Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Art (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Art

Advisor/Mentor

Andree, David

Committee Member

Andree, Kara

Second Committee Member

Musgnug, Kristin A.

Third Committee Member

McConnell, Mathew S.

Fourth Committee Member

Mitchell, Marc E.

Keywords

escapism; sculpture; set design; boredom; magic; dystopia; workforce; late-stage capitalism

Abstract

Boring Magic encompasses an interest in labor, boredom, and exhaustion. Simultaneously, I am exploring what relief and escapism from these things look like. Escapism acts as the core of my work- what escapism looks like and what creates the need for escapism. I create narrative pieces that are always slightly removed from reality as a way to reflect on what I view as present-day dystopias. The worlds built to create this work are a combination of my lived experiences and invented characters and stories, which culminate in an alternate timeline set in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Relating to Mark Fisher’s theories, nostalgia in the work acts not as a longing for the past but as a longing for a future that never happened. These worlds offer the viewer the ability to explore a relationship between privacy and nosiness: open windows, see-through walls, and cluttered surfaces allow the viewer to shuffle through the minutiae of fictional character’s lives. In this work, I’d like to create inquiry around the possibilities of escapism, narrative, and magical realism in an attempt to find intrigue in the mundane.

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