My focus beyond painting has been installations and assemblage, something I've been exploiting vigorously at the Corcoran, starting with Misconnect (an installation that primarily incorporated found metal objects), and continuing with the current See Me See You which will culminate in 100 papier maiche forms suspended around a chair; an exploration into the alternative world of symbolic thinking.
preview for "See You See Me" on exhibit at the Corcoran Whie Halls Dec.9th through Jan.25th
See You See Me
Preview Installation (chair and 18, 8’ forms: paper over wire, acrylic paint)
(Note that final installation will total 100 forms in a circular pattern around the chair)
The chair is an object I have identified with before in my work as an autobiographical statement; until recently, I’ve not understood the chair as my familiar. Through this investigation of how my thought processes work, I’ve realized that my portrayal of the chair is an extension of myself. And this works because it allows me to be in two places at the same time, looking from the point of view the chair has, and then as the viewer from the outside. In this installment, the chair is centrally placed and grounded to the floor, surrounded by fragile suspended forms, close enough to each other that the point of view is obstructed in and out from all directions. These forms are what one has to peer through in order to get the whole picture, interpreting the image in part to understand the whole. It is a self-statement, unlike Van Gogh’s empty chairs expressing the emptiness, self identification, and want for dialogue with Gaugin[1]; my chair allows me to see others seeing me; it is not want for company, but for understanding.
Symbolic or visual thinking has been identified with the autism spectrum, ideas and thoughts conveyed in a language shortened to images[2]. This is a language I’ve known all my life and have started to retrospectively research how this develops creative process. There is identification, process, and order that follow rules; all these forms or objects as I see them act as filters to the outside world. However, I wonder if the same applies in the opposite direction, or, even looks the same. Can I know the difference? I understand my familiarity with process and symbolism in the works of Van Gogh’s Chairs, Hopper’s solitary building and empty streets; or seeing the order in Pollock’s drip paintings, Eva Hesse’s repetitious sculptures; the methodology in Schwitters’ abstract collages and ironies of Rauschenberg’s combines seamlessly interact with my language.
The conclusion for me is black and white, which doesn’t always fit into the gray world of normal thinking. My outlet are the images, assemblages, installations and collages which allows dialogue with others. Even if that dialogue is filtered.
[1] Vincent’s Chair With His Pipe, Van Gogh, Arles, Dec.1888 (London, National Gallery)
Gaugin’s Chair, Van Gogh, Arles, Dec.1888 (Amsterdam, The Van Gogh Museum)
[2] “How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account”, Temple Grandin, Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (2009) 364, 1437-1442
