Crit Crit

::Critique Transcription::

- So if you had been following the blogs up until a couple weeks ago, you would be- you would not be informed. Um I'm just really frustrated with ::Tugs on clothing:: the nature of photography, um, how complicated it seems. So I wanted to revert to back to just like the very basics of how images are made, ::Touches Face:: um, how we actually read spacial relations um that what we're actually photographing is three dimensional but it cant be in an actual photograph, and um, making images that to some extent are of trickery but um that reference um both the surrealists and minimalism. Um so with these image they are both pinholes and, um, large format images, and I've been- uh for the most part everything that is there is in the actual image um, in the far right there is an um drawing in it is well, but the actual rectangles and prisms  are um made out of string and wire, :: Wiggles:: and after printing it um they are covered in cold wax uh,  which I want it- is a long process, uh I want to build up depth which will then create the actual actual 3D ness of the flat object...

4 seconds of silence

Kerry: So do you cover the entire image with the wax or just the specific parts you're trying to emphasize... on?

-Um I'm Uh using the entire- the entire image... -as I -as I continue, I wanna want to keep building on top of these images, so by the end of the semester there might- have different areas that are lighter or heavier, so yeah...

5 seconds of silence

Matt: The- so you said the sculptures are 3D?

-Mmhmm.

Matt: So it's not, it's not like an illusion of shadow, its an actual shadow?

- Yeah.

Matt: I'm really drawn to the aesthetics on that surface the uh wax, not the pinhole, but the large format, they look really surreal themselves the furniture... the... it's a really nice effect.

Tom: Ashleigh can you talk about the one closest to you?

-This one here? Um I wanted to actually be uh ::adjusts hair:: drawing with the actual wire, um and putting them on a space that recedes-they're on a  bookshelf- I'd create another element to just- because you can see the corners you can see the different planes that it is on- um mimic the same elements of uh like a cube made out of wire um but i wanted them to be very imperfect and uh organic to contrast with the very ::adjusts shirt:: strict nature of the other ones.

Tom: Why the three?

 -Oh um, they fit together well, I thought that they moved through the frame in an interesting manner.

Tom: What did - what are you doing that for? You know I mean, the top one, the three relate to each other, its like uh middle top bottom, you know, you're showing us different views ::pulls clothing:: of the same object correct? you know in the same space, so- why?

- Just as to further emphasize the spatial relations that you're even, you're above, and you're below, but that they're still all the exact same orientation, that  they're the same square -just to continue the reference of spatial relations.

Niki: Are you gonna continue that with- like these other images, that seem different, in seeing the different like perspectives, that those spaces you highlighted there?

-Yeah um i just put three pieces up- ::adjusts hair:: but other images that I have of are of these same set-ups going 180 degrees around them so I have different ways to work with them, um different heights and lowers- lowers that's not a word.

Ashley: What are you-

Tom: I'm sorry, on the third piece did you say that's actually a drawing or that's uh in the print?

-The one on the side is actually a drawing.

Tom: On the side, closest to you?

-Mmhmm.

Tom: A drawing ON the photograph after you printed it? - okay.

Arlie: That looks more like it's drawn on the wall than the other object to me. ::adjusts hair:: The other one looks like it was done after to me.

- Cool.

Arlie: The other one looks like, you you said that's wood and wire right?

- This is wood and string -this is pen drawn on the actual image.

Arlie: Maybe, maybe it's- well up close it, maybe its more obvious up close, but from here, it looks like the exact opposite-- which is cool.

Justin: You said these are shot with a large format?

- Mmhmm. ::sways back and forth::

Justin: I think I'd like to see 'em a lot bigger, like really get into the space of it better that way.

Erin: What do you hope for the drawing on the third one to accomplish?

- Um it's actually a pentaprism so it's exactly how our cameras make images-::adjusts shirt:: uh the light then internally reflects around it so it's just again referencing the nature of the camera and creating- 'cause it- these two- are so orderly and straight and I wanted to have a mix between both like not necessarily  machine made but a contrast between man made and machine made because these are all made by a machine- our cameras.

Rebecca: Is it important for your audience to understand that reference? Of the drawing?

-What the drawing is?

Rebecca: Yeah. Like what it represents.

- No, no I don't think its necessarily important, if you recognize it, you know it's bonus points but..

Erin: I like the idea behind the drawing but I find it a little distracting maybe it's just my nature but i like everything orderly and perfect but i just I'd like it maybe in a different area..but--

- Is it distracting because it is the only one that has a drawing on it or is it distracting just because it--

Erin: I think that's part of it but I'm just, I love the image as it is but I- it takes away a little bit--

Tom: What do you love about it?

