Structures. Iowa Research Online. University of Iowa. Janis Finkelman University of Iowa. Theses and Dissertations. Spring 2013

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1 University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Spring 2013 Structures Janis Finkelman University of Iowa Copyright 2013 Janis A. Finkelman This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: Recommended Citation Finkelman, Janis. "Structures." MFA (Master of Fine Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, Follow this and additional works at: Part of the Art Practice Commons

2 STRUCTURES by Janis Finkelman A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa May 2013 Thesis Supervisor: Professor Sue Hettmansperger

3 Copyright by JANIS FINKELMAN 2013 All Rights Reserved

4 Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL MASTER S THESIS This is to certify that the Master s thesis of Janis Finkelman has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art at the May 2013 graduation. Thesis Committee: Sue Hettmansperger, Thesis Supervisor John Dilg Anita Jung Susan White

5 For Kyle Keough, without whose support I would not have seen as clearly as I do now. ii

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES.... iv INTRODUCTION STRUCTURE: THE BODY STRUCTURE: ARCHITECTURE CONCLUSION. 21 iii

7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Untitled 3 2. The Middle Broke Untitled (Installation View) Untitled (Installation View) Untitled (Installation View) Deadlift (Installation View) Untitled (Deadlift Series) Deadlift (Installation View) Deadlift (Installation View) Deadlift (Installation View) Untitled (Deadlift Series) Untitled (Deadlift Series) Settled Remnants, Volume II Untitled Bleached Untitled iv

8 1 INTRODUCTION In my artistic practice, I have defined the term disorder to mean a disturbance in established patterns, structures, or balances. I have defined the term structure to be an arrangement of constituents that results in a unified whole. I have defined energy to mean forces which either activate or are active upon entities. I seek to generate imagery that investigates relationships between disorder, structure, and energy.

9 2 STRUCTURE: THE BODY The structure of the body provides a strong platform from which to observe the potential effects of energy. Some of my work has focused on the presence of the abstracted figure--an abstraction honed to explore the weaker links of the human form, the frailties that arise once strength has been exhausted in a fight against the energetic force that is gravity. In depicting a sort of disassembly and dissection the body, I work to probe how the ability--or lacktherof--to keep the body or the mind together under stress defines emotional life. Like an ecosystem that turns dysfunctional in the wake of a hurricane or the community that crumbles in the aftermath of a severe bombing raid, our corporeal balance can be undermined and completely disordered in the face of trauma and stress. Our bodies are zones in which evidence of this trauma is nearly inescapable, and thus we are particularly sensitive to images that depict its fault lines and the exposure of its vulnerable structures. I attempt to generate work that calls attention to aspects of our deconstructed physical selves in a way that hopefully allows us to imagine how our emotional lives might appear when similarly revealed.

10 Figure 1. Untitled. Graphite on paper, 30 x

11 Figure 2. The Middle Broke. Graphite on paper, 10" x 10"

12 Figure 3. Untitled (Installation View). Graphite, cut paper, 15' x 20'

13 Figure 4. Untitled (Installation View). Graphite, cut paper, 15' x 20'

14 Figure 5. Untitled (Installation View). Graphite, cut paper, 15' x 20'

15 Figure 6. Deadlift (Installation View). Charcoal, cut paper, spray paint 30 x

16 Figure 7. Untitled (Deadlift Series). Charcoal on paper, 30" x 40"

17 Figure 8. Deadlift (Installation View). Charcoal, cut paper, spray paint, 30' x 30'

18 Figure 9. Deadlift (Installation View). Charcoal, cut paper, spray paint, 30' x 30'

19 Figure 10. Deadlift (Installation View). Charcoal, cut paper, spray paint, 30' x 30'

20 Figure 11. Untitled (Deadlift Series). Charcoal on paper, 30" x 40"

21 Figure 12. Untitled (Deadlift Series). Charcoal on paper, 30" x 40"

22 15 STRUCTURE: ARCHITECTURE We can observe attempts to balance and navigate energetic demand on structure in the quiet weight present in architectural imagery. I paint with the intent of augmenting and highlighting the faintest of aberrations in the structural integrity of a building. Through the attention to the faults of an architectural construct, my works depict how fine a balance must be struck that keeps a building from disintegrating into the natural landscape in which it has been inserted. My work has included references to this balance in imagery that refine the suggestions of energetic instability down to the merest of cracks in foundations or the echo and repetition of lines not quite parallel to one another.

23 Figure 13. Settled. Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48"

24 Figure 14. Remnants, Volume II. Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 48"

25 Figure 15. Untitled. Acrylic, ink on panel, 24" x 38"

26 Figure 16. Bleached. Acrylic, ink on canvas. 30" x 40"

27 Figure 17. Untitled. Acrylic, ink, spray paint on canvas. 18" x 18"

28 21 CONCLUSION Our species is faced with a dilemma. We repeatedly must choose whether we should conserve our energy or expend it and how we will do so. I am as fascinated by this choice as I am by the various kinds of energies, particularly emotional energies, that we must attempt to handle through either rest or action. I see the question of balanced versus unbalanced energy echoed in many different structures both in the natural world and in the human-constructed one. How does a building's design attempt to fight the energy that is waiting if the structure loses its battle with gravity? How does the skeleton within our own bodies act as the foundation of a machine that can use energy either efficiently or inefficiently, that may or may not withstand forces that act upon it? I believe visual art can work towards answering these questions, and in my own practice strive towards generating a product attempting to do so that I can insert into the art world's conversation. Ultimately, I believe that an inspection of energy as it acts on structure can illuminate and define our attempts to exist and thrive.