Int. Seminar 1 Week 4 In Class

Buck utilizes cut out shapes and whimsical lines in her piece The Networked Self.  The piece consists of two collages placed next to each other almost in comparison. The collage to the left features many cut out shapes of what appears to be friends and family, along with gold-leafed doodles and pasted on shapes in place of some images’ eyes. The upper left hand corner reads “GIRL DONT LIKE BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO” in letters that are cut from a magazine.  This collage, which is supposed to represent the artist’s true self, lacks organization and a sense of purpose. There is no point to which the eye is lead, and the level of craft is distracting from whatever message it’s trying to send. The main message which is written out plainly in words is not conveyed through the rest of the piece. I would’ve organized the images so that they are more pleasing to the eye and so that the viewer could’ve gotten a better sense of the overall piece, and I would’ve liked to see the message in words conveyed more through the craft. The collage to the right is much more symmetrical and features a self portrait of Buck and various brand names which appear to be cut out from some sort of print as well. The photo of Buck is cut in two halves that are slightly misaligned. This portrait, while more organized and pleasing to the eye, also does not convey a clear message. While it is meant to represent the networked or internet self, it is more reminiscent of something that would show up in print because of the magazine cutouts which distorts the message. The cut out brand-names seemed an after thought as an attempt to give some sort of reasonable explanation to the piece.  I would’ve added a more clear meaning to this collage by utilizing elements that show that it is supposed to represent a networked self, and show who this person is to an algorithm on the internet. I think there needs to be much more clarification on what exactly this piece is trying to convey in general.

Leave a reply

Skip to toolbar