Two examples of Journal

Drawings

Inside of Installation

The installation will begin being about 5-6 feet in width. As the viewer moves further into the piece, the walls will become tighter, around 2 1/2 feet wide. At the end of the installation, there will be a box, around 3 feet high, with a television monitor inside. The monitor will be playing various cliip, such in my sample, as well as audio. In order to see the tv monitor, one will have to bend and/or squat down to look into a peep hole.

The inside of the installation will be painted black, including the television box. I will continue with the idea of putting up various journal entry pages on the sides of the walls and on the floor leading up to the peep hole on the television box.

More with Design

Design Update

This design consists of two 8'x6 ' walls sticking out form a corner in the gallery, form in a hallway leading to a dead end. They will start off being about 5 feet in width from each other, but will close in to about 2.5 feet towards the gallery wall. At the end of the hallway, the viewer will see a small box that they must bend down to look into. Inside will be a small television, playing video.

Update on material

Originally, I was going to construct my installation with pvc pipes and curtains. I went out and purchased several pipes, and pieces along with a few dark curtains/ sheets. What I discovered was that the pvc was very flimsy, and not at all stable, especially with heavy sheets. This changed the materials that I intend to use a bit.

I will now go out and buy a few sheets of (thick) foam board used for housing insulation. These I have noticed form past projects, are much more reliable and sturdy. I will have the boards cut down into smaller pieces, so that transportation will be easier. That way, I can tear down a wall, and rebuild it relatively easy by using card board and tape.

Postmodernism in my BFA project

Regarding my project, there are a few different ways that it can be see as postmodern art.

First of all, unlike Modernists, my project is not strictly "pure" of medium. Rather than simply putting paint on a canvas, I will be building a physical space, using pipes, curtains, walls, papers with writings, a television, sounds, and videos. It will be a mixture or various mediums to show a single concept.

Next, my work will not be understood just by looking at it for 30 seconds. It will be a piece that the viewer will really have to think about and break down. Each viewer may take something very differently from the piece.

Lastly, my piece will allow critics to think about my personality, background, and affiliations rather than the modernistic view of simply judging the artwork. This is one of the more important reasons as my project will be very personal, allow the viewer to step into my shoes and see what I see. This may bring into question what type of person I am, as well as explain the origins of some of my other work.

Update

I have also decided that it may be best to use a TV rather than a projector as with such a small space, it may be difficult to get a proper visual. I will reserve a 2'X2' space for the television.

Update on installation build

So after brain storming on designs, I figured that a vertical build would ultimately be best. It will be 6 feet long and 4 feet wide. I will be using PVC pipes and fittings along with curtain walls.

Shots from sample video

Update on progress

After coming up with a solid concept, I have started constructing pieces of my installation. So far I have come up with several possible diagrams for the installation. I have made a sample of how the walls may look. I also made a sample video of a few possible shots.

Revised BFA Idea

The theme or point that I am going to be focusing on for the show is sleep paralysis. It is something that I personally suffer from and am quite familiar with. The reason for doing this is that my art focuses mainly on stirring up reactions to negative emotions. I find it very interesting to see how people react to something that makes them sad or frightened, so by creating this installation, I hope to bring out an awareness of the concept by placing the viewer into a situation that feels similar to having an actual episode. It would be interesting as well to see how someone who has had experiences of sleep paralysis in the past, can relate to the installation.

The first version of the installation will require the view to physically lay down on the floor, crawling into the space. The viewer will look up to see a video being played. This video will be played on a loop from a small projector that is pointing down towards the floor onto a sheet above the viewers head. The video is an example of what one may see during an episode. The physical space sticks out around 3 feet from the wall 2 feet high and 2 1/2 feet wide. There will be an additional 2 feet in height for the projector. I’m still not certain on the measurements yet as I don’t know what is ideal.

The second version is very similar to the first but it stands upright, allowing the viewer to wall in and out of the space without having to lay down on the ground. I personally feel that this version is less powerful than the first, as the senses of helplessness and immobility are not as present.
   
With both version, it will be dark, not only so that the projection can show up clearly, but also to help bring out a sense of fear. My episodes also usually occur in the middle of the night as well, so that is a reason as well.

There will be a video being projected, but as to how and where the projection will take place is still to be determined, depended on how the installation is built.

Wall Design Example

For the walls, I will be painting them completely black. However, I will be adding to them, a sort of wall paper, made from various sheets out of my personal diary. The pages will have descriptions of my sleep paralysis episodes. Certain words may be purposely "highlighted" depending on their importance.

Updated Design V.2

Updated Designs V.1

Update on progress

Redesigned layout of installation. It will be a small space, roughly 3 feet by 4 feet. Will have wall paper consisting of pages from books dealing with anxiety disorders and phobias.

Diagram and Equipment

A list of equipment that I will need are:
A Camcorder
A small TV that can playback video
Walls, either drywall or other
Curtains
Lighting

Contract

For the BFA show, my piece will end up being mixed media. I intend on making it mostly an instillation. There will however be some two dimensional drawings throughout the piece on the walls. I will also have a video that the audience will be able to view if they choose to do so.

The main concept of my piece is to really draw into the audience's inner emotions. These emotions will most likely be fear or an overall sense of being disturbed. I am going to try to relate to feelings that everyone can relate to. There will also be a period at the end of my instillation in which the viewer can achieve a brief moment of peace.

The aesthetics of this piece is to throw the audience into an uncomfortable situation. It will make the viewer relate to other things that they may have experienced in life. The point is to "force" the audience into a frightening space. They then must get uncomfortably close to a disturbing object in order to see a soothing image. This comes from the old belief that before things can get better, they must get worse.

The final format of this piece will be in the shape of a small room. The room will be made walls and curtains. A small six foot long hallway will lead into  small six foot long room. The room will have various objects in it to promote uncomfortable feelings. The room will be illuminated by red lights, while the hallway will be completely dark.

Brainstorm notebook

This notebook, for me, was really hard to do. It seemed that I was almost trying to hard to come up with material to write down. It did help me with looking at things in different ways though. It's funny looking back and seeing what I wrote down.

BFA idea

Regarding the BFA show, I would really like to do something in mixed media. I was thinking of doing something like drawing images out on paper. These images would then be scanned onto my computer and altered in photoshop. Since I do not like generally working in color, photoshop is an easy way for me to experiment on what I think fits the image best. I am still unsure of the content of the piece, but I am leaning towards a dream/nightmare or fairytale theme.

1st Day of class

Today was just going over the syllabus and explaining the class. We received little notebooks to write down random thoughts and doodles.