Stopping Time Through Art

It’s been 3 years since the last time I attended Art Basel in Miami. On my last day there this year, I saw a solo show of the artist Amanda Ross-Ho at Michael Jon and Alan Gallery located in Miami’s Little Haiti. I was very impressed with her approach on the theme of time, specifically with the stopping of time. The title of the show was Stop Bath.

She references photographic equipment and symbolism to relate to topics that are very prominent in today’s culture. For those who don’t know about processing a photograph, a stop bath is the second step after the developer; it stops the development of an image. If you don’t use a stop bath the image will continue to develop, eventually getting darker. Keeping in line with photography as reference, an image captured by the camera is a fraction of a moment in time.

Amanda Ross-Ho addresses our obsession with youth and beauty. As you enter the gallery the first thing you notice are 12 large black face-masks hanging on the wall. People wear these masks to block light to get an instant “darkroom,” so they can get a good nights’ rest, it also references “Beauty Sleep”. Opposite from the black face-masks are facial masks used frequently by the Asian culture to repair skin damage and keep you looking young. At first I thought they were Mexican wrestling masks, but the flaps that go over the eyes and mouth have not been removed. In the middle of the room were three metal tables referencing a dark room setup, minus the safety lights. Each table has three red trays and in each of those trays are photographs of various stopwatches without hands; some images include a measuring tape next to the watches as if they were measuring time. The photographs were developed onto silk fabric instead of photographic paper, and positioned below each table were three glass jugs containing Epson salt, referencing baths for moisturizing the skin. (In a typical darkroom the chemicals not in use are stored under the table where the trays are located). Finally, on one of the sidewalls are four glass jugs similar to the ones under the table, but each jug contains a different oil associated with ways to keep the skin youthful. The oils on display were Avocado, Castor, Apricot Kernel, and Almond.

I will confess I’m biased towards photography, but what Amanda Ross-Ho is doing is different and wonderful. A typical artist working in the medium of photography would approach this subject matter by creating images depicting youth, mortality, and aging in a documentary series. The idea of taking two different fields of life not related to each other, and making them relate to each other reaffirms that things are connected in a deeper way. Addressing society’s obsession with capturing moments with our phones and seeking a cure-all to aging, a fountain of youth you could say, without solely using photographs is innovative and refreshing in an art world that sometimes feels stagnant.

Link to the exhibitions http://michaeljonandalan.com/exhibitions/amanda-rossho

 

 

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Pt. 3 (Final) of my thesis

En El Nombre de…(In Thy Name of…) Inkjet Print, 2014.

 

THE EXPERIENCE

The second body of work for my thesis exhibition celebrates a real life experience that seemed to pose the question, “Is God speaking to me?”

The experience in question happened about two years ago, when a blue notebook appeared on top of an electrical transformer in my neighborhood.  After several days of noticing the book go unmoved, my curiosity finally won and I opened the book.  I was amazed to find pages filled with color slides, with images touching on religious themes of astronomy, idolatry, creationism, morality, natural disasters, paganism, history, and religious iconography.  The slides may have been used as part of a sermon, because each page was labeled by subject matter and with a brief description in Spanish.  I began to wonder, “Is this experience directed only at me?”  I thought this because I found this notebook two houses down from my address, and because I collect things related to photography.  Furthermore, the writing throughout the notebook was in Spanish, and the majority of the enclosed images related to religion in some form.  In the past people who claim to have communicated with God typically describe their experiences as voices in their heads, some type of apparition, or something that they alone understand.  My own, strange experience could be characterized in those terms.

The sculptures Zarza Ardiente (Burning Bush), and El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window) are inspired by this experience (Figs. 11, 12).  I began to relate my experience to Moses and the Burning Bush because both of us interacted with an inanimate object that was the vehicle for communication with a higher power.  I do believe my unusual experience was addressed to me, and it became my responsibility to create artwork to share with people.

My intentions with Zarza Ardiente was to recreate a life-size, common electrical transformer that is found in the suburbs, but at the same time is an object that does not seem part of this world, to evoke a spiritual feeling, since I wanted it to coincide with my experience, and to be more spiritual than religious.  With the slides my intention was to create a vehicle that had a double function.  I wanted to simulate a stained glass window, because as a child I would sit in church looking at the beautiful colors emanating from the glass and their distorting effect upon the landscape on the other side while I wondered what was transpiring in the world.  The other function was a light box, because I wanted to emulate daylight and a light box is a tool that photographers use to view slides.

