Marjan’s Work

WEEK 1

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Sol Le Witt’s work captures the idea that “conceptual art was a way of working around the power structures of the art world.” In the traditional art world many people believe the artist has to create the work. However, Sol Le Witt would create the idea and the blueprint of the work and the execution would be done by the rest of his team. In this way he challenged the idea of what an artist is; the artist creates the idea. 

Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit piece highlights the idea that “the machine makes the art”. A series of event scores and instructions are published in this piece, which the viewer can then follow or not. In that sense, the book is the machine that holds the original idea that makes the art. As it passes through the reader’s mind, the work of art is slightly different depending on whether the reader follows the instructions or not. I like this piece because it is a perfect example of what Lewitt says “the idea becomes the machine that makes the art”. 

Bruce Nauman’s embodies the idea that “conceptual art is a dematerialization of art”. In his work he would often use his body as a form of sculpture, or any medium he could really find. He would play around with sound or light or colour to create humorous conceptual art pieces. Whatever he would experiment with in the studio was art, and he did not need traditional materials for viewers to identify his work as art. 

I like that his work often comments on how life is absurd. I like this light sculpture because it was different than his previous mediums and it was an idea that he was trying to figure out in his work, that the “the true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.”

Another piece by Nauman that really captures the absurd. I like this piece in particular because people can react to it in so many different ways. A dirty universal hand symbol of sex, put into a gallery. Reminds me of the start of Dadaism with Marcel Duchamp and the urinal. Technically, it is also amazing work with clay.

KM Assignment

I scrolled on instagram for exactly 1 km. Here is the video:

Back when technology and apps did not exist, we would probably be walking a lot more. At least in my case, there are days where I barely get any exercise, so it was difficult to think of an idea for this kilometre assignment. Once I started thinking about a kilometre in a conceptual way, I asked myself what is something that I do almost everyday for at-least a kilometre? Scrolling. Scrolling on Instagram, on Tiktok, on Facebook, on Reddit and more. My screen time is proof of that. The number one app that I scroll on the most according to my screen time is Instagram. I downloaded a chrome extension that displays the amount in km that I have scrolled. So, I screen recorded and went about my day as normal, scrolling away.

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WEEK 2

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This assignment is clearly an endurance piece to me. I tried to take it a step further to find one of the most uncomfortable places for myself to endure. For me, that is my studio sink. Not only is it in the basement and in a disgusting little corner, but the sink itself had to endure so much that it has rusted. I physically don’t like being there unless its to wash my brushes really quickly. So I tried to challenge myself and sit there for an hour in an uncomfortable position. At first it was very difficult but after I closed my eyes and focused on my breath for so long, I felt like a weight was lifted off me, and I wasn’t thinking about all the aspects around me that made me uncomfortable. Similar to “The Artist is Present” I felt like I was finally relaxed and present after focusing on just my breathing. The pain in my legs seemed to subside as well… that is until I got up.

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Week 3

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At first I disliked the way these pictures turned out. Why can’t I see the object clearly? It was a mix between the lighting and the dark of the night. I chose to buy two old home phones and take a picture of them falling through the air. In the first picture you can clearly see the object as it is on the ground. But after many attempts all I could see in the sky when I threw the object in the air was two small sticks of light. I imagined redoing it with a different object, but I think this is a perfect depiction of the object that I showed. I picked it because it was an object that has almost disappeared from everyone’s lives as smartphones have developed and the glare in the sky reflects that in a beautiful way.

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Video Portrait:

The first woman is a stranger. The second is my partner.

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It was quite awkward asking a stranger from work this question. For the second person, I asked my partner. I find it interesting how different their responses are in relation to how they know me. My partner is so comfortable and talks quite freely and has a longer response. The stranger only says one word, and their stance is quite different.

Face Mask #1. Plastic Drop Sheet. Transforms my face somewhat into an older woman with wrinkles…

Face Mask #2. Chives in mouth. Interesting how looking up changes the image in an interesting and somewhat sexual way…

Face Mask #3 Chives in mouth and nose, somewhat make me look like an older man with a beard…

The goal for my facemasks was to not only create a conceptual face mask, but I wanted it to transferm my face into something else that was recognizable. I went through many different shots of the first face mask with the transparent sheet, trying to get the write angle to create the vision that I had.

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Week 7/8

For my button assignment, I started with my face mask pictures. I then realized that once I transferred those pictures to the button, the shape of the button made it look like the figures were trapped. Especially in the face mask with the sheet cover. I then chose some figures and artwork to try and create the same effect.

Audio Piece: Studio Ritual

For my audio piece I edited several sounds from my painting studio. I tried to capture the order in which they appeared one after the other. The ritual that I go through before beginning to paint, and the sounds that I can’t avoid, such as the water running when I fill up the paint brush jar.

Conceptual Portrait: My Obsessive and Compulsive Mind on Auto pilot

This is my most vulnerable piece. I recently found out and was diagnosed with OCD last year. I also figured out last year that I sleep talk, after my partner discovered it when we met. Being a psychology student, I was fascinated by both these things and it really put things into perspective for me. The misunderstandings about OCD is why I never realized why my thoughts work in the way they do. They get stuck in a loop going through the same phrases and movements to get an intrusive thought out of my head. These loops can happen for a couple minutes per a thought. At certain points in my life they would be more frequent, to the point where my head would feel heavy every day, as I would have to – almost automatically – complete these rituals over and over again while continuing with my daily tasks. These rituals, the subconscious and my unconscious mind is what I tried to put together in the video. The sound is from recordings of myself sleep talking taken by my partner.