affected the black community and the black experience. Although there are common experiences shared between people in the black community, the black experience is highly individualized; there is no singular definition …
The Girl Who Didn’T Know She Wasn’T Singing, Rebecca M. Lothan
The Girl Who Didn’T Know She Wasn’T Singing, Rebecca M. Lothan
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
I am interested what is obscured by the mundane, diurnal nature of objects that surround us which uphold a comfortable rhythm that easily resists close observation. My thesis work examines states of flux, a body of work that is neither here nor there, but hovers in an in between area: in existing between painting and sculpture, in revealing transcendent qualities of the everyday, raising questions about value, and fundamental acts of seeing and considering artwork. context becomes key in framing the experience of the work, each piece is perceptually contingent on external factors; in viewership and the individual viewer experience …
Ritual Embodiment: The Body Remembers Through Ritual, Ayesha Mohyuddin
Ritual Embodiment: The Body Remembers Through Ritual, Ayesha Mohyuddin
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
Ritual externalizes religious belief through physical embodiment and codified performance that allows it to be shared through a community. In a post 9/11 American society where Muslims are subject to increased scrutiny,. In a secular society that regulates religion to the private sphere so as not to conflict with the identity of the state, externalized religious identity can become problematic, especially as a Muslim living in post 9/11 United States. Ritual thenritual becomes a way to otherize a community based on shared practices. an identity under increased scrutiny. However, looking beyond the framework that the specific rules of ritual creates …
Pressing: Where The Objective Meets The Subjective, Mariana Parisca
Pressing: Where The Objective Meets The Subjective, Mariana Parisca
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
Through this essay I describe the theoretical and anthropological ideas that led to the creation of the Cushing Series. An interest in the obsession with photography in popular culture leads to an understanding of the permeation of structured reasoning beyond scientific research and into everyday life. Taking evidence from photography, and philosophy of science I establish the limitations of structured reasoning, both as a way of perceiving the world and as an understanding of identity, and define surface and frame as its physical representation. Using Sartre’s existential theory and phenomenological anthropology I then describe the infinite subjective existence of …
Imagining New Possibilities Through Social Practice, Sarah O. Hull
Imagining New Possibilities Through Social Practice, Sarah O. Hull
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
In my practice, I have significantly questioned the role of the arts in social change. I have explored various forms of social practice, especially political art,public art and community art. Social practice lives in-between the world of art and social action and can add an important voice to both. Still, social practice, (like all forms of art) is limited and cannot be the sole source of social change. It is by working with others already organizing for social change, but bringing in the unique skills and perspectives of an artist that social practice is most effective. In this thesis, I …
Ghosts In The Garden: Cultural Critique Through The Lens Of The Absurd, Andrew T. Catanese
Ghosts In The Garden: Cultural Critique Through The Lens Of The Absurd, Andrew T. Catanese
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
The primary lens by which I deconstruct my work is the absurd and “lucidity” of the absurd as developed by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus’ absurd grows out of the tension between human desire for establishing order with the impossibility of doing so in a universe that continually resists our abstractions. The absurd then becomes a means to understanding the criticisms in my work of consumerism, behavior, and spaces which attempt to control or constrict people. I approach my art as an “other” or “outsider” from the system of Protestant moral dichotomy in which I grew up. …
Process As Practice : Expressions Of The Numinous, Morgan Dowty
Process As Practice : Expressions Of The Numinous, Morgan Dowty
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
This statement explores the ways in which language and art making approach description of spiritual and largely ineffable experiences. Through the lens of Rudolf Otto’s discussion of the numinous, visual languages, including darkness, scale and silence, are explored as methods for expression of the spiritual. Throughout the exploration of material and process, an emphasis is placed on exploring a relationship between the transcendental and the everyday, between the physical and spiritual world. The making process is highlighted for its ability to create space and time to reflect on these questions. Printmaking as a translator of both object and image plays …
The Representation Of Non-Traditional Bodies, Elizabeth J. Perkins
The Representation Of Non-Traditional Bodies, Elizabeth J. Perkins
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
