Visit, Research and Artistic Identity

So, this week Kristin Boehm, Lawrence Alumnus '09, visited to talk about Art and the Day Job and life after studio art undergrad in general. After seeing her in two of my classes, listening to her lecture, and speaking to her in person it has made me consider a lot of the topics in her discussion and how they might apply to me.

Kristin spent some time being sort of jobless and confused like so many of us studio art students are fearing. But things turned around a bit as she started finding outlets for her art to continue, while she worked other jobs at summer camps, volunteer organizations and did freelance work, sometimes even for free. All the while she kept blogging, maintaining her internet presence and searching for opportunities. Eventually she got some recognition with her fiber art, entered some contests, and found herself a part of a small movement that might get her published in a book on the subject. But then none of those things really did anything that she expected and she heard nothing more about the attention she got from a blog post that generated quite a deal of interest. This was part of the story that struck me. It was echoed by the advice she gave us. I realized that this was the reality part that was so hard for people to grasp. Making herself more available and easily found through internet resources made it just as easy to go unnoticed and to disappear just as quickly as she had found some recognition. That is pretty sobering to think about. Even if you catch some break or get noticed like it seems everyone thinks is the key to becoming successful, it may not really last or accomplish much at all to that end in the day and age of the internet. So, maybe aiming for fame and recognition is just as unrealistic as it sounds even if you do become known for something.

Kristin also made me think by suggesting that looking for a job is a constant kind of search. She eventually found something that fit herself after accepting a temporary internship that got turned into a permanent position after she did a great deal of hard, but quality work for the company that hired her. I guess that is something I took from her story: you might not achieve success by catching attention through the internet, but by doing consistent, hard work, you may be noticed somewhere that you already are and make that into something better for yourself. I think that is a reasonable lesson and it is supported by her assertion that you shouldn't be able to take time to develop your art slowly, but you should look for work and other opportunities everywhere since you don't know what possibilities will provide you with a stable and rewarding position.

A few other things she spoke of reinforced things I have heard before. She spoke about setting reasonable goals and keeping track of blogs and internet sites (many of which she provided examples of) to keep up to date and motivate yourself. This is part of the reality of her concept that it is wrong to treat the rest of life after being coddled at a University with an overabundance of guidance, as a list to cross off or checks to put in boxes. It turns out, real life is not really like that even though it is often how academia trains us to behave. She also spoke about taking initiative and networking to know more contacts, which always seems to be relevant.

Consistency of artistic image--this is something I have thought about, but not very directly. I like to experiment and change my work a lot, but from a marketing standpoint and as someone who offers art as a service and hopefully will make some kind of money that way, I can see how I need to put more thought into making the manner in which I present myself reliable to viewers. I think all consumers want to feel a certain amount of trust in whatever they purchase so they know that they can get what they expect and will be satisfied buying a product without getting buyer's remorse. This is related to branding I guess, but you don't always think about that so much in art because so many people have a perception of artists being eccentric and unreliable or inconsistent, but I guess even if you are targeting a small number of people who desire that, you have to do even those things with consistency.

So that has made me think along with my presentation this week. I chose to present on a number of topics (I can't help that I want context for artistic references) including my research into video artist Jim Campbell. I found that even though he has some famous pieces, has had a lot of exhibitions/installations, it is rather difficult to find some background info on him. There isn't really a detailed bio even on his website. But then I realized that I didn't want to find that and I was more interested in the messages of his art and what they meant to me. After researching that, I think that is exactly what he means to accomplish. I can relate to that and I think I will consider limiting some of my personal information to make others consider the meaning of my artwork and their implications more based on what they think, rather than solely on something I might say about them. I also found I had a lot of interesting connections in common with Campbell who relates to ideas of Buddhism (and other philosophical/religious thoughts) and examines viewer interaction/interpretation, memory and time as recurring themes in his work.

On my project, I am working feverishly to complete everything. I am taking in criticism to try to improve what I have thus far, I am adding my songs together with the videos I have been constructing with narratives that I am rearranging at the moment, and my book will be here soon. I hope by the end of this week to have my videos nearly completed, so that I can make some important decisions on what I want to present at the public presentation of my art on the 11th and how I will present there. I may only show two videos if they stand out or if they are equally strong, tighten them up to three minutes each and show three. Then on Monday I will be able to burn dvds and get all those materials ready to be aesthetically (dis)pleasing and whatnot.



"Your story only tells one side, it's based on fact, but filled with lies"
-Taproot

IHRTLUHC

JORSEV
Shoot and Burn

Mesmer-ized: Hast Du Felt Fat Lately?

