{"id":22,"date":"2022-11-29T10:43:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T15:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/?p=22"},"modified":"2022-11-29T10:43:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T15:43:57","slug":"sophia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/2022\/11\/29\/sophia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Entry 1:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some notes, following a train of thought on Teju Cole\u2019s book&nbsp;<em>Golden Apple of the Sun<\/em> and Alice Zoo&#8217;s essay about it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I initially saw Teju Cole\u2019s photographs, they made me think of grief. Everything feels foreign. This un-staged photography mimics dissociation. They are sad images to me. The framing devices (or lack thereof) recontextualize these mundane objects in the same way that some drastic change in one\u2019s life can spur fresh eyes and a new appreciation for daily rituals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe Cole\u2019s images seem sad because of the previous contexts where I have seen a dirty spoon\u2014someone has just died while making soup or received bad news that has compelled them to leave the kitchen messy or is focusing on the now impossible task of cleaning in light of some tragic event or bout of mental illness. The visual language of a happy kitchen is one of order, bathed in warm light, pots cleaned or happily bubbling. Cole\u2019s photographs participate in an institutionally unfamiliar visual lexicon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"414\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/c9e2c3e2bd17e8be60d9fd8773b47830-miranda-july-cinematography.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-181\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/c9e2c3e2bd17e8be60d9fd8773b47830-miranda-july-cinematography.jpg 736w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/c9e2c3e2bd17e8be60d9fd8773b47830-miranda-july-cinematography-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>film still from The Future, 2011, Miranda July<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"848\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/Famous-Vanitas-Paintings-848x530-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/Famous-Vanitas-Paintings-848x530-1.jpg 848w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/Famous-Vanitas-Paintings-848x530-1-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/Famous-Vanitas-Paintings-848x530-1-768x480.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 848px) 100vw, 848px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>some vanitas painting<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"625\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/image.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/image.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/image-240x300.jpeg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>an ancient photo of Martha Stewart<\/em> <em>in her &#8220;happy kitchen&#8221;<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"420\" height=\"583\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/6e72d1e0c23e533aaef526e4210e2303-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/6e72d1e0c23e533aaef526e4210e2303-1.jpg 420w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/6e72d1e0c23e533aaef526e4210e2303-1-216x300.jpg 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>a very blurry Le Creuset advert<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cole\u2019s writing alongside the images is important to their interpretation\u2014a narrative forms in the webs of association. His history with food is documented at length in the back of the book of photographs. The images are contextualized through writing and I think this makes the work a lot more compelling. Or at least, easier to take seriously. But importantly, the photographs were first released online into the ever-expanding online ecosystem, the wilderness of images.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am rambling but I think that I have landed on my point of departure (to mix metaphors).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alice Zoo finishes this essay and interview by asking \u201cWhat happens to the photograph when it is freed from the imperative to be good\u2026\u201d Interestingly, at the time of this essay, \u201ccasual Instagram\u201d was trending\u2014it, as a trend, had been percolating for a couple years on \u201caesthetic\u201d and \u201ccool-girl\u201d accounts but it finally reached a point in the mainstream vernacular that it was identified in trend reports on TikTok.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-tiktok wp-block-embed-tiktok\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@akilimoree\/video\/7046967885809356037\" data-video-id=\"7046967885809356037\" data-embed-from=\"oembed\" style=\"max-width:605px; min-width:325px;\"> <section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@akilimoree\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@akilimoree?refer=embed\">@akilimoree<\/a> <p><a title=\"instagram\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/instagram?refer=embed\">#instagram<\/a> <a title=\"emmachamberlain\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/emmachamberlain?refer=embed\">#emmachamberlain<\/a> <a title=\"casualinstagram\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/casualinstagram?refer=embed\">#casualinstagram<\/a><\/p> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c original sound - akilimoree\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-7046967792994011910?refer=embed\">\u266c