Unfinished

Thinking about why I work in the method I work in, I think it has very much to do with the fact that I am indecisive and self-conscious about the decisions I make.  Thus, works that look unfinished arise.  However, as many have said this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Actually I found an article exploring details of famous paintings that confirm that these seemingly finished paintings where in fact unfinished works.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-elkins/post_1691_b_819376.html

However, this doesn’t give me any consolation considering these artists were true masters and I am not. So, I did some exploration into unfinished art and I actually found a website dedicated to it where you can submit your unfinished work.  http://unfinishedartists.wordpress.com/

This site offers artists the chance to discard their unfinished work so that someone else can finish it. The site also follows the process of the work as it evolves.  I find this idea very interesting and I see it as centering on the philosophy of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  However, it seems as though the people who submit their unfinished works do so because they are burdened by them and want someone else to finish the job.  I understand how the work is now about process and not content, but for who? When I set something aside, I do so in hopes of one day “salvaging” the work but I never feel burdened by it.  If I did, I would just throw it in the trash.  So, I wanted to find an artist that intentionally created unfinished work to see what that looked like and if they felt burdened. In this search I found Agnes Toth, a painter, who creates unfinished paintings.  They actually look like pieces have been torn from them because the parts that are showing look complete. What is interesting about her work is that even though it looks unfinished, it really isn’t.  So, maybe unfinished work can be just as valid as finished work.

 

Erwin Olaf

I recently came across a photographer that I find especially fascinating and provocative, Erwin Olaf. http://www.erwinolaf.com/#/portfolio/

 His website has an overabundance of work on view, ranging from slightly odd to extremely strange.  His work definitely makes me ask questions, such as why do these naked people have bags on their heads and why are these people holding seemingly random objects. I really wish that his website displayed artist statements to accompany the series so that these mysteries could be solved.  On the other hand, maybe Olaf wants the viewer to create his own narrative.  I believe the viewer could definitely interpret some of these series to be a way to dispel certain stereotypes or myths, such as the series “Mature”.  This series presents the viewer with aged women in pin-up style attire and positions.  This could possibly be a dismissal of the myth that older women cannot be sexual beings any longer. However, other series of work, such as “Borek Sipek” really do need as artist statement. Nevertheless, his images portray striking characters and present interesting tableaux.   Some of his photographs have the quality of being highly manipulated and look more like illustration or painting than photography.  Perhaps some of his work has more to do with formal qualities than it does content.  Or maybe his work is supposed to be received as fashion and is not about anything.  

Fear

As I’ve been thinking about my work and my exploration of fear and fantasy, I’ve particularly been thinking about fear.  Surprisingly I could not find many photographers who use fear as a subject not in relation to war photography.  In my explorations for other artists who deal with this subject I came across Joshua Hoffine.  http://www.joshuahoffine.com  Joshua explores childhood fears, using his photographs to tell horror stories that we are all familiar with, such as the monster under the bed.  However, what I think is really interesting about his work is that he builds his sets and creates the characters before shooting.  His settings are reminiscent of film sets on horror movies.  He positions his lighting to create the perfect horror movie feel and uses no postproduction photoshop to achieve the eeriness that his photos possess.  I especially relate to the piece that displays a child finding her mother dead and eaten by insects. When I was a little girl I remember having this same fear and even having nightmares about it because mothers generally are the most important thing to a child.  

In the same way that Hoffine presents a story, I too would like to create a kind of story using fear as a subject.  However, I don’t wish to portray childhood fears or a sensation of being in a horror movie.  I want to explore real fears that I myself possess, as well as many other people, such as a fear of failure, loss, loneliness, and ridicule. Unlike Hoffine, my tableaux will be autobiographical and pieced together after the shoot.  I want to continue to create collages using my photographs as well as other mediums.  In my tableaux I also seek to create objects as symbols for certain emotions or ideas as a way to tell a story and not to scary the viewer.