I've finished the first piece in the series of object/painting hybrids I've been posting about. Although happy with the result, there are still a lot of things I want to try. In previous weeks, I was concerned about how these pieces connect with my other work. The subject matter, the creek/stream motif, is a reoccurring theme in my paintings and sand work this semester. In these paintings, I've incorporated colors culled from popular culture, toys and memories from my childhood. Both the paintings and sand work also emphasize making, process, repetition and attention to surface texture.
In reading *Notes on Camp by Susan Sontag, I discovered an affinity between my work and her description of Camp art. I was particularly interested in her observation of Camp having the tendency towards "decorative art, [...] texture, sensuous surface and style at the expense of content" (278). Although I would argue that my work is not quite free of content, I would agree that form outranks content. Sontag goes on to say that, "Camp introduces a new standard: artifice as an ideal, theatricality" (280). This statement perfectly encapsulates my goal of presenting nature as artifice.
I really like the interplay of light and shadow on the first painting. In fact, I plan to use one of the new objects to further explore monochromatic painting. The bead work on the 2nd painting is moving very slowly but so far I'm happy with its development. I've been building up layers of color on the lollipop trees painting and will eventually pour layers of glaze on top of it. I have two new objects to gesso today and one new object ready for papier-mache. The next step in this series will be to build objects that will be organic in form and not limited to the square format that I've been working with.
*Sontag, Susan. “Notes on ‘Camp.’” Against Interpretation and Other Essays. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966. 274–292. Print.
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