Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Kayl//Brief Art Statement
I make still lifes.
I am an image maker, balancing depictions of the real with graphic counterparts.
I am interested in objects, their connection to the history of art, to contemporary connotations. I want to imbed myself in the ongoing history of the still life genre's traditions while questioning photography and the ways a photograph comes into being.
Through the studio, I can empty objects of potency through erasure of context.
I am, above all, a gatherer and interpreter of popular imagery, which I present in order for the viewer to reflect their full identity, consciously or subconciously interpreting the image and its content.
By photographing, I point a finger. By viewing, the audience names.
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I agree that "Through the studio, I can empty objects of potency through erasure of context" but the opposite can also be true. Erasure of context is one of the most strategic ways to give an object power (which is why super famous performers are often shot on plain white backgrounds - they appear to be outside of time and are like God). Also, what exactly do you mean by reflect a "full identity"? Do you mean that through interpretation, we show who we really are? I enjoy the last sentence very much, I think it nicely sums up that reflective process without getting into the details of how identity manifests.
ReplyDelete"By photographing, I point a finger. By viewing, the audience names. " I love this sentence. It gets at the interaction between the piece and the audience you mentioned during one of your first critiques, when the room sort of became a random discussion triggered by one of the objects. It also has a playful tone that reflects a lot of the playfulness of your work. However, I don't think you totally empty the objects of potency, but add potency to them by isolating them or having them interact with each other, and even the backdrop. You may erase their usual context, but they're still very potent objects. You redirect their potency.
ReplyDeletetake out the still life opening...
ReplyDeleteI am an image maker, balancing depictions of the real with (the graphic).
>i'm interested in objects that sit at the intersection of art history and contemporary connotations. through austerity and arrangement, objects are asked to resonate. to make images like this is to question their construction and meaning<
I am interested in objects, their connection to the history of art, to contemporary connotations. I want to imbed myself in the ongoing history of the still life genre's traditions while questioning photography and the ways a photograph comes into being.
Through the studio, I can empty objects of potency through erasure of context.
I am, above all, a gatherer and interpreter of popular imagery, which I present in order for the viewer to reflect their full identity, consciously or subconciously interpreting the image and its content.
By photographing, I point a finger. By viewing, the audience names. GREAT FINISH!
Kayla, this is a very good description of the repercussions of your images. I feel that each of these short statements can relate well to your work on a one-to-one basis but there is also something of a contradiction between excerpts of this writing. For instance how do you reconcile the desire to connect to a mode of history and update this into a contemporary paradigm while simultaneously driving to empty the images of context and offer them to viewers as a kind of mirror to reflect into? To be clear, I think your work can and already has accomplished this. But your words are not yet reflecting this. I believe the answer is to expand more on the notion that photographing is pointing and viewing is naming. This could even be a kind of mantra for the statement, something that is said every other line? It's catchy in a strangely liturgical way and could really reinforce some of the minor contradictions that are luckily only in your words and not in your artworks.
ReplyDeleteThese are very strong statements. I'm interested in the part you discuss about the audience "which I present in order for the viewer to reflect their full identity". I think a little bit more elaboration on the strategies used in your work for the audience to reflect their identity from the objects will help a lot. How does your work go beyond traditional still life images and relate to contemporary audience? (They are, by the way.)
ReplyDelete