Erin: I think I just, like i said the nature of all the lines and the way its so crisp and perfect and um definitely with the two images that are large format- they just work together well and i think that in that way they're so organized.

Will: Ashleigh, I think there is a nice play going on between the two objects I guess one being the table and the lamp, which seems like it could be painted on the back wall from where I'm seated right here it seems very flat, whereas your sculpture which is supposed to look flat, i mean you said its 3D but it sort of evokes like a 1D or 2D drawing, that one sort of jumps off a lot more- it seems more animated than the actual - I'm confusing myself right now, but the flat sculpture seems a lot more interesting and animated than the actual physical properties of the table.

Griffin: Yea I think the middle one is the most accessible for me too, like when i first saw it it messed with my eyes, like I thought you had drawn that on there- um I really like the table with the objects on there and I really like how you involved the light coming in from the window in to your shape-  I don't don't know, I just feel like there is some kind of like other worldly something in there, some kind of crazy time warp going on- I just cause it is the whole sort of surreal- Yeah you definitely are successful when you say the surrealist thing that you mentioned in our spiel.

Arlie: Are you trying to trick us?

- Not necessarily, I want you to be aware that the camera is a trick but um like if I were to display these in a gallery I would include a list of materials- ::gestures wildly:: I wouldn't hide what I made it out of, I'd put string on there, as a list of what it was created from, I would treat it is as if I was labeling a sculpture more so they're actually documenting a sculpture rather than um just silver gelatin.

Jeff: I think that the- if you're talking about how the camera relates to this sort of space uh 3D space, and uh flattens it out that the- these could go further- like right now they're attacking sort of two planes, the three dimensions, you know, like in a way your photograph is making you know a sort of cube so it's making a 6-sided object in the way that your frame makes sides -that back wall is a further side, your lens is a side, so I think you could you could make that go further so it doesn't look so graphic on it but starts to attach itself to the frame more-- uh I feel like that's what you're trying to sort of evoke with the drawing, I feel like the drawing is kinda cramped in there, um, I think that's why it's a distraction to some people cause it doesn't have it's own sort of placement -sort of shoved inside- um I -I really like the middle one, and the end one, because that's what you're starting to do, you know, you're playing with gravity in a way, you're playing with some sculptural things, how you know like how - in sculpture there's a lot of how a piece relates to the floor to wall, or in a corner, you know how it relates to the space, and I think that you could do that like maybe if it like attaches to three walls and the ceiling, you know how how much--

-Im sorry, are you talking about the actual objects inside attaching to the wall or the drawings?

Jeff: Yeah i think that they're- I think that they're right now kind of in this really weak space thing you know they're very flaccid, they're not really trying to talk about the space, you know its sort of like them being sort of slapstick you know and that they just fell off, out of their position, which could be funny but i think that it could go further you know, umm i think if you treat the space that you're creating as a you know more dimensions than just the physical versus the flat  I wanna see how- how can the flat become physical, or kind of what you're doing with the wax sort but I think you could do it with the objects you're making in the space, like if that like makes sense-

-A little bit, yeah.

Jeff: 'Cause you are kind of in this weird inter dimensional space...

-Yeah.

Jeff: I want to see that activated more.

Tom: Jeff, whats the difference between sculpture thats made for the camera and sculpture that functions as photography, that is represented exclusively as photography is there a difference in the way that space is used between the two -um you know as someone that you know works in that way?

::fidgets with book::

Jeff: Um yeah there's absolutely a difference i think that the camera you know you're sort of, you're already selecting the space and how you're going to treat everything it's it's like your -you know its like it'd be reconstructing the walls in the gallery or making your works site specific and uh you know that would be the relationship with but the camera is a frame you know just as the gallery is a frame um so thats why i think you could play more with that you know uh it exists for the camera, it doesn't exist for the wall you know.

Anna: I'm afraid that if you list the materials you'd be using it would make it more about the sculpture than about the photograph and the way the camera works um so because people always photograph their sculpture  um and they list the materials they use and show it in a magazine or whatever, that is what its about, its about the sculpture its not about the photograph, i don't know, just a thought..

Tom: Ashleigh, are you more interested in illusion or representation?

-Can't, can I be interested in both?

Tom: Of course you can, but which one is more important to you?

-Uhh representation - I feel like the representation is - I feel like that's the cyclical nature :: gestures spastically:: because the the representation is half the illusion.

