Artwork Refinement

This week I have focused on utilizing the feedback given to me from jurying. The results indicated that the housings of my project needed considerable work in order to be elevated to exhibition quality. As such, I have taken steps to refine my pieces, some of which have included adding additional layers of black paint over the previous paintings, since I was not able to sand away the pre-existing paintings. I have also taken the time to produce thought out sketches of the paintings' layout to make the painting process easier and more fun.

Preparing for Exhibition

In the weeks following the college's shutdown due to COVID-19, I have mostly worked towards organizing my materials for the construction of exhibition-worthy artworks. I refined both my video projects that will accompany the physical housings and worked to refine the acrylic painting portions of the artwork. However, after receiving my jurying results, it is clear that further refinement is necessary to elevate these pieces to exhibition quality. 

Timeline until Jurying Re-Review:
Saturday, April 4th: submit sketches of formatting for largest housing to Dawn Roe for advising
Sunday, April 5th: begin work on painting layout of large housing after receiving approval on the initial sketches
Monday, April 6th: check-in call with Dawn Roe to confirm procedures for refinement on reworked pieces, begin refining smaller pieces
Friday, April 10th: continue to work on all housings
Saturday, April 11th: finish all refinements necessary (refine palette, refine alignment and preciseness of the paintings' lines, sand down black paint)
Sunday, April 12th: check-in call with Dawn Roe and/or other CFAC faculty members to confirm the quality of the work

Monochromatic Imagery on Wood

This past week I made sure to concentrate on feedback I received during our last all faculty critique in order to deliberately work towards exhibition quality standards. I produced a refined mock-up on a wooden frame that I painted black. The imagery I included made use of a very restricted color palette because I wanted to test out how this color choice would impact the piece as a whole. After incorporating video into this mock-up, I noticed that it will be important to make sure that the colors in the video aren't overly saturated and that the paintings and digital images aren't completely distinct in terms of hue and value.

In the video project I worked on this week, I incorporated the new poem that I wrote a few weeks back. I made sure to concentrate on pacing in this new recording and used the slower cadence to match the amount of time each image would remain on screen. After receiving feedback for this work, I realized that the wide range of color in the videos within this piece could be isolated into three distinct projects, which I think would be useful in order to better tie into the monochromatic feel of the paintings. 

Color Palette Refinement

This week I mainly focused on pinpointing the exact colors for my final piece. The previous colors I have worked with have all been either too 'pretty' or too distracting and overwhelming. As such, I wanted to really pin down the colors I will use in order to allow some breathing room between the video piece and the paintings that surround it. What I found interesting about this week's progress is that I became so focused on choosing the color palette that I began to neglect the actual imagery that the colors were meant to compose. In my most recent mock-up, I only composed abstract shapes with little to no organic/discernible imagery besides a small cloud. It was useful to hear that the overly abstract composition was working a bit too literally and that paintings of the imagery seen in the video piece would better illustrate my concept (and I would enjoy this formal approach more, too). As a result I am excited to continue producing more work with more identifiable imagery as opposed to solely abstract shapes.

Research this week has consisted of finding English phrases that either have double meanings or that are homographs (words that have different meanings but are spelled the same). I found this useful to research because I wanted to include key English phrases in my video piece that showcased the importance of context in language. However, I have recently been wondering whether including the English text would be beneficial to my work or a hindrance to the meditative quality of the video.

Foam Core Mock-Up

This week I have been focusing on producing refined work for our final all-faculty critique. I have mostly concentrated on color palette, both for the shapes painted onto the work and the background color of my piece, and I also plan to construct something that is large and sturdy enough to hang on a wall. I am trying to decide whether a darker background or a lighter background relates more effectively to my project, since black may be a bit too strong (even if the idea of the "void" it provokes relates to my content), and a lighter color like a pale blue or grey can ease up the heaviness and better convey the calmness I want to incite in the viewer.

