Art Buff

On Monday I rode my bike through the veritable ghost town that is downtown Batavia at 3:30 in the morning and dropped off my submission for the September Water Street show. This whole series of photos started as a very simple project. It’s one of the rare pieces I’ve created that have been inspired so directly by emotion. 

I was going through a time in the winter where I felt very vulnerable at times because the person who was hurting me could only do so because they knew me so well. I had a sudden urge to be unknowable, confusing, unpredictable, a little grotesque even. This strong feeling really struck me that if I couldn’t be understood, I couldn’t be hurt. I really started thinking about Dadaism and their bold use of nonsense. Nonsense as an escape became very appealing. It still is, however impracticable it can be in execution.

So finally this summer I partnered up with Kirsten to create nonsensical portraits of me. I still held onto that desire for the grotesque. Meanwhile we grabbed whatever we could and threw it on my face. 

I’ve been incredibly happy with how everything has turned out. I wanted to make sure the display of the photos matched the spirit of the project, so I printed them on newsprint with post it notes affixed in random places. I’ve been doing a lot of research on Dada this summer to compliment this project, so I wanted to add an element of chance during the printing. The post-its accomplished that task for me.

Posted above are the photos I’m using for the Water Street submission in their pre-printed form. The display prototype shows them post-printing. I’m still playing with the display, which I intend to wear. I was originally planning on covering my head with a column of photos, but Miles suggested I make a mane of sorts, so I tried that out. At this point, it looks a bit like a carnival cut out, so if accepted to Water Street, I’m going to work at making it more three dimensional - mounting the photos on 8x11 boxes instead of panels and working from there.

I like the idea of revealing my face instead of covering it, as the piece can become more interactive and striking that way. The new mane will be tricky to create (I’m a novice at 3D), but I’m excited for the challenge.