Tom: Well they definitely uh live together in a multitude of ways but there's a big difference between the two - an illusion is alluding to something that is real, representation is the presentation of the real right? Ummm so in in in this work you're using both and thats why I'm interested in your -Im wondering which one is more important to you because you know there's some reason you're choosing to present this uh you know type of work, through photography other than you're a photography major, right? ::fiddles with hair:: So umm and you know the illusionistic qualities could be pushed much further uh definitely in terms of your spacial work being the strings and the frames and everything being the- with the drawing, I think you could really amp that up in a big way orrr you could continually you know um make us believe that actual representation is illusion... you know there are like two different ways you could go with this work, both with those two words being you know I guess equally important --but right now it's kind of in this in this mid space, you know you're tricking me, you're referring to the camera, which tricks us which, you know you're showing us in real space though an architectural perspective drawn way  you know you're talking about a lot of different things and using a lot of different devices but you're not using all of them to go in a specific direction i feel like- like right now you're showing, your showing me elements of a larger project in  a way, umm and so so so Im just interested in ................. your feelings about the difference in the depiction of representation and the illusion um..........and um where you want me as a viewer to um be with this work.

-Okay.

Tom: Are you trying to trick me?!

-No, No- I mean you're being tricked yes? ::caps pen, gestures wildly:: but that's up to you if you actually want to be tricked. It's all--

Tom: What do you want me to be?

-I want you to think about it, Is what I want you to do, I want you to actually question why you guys use cameras, what that facilitates for yourself.

Jeff: I think the trick could be stronger I think that that I think- :: fiddles with fingers:: I don't think anybody is really convinced, that you're- you know, no ones tricked in any real degree I think, you know from back here you know we start to think oh maybe yeah that could work as a trick you know maybe I am a little convinced of that but I think that the stronger you - if that's one aspect you make it stronger, and people will really start looking because they're fooled, you know they want to figure it out, and that I think gets you to your investigation of this difference how illusionistic is it you know-

Tom: Did you look at any of Eva Hesse's um string sculptures? ::sways back and forth:: You know I think that -I've never experienced one of those in person, I've only experienced them through um a printed image, I'm thinking it becomes beyond problematic because of this space that she is kind of referring to and exploiting and denying to us adds to that confusion and I think what Jeff was talking about kind of different walls you could be using and everything, I think her work is one for you to look at more in terms of I guess your own fight between reading those as spacial string structures and flat images and how successful they are on both ends and um cause i think that that may be uh uh a tangible example of what you're talking about the different walls and everything.

Jeff: Yeah

-::adjusts hair, walks out of frame:: I would say that less than, less than Eva Hesse I would be trying to reference like Karel Malich I think I probably butchered that name, but um he does like the wire sculptures-- they're represented in the gallery space less as wire sculptures, but as drawings in space that are not necessarily ...

::End Transcription::

During my critique I said UM at least 33 times, tuck my hair in 5 times, pull/ tug on my clothing 5 times, sway around twice, and gesture spastically or fiddle with my pen/ book 4 times. Overall, my behavior is not incredibly distracting, but I would like to nix those um's entirely. I thought I could talk about my work more naturally in a conversational manner, but as somebody else mentioned, talking- while standing- in front of my peers is harder for me than addressing strangers, and it took me a couple minutes to settle down, resulting in my stumbling for words during my opening statement. I also failed to address all the points I am attempting to make, and even incorrectly spoke about some of the ideas I am trying to convey. During my next critique I will either write down a statement to read, or rehearse a statement much more thoroughly to the point of total memorization. Even in retrospect, I am still unsure of what Tom wanted me to say about my first image, the three pinholes matted together vertically. He repeatedly asks me what I am trying to get across there and I stumble awfully for an answer. When Anna or Arlie asks me about tricking the viewer I respond that I would list my materials, and I think this throws the class for a loop, I was unclear with my words and insinuated that I was attempting to document sculpture, I am not trying to treat my sting sculptures as actual art pieces, they are items to be used within an image. The photograph is the art- I am not documenting the string as art. Near the conclusion I realize my time is up as the alarm had gone off 4-5 minutes earlier, I cap my pen and seem to shut off further commentary by Tom about Eva Hess and the way her work functions on both a 2D and a 3D level, I walk over as if to take down my prints, and appear dismissive. I do think having a book to write in was effective in keeping me from fiddling more, but I hardly wrote anything I could read, I was so nervous that my handwriting is shaky and unintelligent. At a couple of points I am gesturing to images or just generally talking with my hands in an over animated manner, I should practice what my mother would have me do when young and clasp my hands behind my back.

Taping the critique was incredibly insightful, but more so than making me aware of how I look to viewers it was invaluable to have a record of what people said. While being critiqued things sound negative that are actually not at all, and having the ability to watch things multiple times allows you to fully grasp the root of people's suggestions.