original sound &#8211; akilimoree<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is casual Instagram? Casual Instagram is effectively what Cole is doing in&nbsp;<em>Golden Apple of the Sun&nbsp;<\/em>but with poorer image quality: photographs that depict nothing particularly exciting but somehow are aesthetically cool or beautiful typified this moment in online life. These photographs were meant to impart an effortlessness in lifestyle\u2014that your everyday was aesthetic. Your phone could practically fall out of your hand and take a photo of your surroundings and its little lens would land on something charming, because your life was\/is charming. Casual Instagram was also (initially) a reaction to the highly staged, highly curated, high production value of the influencer\u2019s Instagram. I think this latter impulse is the driver of Cole\u2019s work. His impulse to remove layers of performativity and production from his online world is an impulse that millions of other people had at the same time and before him. They were reacting to their own online ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of this is to say in some oblique way, that Cole\u2019s images are narrative images. We exist in an image rich culture where every image that exists contributes to the network of images that existed before. Lineages of influence evolve and emerge. Pull the string and something will come from the depths of Instagram or advertising or art history. Cole\u2019s images make me think of bridal catalogues and Canadian Tire flyers and vanitas paintings, and 2000s mumble-core films about loss. I can\u2019t tell if Cole\u2019s images participate in these traditions actively. Maybe Cole&#8217;s images are more of a Rorschach test for me than anything else.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Entry 2:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A disclaimer, this journal is a wild meandering document of half understood facts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Optimism\/Sentimentality\/Sincerity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the threads that runs through many of the readings is the topic of mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another one of these threads is optimism\/sentimentality\/sincerity as an alternative approach to knowledge and research and general world outlook. I talked about this idea briefly in class the other day in relation to adrienne maree brown\u2019s interview on&nbsp;<em>On Being<\/em>&nbsp;but this is a theme that appears in many of the other readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">o\/s\/s was touched on first in our September 22<sup>nd<\/sup>&nbsp;reading,&nbsp;<em>World on Fire: How Should Art Reckon With Climate Change?<\/em>In fact, the editorial finished on a very o\/s\/s note, citing hope as the foundational concept of Nick Cage\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Organ2\/ASLP<\/em>work. How very quaint!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We move on to our September 28<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;readings and o\/s\/s ideas are invoked. Robin Wall Kimmerer asserts that her initial interest in the natural world were rooted in questions of beauty. Her work has gone on to involve an emotional connection with the landscape. She asks her students cringey questions like \u201cdoes the world\/does nature care about you\u201d, very o\/s\/s if you ask me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this same week we listen to an interview with Patricia Kashian who discusses their work in mycology. They mention o\/s\/s as these concepts relate to empirical scientific study. Scientific study is largely understood to be objective but how can it be?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now we are in October and our materials for the 19<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;both discussed resisting capitalism and \u201chustle culture\u201d through investing time in pleasurable activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jenny O\u2019Dell discusses labour movements and their slogan \u201c8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, and 8 hours for what we will\u201d. This \u201cwhat we will\u201d is later elaborated: enjoying the sun, walking through flowers, paddling a boat on a lake, writing poetry, long walks on the beach (I don\u2019t think that last one was a real example of the \u201cwhat we will category\u201d but it may as well be). These activities are incredibly o\/s\/s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">adrienne maree brown\u2019s work is rooted in o\/s\/s. Even when, in the podcast interview on On Being, she discusses the end of humanity it is in a way that manages to avoid cynicism. Her book&nbsp;<em>Pleasure Activism<\/em>&nbsp;navigates the world through beauty and joy and pleasure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Scientific Method Can Go (don\u2019t let the door hit you on the way out)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m not a scientist. However, during my undergrad, I took a class called the \u201cHistory of Philosophy and Science\u201d and it was a review of all the ways in which science took its cues from philosophy. Science is rooted in empirical data and objective perspectives\u2014this is thanks to Francis Bacon. But how can this be possible? We are an emotional species, prone to feelings of love and fear and joy and anger, how can one\u2019s research be truly objective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scientific method is deeply rooted in attributes that we would associate with masculinity. \u201cMen\u201d are rational. \u201cWomen\u201d are irrational. \u201cMen\u201d are level-headed. \u201cWomen\u201d are hysterical.