Haley McCall

ARTIST STATEMENT

I begin as a photographer, and I use modern materials to create portraits of young women that resemble the aesthetic characteristics of earlier photography techniques such as the daguerreotype and cyanotype. I experimented with a variety of photography and printmaking techniques before finding a method suitable to the style and tactility I desired in my imagery that also mimicked the qualities and character of antique photographs and techniques. The preparation, inking of the plate, and printing on the press allow me to apply my interest for crafting and construction as I continue to explore new materials and techniques. Additionally, I create a modern version of the daguerreotype case to protect and conceal the portraits until the viewer chooses to interact with the captivating stares my subjects reveal. The small, dark environment in which my works are displayed allows me to showcase the importance of light when creating and viewing the mysterious portraits I present.

Thesis: Unveiling Gazes

Through a portrait study of family and friends, I have created a series of images exhibiting the innate, mysterious, and serious gazes young women possess. In general, my work is influenced by antique photography techniques, and the combination of contemporary subjects with an antique aesthetic presents the subjects in an ambiguous time period and furthers the idea that the passionate quality young women share is timeless.

Portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron and Sally Mann serve as particular inspiration for my compositions. I looked at Cameron’s close-up compositions of children and young women for their soft, mystical feel. Mann’s mysterious and haunting portraits in the “What Remains” series share the same close-up style and her use of the wet-plate collodion process gives her work an ambiguous and timeless quality which I strive for in my images. I depart from both photographers by using modern materials to achieve an antique aesthetic and by keeping my images small to encourage a very personal and engaging visual exploration.

My compositions are captured on photopolymer printmaking plates and portraits are printed on paper with chine collé. After printing, the etched plates are transformed into tangible, hand-held portraits by being treated with ink and then placed behind glass. The printed images resemble old photographs, whereas the treated plates simulate daguerreotypes.

My fascination with antique imagery refers to the nature of early portraiture. Early portraits were taken with view cameras, which required the sitter to remain very still for the full exposure time. Smiling would blur the image. As a result, daguerreotype portraits reveal very somber sitters, leaving the viewer very perplexed as to the nature of the subject and his or her disposition. In “Unveiling Gazes” I apply the characteristics and criticisms of earlier photography to a contemporary subject. By presenting my subjects in a somber manner, I am allowing each girl to reveal more of her true, intense character that is often masked by exaggerated smiles in modern portraits or snapshots. The eyes of the subject, like in a daguerreotype, are an important element of my portraits, as they are one of the only outlets for the subject’s expression.

I also place particular focus on the way each work is presented. Plastic cases cast from molds serve as modern versions of hinged leather daguerreotype cases and conceal and protect the treated plates. It is important to keep my works contained in an intimate, controlled environment to maintain their precious integrity. By displaying my portraits in a small, dark space with limited lighting, I showcase how light plays an important role in the creation and viewing of photographs.

I explore the intense and mysterious attitude that emanates from a young woman as I promote the preciousness and mystery that began with early photographic portraits and their corresponding processes. Ultimately my goal is to provide an interactive viewing experience, offering my audience an intense encounter with the portraits of young women and their accompanying and perplexing gazes.

Anne Hazel

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a video artist my main objectives are to communicate narratives and personal experiences by creating abstract and metaphorical methods of representation. These methods of representation vary from multi-channel work to a collage of abstract forms created in postproduction. Apart from creating time-based pieces, working in video allows me to achieve visual aesthetics and formations that I am not able to communicate well by hand with media such as painting, drawing, or sculpture. In a sense, video as a means of expression allows me to be working as an artist.

I have a strong interest in storytelling, mostly derived from real people and real situations. If I have a specific theme in mind, I will try to find someone who has a personal experience that relates to a theme, or, sometimes the person appears first, and his or her story provokes the piece. Language is another major topic that I find myself incorporating in many works, and speaking Spanish gives me the opportunity to bring international stories to a public that may not have this type of contact, or even concern.

A director whose work has inspired me to pursue video, film, and video art is Michel Gondry, who has directed several music videos of the White Stripes, Björk, The Chemical Brothers, and more, and also films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. His pieces push the capabilities of video and technology while maintaining a strong sense of narrative and drama, a technique I would like to push further in my own work.

THESIS: EXTENDED COMPLETION

My current thesis is a visual discussion of the consequences and implications when actions are interrupted, blocked, or transformed. With multi-channel video projection this body of work feeds off the empty space between the two video screens, suggesting a barrier that blocks the completion of an action, or a space for unseen transformation. The themes of the various video pieces all incorporate a personal and/or universal aspect of frustration, ranging from apathy, miscommunication, intellectual frustration, and physical exhaustion.