Each slide depicts an issue that troubles the world and is still connected to everyday life, but that offers no resolutions or explanations.  I titled the piece El Vitral de Pedro, because Saint Peter is the founding father of the Catholic Church.  I wondered if St. Peter could look at this window, how would he interpret these slides?  Is the subject matter of the slides a consequence of him having created God’s church?  Would St. Peter be happy, angry, or sad?  My intentions for the window were to display the slides in a grid, so that those who view it can face, as I did, the dilemma of deciphering its message.

 

Zarza Ardiente (Burning Bush) Acrylic, LED lights, and sound, 2014.

 

El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window), Lightbox, and found slides, 2014.

 

El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window), Lightbox, and found slides, 2014.

El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window), Detail, Lightbox and found slides, 2014.

 

CONCLUSION

My spirituality developed from my experiences in Catholicism as well as nature, society, relationships, and family.  Also, by visiting museums, exhibitions and galleries, I have found ways to further reflect upon the world’s current situation.  Simply going to Mass and hearing the sermon of the week no longer mediate my view of the world.

I have learned that my artwork is working like the religious imagery that I had a hard time connecting with in the beginning, in such way that the photographs and the sculptures demonstrate my understanding of the scriptures, my faith, my culture, my time period, and my wanting to share a spiritual experience.

This self-exploration shows my struggles with my faith, whether I make light of it or at the same time hold it in high regards.  I believe in a higher power, but to say that it is definitely God, Allah, or Buddha, I cannot decide.  I struggle with the need to give it a face or a body, something that I can identify, something tangible and thus similar to the doubt that Thomas had.

 

My Thesis

Hi Everyone,

I recently finished my MFA degree and I have decided to put my thesis paper on wordpress. I will be posting according to chapters. If the response is good I will keep posting. In the end I will put a link to my artwork.

Please remember this is copyrighted, so please respect! If anyone wants the actual PDF, please go to UCF Library to view it.  Also I added links for references only on the web, they were not part of the original paper.

Best,

Ivan

 

 

DOUBTING THOMAS: THE TESTAMENTS

by

IVAN RIASCOS

B.F.A the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2008

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Fine Arts

in the School of Visual Arts and Design

in the College of Arts and Humanities

at the University of Central Florida

Orlando, Florida

Spring Term  2014

© 2014 Ivan Riascos

 

ABSTRACT

This paper will discuss the creation of my artwork, which has been inspired by my experiences and understandings of Catholicism and its icons.  I will consider how iconography works in art, its influence, and how and why I have created this artwork dealing with my beliefs.  I will also refer to the works of contemporary artists Duane Michals and Michael Wesely to help explain my exhibition, which I have titled “Doubting Thomas: The Testaments.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.. 1

UNDERSTANDING AND DOUBTS. 2

 

 

INTRODUCTION

Having been raised in a religious household I witnessed my mother’s unwavering belief in and devotion to Catholicism, despite highly publicized reports of pedophilia, and corruption within the institution.  When I was a child I did not question going to Mass or the Church’s teachings, but as I got older, those teachings began to conflict with what I was witnessing in the world.  Also, I often felt disconnected from the religious imagery I was exposed to, because I was taught that the images were actual representations of what had happened according to the scriptures.  Instead, that imagery came from the imagination of an artist and his view of the world, or from his interpretation of the scriptures of the Bible, which did not relate to my views or offer substantial proof.

For my thesis show I have created two bodies of work that explore my experiences and understanding of Christianity.   First is the use photography to create my understanding of the biblical stories that my mother and I often discussed.  The second are sculptures referencing a specific experience that I believe was directed, perhaps from God, towards only me.  That experience raised the question, “Is God communicating with me”?  For the installation, I created an object similar to the one that I encountered during the event to recapture the spiritual effect it had on me.

This paper will discuss how and why I created the photographs from the first part of my exhibition and the sculptural installation for this exhibition, which I have titled “Doubting Thomas: The Testaments.”

 

UNDERSTANDING AND DOUBTS

In this chapter I will provide a brief history of Catholic iconography and of my formerly incomplete understanding of it to justify my thesis.

The origins of iconography are hard to determine, because many cultures have been shown to “write with images.”  Iconography is a term used in anthropological studies and art studies.  Iconography is also general term applicable—generically—to the West and the East, as well as to their respective religious sub-genres, such as Christian, Orthodox, and Buddhist.  Each branch has specific criteria, such as its location, culture, beliefs, and a system of symbols that have been established through historical studies.