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I know that hysterical has all these really serious and oppressive connotations, historically. But I am a hysterical woman! I am a shrill, hysterical, silly, stupid woman and you should all treat me with respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, the scientific method is coded masculine and the scientific method has deeply influenced artistic practice. We, as artists have to create research proposals and write theses and gather data. It\u2019s absurd.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am advocating for an INTUITIVE<em>&nbsp;<\/em>artistic method. One that is grounded in emotionality, intuition, sentimentality, beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Fear and Cynicism as Paralytic&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I talk a lot with my boyfriend, Paul, about climate activism. What is the best way to motivate people to make climate conscious choices in how they vote, how they spend their money, how they dispose of waste etc\u2026 We both wonder if fear of annihilation is motivating anyone anymore. The times where I have felt the least motivated to do anything are times when I have felt the least hope.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think living with an optimistic outlook, one where I have faith that my hypothetical children will have food to eat, and seasons to enjoy, is a future that I want to work toward and feel is achievable. Optimism and hope for a good future is practical. I won\u2019t work for something I don\u2019t believe in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Irony<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I just finished an essay by David Foster Wallace on irony,&nbsp;<em>E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction<\/em>. Though this essay is from the 90s, its concepts relating to irony in media and literature and art are completely relevant.&nbsp;&nbsp;I\u2019ll try to reduce it to its main argument: much like when photography was introduced to the world and art responded with abstraction, we saw literature respond to television with meta-fiction. But meta-fiction has not been able to grapple with irony effectively (or at least in DFW\u2019s opinion). I won\u2019t go into the minutiae of literature\u2019s attempts to grapple with irony, but what is important to understand is the pervasive trend towards irony in culture. DFW concludes this essay speculating&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe next real literary \u2018rebels\u2019 in this country might well emerge as some weird \u2018anti-rebels,\u2019 born oglers who dare to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall to actually endorse single-entendre values. Who treat old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, na\u00efve, anachronistic\u2026Accusations of sentimentality, melodrama.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Irony as hyper-object.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don\u2019t want to elaborate on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Conclusion so to speak<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have grown up STEEPED in irony. I knew \u201csay hello to my little friend\u201d before I knew where that came from. Adolescent media and internet culture in the 2000s and early 10s was a wealth of media references and ironic, tongue in cheek moments. No wonder we all needed braces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want optimism, sentimentality, sincerity. I want to be vulnerable enough to feel real embarrassment because isn\u2019t life embarrassing already and can\u2019t we just admit that we all feel embarrassed all the time?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I had an ex-boyfriend who was a punk and he was exhausting. Too cool for this, too apathetic for that. Hated Christmas. Didn\u2019t want to wear costumes at Halloween. I used to be like him but life wasn\u2019t very fun being apathetic and listening to music no one has heard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m going back to my studio now where I will be listening to the new Taylor Swift album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Entry 3:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shit Happens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adorno says that there must be pleasure in art because otherwise, why do we continue to pursue it? Why continue engaging in something unless we find it pleasurable on some level. Not everyone likes art, just like not everyone likes sex (as crazy as both ideas might seem). So when Amy says that she wanted to barf when at conferences on beauty and visual pleasure I am confronted with this thought from my friend, Adorno.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Amy is not seeking visual pleasure in art, she is nonetheless enjoying art. I enjoy many things that are not beautiful but they are pleasurable. I guess what I am trying to say here is that Amy\u2019s conflation of beauty and visual pleasure doesn\u2019t really resonate with me. Although I can appreciate that one of the big questions of the 90s was BEAUTY as outlined by my hero and sadly deceased art crush, Dave Hickey in his essay &#8220;Enter the Dragon, On the Vernacular of Beauty&#8221;. And so in this aforementioned conference on beauty and visual pleasure, the visual pleasure in question was one linked to beauty. I am writing in circles over here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beauty to me does not equal visual pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To see a litre of yogurt on the ground is immensely pleasurable to me because it is so obscene.