beckugo

[beckugo]

Final Index

Introduce Yourself: Final

QCQ #1: Chapter 1. Notes on the Gallery Space

Independent Museum Visit Assignment

3 Works: Thesis Ideas

QCQ #2: Chapter 2. The Eye and the Spectator

QCQ #3: Chapter 3. Context and Content

QCQ #4: Against Interpretation

Redo/Undo: Final

Independent Practice: Final

[beckugo]

To Observe is to Love, 2023

1920x1080px

This video was created with the idea of showing the act of observation as one's love. My father and I aren't good at showing our love, in fact we're pretty bad at showing affection or speaking about how we feel, but we're great at observing, listening, and acting on our love. We'll watch each other, see things that no one else does like a mistake in karate, or a random thing no one else really notices. Sometimes the act of silently watching someone you love is so much more powerful than we even notice. Through this I want to show that act of observation, or more accurately, love.

[beckugo]

Way Through Life - Redo Undo

18"x24"

Spackle and spray paint on a wooden canvas

For this project, I wanted to go into the more structural aspect of what I believe my thesis is to be. My dojo was built by the people who train there, from the floor, to the shelves, the spackle on the walls, the mirrors, and the random benches they stained years ago. It is our way of life to create and preserve that world, and I believe this shows that. The use of spackle is an homage to how we had to build and repair many things in the building, and the colors are similar to that of what we use in the dojo. Left to right, the push and pull of life, and the passage of time, I believe are all portrayed in this piece.

[beckugo]

WIP thesis, almost finished

Video in progress. Still needs captions, more footage for overlaying video, and some cleaning up. About 40 hours into editing, the video is currently 35 minutes long with 4 interviews.

I might be adding another, but I'm not sure if my sensei will say yes.

WIP video is just first 4 minutes in what I believe is the finished version of that portion (could be edited still) and I'm missing the title card at the beginning

Painting in progress along with idea for painting. Needs to be cut down in either side but that will be done in gallery space

Not included in progress pics:

I have a TV monitor, wall mount, and USB for the video. Everything is ready for install day, just need to finish the actual work.

[beckugo]

WIP for thesis

Stills for the video, plus a digital sketch of what the background canvas will look like. Canvas WIP.

List of need to do:

Take video of each individual training, then hanging out afterwards to show the tight nature of the dojo.

Still need to interview 2-3 more people.

Cut, and finish painting. Shouldn't take longer than a weekend to complete since it's so simple.

Have extra footage of outdoors and other subjects for filler video.

Add subtitles.

[beckugo]

Quote:

The weapon of revenge is selection. Rejection, according to the classic scenario, feeds the artists masochism, sense of injustice, and rage. Enough energy is generated to allow both artist and audience to presume they are fulfilling their social roles. Each remains remarkably faithful to the othert conception of his role- the relationship's most powerful tie. Positive and negative projections volley back and forth in a social charade that wavers between tragedy and farce.

Comment:

I think to give so much credit to the masochism of an artist is giving the reaction of the artist too much credit. If we’re referring to the future works of an artist, I can see how that comes into account, but I don’t think it’s very important if we’re solely thinking about the roles of the two, spectator and artist. I do believe that they both inherently know what their roles should be, and how they should accurately response to works or present their works. However, to box in these responses as expected are to take away from the energy involved in responses to art.

Question:

Do you think that it’s okay to expect a certain reaction from audiences?

[beckugo]

Quote:

Comment:

Until a few months ago, I never really thought about the spectator as a part of the piece. Because my artwork has usually been sketches or animations, it didn’t matter if the viewer was close, far, engaged, or otherwise in the piece. However, when I created my thesis piece that had an interactive portion to it, where the viewer had to physically grab a headset and wear it, forcing them to pay total attention to the piece when it was on their head, did I truly take into account that power. The power to use the viewer as an extension of the piece. If you disregard the viewer as nothing but a means to show your work, it is devaluing the power you have in a room. At least for me, having the ability to have someone’s full attention is more of a statement for your piece when someone walks into a room than any type of prestigious imagery around it.

Question:

How do you personally try to use the viewer in your work?

[beckugo]

H/W Assignment #1

Satyr's in a wood with nymphs climbing in trees, 1600

I chose this piece as the one I personally enjoyed because of the energy within the piece, but also because I think the detail jammed into these older drawings is fascinating. I like to study the way they use mark making and what they use to create the individual portions of the piece. Do I think that this is able to hold up on its own in a gallery? I don't think so, but it's with a collection of sketches just like it, so as a whole it works well. It's not a big piece, rather, you need to get quite close to it to be able to really make out what it is. But I like that intimacy, the way the viewer needs to interact with the piece to fully appreciate it. It adds a sort of allure into the piece, even if it's just a landscape with some creatures. I could study these pieces for hours and they would keep my mind fully engaged.

