End2End My Process/Thoughts

Recently, I had the pleasure to work with my gallery management class to put together an art show. The main goal during this process was to think like a curator and gallery manager. As students are roles defaulted to the professors, but I reused useful skills and learned new methods of hanging a show. By far, the most beneficial component of this show was experimenting with my work.

I was able to use a temporary wall, a wall that is usually used as a title wall, to configure my paintings and prints into an installation. This was a huge leap for me for 2 reasons. The first reason, I have never done an installation, and I enjoyed the opportunity to utilize a huge wall. The second reason, is that my prints and paintings are often separated, and in this case the illustrative animal prints have never been mixed into my abstract work. I have been struggling with adding them because I don’t want my work to be taken over my rabbits, cats and owls. On the other hand, I don’t want them to be separate either. This was the perfect time to see how they worked together, how everything I have done would work together.

What I found after organizing my pieces is that I made a lot of art, and I have made a lot of different kinds of art. They all stem from the same core concepts I work with as an artist, like perception, multiplicity, memories, emotional bonds, communication and duality.

The problem is that I think the message gets lost. The illustrations are problematic because they don’t leave room for interpretation like an abstract painting. They represent superficiality in my opinion, they only show he surface. When paired together on the wall with my prints of animals and abstract mono-prints, as well as my abstract paintings, different narratives emerge. The prints help anchor the abstract work, which can be overwhelming when seen all at once, but the prints are no longer static illustrations. Together, my art portrays my message of looking deeper to see connections. That many pieces can make up a whole, unique on their own and harmonious together.