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ANYWAY<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that I have awkwardly outlined that beauty and visual pleasure <em>can<\/em> be linked but **to me** <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">are not<\/span>, I can discuss the pleasure of awkwardness, the pleasure of discomfort, the pleasure of work. In \u201cShit Happens\u201d Sillman seems to be grappling with naming the nameless, asking herself, if I am not in pursuit of beauty, of what am I in pursuit? She concludes with awkwardness, embarrassment, just being alive and that painting and art making can encapsulate these experiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Neil Patrick Harris - BEING ALIVE from COMPANY\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RbAfu6PNDbM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>What\u2019s more awkward than a piece of Stephen Sondheim music??<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m here to say that being alive: pissing, shitting, barfing, heartbreak, tripping on your shoelace in front of your crush, spitting on your new mother in law at your wedding because you got too drunk and your retainer makes you lisp\u2026all these experiences can be pleasurable in some perverse way. There is pleasure in discomfort, and awkwardness, and I think that Sillman\u2019s paintings hint at that and I think her writing outlines this, although maybe her definition of pleasure is different from mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some work I find pleasurable in an awkward way (and unfortunately I did not take note of any work titles!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"879\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/web_hook_and_loop_2022-879x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/web_hook_and_loop_2022-879x1024.jpg 879w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/web_hook_and_loop_2022-258x300.jpg 258w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/web_hook_and_loop_2022-768x894.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/web_hook_and_loop_2022.jpg 985w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 879px) 100vw, 879px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>M E Sparks<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"781\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/rebus-small-781x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/rebus-small-781x1024.jpg 781w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/rebus-small-229x300.jpg 229w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/rebus-small-768x1007.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/rebus-small.jpg 853w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Marina Roy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/NADYA_02-1024x538.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/NADYA_02-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/NADYA_02-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/NADYA_02-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/NADYA_02.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Nadya Isabella<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"749\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/DSC1505.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/DSC1505.jpg 500w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/DSC1505-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Russna Kaur<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/274449@2x-740x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/274449@2x-740x1024.jpeg 740w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/274449@2x-217x300.jpeg 217w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/274449@2x-768x1062.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/274449@2x.jpeg 1012w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Picabia<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"478\" height=\"645\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Screen-Shot-2022-11-28-at-10.25.08-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Screen-Shot-2022-11-28-at-10.25.08-PM.png 478w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Screen-Shot-2022-11-28-at-10.25.08-PM-222x300.png 222w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 478px) 100vw, 478px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>David Shrigley<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve just realized that all these paintings are by artists whom I often think about! It&#8217;s never occurred to me to describe these paintings as awkward but they totally are and clearly it&#8217;s something that I seek out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wonder if the pleasure of these images is in their tension, in their awkwardness, in their clumsy and sometimes tasteless content and form and this <em>tension<\/em> is what I find pleasurable. Or maybe (and I think I may be on to something here) the tension is where the humour is. <br>The humour is embedded in the heavy handedness, the uncomfortable subject matter, the garish colour. The shaking line trembles with a belly laugh and a dirty joke we won&#8217;t ever say out loud. Freud&#8217;s humour is the humour that I am here referring to: the sublimation of your hidden feelings into cringey jokes. Does Freud&#8217;s humour live in awkward paintings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Entry 4:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bluets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am, perhaps simplistically, going to order my thoughts using