In terms of research, I have read a lot about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and the several experiments that have both supported and opposed its main premise. This hypothesis claims that whatever language you speak dictates your worldview, essentially creating unique versions of the world for each speaker of a different language. An example in favor of this hypothesis is that of the Hopi language and its characteristics that differ from English speaker's conceptualization of concepts like time, according to Whorf in "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior." Unlike English, the Hopi see time as a continuum; unlike us who see every day as a new beginning or a fresh start, the Hopi language causes its speakers to see each day as a continuation of what came before. This is due to the language's lack of tenses. 

Another article I read this week - Berlin and Kay's "Basic Color Terms" - disproved the idea that each language creates an entirely different experience of the same world for its speakers. When conducting research to test whether speakers of different languages could somehow identify different colors, it was concluded that every language recognizes the existence of multiple colors, despite their lack of clear, distinct labels for each. For instance, there are several specific words for colors in English - olive, navy, crimson - that other languages lack. In fact, some languages order all colors under just two categories: white and black (in these languages, the colors are split according to how bright or dark they are). Thus, although there are some instances where languages can affect a speaker's worldview, there are still universal continuums that disprove the theory of completely different perspectives depending on the language one speaks. 

"Languages differ essentially in what they must convey, not in what they may convey" (Whorf, "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior"). 

Poetry and Monochromatic Experiments

This past week my work has mostly consisted of various experimentations. I am currently testing out different color palettes for a monochromatic mock-up that I plan to produce. At this point I believe I will be using cool colors in my work, but I am also making sure to test out the way that earthy tones could work in the mock-ups. I know for sure I want to avoid an overly "pretty" look to the paint, as I think was the result of last week's mock-up with the black background.

As such, my research has mainly consisted of investigating several approaches for tackling a piece that uses a single color. In order to create a bit more visual diversity, I can mix my color with black, grey, and white to produce different shades, tones, and tints. This will be particularly useful because it can help me make a design that uses the different shades to create the illusion of depth. It is also helpful to create a flow or a relationship between the variations of the color, so I plan to incorporate that as I continue to refine my mock-ups.

I have also been working on new dialogue for the refined audio I will use in my final piece. I have been focusing on the relationships between Spanish and English when they are incorporated together in a poetic format and I have also attempted to improve the quality of the language itself. Since I now have a more accurate idea for the final version of my work, I have been able to produce text that has a closer and more effective link to the material in my art.

           Apunte, apunto de una feliz desquietud,

            Una voz que me resulta conocida

            Que indica, comenta, inquieta, 

            Lamenta las tartamudas que nos interesan

            Por sus lindas bocas que forman el sentimiento

            Y forman incomprensible

            Inconsebible 

            Perhaps here or there

            Los signficados

            Signified, signifier, sister, mister 

            Glossy incarnations 

            Que sin sus formas, sus casas son

            (With the utmost intent to defile)

            Desnudos e inutiles

           

            Que sea tan dificil 

            lo que me dices

            Apart from a disappearance 
            and the linger of a smile

            Si tu belleza pudiera extender mas allá que mis oídos

            Entre ciertas lagrimas 

            that fading summer somewhere behind me

            aspiraria

            tus intenciones

            Oigo a veces pero aun así
            no te escucho

Experimentation with Color and Shape

This week I have focused on building upon the parts of my mock-ups that work best and strengthening those facets while simultaneously trying out new techniques, colors, and layout approaches. I decided to produce a mock-up with a black background as a way to stray away from the white paper I utilized last time. I did this in order to see how the colors I chose would work differently and to begin reflecting about the effect of the background color on my viewers. I think that having such an intense color as the background for the painting and video pieces would encourage my viewers to let themselves enter into a meditative state. The black voids of negative space between each painting/screen alludes to the 'unknown' and the mystery that surrounds language.