The idea behind each piece starts with a personal sentiment, whether positive or negative. Expanding this sentiment into broader topics helps me to incorporate a variety of elements that go beyond my personal experience, however the original experience is the drive and the force behind my work. Several pieces stem from a feeling of frustration, and so the inability for certain repetitive actions to cross the barrier between the screens communicates this struggle. Time plays a major role in the construction of each piece, especially with the pieces that purposely try to irritate the viewer since the action never seems to complete itself. The pieces that incorporate more universal themes, such as translation loss, miscommunication, and apathy, are more heavily dependent on the transformation of material between the screen to convey a change in value or status.

The objective of the body of work as a whole is to create a tension across the space between the video screens, while at the same time to connect the screens as a unified work. This tension functions to convey and to communicate everyday struggles, both personal and universal, while exploiting video as a time-based and conceptually malleable medium. Stylistically I enjoy experimenting with the capabilities of video technologically, and while “Extended Completion” does not incorporate many special effects, the positioning, placement, and relation between the screens creates a new means to transform. This transformation of actions and materials is the foundation to communicate various processes, completed or not, and the emotions attached.

Alicia McCarty

ARTIST STATEMENT

In my work I explore various techniques in experimenting with painting the human form. I find the human form to be one of the most natural subjects to depict and feel I am able to best communicate my ideas through figurative work and portraiture.

My medium is oil paint as it can be used to create a more realistic skin tone and texture than other media I have experimented with. My use of oil paint allows me to produce the most lifelike work and permits me to apply multiple glazes and layers to add some depth. Solid-colored backgrounds have the most appeal to me as I like the focus to be more on the figure than the background detail. I surround the figure in bright colors to make the form seem to pop out of the composition and provide a greater contrast to the soft and detailed rendering of the figure.

My influences are often more classically inspired works such as those of the Renaissance by great artists such as Titian and Botticelli; however, I am also inspired by contemporary themes such as censorship.

thesis: Indecent Exposure

In this current body of work I focus on the nude female figure in my representational oil paintings to draw attention to the aesthetics of the form and social connotations of the nude. I find inspiration for my work through the roles of the female nude in contemporary culture and focus on their censorship and perceived sexuality. I treat the subject matter in my paintings in the same way that nude photographs are censored in magazines or on television by eliminating or blurring parts that are often considered “indecent” in the media.

I gravitate towards painting the figure in poses that add interest to the form and display the beauty of the female form. I also use canvas shape and size in unique ways to expand the limitations set by a uniform approach. The compositional elements of my paintings are done to further emphasize my intent. The formal poses I often depict, as well as the simple backgrounds, are used to emphasize some of the artificiality of the perception of the female nude. The flattening background contributes to the idea that many of these women are being viewed in a generally shallow manner.

Both past and contemporary artists influence me in my work. I generally look to other artists who work with the human form and find endless inspiration in the way they depict their subjects. I am moved by Diego Velázquez’s dramatic and realistic portrayals of the female form as well as by Edouard Manet’s smooth renderings of vivid nudes such as his “Olympia.” I find myself drawn to the beauty of these more ideally rendered female forms and often approach my current work with the same aesthetic.

In addition to these well-known artists, I find inspiration from modern painters who focus on nudes. These artists include Lucien Freud, Eric Fischl, and John Currin. Their different approach to their subjects has helped to expand my ideas on how the human figure can be portrayed. I am especially interested in Currin’s work and how he portrays provocative sexual and social issues through his satirical figure paintings. His technical skills are evident in the female figures he typically paints. I use this smooth, technical style in my work although I usually focus more on the ideal female form rather than the exaggerated figures seen in Currin’s paintings.

My work addresses the female nude figure and its relation to popular culture. I specifically focus on ideas of censorship and how the nude is so often eroticized. The goal of my thesis is to question the role of the female nude in contemporary popular culture by censoring certain areas of the body.

