Indeterminancy Project

a. the medium you will work in:  three randomly selected dollar store items, white acrylic paint, white high-gloss spray paint

b. the method by which you will generate your chance operations:  grid, with randomly selected coordinates drawn from a hat

c. the system you will use to make decisions:  the grid represents the layout of the store, I will go to the store, go to each of the pre-determined coordinates and purchase the items directly in front of me 

 

Originally, I had wanted to use this same process, but in a goodwill or secondhand store.  I thought it would be interesting to have larger items, like a book, lamp, stuffed bear, stuff like that.  My budget for the project pointed me to the dollar store instead.  I was pleasantly surprised at the objects that chance brought me, except for the hairnet.  I was skeptical of how the hairnet would hold the paint.  I think it worked out alright though.  The toy gun and rocking horse candle were a humorous juxtaposition to me.  I really liked the way they turned out after being completely coated in white paint.  They look like a ceramic piece or plaster cast, which are really popular in design right now.  People have random white animal heads hanging on their walls and collections of strange white objects clustered together on bookshelfs.  My project was intended to be a comment on that form of sculpture right now.  That if you take any random object in put it in a grouping of others in a specific context, it can become art.    

 

I enjoyed using the found art method.  It brings to mind so many movements in culture in the past 100 years.  Taking an ordinary object out of it's context and placing it in an art piece is reminiscent of surrealism.  The everyday object looked at in a new light also evokes pop art.  And most recently, contemporary interior design.  I was happy with the objects I found.  I was tempted to move my hand slightly and grab anything but the package of hairnets; I had to remind myself to give up control and let the project guide me.  I think if I set the work up in a gallery, the objects would be arranged on a white pedestal.  The toy gun would face pointing at the rocking horse candle, which would be draped in the hairnet.  My friend suggested that I paint the gun black.  I think that would be a great idea.  If that was the case, I would like to have the black toy gun lying on the pedestal solo, and remove the other components of the piece.

 

Aesthetically, I like the water gun the best.  I think that it's ironic, curious, and somewhat hilarious when painted a solid color.  It looks like some futuristic weapon.  Painted white, and not able to work, it symbolizes a plea for peace.  Painted black, I think it would be a comment on violence amongst children, who are playing with real guns, not squirt guns.  Even painted white, it brings to mind a lot of controversial ideas.  Paired with the rocking horse candle, partcularly, conjures up a relation of violence and childhood, or even a loss of innocence.  The hairnet is either gang-related or a cage, or some type of inadequate protection.  I really enjoyed this project.  It pushed me to work with materials I wouldn't normally use.  And opened my mind to how I interpret art and what that may say about me, and the art I make.