Even More Shenanigans

Some of the components of my work from the second project I made from Artists Under the Influence which consisted of Monika Baer, Friedrich Kunath & John Baldessari: I place these artworks on top of a pedestal I built myself.

Here is what I was thinking when making this:

The reason for picking more than one artist was due to the fact that I wanted to pull from different concepts. In this way I want to attempt to make it apparent that although the work of these three artists is quite different it still holds similarities in their concepts. I am quite more interested in the process of their work and the things they are commenting on rather than the work itself. Frankly, I don't quite   know if I like their work to begin with.

   

Both Monika and Baldessari started as painters but shortly after they were disappointed to see that it didn't account to anything more. Monika constantly works on the canvas and introduces motifs that attempt to go beyond what a painting will go. She makes gestures, such as cutting up the canvas and making you aware that there is another layer the canvas. In my work I also make gestures that attempt to comment on the canvas but quite differently. I nailed the four corners of a canvas and used it as a "stool" for the sculptural object to be placed above it. In a sense I made the canvas serve as an almost utilitarian object while also making it part of the artwork itself.

I made a similar gesture in my pedestal. Instead of painting it with white paint and have it nicely painted, I applied gesso and purposely left some of the wood to show. It reminds the viewer that the pedestal was also handmade; that perhaps the pedestal is part of the work and the work extends itself beyond.

As for the sculptural object, although I have made similar works prior to these, I've said that I don't quite know why I was making them or why I was making them this way.