(Missing title, I will edit it in after I get the title and name of artist)

I don't want to make it seem like I look down on traditionally minimalistic, or modern artworks, but it's hard to avoid that simplification of my taste when I constantly pick pieces that fit that mold as my examples of work that don't fit my liking. This piece reminds me a lot of ink splash artwork from Chinese or Japanese artworks, but the context by the artist is about a void, and I feel like that is kind of tired out in modern art. Artwork about the lack of something, or making fun of the idea of doing artwork of nothing has started to wear on the artistic community, at least in my eyes. These pieces, ironically, work better in the gallery space than the piece that I chose as the one I like, but only because I've seen this same idea before, just better executed. I believe it has something to do with the cheap paper used as well, maybe if it was on canvas I would be more forgiving with the art itself, because I do think at least the black mark making is pretty lovely. However, in the end, I find the idea overused and the execution lacking.

[beckugo]

Thesis ideas

Idea number one is something I've thought about making a video on for a while, and while this isn't something I want to focus on enough to make my thesis film on, I still think it's an interesting concept. Hair has been a big part of my life, especially before I figured out that I was trans. I loved having long hair as a kid, it was one of my favorite things about myself, and it gave me a sense of piece. When I started to come to terms with the fact that I was trans, I felt like I had to cut it off to be perceived correctly. While I still think that's the case, I think I've stopped caring as much. I want people to refer to me correctly, but to confine myself because of fear was dumb, and I want to represent that it's just hair. It's not the most compelling idea so I won't be using it, but I thought it was a bit interesting.

Idea two, this one is about caregivers and caring for those you love. This revolves around how I care for my abuela when my dad or my uncle can't, whether they're at work or at the hospital with my abuelo, and the concept is pretty black and white. I don't have the same responsibilities as them because they don't want me to, I don't deal with bathroom duty, diaper duty, or any hygiene in general. I'm there to watch her and feed her, and it's pretty similar to what I did when I would babysit my cousins. I feel guilty that she has to depend on other people so much, but she has no choice. The entire situation is unfortunate, and my abuela just doesn't have the best medical service to lean on since she barely has any social security or hospice privlages. All we can do is make her feel comfortable in her final years, however long that is, and this video would just be to highlight what it's like taking care of her. I don't think it has enough depth to use as my final thesis film, though.

My final idea is doing a video based on the people at my dojo. I've thought about doing this for a while, especially after the video with my dad did so well, but I have some issues with it. One, I don't know how compelling it'll be. I have a list of questions similar to that of which I asked my dad, but I don't know how well it'll work. I want this idea to be it, because I really like it and I want to use it as an excuse to be closer with the people at my dojo. However, I am still missing a main theme that I would use as a cohesive idea. Karate, self respect, regret, loss, those are all options, but I need to workshop it to come to a correct conclusion. However, even with all of these issues, I believe this one has the ability to hold the most weight emotionally with an audience, and I love seeing the reactions I get from my videos.

[beckugo]

Introduce yourself

In this piece, I feel like I was finally able to find the correct direction for myself when it came to my art. I focused on my connection with my father through the lens of trying to appreciate things, and I did so by directly creating a shrine to him. It is a multimedia triptych comprised of two acrylic paintings on canvas and a documentary video in-between. The video is 14 minutes long, and it's taught me to not be scared of going into long form video. For my thesis 2 piece, I want to go long form, maybe 30-45 minutes if possible. I've found that my video art usually works best when I delve very personal, and question those around me with simple, open ended questions. I want to learn about people around me, and these pieces work perfectly to do so.

[beckugo]

HW #2 Monday, August 28th

Q: We enter the era where works of art conceive the wall as a no-man's land on which to project their concept of the territorial imperative. And we are not far from the kind of border warfare that often Baikanizes museum group shows. There is a peculiar uneasiness in watching artworks attempting to establish territory but not place in the context of the placeless modern gallery.

C: I always understood that artwork needed to be shown by itself for the viewer to be able to appreciate it alone, but at the same time it had a sort of sterile feeling, seeing paintings equally spaced out on a white background. We need to view the work, but sometimes the void surrounding a painting takes away from it in some way. In this passage, they cover the idea of artworks demanding territory and what that does to a space. Border warfare, they call it. I wouldn't go so far as to use that kind of language, but sometimes I feel, what is the difference between seeing this piece in a sterile, modern gallery space, and on some random wall, like a doctors office? The lush environment of historical art museums add to the allure of many of the paintings they hold, and I'm afraid that this demand for space and pure voids are causing us to lose the artwork in those same voids.

Question: Should we continue the void like surroundings that paintings now have, or should we try to fit paintings into spaces that have life? And if we do that, how do we find the décor that fits the artwork?