I also decided to utilize different colors than those I painted with last week because I wanted to avoid utilizing a pastel-y palette. However, after viewing this new mock-up, I am now heading in a direction that will focus more on the minimalist aesthetic of the piece, and as such I plan to produce something that has a monochromatic color palette. I imagine such a controlled use of color can function to my advantage because it visualizes how the facets of language themselves are truly arbitrary, and it is only through its speakers that such components acquire and retain meaning.

My research for the week consisted of a piece by Saussure, "The Nature of the Linguistic Sign." In it, the philosopher clarifies that the link between signifier and signified in language is arbitrary. It is only because of the traditional nature of language (handed down through generations, never questioned) that each spoken tongue continues to survive and thrive without consistently switching signifiers and signified. I also thought Saussure's observation about language as an untouchable system by which we all live was very intriguing. He mentions that language is the only system in society that everyone participates in, as opposed to systems of government, religion, or legal procedures which only a select number of people engage in. According to Saussure, it is for this reason that the "community's natural inertia exercises a conservative influence" on language. I think this is very relevant to my project because it shows that each language exists as its own entity because of its consistent, undisputed, and regular use. It is just another example of how its importance escapes our awareness.

Abstraction and Minimalism in Painting

My research this past week consisted mostly of refreshing my memory with linguistic anthropological studies that have characterized language as a basic system that features innumerable combinations of words to produce an infinite number of complete thoughts. I think this is the direction my project will most likely take in the future because it highlights the importance of recognizing the complexity of language and promotes a thoughtful consideration of the philosophical implications of this integral component of our lives. Through language, we are able to communicate such abstract things such as the beauty we perceive or the emotions we feel, and as such, it is important to reflect on the power that this system has. 

This week I decided to focus on producing a refined mock-up that mainly featured acrylic paint. I mainly produced abstract imagery that retained a minimalist aura in order to reflect the systematic function of language. The minimalist aesthetic functions as a reflection of the infinite possibilities for communication and expression made possible through spoken language. I utilized a geometric abstraction in my mock up to illustrate how language's organization permits us to convey and share ideas and abstract concepts. In this study I also applied the paint in a grid-like fashion and as precise pieces to reflect how language allows us to take small components (like the letters and words that make up each language) and form them into full, complete thoughts. I also utilized minimalism/abstraction to reflect the images I display in my video pieces. The idea behind this approach was to visually represent the signified and signifier always present in language, but in a way that reveals its true existence as a mere symbol (for instance, the grey lines may remind the viewer of the blinds in my video, but only because they are visually similar; one could make the argument that these are simply lines on a canvas, and are only identified as blinds because that is what we decide to classify them as). Overall, I am very satisfied with the direction the project is heading, and am looking forward to continue evolving the imagery, scale, and video portions of the artwork. 

Combination of Video and Paint

This week I have mostly worked on producing a refined version of last week's mock up piece by combining video with different mediums such as photography and watercolor. I have been trying to experiment with different mediums to produce abstract imagery. My biggest challenge with this piece has been the creation of the drawings/paintings/collages because I have been trying to find the right balance between abstraction and minimalism. However, I think it is important to visualize a larger piece with more than one moving segment.

In terms of research for the week, I have been revisiting the bulk of my research from last semester that I feel remains relevant. Specifically, I revisited my research around philosophers like Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Baudrillard. I'm now focusing on honing in specific ideas from these sources, such as Baudrillard's commentary on the hyperreal (and its relation to the interpretation of reality through different languages), Nietzsche's questioning of language as an accurate interpretation of reality, and Wittgenstein's view of language as an organized, codified system. I believe this will be my biggest challenge, to convey these ideas within the visual representations of reality that I produce.

Spanish/English

My main focus for the research I engaged in centers around art projections in museum spaces. Ever since critique, I have been trying to look for ideas that can help me envision a possible installation approach and in doing so, enrich my attempt to produce more art. I think it will be extremely important for me to vigorously investigate details like these that will ultimately inform the work itself.

