#lucadmfa

[joshfunk]

Narwhal or Unicorn sighting? I can’t decide. #cambridge #lesleyuniversity #mfagraduation #lucadmfa #artexhibition #artshow (at Lesley University College of Art and Design Photo Lockup)

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

I started a series of paper mache collages with no cardboard backing at all. These are made up of drawings and papers from my everyday life to hopefully create some sort of contemporary still life. Because they are just paper, I can carve through the surface to create holes and muddle the surface. The idea behind these would be to create a large batch of them, collecting papers, thoughts, and drawings of everyday life.

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

Making some exciting progress on this larger paper mache / found paper assemblage piece. I peeled the paper mache layers from the cardboard backing which revealed tiny holes and translucent layers of paper and provides more of a floating, freed feeling to the piece versus the stiff cardboard. Now I am imagining this piece to be walked around and seen from both sides so I may continue to work on the front and the back.

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

Transforming a large former bike box into a substrate with paper mache. Let the layers begin! This piece is the largest yet, 4.5 ft by 3.5 ft, and I plan to shape the form or create holes as the layers continue.

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

So far this is my new favorite piece which I made by peeling this apart from the box shape it once was constructed from. The holes were left behind and I reconstructed them, stapled, and left the empty spaces. This piece has paper mache, screenprints, acrylic, spray paint, and marker all mixed up in it. Next I want to figure out how to do more of this but bigger.

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

Lately I have been wanting to transform cardboard as a material and break down the fibers so that it is soft like fabric or paper. I am imagining this would hang in the center of a room or a few inches off the wall to create shadows from the strange holes and shapes.

[taylorhayesmfa-blog]

In his article “Cultural Confinement”, Robert Smithson argues that, “a work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world” (Smithson 248). The relationship between artist, artwork, and audience is always inevitably strained in some way depending on the context of the relationship, however there are circumstances in which artists can overcome those limitations and push the audience to do more than “consume” the art. Nari Ward’s exhibit Sun Splashed, is a unique example of an artist breaching the fourth wall between art and audience through the use of unlikely found materials, interactive elements, and blatant political messaging.

Click the link to read the full paper.