My work largely addresses the close-minded Western ideals of the human body, particularly those related to females. Stemming from struggles with my own sense of security, I strive to create accessible works of art that both challenge and expand these ideals by representing figural imagery beyond such social constraints. Though my works may seem to serve the purpose of mockery at first, the urgency of the issues portrayed becomes apparent as the pieces are studied more carefully. I explore how exposure, vulnerability, grotesqueness, and intimacy within my work serve as a means to expand our cultural ideals for the human …
In-Betweeness On Stage, Qiyuan Liu
In-Betweeness On Stage, Qiyuan Liu
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
It all started with the question of “where are you from”. Coming from China and making art in America, I have been confused by people’s question about where am I from and, more importantly, where I identify myself belong. By using installation as the main format, I created works with strong theatrical quality to restage and reenact my social and cultural experiences that finally led to my understanding of the “in-betweeness” of myself: I reside in neither of the two cultures but rather moving back and forth between them. I carry influences from both sides with me and present them …
Into The Fold: Deleuze, Desire, And Art, Madeline Wells
Into The Fold: Deleuze, Desire, And Art, Madeline Wells
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
The purpose of this essay is to understand how I, as a visual artist, understand and utilize the fold. I will trace the many ways in which a fold functions, oscillating between my own practice and those of other contemporary artists, including Orlan and Shana Moulton. From twentieth century baroque to spiritual cleansing, theatrical staging to suggestive metonymy, the fold invites the desire to transform—for something more than what the everyday offers. Through photography, video, or sculpture, we have the ability to express an expanded, more accurate understanding of the real and the virtual, the human and the nonhuman. For …
Paiting, Lucas Page
Paiting, Lucas Page
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
My work is motivated by the painting “as such” – as an inquiry into and intervention upon what constitutes a painting, how they are constructed, how they function, etc. Through an investigation of painting as a genre, both in its historical canon and contemporary forms, I deconstruct the formal and cultural elements surrounding the field. Four major axes serve as the basis for my inquiry and intervention of painting: Painting, Abstraction, Representation, Control. Taking as a point of departure the comment, “Your work is a representation of abstraction,” I aim to figure out how “the painting” (in all of its …
Wouldn't It Be Funny If, Taryn Sirias
Wouldn't It Be Funny If, Taryn Sirias
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
Examining both historical comedic development and personal conceptions of comedy in art, “Wouldn’t It Be Funny If…” explores the validity of the joke as a means of critical inquiry and communication between artist and viewer, and attempts to figure my own artistic practice in this larger tradition.
Experiments In Remix And Worldmaking, Jesse Firestone
Experiments In Remix And Worldmaking, Jesse Firestone
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
The rate of consumption is at an all time high and cultural attributes are endlessly appropriated in order to make fresh, new products. The market can bring the marginalized into the mainstream and expedite the process of assimilation; however, in the process, cultural symbols/ideas/identities are depoliticized and removed from their origins, leaving only a hollow shell. In Gimme $helter, Jesse Bandler brings together clothing, posters, blankets, and chackis, effectively turning the Des Lee Gallery into a place of commerce. Gimme $helter is able to seamlessly occupy two distinct spheres of culture: within the gallery, Gimme $helter offers an intimate critique …
Ergonomically Designing Art Objects, Ambika Subramaniam
Ergonomically Designing Art Objects, Ambika Subramaniam
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
The following thesis examines the work of Ambika Subramaniam, in particular her thesis installation Ergonomically Designing Art Objects, for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Washington University in St. Louis. Based within a discussion of semiotics, the thesis researches furniture signification and tracks its evolution through traditional form, ergonomic function, and consumed product. Major points include the ways in which objects are capable of collapsing and retaining the semiotic divide between a sign and referent, and how that signification relates to contemporary design-oriented products. Using the chair as the exemplifying object, the thesis installation questions how objects have …
From The Museum To The Parking Lot: A Scrutiny Of The Everyday, Julie D. Cronan
From The Museum To The Parking Lot: A Scrutiny Of The Everyday, Julie D. Cronan
Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted
My work is inspired by my investigations of overlooked places in the cities that I live, experiences that I seek to translate through drawing and printmaking.This paper follows the evolution of my BFA thesis work at Washington University in St. Louis, from my initial sketches in museums to my more recent, sustained investigations of parking lots and strip malls. Key issues raised are the history of knowledge, especially in relation to science and museums, and whether it is possible to know a place through firsthand observation. The paper focuses specifically on the subjectivity of drawing and ways that the drawing …