Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
I owe you all an explanation
I don't usually feel the need to explain my work, but several conversations lately have led me write what I feel like is a fairly succinct and accurate explanation and exploration of my work, its progenitors, and primary function.
- Artist Statement -
As a form of expression, for someone who struggles to talk clearly and concisely about ideas and inspiration, art-making serves me well. In America today, we are constantly bombarded with images and information. There is little or no reprieve from the overwhelming stream of data, consumer culture, ever-changing internet celebrities, tweets and status updates, leaked nude photos, and junk mail. This new form of existence seems to have brought about a change in the way that we perceive the world around us. There is a total lack of reverence. The sublime seems to have been lost somewhere in “the cloud.” Individual images no longer carry the weight that they once did. Digital manipulation ensures that no image can be trusted for its authenticity.
Because of this, and despite it, I attempt to make work that comes from, and reacts against the crushing weight of our new digital reality. Solemn and sardonic, my pieces tend towards the hands-on, relying on the physicality of their creation to buoy them out of the muck of their virtual counterparts. Manipulating pre-existing images allows a formality that I could not easily achieve with drawing or painting. The images exist in culture before I use them, and by changing them I simultaneously feed off of their energy, and thumb my nose at their original intent.
I find inspiration in the seemingly random associations that Google image searches produce. This is an idea that I keep coming back to. Gestalt. When disparate images are placed side by side, the brain is forced to make a connection, whether one actually exists or not. I often find myself associating images that many people don’t seem to accept as belonging together. These associations, along with the physical re-assignment of existing images via collage, combine to create a lush range of potential for interesting bodies of work. I tend to view my pieces as single ideas, visual one-liners, that, when combined in an installation, create a conversation as random and fascinating as the internet itself.
Always,
- Truett Dietz
- Artist Statement -
As a form of expression, for someone who struggles to talk clearly and concisely about ideas and inspiration, art-making serves me well. In America today, we are constantly bombarded with images and information. There is little or no reprieve from the overwhelming stream of data, consumer culture, ever-changing internet celebrities, tweets and status updates, leaked nude photos, and junk mail. This new form of existence seems to have brought about a change in the way that we perceive the world around us. There is a total lack of reverence. The sublime seems to have been lost somewhere in “the cloud.” Individual images no longer carry the weight that they once did. Digital manipulation ensures that no image can be trusted for its authenticity.
Because of this, and despite it, I attempt to make work that comes from, and reacts against the crushing weight of our new digital reality. Solemn and sardonic, my pieces tend towards the hands-on, relying on the physicality of their creation to buoy them out of the muck of their virtual counterparts. Manipulating pre-existing images allows a formality that I could not easily achieve with drawing or painting. The images exist in culture before I use them, and by changing them I simultaneously feed off of their energy, and thumb my nose at their original intent.
I find inspiration in the seemingly random associations that Google image searches produce. This is an idea that I keep coming back to. Gestalt. When disparate images are placed side by side, the brain is forced to make a connection, whether one actually exists or not. I often find myself associating images that many people don’t seem to accept as belonging together. These associations, along with the physical re-assignment of existing images via collage, combine to create a lush range of potential for interesting bodies of work. I tend to view my pieces as single ideas, visual one-liners, that, when combined in an installation, create a conversation as random and fascinating as the internet itself.
Always,
- Truett Dietz
Thursday, December 9, 2010
BFA Exit Show
I'm graduating from Georgia State University's Welch School of Art and Design. The exit show opening is this Friday from 5 'til 8. Come out and see my installation.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
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