This week I received feedback on the progress of my work since last semester. I was able to shoot new footage for the video piece and I made sure to test out the use of English text alongside the spoken Spanish. In my most recent video edit, I focused on the use of the black screen as a quiet space that is inevitably filled with substance as a result of the English text. Taking my viewers into account, this means that while only a certain number of people would be able to understand the Spanish component of the piece, everyone would understand the English text.

I also decided to visualize an idea I have had since last semester by making a small mock-up version of what I envision to be a larger piece. In it, I was testing out the effectiveness of combining the moving image with the still, drawn portraits of the sky as a way to parallel language's impact concerning different interpretations of the same thing. 

Formally, I am pleased with how this version looks and am interested to see how a larger, more refined piece with multiple screens would look like. 

Split Screen Tests

This week I have been focusing on experiments with split screens in my video projects. At first I had thought about incorporating one screen that contained words and another that displayed images, but then I started to try out a video that had overlapping imagery and how this mirroring reflects my ideas. The vertical lines that I display side-by-side reference the differences that result when one describes the same thing in separate languages. I heavily drew from Ludwig Wittgenstein's theories concerning language use, specifically how speakers must agree upon specific units of meaning in order for any language to function. By mirroring images of blinds, I showcase how the same object can be perceived differently, even if those differences are slight. I also referenced the ability of language to communicate things beyond what is literally said when I placed a shot of the sun and blinds side by side. Each image informs the other and this diptych reflects the meanings that can be derived from saying something like "the weather is nice today" or "you don't need your umbrella." These phrases do not translate literally to the imagery on the screen, but they do allude to clear skies and the start of a new day.

I took some feedback I received during the group show into consideration with this project that made me see the imagery of closed blinds as barriers that could make people feel trapped. After reflecting on this perspective, I thought the split screen effect would add an element of enclosure that alludes to the idea of language as inhibitor. I think this imagery works because it represents the limitations that we unknowingly experience in our day to day lives. Although I still want to maintain a meditative aspect to the video, I also know it is important to address the idea of language barriers and whether even the language one speaks can act as a barrier itself. 

Image and Sound

This past week I produced a refined video utilizing old and new imagery and an updated version of the poem in the "Philosophy of Language" post. 

In this new video I attempted to employ the ideas that I have researched and worked with throughout the semester, especially those of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. In my video piece I reflect on Wittgenstein's idea of imagined autonomy and how speakers of a language must accept meaning in order for the language to be effective. I utilize words that do are not reflected literally through the piece but instead are meant to evoke a reflective view of language. Through the language utilized in the video, speaking not of windows and drapery but instead of a constant coming and going of day and night, I showcase how language can expand upon what it literally communicates. 

Philosophy of Voice

This week I researched the effect of sound in language. I came across the article "Voice in Philosophy," which talked about the influence of sound in human voices. Phenomenologically speaking, voices are simultaneously individual and communal. Although every voice is unique and cannot be replicated, each is also embedded with an uncanny trace of other voices that flow alongside it within a single current. It also pointed out that voice is distinct from language because it functions as an index that goes beyond what can be described by language. However, it is also "dependent on language, colored by language, and points to the taking place of language" (Waldenfels 1993, 65). This is important to my own practice because I am now working with my own voice as part of my piece. If I examine the different ways the voice itself is perceived based on whether or not a viewer can understand it, I think I can work with the audio in my video piece in a more effective manner.

In terms of my own practice I have mostly been trying to refine my video piece and am experimenting with ways of making a tactile piece. I am thinking of how different mediums can represent different representations brought about by language. I wonder whether a piece containing mediums like watercolor, acrylic, and charcoal would work cohesively.

Philosophy of Language

This week I conducted mostly general research on my topic. I ended up reading an article titled "The Philosophy of Language" which contained an overview of philosophical theories that have examined language and language use. One of the most intriguing portions of the article discussed speech act theory, in which philosophers viewed sentences as "tools for doing things, including a taxonomy of uses to which pieces of the language could be put" (The Philosophy of Language).