numbers. I think it is a delightful writing convention and one that I enjoy every time I encounter it. Not to mention that I always think of tweets when I read this kind of writing, and how appropriate for Bluets. A series of thoughts from a little blue bird:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. I was reading a review of Bluets by Jocelyn Parr in Brick literary journal, trying to make sense of this filmy and meandering piece of writing when I came across this passage in discussion of the Nelson\u2019s autobiographical style:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat separates Nelson\u2019s work from \u2026 Kraus, Myles, Acker, Zambreno, and Heti is that every sentence is beautiful. Rather than attach herself to an aesthetic of ugliness in an effort to refuse the confines of what Zambreno would call the patriarchal literary establishment, Nelson transcends them: each proposition is breathtaking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. I think this is an interesting concept. I have read this idea before, from Adorno, when talking about aesthetics. I am probably misquoting but Adorno states that the viewer\u2019s affect in response to the work does not need to be negative for the work to be critical. The work can be beautiful and be critical simultaneously.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.2 First of all, this review from Parr is incorrect. With all of Nelson\u2019s discussions of sucking and fucking and assholes and pussies (oh my!) I would argue that she is <em>absolutely<\/em> engaging in ugly prose. Some of her writing about sex is extremely crass and not beautiful at all. Maybe my definition of beauty is too literal and this is not to say that I didn\u2019t appreciate this dick pussy talk. Nor to say that sex that is crass and blunt and rude is something we should shy away from. Nor even is it to say that I don\u2019t appreciate this kind of language in writing. But beautiful prose it is not.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.3 Second of all, this concept that beauty is associated with the literary, patriarchal establishment is absurd. It\u2019s like old school feminists saying that I can\u2019t dress like a whore because it appeals to men. This positions me, and all women, in opposition to or subservient to \u201cMen\u201d. Men don\u2019t own dressing like a whore and men don\u2019t own beauty. I\u2019m being simplistic here but let\u2019s just agree and move along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.3 Now for my real point. I am so interested in this idea of beauty and its associations with flakiness and unintellectuality. In my undergrad one of my art history professors said \u201cit\u2019s too bad really, that Monet\u2019s water lilies are so beautiful, because these paintings are very serious and they explore optics\u201d. Wut???? So because these paintings are beautiful, they can\u2019t be serious or scientific? Surely these qualities are not mutually exclusive?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3. I am lying on my stomach on my bed with my feet in the air, absently rubbing up against one another. I feel like a teenager in a movie.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4. I love Nelson\u2019s use of \u201cyou\u201d. It is the most painful, the most romantic, the most vulnerable. A \u201cyou\u201d that is addressed publicly puts lead in my stomach. It make me nauseous with heartache. Who is this you? Are they reading this? Who is my \u201cyou\u201d?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5. The letter that is public, and private all at once. The privacy of the \u201cyou\u201d. It is hot and wet in its freshness, its proximity to domestic tragedy. It is melodrama.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6. This is my favourite poem maybe of all time, by Adrian Henri:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well I woke up this mornin\u2019 it was Christmas Day<br>And the birds were singing the night away<br>I saw my stocking lying on the chair<br>Looked right to the bottom but you weren\u2019t there<br>there was<br>apples<br>oranges<br>chocolates<br>. .. . aftershave<br>but no you.<br>So I went downstairs and the dinner was fine<br>There was pudding and turkey and lots of wine<br>And I pulled those crackers with a laughing face<br>Till I saw there was no one in your place<br>there was<br>mincepies<br>brandy<br>nuts and raisins<br>. . . mashed potato<br>but no you.<br>Now it\u2019s New Year and it\u2019s Auld Lang Syne<br>And it\u2019s 12 o\u2019clock and I\u2019m feeling fine<br>Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot?<br>I don\u2019t know girl, but it hurts a lot<br>there was<br>whisky<br>vodka <br>dry Martini (stirred but not shaken)<br>\u2026. and 12 New Year resolutions<br>all of them about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">7. I am gutted, I love this poem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">8. Or perhaps more famously is Frank O\u2019Hara\u2019s &#8220;you&#8221;, the &#8220;you&#8221; of&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sharing a Coke with you<br>is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Ir\u00fan, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne<br>or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona<br>partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian<br>partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt<br>partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches<br>partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary<br>it is hard to believe when I\u2019m with you that there can be anything as still<br>as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it<br>in