The Use of the Common Object to Provoke New Contrasts and Meanings Between the Object, the Art Process, and Visual Perception: A Thesis Exhibition Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts
The works presented in this exhibition, held in the Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Arkansas in spring 1979, bring together a range of concepts and compositional ideas that reflect my personal approach to modernist abstraction. The exhibition included eight paintings, seven drawings, and two three-dimensional pieces.
This body of work grew out of earlier pieces exploring non-objective abstraction and expressionist composition—directions I wanted to extend and push further. As a result, I became interested in the common studio object, both as a subject, and as a metaphor for examining the process of painting. The three-dimensional works were variations on this same theme.
My use of common studio objects—chairs, paintbrushes, palettes, the color spectrum, and the like—was intended to encourage viewers to see these familiar things with “new meanings” and “definitions,” especially in relation to the act of painting and the artist’s personal involvement in that process.
I was drawn to these objects because they acknowledge my relationship to making art and reflect the experience I had in the studio while working. The works are filled with mixed metaphors and personal connotations, and they parallel many of the events and circumstances in and around my personal environment at the time.
(I apologize for the poor quality of the images included here; they were made from old Kodak snapshots, and some loss of clarity and detail was unavoidable.)
Double White Light, 64" x 68," Mixed Media on Canvas
Double White Light with painting, 48" x48," Mixed Media on Canvas
Four Orange Chairs #3, Mixed Media Sculpture
Four Orange Chairs, 60" x 60," Mixed Media on Canvas
High Light, 72" x 60," Mixed Media on Canvas
Pink White Light, 80" x 54," Mixed Media on Canvas
