MFA Thesis: Yes, and…
My thesis was on….
As I began exploring my thesis visually, I looked at Surrealism and how the meaning of an object is changed once it is taken out of context. So I took a radio, (an electric appliance), and threw it in the air, along with expected notions of where a radio belongs and how it should be used. I liked how, once the radio was airborn, it became a drawing, and because I set it free, it drew itself.
Excited at how alive my radio looked in the sky, I decided that photographing electric appliances in mid-air was the way to go. My next challenge was getting multiple objects in the air at one time. I needed to build a machine. I spent a week gathering stray appliances including a toaster, a phone, a humidifier, a vacuum cleaner, a clock and some fans. My cousin, Steve, helped me construct a human-powered trampoline out of bungee cord, metal pipes, duct tape and outdoor patio furniture fabric. We crossed our fingers, and to my delight, the trampoline worked. He, his wife, and I spent the next two hours hurling objects in the air and photographing them.
After looking at the photos for a couple of days, I brought them into Photoshop, and played with them until they looked more like charcoal drawings than photographs. I realized after applying my method to a couple dozen of the photos that I was trying to create that sweet spot between my appliances being recognizable and “What the hell is that?”
My thesis investigations led me to recording my dreams, as a way of accessing my subconscious, a place where anything is possible. I cut letters out of paper that spelled parts of my dreams (in this case the words were “family reunion”), hung them in front of a window, and let them fly. The letters were photographed on a windy day, and within thirty seconds of opening the window, they had wrapped themselves around each other and became entangled, not unlike a you-know-what.
Poster is 4' x 10'.
