Date of Award
5-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Legacy Department
Painting
Committee Chair/Advisor
Todd McDonald
Committee Member
Kathleen Thum
Committee Member
Dr. Beth Lauritis
Abstract
I perceive that our world is ever-changing. I believe that as humans, we are not static creatures, but complex beings living in a complex, beautiful and broken world. External factors influence and engage our self-construction. Cerebral and emotional components operate in conjunction with the physical aspects of our humanity. Unmet expectations surface. Unforeseen conflicts arise. Life is not as we think we see it. One small shift in a vantage point can easily undo the very ground underneath our feet, fragmenting our own history of understanding. And while these fragments pierce us deeply, they are the pieces used to reconstitute a new understanding of self. Our humanity is caught up in this beautiful paradox; the dismantling of self is the very beginning of our own reconstruction. Our afflictions and trials produce a greater glory for our having walked through them. As a painter I am aware of how painting communicates, but within my work I hope to recognize where the rhetoric of painting falls short in explicating the complexities of our existence. I believe that the illusion of realism fails, the mark of expressionism fails, the eye of the viewer fails and the body of the artist fails, but it is my hope that together these components can accumulate to more closely convey our destabilized humanity. Failed attempts of communication and expression can point towards a hope for regeneration and purpose amongst the broken visions and ruptures of paint.
Recommended Citation
Siber, Hilary Erin, "Finite Perceptions" (2015). All Theses. 2174.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/2174