B O O K S T A C K
I have chosen to make 3 separate book stacks with different, unconnected themes and concepts. It is my hope that by exploring three separate approaches I may learn the most about which approaches are best suited to the up-and -coming projects we will explore and expand upon in this course.
E N J O Y
JAWS Fanart (Ana Platanos, 2024)
For my first book stack I’ve chosen to create a book scape reminiscent of a beach with rolling waves. Formalistically speaking this is my best work out of the three book stacks presented because of its dynamic and creative composition. In terms of concept the book “The Old Man and the Sea” Being positioned like it’s about to be swallowed by the waves (so-to-speak) is a cheeky twist that I hope reminds you the viewer of when that sad old man died in JAWS.
The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone. (Ana Platanos, 2024)
For this bookscape the phenomenon of viewing woman as either The Maiden, The Mother, or The Crone (as per the title! Haha) found throughout literary history, religious practices and feminist theory is represented. The arrangement of the books arranged both in order of how the three figures are often referred to also serves the conceptual purpose of creating a sort of hierarchy for the trope. Both the Maiden and the Mother lean on the crone for example, however the crone peers through the shadows tucked away and unnoticed. As I battle with myself and my place in the world both in career, family and spirituality as a young woman the history of these tropes and their place in my life and every woman and non man’s life is significant and worth contemplation.
Pretentious (Ana Platanos, 2024)
To be pretentious is to act or behave in a way that expresses you think you’re important, usually more than you really are. I am a super pretentious person and actually I believe that’s the only way to be especially as an artist. I have no idea if what I make is good or why people should like it. At the same time I wholeheartedly believe they should! I like myself, I like my art and I will never apologize for thinking that what I have to share with the world is worth sharing. In order to create both art and connections within art I believe you have to do what every artist in my bookshelf of artist biographies has done, place worth on yourself, your art and the artists of previous and contemporary. In this piece I have created both a book stack and an altar dedicated to these individuals, my own principles and my own goals
S P E E D B U M P
In this piece, I juxtapose natural spaces with the industrial motif and soundscapes. For example, I dressed someone up as a speed bump, placed them in the arboretum, and overlayed them with traffic sounds. What interested me about this relationship between traffic and nature was the way both scenarios tend to call one to slow down: in the case of nature for reflection and tranquility, in the case of traffic to get to work, your baby cousin won’t stop kicking your seat, and you need to pee.
The performer in this work sits on the ground, vulnerable to the elements (except not really safety precautions were taken) much like those who live between the bounds of the natural and industrial world: unhoused individuals. Growing up experiencing bouts of homelessness and coming out of poverty in my hometown of London Ontario the natural world was a fairly foreign landscape to me, strangely we never had the luxury to camp yet we spent a lot of time in tents eating beans. in some ways this is also an exploration of city materials in natural spaces much like the reverse that many unhoused individuals experience.
T O R O N T O A R T B I A N N U A L 2 0 2 4
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17RLyG9aZ62DCKqk8oLVsrir4ztfOWO9y2R3fdu102TM/edit
(My Images^)
I really enjoyed my time at the Toronto Art Biannual! It seemed that the general themes of sound, migration and solace led to a strong relationship with indigenous artists globally. Work of this realm particularly intrigued me. Works such as Raven Chacon’s 3 video sound work, Elina Waage’s sound rocks coupled with string and especially Maria Hupfield’s sound suit work all particularly spoke to me. Whether it be the joyful tinkle of a Jingle Dress, the warm and soothing inhales of throat singing or the appreciation indigenous individuals place on the sounds of the natural world and our local environments, these works have the ability to capture universal experiences of the natural world, family and human connection with the specific experiences of indigenous ceremony, practices and celebration. Although pieces such as Neryeda Lopez’s work encapsulating the torture of colonization are important and relevant to todays socio-political climate, works centering Indigenous joy are something I find as a woman of Indigenous Latina Descent to be lacking appreciation and attention in the conversation of decolonization and Indigenous power and so it was nice to see an emphasis on varying narratives surrounding these experiences. By far my favourite piece that I found reminiscent of both of these themes was Angelica Serech’s large woven piece. The maps narrative migration from Guatemala across Central America to the US and Canada included both themes of the denigrative view privileged individuals may have of immigrants and the Latine Joy the artist found in their community. Stories of colonization told through unwoven lines, places of geography interpreted through flags of both literal and figurative placement, and the story of a resilient community with figures holding hands as a central focus illuminate a complex and nuanced narrative of immigrant migration in a way that is both heart wrenching, uplifting and honest.
