Sunday, November 25, 2012

Jessica's Statement


I find myself drawn to simple overlooked beauties; the bare human figure, the mark of a pencil or piece of charcoal, the shading of a smooth, worn rock, or the organic nature of pasta boiling.  Often times they are seen as boring, or hold no interest in relation to the graphic nature that has become the world around us.  Everywhere we turn, there are images demanding our attention, over the top, bright, bold, and intriguing. Visual culture has gotten progressively saturated with ‘attention-getting’ ploys and images, and I think it is the overload of this that attracts me to simplicity. 
            I have explored multiple mediums, techniques, and concepts and was able to grow and develop my own personal style and preferences to the point where I would be confident in any independent work I may explore.  I find using unusual and different materials intriguing.  I’m interested in aesthetically pleasing and traditional forms of artmaking, and view art as fun. I do not plan on changing the world with my art, I do not even plan on changing anyone’s opinions about any specific idea with my art.  I think that by making lighthearted, enjoyable art, I will attract an audience that is fun loving and enjoyable to be around.
            A word I often use to describe my work is ‘loose’.  I feel that not only do I wish my work to hold the essence of things naturally beautiful, but believe it should be a natural process as well. The fact that I love my sketches so much also alludes to the idea that I love the feeling of looseness.  Sometimes I prefer the look of the sketch over the final piece that the sketch was made for because it holds more of the essence of what I am trying to portray, rather than visually describing it.  When my work is to the point where it needs a little boost to look “complete” is when I like it the most.  This has been true for almost my entire college career and I still to this day am not sure why that is.  I think to capture the essence of an object, you cannot tell the whole story; that is you cannot show the object in fine detail because then there is no element of obtaining a feeling of understanding the object if it is perfectly and detailed described for you.  I do not want my viewers to “get it” and move on quickly, I want them to take a moment to appreciate the beauty in the line and simplicity and although there is little shown, still understand the essence of the piece and feel the movement within it. 
            In sum, I find interest in nature and in the natural overlooked beauties that surround our everyday life.  The flashiness of graphics and visual culture we see everyday are too much for me, and I like to go back to the basics and reveal the essence of simple, natural, subtle beauty. Some of my best work can be found in my sketches, or studies, of these naturally beautiful things because I prefer the look of looseness over precise, taught, “complete” works.