Scenes Of Representation :Initial Documentation

5th March 2016

Nicholas and i decided to meet and hang out so as to get to know each other, and also visit the Museum Of Modern Art, to look at the Ocean Of Images exhibit.

On reaching there, we realized that we had both seen it before. After discussing our favourite works in the exhibit, and former modes of representation, we have used in our previous works, we decided to look around the rest of the museum because we both love the MoMA. We discussed, our definitions of beauty, and what interests us, and inspires our art. As an obsessive journal keeper and note taker, I jotted down, all the information I had mentally documented in my brain, into my journal as soon as I got home.

I noted down information about his general aesthetic and ambience, that I had picked up on, and discussed with him.Nicholas Needham is an excellent partner for this project, he has an extremely interesting personality, and a very generous spirit, when it comes to divulging information and stories.

In my journal I documented how he always bought his clothes from thrift stores at ridiculously low prices, but his personality and the way he carried them off made them seem like he got them off the run way.  I also noticed his love for all matching things that extended beyond his attire. His love for bold, mat colours, interesting shapes, textures, and “soulless” brutalist architecture in everyday objects, made me imagine the possibilities of the directions I could take this project in.

I decided that in the portraits I would finally put up, I wanted his signature aesthetic and personality to shine through, so I made a list of words, that I thought would probably come in handy, in the future, when I had already though of a narrative for the images and was looking to construct an image.

We discussed our favourite kinds of music, art movements and artists, and why we find them inspiring.

So next to a list of his “likes and interests”, I made a list of words, that I thought applied to his aesthetic.

  • fluid
  • mat
  • matching things
  • very classy
  • but not branded
  • thrift stores
  • very greenwich village
  • drippping enamel
  • porcelain bowl if the bowl was really thick strong and an abstract shape
  • white red hat
  • eggs
  • ice cream metal polished tins

I thought of how he insisted we go to the museum gift shop and picked up strange objects that were made to look like something that was completely unrelated to their functionality, for instant salt and pepper shakers that looked like creepy ghosts.

under likes I noted:

  • morbid anatomy
  • surreal art
  • physical puns
  • photographical textures
  • lights and shadows
  • art that is attractive because it is inexplicable
  • large pictures
  • souveneir shop
  • posture

I noted our conversation about how he very bravely wears all white clothes and accessories on some days, and is highly confident about the fact that he will not spill anything over his outfit. I thanked him for investing all that time and roaming the entire museum with me rather than just the one exhibit. He replied with a smile and said,” Everything I do, I do well.”

In my journal, I also stuck in the museum ticket, along with notes and photographs.

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