Mom

Mom: paint, lazer prints, frame.

Mom artist statement:

A mother is defined as one who gives birth. This piece is an exploration of my relationship to success in creating art as a form of existential fulfillment. The installation has a few key vehicles for meaning.

The pink color used in the installation relates to a personal sense of higher self and realization. This color, juxtaposed with a thin sheet of fabric creates a membrane, adding a level of removal between the viewer and “myself” so to speak. Membrane is an important aspect to the piece and can be defined as follows: “a pliable sheet-like structure acting as a boundary, lining, or partition in an organism.” The rip in the membrane is representational of a window into myself, with only a small area of clarity and vulnerability. This area allows the viewer to dissect the relationship between the only two “images” plainly placed within the space.

Directly behind the membrane’s rip --hanging on the wall at eye level-- there is a framed image of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa with a heavy blur applied to the image. On the floor, facing the blurred Mona Lisa, there is a life-sized image of my foot with a detailed tattoo of the Mona Lisa. These two juxtaposed elements create relationships between vague vs. clear, as well as personal vs. ubiquitous.

The vague representation of the Mona Lisa represents a removal of meaning from a work considered to be "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world." To me, the removal of the meaning has occurred through mass reproduction of the work, as well as a cultural pressure to revere a piece with an inherent lack of conceptual principle. Ultimately the blurred image serves as a symbol of spectacle, and lack of meaning, but at the same time it is still a symbol of ultimate greatness, even when distorted. 

The act of getting a tattoo for this piece adds a performative layer to the installation, creating a sense of intense dedication or obsession with the concept of ultimate greatness. The tattoo imposes a permanent pressure on myself to make work that is considered iconic and great. The placement of the tattoo on my foot, serves as a reminder that in every way I move forward as an artist, I still must ultimately measure myself against what is considered to be "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world."

The relationship of the two images brings me to a personal crossroad in which I ultimately desire to create great work that is iconic and respected, however I desire to make work that is meaningful and purposefully great, as opposed to an image like the Mona Lisa who’s greatness is dictated by an arbitrary sense of cultural authority.

I titled the piece “Mom” because the relationship in the piece ultimately expresses the birth of myself as an artist, and the birth of my work.