Sentimental Art: Is that a compliment?

I do not perceive the work I make to be sentimental.  However, If one walks into my current studio, as a critic of mine did this past Monday, they will find two pieces that hold a large aspect of sentimentality to them.  The first, I completed in December of 2012, which is a painting of my grandmother that has, for lack of a better phrase, gone through the ringer, to make her appear as if she is there, but actually is not.  The Second work, which I completed on September 23, came on the heels of my late dog.  I recognize there is a slight pattern but is it not okay as an artist to make work solely for myself?   I mean Goya did it at the end of his life in the fourteen Black Paintings, no one was suppose to see them, and now he's even more brilliant because of them.  Granted I am not Goya, but why is it not okay, for me as an emerging artist, in the mists of experimentation to play around with my emotions?  To help better my understanding of my critic's observation of these pieces, I took to a JSTOR article titled On Kitsch and Sentimentality by Robert C. Solomon.  Solomon, starts off by saying that "These days, its better for a young aspiring artist to offend and disgust the viewer than evoke such gentile and sentimental emotions."  The author also makes it a point to say that now a days it is better to be shocking or sour than sweet.  Well if you look at the images below, I'm not at all certain if the words sweet, wide eyed puppies, and other tender synonyms, come to mind when looking at these images.  Finally, Solomon states, that to call someone a sentimentalist in art, is dismissing both the person and their views from serious consideration.  This brings me back to my first point; since I have a studio at school, that is marginally private, where I'm suppose to be constantly making work, why are my cathartic works dismissed when they were not suppose to be a topic of discussion in the first place?

For the full article, click this link below:

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/431644?uid=3739808&uid=2129&uid=2134&uid=374340001&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=374339991&uid=3739256&uid=60&purchase-type=none&accessType=none&sid=21102654521551&showMyJstorPss=false&seq=13&showAccess=false    

Goya, Saturn Devouring his Son 

Kavanagh, Virginia

Kavanagh, Sambuca Series

The week of September 16

I wanted to share with everyone a few pictures of my work.  My work deals with fabric whether it is two dimensional or three dimensional.  The work I have made thus far, is an in between of sculpture and painting.  Some of the pieces I have made, have taken on a furniture like quality, as noted by my professor Jackie Grendal.  

Some artists that I'm currently looking at are...

Anya Kielar        http://www.racheluffnergallery.com/artists/anya-kielar/

                           I'm looking at Anya Kielar to see different painting installations and work you can move around.  

Steven Parrino    http://www.gagosian.com/artists/steven-parrino

                           Steven Parrino can help me understand my work with fabric better because he'll stretch canvas on the frame and then take it off and then put black enamel on the work.  

Anton Henning  http://www.antonhenning.com/www/Start.html

                          Hennings works take on a sculptural element.  They also incorporate painting directly into the furniture element of his work.  

We All Have the Same Nerves: an interview with Galina Eccles

This interview took place on September 6, 2013.  It was a pleasure to have met and spoke with Galina, who is also a student in the Fall 2013, Thesis and Exhibition class.  I found our conversation interesting in the topics we discussed.  It was also exciting to learn that our work is similar, because she also incorporates texture, painting and sculpture into her photographs.  These elements can be seen vividly in my own paintings.  One of the most comforting aspects that I took away from our conversation is that, I'm not the only one nervous about life after Mason Gross and what is suppose to come next.

Galina is currently a senior at Mason Gross, pursing a B.F.A with a concentration in photography.  She is currently working as a wedding photographer for three studios.  However, she does not want to continue this line of work after school.  She would like to branch out into marketing, fashion or maybe even own her own studio.  Since Galina has an interest in fashion, she is currently trying out for Trim Magazine (a Rutgers fashion magazine), in hopes that it will help her understand what it will be like, to be on set.  Galina has held many internships and jobs in photography thus far, because she understands that after school employers are not interested in a transcript, they are concerned about work experience and who you know.

This year Galina would like to focus and learn more on how to edit her portfolio.  She believes, not only will the thesis class help her with this but Trim Magazine can also bring her knowledge on editing, as well.  She also wants to learn more about her peers work and is open to collaborating with other students in the thesis class, as well.  A few years ago Galina took a sculpture class over the summer and has continued to incorporate the skills and knowledge she learned from that class into her photographs.  The artist also commented on how her work is not just photographs but sometimes crosses over into mixed media, when she combines painting and sculpture with photography.  Galina also plans on lessening her dependence on digital photography this year and wants to get back into the dark room.  When asked what type of photography she enjoys best, she answered, "Black and white because it is simpler, especially when compared to coloring film."

Galina realizes that breaking into the field of photography is much harder then it looks.  Even though she currently earns good money as a student and will come out of college with two years of experience, she also recognizes that there is a lot of leg work involved in making photography a viable career.  Galina is more than willing to devote her time to her passion and sacrifice her weekends for work, as many events will take place during the weekends.  It is still up in the air for the artist as to whether or not she'll wind up working for a corporation after school, but based on the fact that she likes to put her own personal style in the photographs she takes, as oppose to following cookie cutter formulas at larger corporations, I would assume she will not end up at one.

This summer has been a surreal wake up call for the artist and she is nervous, as am I, about getting a job after graduation.  Not only are artist and author on the same page with nerves after graduating but we also share in the same fact that had we gone to a school in New York City, maybe we would have had more opportunities to get our feet wet in real word experiences and more guidance as to applying our degrees to real world jobs.

Galina is not interested in getting her MFA or PHD.  Many of her soureces say "don't go", to graduate school unless you want to teach.  Many experts in her field reiterated the fact that this industry is about who you know and where you have worked.  Even though she is ready to make money, the artist has her reserves about where she'll get her income from.  After hearing the passion and inspiration in the artists voice about her work and photography in general, I have no doubts in my mind that Galina will not only be successful in her final year of undergrad, but I believe she has a long and prosperous future ahead of her in photography.

To find out more about Galina and view her work click on her facebook link below.  However, you wont find this savvy photog on instragram, because she believes in copy right and that everyone's photos should have one.

https://www.facebook.com/galina.eccles?fref=ts