M A I R A K A L M A N
Listening to the Maira Kalman podcast and flipping through the pages of her books I am filled with that great-art-I-wish-I-made-this feeling. Maira Kalman is an artist whose focus is so tender, so seeping with love for elements of the mundane every day while simultaneously being so rich and full of life’s many miracles. I am constantly stressed about school, the kind of career I’m going to have, and ultimately my art practice. Where art will take me and what it means to be an artist at this point in my career is a scary confusing thing. Every two weeks I convince myself it isn’t enough and that I’ll need a business degree or a master’s or to be reborn as a Kennedy or I won’t be happy. Maria Kalman is living my dream; as she puts it, it’s a lot more boring than I’d imagine! I guess what I mean to say is even as a renowned artist who spends her days at a studio doing something as glamorous as making art it is amazing and comforting to me that Kalman describes small rituals like going on daily walks with friends as her purpose in life. Listening to this podcast leaves me with the conclusion that I should start looking at trees more often! I don’t know what I’m doing with my life but there will always be trees, coffee, friends, newspapers, the little things. Trees don’t care if you’re a doctor or an artist and I just feel more secure knowing Maria Kalman probably wouldn’t either.
Calling back to this great purpose I chose this page in Woman Holding Things as my page to focus on:
we are all destined to fail, to be faced with betrayal, pain, and misery. For women and marginalized genders, this is almost a certainty. In this book women hold mundane objects, they also hold great feelings in many complex lights. This page encapsulates much of Kalman’s artistic aspiration as she puts it herself in the aforementioned podcast “I’m always looking for things that make people feel less sad.” Gratefulness as a theme is so important but when the world feels bleak sometimes you have to rely on other senses. In this image these two women are surrounded by exactly the kind of beauty Kalman describes. There are lush trees, turning mountains, and a beautiful sunny glow, yet the women are not looking but feeling the calming aura of one another’s embrace. In a beautiful world full of many wonderful and innumerable joys the greatest gift we take for granted every day is one another.
M U L T I P L E S I D E A S
-art gallery maps with plans to steal artworks written on it.
-The words “Use it or lose it” or maybe “Art is free” written beneath?????
-calling individuals to participate and/or consider the value of the art world. (Don’t know what you’ve got til’ its gone????)
-display in gallery???? On side of gallery??? Art spaces???
L O B S T E R L I V I N G R O O M
When thumbing through the pages of the vintage Architectural Digest copies I acquired for this project, I found myself struck with a range of nuanced feelings. On one hand, as an artist and general lover of beauty, I found myself taken with the fine fabrics, detailed patterns, inscriptions, and of course the beautiful colour stories of the magazine, on the other hand, I found myself kind of depressed. in our current political climate, it is hard to imagine owning a home nevertheless owning a home as oppulent as an Architectural Digest magazine home.
To some it might seem a stretch but to me I think lobsters are a great metaphor for humanity under capitalism. When David Foster Wallace wrote the popular essay “Consider the Lobster” his commentary on the consumption of lobsters wasn’t necessarily a call towards vegetarianism. It simply questioned the torture of living creatures. In this work I am trying to look at humanity and the way we our treated by our government and I guess I’m asking the same thing. In other words if the government is going to, like lobsters, slowly torture and punish us, why not just do it in a way that’s less painful? Why not let us suffer the blunders of capitalism and fascism in beautiful colour coordinated homes? (I’m joking to be clear but I’m sure you can read between the lines.)
A G G H E I S T
It is a popular belief that Vincenzo Peruggia’s initial intentions in stealing the Mona Lisa were to demonstrate his commitment to his home country of Italy. He intended to return the artwork to their shared birthplace as a protest of the Louvre’s Parisian ownership, even though it was purchased through ethical means. (“Crime Stories in the Historical Urban Landscape: Narrating the Theft of the ‘Mona Lisa.”) Although some believe he may have also completed the act in hopes of monetary gain, this would be a hard conclusion to come to today. When attempting an art heist in our contemporary economic landscape, the intentions of the criminals performing said heist are often not purely, if at all, motivated by money. This is largely because art pieces attempting to be sold on the black market today are said to only make about 10% of the original work’s value back, and this number only grows smaller compared to the piece’s level of fame. (“Arts and Craftiness: An Economic Analysis of Art Heists.” Journal of Cultural Economics) I similarly decided to plan a heist for this assignment not with the intention of monetary gain but to raise awareness of a portrait work I believe to be very spectacular in a similar vein to the Mona Lisa. Portrait of a Lady Holding Orange Blossoms (Jeremias Schultz, c. 1770, Art Gallery of Ontario.) is a singular portrait of a woman of color in regal clothing holding an orange blossom, as the title suggests. Due to the rarity of such subject matter during the times of Trans-Atlantic slavery, curators at The Art Gallery of Ontario have invested a generous amount of time into uncovering and analyzing the piece. Due to my admiration of the work and my belief that more people should know about and appreciate its history, in this work, I am threatening to steal the painting as a political and promotional stunt.
I chose to display this work in the Bathroom of Ed Video Media Arts Centre as well as in a gallery setting as portrayed in the documentation above. The work may be displayed in galleries standalone as the subversion of artwork calling to steal other artworks is humorous and meaningful enough on its own however I also like the idea of posting them in bathroom stalls it lends to a more approachable amusing reading of the work. (The bathroom is a funny place to think about art crime.)
S K E T C H B O O K W O R K
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qmdW4gvSg7BkSKvXnPRXisr3VahhZkU2HTzCIIZHI3U/edit?usp=sharing
It was wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too hard in add all the images individually. this has been so confusing. here are all the pages of my sketchbook that are relevant^^^ they apply to all assignments.
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