This week I took a closer look at Joseph Beuys by reading short biographies, watching John Halpern's Joseph Beuys-Transformer, and even his pop music video. I have to say that I am a bit mystified and perhaps a bit surprised I didn't know more about the man. He certainly is an enigmatic entity, but I do not know for sure how I feel about his ideas. There is something very troubled and guilty about his person that is probably mostly the result of his war-torn past. I wonder what direction his artistic ideas would have taken if he had not been in the German army during the Nazi reign of terror. In what ways would his ideas have manifested themselves if he had not been a POW? There is something truly haunting about these realities and the way that Beuys seemed to use his influence and artistic ideas to try and make amends for himself or his country during that time of hatred and confusion in the war. I suppose in some ways I can relate to this since I have seen strange consequences result in my own life experiences as the result of some sort of "Catholic guilt." I can really understand how something that is such a dominating ideology in your youth can easily dominate your later life and thoughts with obsessive tendencies or the desire to correct such wrong circumstances. There seems to be something very human about that. I like some of the concepts about Beuys' views on art and producing artwork not with media, but in the mind of the viewer. I think I can agree with that type of observable response in the viewer. However, it seems that some parts of Beuys are at odds with himself.

I admire the way he avoided political manipulation or the possible political influences he could have pursued to instead use his artwork to symbolically improve the world through artistic gestures contained in the acts of planting trees and performing or installing fat and felt in galleries. Starting movements like Green Roots, that so slow, slow, slowly making its way to the U.S. nowadays (pretty comical) seem like fitting ways to rehabilitate the image of Germans in the rest of the world and it appeals to me that Beuys used his ideas to further projects that visibly changed the landscape of his time even if some people did not understand his metaphors and symbols. Maybe all this makes more sense considering that he volunteered to avoid the draft and was angry with the German people for not opposing the Nazi party more strongly, and that he had time to think as a POW.

I also read "The Chain of Reason Versus the Chain of Thumbs," from Stephen Jay Gould's Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History this week. This I found amusing, interesting and timely. It relates to Mesmer and his ideas during their most popular until they were debunked by a committee headed by Ben Franklin and Lavoisier. This specifically relates to Herzog's Stoszek with the references to Animal Magnetism. Was it really just a glorified cult though some swore results from Mesmer's treatments, as strange as they were (though sometimes I think it is the stranger, the better with these things)? What is a cult exactly, anyhow? We are still asking this question today.

My roommate and I have recently been "investigating" the Church of Scientology and Dianetics. Maybe L. Ron Hubbard was not so different from Franz Mesmer. We have found some shocking parallels: animosity and uncooperative nature at the question of authenticity, loyal testimonies, pseudo-science, mysterious and inexplicable belief, religious awe, demonstrations of proof or disproving proportions, etc. Is Scientology just an example of a contemporary huckster looking to Mesmer-ize the masses? Maybe this is an example of something that just doesn't change. France and the BBC would agree, but so many seem so convinced. Besides the obvious humorous value, curiosity prompted my roommate and I to start watching How to Use Dianetics to see what compelling conditions create the psychological conditions that make followers of some beliefs so fanatical and determined. Anyway, it was that and the lure of free books from the library, which I am convinced is an absolutely irresistible temptation despite the lack of space on my bookshelves.

To put this back into perspective, I guess what I have gathered from these disparate, but intertwined sources, is that so much of any idea will boil down to a perspective favored by the links created by every person's perceptions. And more than that, there is an extreme need that seems to be inherent in human kind for some sort of healing and rehabilitation in the processes associated with daily life. Like Beuys' habitual use of lard and wool in his installations or his planting of trees or Mesmer's Magnetic rods and chain of thumbs, or even Hubbard's auditing of engrams.

I guess this sort of theme of healing is also relevant to my project as well. I think that part of my relationship with music, and all art for that matter, is very related to this need. I most like the cathartic and restorative qualities that associated with creating or partaking of music and art. So far I have gotten good stories from my friends in creative writing to contribute to my work. We have met about them and one I will definitely use, so I have also started composing the songs for my project. I have been experimenting and laid down some drum tracks with some ideas for an overall concept and for adapting the stories to music. I want to in some ways simplify the story narratives to their most essential qualities so that others can relate to them and maybe find some sort of "healing" in that. We have also been considering the natural themes in the narratives that we are considering to be interpretations of basic life processes like birth, death, and transition. I think if I am successful with those concepts, our project could very well have some healing qualities.

IHRTLUHC


Jordan Severson