“Semantic information pertains to linguistic expressions (such as words and sentences), while pragmatic information pertains to utterances and the facts surrounding them.  The study of pragmatics thus includes no attention to features like truth or the reference of words and expressions, but it does include attention to information about the context in which a speaker made the utterance and how those conditions allow the speaker to express one proposition rather than another.”

The article used the phrase "it is sunny outside" to demonstrate the various meanings that can result from a single phrase. "It is sunny outside" not only acts as an observation of the weather, but it also lets the listener know that they won't need an umbrella, even though this is not what the phrase literally means.  Language is thus able to convey information beyond its literal meaning.

I think this article is useful to think about as I continue to work on my video pieces. I have thought about saying a phrase like "it is sunny outside" and then showing imagery like a basketball, an umbrella stowed away, or a summer outfit to show the plethora of meanings that a single phrase can conjure up. I think that through this, I would be able to explore one aspect of language that makes it so complex.

In terms of my own studio work, this week I have mostly focused on video projects/studies. I also decided to write a poem in order to link the meanings of the phrases I use in my video and to have better flow in the audio.  

English Translation: 

                                  The morning welcomes the tomorrow

                                  Within those instances arrives the desire to imitate

                                  The bodies that float in the sky

                                  Their lives, calm, that calm

                                  Soft in the sky

                                  In a dream that condemns them to disappear

                                  Like restless children that accompany the son

                                  And the moon

                                  That lulls them

                                  Guiding them through the celestial lights

                                  Their deaths and reincarnations

                                  Guide, in turn, the world

                                  From a past

                                  That they transform into future

                                  The unknown

                                  The morning welcomes the tomorrow

I did find one instance during this process to be of some interest. In one section of this poem, I described clouds as restless children. After I compared the clouds in the sky (feminine nouns) to children (masculine nouns), I realized that even though I was still referring to the clouds, I referred to them in masculine form, since I was using the metaphor of a child to describe them. I think this reveals an interesting way that language fluctuates and shifts.

In Pursuit of Digital Media

This week I researched the philosophy of digital media and I continued to experiment with different Spanish phrases. I also researched different foreign words that do not have an English or Spanish equivalent. Even though it is significant for me to focus on languages that I understand and have personal experience with, I think it is also important to display the importance of considering my framework through examining languages other than English or Spanish. I want my viewers to take time to consider the intricacies of every language.

Since I am planning to explore digital media and how I can use this medium to bring all my ideas together, I decided to research the philosophies that surround digital art. I wanted to explore the philosophies around it because I think it is extremely important to incorporate the medium's purpose alongside the work's framework. I found an article that discussed the philosophy of digital art and it mostly focused on interactivity and visual presentation. One of the most interesting points from the article mentioned that unlike traditional art making methods, digital art pieces are just one version of many that could have been produced, and as such, exemplify how that one version was carefully selected from a vast array of other options. In other words, a digital art piece forces the viewer to consider the choices and circumstances that brought the presented version into existence. I think this relates to language because a lot of what we know because of it is by chance. We could have been born into a society in which multilingualism is the norm, or a community that uses a different writing system that would cause us to see the written form of our language in a different way.

In terms of my own work, this week I made a video draft of what I would like to have playing beside a screen of fluctuating words and phrases. I tried to use imagery that encouraged a contemplative state of mind and I used audio that I thought would encourage my viewers to immerse themselves in the experience.

Inspiration through Video

This week I mainly worked with video since I haven't been able to experiment with this approach at all. I did some research in order to gather inspiration from other video artists and I ended up stumbling upon the work of Yorgo Alexopoulos. The work in his exhibition Transmigrations immediately caught my eye because of the color schemes and its unique format. 