In the Oxford Dictionary of Art the word icon is defined as:

An image of a saint or other holy personage, particularly when the image is regarded by the devotee as sacred in itself and capable of facilitating contact between him or her and the personage portrayed.  The term, which derives from the Greek word eikōn, meaning ‘likeness’, has been applied particularly to sacred images of the Byzantine Church and the Orthodox Churches of Russia and Greece (The Oxford Dictionary of Art).

Because several meanings and histories of icons exist I do not intend to write broadly about the subject.  Instead I primarily discuss Catholic iconography I was exposed to and its relevance to my artwork.

While growing up I encountered religious iconography inside churches and in an illustrated Bible.  I accepted their truths as literal.  Two paintings that affected me were Saint Michael the Archangel Michael Bringing Down Lucifer by Francesco Solimena, and The Collapse of the Tower of Babel by the Dutch School.  Solimena’s painting depicted a winged creature banishing the angel who was to become Satan.  But I began to wonder, if Michael had the opportunity to defeat Lucifer once and for all, why did he not do so?  Michael would have eliminated evil in the world.  I believed that evil arose from Satan’s desire to lead us away from God.  Where did a world of winged, and powerful creatures come from?  How did they relate to me?  Would they rule over me if I reached heaven?  How does someone become an angel?  It did scare me into not wanting to be a sinner and end up in hell.  I was less inquisitive about The Collapse of the Tower of Babel because its message was clear and it was such a powerful image that I did not question its validity.  In the story of the tower of Babel, God was angered that humans believed they could reach heaven on their own.  God destroyed the tower and created different languages so humans could not complete the construction of the tower.  I reacted equally strongly to images that depicted the scriptures in which God punished humans for not obeying him, especially from the Old Testament, such as; The Destruction of Sodom by Jean Baptiste Corot (http://worldvisitguide.com/oeuvre/O0030826.html), The Evening of the Deluge by John Martin (http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_130359/John-Martin/The-Evening-of-the-Deluge-1828), The Plague of Asdod by Nicolas Poussin (http://bible-library.com/imgfullsize?id=ag1iaWJsZS1saWJyYXJ5chALEgdQaWN0dXJlGI_w8QIM), etc.  These images blurred truth and fiction and confused me as a child.  Images created by these artists matched my understanding of particular scriptures.  I was taught, “you do not question the word of God,” which meant the Bible is the truth.  At the same time I was being taught in school the theory of Evolution and other scientific theories.  Why did men attempt to give us a metaphorical understanding of the world at a time when it was not possible to explain the phenomena referenced in these stories?  This conflict weakened my trust in biblical scriptures as tools for resolving my daily moral dilemmas.

When author Albert Moore discusses Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn’s, The HundredGuilder Print (http://www.artbible.info/art/large/446.html), he suggests that an icon is a ‘likeness,’ and that the reality it seeks to embody is actually present.  Thus Rembrandt’s etching shows us that Jesus was a person 2000 years ago who preached and healed the sick.  The picture purports to provide us his likeness despite the fact that neither Rembrandt nor anyone else could be sure of what Jesus looked like.  At the same time we are drawn into the picture as a depiction of the present, for it represents (makes present again) to our mind’s eye Jesus meeting a group of people who would have seen him.  The “reality” of the image has simply been taken from its original time and place – or at least from Rembrandt’s – and made available to us (Moore 30).

Over the years as an artist I’ve learned that the purpose (or effect) of art is to illustrate the artist’s intentions as well as the culture and time period that the artist lived in.  “Art is sometimes classified by anthropologists as cultural tradition and as communication-to convey ideas and emotions by means of conventions and formal symbols and to reinforce beliefs, customs and values” (Moore 33).

After reading Albert Moore’s ideas, I understood my feeling of separation from the religious imagery I had grown up with.  These images from the past did not relate and coincide with my understanding of the world.  This alienation became a primary motivation for the creation of this body of work.

Three main things that I was taught about faith were: (1.) one does not question it, because God works in mysterious ways; (2.) God’s intentions for us are incomprehensible to us, and (3.) one can witness God’s hand in the everyday if one pays attention.  The ideas correspond to “blind faith,” which I had difficulty with, but the third idea was also a motivation for my thesis project, which meant if I witness God’s hand at work or its results, I can photograph it.

To be continued…

Zarza Ardiente (Burning Bush)

I know it has been awhile since I last posted on my blog, but my last year in graduate school has been a very busy one.  I promised a couple of my readers to post a picture of a sculpture I have written about.  Please reference “The Object,” originally posted on April 2013.  The sculpture photographed will be part of my thesis show.  I had this sculpture fabricated in acrylic, and it is a life size replica of an electrical transformer you find in the suburbs. Click on it to enlarge it!