Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Art (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Art

Advisor/Mentor

McConnell, Mathew S.

Committee Member

Yoon-Ramirez, Injeong

Second Committee Member

Drolen, Rebecca A.

Third Committee Member

Morrissey, Sean P.

Keywords

Ceramics; Contemporary Art; Installation; Photography; Queer Theory; Sculpture

Abstract

The transdisciplinary art work within Do you wanna go dancing? unpacks the experience and perception of my interpersonal relationships, as well as the role that touch and introspection has in my visual arts practice and everyday life. I am interested in pairing the act of looking with the sensation of touching through specific installation and arrangement of intimate imagery, ceramic fragments and frames, and manual or digitally fabricated surfaces. The negotiation of these installations orient the viewer to consider their positionality within space, as well as the extent in which distance, intimacy, and vulnerability fluctuate inside these psychological spaces.

The physical touch involved in the ceramic process not only emphasizes the marks made to reference the literal act of touching, but also the vulnerability of the material itself. Ceramic fragments and frames contain images and actions: fingerprints preserved and highlighted with glaze, photographic ceramic-decals of my body, as well as adorned shards and cracks of ceramic pieces that highlight the fragility of the ceramic process and specific details of photographs. Fabricated pedestals also contain digital iterations of touch scanned from my own fingers and posterior. The majority of these pedestals support ceramic objects (which I refer to as viewfinders), photographic images, and/or reflective surfaces that direct the viewer’s experience of the other objects and images within the installation. The navigation of the exhibition space is like a dance, wherein the viewer can choose how and what they interact with— this physical exploration elicits a more queered nuance and consideration of the intentionality of the space, objects, and viewer.

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