 Images © Yorgo Alexopoulos

I also found myself responding to symbols such as the large red/pink circle behind triangular shapes, which instantly reminded me of Japanese art and its characteristic minimalism. I also immediately thought of the country's flag, and these associations reminded me of semiotics and how this ability to recognize symbols relates to language.

At first, I planned to solely focus on the aesthetics of certain video projects because I felt uninspired with respect to my own work. However, after discovering Alexopoulos's work and reading more about it, I feel greatly inspired to pursue something like this. In his installations, the artist creates an immersive experience by combining different mediums within the video, specifically paintings, drawings, video footage, and found images. I have personally wanted to produce a mixed media project since the beginning, and I think that exploring this artist's work would give me an invaluable source of inspiration.

In terms of my own studio practice, this past week I recorded Spanish phrases that I want to work with later on. I wrote down anything and everything that came to mind in order to have a lot of material to experiment with. As I examined what I came up with this week, I noticed that since I am working with language, I can use that to my advantage and work with different creative formats like poetry. After looking at the work in Yorgo Alexopoulos's Transmigrations exhibition, I wonder whether it would be worthwhile to consider having two separate video pieces: one with the imagery and the other with the text, both simultaneously shifting and responding to each other.

The Hyperreal

This week I was intrigued by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard and his ideas of the hyperreal. I thought that examining those aspects of our lives that provide ideals of reality relates closely with what I am studying about language. Both have to do with instances of objects that are meaningful only because we give them meaning. 

"Baudrillard, following Barthes and others, argued that fashion, sports, the media, and other modes of signification also produced systems of meaning articulated by specific rules, codes, and logics."

"The realm of the hyperreal (e.g., media simulations of reality, Disneyland and amusement parks, malls and consumer fantasylands, TV sports, and other excursions into ideal worlds) is more real than real, whereby the models, images, and codes of the hyperreal come to control thought and behavior."

Baudrillard's theories made me think of language as something that could also be considered to be part of that hyperrealistic realm. These ideas relate to my own questions about the impact of language on thought. I wonder whether or not languages limit us just as much as they allow us to effectively express ourselves to other people. In order to navigate through our world, we attach meaning to the languages that help us communicate with each other. But does this mean that the truth language makes of reality becomes more "real" than what it actually is? 

Language as Semiotics: The Role of Meaning in Human Thinking

This past week I was mostly intrigued by Sky Marsen's The Role of Meaning in Human Thinking. Marsen distinguishes between formal and natural/conventional language, the former denoting the use of "numbers, equations, and algorithms to communicate, based on precise measurement and unambiguous reference," while the latter encompasses "verbal signs we use to communicate in our everyday interactions" (Marsen 2008). Formal languages are universal and exact, while conventional language is varied and abstract (Marsen 2008). Although I am clearly working with natural language in my thesis, it can still be useful to establish this distinction in order to properly talk about the communication of everyday life and its effects/implications.

This article elaborates on language as negotiation, drawing upon Saussure's established relationship between the signifier and signified. Marsen explains that by agreeing that a word like "tree" can be used to signify things other than the object it denotes, speakers create a code that can only be decoded by those who can decipher the patterns without referring to the natural world. According to Marsen, this demonstrates the "negotiative part of language" and "underlies artistic expression" (Marsen 2008). Clearly, the human ability to attribute meaning allows the very idea of art and the conceptual frameworks that compose art to exist. Furthermore, language's negotiability allows for the interpretation of objects like art, which also demonstrates the possibility for different opinions and perspectives through the use of conventional language.

With these ideas in mind, I thought of the word 'mañana' in Spanish and how the meaning of the word changes with the use of either 'la' or 'el' as the word's gender identifier. "La mañana" means "the morning," while "el mañana" means "the tomorrow." I thought it was interesting to make this distinction between English and Spanish because while English also has words that have more than one meaning, homonyms in Spanish are more often identified by the word's accompanying article while English homonyms are identified by the context of the sentence. 

