PROJECT TITLE:
One is lonely. Two is company. Three's a crowd. And four?: Identity, Liminality, Materiality and the Fourth Wheel.
DESCRIPTION (max. 600 words):
Artists create works of art and the persona creating the artwork.
Beginning with this statement as the premise of my research I disrupt the triangular relationship between artist-artwork-spectator proposed by Richard Wollheim in 1983 through the introduction of a ‘fourth wheel’: the creating-persona. While the creating-persona and the artist in this relationship are physically the same, and the artist is the one making the objects or serving as a conduit for the production of the artwork, the persona responsible for the creation of the artwork possesses an identity different from the artist’s own. The extent to which these identities are in any way separate varies depending upon the degree to which the persona has been formed by the artist. From a simple nom de plume to a full-grown heteronym the complexity grows, impacting the artwork and this quadrangular relationship.
I propose to examine how artworks created through an alternate identity are impacted by questions pertaining to identity, liminality and materiality which arise within this four-cornered relationship. I will also address through these same questions how work created by an alternate identity impacts work created through an artist’s primary identity. The core of my research will be supported by my inception of a number of different creating-personas, each of whom will create artworks in parallel to work I create in my own painting-and-writing-based studio practice. Both myself, the artist, and my heteronyms, will explore the impact of the questions in and through the work we create. Additional layers surrounding my practice-led research will include qualitative case studies in historical and contemporary works by visual artists, writers and icons of popular culture relevant to their creation and use of alternate identities and personas; and studies of conceptsfrom the fields of philosophy, psychology, sociology, literary, visual arts and performance art theory & criticism relevant to the questions of identity, liminality and materiality arising from my research. This will include addressing identity as a constructed relationship; the relevance of liminality as the space of betweenness or the threshold upon which identity is formed when internal and external elements meet, mingle and manifest themselves in relationship to each other; and materiality in regard to choices made by the creating-persona and the artist of materials and methods to underscore the identity of the artwork as a tactile object and impart intentional understanding of liminality and identity through the object.
We are living in a time that not only houses but nurtures broad approaches to the exploration and understanding of identity, recognizes the liminal spaces in which we exist, and confirms the continuous value of the material object during this age dominated by rapid growth of the virtual world. The questions I am addressing in and through my research will provide a solid foundation for further questioning and contextualization of the relationship between artworks and the makers and spectators who engage with them. Like an Everlasting Gobstopper envisioned by Roald Dahl, my research and its themes of identity, liminality and materiality consists of endless, hard layers of varying colors and flavors surrounding a center potentially filled with answers. Reaching the center is not what this is about. There will be no biting into or smashing through the layers; it will be a slow, pleasurable process of experiencing and savoring the melting of those different colors and flavors in the mouth to create an image in the mind, not of what is at the core of the relationship but rather to spark a vision of the potential contained at the nub of this sweet treat we call art.
RESEARCH QUESTION[S]:
1. How does the addition of a fourth entity, a creating-persona, into the relationship formed by artist-object-spectator as defined by Richard Wollheim [1983] impact the nature of this now quadrangular relationship in terms of the identity of each party within the relationship, the liminal space in which this relationship occurs, and the communication of intention through the object’s materiality?
2. Is it possible to expand from a triangular to a quadrangular relationship within a non-liminal space, or is the nature of this relationship such it can only occur on a threshold due to the role of identity within it?
3. Is the addition of a creating-persona feasible to maintaining the identity of the artwork as an object, ie. painting or sculpture; thus preserving the role of materiality in communication of intention? Or, does this construct only function with artworks with a non-material identity, such as conceptual works, texts [literary works], performance [theater, dance, performance art] and new media-based artworks [film, video, digital Media]?
4. How is the identity of the creating-persona differentiated from that of the artist producing both the persona and fabricating the object on behalf of that persona within the artwork? How is this relevant to the materiality of the object? How is this relevant through the artwork to the spectators' understanding of the liminality of the space he or she co-occupies with the object, with the creating-persona and with the artist.
METHODS:
i. in the studio
My research begins with the creation of personas through written and pictorial experimentations. My writing methods will include: short character biographies progressing to autobiographical texts, memoirs, poetry, prose, correspondences and social media postings. The last two will be generated from the personas’ personal email and social media accounts. Pictorial experimentations in character development using a variety of 2D media will serve to: 1. aide in developing physical identities and presence for the personas; 2. begin making and writing by the creating- personas. The experimentation will include external input via the qualitative case studies and concepts from other fields of study relevant to the research questions; this input will feed back into artworks produced by myself and the creating-personas in the studio. The experimentation process will be documented by photos, digital scans and journal/blog postings.
The next step in the studio will be active collaboration between myself and creating-personas through co-creation of objects and texts. We will document the process of our collaborative endeavors through photos and journal/blog writings attributed to either of us individually or together. To the works and documentation resulting from our collaborations we will apply an experiential methodology to analyze and discuss the relevance of our separate identities, the liminal space of our interactions, and the choices in material and making-methods (where applicable) within the scope of the research questions, and will be posted to our blogs.
After this period of collaboration I will separate myself, the artist, from the creating-personas so that we are no longer creating works in collaboration or individually in a shared, physical space [place]; although I will serve as the physical conduit, the hand and body, through which the personas create. I will attempt this through implementing knowledge acquired of acting methods learned through case studies and research in the field of theater studies. My experience and the experience of the creating-persona in these instances will be documented in videos, photos, and journal/blog writings. During this period I will continue my own creative practice in my home-studio; using the same methods of documentation. To the documentation and work we will again apply an experiential methodology to analyze and discuss the relevance of our separate identities, separation of the physical space [place] relevant to the liminal space, and the choices in material and making-methods (where applicable) within the scope of the research questions.
