Artist's Statement:
For my textual poaching assignment, I wanted to find
something pretty old, so I was looking through paintings. I stumbled upon Sower with Setting Sun by Vincent Van
Gogh, which I’d never seen before, and immediately got an idea. The sower in
his field reminded me of back when we first moved into the home I spent most my
life in in Lakeville, MN. When we were first there, we had the only house in
the neighborhood, surrounded by fields. It was very peaceful and rural looking,
very like this painting. However, over time our neighborhood developed into a
packed suburb, and the town itself grew, becoming a booming commercial center
instead of a small farm town south of St. Paul. To illustrate this change, I
put the power plant (representing pollution, etc.) and a commercial entity,
Walmart, along with a suburban home, then finished it off with a nice road
tearing straight through the beautiful field. I initially planned to make these
pasted items look painted-in and a part of the canvas, but it was beyond my
technical mastery; I think the final product turned out well regardless.
When talking about Star
Trek and its legacy in our reading this week, Jenkins stated: “Intense interaction
eventually leads many fans toward the creation of new texts, the writing of
original stories.” I think that this can be true with other mediums, such as
oil painting. While studying and thus mentally “interacting” with this Van Gogh
work on such a personal level, I was drawn to create a new piece of work,
however unpolished and poached it may be. Looking at this thing created by
another man, I felt both inspired and obligated to do something with it beyond
just think about it. In our discussion in class last Tuesday and Thursday, I
definitely felt as if this was one of the paths we were setting ourselves upon –
the road from an old creation to a new creation. This is something that is
taught a lot in the film program, even in non-fiction production, as you have
the discretion to take the stories happening in the world around you and tailor
it to a message you wish to share or bring to light.
I think many people would argue against this concept from a
practical standpoint, and I think rightfully so. Many people shy away from the
idea of “ripping off” the work of others, not seeing how analogous it is with
simply being inspired by them. When done incorrectly, it can certainly be harmful,
such as literal plagiarism. However, when properly cited and/or referenced, a
work you have “poached” becomes a small part of a new whole, such as a class
paper or this assignment. It is not that I disrespect or wish to discredit Van
Gogh. Contrarily, I believe I heavily credit his ability to speak to the soul
by demonstrating how his work drove me to create “new texts” and give new
meaning to a beautiful work of art.
No comments:
Post a Comment