Tag Archives: conceptual art

Final Project IS2 Visual Culture

This project taught me a lot about my process and what inspires me. Through countless interactions and manipulation of materials I achieved the outcome I was hoping for. While I may have fallen short on conveying my concept to the audience as my piece was abstract, I felt that my piece was very compelling from a strictly visual perspective. This final presentation also made me think about how I could have made my piece more literal in its meaning. However, i came to the conclusion that it was not necessary for it to be more literal as some of the most successful art only makes sense when explained by the artist. My project was inspired by artists such as Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Donald Judd’s installation in Marfa, all of these artist create highly conceptual works of art that the viewer may not understand without an explanation. I see beauty in this, however I did realize that sound may have made my piece much more impactful in its meaning. Another challenge I faced was the actual construction of the piece. Originally I wanted to make the box myself, however it was not possible technically. I then bought a display box and did not realize there was a circle at the bottom of it. Because it was impossible to remove the circle I had to rethink what the bottom of the box would have. This resulted in me covering it in “oil” and concealing it with flowers. The box also did not fit the cowboy boots naturally therefor I had to bend them and force them in, which I actually ended up liking more as it made it more abstract, instead of looking like I simply boot boots in a display box. The aloe was another object I texted out multiple times. Originally I wanted to have it towards the side and I also thought I would be removing the dirt. However, when I saw the clear vase I thought it would be much more beautiful to actually show the soil and roots. The aloe was also originally going to be completely painted black. The video was possibly the most challenging part for me as I am not an expert in Premiere and had only used it once before. I originally was going to simply play a trailer from Giant, which was one of the main inspirations for the project, however I felt like that was an easy way out and almost “cheating”. I used footage from No Country for Old Men, Giant, Westworld and other found footage on YouTube. I felt that this made the video much more interesting and diverse, it also gave me more space to express the meaning of my project and show what inspired it. Overall, I was very satisfied with my project and enjoyed the process as I felt free to experiment and had the right amount of time to alter and adjust the piece.