Essays
Surfacing
Curated by Jude Larson and Tess Cobane of Piss Cups
Description By Tess Cobane
Surfacing is an exploration of the tactility and objectivity of the fine arts. The looming presence of the digital world is combative to the nature of surfaces, and how to approach the physical when the intangible is so prevalent and so imposing. Surface is a consequence of existence, the tangibility of art requires that it must have a surface. But what does it mean to prioritize surface? Surfacing exhibits the manifestations of this thought, emphasizing the discursive nature of these works intended to be in conversation with each other, developing similar and contrasting concepts. Surface is that which can be seen or felt, it is tangible, and referential to your presence as a viewer, these modes of viewing can be categorized by the pairing of artists with similar approaches.
Surface of an Image: Jude Larson & Daniel Bottcher
Larson and Bottcher similarly approach surface through the building of material volume which forms much of the compositional depth of their abstracted imagery. In the case of Larson, her process of layering and experimenting with materials develops the depth of the image as literal rather than illusionistic. We see this in the case of Cloud Watching, Larson's forms are rendered through the drips of waxy material. In viewing, the image is grounded by the clear indication of a horizon line, depth is communicated through the matte opaqueness of the wax opposing the metallic sheen of the tin foil; instead of representing light, it is literally reflected. In a similar way, Bottcher indicates shadows through texture rather than with color, edges of shapes are molded creating an imprint of the imagery and imbuing it with emotionality and atmosphere using color as seen in Boating, where the ghosts of figures are indicated but never truly rendered. Color and texture are used in tandem by both artists to create a sensuous visual experience, emphasizing the tactile by simply looking.
Conceptual Surface: Maggie Jelley & Harry Gordon
More thoughtful than emotional, the works of Jelley and Gordon engage the viewer in a contemplative scene rather than an aesthetic one. The use of surface in Jelley’s “paintings” is contradictory to the image. We see in Looking at a Painting of a Lemon, our perception is distorted by the shape of the surface. The object is both real and an illusion, we are seeing both an actual painting of a lemon and a reflection of a painting of a lemon. Comparing this to Gordon’s Jack in the Box our perception is distorted by its translucent surface. The act of revealing the ‘Jack’ by winding the box is made pointless by the fact that we see the 'Jack' the entire time. The viewer is encouraged to wind the box but the result is an action-causes-incident where nothing has changed, the implication of action being pointless. This addresses the external nature of surface that governs our perception of an object, like a mask or facade.
Images of Surface: Taylor Bielecki & Mira Seeba
Being the most direct in their imagery, surface is the subject of the works from
these two artists. Both Bielecki and Seeba are expressing surface rather than literally creating it. Bielecki’s snapshots of the surface of water like The Humbling River are imitations of water. The physicality is in the brushstrokes of paint, mirroring the turbulent whirling of the water through swirling and blending colors. Seeba imitates the texture of dirt by incorporating glass beads but by adding subtle dots of lighter tones to an otherwise pure black shape in Sowed 2. The tactile surface is conveyed through the expressive quality of the artist's hand rather than materiality. While texture is a large consideration, it is through a more referential sense than a literal one.
Pure Surface: Rachel Estaban & Shraddha Tirumalareddy
Surface without image, coming from a more decorative tradition, these two artists' works are unencumbered by the notion of image. Untitled Triptych and Shifting Reflection more than prioritize surfaces but become surfaces unto themselves. We see the elements of design based on tiles reflected in the geometry and symmetry of the decoration in Estaban’s Triptych. The installation of Triptych then comes with a condition of function. The work functionally acts as a surface implication of a much different spatial interaction than works from other sections. Both works become enmeshed in the space, Tirumalareddy’s Shifting Reflection is more overt in its physicality. By jutting out, it encroaches on the gallery space while remaining one with the wall, it becomes an extension of space rather than an object that exists within it.
Jude Larson
Making as a Bodily Function
Our bodies are constantly dripping, oozing. Sweat is drenching my sweater, I’m wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, and I just came back from pissing (not to mention that I’m on my period right now so that trip to the bathroom also included wiping away blood and discharge). I have a habit of throwing up after a couple of drinks, spitting on the ground, and extracting pus from any blemish I can find on my body (first pus, then blood). It is excellent that I am secreting so many fluids! I am not dead- this proves that I am alive! What evidence of me would there be if not for the sweat stains on my shirt? Would I be a person if I was not constantly excusing myself to go piss? The average person pisses about 6-7 times in a 24-hour period. Pissing is vital. It is one of the most important things a person can do, must do, and does automatically. Is piss useful? Not in the traditional sense, in that it can be used for further purposes. It is not a raw material, but rather a filtered substance created by the body. Its existence and expulsion is its function. Once expelled, it may be analyzed. Uroscopy is one of the oldest forms of diagnostic testing. Common practice in Classical Greece, medical practitioners, after Hippocrates, would hold up a vial of piss to the light and examine it for blood, pus, and other abnormalities, basing their analyses on the idea of humors. Today, urinalysis makes use of chemical tests and microscopic examination in addition to this visual examination. However, the vast majority of piss is not examined but rather discarded, flushed away and reintroduced into our water system.
There is a clear sequence in the creation of piss: consumption of liquid, filtration that separates water (filtrate) from the bloodstream, reabsorption of some of the water and vital nutrients, secretion of waste and hydrogen ions, combination of filtrate and ions, and finally expulsion. This piss re-enters our water, and we continue to drink and piss and drink and piss and drink and piss. The cycle continues. It is possible to consider the creative process in the same way; consumption of surroundings, filtration that separates ideas from the mind, reabsorption of some of those ideas, secretion of skills and methods of making (often coming from previous experience), combination of ideas and methods, and finally expulsion. These creations enter the physical world, and we build upon them, and we continue to experience and make and experience and make and experience and make.
Ideas and creations may be pissed out and examined, typically visually, as in uroscopy, and analyzed. The collection of this expelled creativity is (like uroscopy!) an activity that has spanned time, connecting the cave painters of Lascaux with Ancient Greek oral storytellers and the Impressionists and the Futurists and knitting circles and book clubs and the Downtown New York no wave scene and drum circles and Pratt Institute’s puppet club. The urge to make has always existed alongside our bodily functions. It has always acted as a given, something that we are born with and are tasked with maintaining. Most of our time is spent making. Making food, making love, making art, making music, making sounds, making up stories, making connections, making fires, making friends. It is natural and vital and constant. So why should piss be expendable and ideas be few and precious? If we treat making as a bodily function that is vital for existence but not precious, we will make more. Preciousness is the enemy. It stands in the way of free-flowing creativity, blocking the flow of ideas. But this flow is incessant.
Making is an essential bodily function in the same way that pissing is. Our bodies make these fluids for us from the raw materials that we provide to them; the body itself knows how essential creation is. We are making and expelling, making and expelling. Breath and blood are flowing, sweat and spit and piss are dripping and dripping and dripping and we drink and drip and drink and drip. There is no reason for the body to make urine and hold onto it. Piss is not precious. It is a function that expels waste. It is vital for existence. There is no reason for you to have a creative idea and not act upon it. Creating is not precious. It is a function that expels waste. It is vital for existence and so we must piss and make and piss and make and piss and make and piss and make and piss and make and piss and make.