Rafiya Naim

ARTIST STATEMENT

For a long time my work has involved the creation of narrative images based on my collection of visual information. The collected images contain nuances which represent my identity and presence in this world, not only as a female but also as a multi-cultural individual. My work is constructed from all types of imagery, from newspapers, magazines, and images, to photographs taken by myself. These materials are directly from countries I have visited, places I have lived, and from Pakistan where I grew up. Working with materials that represent elements of culture and society, I have pieced together narratives. These narratives discuss relationships between the imagery juxtaposed within the artwork. Creating a dialogue of questions and answers within the work, expresses my social commentary. A commentary addresses my interest and exploration in the similarities and differences shared between cultures.

thesis: Washed Up

Delving into my collection of Pakistani imagery and reflecting my personal view and identification within Pakistani society, I construct collage-based images through digital technology. This visual information is from my collection of imagery accumulated while growing up in Karachi, Pakistan. This includes fashion magazines that fed my desire of how one should act, dress, and look. Photographs of dilapidated boats, taken while I explored a sandbar off the Karachi coast, drew me in with their quiet desolation; and overwhelmed me with how many boats there were. Images of flowery Urdu script are from newspapers filled with news, good and bad, which influenced my day-to-day mood. All of these elements I have fragmented and merged together to portray my view of influencing cultural moments of Pakistan.

The title suggests an explanation of how and why specific visual information work was utilized in my current work. Waves of information and experiences are constantly rolling into my life, one after the other. Now and then these waves wash up images that embody an important influence in my life, which I picked up and added to my collection of moments. After years of picking up and adding, I decided to rummage through them and explore their relationships with each other and what they mean to me. In the fall of 2007, using these moments cut from fashion magazines, newspapers and photographs, I digitally created seamlessly merged together prints which explore opacity, scale, and color. Narratives involving distinct themes directly related to me are explored throughout my body of work, and these themes societal expectations, media, and dilapidation are seen through my eyes. Within the prints conflicting themes draw a wide range of connotations, from submissive ornately-clad models, to rotting boats, flowery calligraphy, and looted factory photographs.

Allusions to society expectations can be seen in the extractions of women from fashion magazines. Cropped images, which exemplify the submissive and ornate demeanor that all females should strive to be, are seen in the gestures of the Pakistani fashion models, numerous jewels, and glorious gold that make up the digital collages. A contrasting element to this female presence within the collages is brought forth with the images of littered and dilapidated boats placed alongside these glossy commercial images. The boats images are real-life photographs which I have taken off the coast of Karachi. These boats were once utilized and now lay rotting away on a sandbar, confiscated, forgotten, and functionless. These internal struggles can be seen in the empty vessels strewn with litter.

Like these littered boats I also have included some pictures from my stay in Karachi during the winter of 2007. During my month stay, Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and candidate for the upcoming elections, was assassinated December 27, 2007. The reactions to this traumatic event were unimaginable. These pictures of destruction were taken while I rummaged through a cigarette factory which had been attacked and demolished by hundreds of looters. This idea of brokenness and ravaged devastation is demonstrated by these powerful images. Pictures of Urdu newspapers bring all these themes together through its content and movement of calligraphy. The content speaks of events occurring, whether good or bad, and the presence of the flowery script mimics the lines seen in all the images utilized within the collages. Their organic and structured form can be connected to any image or theme highlighted.

The complexity of these themes together or alone can be seen through the layering and density of images in the body of work. The fragmentation and layering of the image content hopefully portrays the complex, intertwined, tense, and varied nuances that I have created with my collection of Pakistani moments.

Natsumi Oba

ARTIST STATEMENT

Architecture embodies both beauty and functionality. So does the human body. This relationship informs my work. I work primarily in the medium of etching. The process of printmaking, like the design of the human body and of architecture, incorporates myriad details to capture the image yet we are aware of the underlying structure that holds it all together.

Human bodies and architecture are both so common in daily life that we tend to pay little attention to their complexities and commonalities. A body is designed to function as a whole — to eat, to walk, to talk. . . to live — and building is designed to function as a shelter.

Architects and philosophers, such as Vitruvius, have claimed, however, that both are forms of art. Throughout my artistic studies, I have been striving to connect the concepts of architecture, the human body, and printmaking.

THESIS: ARE YOU THERE?

In my thesis, “are you there?,” I am addressing the ways of perceiving the space. I use the two-dimensional media of printmaking and drawing to study substance, existence, or non-existence of three-dimensional space.

What is space, anyway? Four walls surround you, but do they create the space? Or can it be as simple as three lines on a two-dimensional surface as they form the illusion of a three-dimensional object? A room creates a space. A little boy creates his own space just by lining blocks around himself. An artist produces an installation and this three-dimensional object creates a space in which a viewer can be and experience. Is it only a space if somebody exists there? Is space nothing more than a concept?

