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| The Crisis, Tiffany Dodson, 2011 |
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| The Crisis, Tiffany Dodson, 2011 |
Overall, for “Drawing a Blank.”, I felt that the show was good in terms of the variety of topics and types of art presented to the public. Obviously, I enjoyed some pieces more than others’, but I still feel there was a healthy mix of concentrations and ideas in our show. However, I feel that certain pieces may have worked better with others in the same room, such as Briana Gaydo’s work in the same room as Jenny Chang and Sasha Flimlin based on color and composition. I also feel that there were too many large pieces in the main gallery that may have worked well in other rooms in addition to the main gallery. Being that the title of the show was Drawing a Blank, I found it interesting how each person decided to fill in their piece of the blank. There were many abstract pieces that I enjoyed viewing, including Lauren Rago’s paintings, Renee Giannoobile’s works, and Ilana Cloud’s string sculpture. There was also much conceptual art work in the show, including Dan Morowitz’s painting, Kelly McGovern’s posters, Tika Prosper’s installation, and Briana DeVita’s restriction signs. I actually feel that the conceptual works in the show overpowered the abstract ones based on the power of the messages behind each piece. My piece, entitled, The Crisis, was also conceptual.
In my installation, I had an entire room to myself in which I conducted a sound installation, complete with four photographs (images of eyes, a mouth, feet, and a clown face), as well as tangible items such as balloons, stockings, light bulbs, and clothing. The soundtrack included clips from civil rights leaders Malcolm X, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, as well as clips from current Black leaders/intellectuals, including Cornell West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Professor Todd Boyd. It also included two clips of poetry from poet Jasmine Mans and a past Black exploitation film. The soundtrack began and concluded with two quotes from W.E.B. Du Bois, one delivered through a computerized narrator voice from Souls of Black Folk, and one recorded by me from The Crisis. My critic, Justine Reyes, was very interested and impressed with my piece after looking around the room. She gave me some helpful hints in terms of pushing the piece, and gave a few suggestions as well, like elevating the pillows I had in the middle of the room to a height where my photographs could be seen. At the end of our discussion, I felt even more empowered about my work and was excited to push it a little further. My video teacher, Damian also was helpful in perpetuating my thought process about what I wanted to do with my thesis project, and narrowing my idea down to The Crisis. I pushed it by adding colorful balloons to one wall, as well as silver fringe around the pedestal of the same wall. During the opening, I also incorporated a performance piece where I painted viewers’ faces as clowns to extend my work throughout the entire gallery. Originally, I was going to paint my face as a clown, but I felt that painting other peoples’ faces was be more effective in getting my point across to the audience. I received and continue to hear very positive feedback about my installation, which encourages me to continue work as a practicing artist even after graduation.
