Evaluative Blog Post

Thesis Project, The Savory Series:


-Doughnut Stack, 30" x 36", Oil on Canvas, 2011
-Buzz Words, 30" x 36", Oil on Canvas, 2011
-Fast Food Collage, 30" x 36", Oil on Canvas, 2011
-Weight Loss Ad, 30" x 36", Oil on Canvas, 2011
-Sugar-Coated Spray Paint, 30" x 36", Oil on Canvas, 2011
-Dessert Collage, 30" x 36", Oil on Canvas, 2011

If I had to sum up my experience with thesis exhibition, I would certainly begin with my work trajectory in Fall Semester. I felt very lost, unable to focus on a thesis idea and very doubtful of my skills and talents. I painted through this uncertainty and frustration, however, finding my unique voice and message through the simple act of painting. This was the best thing I could have done, because I focused less on the anxiety and pressure of producing an idea to explore for my final project and more on discovering the versatility of my eclectic and bright style infused with pop culture. Instead of adhering to one mode or method of painting, I instead decided to treat each painting as a separate entity, executed in different ways with different styles and applications of paint. My subject matter was already established, but not fully realized until spring semester.

My interest in painting food stems from my reaction to the mixed messages that the media and advertising present about the female body and body image, excessive consumption, and guilt versus pleasure. I also love design and take classes in that subject; I am particularly drawn to making advertisements and process books. I decided that the way I work in design class, which is very thought and process based, would be a better way to approach my thesis painting series. Each piece was planned out through sketching, researching, collaging, writing, and reading, This process of constant excavation and extraction has helped me in my doubts and fears of producing new work, taking chances, and perhaps failing. This artistic enrichment has not only confirmed my belief in the power of storytelling through art making, but has also motivated me to believe in my own unique voice and test the limits of what I am comfortable with. The emotional and conceptual reactions of the viewer are entirely subjective and vary along with their intellectual, artistic and observational aptitudes. Art is engaging, enriching, shocking, soothing, inspiring, beautiful, ugly, funny, serious, repulsive and enticing; it offers a little bit of everything for the artist making the work and the viewer visually consuming the work. I think my thesis project was a success and was what I originally envisioned for the most part.

After speaking with Guest Critic Julian Kriemer, I felt much more proud of my paintings as well as more confident as a painter. I expressed my doubts to him after he asked, “You are worried what people think about your work, aren’t you?” I worry about what people think about ME upon viewing my work, especially how I look and where my interests lie. This could be from a multitude of factors, such as my insecurities due to my past struggles with food and body image or the difficulty in asserting oneself as a female artist. Julian was easy to talk to and very helpful in terms of the specifics of the installation process, such as orientation of each piece, spacing, height, and size of space. He felt that the horizontal line did not do each painting justice, but I wanted a more advertising feel through the tight spacing and portrait oriented paintings (made to resemble posters). Julian was drawn the most to Doughnut Stack, the first painting in the series. Immediately I was surprised that he talked about that one so much, because my teacher, Marc Handelman, felt that piece was the least successful. Julian said he liked the discomfort of reaction, the visceral painting style, the sexual nature of the piece, and the tension between the jelly and crème “orifices” and the bright, child-like, simply painted sprinkles. He said that the piece expressed the harshness and complexities of adulthood and the simplicity and carefree nature of childhood, all through a stack of doughnuts.

My favorite three pieces are Fast Food Collage, Weight Loss Ad, Sugar-Coated Spray Paint. I felt these were the ones that came the closest to exactly how I planned it. Each piece was executed so differently; while the Fast Food Collage was painted from a magazine collage, the weight loss ad was painted from a 1950s inspired advertisement I created in Adobe Illustrator, and the spray paint was made through layers of randomly placed pieces of tape and 3-4 levels of colorful spray paint. I liked the happy mistakes of leaking through the tape and the different surface designs I made by spraying the can differently. The weight loss ad was very labor intensive, but I loved how it came out and would no change it. Thesis was a great success and I am happy with all the hard work (including frustrations and less sleep hours) I dedicated to it.