I also thought it was interesting that simply saying "mañana" means "tomorrow," but the word changes in meaning by adding a gender article, becoming "la mañana" (the morning). Even by using "el" to make "mañana" mean "tomorrow," the word takes on a more philosophical notion of tomorrow (not just "tomorrow" but "the tomorrow").

I used the Spanish phrase "la mañana le da la bienvenida a el mañana" (the morning welcomes the tomorrow) to showcase the effect of using 'el' and 'la' for the same word. I think it would be interesting to experiment with this type of 'coding' in the future.

Inspiration from the Grid

I was inspired this week by artist Louise Lawler and her piece Does Andy Warhol Make You Cry? Lawler purposefully placed two photographs of the same artwork directly across from each other with different titles, which completely changes how you view the same thing. The title of the original piece, Does Marilyn Monroe Make You Cry?, was meant to draw the viewer's focus primarily to the actual painting of the movie star. However, the title Does Andy Warhol Make You Cry? shifts the focus from the woman depicted in the piece to the artist that created that depiction. Each title provokes different interpretations and questions that concern the same piece. 

Lawler's work re-contextualizes images and provokes the viewer to consider how art is impacted by who owns it and how it is displayed. It explores how the reception of art is shifted and framed by each person who looks at it. I thought this was a good example of the way in which I want to use language to make my viewers consider the extent to which language influences what they think. The extent to which the titles of Lawler's works implicate different meanings provides a very useful of example of how I hope to showcase the influence of language on our engagement with the world. 

 Does Marilyn Monroe Make You Cry?

           

Does Andy Warhol Make You Cry?

This week I attempted to change my approach from having the drip paintings as part of a diptych type  setup to creating pieces for my thesis that draw upon other functional artworks I have produced. I made a square composed of small canvases that are meant to formally denote the different perceptions surrounding one object or idea. After completing it, I think this was the most successful piece of this past week because it allows me to play with both color and minimalist aesthetics that I personally enjoy, all while combining these into one work. 

However, in this piece I definitely feel like I moved away from a discussion of different languages and instead focused only on English. I wanted to experiment with having words that imply the object represented instead of stating the word itself, which I knew could be easily done using only one language. I think it would be interesting to implement the technique utilized by artist Louise Lawler and switch out the middle piece with some other text to change the meaning of the entire work. I think the challenge for me right now is to figure out how I can make people understand the connotations that may result in languages that they don't understand. Perhaps I can simply state that in my artist's statement or it can be implied in the title. 

Neurology and Language through Art

This past week I continued testing different drip methods and color schemes in my studio time. In order to re-contextualize the familiar drip paintings I was producing, I decided to draw a brain in order to emulate neurological studies done on people that centered around language. When I examined the paintings I made, I kept thinking about how the little intricacies that resulted from the paint reminded me of human anatomy (such as blood vessels and tissue). This in turn made me look at the paintings as zoomed in images of the areas of the brain that light up in response to language. In some of my previous research, I learned that the degree to which someone's brain responds to specific words in a specific language depends on how early in life that person learned that language. Thus, this indicated to me that any word in a person's first language holds memories, meanings, and associations unique to that individual's experience. Consequently, languages learned later in life do not contain the same weight as those that have formed the individual's first communication capacities. For this reason, I thought it practical to draw connections between the paintings I produced this week and the idea of a single word provoking a "colorful" response.

This week's research mostly consisted of "The Neuroscience of Language" by Friedemann Pulvermuller. In Chapter 4, "Words in the Brain," the book discussed the different reactions that subjects had to words and pseudo-words. Responses were indicative of the imbedded meanings held by actual words used in every-day conversation as opposed to the lack of such a reaction for the pseudo-words. This indicated to me that words themselves are relevant to communication and understanding not just because of their explicit meaning, but also because of their existence as 'empty;' as vessels that carry meaning only because we endow them with meaning.