Reflection.

As i continued to work on these oddly shaped works I began to like them less and less.
In every critique i had, weather it be group or personnel, it seemed that then only thing that is positive that comes up is the unusual shapes of these works. People say "oh cool i like the stitching and the weird shape," but when it comes to the actual painting it seems that there is nothing there.

I had been working on a painting of stripped pieces that was about ten feet wide and 2 feet tall that resembled something like a dessert, as well as a vertically separated piece that was about 5 and a half feet tall, only this painting broke the third dimension and continued onto the floor into the direction of the viewer. All of these ideas seemed interesting, new and fresh, but they were still missing something.

Just about that time i could not work on these paintings anymore out of frustration, we had a visiting artist named Mike Glier come and visit and give individual crits with some of the seniors. This would normally be an awesome experience, but i was so frustrated that the thought of haveing to discuss my work with a famous artist was nauseating. As we talked about my work it became obvious that the only piece he was interested in was the first one that i had done. The one that was a rectangle. Imagine that.

What i drew from the conversation was quite helpful, as frustrating as it was at the same time. When a person looks at a rectangular painting on the wall it is understood that they are supposed to be looking into a window of sorts, and strive to view this as reality. When the rectangle gets broken it confuses the viewer, they become so focused on the odd shape that it starts to seem impossible to look at the painting that is on the shape, and it turns into just a shape on the wall.

After this conversation I just started to dissect my work and make a lot of studies to try and figure what to do next. This is the result.