Space defines our individual bodies and our bodies define the space. Our bodies are bound by skin. The skin hides our inner ingredients of bones, muscles, blood, and organs, creating a hidden world that seems complete in and of itself, independent of its surroundings. However, each moment we are entirely dependent upon our surroundings to even distinguish our independent self. Architecture can therefore be a medium through which we dissolve the boundary between our body and our environment, self and other, within and without.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, in his paintings, depicts interior architecture that looks as if somebody is meant to be there, but missing. My works are about exploring this feeling and wonder that arise in the viewers once they are in front of an image of a “space.” The acid drips, in my prints, that form organic shape behind the structural image adds the sense of space on the two-dimensional image.

Viewing an empty space, or an image of the empty space, we can easily imagine human presence within it. Wondering why a person was there, what happened before and after, how the person felt while in the room. . . , we actually put our subconscious, dreams and wonder into action and play to recreate the scene and, unintentionally, create a reflection of our own self. Space becomes the mirror, inner state becomes the reflection and the body is still the same viewer whose boundary within the space is altered.

Overall I examine the space by questioning its definition. With abstract lines and forms, I layer another form of space on top of existing image. By layering multiple ways of depicting of space, I call attention to the complexity of our understanding of space itself.

Kimberly Wirt

ARTIST STATEMENT

My art develops from the deconstruction of form and concept, created mostly through manipulation of shape and color. By breaking down an image into its individual parts, the final work focuses on otherwise indistinct elements while simultaneously embodying the essence of the original image. I gain influence from artists Richard Diebenkorn and Hans Hofmann, who use vivid and divided color to deconstruct form. Diebenkorn’s colorful, geometric style of land- and seascape paintings breaks down the image into its smallest components; Hofmann similarly deconstructs space and color to recreate specific parts of an image.

Much of my previous work employed painting and printmaking methods, combined with experimentation with new media, materials, and techniques. This methodology allows me, as an artist, to expand my knowledge of different techniques. More recent art combines this experimentation with exploration of socio-cultural issues not previously addressed in my work — specifically, the recurring problems faced by poor and minority individuals in my hometown, Richmond, Virginia.

THESIS: THE DOWNTOWN PLAN: GENTRIFICATION OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND

Construction throughout Richmond over recent years has resulted in the gentrification of many historically minority areas into middle class developments. My current body of work addresses this ongoing gentrification and the individuals most affected by it. This work aims to increase public awareness of socio-cultural issues in Richmond, while bringing art to minority communities — ultimately establishing grounds for dialogue between citizens of Richmond.

My thesis derives almost entirely from experimentation with digital photography. Using the digital images I have taken from around Downtown Richmond provides accurate depiction of the present state of the developments addressed in my art. I have also experimented with a combination of digital layering techniques and physical layers of Mylar. Together, these layers represent a transitioning city, as largely minority neighborhoods are gentrified into middle class developments.

The series “Eminent Domain” addresses construction occurring in Richmond, expanding into poor and primarily African American neighborhoods. The repetition of the photographs stresses the ongoing construction and gentrification of Richmond. The Mylar overlays and cutouts represent the addition and subtraction of new and old buildings through the implementation of the “Downtown Master Plan.”

The series “Gilpin Court” addresses the imminent removal of Gilpin Court, a primarily African American subsidized housing project in the heart of downtown Richmond. These images are printed directly on Mylar, highlighting the translucency of the developments in the city and the uncertainty of this neighborhood’s future. Signs and structures are cut out of these images, symbolizing the gentrification and slow removal of the development. Newspaper cutouts from The Richmond Defender, a local activist paper that recently reported on the destruction of Gilpin Court, were printed on Mylar and included behind the photographs.

My thesis shares a common theme with my previous works. Whereas earlier paintings loosely revolve around the concept of deconstruction without a specific purpose, recent works more directly address recurring problems faced by poor and minority individuals in Richmond. Similar issues can be found in artist Julie Mehretu’s work, whose multiethnic background inspires her creation of chaotic works that are based on the experimentation with layers of Mylar, media, and current issues of our changing world.

As a native of Richmond, my works address the city’s ongoing neglect of its poor and minority citizens; as an artist, my works demonstrate the power of art to increase community awareness of the different layers of socio-cultural concerns in the area. My art aims to establish grounds for intellectual, intercultural dialogue between residents of the City of Richmond, regardless of race or social status. It is the discourse that follows the viewing of my thesis that ultimately determines the success of my work.