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Publication Date

2020

First Advisor

Alexis Callender

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Art

Keywords

Painting, Sculpture, Installation, Time, Consumerism, Consumption, Objects, Wood, Accumulations, Studio art, Oil paint, Silkscreen, Repetition, Variation

Abstract

Artist's statement: Utilizing a traditional painting surface, plywood, my work explores what a painting can be once it expands beyond the limitations of a rectangular frame hanging flat on a wall. I am interested in a painting’s identity as an object in and of itself, and not just a picture of an object. I use irregular shapes and think about the entire surface area of the panel: front, edges, and back. Composition becomes about much more than just what exists within a defined frame. It begins to encompass the wall and the relationship between the object and the wall.

The materials I choose to work with, flat plywood and oil and acrylic paint, keep my work grounded in a painting tradition. The way I choose to fabricate the panels and manipulate them into a variety of shapes, push the paintings into the realm of sculpture and installation. Allowing the paintings to become three-dimensional structures gives them an added level of performance. It exaggerates what a flat artwork on a gallery wall already is: a very specific staging presented by the artist to an audience. My interest in the play between painting, sculpture, and installation also stems from the combination of artists who have inspired my work: Elizabeth Murray, Philip Guston, Judy Pfaff, and Sarah Sze, to name a few.

The formal interests noted above intertwine with the content of my work which is concerned with consumerism and accumulations of objects. We live in a world dominated by the interchange, proliferation, and inevitable build-up of material things. Thinking of a painting as a dynamic, three-dimensional entity allows me to examine both the mass-produced objects that surround me and the very specific objects I choose to manufacture.

Rights

2020 Antonia Jane DaSilva. Access limited to the Smith College community and other researchers while on campus. Smith College community members also may access from off-campus using a Smith College log-in. Other off-campus researchers may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan for personal use.

Language

English

Comments

72 pages : color illustrations. Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-72)

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