the warm New York 4 o\u2019clock light we are drifting back and forth<br>between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles<br>and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint<br>you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them<br>I look<br>at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world<br>except possibly for the <em>Polish Rider<\/em> occasionally and anyway it\u2019s in the Frick<br>which thank heavens you haven\u2019t gone to yet so we can go together for the first time<br>and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism<br>just as at home I never think of the <em>Nude Descending a Staircase<\/em> or<br>at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me<br>and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them<br>when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank<br>or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn\u2019t pick the rider as carefully<br>as the horse<br>it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience<br>which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I\u2019m telling you about it<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">8. Did you know there is no mention of the colour blue in ancient texts? Humanity doesn\u2019t develop names for colours if their equivalent pigment hasn\u2019t been produced\u2013which makes sense. It is only when the colour becomes divorced from its referent that a new word is necessary, otherwise you could just describe things as like other things, such as this famous example from Homer \u201cthe wine drunk sea\u201d. And blue is almost always the last pigment to be developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">9. More interestingly though, is that seemingly, people are unable to distinguish colours among similar colours when there is no available name for that colour. Green is indistinguishable from blue if there is no name for blue, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiolab.org\/episodes\/211119-colors\">https:\/\/www.radiolab.org\/episodes\/211119-colors<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10. Leading me to language. Can language really shift perception so dramatically? So that we see something that someone else might not see at all? I think so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">11. I love the blues in Alice Neel and in Felix Valloton and in Mary Cassat and Kerry James Marshall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/8RKbunv54WcQpyT2ml-ce_PZ0Vqslej6gxtnKlEFMN1wJDwo5l1Xhrt3pFtvAgI9vEro48S0AC5_qwyjoyzXB5FwmG_QflTOhf09y06eojEcy9_R_mTXspGuwNW36Zr9AJDTUJoH9bM8kwR56WftuZS08mwzzytrbZTznFchdPR01l5VbHWXWHzUN1whUQ\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mary Cassat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/VKW0mH7u3y0al7NiyE90yxWYNunnqKX_ql3B2yanWqeKAumYrp9xbiljLACogw2soxfXaCNRoZUhqbbmE48GuOUZz77TERdg6htryThCLpuAKdRMQgmJHxV_HrQZFyJsXlz9PCwSMuuE1BExGLwOuDplJsegdXib1kGmpoOnsRpqy94wYSNv4NkFAibZvQ\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Felix Valloton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/6RbsQXkcVKYdMNF9bOsPchinoOj3Vd2yLKRVAJ0KCgeDZFMta3QVbJS0RG4cLZPHh5V2q47YJjEPqPkfzg6jFdjpC0J98JQBMbSjL-f6kncQqUU8-xo9wu-3jV38ptjAIFc5SwgNs01mNKiOGW9xN_H8sigiH7k8PiXmv7R3WvY97kG_TFagTbOlOyMehg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kerry James Marshall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/qMJ4E8X_1YBv-jqbC5C5cIypIZLiJpvhB2O5ZHW9UXg6dVTCy06sbe9qyE_tyCz6suh8_sFW7Diqyf1CzZorZLrXrd9O3kQJLzDsvMou3610J3Y-mouOeFTr4qxq0Iqp-tO0lF5PXU5x71hnyxI-bgVFETElR60OfKl-soSMYwxvIeRcj0-ThgFv019m2g\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Alice Neel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">12. Alice Neel\u2019s blue outlines are especially yummy<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">13. I don&#8217;t any type of conclusion for this reading just that I think that it is wonder that autotheory can include love and loss and obsession and still be significant and considered significant work. I&#8217;m reading <em>I Love Dick <\/em>now and it is obsessive and funny and just absolutely crazy. Now I&#8217;m about to go on a tangent but I just have to say this publicly: I loved <em>Eat Pray Love<\/em> (the book not the movie). It isn&#8217;t quite autotheory but it&#8217;s very close and I think Elizabeth Gilbert is a wonderful writer and she discusses heartbreak really beautifully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">14. Ok that&#8217;s all for now. Diane, if you have read this far, you are a saint. Thank you for a wonderful class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OH and lastly, my Chromophobia power point:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/chromo-newest.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of chromophobia presentation.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-2c4b50df-fcd0-41b8-b90a-8f09b568c194\" href=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/chromo-newest.pdf\">chromophobia presentation<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/chromo-newest.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-2c4b50df-fcd0-41b8-b90a-8f09b568c194\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Entry 1: Some notes, following a train of thought on Teju Cole\u2019s book&nbsp;Golden Apple of the Sun and Alice Zoo&#8217;s essay about it: When I initially saw Teju Cole\u2019s photographs, they made me think of grief. Everything feels foreign. This un-staged photography mimics dissociation. They are sad images to me. The framing devices (or lack [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":913,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}