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Wednesday, March 25, 2020
JOSEPH CORNELL
Joseph Cornell video here
Although he rarely ventured far from New York, Joseph Cornell was able to create intricate worlds of his own from the solitude of his basement. In this episode of Anatomy of an Artwork, discover Cornell’s enchanting Soap Bubble Set, a perfect example of the artist’s miniaturized realms constructed from everyday ephemera. With symmetrically laid out clay pipes, glasses, maps and organic detritus, Cornell built a vast referential network of found items that encapsulated his many interests from across the arts & sciences.
More here and here
Monday, March 16, 2020
Peaked my interests
As we started looking through the kit I felt overwhelmed by all the stuff in front of me. I didn't really know what to touch first or if I could even touch any of it. After getting the OK, I gravitated toward this Roz Crews piece.
It was little and cute, bright and intimate. I could tell there were handwritten things in it and sometimes you can't look at words and not read them. I noticed the sole match in the transparent yellow box and I was like "hm... pyromania?" Half-asleep, it was now my mission to figure out how to set fire to these pieces of paper. There was no way to light the match in the kit within the kit so I turned to the internet. I learned two or three ways of non-conventional ways to set a match ablaze but since these things weren't mine, I had to restrain my inner instinct to destroy. The way Crews gave me the option, sort of, to set things on fire but no way to truly followthrough really just GOT me. I only had one chance to get it right but regardless, that wasn't the time/place to set someone else's belongings on fire.
The Oblique Strategies deck was something else that spoke to me as a piece.
Something about the tactility of cards and their innate playful nature felt interesting to me. There were so many options within the deck that some of the first questions I thought of were "which card do I listen to..." and "which card is the RIGHT card?" The only thing I could think of doing was to treat it like a Tarot deck, letting chance tell me what to do. If I deliberately went through the deck looking for what I wanted to do, the purpose of the cards is diminished. That way of thinking is specific to me but I believe that the power of the cards is in fate. If I'm lost and I don't know what to do but have a seemingly infinite number of possibilities/options I find solace in doing my rituals and letting the natural world lead me to the next step.
It was little and cute, bright and intimate. I could tell there were handwritten things in it and sometimes you can't look at words and not read them. I noticed the sole match in the transparent yellow box and I was like "hm... pyromania?" Half-asleep, it was now my mission to figure out how to set fire to these pieces of paper. There was no way to light the match in the kit within the kit so I turned to the internet. I learned two or three ways of non-conventional ways to set a match ablaze but since these things weren't mine, I had to restrain my inner instinct to destroy. The way Crews gave me the option, sort of, to set things on fire but no way to truly followthrough really just GOT me. I only had one chance to get it right but regardless, that wasn't the time/place to set someone else's belongings on fire.
The Oblique Strategies deck was something else that spoke to me as a piece.
Something about the tactility of cards and their innate playful nature felt interesting to me. There were so many options within the deck that some of the first questions I thought of were "which card do I listen to..." and "which card is the RIGHT card?" The only thing I could think of doing was to treat it like a Tarot deck, letting chance tell me what to do. If I deliberately went through the deck looking for what I wanted to do, the purpose of the cards is diminished. That way of thinking is specific to me but I believe that the power of the cards is in fate. If I'm lost and I don't know what to do but have a seemingly infinite number of possibilities/options I find solace in doing my rituals and letting the natural world lead me to the next step.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Oblique Strategies
While looking through the kit, I was drawn to Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies deck, which is a set of cards that can be used for an artistic dilemma. I am most interested in how a simple prompt can lead to any number of directions. One can grab a card from the deck and figure out how the text applies to your work and can ignite some sort of inspiration / get you out of a creative block.
I pulled this card:
These can mean whatever you want them to mean- and I'm sure people have various interpretations of what a card means. I appreciate the ambiguity, experimentalism, chance, and playfulness. However, I find there's a loss of control while using these cards. Which for me, can be uncomfortable especially because I take comfort in the familiar. But I think that's the point of the cards. To get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself, take a step back, and approach your work in a new way.
I pulled this card:
These can mean whatever you want them to mean- and I'm sure people have various interpretations of what a card means. I appreciate the ambiguity, experimentalism, chance, and playfulness. However, I find there's a loss of control while using these cards. Which for me, can be uncomfortable especially because I take comfort in the familiar. But I think that's the point of the cards. To get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself, take a step back, and approach your work in a new way.
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