Illuminated Displacement
Inquiry question: How is the concept of the observer and the observed explored in artworks?
Contexts: personal and contemporary
Media: projected digital animation
Focus
The connection and harmony between external artistic control, materials, and the interwoven message will be the emphasis of my body of work. By experimenting with colours and text, I hope to produce work that disrupts and questions the viewer's perspective. Within surreal works, perspective can be implemented through organised arrangements or patterns. Using diverse colours and components in accordance with the philosophy of the eye, the boundaries between the observer and the seen become shattered. When the attention is on the observer, the discussion over whether an artwork is realistic or surreal becomes meaningless. The general feelings and thoughts created in the audience will become the primary subject of my work.
Resolved work
Artist Statement
Title: Illuminated Displacement
Date: 2022
Medium: projected digital animation
Scale/measurements: 2.5 x 2.5 meters
Statement:
Illuminated Displacement explores the concept of the observed merging with the observer. I aimed to illustrate the impact of relating composition directly to statistics, linking to the LGBTQ+ community within the Australian population. Making it easier to change and adapt, I explored the use of digital animation tied to the size and colour palette. I hope this work will illustrate how social pressure and changes results in many being placed in unsatisfactory situations. I hope the viewer will feel a sense of unease and disorientation as their perspective is altered to become an entirely different one than what the other viewers are experiencing. Projecting the installation allows the observer to become the observed within it; viewers stand facing inwards, which prevents them from seeing the projected colours, but rather their shadow among the figures. Furthermore, the physical extension of the artwork from a 2-dimensional plane makes viewer interaction more natural.
Resolved work - details
Annotated illustration of resolved work
Developing
Personal context: experiences of the LGBTQ+ community amidst the last few years of change, critique and commentary.
Contemporary context: in our changing world, social traditions still play a significant role. Extends the viewer's experience and interpretations by challenging established ideas.
Exploited statistics from the 2014 Face the Facts chart concerning the LGBTQ+ percentage.
Exploring materials: digital animation with the addition of brushed ink on cartridge paper.
Researching
Yukai Du: animator and illustrator, but also a translator - distils complex topics down to their beautiful, swirling core.
Joan E. Biren: dramatizes lives of LGBTQ+ people in a diverse range of contexts.
Deborah Klein: notion of ‘looking over the overlooked’ has always been central to her practices.
Yayoi Kusama: while vanishing into infinite space, viewers become integral to the works as their body activates the environment.
Reflecting
Repetition and shape are organised producing harmony but separation of the figures, making them alike.
It is impossible to compare two experiences or the impact they have on someone, but connections can be forged.
Surrealist approach to the symbolism of people takes an inclusive approach, as there are no clear indications of gender or ethnicity.
Supporting evidence
References
AlanBeckerTutorials. (2017). 12 Principles of Animation (official full series) [Video]. In YouTube. https://youtu.be/uDqjIdI4bF4
Australian Humans Rights Commision. (2014). Face the facts: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People. Australian Human Rights Commission. https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/face-facts-lesbian-gay-bisexual-trans-and-intersex-people
Brittney. (2021, October 19). how is artistic knowledge communicated? – ArtRadarJournal.com. Artradarjournal. https://artradarjournal.com/art-education/how-is-artistic-knowledge-communicated/
Cercle. (2018, January 10). Animated poems by Yukai Du — Cercle. CERCLE. https://www.cerclemagazine.com/en/magazine/articles-magazine/animated-poems-of-yukai/
https:/\/netsvictoria.org.au\/author\/hody\/#author. (2020, December 18). Deborah Klein. NETS Victoria | Connecting Audiences with Contemporary Art. https://netsvictoria.org.au/artist/deborah-klein/
Infinity Mirror Rooms – Yayoi Kusama: Infinity mirrors. (n.d.). Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden | Smithsonian. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://hirshhorn.si.edu/kusama/infinity-rooms/
Krishnamurti, J. (2019). The Observer is The Observed. Krishnamurti Foundation America.
Moakley, P. (2021, February 13). How a groundbreaking book helped a generation of Lesbians see themselves in the 1970s. Time. https://time.com/5938729/eye-to-eye-portraits-of-lesbians-jeb/
Yukai Du. (2016, November). Electric charm. Yukai Du. https://www.yukaidu.com/electric-charm-carry-illinois