Date of Award
December 2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Visual Arts
Committee Member
Todd McDonald
Committee Member
Kathleen Thum
Committee Member
Andrea Feeser
Abstract
A Reconsidering of Place and Space is an autobiographical body of paintings that challenges the notion that the home is a place of familiarity, peace, connection, and comfort. I unmake the predictability of the spaces through either subtle or overt alterations of these once commonplace areas. While these spaces are grounded in observable reality, they are not entirely logical and operate as psychological environments that often enter the realm of the uncanny or melancholic.
This work operates within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Lockdowns, health conditions, and virus spikes have pushed people to stay home more. This greater time at home has strained stereotypical expectations of the home and revealed the depth of environment and relationship failings.
Strange angles, intense moments of color, and a focus on contrasting values, temperature, and saturation serve to make the spaces feel strange and disconcerting. The occupants of the domestic spaces exude a sense of unease and separation, and they often fail to interact with each other. At times they are even painted in different styles to heighten their level of mental and physical separation. Tension and energy shown through visual means like color are indicative of potential psychological or relationship strain and disconnect within the domestic scenes depicted. As a result, the visual decisions made in distorting the home environment operate metaphorically and as extensions of the occupiers.
Recommended Citation
Waller, Megan Ashley, "A Reconsidering of Place and Space" (2020). All Theses. 3442.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/3442