An Analysis of Maeve Jackson’s Work
When I attended Maeve’s gallery, I at first found myself staring at the portraits of the people she had photographed, a little bewildered and confused at how they all related to each other. I also found myself confused as to how they tied into the filmed pieces shown on old TVs in wheelbarrows, as well as the deformed metal and two screens with filmed scenes showing on there as well. I found myself trying to connect dots between mediums and subjects that seemed completely unrelated, and grew increasingly frustrated at the message she tried to deliver that I just could not seem to parse.
Clarity, I came to realize, in the eye and mind of an observer looking at another’s work, is often muddled and hard to perceive. We all make ties between the subject of ones work to experiences in our own lives, and assign a theme to that work based on our own preconceived notions of what we believe it to be. What I may perceive, and the meaning to which I assign a piece, is drastically different than what you may believe for that same piece, and it is because of that that art (or whatever you may perceive to be “art”) has continued to astound people around the world and spark conversation on topics that may have never been addressed for thousands of years.
Maeve’s work often focused on the mundane, things that people don’t focus on in the world around them. A common theme that she worked on between pieces was that of how depth and the relationship between contrast of light and color seem to alter the perception of the observer on what appears to be happening in any given piece.
This made me think about the following McLuhan quote, “all media are extensions of some human faculty - psychic or physical.” (26). This quote is in direct conjunction with a lot of Maeve’s work, which focused a lot on exhibiting through several forms of media the beauty of what we often view as the norm or mundane.
A prime example of this was her signature piece, two projector screens set up with sheet metal all around it, and two films shown on the screens projecting varying scenes from recordings of curtains blowing in the breeze to several clips of her raking a field juxtaposed on top of one another. Her work often reflected the intimacy of human interaction with the world around her, wether it be the gentle hand willing life into the earth, or the hanging of sheets up by an unknown naked figure.
Intimacy is often viewed as a taboo subject, but in Maeve’s work, it is capitalized upon, used to show the beauty of that intimacy, and how it effects several different aspects of the world around us. It shows intimacy in a way not to be gawked at, but admired and appreciated for the work that it does all around us.
Art has a way of wrenching out the deepest traumas, desires, and aesthetics of the artist, exposing them to the watchful eye of the observer. Maeve Jackson’s art has that exact impact on the observer, evoking emotions that are buried deep within us and laying them bare to our own cognizance.
Clarity, I came to realize, in the eye and mind of an observer looking at another’s work, is often muddled and hard to perceive. We all make ties between the subject of ones work to experiences in our own lives, and assign a theme to that work based on our own preconceived notions of what we believe it to be. What I may perceive, and the meaning to which I assign a piece, is drastically different than what you may believe for that same piece, and it is because of that that art (or whatever you may perceive to be “art”) has continued to astound people around the world and spark conversation on topics that may have never been addressed for thousands of years.
Maeve’s work often focused on the mundane, things that people don’t focus on in the world around them. A common theme that she worked on between pieces was that of how depth and the relationship between contrast of light and color seem to alter the perception of the observer on what appears to be happening in any given piece.
This made me think about the following McLuhan quote, “all media are extensions of some human faculty - psychic or physical.” (26). This quote is in direct conjunction with a lot of Maeve’s work, which focused a lot on exhibiting through several forms of media the beauty of what we often view as the norm or mundane.
A prime example of this was her signature piece, two projector screens set up with sheet metal all around it, and two films shown on the screens projecting varying scenes from recordings of curtains blowing in the breeze to several clips of her raking a field juxtaposed on top of one another. Her work often reflected the intimacy of human interaction with the world around her, wether it be the gentle hand willing life into the earth, or the hanging of sheets up by an unknown naked figure.
Intimacy is often viewed as a taboo subject, but in Maeve’s work, it is capitalized upon, used to show the beauty of that intimacy, and how it effects several different aspects of the world around us. It shows intimacy in a way not to be gawked at, but admired and appreciated for the work that it does all around us.
Art has a way of wrenching out the deepest traumas, desires, and aesthetics of the artist, exposing them to the watchful eye of the observer. Maeve Jackson’s art has that exact impact on the observer, evoking emotions that are buried deep within us and laying them bare to our own cognizance.
I like your words, but I wouldn't totally agree with your saying about intimacy...
ReplyDelete