The final step in these studio based methods will be to revisit the art pedagogical practice of learning through copying. The act of copying will only be applied to physical objects created by either myself or a creating-persona. Each of us will copy works by the others; this will be documented in videos, photos and writing which we will analyze and discuss in the same manner as the previous steps.
ii. written exegesis/dissertation
Writing is a well integrated part of my studio practice and a large amount of text will be generated by both myself and the creating-personas in the course of this research project. In addition to creative writings, written documentation, and the analysis and discussion of work produced in each step of the process there will be a significant amount of writing related to the case studies and research on theories from other fields of study. These last two might appear to be separate from the practice-led research the creating-persona and I will undertake in the studio, however it is my [intention with this project is to integrate them fully into our ‘in the studio methods’.
Therefore the information and knowledge obtained through the case studies and other theory-based research will appear as content within the writing generated in the studio; in the creative writing, in the journal/blog postings and documentation, in the analysis and discussion of each step undertaken. This information and knowledge will be reflected and commented on not only by myself, but also by the creating-personas; each of us processing the knowledge and information relevant to our own practices and identities, and to the research questions asked in this project.
I envision this writing coming together in the form of a book; a catalogue to accompany a joint exhibition of my work and the work of the creating-personas. This book will serve not only as the written dissertation, it will be an artwork, an object of the project, created by the artist and creating-personas to be engaged with by the spectator. I will serve as editor of the book, bringing together the separate writings generated throughout the process, adding commentary-text, of an academic nature where needed, to tie the work together.
BIBLIOGRAPHY (LIST) OF ARTISTS, ARTWORKS, TEXTS:
ARTISTS
Eleanor Antin, Suzy Lake, Martha Wilson, Julie Mehretu, Rubens Ghenov, Louise Bourgeois, Elina Brotherus, Polixeni Papapetrou, Cindy Sherman, Olivier Castel/Louise Weiss, Guerilla Girls, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Walt Whitman, Robert Musil, Fernando Pessoa, David Bowie, Joseph Beuys, Ern Malley, JT LeRoy/Laura Albert.
ARTWORKS
Winesburg, Ohio; Eleanor Antin's "selves"; A Painter of Our Time; A Year with Swollen Appendices; Rrose Sélavy & Co.; Andy Warhol's Self portraits and his cast of characters; Marcel Duchamp’s self portraits; Michael Jackson’s plastic surgery; the many ages of Elvis; Norma Jeane/Marilyn; Song of myself; Kaprow’s Happenings; A Giacometti Portrait; Olivier Castel’s blog; Spoon River Anthology; Louise Bourgeois’ insomnia drawings; Marilyn Monroe’s writings; Die Verwirrungen Des Zöglings Törleß; Der Mann Ohne Eigenschaften; Musil’s poetry; Pessoa’s poetry; The Book of Disquiet; The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis; Desperately Seeking Susan; Intentionalities-Rosmarie Waldrop; Artists at Work, Artist and Her Model, Wrong Face, Howl- Elina Brotherus; Lost Psyche, It’s all about me, Searching for Marilyn- Polixeni Papapetrou; Cindy Sherman’s most recent series of portraits and series based on historical Paintings; Accoutrements in Marwa, an Interlude in Silver- Rubens Ghenov; Liminal Squared-Julie Mehretu
TEXTS
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Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio. New York: Viking, 1960. Print.
Antin, Eleanor, Huey Copeland, Malik Gaines, Alexandro Segade, Henry Sayre M., and Emily Liebert. Multiple Occupancy: Eleanor Antin's "selves" New York: Wallach Art Gallery, 2013. Print.
Aviv, Rachel. "Captain of Her Soul: The Prolific Philosopher Martha Nussbaum." New Yorker 25 July 2016: 34-43. Print.
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Baumann, Gerhart. Robert Musil: Ein Entwurf. Bern: Francke, 1981. Print.
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Berger, John. Portraits: John Berger on Artists. London: Verso, 2015. Print.
Bloch, Ernst. The Principle of Hope. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1986. Print.
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Camus, Albert. "The Myth of Sisyphus." The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays. New York: Vintage, 1955. 119-23. Print.
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Chiang, Ted. "Unevent This: Bad Character." New Yorker 16 May 2016: 77. Print.
Chiasson, Dan. "Mind the Gap: The Poetry of Rosmarie Waldrop." New Yorker 18 Apr. 2016: 82-83. Print.
Cooks, Andrew. "Between Shadow and Memory (imagining the Garden): A Ramble through the Paradoxes of Space." Thesis. 2015.
Coplans, John, and Stuart Morgan. Provocations. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. Print.
Diski, Jenny. A View from the Bed, and Other Observations. London: Virago, 2003. Print.
Eno, Brian. A Year with Swollen Appendices. London: Faber and Faber, 1996. Print.
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SHORT DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY (max. 150 words):
Artists create works of art and the persona creating the artwork; with this premise I introduce the creating-persona to the relationship between artist-artwork-spectator [Wollheim 1983]. Physically the same as the artist, the creating-persona possesses a separate identity; the artist is the conduit for the production of the artwork created by the persona. Extent of separation varies; from a simple nom de plume to a full-grown heteronym complexity grows, impacting artwork and this now quadrangular relationship. Through the creation of personas, collaboration in my/our studio practices, and work created separately I will examine how this additional entity impacts identity, liminality, materiality in the four points of this relationship. Exploration of multifaceted identity, liminality in our existence, and continuous value of the material object drive my research as I seek to provide a solid foundation for further questioning and contextualization of the relationship between artworks, makers and spectators.