The Human Experience...
Photo montage and photo collage are art forms based on re-contextualizing visual (photographic) elements from a recognizable (iconic) context and then composing a new visual configuration that reinterprets and “speaks back to” the original context. In a photo montage, this new context typically appears as a literal imagined space in which the rules of verisimilitude apply. In photo collage, this new context appears more abstracted, emphasizing a cut and paste aesthetic of construction. With either approach, this assignment asks you to take photographic and textual elements from different publications and re-contextualize them into a coherent, unified composition that surprises our original associations with the materials. These original associations, sometimes tied to the public function to which the iisual materials were originally put, are referred to as the provenance of the image. Your artwork does not haie to make an explicit socially-critical commentary (although that’s fine if it does), but it does need to re-contextualize & reinterpret our original associations with the visual and textual materials you use.
Think about your images in terms of a tension between their aesthetic and conceptual dimensions. The image should hang together convincingly (aesthetic continuity) while shifting the perspective of the viewer critically by altering the associations with the otherwise familiar visual elements (conceptual discontinuity). How (i.e. by what features and in what direction) are you asking the viewer to rethink the provenance of your materials? What demands do you place on the viewer? How thoroughly haie your researched your materials and their provenance? If you make your composition more or less abstract, will it improve the artistic tenor of the work or will it push your work in the direction of mere propaganda?
The Scope
The Artist's Statement
Today people have become human doings versus human beings. As human doings, people have allowed themselves to be ruled by the constant “go, go, go” of life such as being hyper-focused on the to do lists, work, scheduling (mapping out every second of everyday), etc. The distinct difference of existing as a human being is, someone who is willing to be in the moment; someone who can, or at least tries to, completely disconnect from the world around them and focus on existing in the moment. As creatures, humans cannot multi-task, in fact the notion of multi-tasking is faulty in of itself. When someone says they are multi-tasking, they are normally referring to giving the multiple tasks they are working on 100% of themselves. There is not a mathematical or scientific way to qualify being full involvement in multiple tasks at once; it is by pure definition of these disciplines, one can only provide divided attention to multiple tasks simultaneously. Therefore, as one continues to divide themselves, they are disconnecting from being.
This disconnection goes as far as to infect the way people interact with each other. In Omid Safi’s The Disease of Being Busy, Safi talks about when someone asks, “how are you doing?” The individual should really be asking “how is your heart? What is on your heart in this moment?” However, society has taught people to answer by rambling off one’s to do list, this is assuming people are willing to hear more than the common and empty response of, “I am doing well.” This response to the simple question, yet complex in nature, has developed a miss informed notion of what it means to exist as a human being.
As an effect to this greater issue, society as a whole, in a particular way the American culture/society, has cultivated the devaluation of the human experience. The devaluation comes from placing a price tag on the supposed privilege of existing as a human being. It seems only the rich and powerful can afford to take time off and go on vacation to be human beings. Yet, as existing as a human being is much more, especially since too often people are still are human doings when on vacation. By assuming and/or adding a price tag to existing as a human being, one is culpable of devaluating the dignity and preciousness of human life and the experiences it contains.
The series talks to the devaluation of the human experience by adding the life experiences of friendship, happiness, adventure, love, and family, to common places where people shop. The titles for the series and images comes from the encapsulation of what the human experience has come to mean and look like. Thus, the most appropriate way to read the title of an image one is observing is to begin with the series’ title and end with the title of the image. For example, when observing “At Home,” the proper full title is “The Human Experience… Anywhere.”
Moreover, “Anywhere” is composed of three images which show an individual scrolling through Instagram with an advertisement for authentic friendship. The post’s text has been changed to entice the view to purchase friendship though the social networking application. The human experience of friendship is placed on Instagram due to the fact social media is meant to keep friends connected. Next is “At Home,” designed to show the ability to purchase happiness on a “as seen on tv” ad. The image is created with two images and a series of text and logos to show resemble the “as seen on tv” ending scene. Often times, when one is board at home, one looks to television for entertainment and overall happiness. “At BART” is made-up two images which portrays an advertisement for adventure. Since BART takes people to work, the city, and to new adventures, this is why adventure has been attached to the idea of BART. Furthermore, “At Coffee Shop” has an individual on their laptop browsing through Agape to purchase love. Many websites and applications have been created in people’s search for love, thus it only seems appreciate to show someone online shopping for love. Thus, the image contains four images to create the website, including the image background. The website design is inspired by several of the artist’s favorite online stores. Lastly, “At Store” shows family for purchase at the local grocery store, in the cereal section to be more specific. The choice of using the grocery stores comes from the idea in which the grocery store is where one buys the essentials for sustaining one’s family.