MFA in Visual Arts Thesis Proposal
Name
Russell Maycumber
Biography
Born in Jacksonville Florida and grew
up in several different locations including England, the Virgin Islands, New
Orleans and Los Angeles. I started college in Los Angeles and picked up work as
toy sculptor and crewed on movie sets. After moving around from Texas to NYC to
Atlanta and the mountains of North Carolina I returned to North East Florida with
my wife to raise our son and complete my BFA. I am currently living and
teaching wood shop skills to fine art students at Flagler College in St.
Augustine Florida. I am also actively producing and exhibiting my art work both
regionally and in various locations including New York, Miami and Seattle
Washington.
Artist Statement
I am currently interested in the
anxiety of not being able to know ourselves.
Project Discipline This project is a
sculptural installation of drawings on cut wood forms.
Project Title –larval subjects
Short Description This work is informed
by the assertion that the urge to understand others is as strong as the urge to
understand self. In this research asymmetry and symmetry is explored and
expressed as speculative and mirrored forms through sculptural objects. How the
asymmetry and symmetry of speculative forms affects understanding. How symmetry
can imply harmony even under speculative conditions. How symmetry can mislead
self identity into a state marked by the uncanny. How speculative forms with
recognizable elements can engage our sense of novelty and lead to a state of
emersion.
Context
Originally this work developed from a
reaction to consumerist culture. I found I was participating and reacting to
that culture by mimicking its broadcast forms. Radio, TV, print media and distributed products all greatly
inspired my earlier content. Drawing was the most immediate way for me to
express interaction with my surroundings. As a product of continual dislocation
I became the broadcast element to those experiences metaphorically putting me
on the other side of the consumerist curtain. If my work had a historical aesthetic
context, it would best be described as speculative realism. I say realism, as the work addresses a
concern with the authenticity of my experiences and speculative as a suspension
of judgment based on expected reified outcomes. Henri Bergson’s
conceptualization of the cone of duration and Deleuze’s synthesizing the
manifold of sensibility into a single moment also referred to as the moment of
apprehension (Deleuze and the Three Syntheses
of Time
By Keith W. Faulkner) greatly inform the
tenor and cognitive framework
of the pieces.
Approach
The use of articulated joints on
grotesque figures speaks to the illusive if not impossible moment of
apprehension and its potential to understand itself.
Impact
I am greatly attracted to the sensation
of immersion. This is an aspect I seek in the products I consume and in the
experiences I seek out. When I produce objects and people respond to them with
that same sense of immersion, of losing themselves and dissolving if only for a
moment into a common mental and physical space I feel I have achieved some sort
of stasis, maybe not a balance but a mutual acceptance of being. (Psychological
therapy moment :again a need for the dislocated kid to integrate to new environments
and social situations?)Often this is achieved in my work by a combination of
virtuosity in my line work and an overwhelming amount of detail, some of the
detail is recognizable and some of it foreign but always with a consistent
attention to performance. I think it is this combination that people find easy
to get “lost” in.
Audiences/Communities
Because of the popular roots in my
imagery there is an appeal to audiences that might not have the privilege of a higher
education or the distinct advantage of being indoctrinated into the secret
society that the art world has become culturally. A lot of my influences take
cues from traditionally blue collar and visionary/outsider communities. I feel
this assists in transcending some of the hegemonic tendencies that are natural
between organizations built around rapidly evolving ideals and that my work may
introduce a bit of both of these worlds to each other. I am just your average
everyday revolutionary peace maker with a soft beatnik two step and a big synthetic
brush.
Venues
Because of the culturally esoteric
nature of the work, it would most likely fit into the hegemonic-ly insular
world of a white wall gallery/wine and cheese theatre. Yes (un)fortunately, I
have a lot of friends in that realm.
Catalyst / Pivotal Moment
A pivotal moment for me was the
realization of how the language of realism was being used in contemporary art
practices. “Realism” became a metaphor for inexplicable occurrences and the
foundation for visual non verbal communication. Being able to put a language to
this experience greatly improved my ability to frame my creative practice. The
investigation and research acumen gained from executing this project allowed me
to see the historical importance of western styles of ontological orientation
and gave me additional tools for processing my experiences. By exercising these
tools creatively and applying these processes to my work I feel I can navigate my
ideas with some degree of facility that I did not have before being exposed to
this material.
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