Jason Driskill

Here is the feedback from the critique today, in which I presented my work in the form of a slideshow, since I consider them to be in-progress.

I was advised to look up work by Yukio Mishima and Eikoh Hosoe for photographs of Japanese soldiers photographed in a Sheldon-esque manner.

My personal presence (through representations of myself) is effective and helps invoke empathy in the viewers. My recurring self as iconography provides a point of reference for which the viewers may explore these schematics that I have layered with other visual bits and pieces.

In the “Hermes” and “Macho Jesus” pieces the range of humor and lightheartedness invites a more engaging exploration of the work, because of their visual complexity. The “Sowing Machine” (working title), still in progress is less complex and leaves less to explore.

In a similar manner, the former two offer schematics that address sexuality, but include other issues as well. The “Sowing Machine” (working title) still in progress, only addresses sexuality and is therefore works more like a one-liner.

There was discussion on the radioactivity symbol that I used for Christ’s halo. It was suggested that it dominates the image compositionally. Perhaps it doesn’t need to be opaque or quite so large. In this part of the conversation the words “toxicity” and “corrosive” were used, and it was pointed out that bomb shelters post this symbol as a safe place to retreat from radioactivity. And someone compared the halo (in its current large and dominant state) to the da Vinci study of anatomy:

I appreciated hearing these points. Most of them were issues I was already considering (the halo, and the striking amount of simplicity of the “Sowing Machine” piece (working title) still in progress). To hear objective eyes talk about these problems reinforces that they need to be solved. What I appreciated too, was what wasn’t said - people did not seem confused about my intention or treatment of the body. I look forward to hearing feedback in two weeks when I have a few more pieces and can print them all out and display them side-by-side.

After the seminar class ended there was a Guest Lecture presentation, featuring Gail Wight. Gail’s work is fascinating. HERE is her website. A short video clip on THIS WEBSITE features bits of her work. Also here are a few images that she presented in her lecture.

I was particularly interested to see how she unravels intensely sober issues with a playful sense of humor. I was also fascinated with her use of both technology and live animals. If you get a chance to see her work in person, I highly recommend it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Blog Entries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.